-:The Theory
Of Unconscious:-
We
shall discuss in this chapter briefly the Theory put forward by Sigmund
Freud regarding the nature of human mind. Freud made an excellent analysis
of the human mental apparatus in various regions, which he called Unconscious,
the Conscious and the Super ego. He also assigned different names to "Unconscious"
and "Conscious" regions of mind. He called Unconscious as "id" and Conscious
as "ego". Freud regarded Unconscious (id) the real human mind which is
inaccessible part of human personality and has access to the external world
only through the Conscious mind (ego) while Super ego stands for conscience
or an ideal of conduct. Although Freud is sadly mistaken about the nature
of the urge in the Unconscious (id), which he regards as sexual, yet his
general theory about the supreme importance of the Unconscious as the dynamic
power of human action, has laid the foundation of far-reaching progress
in the knowledge of human nature. From our point of view, the Unconscious
is the same as we call Human Self or Soul and the nature of the urge in
the Unconscious mind is actually the spiritual urge of Human Self. When
Freud's theory is purged of its principle error, it will be in accord with
our work as outlined in this book.
According
to Freud, human personality, or human mind, consists of Unconscious mind
and Conscious mind. The greater part of "personality" is Unconscious mind.
Conscious mind is a small part of the Unconscious mind and is wholly dependent
on it. All the contents of the Conscious mind are derived from the Unconscious,
and they are to the Unconscious as foam is to the ocean. The Unconscious
mind, which is non-material [ According to
Freud there is nothing in the Unconscious that corresponds to the idea
of time, no recognition of the passage of time and no alteration in its
mental processes.] and lives out of the space-time
material universe, is uncivilised and full of seething excitements. Its
chief concern is to gratify its desires which are sexual in nature and
which are tremendously powerful. It cannot satisfy its desires except through
the Conscious mind, which it has put at the outer surface of the mental
apparatus and remains under the influence of the external world through
the perceptual [ Perceptual mind is our physical
mind where sense perceptions arise. It is the sense organ, which also receives
excitement from outside and those arising from the interior of the physical
mind.] mind of the physical body. The Unconscious
mind forces the Conscious mind with the full pressure of its desires to
strive for their satisfaction.
The
Conscious mind, which is a creature of the Unconscious, feels the necessity
of meeting the needs of the Unconscious but it is often helpless because
of the fear and pressure of the society which requires it to behave in
a respectable, law-abiding and orderly manner. Since the bawdy and unruly
desires of the Unconscious interface with the respectability and rational
approach of the Conscious mind, the latter tries to check them and keep
them below the level of consciousness. This function of the Conscious mind
is called the censor. Unconscious desires, which suffer continuous discouragement
and repression from the censor, are finally disappointed and no longer
insist on rising into consciousness, that is, they are forgotten. They,
however, avenge themselves, so to say, for the rough treatment meted out
to them by creating a diseased condition of the Conscious mind, known as
a complex, of which the symptoms are hysteria, nervousness, obsession and
neurosis. In order, however, to save the people from such a situation,
society has fabricated religious ethics, philosophies, arts, etc. to divert
this powerful urge of sex!
Oedipus
Complex
Since
the Unconscious comes along with the birth of the baby and the necessity
of sexual urge arises after reaching the normal age of puberty, therefore,
in order to support his theory, Freud had to prove that irrespective of
age, even a baby has an inclination towards sex. Accordingly, Freud attributes
such simple activities of the child as swallowing, excreting, and sucking
the nipple or the thumb, as sexual in character through which the baby
gets sexual satisfaction. As the child grows, it develops a strong sex
love for the parent of the opposite sex accompanied by rivalry of dislike
towards the other parent and regards them as perfect models of beauty.
The
sexual urge of the child results in his intense love for the parents who
dominate him by showing affection and by threats of punishment which create
anxiety in the child because they suggest to him loss of parental love
and because the parents must be feared on their own account. The parents
keep the personality of the child under their complete control and the
child because of the fear of losing it lives in two different emotions.
Freud has given this parental function, that is, child's intense sex attachment
to and respect for parents and his constant fear of losing it, the name
of Oedipus Complex - a complex which continues to maintain its separate
identity (norms and character of love and fear) apart from Conscious mind
throughout a person's life whose prime urge is sex only.
Super
Ego
As
the child grows in years he begins to identify his parents with better
objects or persons whom he regards as more perfect. Later on, with the
improvement of his knowledge, he selects still better ideal of love, which
goes on developing abstract qualities. This ideal which a person later
on loves is actually derived form of parental love, beauty and respect.
He observes all moral restriction out of fear for winning the love of the
ideal, which he regards as perfect beauty just as he behaved as a child
according to the wishes of his parents whom he regarded as perfect model
of beauty. Freud calls this derivation of child from parental functions
(Oedipus Complex) to love of ideals with the name of "Super Ego". In other
words, the Super Ego is the heir to the parental love and beauty which
emerges when the child in later years find more perfect objects and ideals
for compensating the loss of parental functions. These imprints of the
child (that is the sexual attraction of the child to his parents, his conviction
to love them as perfect beauty models, and his constant anxiety and fear
to show good manners which make the child conscientious) shift toward ideals
and influence a person as a matter of conscience throughout his life. Instead
of parents, the person now sees perfection in ideals. He follows morals
out of love and fear of the ideals as he observed good manner out of love
and fear of his parents. In other words Super Ego stands for conscience
or ideal of conduct.
Super
Ego cannot function completely as long as the child does not overcome the
Oedipus Complex; that is, he shifts his love from parents and identifies
them with better objects or ideals. The Super Ego appears to demand an
ever-increasing perfection of ideals because the child's idea of perfection
improves as he grows in years and develops his powers of comparison and
thought. In other words, both the love of parents and, later, the love
of ideals, are the result of the urge for perfection in the Unconscious.
On the other hand, the main task of Conscious mind is to put ideals before
the Super Ego, which stands for conscience. However, in doing so, the Conscious
mind has to face the realities and demands of the outer world and thus
it stand for reason. Super Ego (conscience) which is the advocate of perfection
and moral restrictions, watches the Conscious mind strictly to observe
the morals as demanded by the ideal and always expects that the ideal so
selected by the Conscious mind is perfect in its beauty. Thus Super Ego,
which according to Freud, is the heir to Oedipus Complex, maintains its
separate identity from the Conscious mind throughout a person's life and
the Conscious mind remains under its influence. Just like parents, the
Super ego (conscience) dictates and frightens the Conscious mind that once
having selected an ideal, it should strictly observe all the attendant
morals and that the ideal so selected by the Conscious mind must conform
to the norms of Super Ego, which in a way, are the representative of the
Unconscious mind. Freud writes:
"The
Super Ego's relation to the later alteration of Conscious is roughly to
that of the primary sexual phase of childhood to later sexual life after
puberty. Although Super Ego is accessible to all the later influences,
it nevertheless preserves throughout life the character given to it by
its derivation from the father complex - namely the capacity to stand apart
from the Conscious and to master it. It is memorial of the former weakness
and dependence of the Conscious, and the mature Conscious remains subject
to its domination. As the child was once under a compulsion to obey its
parents, so the Conscious submits to the categorical imperatives of its
Super Ego."
