Student 24

Throughout this course, I have learned different ways people express themselves through art. These "artists" use philosophy, religion, art and music to express their thoughts and ideas. I have now taken the role as the "artist" to express myself and who I am. The philosophies of Freud, Jung and Rilke are all examinations and interpretations of the inner self and tell their opinions on the subject. The self is explained by the Asian people through their religion, Hinduism. During the Romantic period, artists expressed the self through both pieces of artwork and music.

Sigmund Freud was a psychoanalyst during the 1800's. He viewed the self as three separate parts, which consists of the Ego, Id and Superego. The Ego is considered the balance between the Id and Superego. It calms down the two rivals. The Id is the "It", the animal lashing out in wild behavior. The Superego, is the calm part of the self that uses moral and conscience when making decisions. Freud felt that everyone was made up of these three parts. Freud's theories were analyzed by many psychoanalysts, especially a man named Carl Jung.

Carl Jung was another psychoanalyst of this time period. He believed in a circle known as the Mandala which represented the unity of the self. Jung felt much like Freud that there are three parts to the self. His three parts were the ego (like Freud), the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. He defined the ego as the conscious mind, what you are aware of that's going on around you. The personal unconscious is considered anything that is not conscious at the moment but could be. These are things such as memories or experiences that have been suppressed. The collective unconscious is known as a knowledge that everyone is born with. This type of behavior plays a part in our everyday lives. Examples of the collective unconscious include love at first sight, déjà vu and near death experiences. Jung's theories were so popular that they were taken and used to create tests known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a test used to discover one's inner self. It is based on Jung's two principles and four functions and an additional two functions that were added. These two principles are introversion and extroversion. Introversion relates to people who are more oriented towards the inner worlds. Extroversion is the opposite, describing people who are more oriented towards the outer worlds. The four principles consist of Sensing (relies on facts), Intuiting (unconscious processes), Thinking (intellectual), and Feeling (ability to express anger, happiness, sadness and fear). In addition to Jung's four functions, came the functions of Judging (planning things out) and Perceiving (going with the flow). Everyone according to Jung, has a dominant personality and two dominant functions. Jung expresses that in order to be complete with one's self, everyone should express both attitudes and all four functions, which will then lead to unity and balance within one's self.

Rainer Maria Rilke was a psychologist during this time period, who expressed his thoughts of the self through poetry. Rilke used his life experiences to show how he viewed people's inner self. He grew up in an apartment living with his mother and father. His grandparents lived around the corner in an mansion, and Rilke never understood how they could be living in an apartment and his own family live in a mansion. His mother had been raised in an aristocratic family with lots of riches. She struggled with her lifestyle as an adult compared to her lifestyle as a child. His mother had lost children due to illness, so at times she would pretend that Rilke was a girl and play dress up with him. This angered Rilke and is expressed in his poetry. One particular poem that Rilke wrote is a reflection of his mother. The poem called "Faces" tells of how everyone has many faces. Some people have the same face that they wear for years and years and they never change. These faces express people who are afraid to try new things and change their ways. He also discusses people that change their face too often and never have a true identity. These are people who do what others do and don't have a sense of themselves. In the poem "Faces", Rilke talks of an old poor woman who takes off her faces. This old poor woman is his mother whom feels that because she lives in an apartment not a mansion, she is worthless. He explains that he wishes the poor lady would have just kept her faces on because the person inside was much worse to look at. I think Rilke believes that the self is an reflection of the type of face that you wear.

Asian's view the self through a religion called Hinduism. The Hindu religion comes from a book of knowledge known as the Veda. The Veda expresses that Hinduism is not only a religion but a way of life. This religion is different from other religions that express only biblical beliefs. The stages of the Hindu religion include the Nature of Braham, the Dharma, Otman and Soul, and Karma views. The first stage is the Nature of the Braham which asks the questions "can it be understood or grasped through the senses?", is it defined as logic or intuition, and does it reflect Yoga as a means of knowledge? The next stage discusses that Dharma is said to be the duty, Otman is the eternal and Soul is the unity of divine. The forms of the Hindu religion include the belief in the three main gods, Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver) and Shiva (destroyer). Those who follow Hinduism believe that all of the worlds, including Brahma, are run by time. Everything happens around time. The Transmigration (Karma) is said to be the endless cycle of births and rebirths. They express that this part of your inner self is not expressed much like the times before you were born. Another way that they express the deep and inner self is like being unconscious when you are sleeping, these are the things that you can't remember. They express the self through these religious ways and believe that following this religion will lead them to self unity.

