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Freud and belief
in the Creator
By Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939), the originator of psychoanalysis and
a figure comparable in importance to Galileo and Einstein
devoted a good deal of attention to religion. His works such as
Totem and Taboo (1913),The Future of an Illusion (1927) and
Moses and Monotheism (1939) reveal his unusual interest in
religion and specifically in the psychological reasons why people
are religious.
Freud, however, had no good word for religion. He regarded
religious beliefs as "…illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest
and most insistent wishes of mankind." (The Future of an Illusion;
the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, trans. and
ed. by James Strachey, NY, Liverlight Corporation and London:
The Hogarth Press Ltd,1961, XXI,30) Religion, he believed, was a
mental defense against the hardships of life. Threatening aspects
of life such as earthquakes, floods, storms, diseases and
inevitable death "are forces …(which) rise up against us, majestic,
cruel and inexorable. (Ibid.,16)" As such, man looks for some kind
of security through which he is able to escape many of these
threatening issues. And if he is not able to, at least he should feel
that such disasters have an exalted purpose. This requires the
existence of an ultimate "Father Figure," an infinite Being who is
able to stop any natural disaster or disease and in case He does
not, has proper reason to cause these calamities to take place.
This, claims Freud, was the reason why millions of people,
including highly intelligent ones, believed in G-d. It was not the
result of an intelligent understanding of this world but "the universal
obsessional neurosis of humanity" (Ibid., 44) which would be left
behind if people would finally learn to face the world, relying no
longer upon illusions but upon scientifically authenticated
knowledge.
In Totem and Taboo, Freud introduced his famous Oedipus
complex. (Oedipus is a famous figure in Greek mythology who
unknowingly killed his father and married his mother; the Oedipus
complex of Freudian theory is the child's unconscious jealousy of
his father and longing for his mother.) Strangely enough, Freud
uses this complex to explain the tremendous emotional intensity of
religious life and the associated feelings of guilt and obligation to
obey the behest of the deity. He postulates a stage of human
pre-history in which the family or tribe unit was the "primal horde,"
consisting of father, mother and offspring.
The father as the head
of the family or tribe retained exclusive rights over all the females
and drove away or even killed his sons who challenged his
authority. The sons, seeing that they could never challenge their
father's authority, consequently decided to kill their father and
(being cannibals) eat him! This, states Freud, is the "primal" crime
out of which guilt was born and which is responsible for so much
tension within the human psyche. (Freud saw the Oedipus
complex to be universal.) It ultimately developed into moral
inhibitions and other phenomena now found in religion since the
sons, struck with remorse, could not succeed to their father's
position.
This is the reason why the Father Figure, later developed into the
god idea, became so powerful in the human mind and why people
are religious. It is the result of a deep feeling of guilt and the need
to rectify the killing or rejection of this god by way of total
obedience.
A great amount of scholars have discussed and criticized Freud's
theory. Clearly, Freud was influenced by Darwin and Robertson
Smith, two dominating figures in the 19th century who initiated the
"primal horde" theory. Modern anthropologists have rejected this
theory. (See H.L. Phillip, Freud and Religious belief, London,
Rocklif, 1956.) Also his Oedipus complex has been severely
attacked, and few scholars today take it seriously.
While Freud considered himself to be an atheist and seemed to
have misunderstood most of religion, this does not mean that he
was entirely wrong when he proposed that many people are
religious since they wish a G-d to exist to whom they can turn in
case of great need. Surprising, however, is the fact that he
concluded that since man wishes G-d to exist, one must conclude
that His existence is a fantasy. This makes little sense. The fact
that man wishes G-d to exist has, after all, no bearing at all on the
question whether He really exists or not. He may quite well exist,
and simultaneously man may have a great need for His existence.
Nowhere did Freud give any justification for his atheism, neither
did he understand that he hit on one of the great foundations of
Jewish thought.
Jewish tradition teaches that man was created in G-d's image.
Whatever this may mean, it definitely includes the fact that G-d
created man in such a way that he, in desperate need to discover
himself, would constantly search for Him. Freud, we believe, gave
a most original interpretation of this fact.
His discovery of the
father-image may have uncovered the mechanism through which
G-d created an idea of Himself as the ultimate Father in the
human mind. The creation of the utter dependence of a child on
his loving parents may very well have been the way through which
G-d built the foundation for man's capacity to believe and trust in
Him. It would probably not be incorrect to state that according to
some rabbinical schools this was the very reason why G-d
decided in favor of parenthood over other options such as the
creation of human beings without the need for parents (see the
creation of Adam and Eve).
Rabbinical tradition suggests that
G-d first created the Torah as a primordial substance after which
He created the world accordingly. In that case, He may very well
have created the need for man to see Him as the great Father
Figure and consequently decided to create the need for
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is a world-renowned lecturer and
ambassador for Judaism, the Jewish people, the State of Israel
and Sephardic Heritage. Comment by clicking here.
06/21/01: Comprehending the Creator