Oedipus
Complex And Super Ego Are Not Two Different functions
They
Reveal Only The strong Spiritual Urge Of The Unconscious For Seeking And
Loving The Creator In The Form Of Ideals
It
would be seen that in-order to show that human conscience for moral observation
is not spiritual in nature; it has its origin in sex instincts. Freud had
to invent the terms of "Oedipus Complex" and "Super Ego" in support of
his claim that conscience has sprung from child's intense sex love for
opposite parents and as a consequence observing the discipline for satisfying
it. Before we proceed further, let us, therefore, consider some of the
most important points relating to "Oedipus Complex" and "Super Ego". Freud
says that as the child advances in years and his knowledge increases, his
sex love for the parents turns into the love for more and more perfect
ideals. The question is why the sex desires which has nothing to do with
ideals, turns into the love for ideals which continue to rise in more and
more abstract values. Also why the Oedipus Complex, in spite of its alleged
sexual origin, takes such a turn in later life that it emerges in the form
of conscience or an ideal conduct. The urge for sex gratification and the
love for ideals are two different tendencies of life and cannot be regarded
as one. This confirms that the child's urge is not sexual in nature, it
is rather for perfection of ideals. Freud tells us that the Super Ego has
the tendency to diverge more and more from the Oedipus Complex as time
goes on. Why is it so? If it had been a successor to the Oedipus Complex,
we should have expected it to conform as much as possible to the character
of its origin, that is, mere sex urge. These facts are inexplicable if
we assume that the love of ideals is not an independent natural urge in
a person but it is the resulting substitute of the so-called Oedipus Complex.
Freud himself writes:
"I
cannot tell you much as I could wish about the change from the parental
function to the Super Ego… partly because we ourselves do not feel we
have fully understood it." The change from the parental function (Oedipus
Complex) to the Super Ego is not clear to Freud because of his persistence,
at all costs, in the belief that the desires in the Unconscious are of
a sexual nature. He could not ascribe a sexual basis to the urge for the
ideals without asserting that Super Ego is the result of Oedipus Complex,
which has a sexual character. This is no doubt a far-fetched idea and one
of the weakest links in the theory of Freud.
According
to our view, Unconscious, which Freud has called the untamed reservoir
of passions and desires and the greater personality of man, is not the
reservoir of the passions of sex but rather it is the reservoir of spiritual
attraction for Perfect Beauty. Oedipus Complex and Super Ego are not two
different functions. They reveal only the strong spiritual urge of the
Unconscious for seeking and loving the creator in the form of ideals based
on such attributes as are already vaguely reflected in the Unconscious.
The fact that child loves his parents as splendid figures, that he feels
an admiration for his parents and ascribes a perfection to them, that he
loves his teachers because they are ideal models, that the Super Ego (successor
of Oedipus Complex) is the advocate of the impulse towards perfection,
and the fact that Super Ego demands an ever-increasing perfection shows
that the individual is under the powerful influence of a desire for the
perfect, the admirable and the splendid, throughout his life. In childhood,
this desire finds an outlet in the persons of the parents and teachers
because nothing the child knows more perfect and more desirable than these
personalities. As his knowledge increase, a person finds better objects
and ideas worthy of love and devotion and he is naturally attracted by
them, being compelled by the urge of his nature. Super Ego appears to demand
an ever-increasing perfection of ideals because the child's idea of perfection
improves as he grows in years and develops his powers of comparison and
thought. His idea of what is perfect grows with the knowledge and shifts
to better and better objects continuously. This explains why, as the child
grows, the parents lose a good deal of their prestige, why the Super Ego
becomes more and more remote from the parents, and why the child loves
and respects his parents differently at different periods of his life.
Super Ego is not the result of the child's love of parents. On the other
hand, both the love for parents and the Super Ego (Conscience) are the
result of the urge for perfection in the Unconscious. The terms used by
Freud, viz. Oedipus Complex and Super Ego are nothing but to place greater
emphasis on the urge of the Unconscious for perfection.
Nature
of Unconscious Mind
We
shall now discuss briefly the nature of the Unconscious mind to which Freud
has given the name "id". About the Unconscious mind he writes
[ New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. PP.106-107.]:
"The
Unconscious or the "id" is a cauldron of seething excitement. It has no
organisation and no unified will, only an impulsion to obtain satisfaction
for the instinctual needs in accordance with the pleasure principle. The
laws of logic above all, the laws of contradiction do not hold for processes
in the "id". Contradictory impulses exist side by side without neutralising
each other… There is nothing in the id (Unconscious) that could be compared
with negation; and we perceive with surprise an exception to the philosophical
theorem that space and time are necessary forms of our mental acts. There
is nothing in the id that corresponds to the idea of time; there is no
recognition of passage of time and - a thing that is most remarkable and
awaits consideration in philosophical thought - no alteration in its mental
processes is produced by the passage of time. Wishful impulses, which have
never passed beyond the id (Unconscious), but impressions, too which have
been sunk into the id by repression, are virtually immortal; after the
passage of decades they behave as though they had just occurred. They can
only be recognised as belonging to the past, deprived of their significance
and robbed of their charge of energy after they have been made Conscious
by work of analysis and no small part of the therapeutic effect of analytic
treatment rests upon this effect. Again and again I have had the impression
that we have made too little theoretical use of this fact, established
beyond any doubt, of the inalterability by time of the repressed. This
seems to offer an approach to the most profound discoveries. Nor unfortunately,
have I myself made any progress here."
The
nature of Unconscious mind as explained above, is based on the facts, which
Freud obtained during his experiments. When we study the nature of Unconscious,
we find that it is not clear as to how he took the urge of Unconscious
as the urge of gratification of sex instincts. In our view, Freud made
a great error in understanding the urge of Unconscious. Had he known that
the urge of Unconscious is strong passion of spiritual love, he would not
have invited the philosophers to interpret the nature of the Unconscious.
As a matter of fact with the right interpretation of the Unconscious urge,
the whole theory of Freud would have scientifically established that the
urge of Human Self is spiritual in nature and that the Self can be satisfied
only by seeking and loving its Creator in the form of perfect beauty ideals.
We shall examine this fact in some detail.
In
the first place, the nature of Unconscious as defined by Freud doe not
give any impression whatsoever that it has any relation with sexual desire.
Secondly, sex instincts belong to the animal stage where life is confined
to the material state of consciousness. The main function of sex instincts
is to continue the physical life through the process of procreation. But
as against it, when Freud talks about "id" and "ego", he means human personality.
As we know, the conscious values of human being are not only different
in degree but also those are different in kind as compared to the conscious
values of animal life. It is witnessed by the fact that while animal remains
immersed in the material state of its perceptual mind and cannot, even
in imagination, get outside of it to realise itself as a distinct entity,
man as a Self-conscious Entity outlives the perceptual mind of his body.
He can never come down from the state of Self-consciousness to the narrow
physical world as determined by the animal's perceptual mind. The fact
that Unconscious (id) remains as a dynamic entity outside the physical
world is admitted by Freud himself. He says:
[ New Introductory Lectures. P.P.108.]