The self is also expressed through art and music. This type of self expression art occurred during a time period from 1790-1914 known as Romanticism. This art work was very unique and had many detailed characteristics. Many of the themes included Legends, nature, violence or struggles. The colors were very rich and dark, with strong contrasts between light and dark shading. The diagonal line expressed the emotion and strong intuition of the artists. The art was inspired by works from the Medieval and Baroque Eras.

One particular artist of this time period was Eugene Delacroix. In 1827, he painted an oil on canvas titled The Death of Sardanapal. This painting is full of rich colors such as reds and oranges with a strong contrasting of blacks and browns. The painting has two implied diagonal lines that separate the different scenes. The main focal point of the painting is the naked women who appear to be in agony and pain.

Music of this time period was based on very intense feelings. They began to focus on dissonance which would help move their audiences instead of sticking to the structure of classical music. They began incorporating art, poetry, drama and literature into their pieces of music. A composer by the name of Frank Liszt, who was an outstanding pianist of this time, used extreme virtuosity to express Romantic ideals. He showed this virtuoso in such works as the Transcendental Etudes and Piano Concerto in E minor. Liszt's works included very intense feelings and strong feelings. The use of irregular beat, rhythm and parallel phrases were all characteristics of the time period. This is only one of the many Romantic composers of this time period.

Through the discovery of myself, I found a connection with some of these views but not with others. I felt as though Freud had good ideas by dividing the self into three parts. My dominant part according to Freud would be the Superego, the one that uses morals and conscience when making decisions. I agree with Freud when he states that there is the Id in everyone, that animal waiting to be unleashed. Although Freud had very valid ideas and views, I think that his views excluded many other personalities of one's self. I agreed with Rilke in that people forget to be who they are and just put on a face to be someone else. I learned that I have many faces because I like to try new things and do not enjoy being the same person all the time. After learning about the Asian views of the self, I didn't find very much that connected me with Hinduism. This is a very unique religion that must be followed precisely. It is not my personality to follow a bible or guideline on how to construct my life. Through out the study of Romanticism, I found that this time period expressed intensity of feelings and strong contrasts. I had a hard time relating to this with my personality because I am a simple person who does not have strong feelings and emotions. I could identify more with the Realistic period that we discovered. This art expressed ideas and thoughts through realistic representations.

I found that I could connect my personality with the ways of Carl Jung. After taking a test to determine my personality, I discovered that I am an ESFJ. This is and Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging personality. These words sum up my personality and helped me to discover who I am. ESFJ's are said to contribute by knowing what matters for people and organizations, take-charge but in a caring manner, build relationships while completing tasks, and serve others through hospitality, organization and administration. After taking what I learned from this test and many other examinations of myself, I then created my self-portrait.

My self-portrait is a three dimensional Representational art using the flower theme to show the ways in which I have blossomed and grown over the past few years. The base of my flower is made up of a square covered with yellow felt. The square shows that I am stable, realistic and down to earth. Yellow is a color that shows energy and passion, this expresses my goals and ambitions for life. The felt expresses my personality of being warm and fuzzy. I am very tender-hearted and caring of others. The stems are represented by the vertical green lines leading into the flower. Green is a color that represents down-to-earth and realistic according to the Yoruba people. This is covered by spirals representing the growth and changes that I have experienced since being in college. The flower is made up of a square with five triangles attached to it. The square contains both vertical and horizontal lines because although vertically I am steady, stable and ready for action, horizontally I can be very passive in intense conversations. Each petal contains a triangle showing strong relationships with others and a sense of balance in all parts of my life. On top of each petal a color is shown in felt (warm and fuzzy) to express my personality. The underneath side shows how I was when I first came to school and the top reflects what I have blossomed into. The dark red coloring shows that I was afraid of meeting others and of expressing who I really was. I have blossomed into the bright red, full of energy and allowing people to meet me and see my personality. The dark blue petals show that I was very standoffish and secluded when I first came to college. The soft blue shows that I am happy and content with myself and I enjoy being around others. The green petal expresses realistic ways and down to earth personality. The dark green shows that I was not confident in being myself. Once again, I blossomed into the light green, happy and realistic about my future and goals. Overtime, I have grown and changed in many ways; relationships, goals and being able to enjoy and appreciate the things I have. This flower was constructed very precisely and carefully because the most dominant part of my personality is organization and exactness. Building the flower and examining myself forced me to define who I was two years ago and who I am now. I hope to continue changing and growing and adding petals to my flower.