Sublime

The cultural process that gave rise to modern society and modern man was the development of the ego. This development is associated with the acquisition of knowledge and the gaining of power over nature. Man is part of nature like any other animal, fully subject to her laws; but he is also above nature, acting upon and controlling her. He does the

A psychoanalyst is someone who is, above all, curious, and curious about curiosity; and psychoanalysis itself may be more of a curiosity profession than a helping profession, while keen to work out the connections between the two. A psychoanalyst is not someone who needs to know, not someone who needs to be right, or needs to be believed. He is som

The way to understand Adlerian psychology is simple. Right now, you are thinking, If I were to have confidence in someone unconditionally, I would just get taken advantage of. However, you are not the one who decides whether or not to take advantage. That is the other person’s task. All you need to do is think, What should I do? If you are telling

To understand the nature of the phenomenon of falling in love and the inevitability of its ending, it is necessary to examine the nature of what psychiatrists call ego boundaries. From what we can ascertain by indirect evidence, it appears that the newborn infant during the first few months of its life does not distinguish between itself and the re

You make the switch from attachment to self (self-interest) to concern for others (social interest).

Fromm argued that those freed from oppression but unable to develop a positive version of freedom were destined to be filled with feelings of separateness and anxiety.⁠

The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.

As Freud and many others before and after him have noted, civilization is built on the repression of individual desires. It would be impossible to maintain any kind of social order, any complex division of labor, unless society’s members were forced to take on the habits and skills that the culture required, whether the individuals liked it or not.

Likewise, we can gain a more sensitive understanding of others and think more carefully than ever before about the way we bring up our children. Freud’s desire to understand the human condition has bequeathed to us a similar impulse to discern the functioning of people around us whenever they surprise us with seemingly irrational behaviour. Because