"Id
is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality…. It has intercourse
with the external world only through the ego…. There is nothing in the
"id" that corresponds to the idea of time. The ego controls the approaches
to motility under the id's orders; but between a need and an action it
has interposed a postponement in the form of activity of thought during
which it makes use of the mnemonic residues of experience… the relation
to time which is so hard to describe, is also introduced into the ego by
the perceptual system; it can scarcely be doubted that the mode of operation
of that system is what provides the origin of the idea of time." The nature
of Unconscious (id) as explained by Freud establishes that Unconscious
lives as a sole dynamic entity outside the material universe as well as
the perceptual mind of human physical body, which remains, confined under
space-time physical laws. Its only contact with the external world is through
its Conscious mind (ego-. These discoveries establish that the urge of
Unconscious as a dynamic non-material entity living outside the material
universe cannot be the gratification of physical sex instincts.
Again,
if we compare the nature of the universe of Unconscious with the Conscious
mind as explained by Freud, we do not find ideal situation here too as
both Unconscious and Conscious, which Freud says make the human personality,
cannot go together because of their different nature. Freud says, " Unconscious
(id) is a cauldron of seething excitement. It has no organisation and no
unified will, only and impulsion to obtain satisfaction for the instinctual
needs in accordance with the pleasure principle. The laws of logic above
all, the laws of contradiction do not hold for processes in the id". As
against this Freud describes Conscious mind (ego) " as that part of the
id which has been modified by its proximity to the external world and it
has taken over the task of representing the external world for the id.
From a dynamic point of view it is weak, it borrows its energy from the
id. It stands for reason and by identifying itself with the object it recommends
itself to the id in place of the object and seeks to attract the libido
of the id on to itself". The question is how it could be possible that
while the most important and dominating part of human personality, rather
the whole of it, that is the Unconscious is sex stricken, uncivilised and
untamed, its insignificant part, that is, Conscious mind, which is solely
dependent on Unconscious stands for reason and rationality and has no sexual
desires at all. If Unconscious and Conscious both make the human mind or
personality, then how is it that the nature of both parts of the personality
is different and wide apart. The nature of Conscious mind, as an agent,
could not differ from its dominant part. We take it, therefore, that the
urge of Unconscious is spiritual in nature and not sexual, as Freud has
put it.
Sex
Instinct Is Carved Out Of Love and Beauty
If
we look back at the creative process of universe, we will find that sex
instinct is also spiritual in nature as it has been carved out of the spiritual
love of the Creator. We have explained this in detail while discussing
the creative process of the universe. If we glance through that discussion,
we will find that since prior to the creative stage of human being, life
existed at the material level of consciousness; it was not mature or capable
of having direct cognition of its Creator. However, at whatever stage life
may be, it must have consciously or unconsciously spiritual love for its
Creator. At inorganic and organic stages, life satisfied this love by dividing
itself into two complementary units of attraction from within. We call
it polarity at inorganic stages and sex at organic stages. We should know
that life is the art of the Creator and, therefore, insofar as it was not
yet directly aware of its Creator, its love for itself from within through
dividing its conscious attributes in two sex attraction, in fact, amounted
to loving the attributes of the Creator. It is evident from the fact that
it is aesthetic appreciation and love of beauty of its "own kind" which
is ultimately replaced by the inferior kind of pleasure derived from the
sexual act. This can be seen in the behaviour of birds and insects who
are at first attracted by the beauty of colour, song, or plumage of their
opposite sex. This indicates that sex instinct has been carved out of spiritual
love. Had it not been carved out of spiritual love, life would not have
procreated itself at all. After passing through the various creative stages,
when life embarked upon the Self-conscious stage of Man, it found direct
[ Self-consciousness, as the words imply,
means that Self is conscious of something other than itself. In other words,
the Human self has become aware of itself, of its being and personality
because it has inherent feeling and attraction of the Creator in it. This
fact has expressly been made clear in many a revelations, which leave no
excuse for any Human being that he was misled to worship objects, idols
or personalities other than his Creator because he was not aware of Him.
The revelations thus warn the mankind. One can marvel at the way the revelations
are detailed which inter-alia show the utmost love and concern of the Creator
for the mankind: "And (remember)
when thy Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins,
their seed, and made them testify of themselves, (saying): Am I not your
Lord? They said: yea, verily we testify. That was lest ye should say at
the Day of Resurrection: Lo! Of this we were unaware. Or lest ye should
say: It is only our fathers ascribed partners to Allah of old and we were
their seed after them. Wilt thou destroy us on account of that which those
follow falsehood did? Thus we detail our revelations, that haply they may
return." (7: 172-174)]
spiritual feeling of its Creator in its Self or Soul and began to seek
its Creator in the form of ideals from within. In other words, at the material
stages, life having no direct feeling of the Creator, was satisfying its
love through complementary division of its attributes in opposite sex,
but at Human Self-conscious Stage, Human Soul being not material, it does
not satisfy its passion of love for the Creator by dividing it in opposite
sex in the physical forms. The Human Soul, which lives as a dynamic non-material
entity, seeks its Creator direct from within in the form of ideals. Human
Soul thus lives in complementary division as the ideal and object of the
ideal, as the seeker and the sought, as the lover and the beloved. When
it seeks its ideal, it in fact seeks and loves its Creator in the form
of ideal. Likewise, the ideal, which potentially lives as a complementary
unit equally, bestows its love to the object lover - the complementary
unit from within the Soul, which seeks it.
Our
discussion has shown that sex is carved out of spiritual love and that
the purpose of sexual act is to continue physical life through the process
of procreation at the material stages. After passing through its material
stage, when life became conscious of itself and through that its Creator,
a tremendous upsurge of spiritual love appeared in Human soul. Since, however,
the Human Self or Soul is still in the making and cannot comprehend its
Creator, it lives in a great cauldron of spiritual passion for the Creator
and wants to satisfy this urge by loving Him in ideals at its psychic level.
Freud could not understand as to how child's Oedipus Complex, that is,
so called sexual love for parents, shifts to love of ideals as the child
advances in age. It is because Freud was not aware of the real urge of
Unconscious. At the Human Stage, the Unconscious urge of man is the urge
of spiritual love of the Creator, and not the physical passion of sex.
The love of the Creator is inherent in every human soul, which lives as
the best art of the Creator. We feel that the Unconscious is the same,
which we call Human Self or Human Soul. Freud says:
" There
is nothing in the id that corresponds to the idea of time; there is no
recognition of the passage of time and - thing that is most remarkable
and awaits consideration in philosophical thought - no alteration in its
mental processes is produced by the passage of time. Wishful impulses which
have never passed beyond the id (Unconscious), but impressions, too which
have been sunk into the id by repression, are virtually immortal; after
the passage of decades they behave as though they had just occurred."
This
definition further supports our view that Unconscious and Human Self or
Soul is the same. At the Self-conscious Stage of Human being, the Human
Soul lives in non-material state. It implies, therefore, that Human Soul
already lives beyond time and space barriers. The fact that each and every
human act virtually lives immortal proves that the Human Self never meets
with death or destruction.
