From #Dream to #Reality The Unconscious Mind In Guiding Conscious Life

Various psychoanalysts have defined the #unconscious #mind, or unconscious, in various forms and for various purposes over the years. As a result of the conflict between the ego and superego's recommendations and the impulsive demands of the self, there are some hidden spaces in the human psyche where repressed elements of the personality reside. This corner of the #personality can be a prophetic and therapeutic land where the unconscious advises the personality through dreams. This indwelling unconscious mind is brought to the exteriority of the conscious world for the unconscious to manifest in waking #life. The distinction between #conscious and unconscious territories is necessary but impossible to achieve because the two are inextricably linked. This unconcealed side of the personality warns of impending dangers in waking life in such a way that the person is captured by language after the main confusion in the mirror stage and subsequently determined and subjectivized in a symbolic universe by interacting with the world. As a result, many psychoanalysts have attempted to explain the unconscious mind; however, it is important to note that these explanations provide their perspectives on the unconscious. In different ways, each of these thinkers developed complex theories and significantly contributed to our understanding of the unconscious mind. “When it comes to #Freud, #Jung, and #Lacan's statements about the unconscious, it is critical to use the classical approach to analyze a tangled relationship”. Each created #sophisticated ideas about the unconscious mind in their distinct ways. Their efforts have helped us better comprehend this intricate part of the #humanpsyche. To understand them regarding the unconscious, a classical approach is required, which entails carefully evaluating and analyzing the intricate and intertwined nature of their #thoughts and #perspectives. Their beliefs and perspectives on the unconscious cannot be readily separated or comprehended in isolation, but rather necessitate a comprehensive and nuanced investigation to properly comprehend their intricacies and linkages. One can develop a more complete and nuanced understanding of this complex phenomenon by looking at these various points of view. As a result, we will investigate them all and attempt to comprehend their concepts.?

Sigmund Freud:

According to Freud, the mind is shaped by the dynamic interaction of the id, the instinctive and impulsive component of the mind, and the ego, the intellectual and conscious component of the mind. A person's superego, which is the moral and societal forces, is another important part of the unconscious, and it influences a lot without any conscious control. As methods for accessing and interpreting unconscious material, Freud emphasized dreams, "Freudian slips," and free association. The unconscious mind, according to Freud, is a repository of thoughts, desires, and memories that exist outside a person's conscious awareness. Unresolved childhood experiences, such as repressed sexual and aggressive instincts, reside in the unconscious and influence our thoughts and behaviors completely unconsciously (Mcleod, 2023).

Carl Jung:

Carl Jung regarded dreams as a portal to the unconscious and emphasized the importance of individuation, which entails integrating conscious and unconscious aspects of oneself to achieve psychological wholeness. According to Jung, a person's collective unconscious mind is a deeper layer of the unconscious that contains archetypes, universal symbols, and collective human experiences shared across cultures. “He attempted to expand on Freud's concept of the unconscious by proposing the existence of both a personal unconscious that arises from within and a collective unconscious that arises from a person's surroundings and interactions”. Individual experiences, memories, or personality complexes that have been repressed or long forgotten can be found in the personal unconscious, which shapes and influences the conscious. These may be usually hidden and dark, sometimes controlled and sometimes uncontrolled. While the collective unconscious that emerges from a person's surroundings and interactions is forced onto the conscious and is followed by fear and pressure from society (Jung, 2022).

Jacques Lacan:

He proposed that the unconscious is structured similarly to language in that as we grow up in specific environments and begin to speak and communicate, our language skills grow stronger. Similarly, the unconscious is primarily shaped by a person's and his environment's social and cultural influences. As a result, he stressed the importance of language, communication, and the interaction of the conscious and unconscious in the formation of subjectivity and identity. He drew on structuralism and post-structuralism, philosophical and theoretical frameworks that focus on the underlying structures and systems that influence human experiences and meaning-making. These perspectives informed Lacan's exploration of the unconscious as a product of social and cultural structures, particularly through language and the interplay between the individual and society. The unconscious, according to Lacan, is the result of the subject's entry into the symbolic order, which is governed by language and the Other, such as society and culture (Karamchandani, 2022).

