Sigmund freud quotes on religion

In conclusion, Freud's statement challenges the conventional understanding of religion by encouraging us to view it as an illusion fueled by our instinctual desires. While this perspective may provoke discomfort or resistance, it stimulates critical thinking and fosters introspection. Ultimately, the interpretation of this quote remains subjective.

It is incumbent upon each individual to delve into their own beliefs and evaluate the role of religion in their lives, deeply contemplating its origins, influences, and impacts. By doing so, we embark on a quest for self-discovery and, possibly, a broader understanding of the complex tapestry of human spirituality. Sigmund Freud: 'Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.

Dec 2 Written By. Hitchens described the book as a "pessimistic unillusioned tale of realism," noting that Freud "wasted little time in identifying [the need for religion] as infantile" and pointing out a summary by Freud's biographer Ernest Jones that "Human happiness, therefore, does not seem to be the purpose of the universe. Moses and Monotheism was Freud's last book, published inthe year of his death.

In it, Freud makes certain guesses and assumptions about Moses as a historical figure, particularly that he was not born Jewish but was adopted by Jews the opposite of the Biblical story and that he was murdered by his followers, who then via reaction formation revered him and became irrevocably committed to the monotheistic idea he represented.

Mark Edmundson comments that in writing Moses and MonotheismFreud, while not abandoning his atheism, perceived for the first time a value in the abstract form of monotheism—the worship of an invisible God, without Jesus or saints—practiced by the Jews. So the mental labor of monotheism prepared the Jews — as it would eventually prepare others in the West — to achieve distinction in law, in mathematics, in science and in literary art.

It gave them an advantage in all activities that involved making an abstract model of experience, in words or numbers or lines, and working with the abstraction to achieve control over nature or to bring humane order to life. In Moses and MonotheismFreud proposed that Moses had been a priest of Akhenaten who fled Egypt after the pharaoh's death and perpetuated monotheism through a different religion.

According to Jay Geller, Moses and Monotheism is full of "false starts, deferred conclusions, repetitions, rationalizations, defensive self-justifications, questionable methods, and weak arguments that are readily acknowledged as such by Freud. There he describes the struggles of science in its relations with three other powers: art, philosophy and religion.

Art is an illusion of some sort and a long story. Philosophy goes astray in its method. Religion constructed a consistent and self-contained Weltanschauung to an unparalleled degree. By comparison science is marked by certain negative characteristics. Among them it asserts that there are no sources of knowledge of the universe other than the intellectual working over of carefully scrutinized observations, and none that is derived from revelation, intuition or divination.

With respect to religion in particular he explains that a religious person had once been feeble and helpless. A parent had protected him. Later such a person gets more insight into the perils of life and he rightly concludes that fundamentally he sigmund freud quote on religion remains just as helpless as he was in his childhood. Then he harks back to the mnemic image.

In a essay in Commentary magazineIrving Kristol says that Freud exposed what he believed to be the irrationality of religion without evidence, but has not substituted anything beyond "a mythology of rational despair". In a book entitled Christianity after FreudBenjamin Gilbert Sanders draws parallels between the theory of psychoanalysis and Christian religionreferring to Jesus Christ as "the Great Psychiatrist" and Christians' love for Christ as "a more positive form of the Transference".

Karen Armstrong notes in A History of God that "not all psychoanalysts agreed with Freud's view of God," citing Alfred Adlerwho believed God was a projection which had been "helpful to humanity", and C. Jungwho, when asked whether he believed in God, said "Difficult to answer, I know. I don't need to believe. Judaism had been a religion of the father; Christianity became a religion of the son.

The old God the Father fell back behind Christ; Christ, the Son, took his place, just as every son had hoped to do in primeval times. Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund freud quotes on religion: Religion is an illusion and

The defense against childish helplessness is what lends its characteristic features to the adult's reaction to the helplessness which he has to acknowledge - a reaction which is precisely the formation of religion. We may say that hysteria is a caricature of an artistic creation, a compulsion neurosis a caricature of a religion, and a paranoiac delusion a caricature of a philosophic system.

In every age immorality has found no less support in religion than morality has. If the achievements of religion in respect to man's happiness, susceptibility to culture and moral control are no better than this, the question cannot but arise whether we are not overrating its necessity for mankind, and whether we do wisely in basing our cultural demands upon it.

