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Basic Assumptions 11
deeply to the heart of the matter. In the next chapter I’ll define a mortal fear which prompts this resistance, and the kind of transcendental insight—or, again in spiritual terms, love—which resolves it, and which is thus the basis for a whole new psychological approach. But now let’s turn our attention to the resistance itself, and its point of origin in the human mind.
MIND
Modern Western psychiatry (the word “psychiatry” derives from “psyche,” the mind2) and ancient Hindu tradition3 agree on the major components of mind—that it is comprised of thoughts, has reasoning ability, is aware of itself (self-image), relates to the outer world through the senses, operates according to the pleasure/pain principle and has both conscious and unconscious needs, impulses and desires which influence, motivate and direct it toward gratification in the outer world.
As an outgrowth of his clinical observations, Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, discovered for modern psychiatry the importance of biologically determined primitive impulses and drives— needs and desires which press for gratification and for avoidance of pain, according to the pleasure/pain principle. He thought that these needs and desires are the primary forces determining the focus of our thoughts, feelings and behavior, and directing the way our mind works. If these drives are blocked from expression and gratification, such as by family or societal censure, then conflict will arise with the resultant possibility of symptom formation.
Freud’s therapeutic aim was to bring to consciousness these hidden unconscious needs so that the conflict could be resolved and the individual would have a better chance of achieving gratification of them within the constraints of society. Freud felt that this was the goal of therapy and one of man’s highest accomplishments.
Freud’s concepts were limited by his particular orientation and objectives. They grew from his study of abnormal mental states and his interest in how the individual adjusts and adapts successfully to the outer world, and were developed in part to provide a framework from which to practice therapy. He was mostly interested in how the mind accomplishes the complex task of gratification of drives while adjusting to society. He did not study higher states of consciousness nor did he seriously question the nature of consciousness.