DISSECTING ‘THE FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION’ BY SIGMUND FREUD

PHIL 125 — Philosophy of Religion

Charles Hughes

Religion is an abstract term which definition and use can vary between person, culture and time. At the beginning of civilization, for example, spiritual notions of belief allowed people to understand nature and defend themselves from the unknown. Glorification of the divine and interpretation of ancient text shaped ideologies of societies and their interpretation of reality and moral codes. Nevertheless, over time, intellectual intelligence evolved and many began to seek answers outside theistic beliefs. This movement was especially supported by Sigmund Freud; As the father of psychoanalysis, Freud challenged the Christian ideals of 1930 Western Europe. Freud defied standard cultural notions with new interpretations of the human behavior. To disseminate his support of replacing religion with science, we will take a further look at Freud’s book The Future of an Illusion and analyse the psychological claims effects he believes religion has on society and the mind. To do so, we will take in consideration the cultural context of the book, the position of science at the time, and the importance of intellectual development. Furthermore, we will discuss and how the two streams of religion and science have evolved over time and affected our understanding of human mind.

The way people relate to their beliefs and spiritual ideas can vary greatly depending on ones background. Specifically in early 19th century Germany, Christianity was a gruesome trend engrained in people’s lifestyle. Civilization, at that time, seemed to be dictated by high religious movements and institutions that forced people to believe theism as the ultimate answer of truth. Christian ceremonies, rituals and codes of ethics were part of the every day living that could not be dared to be questioned by society. For Sigmund Freud, however, it didn’t take long until his imagination and inquiry of new knowledge challenged these boundaries of belief. Religion was described by him as a “supreme court of justice” that had to be escaped. Freud believed religion was in need of some re-evaluation. As he began to explore the wonders of the mind, he began to pose psychoanalytic theories that could explain the internal reasons behind our theistic actions. It wouldn’t be long until Freud would publish theoretical and cynical papers that exposed his aggressive non-religious posture and challenged peoples understanding of faith. One of his most famous book was The Future Of An Illusion, where he discussed the reasons of religious desire. Freud outlined a scientific perspective on the limitations that theism could have in reaching civilisations true potential and, in that way, was able to make people reconsider their own life.

Christian civilisation has always had a powerful presence in society, and Freud needed to understand the true nature of the Church’s imposition. As an opening argument in The Future of An Illusion, Freud first went about to describe the manipulative uses that religion had had by Christian leaders. He argued that religion had been applied to mankind for the wrong reasons: to control forces of nature and extract wealth from the rest. Viewing it objectively, religion had been imposed by a minority using power and coercion to obtain possession and control over nature. Leaders had used the name of God to influence cultural regulations and gain more followers through a third party extension. Freud explained that these cultural prohibitions were wrong because they suppressed people and the innate nature of failure. In Christianity specifically, people had to believe that they were “sinners” and unworthy of love if they didn’t behave a certain manner. Freud stressed that this idea of punishment was mainly used as a power of coercion. Cultural ideals of wrong behaviours suppressed people’s freedom of choice and understanding of the self. But what caused these ideals to succeed? How did Christianity get to such point of control?

Freud believe that religion had become very popular in the world due to this necessity of humans to feel loved. He described how people all have a psychological desire to feel less alone in a world full of desires. It is common that religion humanises natural forces of the universe as we keep searing answers about life and reality. This can be seen in Buddhism, we’re the Buddha has now evolved into a human statue when, when in reality, it represents a natural force. In this sense, religion, is able to satisfy our curiosity and find a order in society. Freud believed that it is us alone who creates divine fatherly figures that can serve to guide us. God, for Freud, satisfies the need of people for intimacy and safety, like a father to a son. If you pray, behave morally correct, and abide by the laws of religion, you will be protected, you will go to Heaven, you will be rewarded with love. Religion becomes then life biggest treasure, something to be pursued in order to satisfy our wish fulfilment. As described by Freud, its this “insecurity of life” that unites people in a society. The idea of protection is what creates an illusion that religion is valid, that belief has to be followed.

Furthermore, this psychological necessity of religion raised new points about its validity of true knowledge. For Freud, theism was based on the inner experience, the subjective interpretation of our place in world. This posed a danger, as it could create a philosophy of “As If”, which based reality on fictional sensations derived from wishes rather than verification. Furthermore, The Future of An Illusion became a call of action for people to move away from religious motives and replaced them by civilised behaviours based on secular motives. His modern interpretation of psychology demanded people to realise that life should not be based by an intangible force of the individual experience, but rather by the knowledge of reason, the knowledge of science, the knowledge of objectivity. Freud wanted to improve religion by replacing it with rationality. It was time for people to move past the metaphysical illusion and start recognising our mental psyche, and Freud couldn’t wait to tell more people about it. “Religion is just an inner experience”, explained Freud, “and not everyone can relate to it”. Freud wanted people to break free from the “obsessional neurosis of humanity” and compensate it with “intellectual nourishment”, something individualised and “real”. Psychology and science would now serve as the tool of reason to be used to understand reality on a more profound basis. The psychological reasons of behaviour would finally define the nature of reality that religion had long imposed.

