Happiness Achieved By Avoiding Pain : Freud

According to Freud, our purpose for the sake of living can be said happiness. At this point, while we want to fulfill this desire for happiness, we first experience the pain and then try to eliminate it. Freud thinks that if we never experience pain, human beings will not be able to have pleasures. Therefore, happiness can be considered as removal of the pain.

(Psikoloji, 2021)

Where does suffering come from?

From the philosophical perspective of Freud, suffering has three sources. These are our own body, outer world, and our relations with other people. Freud thinks that these three are not friendly at all: our body is sensible creating and there are natural disasters, misunderstandings in people’s communications, and so on.  In these ways, unhappiness can be easily achieved by a person. So, we have some unconscious mechanisms which allow us to escape from pain mostly without knowing what we are doing.

Ways of Avoiding Pain

(Evrensel Gazetesi, 2014)

According to Freud, one of the ways of avoiding pain is Intoxication and it is the most efficient method of avoiding pain. However, it is a waste of energy at the same time. Because in this way, we kill our sensations directly, for instance using drugs, cocaine, etc. And this leads to the problem persists but we don’t feel this problem as pain.

The other one is Epicurean ascetic life. In this way, human beings can get rid of the source of their pains. For instance, if they escape from their desires which bring pain to them, they can be free from their pain. So, it kills the source of pain.

The third one is Isolation. Some people choose to isolate themselves from society because their relationships were painful. So they escape from communication and people. They believe that they are much happier and comfortable when they are alone.

(Çaparali, 2020)

Another way of avoiding pain is Sublimation and it is a really important one for Freud. People who use this way are generally hardworking and creative. They aim to escape from pain by making themselves busy. They isolate themselves with intellectual activities. According to Freud, one example of sublimation is Leonarda Da Vinci. Freud claims that Da Vinci had a sexually active childhood, and later in life, he sublimated this desire to artistic and scientific achievements. Because Da Vinci’s desires were also the source of his pain, according to Freud.

Another method is Taking refugees into the fantasy world. Some people use this way because the reality seems painful for them. Why people watch TV Series for instance? According to Freud, we want to escape from real life. It is not about enjoying while watching them or reading a book, it is about having pain in real life according to Freud.

The sixth method is Love. For Freud, it is a defense mechanism. In this method, instead of being isolated, we aim to live by trying to establish social communication. It is a motivational assumption to love something or a person. We are avoiding pain in this method, too according to Freud.

(Phoneky, 2019)

Another method is Beauty. We tend to the one which looks pretty, beautiful. Freud argues that we escape from pain more easily when we see a beautiful work of art or a landscape.

The last method for avoidance of pain is Religion. According to Freud, we feel powerless and helpless in the world. Therefore we want to be protected. By believing, we are escaping from pain again.

To sum up, Freud thinks that we escape from pain in various ways to get happiness. Even so, Freud does not think that pain is useless. Eventually, he thinks that if the pain does not occur in our lives, pleasures may not occur as well.

SOURCES

• The School of Life. (2016, April 29). Freud on: Sublimation. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K96AeGqKVbs&list=PLb9LhJF1fhsKlr7pO46i1PUgBQeG8wcvA&index=9&t=77s
• Yücel, T., S., (2021, May) ”Freud”. Lecture Powerpoint Slide.
• Çaparali, B. (2020, August 15). Leonardo Da Vinci’nin Yarım Kalan Eserleri. loveinartsz. https://www.loveinartsz.com/buyuk-dahinin-yarim-kalan-eserleri-leonardo-da-vinci/
• P. (2019b, November 11). Güzel manzara Wallpaper. Phoneky. https://tr.phoneky.com/wallpapers/?id=w26w1809675#gsc.tab=0
• Psikoloji, M. (2021, January 13). Daha Güçlü Bir Karakter İnşa Etmenizi Sağlayacak 20 Sigmund Freud Sözü. Müthiş Psikoloji. https://www.muthispsikoloji.com/daha-guclu-bir-karakter-insa-etmenizi-saglayacak-20-sigmund-freud-sozu/
• Evrensel Gazetesi. (2014, November 28). İnsanlığın yeni oyuncağı: “İlaçlar.” Evrensel.net. https://www.evrensel.net/haber/98513/insanligin-yeni-oyuncagi-ilaclar