THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING?

That was the title of a once-popular book, but Freud knew better when he wrote about the vain belief in the "omnipotence of thought," such as in texts like Totem and Taboo (SE XIII), wherein he referred to the unrealistic belief of children and primitives that whatever they wishfully think and say will hopefully come true.


The most ancient religion we know of was animism, in which the world was believed to be ruled by gods and spirits. Those spirits could be persuaded, or invoked, those primitive people believed, that by thought and (magic) words, their wishful thoughts would in fact be fulfilled. Children still tend to believe so, as well as people who pray.

The ability to think developed, according to Freud, to enable us to visualise the likely outcome in our mind of an intended action or wish, before we physically proceed to carry it out or not. It is then but a small conscious step towards thinking that those thought will magically succeed. One of the most obvious ways in which we still engage in doing so is in our dreams and also in daydreams - which, according to Jung - most normal people still regularly engage in when they are awake. 

I could continue by further discussing the extreme measures - such as by making sacrifices - that primitive people used to engage in to persuade their gods to grant them their wishes, but I would instead rather point out that many people also believe that whatever their leader says must necessarily be true, such as, for instance, that prices of goods are dropping, even though they are in fact rising.

The picture? Ah, yes, the Hitler Jugend was also made to believe that greatness was coming to Germany, but we all know how that ended, not so?

 

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