The
more we examine the theory of Freud, regarding the Unconscious, the more
we are surprised as to how this theory has been based on the impulse of
sex pleasure which does not stand its own test. On the contrary, it shows
that basically the love of a child towards his parents is of spiritual
nature and not sexual. It is fantastic to build a sex story around the
child. It is in fact an allegation against the infant. Further, the frightening
idioms used by Freud to support his theory such as Oedipus Complex, super
Ego, and Id, confuse the human mind. We feel that if the theory of Freud
is purged of the principle error that the nature of Unconscious urge is
the urge of sex gratification, the definition of the nature of Unconscious
given by Freud would in fact explain the nature of the Human Self (Soul)
as outlined in this work. The main attributes of the Human Self-given below
compare with the nature of Unconscious as defined by Freud:
According
to our work, the source of all human activities is man's strong love for
perfect beauty (Creator). This love of attraction appears in the form of
ideals. (According to Freud at the bottom of all human activities it is
the unconscious passion of sex desires, which push for their satisfaction).
This
urge, that is, the love for the Creator, which takes the form of ideals,
is unconscious because even without knowing or realising the presence of
the Creator, man is compelled to seek the perfect ideal. In other words,
man is driven by it to satisfy its urge by seeking universal truth or beauty.
(Freud believes that this urge is of sexual character and, therefore, man
can achieve real and lasting satisfaction only by freely satisfying the
instinct of sex).
In
childhood the urge of Unconscious finds its satisfaction in the love of
parents, teachers or elders whom the child regards as perfect beauty models
and then later on when child's knowledge improves and he feels that the
objects loved by him are not so perfect as it thought, it shifts to better
ideals which go on developing abstract qualities in them. (Freud believes
that child's love for parents is of sexual character and that later when
he shifts to the ideals, man pursues the morals out of the fear, which
he nourished as a child to win the love of his parents. Freud is unable
to explain the diversion of child's sexual love for parents to that of
ideals which have nothing to do with sex).
Man
cannot suppress the urge of Unconscious, which exists as a strong passion
of love for the Creator. Man may, by sheer ignorance, take gratification
of sex instinct as his ideal and seek satisfaction through this powerful
diversion. But it should be remembered that such a low ideal could never
give permanent satisfaction to the Unconscious. The Unconscious urge, which
exists as a great passion of spiritual love and attraction for the Creator,
cannot be deceived indefinitely. Man may suffer mental sickness like anxiety,
neurosis etc. as a result of misplacement of his spiritual love. (Freud
ascribes mental sickness due to non-fulfilment of sexual desires though
he has admitted that the therapeutic efforts of psychoanalysis have chosen
the way of mystical practices for curing the patients).
Man
derives satisfaction from higher activities like religion, ethics, arts,
sciences, etc. because these activities are of the nature of Unconscious.
(Freud believes that when a man because of the fear of society cannot satisfy
the urge of sex, he tries to seek satisfaction of this urge by diverting
it to activities of art, knowledge, religion, morals etc! In other words
he believes that these higher human activities are sublimated form of sexual
instincts!
Scientific
Acknowledgement of Life after Death
According
to Freud, every human action, whether big or small, good or bad, is permanently
recorded in Unconscious and remains in tact whether one may remember it
in life time or not. Freud knew the above facts through the experiments
and he expressed great surprise that each human act virtually lives immortal
in Unconscious, and the passage of time does not affect it. He was sure
that further research on this aspect might reveal astonishing facts about
human nature. The discovery that each human action is recorded in his Unconscious
mind which cannot be wiped out is a startling finding as it establishes
that Human Self continues to live after the physical death of the body.
Unfortunately, Freud did not know that this very aspect of man has already
been revealed in the Holy Quran which lays down that every human action
is persevered in Human Soul till the Day of Judgement. The revelation reads:
"On
the day when Allah will raise them all together then inform them of what
they did. Allah records it, while they forget it. And Allah is witness
over all things." (58: 6)
"And
every man's augury have We fastened to his own neck, and We shall bring
forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide
open. (And it will be said unto him): Read thy book. Thy soul sufficeth
as reckoner thee this day." (17: 13-14)
The
verse tells three things:
That
every human action clings to his neck;
That
on the Day of Judgement when he will read this record he will be surprised
that there is not a single action of his which has not been written in
that record;
That
this record remains attached with each man after his death and he will
get reward or punishment according to his deeds.
Unless
we accept the third factor mentioned above that this record goes with the
man even after his physical death, the first two factors found by Freud
carry no meaning. As a matter of fact the first two factors lead to the
third factor. As we know, the laws of time and space apply in this world
only and if there is any other world after death, that would be free from
the barriers of time and space. In the present life, each of our conscious
actions is confined within the time and barriers but according to Freud's
results if man has any Unconscious life which is free from time and space
then it clearly establishes that man's present life will continue even
after his physical death. The end of man's physical life itself the result
of time and space and since Unconscious (the highest form of mental life)
is free from limitations of time and space, we have perforce to believe
that death does not come on the Unconscious. Death comes only on the physical
frame of Human being. That Unconscious keeps the records in tact shows
that the Unconscious exists as a separate entity apart from the physical
body. As a matter of fact the external processes of material universe laid
in space-time, matter and motion have since yielded into inward mental
processes of Human Self which has already a sense of immortality.
Nature
of Conscious Mind (Ego)
We
shall now discuss the nature of Conscious mind (Ego) and its true function
in the light of our work, as we expect some very far-reaching conclusions.
About the nature of the Conscious (Ego), Freud writes:
"We
can best arrive at the characteristic of the actual ego, in so far as it
can be distinguished from the id and from the Super-ego, by examining its
relation to the outermost superficial portion of the mental apparatus,
which we describe as the system perceptual conscious. This system is turned
towards the external world, it is the medium for the perceptions arising
thence, and during its functioning the phenomenon of consciousness arises
in it. It is the sense organ of the entire apparatus; moreover it is receptive
not only to excitation from outside but also those arising from the interior
of the mind. We need scarcely look for a justification of the view that
the ego is that portion of the id which was modified by the proximity and
influence of the external world, which is adapted for the reception of
the stimuli and as a protective shield against stimuli, comparable to the
cortical layer by which a small piece of living substance is surrounded.
The relation to the external world has become the decisive factor for the
ego; it has taken on the task of representing the external world to the
id…. In accomplishing this function, the ego must observe the external
world, must lay down an accurate picture of it in the memory-traces of
its perceptions, and by its exercise of the function of "reality testing"
must put aside whatever in this picture of the external world is an addition
derived from internal sources of excitation. The ego controls the approaches
to motility under the id's orders; but between a need and an action it
has interposed a postponement in the form of the activity of thought, during
which it makes use of mnemonic residues of experience. The relation to
time, which is so hard to describe, is also introduced into the ego by
the perceptual system; it can scarcely be doubted that the mode of operation
of that system is what provides the origin of the idea of time. But what
distinguishes the ego from the id quite especially is a tendency to synthesise
in its contents, to a combination and unification in its mental processes,
which are totally lacking in the id…. To adopt a popular mode of speaking,
we might say that the ego stands for reason and good sense while the id
stands for the untamed passions. So far we have allowed ourselves to be
impressed by the merits and capabilities of the ego; it is now time to
consider the other side as well. The ego is after all only a portion of
the id, a portion that has been expediently modified by the proximity of
the external world with its threat of danger. From a dynamic point of view
it is weak, it has borrowed its energies from the id…. The ego must on
the whole carry out the id's intentions; it fulfils its task by finding
out the circumstances in which those intentions can best be achieved. The
ego's relation to the id might be compared with that of a rider to his
horse. The horse supplies the locomotive energy, while the rider has the
privilege of deciding on the goal and of guiding the powerful animal's
movement. But only too often there arises between the ego and the id not
precisely ideal situation of the rider being obliged to guide the horse
along the path which it itself wants to go."
