Richard James

Richard James studied sculpture at Central Saint Martins in London, spent seven years as a Zen monk, seven years teaching children and later trained as a counsellor.

Jean Laplanche, the French author and psychoanalyst, laid the foundations for what might be called—and become—“Affect Therapy”, where he coined the term the enigmatic message. This message is unconsciously communicated to the child by caregivers and remains hidden: unseen by both them and the child, yet profoundly influential in their lives.

A parallel can be drawn to the inherent implantation of the Unborn/Sunyata in Buddhist psychology. To completely comprehend the “enigmatic message” or the “Unborn” is not possible.

Fortunately, it will remain uncolonised, unpoliced, and resistant to pathology: a mystery. Yielding only occasionally to one who waits with humility and patience.

As John Keats wrote, a negative capability is necessary: the ability to resist explaining away what we do not understand.

It will be felt as an affect—played out pre-cognitively on the skin and in the heart—only later, perhaps, to be known and held gently as compassionate wisdom.

Laplanche, and ultimately Buddhist practice, encourage us to turn this sense into a creative act: to perceive it non-cognitively and to follow it. The artist, the meditator, is not the prime mover.

In my work, there is an attempt to follow the affect: an opening, a doorway, an invitation. A willingness to sit with suffering and vulnerability, and its inherent invitation to closeness.