Student 33

May 2, 2000

When looking at the different views of the self, one must first look at the works of Freud and Jung. To first look at Freud you must know what he believed to be the three basic components of the self. The first was id, then the ego, and then the super ego. The id is the "animal instinct" inside of everyone. It consists of feelings such as sexual urges or anger. The ego is between the id and the super ego. It is more like your conscious. The super ego is the complete opposite of the id; it is the moral side of you. The ego is in between to sort of balance out the two extremes. While trying to balance those out we often feel regression, which is when we are so upset all you can do is curl up into the fetal position. We also experience repression, but this is done unconsciously, so we are unaware when we decide to push a feeling aside. Another feeling that we experience during the balancing act is sublimation. This feeling is exotic, people often express this feeling with art or writing. Freud also believed that everyone had inner secrets that they did not tell anyone. These secrets, to Freud, generally were related to sexual occurences. Freud, I believe had an over active id, because most of Freud's solutions came back to sexual acts.

For Jung the self is more about unity and wholeness. The Jungian self is expressed through various symbols, the major one is a mandala. The mandala is a circle which represents unity. Everything is brought together by the self. However, the self if hard to reach; it is often a lifetime journey. Two of the greatest example of people who have reached the self are Jesus Christ and Budda. For most people the self is not even pushed towards until the middle years. Jung believed that there were two major personalities: extraversion and introversion. Jung believed we have both personalities, but one was dominant over the other. When the self is completely whole, then the personalities are balanced. Another way to reach the self is through sensing, intuiting, thinking, and feeling. Sensing is, as it sounds, uses the senses to understand. Intuiting is a way that relies more on the unconscious to understand. This is like the gut feeling people get inside. Thinking is the intellectual way to process the positive and the negative. The feeling function is our happiness, saddness, anger, and frustration. All of these things come together to represent the self according to Jung.

In Hinduism the Brahman is the whole idea of the unity of the universe. Hinduism is a way of life, and Hindus believe everyone is a Hindu. People are just at different steps of the journey for the unity. The atman is the individual self, or the soul. Hindus believe the soul is eternal. The atman has a particular duty, a "mission in life." If you do not complete this mission your atman will be reincarnated until your mission of the self is completed. If you die with karma, the hindus believe you that karma is bad, therefore you will be reincarnted.

In my self portrait I used a box to convey my inner self and personality. The outer side is colorful which explains my cheerfulness and my energy. The front is covered with horizontal lines which represent my introvert side. I am very relaxed, shy, and passive when you first get to know me. On the sides of the box I have suns, stars, and flowers. These shapes represent my more natural side, and my love for the outdoors. I love to be outside and just watch nature. This reminds me of the ideals of Taoist. The Taoist believe that nature is the ultimate, and that their gods in fact are inside the mountains. When I need relief or to re-focus I go outside to collect my thoughts.

The back of my box has diagonal lines, with spirals and a triangle. The diagonal lines represent my energy, the active side or me and my loudness. The spirals that make my diagonal lines represent the growth I have had in my extraversion side. I have become more outgoing and I am a lot easier to get to know now. The triangle represents that if you see this part of me, and I reveal my goofiness to you, I count you as a friend. So, therefore if you ever need something, I will be there for you. As Freud said, I still have my secrets and the part of me that I don't reveal, but I will be there for you regardless.

The inside of my box is cover with white tissue paper that is somewhat chaotic. That shows my more extravert side. I start to show energy, goofiness, and attitude. I have strings of different colors, weaved through a triangle, circle and spiral. First of all, the circle represents my relationship with God, and my spirituality. It is something that I hold very close to my heart and that just isn't an aspect of my life but my life. This is related to the Hindu belief that Hinduism is a way of life; my Christianity is my life not just a focal point.

The triangle represents my relationship with my friends and family. I went through a lot of problems in this area of my life and that is what the intertwined strings symbolize. The darker strings are the bigger problems and the lighter strings are the smaller problems. There is a spiral in the center connected to the triangle and the circle and it represents the growth and development that I went through as a result of the problems and complications that I had to endure. Behind the triangle and circle are squares that represent the stability in the relationships between me and my family and friends.