Discussion Group Report

The focus of our April meeting was the human unconscious mind. The lively discussion was led by John Paul. Sigmund Freud, the Father of psychoanalysis, cut a sloppy road into the wilderness of the unconscious by studying only ill humans. He developed the process of psychoanalysis, which is introspection externally orchestrated by another. It is a search for truth, one's inner truth.

Freud discovered the important real connection or relationship between neurosis and religion. Therapy for various neuroses can take one of two general paths: 1) correcting the exhibited behavior (social adjustment) or 2) correcting the underlying cause (through psychotherapy.)

Freud wrote some 35 books, including Moses and Monotheism and The Future of an Illusion.

Carl Justav Jung saw the unconscious as 1) a source of revelation and 2) a symbol for that which in religious language is "God." In this view, the fact that we are subject to the dictates of our "unconscious" is a religious phenomenon. Our "individual unconscious" is just a small part of the "collective unconscious," which permeates the entire universe. This "psychological theology" is brilliant but theistic.

Abraham Maslow concentrated on self-identity and self-actualization. He taught that each human who falls short of a full-blooming humanness subtracts from what could have been--should have been. He believed that most, if not all, evil could be attributed to human ignorance. In this framework he developed his hierarchy of basic needs.

Buddhists developed Tibetan Yoga and the Secret Doctrine almost 2500 years ago. They taught that certain sensations so resemble each other that they need to be studied to know what is actually happening. Examples include: desire vs. faithfulness, attachment vs. benevolence and compassion, cessation of thought vs. the Quiescence of Unlimited Mind (bliss), deceptive methods vs. prudence and charlatans vs. sages.

Erich Fromm defined religion as any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object of devotion.

We discussed that when humans pray, they are basically attempting to put themselves in touch with their unconscious. In trying to understand the functions of the human mind, we are considering a 3-pound electrochemical meat organ. When damaged, "mindfulness" can be severely impaired. This fact is proof that mindfulness is directly dependent upon the condition of this meat organ, not some mysterious "out there" phenomenon. Although we know less about the brain than about some other organs, we humans are light-years ahead of our ancestors in knowledge about ourselves.