Freud

This will be a brief post to make a single point.

Debunking Freud is sport in psychology circles, some of which is for good reason. As a result the practices of psycho therapy have progressed to the point we can integrate two approaches which are in some ways opposite each other. 

One is the "uncovering" of early trauma, much or most of which may be completely unconscious (repressed), which when "uncovered" helps us to understand the problem from which we suffer. From a mechanistic point of view, we can't fix a problem until we know what it is. Replacing a tail light won't unclog a fuel system...

The other major component that has been added can be credited to Jung, who added spirituality to the practice of psychotherapy. This takes us from a focus on the individual "parts" to the complete and total "everything", which gives us appreciation of nature in all it's dynamism, and allows the acceptance of life's difficulties without paralysis, and a deep level of comfort with reality as it is. Spirituality in essence is the ability to "see" everything all at once, to be "one" with life force dynamic, and shouldn't be confused with religion IMHO.

The blend of these two modalities is more effective in resolving "neurosis" than either alone. In the simplest terms possible it could be said to be a blend of psychotherapy with a meditation practice. Finding out the "thing" that's wrong, and seeing the operating "whole", at the same time.

But the main point I'd like to make is that Freud's primary contribution is still not widely understood. And it is simply that we are "driven" by instinct not reason.

What does that mean? You know the saying we only use 10% of our brain? And if only we could just use that other 90% we would be, um, what? Some kind of super duper humans?

Well that is not what "we only use 10% of our brain" means. It means we only use 10% of our brain capacity for rational (conscious) "thinking". The other 90% is not just sitting on it's lazy butt, it's super busy all the time 24/7/365 birth to death. Ever had the thought "I better breath now"? That can be helpful at times, but how many of the billions of breaths you take in your life had to be preceded by a conscious thought? A statistical zero.

Yep it takes 90% of our brain to "run the body". This is "the unconscious", the autonomic nervous system, and the place where all of our "instincts" live. The brain and the nervous system are actually one organ, and it is VERY busy all the time, and we are completely unaware of at least 90% of those millions of ongoing processes. (More like 98%.)

So what is the problem of not understanding the main point of Freud's work, that we are driven by instinct not reason? It is the only thing that explains the addiction problem accurately. Or call it compulsivity. Whatever you call it, it becomes nearly impossible to control when we do not understand where it comes from. And therefore it is MUCH easier to control when we do.

It is not our fault that we have instincts and are driven by them. STOP taking on those guilt messages that it's our fault, which are based on an incomplete and incorrect understanding of the instinct complex, which basically is not as complicated as we may think. If "just don't do it" worked there would be no addiction and compulsivity. It is not our fault, and it is not faulty "wiring".

Are instincts bad? They are completely necessary, and a very good thing. If we could "turn off" our instincts like a light switch we'd fall over dead instantly. This is the autonomic nervous system.

Should we genetically modify humans to "fix" our primitive instincts? That would be incredibly stupid, so let's not do that. Do we ever stop to consider how much "science" is incredibly stupid? When we are under the illusion of being driven mostly by reason we are capable of doing incredibly stupid things. An understanding of the overarching instinctual structure is enlightenment. And Freud's basic message to humanity.

And it doesn't have to be difficult to apprehend. The single best text I've come across that explains the addiction and compulsivity problem simply and succinctly is the simple book 

The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happiness

written by two of the principles of the True North Health Center in Santa Rosa CA, Alan Goldhamer and Doug Lisle. Yes, there is a vegan orientation, if you are not vegan and have no intention of ever being vegan you can completely ignore that part. But read it anyway, it's that important.

Blessings