Friday Night Philosophy

For those of you who followed my recent search for a personal philosophy in FNP, you’ll know that I see life from what I call the Human Perspective as essentially satisfying the physical needs of the Maslow Hierarchy. The spiritual needs for me are satisfied by viewing life from the Cosmic Perspective. I also see Reason and Emotion as the driving forces in satisfying those needs.

I’ve been thinking about Reason and Emotion. It seems that what I call Emotion is sometimes described by others as Irrational thought. In the series of videos “The Century of the Self”, it is shown that, according to Sigmund Freud, this irrational thought is the more powerful motivator, even though we may think we are acting rationally. Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, became a multi millionaire in the US by devising ways for corporations and governments to influence the thinking of the masses by appealing to their irrational thought.

An example of Bernay’s craft: Cigarette manufacturers wanted to know how they could overcome the public perception that it wasn’t polite for ladies to smoke. Bernays was of the opinion that this was because women’s subconscious saw cigarettes as penises. His solution was to present women who smoked as being independently minded. And it worked. That millions of women, as a result, were condemned to die of smoking related diseases seems not to have mattered, but then, in those days the perils of smoking were not well known. To the masses, anyway.

I figured that it was time I learnt a bit more about Freud. I suppose I should have done it earlier in my life, but I didn’t. In truth, maybe I was scared of what I might find. The thought of endlessly psychoanalysing oneself didn’t appeal at all. But now I feel I’m ready. And from the little I’ve read, the pieces seem to be falling into place when considering life from my human perspective. I’ll leave you to read the article below, so that we’re on the same page when I write further about my thoughts in FNP’s to come….. or not read, if you want to give my ramblings a wide berth in the coming weeks. ;o)

I was particularly impressed with the iceberg metaphor. There seems to be a lot of blue there that is beyond our understanding. Oh well, the journey continues. And what a fascinating one it is. So much to learn. Bliss…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_mechanism#Structural_model:_The_id.2C_ego.2C_and_superego

Structural model: The id, ego, and superego

The concept of id impulses comes from Sigmund Freud’s structural model. According to this theory, id impulses are based on the pleasure principle: instant gratification of one’s own desires and needs. Sigmund Freud believed that the id represents biological instinctual impulses in ourselves, such as aggression (Thanatos or the Death instinct) and sexuality (Eros or the Life instinct). For example, when the id impulses (e.g. desire to have sexual relations with a stranger) conflict with the superego (e.g. belief in societal conventions of not having sex with unknown persons), the feelings of anxiety come to the surface. To reduce these negative feelings, the ego might use defence mechanisms.

Freud also believed that conflicts between these two structures resulted in conflicts associated with psychosexual stages.

The iceberg metaphor is often used to explain the psyche's parts in relation to one another.

Structural-Iceberg

Definitions of individual psyche structures

Freud proposed three structures of the psyche or personality:

• Id: a selfish, primitive, childish, pleasure-oriented part of the personality with no ability to delay gratification.
• Superego: internalized societal and parental standards of "good" and "bad" and "right" and "wrong" behavior.
• Ego: the moderator between the id and superego which seeks compromises to pacify both. Can be viewed as our "Sense of Self".

Primary and secondary processes

In the ego, there are two ongoing processes. First, there is the unconscious primary process, where the thoughts are not organized in a coherent way, the feelings can shift, contradictions are not in conflict or are just not perceived that way, and condensations arise. There is no logic and no time line. Lust is important for this process. By contrast, there is the conscious secondary process, where strong boundaries are set and thoughts must be organized in a coherent way. Most conscious thoughts originate here.

The reality principle

Id impulses are not appropriate for civilized society, so society presses us to modify the pleasure principle in favor of the reality principle; that is, the requirements of the external world.

Formation of the superego

The superego forms as the child grows and learns parental and social standards. The superego consists of two structures: the conscience, which stores information about what is "bad" and what has been punished and the ego ideal, which stores information about what is "good" and what one "should" do or be. (Interestingly, the Freudian conscience became cognitive-behavioral therapist Albert Ellis' focus.)

The ego's use of defence mechanisms

When anxiety becomes too overwhelming it is then the place of the ego to employ defence mechanisms to protect the individual. Feelings of guilt, embarrassment and shame often accompany the feeling of anxiety. In the first definitive book on defence mechanisms, Ego and mechanisms of defense (1936), Anna Freud introduced the concept of signal anxiety; she stated that it was "not directly a conflicted instinctual tension but a signal occurring in the ego of an anticipated instinctual tension". The signaling function of anxiety is thus seen as a crucial one and biologically adapted to warn the organism of danger or a threat to its equilibrium. The anxiety is felt as an increase in bodily or mental tension and the signal that the organism receives in this way allows it the possibility of taking defensive action towards the perceived danger. Defence mechanisms work by distorting the id impulses into acceptable forms, or by unconscious blockage of these impulses.