Wednesday 28 February 2007

Existential nausea?

Felt sick before work and on my way home although it might just be travel sickness, maybe I suffer that too or maybe it's another kind of nausea? Anyway I'm not going to let it ruin my evening! It also made me think a little about Sartre's idea of the 'Nausea of 
existence' and inspired the following research which isn't Sartre based but interesting nevertheless!

I read up on a Philosopher called Marcuse. He was an advocate of socialism and critique of some of Freud's ideas. I feel that as I'm going through this process of Psychoanalysis, I should really try and understand it as best I can. I studied Psychology at 'A' level so have some background knowledge but it makes more sense now that I'm actually a patient (or victim!?) of a Psychological disorder. Marcuse basically refuted one of Freud's basic tennants that people must repress their base instincts which are founded on violence and destruction by insisting that a liberation of our instincts would produce a liberated, happy and healthier human being. However whilst living in the types of society we do today (i.e. Consumerist Capitalistic!) where our base sexual instincts are repressed, instead of happiness being manifested we become guilty. Guilt of course is Psychologically unhealthy and puts a lid on our happiness (in my interpretation!).

So the answer to my problems is sex!? Well I must admit the idea that sexual instincts create energy and that energy is not properly channelled in the modern world is quite appealing if not exactly do-able! We must remember that Marcuse was really more concerned with Politics than Psycholanalysis but if you knew me well you might make a connection here with the idea that the World is certainly not the place it should be! Many an evening I'd cleverly manipulate light-hearted pub talk into a discussion about the state of the world and the fact that this current capitalistic environment we inhabit is hardly going in the right direction! The US, is for example a perfect model of capitalism pushed to its extremes and I'd hardly call its current political tactics (War, Presidents who circumnavigate the democratic process etc....) particularly appealing or logical. How people can defend a nation whose society helps foster children who walk into schools with guns, devilish leaders, homelessness and huge drug problems is beyond me. Maybe there is more to my anxiety than meets the eye, maybe parenting is a significant part of it but not the whole picture. Is it possible that the larger realm of existence is also an influence on my Psychological state with its hypocrisy, cruelty and obsession with the self and only the self (i.e. and not community or working together to create freedom)? I can't say right now but based on the idea that our Psychological makeup is crafted as we develop through life, it would be ridiculous to only found that makeup on one factor, the small world we live in called our family! Is the larger world also reponsible for how our mind functions or disfunctions?