Moreover, Freud did believe that religion had some benefits on society. He recognised that theistic beliefs had helped many people find bigger purpose in life; It had served as a method to end suffering and doubt. He emphasise how religion had help formulate positive moral codes which, in turn, allowed a communal existence of humanity. Scholar Kinglsey Davis describes this sociological phenomena as a functionalist outcome where religion helps set a collective movement of human actions in order to function appropriately. In the Christian religion, its the ten commandments that give their followers a guide to life. In this sense, The Future Of An Illusion and its interpretation of religion did consider the basic human need for people to feel emotionally valuable, to coexist for one another. For Freud, God had helped served as a support and education for those without intellectual capacity. It had helped people reflect and belief in a higher spiritual purpose of life. Nevertheless, despite its benefits, Freud knew there was a lack of authentication that only science could offer. For him, it was time for religion to be replaced by a modern intellectual interpretation of reality that only his theories could.

Freud’s revolutionary interpretation about the psychology of religion encouraged people to question reality rather than being suppressed by religious forces. It is true that religion has offered people a chance to face their struggles and find an emotional outlet when there was a lack of intellectual development. Faith and intuition has allowed humans to survive and make sense of reality. Nevertheless, over time, Freud allowed people to find their rights of scepticism and the necessity to be free. In this way, when The Future of An Illusion was published, I believed it also represented a call of action for people to move away from the coercion of religious institutions and replaced them by modern scientific behavior based on secular motives. Psychology has allowed people to challenge the manipulation of the Church as it inspired independence of thought and belief. Degrees in the study of psychology have been increasing, and emotional intelligence is respected just as much as the intellect. There is an ever increasing curiosity to understand reality by doubting cultural standards and searching for new methods of belief. Individuality and independence are the foundational intentions that have made psychology evolve.

However, it is not about comparing both areas of studies, but rather finding interconnection between both. One of the limitations that The Future Of An Illusion dose pose is that it does not consider the powerful connotations that spiritual experiences can have on the human experience. Freud believed that science proves religion wrong, and that religion was just use by a lack of intellectual development. For Freud, religions had intellectual weaknesses, bias tools to understand the truth. Although this claim is true to a certain extent, religion still holds great explanations of metaphysical occurrences that shouldn’t be diminishe by science. The Intelligent Design Theory tells us that some things can’t be explained by science, that sometimes explanation goes beyond nature. So in this sense, science does hold provide an empirical study of the order of physical nature based on logic, but religion also has the ability to fulfil instinctual wishes and mystical experiences that happen to us emotional and spiritual beings. Both of these areas of studies embark two important parts of who we are as humans, and that is why a dialect between both areas should be encouraged rather than compared. What would happen if both mentalities were to we combined? Have we evolved past Freud’s primary discovery of psychology and are we ready to reconsider joining both views of study?

We have been dissecting the claims that Freud posed about the effects of religion in society. Freud challenged the Christian institutions that were so deeply embedded in people’s lifestyle because people at the time felt limited by the societal rules. For many years, religion was distorted by the need of power and control, and Freud makes an attempt to understand the boundaries of civilisation and reconsider a modern science approach of truth. For The Future Of An Illusion to move forward, we must evolve Freud’s theories about religion and adapt it to the 20th century mentality. In a more globalised world, it would be correct to reconsiders Freuds claims against religion and rather analyse how it can be integrated with the scientific mentality. Attempts like the independent model offer philosophical naturalism to be confirmed with modern science. Science does not prove religion wrong, but rather compliments it. Both integrate different interpretations of reality with a common goal: to get closer truth. Furthermore, for us to move forward with Freud’s book and maintain his claims relevant, we must begin an inter intellectual dialogue.

Many modern scientists and philosophers are reconsidering the foundations of our knowledge even today. Both theistic and non theistic academics are trying to understand how beliefs can affect who we are both internally and externally, and the extent to which we have based our knowledge on false interpretations. A recent discoveries by biologist Bruce H. Lipton reconsiders the evolution theory and stresses the importance of epigenetic in his book The Biology of Belief. Lipton describes that the way we think, the way we understand and the way we belief affects the production of our genes and the way we will approach life. It is the environment that we surround ourselves with that will affect our biological activity, and not the other way arround. This is important because it makes us realise that we are not victims of our genes, and that we are not victims of the forces of society, but rather a product of own decisions. It understands that the fully conscious mind can triumph both nature and nurture; That we are in control of our genes. Lipton challenges Freud’s understanding of science, and makes us reconsider how much we actually know about science and truth.

Furthermore, The Future of An Illusion expressed Freud early finding about psychology and the desire to break free from oppressing religious forces at the tie. His discovers challenged theistic beliefs and made us reconsider our true knowledge over time. The point of the book was to start making people less intimated by religious powers, and make psychology the premise of intelligence. Since then, science has given us great tools to gain more understanding of reality, and has become one of the foundations of our beliefs. Nevertheless, with new theories like the epigenetic of Bruce Lipton, it is clear that we are still up to now undergoing general revision of knowledge, and that there is still lots of discovery to be done. As humans we are always trying to find new pieces of information, satisfy our curiosity and feel more in tuned with our life. Let us hope that one day we can truly reach a comprehensive understanding of both religion and science, and that these two areas can coexist to compliment one another and find more understanding of the truth.

CITATIONS

Frued, S. (1961) The Future of an Illusion. Norton & Company. New York, New York.

Kazanjian, Victor, (2005) Religion, Spirituality and Intellectual Development. Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning.

Lipton, B. (2005) The Biology of Belief. Hay House Inc. United States.

Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon and Alan F. Segal. (2012). A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press.

Whitley, Olver. Religious Behavior: Where Sociology and Religion Met. New Jersey (1964) 33