Quote of the Day: Time for a Break

 

The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?’ –Sigmund Freud

We are all obsessed with events both domestic and foreign, and it’s difficult to maintain one’s clarity. Some of us have friends and relatives that are directly affected by the most recent chaotic events. But if we are to stay engaged, we sometimes need a break that will give us a chance to breathe, relax and re-center.

So I’m sharing this quote by the great Sigmund Freud for your consideration. I can almost predict at least some of the responses to this quotation. Before anyone even answers, the men will roll their eyes and have visions of a dashboard filled with dials and meters. And the women will laugh and insist they aren’t really that complicated.

But since we all can use a temporary lift out of the doldrums of the most recent horrible events, let’s try to show Sigmund that we’ve got this one covered!

[photo by Adi Goldstein from Unsplash.com]

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  1. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Which woman? And which day?  

    • #31
  2. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Women want resources.  Men want women.

    • #32
  3. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    BDB (View Comment):

    Women want resources. Men want women.

    There is some truth in that. 

    • #33
  4. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    My response is neither. I don’t find Sigmund Freud to be great or even remotely reflective of true human psychology. 95% of everything he’s written or thought upon is crap. No one today takes an Oedipal Complex seriously. All his “psychology” is junk science. It was all anecdotal and supposition with no backing data. Throw anything he has to say into the ash heap of cultural history. He has done more harm than people realize. The fact that he has no idea what women want after all his “study” is an indictment of his work. 

    • #34
  5. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Manny (View Comment):

    My response is neither. I don’t find Sigmund Freud to be great or even remotely reflective of true human psychology. 95% of everything he’s written or thought upon is crap. No one today takes an Oedipal Complex seriously. All his “psychology” is junk science. It was all anecdotal and supposition with no backing data. Throw anything he has to say into the ash heap of cultural history. He has done more harm than people realize. The fact that he has no idea what women want after all his “study” is an indictment of his work.

    So you don’t believe in an unconscious?

    How about the idea that humans have motivations they don’t realize?

    I would strongly disagree that 95% of what he said was crap.  I don’t imagine I’ll change your mind. That is more for the sake of others reading. 

     

    • #35
  6. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):
    I would strongly disagree that 95% of what he said was crap.  I don’t imagine I’ll change your mind. That is more for the sake of others reading. 

    I was trying to come up with a reasonable way to respond to @manny, Bryan. Although I’m not a therapist, I know quite a lot about psychology. I know that Freud has taken some hits, but he has contributed a great deal to the field, regardless of those areas that have been discounted. Thanks for speaking up.

    • #36
  7. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):
    I would strongly disagree that 95% of what he said was crap. I don’t imagine I’ll change your mind. That is more for the sake of others reading.

    I was trying to come up with a reasonable way to respond to @ manny, Bryan. Although I’m not a therapist, I know quite a lot about psychology. I know that Freud has taken some hits, but he has contributed a great deal to the field, regardless of those areas that have been discounted. Thanks for speaking up.

    You are welcome. 

    Dr. Jordan Peterson has something to say about this. The stuff Freud got right is taken for granted, and then we just remember what he got wrong. 

    No Freud, no Adler, no Jung, no psychology. 

    • #37
  8. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    My response is neither. I don’t find Sigmund Freud to be great or even remotely reflective of true human psychology. 95% of everything he’s written or thought upon is crap. No one today takes an Oedipal Complex seriously. All his “psychology” is junk science. It was all anecdotal and supposition with no backing data. Throw anything he has to say into the ash heap of cultural history. He has done more harm than people realize. The fact that he has no idea what women want after all his “study” is an indictment of his work.

    So you don’t believe in an unconscious?

    How about the idea that humans have motivations they don’t realize?

    I would strongly disagree that 95% of what he said was crap. I don’t imagine I’ll change your mind. That is more for the sake of others reading.

     

    The unconscious was known before Freud. He didn’t invent that. 

    • #38
  9. navyjag Coolidge
    navyjag
    @navyjag

    BDB (View Comment):

    Women want resources. Men want women.

    Amen. You are one observant Marine.

    • #39
  10. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Read through this. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

    You find lots of similar assessments. Google “Why Freud is a fraud.”  

