By: Metin Tekkalmaz
1.
Is balance what we are looking for?
Australopithecus aferensis, the first bipedal, lived about 10 million years ago. One, probably, considers himself luckier than his one of the very first ancestors and if he is asked the reasons, the most significant signs of civilization, such as science, technology and art will be the most probable answers. Today almost everyone thinks the level he has achieved in the civilized environment, is the source of his happiness (if he really is). But is civilization what we really need, is that something we accept with no consideration or is that the state we achieved as the most natural and suitable for human being?
As Freud says, one of the reasons which made civilization appear is protection against the nature (42). As the first impact this protection seems to be a method to avoid one of the sources of the pain, which is the one from the external world and is again mentioned by Freud (26). For the protection, people came together and a necessity of some rules to adjust mutual relations were born, which are again provided by civilization. As Freud explains, man discovered power of community against individuals such that �Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together, which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals.� (49). Those rules, mentioned above, are also the source of the power against individuals. But does this renunciation of some instincts, by creating rules, worth to what it offers as benefit: a secure life? How can we be sure a secure life can satisfy our needs? Rules restrict people and do not permit individuals to do whatever they want which seems like a restriction over the ways of satisfaction of instincts. Freud explains that one can be neurotic under pressure of society if he cannot stand the frustration (39). But at this point a question comes into mind: Why there are not so many neurotics in today�s stressful world? Maybe the level we have achieved is the most natural among any other possible one and individuals approach an ideal state.
Freud gives the basic inclinations of a man such that �� human beings exhibit an inborn tendency to carelessness, irregularity, and unreliability in their work.� (47). But what civilization offer is beauty, order and cleanliness which are all in contradiction with human tendencies. Human kind is on the scene with its renunciations. Is that a balance we look for? It seems like when we are trying to satisfy our pure desires, we do not want to have the anxiety of being a victim of another pleasure seeker.
On the other hand civilization is full of tools to satisfy some of our instincts although these tools have nothing to do with the origins of them. Science and art can be listed as some of these tools as Freud does (51). Human being finds ways to satisfy its instincts directly or indirectly and what it actually does is just applying the pleasure principle. Because we still satisfy almost all of our instincts, straightforward or via sublimation, which is the positive approach, and besides what we gain is the avoidance of unpleasant feelings, which is the negative approach. What we really do by restricting others, using common rules, is restricting the harms that can be caused by them. Of course, the same rules are also applied to us, but this is a kind of agreement to model the pleasure principle.
What Freud offers as the base of all other behaviors and what is called pleasure principle is a good approach to the meaning of our lives. But I believe that civilization do not restrict the satisfaction of basic instincts, offering some replaced ways as I told, which still makes us happy, and moreover it prevents sources of unhappiness affect us. Everyday we approach the idealized form of human rights, which will the real source of happiness of every individual. Today what we are in is what we wanted yesterday. The difference between Lucy and me is not just 10 millions years of time but the natural development of mankind and balance between its needs and wishes.
Work Cited:
Freud, Sigmund: Civilization and Its Discontents.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, July 1989.
2.
Self vs. Society
Although the level we have reached today is one of the best possibilities we can ever have, achieving to this stage was not leaded by the free desire and conscious progress of individuals. There has always been an interaction with the others, since we discovered �the second�. This interaction comes with some mandatory directions in our lives. In today�s world very few people have the chance to give their own, free decisions. The rest still gives their decisions, but under the strong influence of the crowds that they are surrounded with. What we live is what we have to live. It should not be so strange to see people looking for an �EXIT�. Don�t we have right to be one of those very few people, at least can�t we simulate what they have: Control over what we can live.
Our tendency in life is always towards the source of happiness; this is also mentioned by Freud in his book Civilization and Its Discontent as �� what decides the purpose of life is simply the programme of the pleasure principle.� (25). But the way we apply the �pleasure principle� is related with our dependency on the civilization almost every time. Perhaps the easiest way is to push the individuality back and tune the frequency to the transmission of millions. Sure, you can easily find something for yourself in this mass, mess and noise. Who knows, maybe you can even add something to this disorder with your weak voice, which is the only remainder of your individual being. If you are happy just because you have the same with your neighbor, you may begin to consider your position in this crowd.
What else do we do to satisfy our basic instincts? But first, what restricts us on the way of �pleasure principle� is ��our relations to other men. The suffering which comes from this last source is perhaps more painful to us than any other.� as Freud describes (26). If you are not one of the �listeners� I have described above, you may be trying to arrange your status in the society using one of the methods, which are described as �sublimation of instincts� by Freud (29). If you have power in science, art or religion, besides satisfying the pure desires indirectly, you partly gain the right to give your decisions. But are you aware of the way you have just used to gain the �power� or �right�? You followed the path that is already put on you.
How else can one approach to the society? �Becoming a member of the human community� (Freud, 27) seems as another alternative. In fact all the ways described by the time are not so far from this idea. But �Love� is distinguished from any other way, significantly, to become a member. Love seems to be the most positivistic approach in this sense, but causes no less dependency to the society than the others. The term love contains the idea of dependency of people to each other, even it is considered as sexually driven and directed to others with the aim of sexual satisfaction or just like in the case of so called �aim-inhibited� by Freud (57) and directed to friends and relatives with the repression of sexual drives.
So how can one find the �EXIT� before he is strangled? Narcissism seems as the keyword. As Freud describes it is ��satisfaction of being able to think oneself better than the others.� (109) and what it brings is �the happiness of quietness� (27). As, again, Freud explains ��the narcissistic man, who inclines to be self-sufficient, will seek his main satisfactions in his internal mental processes�� (35). Realizing the individuals in us may hinder against the human flood. Intoxication may be one of the ways to avoid the outer pressure if it is used properly, since you have to deal with repressed behaviors and instincts.
Sense of guilt is another indicator of individuality. Even it is described as ��continuation of the severity of the external authority, to which it has succeeded and which it has in part replaced.� (Freud, 89) there is a high level of consciousness and self-control and although the sense of guilt is derived from the society, its soul, which is aware of the self, contrasts individual and society.
What is the situation in real life? Probably real life is none of the extreme cases above. There is no society consists of stuck individuals or no completely independent individual exists. Life is combination of individuality and socialization. But the ratio is up to us. Renunciation of some of our rights as individual beings according to �contract theory� is unavoidable to live the comfort of what society gives. But being aware of the self will diminish social manipulation over us.
Work Cited:
Freud, Sigmund: Civilization and Its Discontents.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, July 1989.