The effect of the consolations of religion may be compared to that of a narcotic. In addition to these two main components of the mind, Freudian theory also divides human personality into three major components: the id, ego, and superego. Freudian theory suggests that as children develop, they progress through a series of psychosexual stages. At each stage, the libido's pleasure-seeking energy is focused on a different part of the body.

Sigmund freud quotes on religion: Religious, Men, Religion.

The five stages of psychosexual development are:. The successful completion of each stage leads to a healthy personality as an adult. If, however, a conflict remains unresolved at any particular stage, the individual might remain fixated or stuck at that particular point of development. A fixation can involve an over-dependence or obsession with something related to that phase of development.

For example, a person with an "oral fixation" is believed to be stuck at the oral stage of development. Signs of an oral fixation might include excessive reliance on oral behaviors such as smoking, biting fingernails, or eating. The unconscious mind played a critical role in all of Freud's theories, and he considered dreams to be one of the key ways to take a peek into what lies outside our conscious awareness.

He dubbed dreams "the royal road to the unconscious" and believed that by examining dreams, he could see not only how the unconscious mind works but also what it is trying to hide from conscious awareness. Freud believed the content of dreams could be broken down into two different types:. Freud often utilized the analysis of dreams as a starting point in his free association technique.

When working with a client, he would focus on a particular dream symbol, then use free association to see what other thoughts and images immediately came to the client's mind. Even if you've never studied Freud's theories before, you have probably heard the term "defense mechanisms. For sigmund freud quote on religion, rationalizations for smoking might include "one cigarette won't hurt me" or "if I quit, I'll just gain weight.

Denial and rationalization represent different types of defense mechanisms, or tactics that the ego uses to protect itself from anxiety. Some of the best-known mechanisms of defense include denial, repressionand regressionbut there are many more. Freud's perspective on women was, and continues to be, one of his most controversial. One of his theories relating to female psychology is known as the Electra complex, also sometimes referred to as penis envy.

According to Freud, females start out close to their mothers. But once they realize they don't have a penis, they start to hate their moms for mutilating them, then become close to their dad. At the same time, females start to imitate their mom because they fear the loss of her affection. The Electra complex is the opposite of the Oedipus complexwhich Freud contended is when a male child develops a sexual attachment to his mother, viewing his father as a sexual rival.

Freud theorized that religious beliefs are essentially delusions, and also that turning away from these types of ideologies is preferable because religion does not lead to happiness and fulfillment; in fact, it is a belief structure not based on evidence. Freud felt that a person's religious views were, at least in part, a result of their relationship with their father.

He believed that people tend to depict their idea of a "God" based on the qualities and traits of the father figure in their life and that these qualities changed as their relationship with their father changed. It is believed that Freud's theory of religion was influenced by his relationship with his own father.

Sigmund freud quotes on religion: Religion is a system

Freud had a Jewish upbringing, which he said he had no desire to change, yet he also stated that he was "completely estranged from the religion of his fathers—as well as from every other religion. While Freud's theories have been widely criticized, they are still important because his work has made contributions to psychology as we know it today. Many contemporary psychologists do not give credence to Freud's ideas, but the theories remain important.

And research has validated the effectiveness of various forms of talk therapy, such as one finding that psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy were both effective for treating anxiety in college-age students. Freud's belief that mental problems could be resolved by actually talking about them helped revolutionize psychotherapy. When the patient and analyst are well suited to work together, they can see how the patient's past gets reactivated in their current therapy and much learning takes place.

Freud's theories have also sparked a major change in how we view mental illness by suggesting that not all psychological problems have physiological causes. Freud's contributions have also impacted the foundational science of what we know about psychology today. His idea that our thoughts are largely unconscious has withstood scientific scrutiny, for instance, retaining their importance in understanding human development and behavior.

Freud has even influenced thoughts about how society has formed into what it is today. Some believe that his theories help explain some of the successes of modern society while also explaining some of its failures. To understand where psychology is today, it is essential to take a look at where we've been and how we got here. Freud's work provides insight into an important movement in psychology that helped transform how we think about mental health and how we approach psychological disorders.

By studying Freud's theories and those that came after, you gain a better understanding of psychology's fascinating history.