Objects to be Saved
The concept of an object to be saved was created by Silvia Amati Sas. It is s register of thoughts that helps individuals endure overwhelming adversities and maintain their humanity in catastrophic or dehumanizing situations. These spontaneous thoughts, arising from the unconscious or biological survival instinct, serve as psychic survival fronts preserving our sense of belonging to the human species even when our humanity is challenged and maintaining our capacity to think of others and with others.
In the contemporary context of the Anthropocene environmental crisis, this concept takes on new urgency as we face what Sally Weintrobe calls a “culture of uncare”.
The purpose of this section is to share some of our “object to be saved,” our “tiny moments of eternity,” no matter how humble they may be! A thought, a life-changing encounter, a moment of miraculous emotion, a landscape, a work of art, a fulfilling job, a project, and so on, felt as a help in the environmental context in which we find ourselves living
The “object to be saved”: a definition, a purpose, a beauty
We live today in a world fractured by an environmental crisis whose violent social repercussions are testing our zest for life, our bonds of solidarity, and the balance of our emotional and mental health—both individual and collective. The environmental crisis has a…
Sharing Our “Objects to be Saved”
What’s an “object to be saved”? One of the beauties of psychoanalysis is discovering and describing the human resources that develop consciously and unconsciously in situations of social and environmental catastrophe. The “object to be saved” is one of them. In this…