Tag: psychology

Some memories, when they shed light on aspects of the past that went almost unnoticed, give us food for thought. It seems incredible that they evoke feelings that were not experienced when the circumstances in question were actually lived through, or at least not given their due value. Now, it is time to be moved by nostalgia. When we delve into these memories, it seems that the set of situations experienced at a certain moment, even if apparently unhappy, even if they leave an unpleasant mark in some way, also hold something else that is truly special. And it is this, after all, that we may not have known how to take advantage of, and that we cannot do so now, because the moment has passed.

It is a mystery that some important events are easily forgotten, while others that are utterly trivial are amplified by constant mental repetition. If questioned, the memory would be unable to explain itself. The result is often confusing, and even scrutiny cannot overcome its tendency to arbitrarily select what stays and what goes. A man must, at the very least, be the master of his past life; but it seems obvious that, without making an effort to tame his memory, he will not be.

It is truly wonderful to read Szondi’s observations when one’s knowledge of one’s own ancestors is limited to two generations! There seems to be no more effective way to portray disorientation. In Szondi, ancestors always seem to be lurking, seeking ways to manifest their inner tendencies in the lives of their descendants; knowing them, therefore, is essential. And to see that, as a rule, the offspring of anti-civilization know nothing about them; they live as if they had been thrown onto the earth from above by a stork; and they spend their lives like this…

Certainly, 20th-century Western psychology made progress in diagnosing and describing cases of madness. It also advanced in understanding characteristic behavioral reactions in certain conditions. It also greatly expanded the descriptive repertoire used to understand and characterize personalities. All of this is valuable. However, it seems clear that, at this point, the dream of a unified theory has proven impossible. It also seems clear that psychologists, in stark disagreement about what the psyche is, can only grasp it partially, at best—if they can grasp anything at all. Thus, each psychologist ends up specializing in a type of psyche, or in certain aspects of the psyche. Here, the problem becomes evident. If the psychologist intends to be effective in treating certain types of patients, he should keep going; if, however, he seeks more than targeted therapy, he may have to take a very different path from that taken by Western psychology.