We
gather from the above that:
Conscious
mind (ego) is a part of the Unconscious (id) which has been modified by
its proximity to the external world and the influence it has had on it;
From
a dynamic point of view it is weak; it borrows all of its energy from the
Unconscious and has no desire of its own, except to serve the Unconscious;
Conscious
mind stands for reason and circumspection while Unconscious stands for
the untamed and uncivilised passions;
Its
duty is to represent the outside world to the Unconscious for the satisfaction
of its desires.
The
Unconscious demands satisfaction of its desires but being out of the contact
with the external physical world, it does not know how these desires can
be fulfilled. The Conscious mind interprets these desires can be fulfilled.
The Conscious mind interprets these desires and tries to satisfy them as
best as it can. The important thing to be noted from Freud's observation
is that Conscious mind also lives beyond space-time as the concept of time
is introduced to it by the perceptual system of the physical body, which
lives subject to space-time laws.
As
we have said, if we purge the theory of Freud of the principal error he
made in understanding nature of Unconscious and examine it in the light
of the creative process, as discussed in this work, it would reveal a new
truth about the nature of Conscious mind - a discovery which hithertofore
remained unexplained. Let us, therefore, have a look again at the creative
process active both at inorganic and organic stages of life. We have learnt
in one of the preceding chapters that simultaneously on closing of the
preceding stage whatever the higher creative stage starts it comes along
with a medium which could live in close proximity with the external world
for:
Knowing
the behaviour of the external world for living in co-ordination;
Determining
the values of the stage in the light of higher conscious enlightenment;
and
Satisfying
its spiritual urge of belonging to the creation lived beneath.
Keeping
in view these fundamental laws, simultaneously on appearance of Human Self
or what Freud has named it "Unconscious" or "id", human physical form as
well as its instincts and perceptual brain became fixed. Hence Human Self
which appeared at an infinite higher plan of consciousness lives as an
independent Self-conscious Entity out of the perceptual brain as well as
the whole material universe in its non-material state with unprecedented
spiritual passion for loving and seeking its Creator for which it has vague
but direct reflection in it. Since Human Self appeared at the top of all
the creative stages we call it universe, it must for the reason as explained
above maintain its link with the whole universe through a medium which
could have access to the external world. Such a medium is inherent need
of every stage because according to the fundamental principle of creative
process, life once having descended as a new plan can never leave the higher
conscious light and come down to the values of the preceding stages which
close on them simultaneously on their completion. The Conscious mind which
as described by Freud lives in close proximity to the perceptual brain
is the same we have called it "analytic faculty" or the medium which each
higher stage relative to the rational level of the stage brings along for
knowing the reality lived in the external world. At the Animal Stage we
find that the animal had brought this medium in the physical form we call
it "digestive system". Just as the digestive system of animal serves the
perceptual mind of the animal, the Conscious mind akin to the digestive
system of the animal serves as "analytic faculty" to the Unconscious. In
other words, the Conscious mind to the Unconscious is just as the digestive
system is to the perceptual mind of the animal. With a view to elaborate
our point, we shall briefly discuss here the medium of "digestive system"
as acquired by life at the Animal Stage.
At
the Animal Stage, life from its very birth appeared with the medium or
faculty known as the "digestive system" of animal. The digestive system
is the creature of animal organism at the material state of life. It has
no independent desire of its own. It completely functions under the wishes
of the organism. The animal establishes its link with the external world
through the digestive system by absorbing the raw contents of life living
in the preceding stages. The digestive system brought by the organism for
this purpose starts right from the oral cavity of mouth and then by passing
through various phases, the system converts the raw material into different
kinds of amino acids, a few kinds of simple sugars, water dissolved salts
and vitamins which turn into blood and molecules and are ultimately absorbed
by the animal to get vitality and keep its sensuous values in perfect order.
The most important thing to be remembered here is that the digestive system
serves as a medium between the external world and the organism whose creature
it is. It is indeed a very intricate function, requiring a serious and
strenuous intellectual exercise because as a medium it first breaks the
contents of the food to its smallest particles and then it lifts those
values to the level or wishes of the organism by applying various chemicals
supplied to it by the organism in the form of enzymes, etc. For this, it
has to select those values for absorption, which are in accord with the
conscious values of the organism. The material contents not absorbed by
the organism are excreted as waste. It should be noted that it is not the
digestive system, which selects and takes in the food at its own will.
Food is in fact taken by the organism at its own sweet will. It is properly
tasted and smelled by the organism before it is taken in.
The
digestive system has no urge of its own; it just functions as a laboratory.
Whatever food is provided to it for analysis, it honestly does its analytic
work and returns the results to the organism for absorption in the blood
stream. Although the digestive system lives as an independent system, it
remains in touch with the wishes of the animal organism through its brain
processes. Secretion of various enzymes is an indication to the digestive
system that the organism needs such and such substance of amino acids.
In other words, at the material level of animal, these secretions convey,
in symbols, the sensuous norms and character of the animal on whose basis
the end products are drawn from the raw food supplied to the digestive
system. The fact that the animal absorbs only those proteins, which are
needed by its organism, has been biologically proven. Whatever the proteins
of food may be, after having been digested to about twenty different kinds
of amino acids, the structure of each type of amino acid remains the same.
Incidentally, since the digestive system of the animal is now complete
and fixed, we may not realise the difficulties which animal had to face
for developing this system at the initial level of the Animal Stage when
the development of animal senses had just started from insignificant level
and so was its digestive system, which improved steadily along with the
development of sense. The digestive system reached its perfection only
when the animal has achieved its sense perceptions in perfect order in
the physical form of human body. The digestive system in other animals
is also complete according to the development of their senses.
On
the analogy of the analytic system of digestion provided by nature at material
stages, we can understand the relation of the Unconscious with the Conscious
mind at the Self-conscious Stage of Man which outlives the whole material
universe. Conscious mind (ego) to Unconscious mind (id) is just as a digestive
faculty is to perceptual mind at the Animal Stage. The Unconscious whom
Freud calls the real personality of man is the same as Human Self or Soul.
Having embarked upon the Human plan of life, the Human Soul for the first
time gets a direct feeling or reflection of its Creator, but being in the
creative process, it cannot comprehend the Creator yet. The inherent feeling
of the Creator lives in Unconscious in the form of a great passion of love
for the Creator. Accordingly it has no organisation and no unified will;
only an impulsion to obtain satisfaction of its spiritual urge. The only
way for the Human Self to know its Creator is to perceive Him through the
process of intuition. Intuition is the feeling by which Human Self perceives
the truth of the universe as a whole. For analysing the contents of its
intuition, Unconscious must establish its link with the external world.
