THEORY: Freud's Envy of Religious Experience

Abstract

This article examines Freud's envy of religious experience. The author claims that the relative absence of generous and appropriate love and attention during Freud's early life created a lifelong presence of loneliness, helplessness, and hopelessness, which was evoked in the main by unconscious forebodings associated with the encroaching debilitations of old age and the specter of death. This presence was the unrecognized force that lay silently beneath the appearance of his cherished virtues all the while quietly fueling his envy of religious experience. More specifically, the author indicates that the dynamics of envy in Freud's life may be understood as (a) a particular mode of organizing experience; (b) an attempt to preserve an ideal self and ward off painful or dangerous experiences that would disrupt the ideal self; (c) a form of communication that represented traces of particular, early forms of care between Freud and his parents; (d) an unconscious attempt to gain empathic recognition of his longing and hopelessness; and (e) a defense against claiming his need for consolation and protection as well as experiences of helplessness and loneliness.