An "unexpected" future
When we analyze the prospects of a society, we should pay attention to whether there is any collective unconscious in the society. If so, what are its characteristics and causes? In the author’s opinion, “accidents” are an important clue to understanding Hong Kong’s origin and development.
Author: GUDORDI | 2022-09-28
The “collective unconscious” may have a very important impact on our and society’s behavior. (Shutterstock)
Continuing from the previous article: “Hong Kong’s destiny – Hong Kong’s legendary future”
It goes without saying that a civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into rebellion has neither a prospect of continued existence nor deserves it.──” The Future of an Illusion “, Freud (The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud)
The above excerpt is from Freud’s 1927 book “The Future of an Illusion”. In this work, the “illusion” that Freud refers to is religion, and the content of this work is about the origin and nature of religion, and its relationship with human civilization. In the author’s opinion, Freud’s “The Future of an Illusion” published in 1927, and his later ” Civilization and its Discontent” (Civilization and its Discontent ) published in 1930 , are the best ways to understand Freud’s theory and Two of the most important works of thought.
This is not only because they are relatively late works of Freud, but also because the content of these two works has a certain degree of coherence, and both of them apply psychoanalysis to analyze things and phenomena, and these phenomena are at the social level. . Many people think that psychoanalysis is mainly about personal psychology and behavior, but the entire Freudian theory actually runs through the personal and social levels, and we may have to put the two together to have a deeper understanding of Buddhism. The essence of Lloyd’s theory.
A complete psychoanalysis should be able to penetrate the individual society
The author’s opinion is that a complete set of psychoanalysis should be able to penetrate the psychology and behavior of individuals and society, and find out the subtle but important relationship between the two. In fact, the development of Freud’s thought has indeed gradually shifted the focus from the individual to society. The two works of his mentioned above can prove this development. However, Freud’s poor health in his later years may have affected his breakthroughs and achievements in pushing psychoanalysis to the social level. However, the above two works show that when it comes to issues related to religion and the formation of social civilization, Freud’s It indeed puts forward in-depth insights and directions of thinking, and leaves a lot of space for future generations to explore in depth.
A complete set of psychoanalysis should be able to penetrate the psychology and behavior of individuals and society. (Shutterstock)
The difference between collective unconscious and personal unconscious
From one perspective, the insights of another master of psychology, Carl Jung, can be seen as a further development of psychoanalysis. As we all know, Freud and Jung had sympathy for each other in the early days, but the two seemed to disagree in the later period, and Freud did not agree with Jung’s concept of the “Collective Unconscious.” However, in the author’s opinion, Jung’s concept of “collective unconscious” is an insightful insight, and it does not really have an irresolvable contradiction with Freud’s thought.
Putting aside the grudges between the two, the author believes that their thoughts actually have many similarities and complement each other. If the two are combined, it will become a complete psychoanalytic framework. In the author’s opinion, Jung’s concept of “collective unconscious” has many shadows of Freudian psychoanalysis.
In psychoanalysis, the “Personal Unconscious” is regarded as the part of us that we deliberately forget – because the reality is too cruel, there are some things we choose to forget. From a certain perspective, the concepts of collective unconsciousness and personal unconsciousness are similar. But looking a little deeper, there are subtle but important differences between the two. Jung pointed out that it is not the part that we deliberately forget, but something that we are not aware of all the time, but unconsciously and secretly dominates our behavior.
In 1909, Freud (front row, first from left), Jung (front row, first from right) and their friends were photographed at Clark University. (Wikimedia Commons)
Jung's Island Metaphor
Jung once borrowed the metaphor of a small island: the part of the island above the water is the consciousness that people can perceive. For most people, their understanding of themselves is limited to this part. However, there is much more to the island than just what appears above the water. When the tide goes out, some places that we usually don’t notice will emerge from the water. This is what the Buddha refers to as “personal unconsciousness.” Regarding the personal unconscious, most of us “know a little, but not too much” because they often conflict with our self-understanding, so we choose to forget or suppress them, but they do not. Disappear, maybe, under certain circumstances they will “explode”.
To use the above metaphor, the “collective unconscious” is something hidden deeper, such as the seabed at the bottom of a small island. The general rise and fall of the tide cannot expose them, but it may affect people deep in the heart. us. Our fundamental views and values on many things may also be related to this. Their composition may come from heredity or may be the imprint of some special and profound experiences in the past. Under normal circumstances, these parts of the island may never be known to ourselves or others, but they may have a very important impact on our and society’s behavior.
From this perspective, when we analyze the prospects of a society, we should pay attention to whether there is any collective unconscious in the society. If so, what are its characteristics and causes? In the author’s opinion, “accidents” are an important clue to understanding Hong Kong’s origins and development. I will discuss this next time.
“Hong Kong’s Legendary Future” Series 4
Contact the author: Gudordi@proton.me
