A Fruitful Harvest: Essay after Bion Paperback – July 1, 2011

This highly readable and largely jargon free book introduces the reader to the thinking of the profound and estimable work of Wilford Bion and his followers through the lens of his own beautifully described work with his patients. If one wants to read just one book describing the tradition before taking the leap into the texts, this is the book to read.Mr. Eaton is truly a humble and modest man. I know this because I know him. I do not know if he truly understands that this book goes beyond a wonderful homage to those in the Bionian tradition, but it does. It introduces us to a man with his own mind and original ideas: Jeff Eaton. Keep your eyes and ears open. Psychoanalysis will be hearing more from this talented thinker and writer.

A very humane and moving work, Mr. Eaton brings a fresh and open perspective to the challenges of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The breadth of his topics and his generous sharing of his involvement in his work is refreshingly accessible. His integration of Buddhist thought with psychoanalysis is impressive. His expansion of Bion's obstructive object in analytic work is very useful. I found this collection of papers very helpful to my clinical work.

Clear concise approachable writing Thoughtful sharing of clinical material I look forward to his next book

"A Fruitful Harvest: Essays after Bion" by Jeff Eaton is brilliant, accessible, spiritual, inspired and inspiring, generous, thoughtful, and very, very moving.

Jeff Eaton's FRUITFUL HARVEST: ESSAYS AFTER BION is a RUBY of a book! Reading about his sensitive work with patients, especially the children, touched me deeply. His clinical stories shine with intelligence and a willingness to get to know about another's suffering, however buried or obscured. When Jeff speaks about emotional pain, he somehow encourages each one of us to face our own, bit by bit, and live a more spacious, loving life. His brilliant use of the wisdom of both W. R. Bion and Buddhism shines a unique light on human pain and how it might be mitigated. His often poetic words remind me of other wise words, ones that I value highly: those of Stephen Levine and Pema Chodron, of poets Jane Kenyon and Jane Hirschfield, of psychoanalysts D. Winnicott and Michael Eigen. Jeff also leads me back to my own enlightening experiences as a psychotherapist with patients in a Seattle clinic he envisioned. I remember consulting about a patient's dream and Jeff's rich, telling insights. I remember hearing him read an early draft of a paper about working with "Eric" (" The Permanent Eathquake," Chp. 4) and having my eyes flood with tears. You don't have to be a "therapy person" or a Buddhist to love this book. Just a human being wanting to live with more freedom and generousity of spirit on this beautiful yet difficult earth.

I found A Fruitful Harvest by psychoanalyst Jeffrey Eaton bountiful and nourishing. This offering is by and for professionals, but one need not be a psychoanalyst to benefit from the insights, wisdom and prescriptions so generously given. At its heart this is a personal and inspirational journal/journey..and manual...on ways of being, ways of attending, ways of being in communion with those in our care. Eaton describes, and in his writing embodies, an architecture of honesty and healing. Upon a foundation of mindfulness he suggests beginner's mind, and a platform of courage, respect, and listening with integrity and a natural presence. These essays speak from a sincerity of inquiry, and I found my own curiosity and hunger for learning and mastery aligning with the author's passion for growth within the fertile ground of the therapeutic field. As I have read, and re-read these essays, I have felt drawn deeper into a contemplative posture of reflection (the author might say "reverie") on the nature of relationship, all relationships, within which there is the promise of mutual learning and healing love.

In these essays, Jeffrey Eaton explores the interconnected worlds of his own experiences and those of his patients, moment by moment, emotion by emotion, allowing the reader to become a sort of participant in observing how pain, attention, and reverie are essential ingredients of sessions. In a clear style that seems to reflect his willingness to be open to his own experiences as an analyst, as a dreamer, and as a student of meditation, Eaton shows that it is what the patient, analyst, or reader does with these emotional experiences in her mind that determines whether one can truly learn from experience. A Fruitful Harvest: Essays after Bion has much to say about how two minds communicate with each other and how it is the outcome of this communication that allows or prevents each of us from experiencing reality as it presents itself in the moment.

One of my favorite books! I return to this book frequently to be inspired, contained, and gather momentum once again to keep going in my own clinical work.