Since, according to the creative process, the higher conscious life cannot
come down from its own level even for one moment, therefore, Unconscious
has come along with an analytic faculty of reason or what Freud calls it
the faculty of Conscious mind (ego) as a medium which has access to external
world through the perceptual brain of the physical body with which it remains
attached. The main task of the Conscious mind is interpretation of the
intuition of Unconscious mind in the light of the reality lived in the
external world and through the analytic work recommend the ideal object
to Unconscious mind (id) appropriate to the norms as laid by intuition.
It
may be kept in mind that at the animal plan, life was in its material stage
and, therefore, its faculty of "reason" - digestive system - also consisted
of material contents. Unconscious mind (Self) which has inherent feeling
and love of the Creator in it does not live in a material state. This is
evident from the nature of the Unconscious as explained by Freud. Hence
Unconscious cannot seek its Creator something as material. It must seek
Him in the non-material form of ideals.
The
Conscious mind developed by Unconscious for establishing its link with
the external world probes the reality of the world living outside it through
the process of thoughts. The Conscious mind transforms all the material
objects, their behaviours and character in conscious contents we call them
thought. The thought processes being non-material live out of the space-time
barrier and enable the Conscious mind to instantly reach or scan the whole
material universe. All the values, experience and events remain fully preserved
as living contents in Conscious mind like a super highway on which every
kind of traffic continues to flow unhindered, they can instantly be recalled
by the Conscious mind relevant to the situation.
The
Unconscious continues to feed its Conscious mind with whatsoever intuition
it may have felt and the function of the Conscious mind is to analyse the
intuition in the light of the external realities of which it keeps sufficient
accumulated knowledge in the form of concepts. Conscious mind makes this
probe with the help of sensory system (perceptual brain) of the physical
organism with which it remains attached. As a result of analysis of the
intuition through its faculty of reason, the Conscious mind feeds back
the results to the Unconscious. The faculty of Conscious mind thus serves
as a medium between the Unconscious and through the perceptual brain the
external world. On receipt of the result if they satisfy the Unconscious
or tally with the norms, for which it has unconscious feeling, the Unconscious
puts another intuition before the Conscious mind and this process continues.
In case the results do not tally with the norms of intuition of the Unconscious
or the ideal recommended by the Conscious mind does not come up with the
expectation of the Unconscious, the Unconscious is disappointed and withdraws
its libido (vitality) from the Conscious mind. This result in severe mental
shocks and disorders. Since the Conscious mind (faculty of reason) draws
all its strength from the Unconscious for its function, therefore, it always
remain loyal and honest in its analytic work as it expects great rewards
of happiness in case its results bring satisfaction to the Unconscious.
In other words, it pulse for the ideal (which it does quite sincerely)
or whether it is assisting the impulse feeling) or whether it is guiding
it towards a higher beauty or higher ideal, The Unconscious always look
around for intuition in wholes, because its innate desire is always for
universal beauty which is a whole unit and which can only be felt or intuited
in a non-sensory way. Conscious mind independent of Unconscious can give
us no knowledge. All of our knowledge is derived from Unconscious, that
is, from our Self or Soul in the form of feeling or emotion. While reason
can give us no knowledge [ Unconscious (Self)
which outlives the space-time material universe and is directly aware of
certain non-material Entity unparalleled in the whole material universe
seeks Him in the form of intuition as a single indivisible whole. As against
it, the function of Conscious mind as an analytic faculty (reason) is to
dissect and analyse the intuition in parts and help the unconscious to
enable it to intuit or vision new wholes. Hence Human mind or what Freud
has named it Unconscious mind, it is concerned in knowing wholes which
can only be felt or vision in the form of intuition. Reason by itself without
intuition of Unconscious can give us no knowledge of beauty and hence no
knowledge at all. Beauty can only be felt and not reasoned. About our faculty
of reason, Allama Muhammad Iqbal in the verse given below expressed his
view that reason can give us knowledge in piecemeal only and not in wholes.
It is the vision which can inspire us and satisfy the urge of our Self's.
He further explains that intellect can lead us towards the goal under directions
only as it has no urge of its own. "Khurd kay paas khabar kay soa khuch
aur naheen, Tera allaj nazar kay soa khuch aur naheen,, Uqal
go Aastan say dur naheen, Us key taqdir mein hazoor naheen."
Accordingly Allama Iqbal warns in the following verses that knowledge sought
without spiritual inspiration, love and deliberation becomes a perverse
force and if it is sought under the spiritual love and inspiration it becomes
blessing for the Self (Soul) for reaching the goal: "Ilm bay ishiq ast
uz taghotian, ilm ba ishiq uz lahotian."]
without calling in the aid of reason. There are occasions when we acquire
knowledge with the help of feeling alone and make no use of reason whatsoever,
for example, when we have feeling of admiration for a picture or a symphony,
without arguing or proving its beauty. This shows that the faculty of reason
derives its strength and food for thought from the Unconscious only.
Values
Appearing At Each Higher Plan Of Creation Are Never Sublimated Version
Of The Values Of The Preceding Stage
From
our discussion, we can understand the nature of Conscious mind which helps
Unconscious in the pursuit of its spiritual feeling for the Creator. Freud
says that higher human activities such as, art, science, religion, ethics,
etc. are nothing but the sublimated form of sexual instincts! According
to him when man fails to fully satisfy the sexual instincts, he diverts
the libido (vitality) of sex urge towards these activities. Unfortunately
Freud misinterpreted the word "sublimation". Freud's view that values rise
from lower stages to higher and different plan of consciousness is absurd
and against the very process of development of universe in rational orders.
In the first place, we know that simultaneously on appearance of higher
creative stage, the values living in the preceding stage become immutable.
These values can neither jump to the higher creative stage nor can these
step down to the preceding stages. Therefore, the question is how the sex
instincts, which relate to the physical process of creation jump into the
Unconscious which Freud has admitted lives out of the space-time and physical
barrier. Moreover scientific study has shown that instinctive desires can
neither change their particular function nor can these transform from their
original character to entirely a different form. If we accept that the
instincts have changed their nature, then how could they give us any pleasure
when they have lost their original character? The real purpose of instincts
is to preserve life and race of animal. We cannot add the instincts to
perform a unit function nor can these be transformed. We cannot sublimate
even our physical instinct of the desire of food into a desire of sex.
Our higher activities are, therefore, not the sublimated version of the
Unconscious which are arrived at by the Conscious mind under the intuition
of the Unconscious.
Hence
our higher activities like all our natural desires press for satisfaction
and give happiness when satisfied. Unfortunately Freud has reversed the
reality. He regards the normal and real desires of the Unconscious as unreal
and the desires, which are mistaken by Conscious, mind as real.
The
faculty of reason (ego) is the creature of the Unconscious, which serves
it to satisfy its great spiritual passion through analytic work of its
intuition. We must repeat here that life has followed similar process at
every new creative plan. It is because life at every new stage starts from
the lowest values of the stage and as such it cannot comprehend its overall
goal which remains obscure and unconscious until life has achieved the
full values of the stage. At the Human Stage, Unconscious (Self) tries
to discover the reality (for which it has already innate pressure) through
the process of intuitions. The Self-conscious Stage of Man is still in
the making and so is its Conscious mind (reason faculty) which is incomplete.
