Reviews by Hubie Goode: Are We Still Living With Freud?

After all our advances in science and medicine, Are We Still Living With Freud? Pt. 1

What is the wellspring of the human personality? This is a question many have searched the answer for down through our history. Which one of us has not stopped at one time or another to ask.... who am I? Why am I like I am? For many this may seem like a search into the dark passages of the soul. Man’s true nature and the shape of his spiritual being have been defined in more ways, shaped by more theories, and analyzed by more psychic approaches than any other entity on the face of the earth. And surely, the gorillas in the mist have never had such trouble. They simply are gorillas. The problems with humans coming to a satisfying conclusion about these questions is that many who seek those answers simply do not have a clue as to what it is they truly seek. They stumble about in a morass of darkness with no road map, and when they do bump into something, they have only their own sphere of influence and experience to tap into for interpretation of those answers.

Mankind has often assumed total knowledge of his own body. I can say I weight so much, I am so tall, and I can describe myself in objective terms. This also applies to the physical processes. Man believes he has total knowledge of them, also. But the invisible part of himself he still considers to be hiding in the world of shrouded mystery.

This sense of the mysterious is a main reason the religious gurus, county fair fortune tellers, nightclub hypnotists, and college professors have been given so much attention by the world at large. In no other subject does the common man feel more lost than in trying to understand the unseen spirit and soul that he believes lives within all of us. How many times have we seen people we know have melt downs or unusual behavior episodes only to leave us aghast and wondering: Where did THAT come from? We all understand that there is still much about ourselves that we do not know, and even less understood that bubbles up from the dark depths inside each one of us. From no known source did an answer seem to be arriving in any way satisfying to the questioning soul.... and then it happened.

There broke upon the world the voice, writings, and strange perceptions of a man who seemed to discover how to define the nuances of the psyche. His answers seemed not only intellectual and scholarly, but they were scientific, provocative and titillating. Yep, a man from the world of science touched and seduced an age as none had done before or have done since.

His name was Sigmund Freud. His profession was Psychoanalysis. Before he was done, the world would submit itself to his therapy. In his small lifetime he has had an influence both superficial and profound upon the lives of millions and also on the spirit of his age. Few of us in the western world have been unable to escape his influence. In fact, we automatically think along the lines of this man’s definition of human personality with little regard for truth, on a daily basis, all without thinking about it. It just seems normal and right.

Let’s talk about that.... more to come next time