The Technique of Psychoanalysis
An excerpt from the beginning of the:
PREFACE
"Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great, and the truest state of mind rested in, becomes false"
--Chinese Proverb.
The traveller in a foreign land who keeps to the main highways needs no guide. He does not even have to know the language of the country for a judiciously distributed "pour boire" will put him in touch with all the more common requirements of his surroundings.
With his Baedecker in hand, he may even wander about in strange surroundings oblivious to the unknown claque about him and return to his haven of safety with an outline of the topography of the city, its bricks and mortar, and possibly its trolley cars. But were he to go into the by-ways, were he to reach out for an understanding of the rich life that is actually being lived about him, he is more or less shut off, and deaf and dumb must needs grope about if without knowledge of the language of the country.
The doctor of medicine is in some such position—his unexplored countries come to him, however, he does not go to them. His Baedekers—Gray, Osier, and perhaps a rich library, furnishing the details of many complicated structures—lead him through the more frequented paths of Disease processes, but, like the real traveller he constantly finds himself lost in unexplored territory. A new language strikes his ear at every specialistic frontier that he would pass; a rich and apparently hopeless terminology has to be mastered if he would travel in new fields, and if he would know what is going on over the boundary he must make it a part of himself.
It is of no service to him to rationalize his indolence by calling this strange speech new-fangled, absurd or unnecessary. To shut his eyes and ears to these new languages, refusing to learn them, only hampers himself, and the stream of active intelligence goes on, leaving him in an eddy of his own isolation.
Words, concepts, generalizations, hypotheses, these are tools to be used to cut into the facts of nature, so that fellow workers, through mutual understanding, can make a concerted effort and clear a pathway into the secrets of life. The simplest act of reflection will show that the more complex the situation, the greater will be the confusion of new tongues and the greater will be the need for the construction of new tools-—words, concepts, etc.—to aid the explorer. This is one of the reasons why the problems connected with the study of mental activities have so rich a terminology and one which is constantly undergoing evolution.
Bones, tendons, muscles, intestines, hearts, lungs, have been much alike for countless centuries, and have modified little in their structures, but the nervous system, an active, changing master-spirit in evolution, is constantly reaching out in its attempt to grasp the infinite.
Even the simplest aboriginal inhabitants of an Australian village are giants in mental development when compared to the earliest products of the age of man. Historical retrospect can but imperfectly reconstruct the stages of primitive culture, but the connecting links between aboriginal and modern races are there. The ethnologist, the archeologist, the anthropologist, the student of language, of customs, of laws, of religions has a rich material, and already the data available for the understanding of the development of civilization and of culture surrounds the student of human nature in bewildering profusion.
The races of the twentieth century are partakers in this heritage of a bountiful past and the individual of to-day is its product. To completely understand him entails a knowledge of the principal gifts of this inheritance, and he who would grasp the innermost causes that sway the human mind must be able to reconstruct the stages through which that mind has come in its development from primitive culture to modern conditions. " What we are," queries Bergson, " in fact what is our character if not the condensation of the history that we have lived from our birth—nay even before our birth, since we bring with us prenatal dispositions? " " Doubtless we think with only a small part of our past, but it is with our entire past, including the original bent of our soul, that we desire, will, and act."
These " prenatal dispositions," this " original bent of our soul" are a part of the inheritance of which we speak. Everything in human life, individual as well as social, has then its historical background, its origin, its life history and thus its adequate working interpretation. Nothing is trivial, nothing is fortuitous.
Psychoanalysis outlines the task of interpreting human motives and conduct from this point of view. How, it will be my privilege to attempt to set forth more fully in the following pages.
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PREFACE
"Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great, and the truest state of mind rested in, becomes false"
--Chinese Proverb.
The traveller in a foreign land who keeps to the main highways needs no guide. He does not even have to know the language of the country for a judiciously distributed "pour boire" will put him in touch with all the more common requirements of his surroundings.
With his Baedecker in hand, he may even wander about in strange surroundings oblivious to the unknown claque about him and return to his haven of safety with an outline of the topography of the city, its bricks and mortar, and possibly its trolley cars. But were he to go into the by-ways, were he to reach out for an understanding of the rich life that is actually being lived about him, he is more or less shut off, and deaf and dumb must needs grope about if without knowledge of the language of the country.
The doctor of medicine is in some such position—his unexplored countries come to him, however, he does not go to them. His Baedekers—Gray, Osier, and perhaps a rich library, furnishing the details of many complicated structures—lead him through the more frequented paths of Disease processes, but, like the real traveller he constantly finds himself lost in unexplored territory. A new language strikes his ear at every specialistic frontier that he would pass; a rich and apparently hopeless terminology has to be mastered if he would travel in new fields, and if he would know what is going on over the boundary he must make it a part of himself.
