Sigmund Freud was some of the first psychologist who wrote about the expression of pleasure related to the unconscious mind. In “Beyond the Principle of Pleasure”, he presents us a pretty relevant theory or a “principal” of pleasure that in simple terms says all people avoid pain in order to get pleasure. The first thing that came to my mind after realize this concept from the reading was “wrestling”. Wrestling is an entertainment sport (it means that is a spectacle that combines athletics moves and theatrical performance) which consists in matches with predetermined outcomes in order to provide entertainment value, and all combative maneuverers are worked in order to lessen the chance of actual injury.

I have practicing wrestling since I was fifteen and I could see all the endeavour and pain each wrestler suffer in the ring in order to complete a sequence of movements, but after an exhausted and painful day of hard work all wrestlers are full of pleasure and happiness. This paradox of pain and pleasure just made me questioned this principal of pleasure that Freud referred in his book. Is it true that we avoid pain to get pleasure? Or pleasure is something more complex than the hypothesis of Sigmund Freud?

When you ask a wrestler how he can endure all that pain, it is certainly sure that he would response: because it makes me happy achieve a great match. This unconscious satisfaction produces in some way pleasure to the mind as much as to the body. In other words, this pain who each one pass through make them feels better and better. At this point, pain is not a factor that has to be avoided but a factor that we have to pass through to get pleasure.  This is also related with Plato says about happiness, we cannot know happiness if we never felt unhappiness.

For me, is a fact that happiness is correlated with pleasure and until we can defined what is happiness I think we cannot define pleasure as well. Pleasure is more than just a stage of equilibrium or stability as Freud shows it, is more than just an explosion of endorphins in our brain in an exciting moment. Pleasure is a complex set of things that can make us feel good. And for those people who expend all his life in a ring trying to perform a great spectacle, pleasure is not more than the satisfaction to finish a match with all the public clap them and accept all the pain brought with that.

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“We see that children repeat in their play everything that has made a great impression on them in actual life, that they thereby abreact the strength of the impression and so to speak make themselves masters of the situation.” (Sigmund Freud) I was reading all about the pleasure principle and what it means to feel the difference between pleasure and pain. Why something that makes us feel good is referred to as pleasure and feelings that make us sad is referred to pain, can affect us so greatly that we have to find something to keep our minds occupied to be able to cope with the painful experiences in our life. This quote from the reading really stood out to me because anyone who experiences life has to manage life’s curveballs. Freud speaks about pleasure and pain and how it is connected to our mind and how our mind tries to deal with what our bodies are feeling. This quote gives us a clear explanation on how a person should deal with the problems that life hands us.

Whatever it is that gives us pain, we eventually have to deal with. Whether we deal with the problem immediately, or we handle the problem somewhere down the road after suppressing it, the problems come back to haunt us. What I took out of this reading was that we have to be like the child who is dealing with the loss of his or her mother for a period of time. The child deals with it by playing with the toys around him. He plays a disappearing act, much like the mother disappearing for a few hours, then makes the toy reappear just like the mom. Coping with the loss of the child’s mother through a game where the child finds joy from the toy reappearing makes the child feel happy to know that the mother will also reappear.

In a way we all do what the child does, obviously on a more mature level. Take a look at the child. The child is who we are. The toys are whatever helps us feel happy once something bad happens. The toys can represent our friends who are there to help us, our family members, our dog, a video game, or even something so glutinous as food. Whatever the case, hiding our feelings deep down will only make things worse for us because we are not facing the problem at hand. This quote is a perfect way to describe a time of difficulty. Let it be known that you are hurt, just like the child, then express it through any means and face it and work to make yourself feel happy once again.[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/A1tL_iT3Rw0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

So as I was reading through Freud’s reading I felt like I couldn’t stay focus on it and so I kept on reading to see if I can eventually figure out what it might be about, and so I did but then I came upon a quote which kind of caught my attention, and it wasn’t just because I didn’t get what apprehension meant but also the idea behind it and how I interpreted this quote. “Fright, fear, apprehension are incorrectly use as synonymous expressions: in their relation to danger they admit of quite clear distinction. Apprehension {Angst) denotes a certain condition as of expectation of danger and preparation for it, even though it be an unknown one; fear {Furchi) requires a definite object of which one is afraid; fright (Schreck) is the name of the condition to which one is reduced if one encounters a danger without being prepared for it; it lays stress on the element of surprise. In my opinion apprehension cannot produce a traumatic neurosis; in apprehension there is something which protects against fright and therefore against the fright-neurosis. We shall return later to this dictum.”

