Revisiting Freudian Theories

So as much of a joke as Freud has become in modern day culture, there is no denying the major influence that his theories have had on our lives.

From these audio lectures I've been playing, I recently and finally understand the distinction between the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.

Let me put it in the simple terms that I understand it to be. The Id is the essence of your unconscious mind, the psychic energy that drives your most primal desires. Hunger, sex, and arguably, the need for love and affection - basic desires of any human being.

Now, I mentioned psychic energy - and energy is defined in physics as the ability to do work - but in Freudian terms, it is the drive, the means to satisfy those desires. Have you ever really really desired to have something and just thinking about it induces a rush of emotion, even violence in your being? That's the psychic energy rearing its presence, or in Freudian terms, the libido.

What then is the Ego? It is the part of us that deals with the external world and the reality of the situation. For instance, if we are in the same room as a person that thoroughly disgusts us, and we have to fight the urge to slap the person silly, the part in us that resists that internal urge is the Ego holding us back. The Ego is the awareness of the external reality and is often the voice of reason.

What then is the Superego? It is the part of us that reaches even higher idealizations and forms a mental, a psychological ideal of ourselves, the perfect being that we wish to strive to be. It is that person that we know we want to be but also realize that we are not there yet.

Freud concludes that a well adjusted human being is able to use his Ego as the mediator between the Id and the Superego, forming a perfect balance, resolving any conflicts between the Id and the Superego.

Now, all this may have been rather dry, but it is truly fascinating when you think about how it may apply to your own life. For me, I believe for instance that my Id is always telling me, you want to watch 24. You want to kick back and relax and lose yourself in Jack Bauer's world. My SuperEgo tells me, You SLACKER! Get back to work and study the science passages. You should have no thought at all of rest and recreation. (Sometimes my boyfriend and my Superego merges into one). Then there is my rational calm Ego attempting the peace negotiations. You can study for X number of hours and reward yourself with one episode of 24. There there, everyone happy?

Sometimes there are too many voices in my head and it just gets too crowded and noisy. But where will you go to escape yourself?