It is of no service to him to rationalize his indolence by calling this strange speech new-fangled, absurd or unnecessary. To shut his eyes and ears to these new languages, refusing to learn them, only hampers himself, and the stream of active intelligence goes on, leaving him in an eddy of his own isolation.
Words, concepts, generalizations, hypotheses, these are tools to be used to cut into the facts of nature, so that fellow workers, through mutual understanding, can make a concerted effort and clear a pathway into the secrets of life. The simplest act of reflection will show that the more complex the situation, the greater will be the confusion of new tongues and the greater will be the need for the construction of new tools-—words, concepts, etc.—to aid the explorer. This is one of the reasons why the problems connected with the study of mental activities have so rich a terminology and one which is constantly undergoing evolution.
Bones, tendons, muscles, intestines, hearts, lungs, have been much alike for countless centuries, and have modified little in their structures, but the nervous system, an active, changing master-spirit in evolution, is constantly reaching out in its attempt to grasp the infinite.
Even the simplest aboriginal inhabitants of an Australian village are giants in mental development when compared to the earliest products of the age of man. Historical retrospect can but imperfectly reconstruct the stages of primitive culture, but the connecting links between aboriginal and modern races are there. The ethnologist, the archeologist, the anthropologist, the student of language, of customs, of laws, of religions has a rich material, and already the data available for the understanding of the development of civilization and of culture surrounds the student of human nature in bewildering profusion.
The races of the twentieth century are partakers in this heritage of a bountiful past and the individual of to-day is its product. To completely understand him entails a knowledge of the principal gifts of this inheritance, and he who would grasp the innermost causes that sway the human mind must be able to reconstruct the stages through which that mind has come in its development from primitive culture to modern conditions. " What we are," queries Bergson, " in fact what is our character if not the condensation of the history that we have lived from our birth—nay even before our birth, since we bring with us prenatal dispositions? " " Doubtless we think with only a small part of our past, but it is with our entire past, including the original bent of our soul, that we desire, will, and act."
These " prenatal dispositions," this " original bent of our soul" are a part of the inheritance of which we speak. Everything in human life, individual as well as social, has then its historical background, its origin, its life history and thus its adequate working interpretation. Nothing is trivial, nothing is fortuitous.
Psychoanalysis outlines the task of interpreting human motives and conduct from this point of view. How, it will be my privilege to attempt to set forth more fully in the following pages.
The Technique of Psychoanalysis
An excerpt from the beginning of the:
PREFACE
"Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great, and the truest state of mind rested in, becomes false"
--Chinese Proverb.
The traveller in a foreign land who keeps to the main highways needs no guide. He does not even have to know the language of the country for a judiciously distributed "pour boire" will put him in touch with all the more common requirements of his surroundings.
With his Baedecker in hand, he may even wander about in strange surroundings oblivious to the unknown claque about him and return to his haven of safety with an outline of the topography of the city, its bricks and mortar, and possibly its trolley cars. But were he to go into the by-ways, were he to reach out for an understanding of the rich life that is actually being lived about him, he is more or less shut off, and deaf and dumb must needs grope about if without knowledge of the language of the country.
The doctor of medicine is in some such position—his unexplored countries come to him, however, he does not go to them. His Baedekers—Gray, Osier, and perhaps a rich library, furnishing the details of many complicated structures—lead him through the more frequented paths of Disease processes, but, like the real traveller he constantly finds himself lost in unexplored territory. A new language strikes his ear at every specialistic frontier that he would pass; a rich and apparently hopeless terminology has to be mastered if he would travel in new fields, and if he would know what is going on over the boundary he must make it a part of himself.
It is of no service to him to rationalize his indolence by calling this strange speech new-fangled, absurd or unnecessary. To shut his eyes and ears to these new languages, refusing to learn them, only hampers himself, and the stream of active intelligence goes on, leaving him in an eddy of his own isolation.
Words, concepts, generalizations, hypotheses, these are tools to be used to cut into the facts of nature, so that fellow workers, through mutual understanding, can make a concerted effort and clear a pathway into the secrets of life. The simplest act of reflection will show that the more complex the situation, the greater will be the confusion of new tongues and the greater will be the need for the construction of new tools-—words, concepts, etc.—to aid the explorer. This is one of the reasons why the problems connected with the study of mental activities have so rich a terminology and one which is constantly undergoing evolution.
Bones, tendons, muscles, intestines, hearts, lungs, have been much alike for countless centuries, and have modified little in their structures, but the nervous system, an active, changing master-spirit in evolution, is constantly reaching out in its attempt to grasp the infinite.
Even the simplest aboriginal inhabitants of an Australian village are giants in mental development when compared to the earliest products of the age of man. Historical retrospect can but imperfectly reconstruct the stages of primitive culture, but the connecting links between aboriginal and modern races are there. The ethnologist, the archeologist, the anthropologist, the student of language, of customs, of laws, of religions has a rich material, and already the data available for the understanding of the development of civilization and of culture surrounds the student of human nature in bewildering profusion.