When I saw this quote I honestly didn’t understand what was so important about this, and I also did not know what apprehension was, (could have added it to the lexicon) I also started to realize how apprehension is so much different, its use to stand up to something that has been making you afraid. I saw in Olgi’s Blog post and I saw that he said he was still kind of scared of going to the doctors and how it’s a fear that stays within him while this quote shows the opposite and how you face your fears through this apprehension. Once my friend Mark was hanging out with some of his pals and he wanted to confront this bully that had been bothering him the whole school year. He planned on jumping him with his friends because he wanted revenge. Eddie soon began to realize that what he was doing was wrong and that he shouldn’t be the karma that would come back to him but it was too late since he had already punched him and beat him up. He later learned that he would try to learn how to fight so he would be able to defend himself but he told me that “I will not be the karma for him, because I’m just being a hypocrite by doing the same.” His story relates to this whole idea of apprehension doesn’t have to be negative it can be interpreted in many different ways.

 
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Dr. Sigmund Freud was the first to suggest that mental disorders need not be pertained from birth. A person’s childhood, experiences, all add up to the sanity of the mind. The basic idea of the pleasure principle is that we strive for that which makes us happy, and avoid things that give us pain. The reality principle is the understanding that in order to attain pleasure, a painful road may need be taken.

Sometimes, we need to feel the pain to experience pleasure, and vice versa. As the Fresh actress Leslie Caron so skillfully put it, “in order to have great happiness, you have to have great pain and unhappiness- otherwise, how would you know when you’re happy?”

Sigmund Freud highlights children’s perceptions and analyses their behavior. When I was a kindergarten teacher, I noticed many ways that children act out, Strange as it is, objects seemed to hold a different value than that on its own. Rather, one child would be beating up another just because they innocently happened to use one of their crayons did not necessarily mean that the angry child was an avid artist and extremely possessive about his materials which assist him in creating dinosaur and space cowboy masterpieces, but rather, they happen to be gifts from a parent they tend not to see much.

Jealousy was also a common characteristic, although subtle. Children are very sharp at that age (2.5-4 years old) and are very conscious of their surroundings and behaviour despite what we would like to believe. Little competitive exercises helped relax these impulses. However, a shiny lunchbox, or not being the first one to be picked to answer a question by the teacher, or being the last one to be picked up, are all social status factors for these little intelligent beings.

The pleasure principle does play in quite well when we consider the illustration of children. They do what they have to to get what they want, and the journey need not be painless. A cry for attention is a neurologic painful attempt to attain what they need.

When I was reading Freud’s observation of the infant, I was amazed as to how the child would throw his toys to believe that he is the one choosing to let them go, a method of coping with his mother’s abscence. I once had a child whose dog had died quite recently, and all he would do in class was draw a little blob which vaguely resembled a puppy, write the letters “D-G-O” beside it, and then tear up the paper into bits. The same theory can fall in. I didn’t understand at that time, but after reading Freud’s ideas, I guess it makes sense now. Amazing.

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So as I’m sitting and avoiding my homework, I happen to be listening/ watching this video by Florence and The Machine. The lyrics are weird and cryptic, which suits her because Florence Welch is also pretty weird and cryptic. (see proof below)

Here’s some of the lyrics which made me make a confused face at my computer screen:

Happiness, hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with a drink
And washed it away down the kitchen sink

This is kind of weird ’cause it makes me think that Florence says happiness is like getting hit by a train, and “she” (whoever this mysterious depressed girl is) is running away from happiness. So what’s up with this girl?

Freud says:

We have decided to consider pleasure and ‘ pain’ in relation to the quantity of excitation present in the psychic life—and not confined in any way—along such lines that ‘ pain’ corresponds with an increase and pleasure with a decrease in this quantity.

I don’t pretend to understand Freud, but I’ll just assume he’s saying “yo, whatever makes you the most excited about life is considered pain”. This seems sort of skewed. But maybe he’s talking about the same girl Florence and The Machine was singing about, someone who runs from happiness. Truth is, Freud always struck me as sort of a weird guy. So maybe he’s talking about people who take pleasure in pain. But then does that make it pain, or pleasure because you enjoy it? Just wondering…

In Plato’s, Republic,in the beginning of the book, the allegory of the cave is a scene where Socrates is painting a vivid picture verbally to one of his followers named Glaucon. He tries to philosophy an analogy between prisoners chained in a cave and most men in everyday life. Socrates explains that when a man is given true insights he cannot handle the truth therefore forcing him into a world of ignorance blinded by the absolute truth to continue his own mistaken ways. He compares this to the men in chains because they are chained in such a way that if they move the opposite way it will start pulling on their skin, yet the light and the right path is just right behind them. The “light” is actually a light in Socrates vision, a grand fire. Those whom take the initial step to actually face the light and walk towards it is enlightened and facing truth. Then he continues on about shadows and other visuals of animals and such, that the ones who were not curious to find out what they were, were uneducated. Those who seek the whereabouts of these strange shadows were one willing to educate themselves to further understand. Then therefore the thirst to educate oneself should not stop and those whom seek it even more will start seeing even more clear and have heaven like visions. Yet, he is simply explaining strongly metaphorically is that man who seeks for knowledge and a higher understanding of his surroundings, is enlightened and not ignorant to only which is in front of their face.