As the Unconscious (Self) will continue to realise more and more attributes
of its Creator so will the Conscious mind continue to become more and more
perfect and dependable. It is just like the digestive system of the animal,
which continued to perfect itself along with the sensuous perfection of
the animal. The ideal situation becomes only when both Unconscious (id)
and the Conscious (ego) rise in close harmony. If the Conscious mind succeeds
in making the right choice in analysing the norms supplied to it by the
Unconscious, it gives satisfaction to the Unconscious and draws the libido
(vitality) of the Unconscious on it. The Conscious mind (ego) when thus
complete in harmony with the Unconscious, the Human Self or Personality
which Freud believes consists of both Unconscious and Conscious becomes
a highly dynamic individuality possessing powers not known to other people.
Freud says, "the laws of space-time do not operate on the id". When Conscious
mind (ego) is in complete harmony with Unconscious, the individuality rises
above space-time, so that for a moment the present and the future, far
and near become alike to it. This explains why certain people are able
to give information to future events at particular occasions. But the most
important question is how this ideal harmony of the personality can be
achieved in view of the fact that Unconscious (Self) which according to
Freud, is merely a cauldron of seething excitement and which lives beyond
that material state where there is no recognition even of the passage of
time and which only stands for blind untamed passion succeed in realising
its objective merely by intuitions especially when at its present conscious
level it is unable to comprehend its Creator. Again, since the analytic
work done by the Conscious mind remains open to external influence and
its reasoning rests on the perceptual brain or senses which in certain
cases fail to grasp the reality, the results made by the Conscious mind
may not be wholly correct. In the circumstances, how can Conscious mind
ever satisfy the Unconscious (Self) by recommending objects or ideals by
mere conjectures and live in harmony as a complete personality. This is
indeed a very important question as without solving this question the whole
theory of Unconscious; we call it Self or Id, remains defective and incomplete.
Reason
Alone Can Never Guide And Lay Values. Laws, Values And Direction Are Provided
By The Nature At Each Creative Stage Relative To The Rational Plan. At
Self-conscious Stage Man Received Laws, Values And Direction Through The
Natural Institutional we Call It The Institution Of Prophethood
We
know today with all certainty that the whole nature in its minutest details
exists as a perfect harmonious order. We do not find any vacuum in rational
processes of its creation. If nature has endowed life with a great urge
for seeking the truth, there must already be existing a foolproof arrangement
under which the Conscious mind may freely and perfectly choose and recommend
the right ideal to the Unconscious. The humanity has not been left in this
score on its own mercy. The Creator has laid [ That the mankind has been
duly provided with law, guidance and direction in its struggle to march
at the right direction is revealed in many a verses of the Holy Quran:
"O Children of Adam! If messenger of your
own come unto you who narrate unto you My revelations, then whosoever refraineth
from evil and amendeth - there shall no fear come upon them neither shall
they grieve." (8:
35) "Then
We sent our messengers one after another. Whenever its messengers came
unto a nation they denied them; so We caused them to follow one another
(to disaster) and We made them bywords. A far removal for folk who believe
not." (23: 44)]
an equally parallel rational institution for providing external guidance
to man relative to its conscious development. We know this institution
as the institution of Prophethood. We can never overlook the need for such
an institution - the need that is inherent in every Soul. The recorded
history of mankind witness that highly conscious men have appeared from
time to time through what the evolutionist call it " emergent evolution"
as perfect models to give right interpretation of the urge of the Unconscious
as well as the laws under which the Conscious mind may freely deliberate
on the external world for determining right values and ideal for satisfaction
of the urge of Unconscious. Similar guidance has been provided to life
even at its material stages through the same process we call it emergent
evolution. Sudden appearance of laws at the inorganic stages and higher
species at the organic stages of Vegetables and Animals acted as model
guides whenever and wherever the creative process so demanded. The only
difference between the two model institutions of guidance is that at the
material stages while life being not yet free to choose its guidance under
its own free will, it corrected its path through emergent creation in the
form of built-up models while at the Human Stage, by virtue of attainment
of Self-consciousness, it was essential that Man must choose his ideal
under complete freedom as a Self-conscious Entity. It is in the very nature
of free consciousness that it should choose and love its ideal as a free
individuality befitting to its Self-conscious Enlightenment. Had it been
made compulsion on it, it would have impaired its freedom and so also its
development as a free personality responsible for its own cause of love.
Even the guidance through prophets in due regard to the [
That man has full freedom in the choices of Din (Religion) is thus revealed
in the Holy Quran: "There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction
is hence forth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities
and believeth in Allah hath gasped a firm hand-hold which will never break.
Allah is Hearer, Knower." (2: 256) "And
if thy Lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed together.
Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers?"
(10: 99)] free
will of Man was never thrust upon as a compulsion. It was left open to
every individual either to accept it or to reject it. Nevertheless Human
Self or what Freud calls it the Unconscious can satisfy its urge of love
for its Creator through its Conscious mind only if Conscious mind (ego)
interprets the intuition of the Unconscious by following the Divine guidance
provided to mankind and in no other way at all. Through correct interpretation
of the intuitions, the conscious mind continues to become strong and strong
by winning the libido (spiritual vitality) of the Unconscious which according
to Freud knows nothing except looking for great pleasure and unprecedented
happiness. Flow of feelings and intuitions from Unconscious coupled with
correct analysis lead the man steadily to higher reaches of Self-consciousness
and with that he continues to find bliss and satisfaction from within.
Human devotion to seek its Creator by loving Him in prayers and acting
morals as laid in Divine guidance saves the Unconscious of perils, which
can prove disastrous for it. It should be noted that it is not we who have
reached this conclusion. It may be surprising to know that Freud has openly
admitted that therapeutic efforts of psychoanalysis have chosen much the
same method of approach to cure the patients! He writes:
"It
is easy to imagine, too, that certain mystical practices may succeed in
upsetting the normal relations between the different regions of the mind,
so that, for instance, perception may be able to grasp happenings in the
depths of the ego and in the id which were otherwise inaccessible to it.
It may safely be doubted, however, whether this road will lead us to the
ultimate truths from which salvation is to be expected. Nevertheless it
may be admitted that the therapeutic efforts of psychoanalysis have chosen
a similar line of approach. Its intention is, indeed, to strengthen the
ego, to make it more independent of the Super-ego, to widen its field of
perception and enlarge its organisation, so that it can appropriate fresh
portions of the id. Where id was, there ego shall be."
Unconscious
or Self whom Freud also calls "id" exists as a dynamic [Unconscious
(id) or Human Self (Soul), as clinically established by Freud, lives beyond
space-time and the material universe. It already, therefore, lives the
universe beyond as a non-material entity from within. The whole material
universe as well as every pore of its human physical form and actions in
minutest detail remain fully embedded in it just as a tree with all its
leaves and branches lives in the seed of its kind.]
entity beyond the space-time barriers of the material universe. It is full
of passion for seeking certain beauty unparalleled in the whole universe.
The beauty whose norms have vaguely appeared in Unconscious is unprecedented
and everlasting. It is potentially present in the Unconscious but it lives
in latent state. We find similar case with each higher creative stage.