    • #40
  11. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Manny (View Comment):

    Read through this. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

    You find lots of similar assessments. Google “Why Freud is a fraud.”

    Told you I would not change your mind.

    I’ll stick with my training and experience,  and you stick with the internet , because if it is on the net we know it is true!

    • #41
  12. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Manny (View Comment):
    The unconscious was known before Freud. He didn’t invent that. 

    That is true. William James talked about the subconscious a lot.

    Lewis Pearson’s article in my book on C. S. Lewis and sci-fi explains how Freud got some things right–by borrowing them from Plato and messing them up a bit.

    • #42
  13. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Read through this. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

    You find lots of similar assessments. Google “Why Freud is a fraud.”

    Told you I would not change your mind.

    I’ll stick with my training and experience, and you stick with the internet , because if it is on the net we know it is true!

    I’m only using the internet to provide a quick and easy proof. But there are credible books written on this. 

    • #43
  14. Ray Gunner Coolidge
    Ray Gunner
    @RayGunner

    Susan Quinn: ‘What does a woman want?’ –Sigmund Freud

    That’s easy:  She wants everything.

    The real question is: “When does she want what?” 

    • #44
  15. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Manny (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Read through this. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

    You find lots of similar assessments. Google “Why Freud is a fraud.”

    Told you I would not change your mind.

    I’ll stick with my training and experience, and you stick with the internet , because if it is on the net we know it is true!

    I’m only using the internet to provide a quick and easy proof. But there are credible books written on this.

    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything?  It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes. 

    • #45
  16. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Manny (View Comment):

    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything?  It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes. 

    Real psychology deals with virtues, not this phony materialism.

    • #46
  17. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Manny (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Read through this. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

    You find lots of similar assessments. Google “Why Freud is a fraud.”

    Told you I would not change your mind.

    I’ll stick with my training and experience, and you stick with the internet , because if it is on the net we know it is true!

    I’m only using the internet to provide a quick and easy proof. But there are credible books written on this.

    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything? It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes.

    Actually, there are studies showing that therapy can change the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

    But, come out and say it, hoss, you think what I do for a living is bunk. At least be honest about it.

    Since you are unwilling to be that straightforward, let me call you out on it. Man enough? 

    • #47
  18. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Manny (View Comment):
    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything?  It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes. 

    No. In my life I went through 3 periods of short-term therapy (6 mos. or less.) They were very powerful tools for guiding me through some very difficult times. Sorry Mañny but you are ill-informed.

    • #48
  19. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Good Commentary from Dr. Jordan Peterson

    Say, Manny, tell me again, what is your training and expertise? How is it you presume to lecture me on my area of expertise? I’d love to see your pedigree. 

    Please, illuminate me, you wonderful fount of knowledge. 

    • #49
  20. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    The unconscious was known before Freud. He didn’t invent that.

    That is true. William James talked about the subconscious a lot.

    Lewis Pearson’s article in my book on C. S. Lewis and sci-fi explains how Freud got some things right–by borrowing them from Plato and messing them up a bit.

    See my post above.

    This is actually my area of expertise.

     

    • #50
  21. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Actually, there are studies showing that therapy can change the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

    Buddhist mindfulness can rewire the brain too.  It can cure OCD, according to Jeffrey Schwartz.

    (I don’t really know if I’m agreeing or disagreeing with anyone on this point.  But it seems relevant and important.)

    • #51
  22. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I will be off for the Sabbath so please don’t get too carried away. 😊

    • #52
  23. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    The unconscious was known before Freud. He didn’t invent that.

    That is true. William James talked about the subconscious a lot.

    Lewis Pearson’s article in my book on C. S. Lewis and sci-fi explains how Freud got some things right–by borrowing them from Plato and messing them up a bit.

    It goes way before that. Here:

    The term “unconscious” (German: Unbewusste) was coined by the 18th-century German Romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling (in his System of Transcendental Idealism, ch. 6, § 3) and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge (in his Biographia Literaria).[2][3]Some rare earlier instances of the term “unconsciousness” (Unbewußtseyn) can be found in the work of the 18th-century German physician and philosopher Ernst Platner

    That’s when the term was created. But if you look closely the concept can be found way before that in literature. Might even go back to Confessions of Augustine, your namesake, but I have a feeling it goes back to Ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
    oops, forgot the link:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_mind

    • #53
  24. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything? It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes.

