"He sido un hombre afortunado en la vida, nada me ha sido facil." "I've been a fortunate man in life, nothing has come easy"
Sigmund FreudRead
The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure.
Interpretation
The ego protects itself from external pain and trauma, seeking pleasure instead.
This quote by Sigmund Freud highlights the nature of the ego in the face of reality. It suggests that the ego is resilient and will not allow itself to succumb to distress from external challenges. Instead, it views traumas not as sources of suffering, but as opportunities for amusement or enjoyment, thereby reinforcing its own sense of power and control over the self and the environment.
In practice
In a psychology workshop discussing the nature of the human ego.
"He sido un hombre afortunado en la vida, nada me ha sido facil." "I've been a fortunate man in life, nothing has come easy"
I take up the standpoint that the tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man, and I come back now to the statement that it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture.
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never so forlornly unhappy as when we have lost our love object or its love.
I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.
The tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man... it constitutes the powerful obstacle to culture.
If aspects of the person remain undigested-cut off, denied, projected, rejected, indulged, or otherwise unassimilated-they become the points around which the core forces of greed, hatred and delusion attach themselves.
Fortunately I experienced Max Wertheimer's teaching in Berlin and collaborated for over a decade with Wolfgang Köhler. I need not emphasize my debts to these outstanding personalities. The fundamental ideas of Gestalt theory are the foundation of all our investigations in the field of the will, of affection, and of the personality.
The 'self-image' is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.
Self-pity, a dominant characteristic of sociopaths, is also the characteristic that differentiates heroic storytelling from psychological rumination. When you talk about your experiences to shed light, you may feel wrenching pain, grief, anger, or shame. Your audience may pity you, but not because you want them to.
It was as if personality itself had a 'face'. This non-physical face of personality seemed to be the real key to personality change. It remained scarred, distorted, 'ugly' or inferior the person himself acted out this role in his behaviour regardless of the changes in physical appearance. If this 'face of personality' could be reconstructed, if old emotional scars could be removed, then the person himself changed, even without facial plastic surgery.
I can't help it when people are frightened," says Merricat. "I always want to frighten them more.
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