When I think of Sigmund Freud, the first thing that I think of, aside from the dreaded “Oedipus Complex,”  is the phenomenon known as the “Freudian Slip.”  Honestly, I don’t know too much about them (as far as the technical aspects of the theory are concerned) save for the fact that the blundering nature of the slips make for hilarious Youtube videos such as these:

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Even without having too much of a working knowledge of Freud’s theories or general psychology, the average person could conclude that the result of a “Freudian Slip” is basically someone saying something that they didn’t actually mean to say at all. In layman’s terms, it could be described as “an error of speech as a result of the unconscious mind.”  What exactly is the unconscious mind? Aside from the fact that it could probably be best described as the part of the mind that you don’t realize exists, it actually is a mystery.  It’s the part of the thought that you can’t control; it’s the part of the brain that sneaks information into your mind, or locks information up like the gold in Fort Knox.

Relating the idea of the unconscious mind to happiness, I think of those quotes distributed on Tuesday.  Quite a few of them dealt with the idea of happiness with relation to thought, retrospection, or deep introspection.  For example we can see the relation between happiness and thought with Joseph Joubert’s quote: “Misery is almost always the result of thinking.”  Likewise with J.M. Reinoso’s “Happiness is a distraction from the human tragedy” or Colette’s “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”

Perhaps happiness is only truly an illusion put forth by some deep part of the mind.  Maybe it can only really be known when you reflect on it.  If these things are the case, why is it that we waste time to seek happiness? I guess the easiest, though incredibly confounding, answer is that happiness is enjoyable, even if someone were to liken it to an opiate or an escape from reality.

-By Darryl Bethay