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18 SPIRIT AND THE MIND Notes
1. The Psychiatric Dictionary (fifth edition, Oxford University Press, 1981) defines the behavioral sciences as “a multi-disciplinary pursuit of knowledge about behavior in its roots and manifestations in man and animals, in individuals, groups and cultures and in all conditions normal, exceptional and pathological. Among the many disciplines contributing to the behavioral sciences are all those ordinarily subsumed under the grouping of natural sciences, which explore the inanimate and animate universe in which, man finds himself; the social sciences, concerned with the political, social, legal and economic structure he has given to the world around him; and the humanities: the study of man’s lasting intellectual and artistic creations.”
2. Ibid.: “The most comprehensive schematization of the mind is that drawn by Freud, consisting in general of the conscious and unconscious divisions, each of which is made up of a great number of components”—the three major compo- nents being ego, superego and id. In psychoanalytic psychology, the ego is defined as the mediator between the individual and reality. Its prime function is the perception of reality and adaptation to it. It is reality-oriented and ruled by rational, logical thinking.
By means of its facilities of judgment and intelligence, by the application of logic and reality-testing, the ego blocks the tendency of the instincts toward immediate discharge—determining if and when it is safe to satisfy them. The ego is concerned with self-preservation, the acquiring of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. The id is ruled by the pleasure principle and the tendency to want immediate discharge of drive energy, or gratification. The superego is the representative of society within the mind—prompting one to behave according to what parents and society think is right and wrong.
3. Thisancientwisdomisbroadenoughtoembracecountlessvarietiesandwaysof worship—and so deep and penetrating in its inquiry into the nature of spiritual practice in general as to be considered a science of consciousness; describing the process of consciousness-raising found in all world religions, as well as the place and meaning of religious symbols, rituals and ceremonies in this process.
4. ErnestBecker,TheDenialoƒDeath(NewYork:TheFreePress,1973),p.196.
5. See Appendix IV for more discussion about the differences between ego
psychology and humanistic psychology.
6. SeeAppendicesIIIandIV.
7. Charles T. Tart, Ed., Transpersonal Psychologies (New York: Harper and Row 1975), Introduction, p. 5.
8. See Appendix I for definition.