College Collections: Religion and Sigmund Freud’s Perspective

Sigmund Freud attended the University of Vienna, Austria, where he began to research anatomy and physiology. He believed that human beings are often driven by contradictory feelings of both love and aggression directed toward the same object or person. “Religion would thus be the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity,” according to Freud’s The Future of an Illusion. He sought the psychological dimension in almost every aspect of human life, from seemingly insignificant things like dreams, jokes, and personal quirks to the deep, complex emotions that steer personal relationships and shape social customs. This analysis of the psyche opened a door on the innermost motives of human thought and action, from the stress of the individual personality to the powerful forces that control and carved civilizations.

After returning from a trip to Paris, Freud to Vienna, continued his work with the mentality ill, and published his first book, Studies on Hysteria (1895). This book described the study of the process of repression, by which troubled people seem to force themselves to forget painful experiences in their lives. Freud also reported success in treating neurosis-that is, the irrational behavior of these troubled individuals by using hypnotism or simply by engaging them in discussions of their illnesses. Freud envisioned the clinical practice of psychoanalysis consisted of listening to a patient, who came to regular sessions and was encouraged to say whatever came to mind, even if, it wasn’t in logical sequence. These patients were to speak by “free association” of ideas and memories. Freud listened, read, reflected, and then drew conclusions that were put into a work entitled The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). This was an epoch-making book, which launched the “Freudian revolution” in modern thought. The book was first to introduce the idea if “the unconscious.” In 1902, he formed the Vienna Psychological Society with several colleagues. This group gradually enabled psychoanalysis to transform from a method and a few creative ideas to a groundbreaking new field of scholarly investigation.

Later, a number of journal articles came a decade before WWI, including one on religion and neurosis and several others on primitive religion. This became the book Totem and Taboo (1913). This work expressed Freud’s main ideas on religion. He was personally non-religious, but exposed to Judaism and Christianity. He felt there was no religion or god. Religion was seen as similar to a neurosis. Religious people do irrational things, like pray. However, it isn’t seen as such according to Freud because it is the normal thing for a religious person to do. His approach to religion paralleled Tylor’s and Frazer’s, but went further. They all agree that religion is erroneous, or superstitions. Freud explored why, how come people keep religion with a strong conviction and how do they acquire it? Freud was curious about these ideas and wanted to explain them and this is what set him apart from Tylor and Frazer. Totem and Taboo was regarded by Freud as one of his best; it included a psychological interpretation of the life of primitive peoples. It encompassed the intellectual and social evolution. For example, a tribe chooses to associate itself with a specific animal or plant, which serves as its sacred object, its “totem.” The second custom is “taboo” if a tribe wanted to declare it off limits or forbidden.