In Freud's words, the unconscious is a hidden "other scene" on which our lives are played out. It displaces our memories, desires, emotions and feelings that cause us to fear or shame. Without knowing it, we may experience an unclear sense of guilt that makes us punish ourselves for illness, failure in love affairs or career. The unconscious puts us in front of a disturbing fact: emotions, fantasies, thoughts that we do not know about or do not pay attention to, can determine our lives more than our will.
Today, in an era of free will and human capacity, this is particularly difficult to accept. Moreover, modern science is willing to take seriously only what can be weighed, measured and rationally explained. And how to measure the unconscious? As a result, the concept itself is being criticized. Thus, the philosopher Michel Honfrett has devoted hundreds of pages to harsh attacks on what he considers to be only an illusory idea, a consequence of Dr Freud's personal neurosis. The unconscious and some psychotherapists criticize the unconscious, calling the concept obsolete and pointing out that many modern psychotherapeutic techniques do without it. Is the age of the unconscious coming to an end? Or is it objective and eternal, like the physical laws?
An old problem?
Back in the 3rd-4th centuries, the rabbis, the Talmud compilers, speculated that our dreams speak of secret aspirations and desires. More than a thousand years later, European philosophers took up the unconscious. Benedict Spinoza in the XVIII century noted that the true reasons for our actions are almost always hidden from us. The term "unconscious" itself appeared a century later. Friedrich Schelling believed that this is a vital impulse that unites the depths of spirit and nature, and Arthur Schopenhauer painted unconscious forces, ruling equally by people and the world. However, philosophy is translated as "love of wisdom", which is designed to idealize the consciousness and achieve complete rationality. And the unconscious for philosophers remained more of a source of unpleasant confusion to be eliminated than an object of study.
Dr. Freud's guess?
At the end of the 19th century, the unconscious was adopted by doctors who treated hypnosis. They believed that this invisible part of human mental life is inherent only to mentally ill people. Dr. Sigmund Freud suggested that the unconscious is absolutely for each of us. By practicing hypnosis, he discovered that along with consciousness there is also subconsciousness. Unconscious is only a part of it (along with the prediction), which is populated by forbidden desires (primarily sexual, aggressive), instincts of life and death. He was the first to realize that the unconscious had its own inner laws and needed to be interpreted. In essence, Freud proposed a new, revolutionary vision of the human soul. "If we were to designate a thinker's contribution to the development of humanity in a single word, then, for example, for Einstein, it would be a "theory of relativity," says psychoanalyst Igor Kadyrov. - And in connection with Freud, first of all, it is necessary to say "unconscious". Of course, other major thinkers, such as the German philosopher Eduard von Hartmann, also speculated or argued about the unconscious before Freud. However, in its originality, heuristicity and depth, its concept is completely unprecedented.
Friend or enemy?
The unconscious does not wish us any harm or good. We simply have it because our "I" refuses to be aware of anything that might hurt us, frighten us, or give us too bad a picture of ourselves or of those we love. Let's say a dangerous person wants to get into our house. Of course, we'll try to get him out of the door, and the door itself will be provided with more secure locks to make sure it's safe. But the unpleasant type from this is not going to disappear anywhere. He will stay at the door and even try to remind of his presence. The same happens with thoughts and desires, pushed into the unconscious. They are not forgotten and do not disappear. And from time to time they use a gap in consciousness - it can be a moment of fatigue or sleep - and remind of themselves in the form of dreams, reservations or erroneous actions. This happens at a time when we least expect it. And then, instead of sending a gentle message to the spouse, we send it to our ex-wife, who we cannot forget. Or we lose a piece of paper with the address of a business meeting, on which our future well-being depends, because deep down the proposed work does not please us. It is no coincidence that we are afraid of the unconscious. This is probably the way our Self, who is afraid to admit that it is unable to control everything, manifests itself in this way.
To be continued in the next part: https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5d5ee956d5135c00ad8929e9/the-unconsious-part-of-ourselves-theory-and-reality-part-2-5d9222c58d5b5f00aee42bd3?via=izenkit