It is crucial to recognize and take into account many points of view to have a thorough understanding of the unconscious. The unconscious has been the subject of a variety of ideas and interpretations from various thinkers, including Freud, Jung, and Lacan. These are some of the various approaches to the unconscious mind taken by various psychoanalysts, and each one provides a unique perspective on its nature and function. While each approach is unique and thus has merits, it also has limitations and unanswered questions that require further investigation (Gheibi et al., 2022).

The area of studying the unconscious is complex and constantly changing. It implies that research into the unconscious mind is complex and multidimensional, requiring careful examination of many viewpoints and methodologies. Although empirical data, theoretical frameworks, and perspectives help us comprehend the unconscious, it's important to base our knowledge on practical study and evidence. This entails using empirical research and investigations to back up or refute theorized statements regarding the unconscious.

The Unconscious Is Regarded As A Dark Corner Of The Human Psyche

There is a school of thought that believes the unconscious is a repository for the negative aspects of the personality because the person does not know what the unconscious is. The hidden desires of the personality are the repressed elements that result from conflicts between the superego, which comes from internalized moral standards, and the id, which are a person's impulsive desires (Ajvazi, 202). These are the things that a person cannot do in public because they are aspects of his or her personality that must be hidden due to environmental pressure, and this idea was introduced by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. “Repressed thoughts and desires, according to Freud, exist in the unconscious and can manifest themselves in a person's dreams or unconscious slips of the tongue”.?

A therapist or psychoanalyst can act as a mediator to uncover and make sense of a person's unconscious content, allowing the individual to gain insight into their hidden desires. These desires may cause conflict for that person because he was unaware of them before this mediation. According to this viewpoint, the unconscious can be brought to the surface by a psychoanalyst's interpretation and analysis (Mohammadpour & Jandl, 2019).

However, there are some serious criticisms of this approach, as it has the potential to have a significant impact on a person's life because his unconscious mind may have dark thoughts. While this approach acknowledges the existence of the unconscious and its potential impact on our conscious lives, it heavily relies on psychoanalytic interpretation and analysis. This raises two concerns, firstly, why can the concealed subservient aspect of the psyche only be a bad or shadowy area?? Can negative social or cultural pressure lead to the burying or diminution of a good or positive unconscious? The second conservation is about the analyst's subjectivity and potential biases, as well as the limitations of using interpretation alone to understand the unconscious.

The Unconscious As A Prophetic And Therapeutic Space

?Carl Jung, a well-known psychoanalyst, investigated this idea and emphasized the symbolic nature of dreams as well as their potential for personal growth and self-realization. A person's dreams are usually beyond his control, and they highlight his conscious activities. Therefore, the unconscious is not completely hidden or inaccessible in this approach. This perspective suggests that the unconscious serves as a warning system, communicating through dreams to alert the individual about impending dangers in their waking life. It can appear on its own in dreams, giving the person helpful information and direction without requiring in-depth interpretation or study (Gazzillo et al., 2020).

Dreams are thought to be very experience-oriented and subjective, so this approach is not without criticism. While the idea of the unconscious providing prophetic warnings through dreams is intriguing, objectively validating such claims is difficult. Because dreams are subjective experiences influenced by a variety of factors such as personal experiences, emotions, and a person's psychological state, there is no standard means to measure them. It is still difficult to tell the difference between genuine prophetic messages and ordinary dream symbolism.

The Unconscious And The Conscious are Intertwined

The unconscious and conscious territories are intertwined and inseparable, rather than two separate entities of the personality. This perspective, influenced by Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theories, contends that the unconscious is not a separate domain from the conscious world. It is impossible to draw a clear demarcation of boundaries between the two because it is unknown when one ends and the other begins. The unconscious is formed by the individual's entry into the symbolic order of language and the influence of others, such as society or culture. The unconscious, according to this viewpoint, is not a hidden realm that can be accessed through interpretation. The unconscious mind is omnipresent and influential in our conscious lives. Our thoughts, behaviors, and subjectivity are heavily influenced by our unconscious mind. Our unconscious mind has an impact on how we react and respond to everyday situations. “Unconscious processes, which operate outside of our conscious awareness, influence how we perceive and interact with our surroundings”.?

