The Nuances of Human Psyche - Literature review Example

Introduction The human mind is an intricate amalgam of and rational thought. Philosophers have explored the nuances of human psyche over the period of history and modern society is a complex myriad of religious, social and cultural complexity. The following analysis studies contributions of eminent authors on their analyses of the human mind, its emotions and the metaphysical and religious influences on human psyche. Emotion and the Unconscious: S. Freud Citing the discernible distance between the fields of aesthetics’ and psychoanalysis, Freud has tried to explain the emotional aura of an average human being as regards the hidden thoughts and carried over perceptions from historical generations, which make some experiences in life seem ‘uncanny’ or different from what is naturally expected. Freud rightfully dissects the word ‘uncanny’ in great detail, citing the paucity of research on the subject and the existence of just one research paper by E. Jentsch, as admitted by him, into the aspect of the realm of human perceptions of the ‘uncanny’ events in life (Freud, 1985:340). According to him, ‘uncanny’ events are basically considered as evil, terrible and horrific as envisaged in the human psyche. The author has dissected the meaning of two German words, ‘heimlich’ and ‘unheimlich’ and studied the relationship between the two to the point where they interpolate on each other’s literal meaning (Freud, 1985:341). ‘Heimlich’, according to Freud literally translates into what one considers, normal or an animate/inanimate object/situation/place of familiarity with which one usually associates. Any departure from this ‘familiarity’ or ‘normal’ situation is considered as uncanny and transforms into the ‘unheimlich’ version of the perspective under which it is perceived. Freud illustrates the meaning of ‘uncanny’ by citing numerous fictional stories and anecdotes in real life which border on what is normally considered as supernatural. The main story through which the author depicts the irrational thoughts imprinted in the human mind is that of a young lad Nathanial, who in his impressionable years comes to associate an irrational fear of the hypothetical ‘Sandman’ who comes to haunt him on numerous life occasions’ in adult life as well (Freud, 1985:348). Nathanial develops and uncanny, irrational fear of the character up to such an extent that anybody whom he associates with the character of the ‘Sandman’ becomes villain in his life. The human emotional state, according to Freud, is therefore subject to the unconscious carrying over of irrational thoughts which may have been overcome through the process of education or personal reasoning. Any real life event, which suggests the recurrence of the innately feared event, results in the strengthening of the belief in what is considered as ‘uncanny’. Even death, which scientists’ have established to be the inevitable truth, is seldom visualized in the unconscious by an average human being. The author believes that the religious school of thought is also established on the basis of the existence or fear of the ‘uncanny’ which is beyond human interpretative capability. The actual occurrence of an event which is normally considered imaginary results in the phenomenon that is labeled ‘uncanny’. In the author’s own words, ‘the uncanny is nothing else than a hidden, familiar thing that has undergone repression and then emerged from it, and that everything that is uncanny fulfils this condition’ (Freud, 1985: 368). The human emotional state is transformable into a morbid anxiety stage through the repressive influences of what is considered as rational thinking. It is the subconscious beliefs, nurtured in an impressionable state, and the influences of external education, which when disproved, results into belief of the ‘uncanny’. Being in a Mood: M. Heidegger In the chapter entitled ‘What is metaphysics’, the translator, Krell has extrapolated the original ideas of Heidegger into the English language, which makes comprehension quite a challenge, as expression in the original language always has a uniqueness of character. Heidegger has asked the reader at the very beginning to enter the realms of metaphysics in order to comprehend it fully. The philosopher believes that the realm of metaphysics can be experienced only by transforming oneself into an integral, inseparable part of the inquiry into the realm itself. The author elaborates this concept on the basis of what he claims to be ‘the essential position of existence’ which he labels as ‘Dasein’ (Heidegger, 1998:82). The author contends that although the multiple sciences’, as we recognize them today, have been categorized into various disciplines, with specific defined ordained goals for their mastery, certain limitations still prevent their firm rooting in what he considers as an essential ground for knowledge. He believes that sciences’ can be considered as beings which try to examine the correctness of the grounds on the basis of which they have been established in the first place. To be human has also been considered as a ‘being’ and the so called sciences transform into a cyclic enquiry into the relationships of various ‘beings’. What is considered as scientific knowledge emanates from the ‘irruption’ of the wholesomeness of the collective beings and beyond that lies what the author contends to be ‘nothing’ (Heidegger, 1998:84). The rest of the treatise goes into great length trying to explain to the reader what actually ‘nothingness’ is and how sciences as well as the human intellect has to accept the relevance of ‘nothing’ in order to rationalize the concept of what is apparent in this world, which itself can be considered