Student 10

Theories of the self vary from culture to culture and even more so between every person. Several have thoroughly examined the self and proposed their own individual theories pertaining to it. Good examples would be Freud, Jung, and Rilke. Culturally, Asian and Hindu beliefs demonstrate the different views and opinions of the self among various civilizations. Although the self can be expressed in many ways, the people of the Romantic period took the advantage of their skill in music to express themselves.

According to Freud, the self was composed primarily of three parts: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. These were the basic building blocks and all worked together either consciously or subconsciously to establish the self. The first component and also most animalistic was the Id. The Id was the part of the self that was composed of instinctual desires without weighing the consequences. Whether these impulses were sexual in nature or not, they were all self-gratifying in some way. The superego on the other hand, was the part of the consciousness that was composed of morals and values learned from parents. It was supposedly responsible for keeping he ld in check. Finally Freud believed the ego learned to modify behavior by controlling those impulses that were socially unacceptable. He thought its role was mediator between unconscious impulses and acquired social standards. When all these components worked together a fully functional self was supposedly present.

Jung, also having examined the "self" has a somewhat different approach. He believed the goal in a person's life was to realize the self, very much like the belief of Nirvana. Once a person did that, Jung believed one became closer to all people and all life. He defined this state of being which follows: "In the center is a virtual nucleus I call the self, which represents the totality or sum of the conscious and unconscious processes. I call this center the 'self', a term that is meant to include the totality of the psyche in so far as this manifests itself in an individual. The self is not only the center, but also the circumference that encloses consciousness and the unconsciousness; it is the center of consciousness. The self is psychologically the psychic totality of the individual." He also weighed heavily towards the beliefs that a person was either an introvert or an extrovert. Introverts being those who preferred for their internal world of thoughts, fantasies, and feelings to be more important to them while extroverts preferred the external world such as people and activities.

Rilke however, had yet another view. He believed the self was composed of many different forms which he called "faces". A person was not the same his whole life. He changed from time to time applying the face that best fit that situation. However, it does make sense, how many people do you know who present themselves the same way to their boss as they do to their family and friends? Very few. Rilke believed these faces, hundreds of them in fact, were what composed the self. These faces resided inside and were known by intuitive apprehension. He said on the outside lied tendencies, habits, and perceptions, but on the inside there existed a continuos flux which was the self, developing over time.

The Hindu religion also has its own way of explaining the self. According to Hindu we are all part of each other. We are part of the spirit. This belief is shown in this passage from the Upanishads: "There is one ruler, the Spirit that is in all things, who transforms his own into many. Only the wise see him in their souls attain the joy eternal." The Hindu also believe part of you is something that once lived in another life. Those who did good in a previous life become good and those who did evil become evil.

Although the above have their own way of defining and expressing the self, likewise did the people of the romantic period. This way clearly shown in their paintings and even music. Colors, tones, and techniques all suggested the values, emotions, and imagination of these people. Cole, Bierstadt, Constable, Delacroix, and Friedrich were some of the best artist to express the self in their works. Music was now spontaneous, and erotic and mostly unrestrained.

I believe myself to be a combination of some of the notions of both Freud and Rilke. Sometimes I believe Freud is right with the idea of the Id. A couple of times just this weekend I was at a point in which I just wanted to shout out at a particular person. I was to the point I could have physically mutilated them, but I knew this would not have been acceptable so I was able to control this impulse. This is where Freud would have said my superego took over. I also strongly support Rilke's assumption of multiple faces. So many times in life I find that I have to present myself as someone who I am really not in order to achieve. I find myself presenting myself as one thing, calm, relaxed, very strong and confident, but on the inside feeling a world of difference. I tried to portray this feeling in my self- portrait.

As you can see the orderly vertical and horizontal lines suggest my stability, tenderness, dependability, shyness, long-lasting, and strong characteristics. Sometimes I may even present myself as cold or unloving, however when I open up to you and put on my real face a totally different side appears.

These shapes and designs which I have painted show my daringness, my unpredictability, loud, fun-loving, and playful characteristics. I always knew this was true, but it became even more clear when I asked a friend to write down some things she thought described me. They are as follows: great sense of humor, smart, honest, clever, down to earth, caring, helpful, and friendly. When I looked at what she had written I thought she misunderstood me and wrote them about someone else because this was definitely NOT me. But then I realized this was me, at least the side of me that I most often presented to people. It may look like basic chaos in my self-portrait, but that's basically what it is. I sometimes think I must have at least one face of every kind, after all I am the most moody person I know.