This approach calls into question the idea of a distinct and isolating unconscious mind. While it acknowledges the role of language and society in shaping an individual's unconscious, it can be difficult to distinguish between the conscious and the unconscious. This raises the question of agency and how much control individuals have over their unconscious influences. It implies that, given the pervasiveness of the unconscious mind, questions about the extent to which individuals can consciously navigate or exert conscious control over these unconscious influences may arise (Knight, 2022).

It makes us consider how much conscious control we have over our actions and decisions when underlying unconscious factors are at work. The implication is that if the unconscious mind shapes our thoughts, behaviors, and subjectivity, it may call into question the true extent of our agency and free will. The preceding analysis encourages further investigation into the complex relationship between conscious awareness and the unconscious mind. It begs the question of how much autonomy people have in actively managing or redirecting their unconscious influences, and whether it is possible to fully disentangle or transcend these unconscious forces.?

Expanding Perspectives on the Unconscious: Insights Beyond Freud, Jung, and Lacan

Other noteworthy ideas and viewpoints on the unconscious that are also highly significant and should be mentioned, in addition to those of Freud, Jung, and Lacan, should also be mentioned.? For example, Alfred Adler, a psychologist and Freud's contemporary, proposed that the unconscious includes not only repressed desires but also the individual's inferiority feelings and striving for superiority. He believed that unconscious factors influence our behavior and motivations, particularly our desire to overcome perceived flaws. Karen Horney, a neo-Freudian psychologist, focused on the impact of social and cultural factors on unconscious concepts. She emphasized how early experiences and societal influences, such as gender roles and cultural norms, shape unconscious defenses and coping mechanisms. Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and others developed this psychoanalytic perspective that focuses on the unconscious dynamics of relationships and internal representations of self and others. It investigates how early experiences with caregivers shape unconscious processes, influencing patterns of relating and emotional well-being (Abram & Hinshelwood, 2020). Archetypal psychology, another theory developed by James Hillman and influenced by Jung, emphasizes the importance of archetypes, universal patterns, and images that reside in the collective unconscious. It emphasizes the important role of “myths, symbols, and collective aspects of the unconscious in shaping human experiences and psyches”. In cognitive psychology, the concept of the cognitive unconscious suggests that mental processes that occur outside of conscious awareness influence our thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors. It focuses on automatic cognitive processes, implicit memory, and the role of heuristics and biases in decision-making (Perlovsky & Schoeller, 2019). These are a few different concepts and viewpoints on the unconscious. Each provides unique insights into the human mind's hidden aspects and the complex interplay of conscious and unconscious processes. Exploring the depths of the unconscious reveals diverse concepts such as archetypal psychology, the exploration of collective symbols and the cognitive unconscious, and the role of language. These new perspectives add to our understanding of the complexities of the unconscious mind.?

Conclusion:

Throughout history, various psychoanalysts have explored and defined the concept of the unconscious mind. Each method provides a unique perspective on the nature and function of the unconscious. Based on the texts of various authors, we examined the three approaches and their explanations, followed by critical opinions on their formulations and applications. Each thinker has contributed valuable insights, from Freud's exploration of repressed desires to Jung's concept of collective symbols and Lacan's linguistic perspective. The unconscious is still a complex and evolving field that necessitates the consideration of multiple perspectives as well as empirical evidence. We are confronted with questions about agency, the interplay of conscious and unconscious forces, and the extent to which we can consciously navigate our hidden influences as we navigate the depths of the unconscious. Understanding the intricate workings of the human mind is very intricate and intimidating, and delving into this realm will only add to the confusion. And the details of the unconscious mind concept discussed above continue to fascinate and challenge our understanding of human psychology.

References:?

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