Ever-higher rational stage took its start from insignificant values of
the stage; nevertheless, it has potential to realise all the values of
the stage. Similarly, the Unconscious in which the reflection of the beauty
of its Creator is potentially present has to rise tremendously by unveiling
the total beauty and living with it forever as the realised ideal of its
Creator. Thus seen every Human Soul is alive relative to its nearness with
its Creator.
While
our Unconscious or Self lives the universe beyond, it also remains linked
with the material universe through our Conscious mind (ego). The Conscious
mind interprets the intuitions of Unconscious by studying the external
world through the perceptual mind (physical brain). The Conscious mind
does not watch the universe with the material senses, as do the animals.
Just as the digestive system of the animal by taking in the raw material
contents of the external world (vegetables, minerals, air, water, etc.)
lifts them under the norms of perceptual mind of the organism to its sensory
level similarly when the Conscious mind studies the material universe through
these senses, these perceptions which remain confined within space-time
barriers duly stand processed in the non-material form of thoughts. It
is certain that the universe determined by animal through its senses is
insignificant as determined by the Conscious mind under the norms of Unconscious.
The Conscious mind (ego), as observed by Freud remains attached with the
living piece of the perceptual brain extended in proximity to the external
world. It, however, withdraws it as an intermediary in case of even slightest
irrational condition of the perceptual brain such as:
-
Damage
caused by injury or disease to perceptual brain;
-
In the
state of intoxication; [ In the state of intoxication
the perceptual mind cannot remain normal. In such an event Human Soul may
cut it off from the perceptual brain so long as the perceptual brain does
not become normal. The Holy Quran has forbidden saying prayer when the
Soul is not present: "O ye who believe!
Draw not near unto prayer when ye are drunken, till ye know that which
ye utter, nor when ye are polluted save when journeying upon the road."
(4: 43)]
-
In the
state of sleep;
-
In the
state of unconsciousness; and
-
In the
state of death of the brain.
The moment
the perceptual brain recovers from these states, the Conscious mind remains
too ready to join it instantly. Being living out of space-time barriers,
it knows no discontinuity. Its thought processes not withstanding the intervening
lapse of time live in continuity [ That the
Human Self (Soul) lives out of the perceptual time in its eternal state
is thus revealed in the Holy Quran: "The
day when the Trumpet is blown. On that day We assemble the guilty white
eyed (with terror). Murmuring among themselves: Ye have stayed behind but
ten (days). We are best aware of what they utter when their best in conduct
say; you have tarried but a day." (20:
102-104) "He
will say: How long ye stayed behind in the earth, counting by years? They
will say: ye stayed behind but a little if ye only knew." (23:
112-114)] with its past and so is the Unconscious,
which remains as a dynamic entity without regard to the state of physical
perceptual system. It as usual remains in the universe beyond and cannot
come down to the material universe. However, while living in its earthly
life, it continues to press upon the Conscious mind to recommend to it
the best ideal for its satisfaction. To the extent, the Conscious mind
has been able to recommend to Unconscious the right ideal; the Conscious
mind gets immeasurable happiness by winning the libido (spiritual vitality)
of Unconscious on it. In cases, however, the ideal loved and recommended
by the Conscious mind to Unconscious is lost or it proved to be defective,
the Unconscious withdraws its libido from the Conscious mind (ego). As
a result the Conscious mind (ego) suffers a severe spell of shock by losing
the libido of Unconscious. We call such spells as hysteria, madness, melancholia,
etc. relative to the error made by the Conscious mind. Such defective ideals
may be wealth, wife, son, fame, position, wish, desire, etc. Unless the
Conscious mind is able to recover from the shock and recommend another
ideal to the satisfaction of the Unconscious, the Unconscious being disappointed
continues to withdraw its libido from it. In such cases, though the Conscious
mind remains in touch with the perceptual brain but it cannot function
properly. We call this state of mind as madness. While living in this world,
there is always a possibility for the Conscious mind to choose another
ideal and come out of the state of its perils, but in cases the individual
passed away while loving and praying wrong ideals, he will have to live
in a state of hell, perhaps for ever. The present universe would continue
to live so long as the mankind has earned maximum values of the stage,
that is, the Unconscious or Self has become more and more alive of the
true Ideal of its Creator - and so also the Divine guidance has prevailed
[ That the Divine laws is apt to prevail over
all the ideologies and religions is thus revealed in the Holy Quran:
"Fain would they put out the light of Allah
with their mouth, but Allah disdaineth (aught) save that He shall perfect
His light, however much the disbelievers are averse. He it is Who hath
sent His messenger with the guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He
may cause it to prevail over all religion, however much the idolaters may
be averse." (9: 32-33)] the
humanity at its best. Simultaneously on winding of the present material
universe and appearance of overall higher rational order wedded in greater
glory and higher norms of beauty within each Unconscious (Self or Soul)
every Self being in its real state would identify the beauty of its ideal
with the glory of the Creator now fully reflected in it. In case, the ideal
recommended and loved by the Conscious mind to the Unconscious tallies
with the norms and glory now appeared in it, then both the Unconscious
and the Conscious, that is, the whole personality would find it in an unprecedented
state of happiness - we call it paradise. As against it, those Self's which
failed to choose and love the right ideal of Self in this world would remain
blind of the glory of their Creator. We call it the hell for such unfortunate
Souls, which took gratification of instinctual pleasures and desires in
different forms as the ideal of the Self. Such Souls would not be able
to find reflection of the Creator in them.
Our
discussion has shown that without seeking Divine guidance we can never
know the urge of the Unconscious by the help of reason alone. Had Freud
been aware of this fact, it would have saved him from committing such a
great error in understanding the passion and urge of the Unconscious. Life
lives as a unit whole. We cannot define it with the gratification of animal
sex instincts as the sole purpose of human being who has appeared as a
Self-conscious Entity at the top of the whole creation and freely seeks
its Creator direct from within. Because of Freud's monumental error, mankind
has grievously suffered both mentally and spiritually as is never known
in history. Since the twenties of this century, no one knows how many families
have been destroyed because of wrong interpretation of the urge of Human
Self. Modesty, virtue and chastity, considered to be the invaluable pride
of man have been shattered and a sizeable mankind who were led by such
man-made theories were deprived of their spiritual bliss and happiness,
so much so that the man of today has refused to identify his own self.
The pursuit of sex to its highest perversion has even damaged the spiritual
vitality of the physical body which kept it immune from the death instinct,
Freud mentioned so often as anti-sex instinct. About sex, Mr Durant, the
author of "The Story of Civilisation" in a beautiful article published
in the Reader's Digest says:
"Sex
after hunger is man's stronger instinct and greatest problem. Nature is
infatuated with continuance and dolls up the woman with beauty and the
man with money to lure them into continuing the species; and so it gives
to us males such sensitivity to the charms of woman that we can go quite
made in their pursuit. Sex then becomes a fire and flame in the blood and
burns up the whole personality - which should be hierarchy and harmony
of desires. Our ancestors played this sexual impulse down, knowing that
it was strong enough without encouragement; we have blown it up with a
thousand forms of initiation, advertisement, emphasis and display and have
armed it with the doctrine that inhibition is dangerous. Whereas inhibition
- the control of impulse - is the first principle of civilisation."
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