Freud and Civilization

2008-09-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

Reading The Future of an Illusion I cannot help but be taken aback by the similarities of my view and Freud's on civilization. I believe that civilization is a function and a cause of man's devolution. Our perceived need to function within it continually leads us further and further from our true nature as well as our self-sustainability. As we move further and further down this evolutionary track as some would put it we are relying more and more on the civilization as opposed to ourselves. If civilization as we know it were to collapse the vast majority of people would be unable to sustain themselves and satisfy there most basic needs. You would see everyone's ids running the streets in an attempt to satisfy these needs reaping destruction along the way committing acts that are unthinkable horrors in our present society but that are natural manifestations of ourselves. I am in no way condoning murder and rape and so on... however what one finds when civilization does collapse is a great number of people afraid for and of themselves because our true nature has had no outlet until now and rather than being a "well-oiled machine" it is a forgotten skill set that is not perfected and thus manifests itself in ugly ways.
Civilization's great reward, as Freud says, is religion and a perceived attainable civility and rather than us fearing civilization because it will strip us of our individualism and self-reliance, we are coerced into transferring our fear unto ourselves because we are taught that our instincts are wrong and must be repressed. This is where I believe I share some of what I think with Freud. I do not think I correctly expressed what I believe, though the gist of it is that civilization is causing man's devolution due to the fact that we are no longer self-sufficient. We cannot truly understand ourselves until we are able to harness and bring forth our true inner being.

And if it is truly Darwinism and "survival of the fittest" than it is religion, a creation of civilization. that is causing our devolution for it is imposing the rules that we live by that further our self-imposed repression . Oh... as for that Darwinism thing if we truly are destructive in order to perpetuate our survival, than by doing destructive things aren't we merely expressing our fitness.

On Freud and Football

2008-09-08T10:21:00.001-07:00

This weekend proved very interesting... my wife and I were searching for new apartments and of course it was the opening weekend for the NFL. Having lost an apartment we really wanted I could not help but think about the karmic implications of our actions and whether or not we had done anything to cause us such dismay. At the same time my focus was on football, for I was very interested to see how my season forecast would pan out. I put aside doing this blog, for at that time I had nothing to right about and new that come Monday which coincidentally I took off from work I would be able to right something about Freud.

Are we all neurotic? As Freud would have it- yeah, probably one way or another. Though are those looking for answers within the pages of scripture or houses of worship? Why must we ascribe definitive answers to these questions about those we truly do not understand. Was Freud's reluctance to do any real research into the mind's of women due to the fact that he was not concerned with them or rather that he could not understand them. If the latter is true could it not be the same reason why he ascribed some blanket term to apply to those who are religious/ spiritual? For some reason, as human beings we must find some justification for other's actions we do not understand. Are some of the players on the New England Patriots saying that Tom Brady is injured because its God's plan, assuredly there are some who believe that does it make them neurotic or does it make them deeper individual's searching for meaning in an otherwise superficial action. Following a win when a running back attributes his performance and the teams victory to God is he neurotic? Is he delusional thinking that God had taken the Bears and the points and was now throwing it in Satan's face. He is simply looking to what gives him strength be it his faith or his neuroses. We as people must stop thinking that our way of thinking or understanding the world is superior to others regardless of how irrational another's belief may be.

Christopher's Blog

Freud and Civilization

On Freud and Football