Book sevens’ allegory of the cave I found very interesting.  Plato talks about how these people are chained in a cave only to look forward and see certain shapes.  These shapes are the most real things to these people and it forces them to have a terrible imagination.  This allegory was able to describe a relationship to knowledge in an extremely unique perspective that basically anyone should be able to relate too.

            If you are a person who never goes out and does not go to school you will be unknowledgeable.  This is similar to the prisoners’ in the cave, even though it is less extreme.  Since the prisoner’s were unable to leave the cave this is all that they knew and this life made sense to them.  Plato stated how if one man were able to escape the cave he would not know anything of the outside world because he has never seen or heard of it before.  Therefore, he would not know the names or functions of anything and he would need to be taught.

The man who escaped the cave will not be able to understand the heavens and greater powers right away.  First he will understand shadows and reflections.  Later he will grow to understand objects such as trees, houses, etc.  His knowledge will keep expanding until eventually he will have the ability to understand a vast amount about the world and what is in it.  This allegory is Plato’s explanation of how knowledge and education occurs.  Everyone can relate to this great example because in the beginning of our lives we did not know anything, we observed and were taught.  Like the prisoner, we understood simple things in the beginning of our education and through time our knowledge grew to be more complex.

After having the opportunity to proceed as far out of the cave as possible and enhancing your education we should go back to teach others in the cave.  This idea was interesting because just as Socrates was always a teacher because of his higher levels of education we should enrich those who are not as knowledgeable.  This promotes being virtuous and helping others.  This allegory inspires me because there is always opportunity to become more educated.

Plato started Book VII with an allegory, which has been known as the “allegory of the cave.” In the allegory, there is a group of men who have been confined since their childhood. They are compelled to sit still, keep their heads facing the cavern in front of them and unmoved. A bright fire is burning behind them and some people carrying statues walk by the fire occasionally. As the people walk by, shadows will be generated on the cavern and the prisoners will have their own impressions and understandings on the objectives moving around based on the shadows they have seen. The allegory goes on with one of the prisoners being released and was forced to see the outside world. His vision has changed dramatically as he got more and more exposed to the light and the sun. The allegory ends with the man who has been released was forced to go back to the cave again and the discussions about what would happen to the man after that.

As far as I am concerned, the reason why Plato would begin with the desire to “compare our natural condition, so far as education and ignorance are concerned, to a state of things like the following” is that he wanted to use the allegory as the metaphor of ourselves to persuade us to believe in the importance of education. Without education, the majority of us act just like the group of prisoners in the cave. We perceive objectives based on what we have seen and may not be able to tell the reality from the surface. However, with education, we can get closer to the reality and not only form our understanding based on what we have seen. It is of great importance since what we see is just like the shadow that is projected on the cavern, it doesn’t necessarily represent the truth at all. Using this hook, which is the allegory, Plato really gets us into thinking about the importance of education.

It reminds me of the Disney animation, Tarzon. As the main character, Tarzon who is a human but has been brought up by the gorilla troop, he basically has no understanding about human beings. Therefore, when he saw the human explorers point the guns at him, he had no idea what they are going to do because a gun is simply a gun and means nothing in his mind. It’s just like the shadows on the cavern; the prisoners would judge them based on what they have seen, but if they have not previous impression, they may not recognize it at all. Suppose Tarzan has been educated before, he may be able to tell that the gun could be harmful and he should protect himself if someone points a gun at him.

In conclusion, according to Plato and my understanding, the human society is just like the group of prisoners in the cavern, if there’s no education in human society, ignorance will occupy the whole society. The allegory emphasizes the importance of education and gets us to think about it.

Tarzan Fight Scene

Education and ignorance are daily experiences which accumulate to each individual, which make a person’s personality. “allegory of the cave” is a metaphor for the lives everyone lives and how our minds would function in that situation. Each person evolves an individual by the things he learns and gets educated about. Ignorance is also something a person evolves over time, and the only way to get rid of ignorance is education. Education takes time, thus ignorance is something which we should encounter frequently.

In the cave, prisoners see shadows of different statues and because they have not seen anything else in their life, they believe that the things they see is the realest and truest things around. Of course, after they see the statues they understand that the statues are actually the real thing, and after they walk out of the cave, they realize that there are other things which are “truer” and “realer”. Taking a step back we see that in order to know what true value is we need education, therefore the idea of “true value” is a concept of relativism. The people maneuvering the statues know that the statues are more “real” then the shadows the prisoners see. At the same time, the prisoners who are supposedly oblivious to what is going on behind them are experiencing true ignorance by believing that the shadows are the “real” thing.

In the beginning i thought about the allegory of the cave as a game, in order to understand the theory.The initial level is seeing the shadows and once you move on to seeing the statues and so forth you move up in the levels of the game. The way to win the game is to be able to explore as much as possible and come out with the most analysis once you get out of the cave and see the sun, grass, houses and etc’.