The Death Instinct

Let's talk about Sigmund Freud's "Death Instinct" theory, which I discovered in 1999/2000 under my favourite professor throughout university. (The class was actually "Contemporary Political Theory", and we studied Hegel, Nietzsche and Freud.)

(Quotes are from Freud's "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis")

To begin...a definition of instinct.

"An instinct, then, is distinguished from a stimulus by the fact that it arises from sources of stimulation within the body, that it operates as a constant force and that the subject cannot avoid it by flight, as is possible with an external stimulus. We can distinguish an instinct's source, object and aim. Its source is a state of excitation in the body, its aim is the removal of that excitation; on its path from its source to its aim the instinct becomes operative psychically."

"They reveal an effort to restore an earlier state of things."

And now, the death instinct explained....

"If it is true that- at some immeasurably remote time and in a manner we cannot conceive- life once proceeded out of inorganic matter, then, according to our presumption, an instinct must have arisen which sought to do away with once more and re-establish the inorganic state...we may regard the self-destructiveness as an expression of a 'death instinct' which cannot fail to be present in every vital process."

How interesting. One part of the human psyche is geared to seek a return to the quiet of non-existence. Perhaps one of life's secrets is discovering a way to merge all of Freud's 'instincts' (Life, death and sex) into one grand unity.

It's like Hegel's dialectic of 'thesis' [life], 'anti-thesis' [death] and 'synthesis' [sex].

I am fortunate to have been instructed according to Tibetan tradition. I believe that undeniable treasures may be found in its Tantric practices. Through the tantra maybe I can learn how to combine the seeming opposites of life and death...well...thats what i think anyway.

"when the student is ready the teacher will appear"