I have described in "Sex Happiness" the tragedies which result from
that form of ignorance, especially the tragedy of the unsatisfied wife,
her restlessness, her gradual dislike of her mate, her curiosity as to
what feelings she might experience if married to another man, when some
other man seems to awaken her erotism, and then the dilemma, repression
leading to neurosis, or indulgence leading into the divorce court.
=Psychoanalysis to the Rescue.= "In this matter," Ellis writes,
"we may learn a lesson from the psychoanalysts of today without
any implication that psychoanalysis is necessarily a desirable or
even possible way of attaining the revelation of love. The wiser
psychoanalysts insist that the process of liberating the individual
from outer and inner influences that repress or deform his energies and
impulses is effected by removing the inhibitions on the free play of
his nature.
"It is a process of education in the true sense, not of the suppression
of natural impulses nor even of the instillation of sound rules and
maxims for their control, not of the pressing in but of the leading out
of the individual's special tendencies.
"It removes inhibitions, even inhibitions that were placed upon the
individual, or that he consciously or unconsciously placed upon
himself, with the best moral intentions, and by so doing it allows a
larger and freer and more natively spontaneous morality to come into
play.
"It has this influence above all in the sphere of sex, where such
inhibitions have been most powerfully laid on the native impulses,
where the natural tendencies have been most surrounded by taboos and
terrors, most tinged with artificial stains of impurity and degradation
derived from alien and antiquated traditions.
"Thus the therapeutical experience of the psychoanalysts reinforce
the lessons we learn from physiology and psychology and the intimate
experiences of life."
=Wounded Egotism.= Love in marriage is endangered from another quarter:
The greatest foe of sexual desire, as I have stated several times in
this book, is wounded egotism.
A perfect matrimonial adjustment does not mean the modification of
either mate's personality. We have seen in the chapters on glands that
the normal personality is practically inadaptable, that is, nothing
short of serious sickness or a surgical operation can transform an
active person into a sluggish one and vice versa.
It is only the neurotic personality which can be adapted by the removal
of certain unconscious fears which prevent it from attaining social and
biological balance and happiness.
All psychoanalysis does in such cases is to teach the patient to accept
everything which is biologically normal in his personality.
We must then have an absolute respect for personality in ourselves
and others. We must find a socially acceptable outlet for all our
idiosyncrasies, a difficult, but never impossible task.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account