Freud On The Trinity

Freud’s Trinity

Sigmund Freud, much reviled, unfairly judged, underestimated scientist, butt of jokes, denigrated by other more “modern” writers of personality theory, was Jewish.

It’s likely he knew very little about the Trinity, the Trinitarian God of Christianity. It wasn’t up to Dr. Freud to study theology. It wasn’t his gift.

But, oversimplified for this context, read these definitions from Freud:

The word “id” is from the Latin, meaning “it.” In psychology, the id is defined by Dr. Freud as that part of the psyche which is regarded as the reservoir of the libido and the source of instinctive energy.

The id is dominated by Freud’s “pleasure principle” and impulsive wishing. Its impulses are controlled through the development of the ego and the superego.

The id knows only the subjective reality of the mind.

The word “ego” is from the Latin, with the basic meaning of “I.” The primary meaning of the word ego is “the self.”

In psychoanalysis, the ego is that part of the psyche which experiences the external world through the senses and consciously employs the impulses of the id. That is, as in the incarnate God whom we know as Jesus Christ.

Freud theorized that the ego exists because the human organism requires appropriate transactions with the objective world. It experiences the real world, but the ego has no existence apart from the id. Sound familiar?

The superego is that part of the psyche which controls at an unconscious level the impulses of the id; it’s the conscience of the unconscious.

Freud theorized that the superego is the internal representative of the traditional values and ideals of society.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Id, ego, superego. It says right there in the Bible that man was created in the image of God.

Freud says the id, ego and superego work together as a team – the personality normally functions as a whole rather than three separate segments.

God in heaven. The son incarnate on Earth. The Holy Spirit which is the love between them. The Trinity is a difficult concept for some otherwise deep thinkers, so Dr. Freud may have unwittingly helped.

There is one flaw in my little exercise: the libido. This, in Freud’s theory, is the driving force behind all human action. It also has references to psychic energy and of course the sex drive.

Even though God is the source of the libido, he doesn’t need his own libido. It’s a weakness in my attempts to make a parallel between the Blessed Trinity and Freud’s work. It seemed worth exploring, however.

(A note: For this study, Friday Letter writer Tom has borrowed shamelessly from “Theories of Personality,” a textbook by Calvin S. Hall and Gardner Lindzey, copyright 1957.)

Errata et addenda ad infinitum ad nauseum

Since the establishment of The Friday Letter, I’ve been referring to our Dad’s “new” school bus as a 1954 Ford B-500.

Turns out, the vehicle was bought new, but in 1953, not ’54. My brother Dick points out that the bus was powered by a flathead V-8. Fifty-three was the last year for that, in larger truck-chassis such as the bus. My memory was that the “new” bus had a Y-block V-8. But now that I think of it . . .

Further, Dick points out that the electrical system was the six-volt version. The superior 12-volt setup came later.

Once upon a time I thought memory – specifically my memory – was absolute. It ain’t. Another factor in this is that I don’t let my absolute memory get in the way of a good story . . .

In Friday Letter #143, we wrote about “Esther,” a mummy I remembered having been on display at Mesa Verde National Park.

A reader points out that some time ago Esther was taken from public display and is said to have been given a more dignified burial.

So don’t go looking for Esther at the Four Corners-area national park. This is a good thing for Esther herself – but her namesake the plastic skeleton is still in pieces in our Bonehenge garden. No disrespect intended.

It has obviously been too long since we went to Mesa Verde, judging by how dated my information was. My high school classmate Bob gets the thanks for bringing us up to date on her. Rest in peace, Esther.

Another classmate, Ralph, remembered the name of the device which was used to X-Ray feet for shoe fitting. It is a “fluoroscope.”

Ralph recalled that he as a child would traipse down the block from his parents’ Gambles store in Brighton to Wall’s Clothing to look at his bones move in his shoes.

He also recalled that Wall’s shoe salesman, a man by the name of Herbel, died of cancer in that same era.

I have a Texas cousin who actually owns a fluoroscope. I think Dave doesn’t use it, though. Below find a website link on the fluoroscope, provided by Dave.

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm

The site is especially interesting in the statistics – how the machines routinely exceeded X-Ray power levels thought safe at the time.

One more thing

Please comment. A couple of readers have implied lately that they don’t dare differ with The Friday Letter. Hey. How is the writer of the Letter going to learn the error of his ways – or the funkiness of his memory – if the reader doesn’t speak up?

You won’t hurt his feelings. He doesn’t have feelings, much. Or emotions. So don’t worry about it, he will survive.

Word of the week: Aloof. It means at a distance, or removed. It would describe a person distant in sympathy, reserved or cool. We think the word comes from “aloef,” distant, and we think that was Dutch.