ΑΦΗΝΟΝΤΑΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΚΟΜΠΟΥΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΥΣ. A first Greek translation, by Dora Kapsala

"Detectives are trained to be suspicious, to resist the temptation to be taken in by accepting evidence and stories at face value. Psychotherapy and dharma are also concerned with the exploration of cover ups..."

Letting the knots go free is a paper James wrote in 2009 after speaking at a conference in Italy on Mindfulness.

Psychotherapy and dharma are also concerned with the exploration of cover-ups and 

the search for the true causal matrix of problematic experience.  Of course, there are many 

different kinds of psychotherapy and many different schools of dharma, but I hope to set 

out some of the key themes in the two traditions to illuminate the differing notions of what 

is being covered up, the styles of response to this, and where they lead. 

In the area of psychoanalytic psychotherapy one of the key concepts is repression as a 

method of defending the ego.  Our ordinary sense of self is fragile; a lot happens in the 

course of a life that the ego finds hard to bear.  These events are often managed by 

repression, by putting them ‘out of mind’, forgetting them so that they don’t come to mind.  

This is further strengthened by forgetting that one has forgotten, so that it is as if the events 

had never occurred.  This leads the ego to believe that it is safe, standing on solid 

ground...but then symptoms start to manifest.

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