Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud - Research Paper Example

Freud and Religion The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, in his book Civilization and Its Discontent, maintains it is an indisputable fact that achieving happiness not possible. In spite of this, Freud says people use many ultimately ineffective strategies to compensate for this reality. One of these ways, and the only method by which Freud appears to think provides any sense of contentment, is found in the area of religion. This ultimately provides further evidence as to why true happiness can never really be obtained. For people who are not completely engrossed in a religious pursuit and even for persons who are, the failure to find happiness leads to a number of methods whereby people seek to at least circumvent pain. Sooner or later, if at all, Freud believes people discover that love is the answer to their quest for happiness. When this fails, as it unfortunately does for too many, people try to control their social lives through a assortment of means and then ultimately come to recognize that unhappiness and guilt are pervasive and they again look for the answers they did not find in religion. This cycle of futile searches for happiness is addressed throughout Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontent. Freud proposes that the very underpinnings of civilization and systematic factions such as religions are found within the multifaceted development of a person. In his effort to clarify the ‘oceanic’ sensation of limitless bond felt with all of humanity illustrated by a friend of Freud’s, which possibly supplies the foundation of religious affiliation, he investigates the development of the ego as it transforms from the baby to the adult. According to Freud, the infantile ego makes understands little difference between what is external to the infant and what is external to it. By continually adjusting to its knowledge of what is internal as it starts to differentiate those characteristics of itself that are internal as opposed to those characteristics that are external entities, the person begins to reduce their field, developing a sense of what they are by defining what they are not. However, they may also maintain some feature of that greater association felt as an infant, thus explaining, plausibly, this ‘oceanic’ feeling of limitlessness and a connection with the universe (Freud, 1930: 19-22). While Freud cannot completely appreciate this sensation himself, he suggests that it is the infant’s want for security that leads them to identify this common feeling of the concept that an all-knowing and unseen Father figure protecting for his children below. “Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks” (Freud, 1930: 22). To emotionally handle this, people seek out other means of distracting themselves from their perceived unhappiness, for example, discovering a purpose for their existence. Freud states that, in addition to the oceanic sensation of association, the question concerning the meaning of life, a question that continues to be wondered by all persons of all periods of time, is only understood to be answered adequately to those persons who believe in religion. To guarantee a lifetime of happiness, Freud proposes people utilize many different methods of fulfilling pleasure while attempting to disregard reality. Freud’s ‘pleasure principle’ refers to the requirement felt by all persons to meet needs instantly. “Just picture the hungry infant, screaming itself blue. It doesn’t ‘know’ what it wants in any adult sense; it just knows that it wants it and it wants it now” (Boeree, 2006). This continual pursuit of happiness and escape from anguish introduces a variety of means and strategies whereby the person might seek to circumvent sorrow and seek pleasure including inclusion, isolation and in the dulling of the senses. The senses are dulled through a variety means, including intoxicants, the suppressing of instinctual desires for many activities or a trancelike severance from reality. “A satisfaction of this kind, such as an artist’s joy in creating, in giving his phantasies body, or a scientist’s in solving problems or discovering truths, has a special quality which we shall certainly one day be able to characterize in metapsychological terms. At present we can only say figuratively that such satisfactions seem ‘finer and higher’” (Freud, 1930: 26). Regardless of this, in all instances, Freud maintains that the feelings of superficial pleasures are of a much weaker quality than the contentment felt by the baser, cruder, instinctual pleasures. Additionally, none of these behaviors can provide a protection against the pains of the world, constantly having some method of allowing distressing events to enter and destroy the delusion of contentment. Tying these perceptions back into the dominion of religion, Freud proposes that all religious though is just such delusions, alternate ways of recognizing the world around them as a means of reconstructing reality to suit the person’s own desires. Freud, in making this argument, proposes that the feeling of guilt is “the most important problem in the development of civilization” and that “the price we pay for our advance in civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt” (Freud, 1930: 81). This pervading feeling of guilt, Freud believes, is not always understood as such due to the fact it sinks into the person’s unconscious. “It appears as a sort of malaise, a dissatisfaction, for which people seek other motivations” (Freud, 1930: 83). Here, again, it is understood how religion is used as a crutch for people. Religion recognizes this human feeling of guilt, renames it sinful, and gives a promise to liberate the faithful from sin, or guilt, through appropriate behaviors as are identified by church teachings. It is a recognized fact that people cannot subsist without the company of other people, for companionship if for no other reason. Even when breaking the social dynamic down to its most fundamental element, the person’s immediate family group comprised of father, mother and children or child, there remains a human need for association and an integrated mechanism exists in us all that feel the need to re-establish that association whenever it might start to break down. Freud identifies this mechanism in the emotion of guilt. “Since civilization obeys an internal erotic impulsion which causes human being to unite in a closely-knit group, it can only achieve this aim through an ever-increasing reinforcement of the sense of guilt. What began in relation to the father is completed in relation to the group” (Freud, 1930: 80). In presenting this argument, Freud advises that the sense of guilt is “the most important problem in the development of civilization” and that “the price we pay for our advance in civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt” (Freud, 1930: 81). This encompassing sense of guilt, Freud emphasizes, is not always identified as such because it is submerged into the subconscious. “It appears as a sort of malaise, a dissatisfaction, for which people seek other motivations” (Freud, 1930: 83). In his book, Freud demonstrates the method by which religion becomes a crutch for people in its recognition of their guilt, referring to it as sin, and its assurance to liberate the person from guilt, or sin, through appropriate behavior as it is defined by church teachings. However, in discovering at the methods by which society operates, Freud makes associations between the troubles of society and the troubles of the person. With his examination regarding the exact nature of religion, Freud’s contribution in this area was to offset the equilibrium of theology enough to encourage new discussion and debate in this field. Works Cited Boeree, C. George. “Sigmund Freud.” Personality Theories. (2006). July 17, 2011 Freud, Sigmund. “Civilization and its Discontents.” (1930). Read More