Civilization and Its Discontents
The excerpt looks into the illusion of man and religion as per the rules set upon them and how well one knows their religion. The excerpt is an expansion of Freud’s previous work, Future of an Illusion, where he talks more about religion and his thoughts about them including its variations. According to Freud, he has a problem contemplating the religious concept that doctrines provide and promise. For instance, most doctrines believe in the compensation of human beings in heaven for the things that occurred while on earth. He labels these thoughts as Providence and sees them as infantile, and most mortal men will not reach its level. The excerpt provides arguments that Sigmund comes up with as a way of expressing his perspectives.
Freud expresses civilization as the influence present in religions and perception it has on individuals. The famous religious statement of ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain!’ seems misused as people tend to go against the rule. Apart from that, the Providence seems to change overall perspectives by people especially those that seem to go against the set rules. In other instances, he refers to the common man, his religion, and its relation. These items bring about the theory of instincts and individual psyche on religion. Human beings have two high achievements in life and its value. By depreciating the common man’s thoughts on religion, it is quite easily to manipulate them with different thoughts and new rules. It is easy to manipulate since man has a lot of issues in life and it is hard for him to live without auxiliary constructions that will assist in making the relation better.
There are three measures that might change the instincts and individual perspective of man. Powerful deflections bring about the easiness of controlling misery present in man’s life. They play a major role in bringing a different perspective into an overall interaction with nature. The second measure is substitutive satisfactions which help in the diminishing of man’s thoughts and perspectives. Lastly, intoxicating substances which bring about insensitivity to issues bothering the common man. It is a common vice to see people intoxicating themselves with the aim of forgetting the current issues in their life. Intoxicants make one live a happy life that only lasts for a short duration of time.
These measures bring to light the first theory: the purpose of life. From the context, religion provides steps and rules on how human beings should live and achievements they ought to reach. The three measures cannot provide a better understanding of man’s purpose on earth. Only religion can provide a better outlook on life. Apart from religion, one might look at a person’s behavior as a guideline to the intentions and purpose of life. Behavior entails what one sees as a need, a purpose or goal in their life. How one carries out their duties and themselves in situations acts as a guideline to knowing whether one is on the right track in life. The problem is people are different. How one perceives an achievement in life is a failure in another’s perspective. Hence, it would be easier to say that the purpose of life depends on an individual’s pleasure principle. It dominates the mental perspective of people and their happiness.
Happiness is a key component in the life of people as it helps in their overall interaction with people. The bad side to it is life cannot let one live forever as happy. There are possibilities of being unhappy in life especially from restriction by the constitution. The constitution entails a combination of daily interaction with life and how people relate to each other in situations. Hence, finding people one can be comfortable in relating together proves to be a task. Hence, unhappiness comes from three directions; the body, the external world, and gratuitous addition. The body is prone to decay and suffer from anxiety and pain which leads to its tear and wear. The external world might present either positive or negative effects to one’s happiness. Gratuitous addition acts as the most painful experience people can and may lead to serious ailments or effects on the overall happiness of people. It is quite hard for one to evade it in life.
Despite the use of different techniques to instill happiness in one’s mindset, the mental apparatus proves to be quite complicated for one to find a justifiable way of making their lives better. The instincts present in human beings act as a barrier to the overall happiness one can achieve. It brings about suffering both externally and internally, leaving one with the option of ignoring their instincts. Man lives by instincts which help in making decisions in difficult times. However, it can be extreme at times and cause harm to one’s thoughts and life direction. It is due to these extremes that the Asian countries invented practices like Yoga. Yoga is a practice that helps one to disconnect with the world and join with their internal spirit as a way of calming their thoughts. A successful candidate is in a position to feel the happiness of quietness.
The feeling one has after a Yoga session is better than the holding on to the instincts as a way of forgetting their issues. There are other ways of decreasing suffering which people tend to employ though it feels rather unusual. Some people tend to employ libido displacement, which tends to mess around with the mental perception and provide flexibility. One shifts the instinctual thoughts by creating a vacuum with the external world and concentrating on their internal happiness. One tends to gain more with an increase of their pleasure through intellectual and psychical work. However, despite the tricks one can employ in finding pleasure and happiness, it is still a far-fetched option for most of its users. Happiness still tends to be different for everyone, and there lacks a definitive way of combating it. The decrease of libido might not work for everyone and though Freud tends to divulge further into the topic in another paper Libidinal Types.
His psychoanalytic works provide another aspect of unhappiness in people especially towards their sexual life. It affects the neurotics of human kinds which brings about substitutive satisfactions. Freud brings into context a cultural community where double individuals satisfy themselves libidinal. These people join in the common bonds of life such as work and interests. The civilization present in life tends to join people through their libidinal satisfactions and favors their path in strong relations. In general, it brings about a close relation with the community, its people and a sense of communism. Despite the joining factors, there are barriers that stand in its way. Hostility and hatred among the community bring down the spirit of working together. People have different mindsets on the overall relations in a community and coming together in one accord might prove to be a task. Freud brings into context famous religious contexts such as ‘Love thy neighbor as thy neighbor loves thee’ and ‘Love thine enemies’. These words are indispensable since they account for the overall interaction between people. Strengthening their bond will entail coming together under one cause to outdo the issues present between them.
The title of the work tends to provide an overview of civilization and some of the aspects which stand in its ways. These barriers include happiness and satisfaction. The civilization tends to act as a guideline to how people will interact with others, the right things to say and how to reply to questions. Apart from that, it will help human beings to come up with a clearer definition and progress bar that will gauge their overall interaction with others. These civilization rules come from the religious studies present; a major barrier as the rules tend to conflict with the daily lives of human beings. In conclusion, Freud’s theory of instincts tends to outline the problems people have to endure to make their lives better and fruitful. There are practices one can employ in their daily lives to improve their lives.
Bibliography
Freud, Sigmund, James Strachey, and Peter Gay. 1989. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