The races of the twentieth century are partakers in this heritage of a bountiful past and the individual of to-day is its product. To completely understand him entails a knowledge of the principal gifts of this inheritance, and he who would grasp the innermost causes that sway the human mind must be able to reconstruct the stages through which that mind has come in its development from primitive culture to modern conditions. " What we are," queries Bergson, " in fact what is our character if not the condensation of the history that we have lived from our birth—nay even before our birth, since we bring with us prenatal dispositions? " " Doubtless we think with only a small part of our past, but it is with our entire past, including the original bent of our soul, that we desire, will, and act."
These " prenatal dispositions," this " original bent of our soul" are a part of the inheritance of which we speak. Everything in human life, individual as well as social, has then its historical background, its origin, its life history and thus its adequate working interpretation. Nothing is trivial, nothing is fortuitous.
Psychoanalysis outlines the task of interpreting human motives and conduct from this point of view. How, it will be my privilege to attempt to set forth more fully in the following pages.
PREFACE
"Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great, and the truest state of mind rested in, becomes false"
--Chinese Proverb.
The traveller in a foreign land who keeps to the main highways needs no guide. He does not even have to know the language of the country for a judiciously distributed "pour boire" will put him in touch with all the more common requirements of his surroundings.
With his Baedecker in hand, he may even wander about in strange surroundings oblivious to the unknown claque about him and return to his haven of safety with an outline of the topography of the city, its bricks and mortar, and possibly its trolley cars. But were he to go into the by-ways, were he to reach out for an understanding of the rich life that is actually being lived about him, he is more or less shut off, and deaf and dumb must needs grope about if without knowledge of the language of the country.
The doctor of medicine is in some such position—his unexplored countries come to him, however, he does not go to them. His Baedekers—Gray, Osier, and perhaps a rich library, furnishing the details of many complicated structures—lead him through the more frequented paths of Disease processes, but, like the real traveller he constantly finds himself lost in unexplored territory. A new language strikes his ear at every specialistic frontier that he would pass; a rich and apparently hopeless terminology has to be mastered if he would travel in new fields, and if he would know what is going on over the boundary he must make it a part of himself.
It is of no service to him to rationalize his indolence by calling this strange speech new-fangled, absurd or unnecessary. To shut his eyes and ears to these new languages, refusing to learn them, only hampers himself, and the stream of active intelligence goes on, leaving him in an eddy of his own isolation.
Words, concepts, generalizations, hypotheses, these are tools to be used to cut into the facts of nature, so that fellow workers, through mutual understanding, can make a concerted effort and clear a pathway into the secrets of life. The simplest act of reflection will show that the more complex the situation, the greater will be the confusion of new tongues and the greater will be the need for the construction of new tools-—words, concepts, etc.—to aid the explorer. This is one of the reasons why the problems connected with the study of mental activities have so rich a terminology and one which is constantly undergoing evolution.
Bones, tendons, muscles, intestines, hearts, lungs, have been much alike for countless centuries, and have modified little in their structures, but the nervous system, an active, changing master-spirit in evolution, is constantly reaching out in its attempt to grasp the infinite.
Even the simplest aboriginal inhabitants of an Australian village are giants in mental development when compared to the earliest products of the age of man. Historical retrospect can but imperfectly reconstruct the stages of primitive culture, but the connecting links between aboriginal and modern races are there. The ethnologist, the archeologist, the anthropologist, the student of language, of customs, of laws, of religions has a rich material, and already the data available for the understanding of the development of civilization and of culture surrounds the student of human nature in bewildering profusion.
The races of the twentieth century are partakers in this heritage of a bountiful past and the individual of to-day is its product. To completely understand him entails a knowledge of the principal gifts of this inheritance, and he who would grasp the innermost causes that sway the human mind must be able to reconstruct the stages through which that mind has come in its development from primitive culture to modern conditions. " What we are," queries Bergson, " in fact what is our character if not the condensation of the history that we have lived from our birth—nay even before our birth, since we bring with us prenatal dispositions? " " Doubtless we think with only a small part of our past, but it is with our entire past, including the original bent of our soul, that we desire, will, and act."
These " prenatal dispositions," this " original bent of our soul" are a part of the inheritance of which we speak. Everything in human life, individual as well as social, has then its historical background, its origin, its life history and thus its adequate working interpretation. Nothing is trivial, nothing is fortuitous.
Psychoanalysis outlines the task of interpreting human motives and conduct from this point of view. How, it will be my privilege to attempt to set forth more fully in the following pages.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940014857758 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | OGB |
| Publication date: | 08/10/2012 |
| Series: | Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph Series , #26 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 406 KB |
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