    Real psychology deals with virtues, not this phony materialism.

    Ok, I’m not comfortable with what I said here.  It was . . . oversimplified.

    But I don’t think it was wrong.  Positive psychology (Seligman et al) does look at virtues.  I think it’s a nice rediscovery of some stuff in Aristotle.

    • #54
  25. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything? It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes.

    No. In my life I went through 3 periods of short-term therapy (6 mos. or less.) They were very powerful tools for guiding me through some very difficult times. Sorry Mañny but you are ill-informed.

    It does not matter. 

    People think they have other people figured out. They have it all figured out. I am used to my expertise being ignored. I am also used to people been too cowardly to actually follow through on calling me a fraud personally. I find it pretty pathetic, really. If everything I have been taught is a fraud, and if what I think has worked has all been a delusion, people should say that is what they think to my face. 

    Of course, if they don’t really think that, then why make the other statements first?

    Either way, it show pretty pathetic reasoning and logical thinking. Frankly I respect someone able to tell me they think I am a fraud to my face, more than the person who just hints at it and insinuates it. That is passive aggressive. Not the act of a real man. 

    • #55
  26. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    The unconscious was known before Freud. He didn’t invent that.

    That is true. William James talked about the subconscious a lot.

    Lewis Pearson’s article in my book on C. S. Lewis and sci-fi explains how Freud got some things right–by borrowing them from Plato and messing them up a bit.

    See my post above.

    This is actually my area of expertise.

    I’m pretty sure I saw it.  Probably clicked “Like.”

    I’m not saying Freud didn’t contribute to human knowledge–I’m just saying that he wasn’t the first to discover the subconscious, and that Lewis Pearson said that stuff about Freud and Plato.

    • #56
  27. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):
    Buddhist mindfulness can rewire the brain too.  It can cure OCD, according to Jeffrey Schwartz.

    That’s been my experience. Not the OCD part, but changing the prefrontal lobe which increases feelings of well-being. 

    • #57
  28. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I will be off for the Sabbath so please don’t get too carried away. 😊

    • #58
  29. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Bryan G. SteAugustine (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    The unconscious was known before Freud. He didn’t invent that.

    That is true. William James talked about the subconscious a lot.

    Lewis Pearson’s article in my book on C. S. Lewis and sci-fi explains how Freud got some things right–by borrowing them from Plato and messing them up a bit.

    See my post above.

    This is actually my area of expertise.

    I’m pretty sure I saw it. Probably clicked “Like.”

    I’m not saying Freud didn’t contribute to human knowledge–I’m just saying that he wasn’t the first to discover the subconscious, and that Lewis Pearson said that stuff about Freud and Plato.

    Without Freud, we would not have psychology. Like many great people, he took old ideas and moved the forward.

     

    • #59
  30. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Read through this. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

    You find lots of similar assessments. Google “Why Freud is a fraud.”

    Told you I would not change your mind.

    I’ll stick with my training and experience, and you stick with the internet , because if it is on the net we know it is true!

    I’m only using the internet to provide a quick and easy proof. But there are credible books written on this.

    And to add, does anyone really believe that psychoanalysis does anything? It’s really a joke. Real psychology deals with the chemistry in the brain, not these phony complexes.

    Actually, there are studies showing that therapy can change the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

    But, come out and say it, hoss, you think what I do for a living is bunk. At least be honest about it.

    Since you are unwilling to be that straightforward, let me call you out on it. Man enough?

    No I definitely don’t think what you do is bunk. It’s just not derived from Freudian psychology. There are a bunch of psychologists that came after Freud that began to understand habit and trauma way better than Freud. Freud talks about these innate drives which causes personality and dysfunctions. Nonsense. Someone like BF Skinner (I think since it’s been ages since I studied this) found that events, chemistry such as alcohol and drugs, and circumstances drive psychological problems. 

    • #60
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