as a being beyond which lies the indefinable ‘nothing’. The author claims that the closest a human being can get to the realization of the manifestation of the ‘nothing’ is during periods of anxiety, which he describes as an irrational fear of an indescribable entity i.e. ‘nothing’ (Heidegger, 1998:90). The author is careful in discerning anxiety from ordinary ‘fear’, the latter being and experienced emotion with an explicable, sound reason for its manifestation. Anxiety, on the other hand is the unreal experience, a foreboding of the existence of the ‘nothing’. As beings are not actually annihilated by anxiety, it reveals the expression of ‘nothing’ as an entity. All sciences must and have to concede the existence of ‘nothing’ as a basis for the determinants of their analyses. Rationality and logic are mere creations of the human intellect which indirectly acknowledge the existence of ‘nothingness’, without which the very roots of their existence will cease to exist. The author contends that ‘nothing’ is something beyond what we ordinarily identify as ‘negation’ and the ‘not’. Man can be considered as ‘stationed in the midst of beings that are unveiled somehow as a whole’ (Heidegger, 1998: 87). Discovery of ‘self’ among beings as a whole is the true expression of what the author labels as ‘Dasein’. Religion and Emotion: R. Otto Otto, in his writings contends that religion, especially Christianity has been transformed by orthodoxy into the ideation of God primarily through one sided rationalization and intellectualism, and ignoring the non rational elements responsible for its manifestation as a religion. He believes that the non rational elements should have been considered, as they according to him are the central core of Christian belief (Otto, 1958: 144). Otto feels that this has imparted a rationalistic bias to Christianity, prompting him to explore the meaning of the word ‘holy’ and how the feeling of holiness establishes itself in the human psyche. In the process, he has taken examples from other religious faiths and drawn the similarities emanating from them. At the outset Otto clarifies that the interpretation of the word ‘holy’ as something just ‘completely good’ lacks the true attributes of the meanings’ with which the word can be associated. The author has formulated a new word ‘numinous’ derived from the Latin word ‘numen’ to describe the irreducible state of mind in the effort to interpret the true meaning of what can be considered as ‘holy’. He feels that such a state of consciousness of the human mind is essential to realize the true meaning of what is considered as ‘holy’ (Otto, 1958: 145). The author has coined another phrase ‘mysterium tremendum’ to explain the awe under which the aura of God is experienced by the human psyche. The author states that this mysterious awe is experienced by a true believer occasionally, particularly when surrounded by the environments in which the religious aura exists, such as in the vicinity of churches’ and temples’. This ‘awe’, the author contends is a temporary experience, replaced by the profanity of everyday experience which overtakes the mind after the person has left the precincts of holy places. This ‘awe’ for the holy unseen power exerts a type of dread on the believer for a short period of time, the dread being distinct and special, not associated with common fear from ordinary elements which affect the human psyche. The author has coined another phrase ‘inward shuddering’ for the awe generated by faith in God which cannot be replicated by earthly fears (Otto, 1958: 147). This fear is akin to that of fear from ghosts or demons or the unknown which borders on being labelled as uncanny or eerie. In the presence of the holy, self is subjugated into nothingness and a mere human is encompassed with the realization of self as only being a creature susceptible to the wrath of the Almighty. The numinous experience, according to Otto has a qualitative content comprising of the elements of majesty and awfulness associated with the Superpower which contribute to the fascination of religious belief and its daunting effect on the human psyche, presenting a strange harmony of contrasts (Otto, 1958: 153). Despite the awe and the daunting nature of the belief in God, the human psyche derives relief and pleasure from the utter subjugation to the higher unknown elements, the basis of faith itself. Such an emotional state of the believer is beyond the precincts of rational thought and also beyond the satisfaction derived from what are considered as mere sensual, intellectual and physical needs and pursuits of an ordinary human being. Conclusion Freud, Heidegger and Otto have explored the real and abstract influences on the human psyche and created their own inferences by exploring and challenging the myths and knowledge believed to be accurate during their times. Freud has gone in great detail to dissect what is considered as ‘uncanny’ and how the human psyche is inherently engrossed with the fear of the unknown despite all rationality. Heidegger has explained the method to explore and experience what is considered as metaphysical by realizing the entity of ‘beings’ and the ‘nothing’ which is essential for the manifestation of everything else. Otto has examined how Christianity and other religions have been influenced during history and has tried to elaborate the meaning of the word ‘holy’ by imparting to it characteristics hitherto unknown to mankind. References Freud S. (1985) ‘The Uncanny’ S. Freud: Art and Literature (Penguin) [extracts] pp. 339-376. Heidegger M. (1998) What is Metaphysics?, Pathmarks (Cambridge Uni. Press) pp. 81-96 Otto R. (1958) ‘The Idea of the Holy’ (Oxford Uni. Press) [extracts] pp. 144-155 Read More