Student 13

The theory of self is evident throughout the works we have studied. Freud and Jung use psychoanalytical theories, Rilke uses poetry, the Hindu's use religion and the Romanticist's use artwork and music to express their views on self. Some of these views are similar and some are different but they all tie in with the main topic of self.

The psychological theories of Freud and Jung are very similar. Sigmund Freud had the theory of three parts to the self: ego, id, and superego. The ego means the middle, in change, and balancing out; the id is the animal and wild behavior in people; and the superego are your morals and conscience.

Carl Jung, who was a friend of Freud, had views, which parallel with him. Jung believed that there is a magic circle that represents unity of the self, which is called the Mandala. He also thought that along with the ego, people possess a personal unconscious and a collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is anything that is not presently conscious but can be and includes memories that are easily brought to mind and those that have been suppressed for some time. The collective unconscious Jung believes is a kind of knowledge that everyone is born with. You can never be directly conscious of it, but it influences all of our experiences and behaviors. Some examples of this are love at first sight, déjà vu, and near death experience.

Jung's theory has recently been expanded by Myers and Briggs and made into a test used to discover oneself. According to the test, everyone has two personalities: introversion and extroversion. An introvert is more oriented towards the inner world and an extrovert is more towards the outer world. The test also uses four functions of the self. The sensing function is a way of perceiving through the senses and relies on facts. Intuiting is a person who relies more on unconscious processes. Thinking people use intellect and are pulled or balanced by feeling, which is the evaluative function of positive or negative. Feeling is the ability to express anger, happiness, sadness and fear. Finally, the test includes judging and perceiving. Judging is a person who plans things out and perceiving is a go with the flow type person.

Jung's view on the self is a person who has both attitudes and all four functions. His main goal for the self is a movement towards unity where all attitudes and functions are balanced and the self is in the middle of that balance.

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke views the idea of self through his writings. Rilke's works are based upon his childhood experiences. He felt as if he lived two contrasting ways of life because his mother was from an aristocratic family who lived in a mansion but his immediate family lived in an apartment near the mansion. As his parents lost many children due to illness, his mother got worried she would never have a child. Finally, when Rilke was born, his mother in turn dressed him as a girl and he felt that he was "a large doll for her to play with." That is also why his name is so feminine.

In Rilke's work, "Faces", he expresses the belief that all humans have many faces. Some people put their faces on one after another and never have a true identity. This idea is true for his mother because of her family life. She has no true identity. In the poem he mentions a poor woman, his mother, whom he wishes that she had kept her many faces on, so he did not have to realize that she had no real identity.

The Asian view of the self is originated from the Hindu religion. The teachings of this religion come from the Veda, a book of knowledge. For the Asians, Hinduism is a way of life in comparison to our views of religion and biblical beliefs. Hindu's have stages of belief, which include nature of Brahman, Dharma, and Karma. The nature of Brahman asks can it be understood or grasped through the sense?, it uses logic vs. intuition and uses Yoga as means of knowledge. The second stage is dharma (duty), atman (eternal), and soul (unity with the divine). Karma is a stage of consequences of actions. An example of this is the Bahgavad Gita. Hindu's have three main Gods: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver) and Shiva (destroyer). Brahma is the main God Hindu's worship. They believe that all of the worlds, including Brahma are conditioned by time. All "souls" in the Hindu belief experience transmigration, an endless cycle of births and rebirths. The goal to be attained is the ultimate reality. Karma is also a cycle of births and rebirths, which has no end.

Romanticism, 1790-1914, is a time period when artists and composers used their works to portray self. The artwork had many characteristics such as values, inspiration, tone, color, subjects, and technique. The values are intuition, emotion, and imagination. The inspiration of the time was Medieval and Baroque eras and Middle and Far East. The tone of the works was subjective, spontaneous, nonconformist, and highly emotional. The color the artists used where unrestrained, deep, rich shades. The subjects of the paintings were legends, nature, violence, heroic struggles, and wild animals. Artists used painterly brushstrokes with strong and light shade contrasts. The use of diagonal line was also very popular. For example, The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault illustrates these characteristics. The men are highly emotional as they wave for a safety boat. Rich colors are used in this painting and the men are in a diagonal setup. The painting gives off a lot of emotion and heroic struggle.

The composers of the time also had many characteristics. They include breaking from the classical mold, individualism, intensity of feeling, and love of untouched nature. For example, Franz Lizst uses individualism to express his self in his works. His must has no specific type of symphony, poem, or piece of literature, it has oversized personalities, and many lives of the composers are written. One of his best-known works are the all too familiar Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2. The use of individualism is evident in this piece.

The self-portrait I created is a complex box that has fractal dimensions. The box expresses my very complex personality. Not everything is obvious on the surface and it takes awhile to get to know "the real me", which I do not share with everyone. I painted the box black (opaque) because I am a hard to read person who often hides my true feelings and thoughts. I sprinkled red glitter on the box to show that the first thing people see about me is that I am happy and energetic.

The inside of the box has many compartments as I mentioned before. The first compartment has a sponge glued to the top of the box with felt underneath. This combination shows that I soak up information (sponge) and the felt shows my warm and fuzzy side. The diagonal lines in the bottom of the first compartment show that I am always on the go and exiting. I always have to have something to occupy my time. The second compartment holds the red spirals, which show that I am going through a lot of emotional and intellectual change. The third compartment has the purple and green crosses to show the difficult decisions and choices I have to make at this point in my life. Finally, I included in the last drawer blue, pink, red, yellow, and green fuzzy circles, which represent the fact that I am trying to become unified and centered with all of the changes I am going through. I included all of the colors because they represent the well-rounded aspect that I want to achieve. This idea of becoming well rounded parallels with Jung's idea of the mandala. I am looking to achieve total unity through exploring these changes in myself.