Thoughts After Sickness (Part 2)

in #christian6 years ago

Sigmund Freud, The Father of Psycho-analysis, wrote a small book titled ‘Civilisation and its Discontents’ about a thesis of his that civilisation for humanity is ever and always a trade-off. That for the sake of common goods and goals – such as settlement to trade,to get wealth, security, peace, health and so on, in general men and women have found it better for them to accept curbs, sometimes quite severe curbs, on some of their more aggressive and obtrusive natural urges and instincts, so as for them to be able to form societies and so build up cultures and civilisations.

Hence men and women in society are always in a state of repression, in varying degrees, either less or more so. Some people, such as those with less personal power, less wealth, and low scope for activity, experience generally much more repression than those with large personal goods in profuse amounts. This idea that one cannot have civilisation without repression is a general, perhaps ubiquitous idea, which Freud applies to all civilisation of all kinds – that is – there are no Utopias in Freud’s thought – no Kingdom of Heaven to be or to await.

In a similar vein The Oxford Amplified Bible interprets the story of Adam and Eve and The Fall of Man in The Garden of Eden as told in The Book of Genesis, as being an allegorical type story which analyses that event at which human beings first became self-conscious sentient beings. This analysis goes on to say that this awareness of self equates with that Biblical exposition that ‘ Adam and Eve ate of the tree and so knew knowledge of good and evil’. Men and women’s knowledge of good and evil in general then was a result of Adam and Eve eating of the Tree of Knowledge and of its Forbidden Fruit.

Our self-consciousness as people promotes in us our consciences and our consciences promote in us self-praise and self-blame; and it is by this means of conscience that we judge upon other persons’, actions – calling them good or bad or else indifferent. A perspicacious reader will see the similarities between this Oxford Amplified Bible analysis and Freud’s own particular take on civilisation. For both trains of thought at that point when restraints and curbs are assented to being put upon them by men and women, men and women’s freedom to do or to think is curtailed, either externally by the imposition of civilisation or else internally by one’s self-aware conscience. Itis at at these points repressions appear in our minds and with them comes our need for ways to rid ourselves of the frustrations generated by such repressions. This becomes absolutely necessary for men and women. Nothing much rocket-science here.

Now without a concept in one’s heart for the possibility of a Kingdom of Heaven or such; one is left in one’s heart only with a wish for contingent ad hoc day to day escapisms and diversions ( e.g. Premier League soccer; shopping; sports; dancing; movies etc etc) so that one’s life in society uses such pastimes as safety valves for blowing-off steam generated by one’s repressions of various sorts in our lives. One is contented to see life as no more than an amassment of bits and pieces, of fragments and loose ends, all of which just won’t, just don’t, tie up; and so one accepts them as such; as being the inevitable consequences of life and so simply just rides them and takes ones recreations as one pleases so as to alleviate these pressures.

In the current age and with the triumph of Post Modernist thought, and of its bastard offspring in our societies, and in ways of everyday life and thought, not only has Christianity as a movement taken a big hit full on; but all our apprehensions of there being any single singular direction or unity to our lives has been utterly shattered. Many, most people, ordinary or part-educated have some feeling that life is such as this. Their acceptance of fragmentary and of relativist beliefs as their world views has been sapping the strength of our societies for some years now, and it remains in the process of undermining them and destroying them altogether. This fact too is one which is Capitalist consumerism related; but that is another story for another place. Suffice it to say that what consumerism and Capitalism peddle is called by the name of freedom (just as heavy dangerous destroying drug-use is called ‘recreational’); but freedom to what and from whom is not really clear. What is clear is that social boundaries and norms have been and continue to be removed willy-nily and at speed, and in accord only with this fad and that pressure group; and this power-game is hyped as progress; whereas it is nothing more than might fighting to be right and it represents the emergence of a free license which says that in the end anything goes.

Thus from my own point of view we ‘all like sheep have gone astray, everyone to his own way’.

Thus The Big Existential Choice in every individual life is not allowed into the consciousness of many persons in Western nations these days. That choice is whether there is purpose above a ragged bitty and messy day to day life; beyond the grime and trouble of humdrum lives; is there meaning and direction to all this; or is it all a farrago of pot-luck and chaos? The sound and solid and the many arguments on the side of there being truly and certainly overarching meaning, purpose, direction, of there being God and his Son Jesus, are no longer available to people, at school nor in society; no longer are these reasons and arguments broached and taught to people, even our universities are now simply training colleges (excepting at a coterie half dozen universities, the watering holes of the establishment elites.)

That desire foisted upon most of us by Capitalist consumerism which offers us our freedom of action and access to our individual rights and preferences (nearly all of which are consumerist-led constructs deliberately made to be delusional) has had as its correlative consequence the result that we have been robbed of our greater sense of our being valuable items of Spirit, and held in the hands of a living merciful and loving God. Hence we no longer have spiritual lives; we have instead depression and mental disorders, and get prescribed remedies which do not fight the problem but just dampen the symptoms.

There is a salutary and weighty sense of fulfilment had out of admitting to ourselves our status as being modest simple someones in the eyes of a loving Creator; is our fullest life, it is our sense of utter liberation from anxiety and dismay; and it is our feeling that a life however bad or hard, is still very much worth living.

I am no bluesky thinker. My life has seen troughs, Sloughs of Despond Not many lives of my generation have seen as much. I am not talking to you from some privileged and safe secure comfortable position. I have my own problems and my family also has some. I am not a dilettante in suffering.

I do not boast this. I just want you to know that despite hardships and setbacks, illnesses and hard knocks, there remains MORE THAN EVER a place for The Lord Jesus in in deepest part of my heart. I could not in any vital sense live without his love and grace.


Visit our metanomalies blog to read the whole article: https://metanomalies.com/thoughts-after-sickness/

You can also find this article at linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thoughts-after-sickness-part-2-matthew-raymer/

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Freud was a fraud. None of his ideas are biblical.


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