The Dynamics of Insight

As psychoanalysts we deal with the whole process of becoming more aware, that is, with the growth of consciousness, and should constantly examine, re-examine and adapt our working principles and procedures to this end. Insofar as we use the therapeutic dictum, “Know thyself,” which holistically will include “Feel thyself,” we concern ourselves not with the superimposition of knowledge, but with helping the individual toward self-revelation. It is within our psychoanalytic function to assist the individual to know more of the truth about himself. This is necessarily a continuous process because we can only move towards the absolute truth or divine truth, but never attain it. Swedenborg speaks of revelation as “a cloudy view of the divine truth.”

In some ways the strength of the individual has to do with his ability to face and feel the truth about himself. Each admission of truth; that is, each step in the growth of consciousness, adds a quantum of strength and thus a positive cycle can be started. We have St. John saying, “The truth shall make you free.” Speaking at the 1951 N.Y. Herald Tribune Forum, President Griswold of Yale said, “The wave of pessimism for which so many individuals are seeking psychiatric help has arisen because we do not know our strength or our history.”

We have everything to gain by becoming more aware. How paradoxical then that this growth of consciousness should involve emotional struggle, often arousing such feelings of apprehension and anxiety that the individual, wittingly or unwittingly, resists the whole process. Only slow and gradual presentation of the truth can be tolerated, and here I would remind you of Ibsen's “Wild Duck,” which stresses the tragic consequences of sudden disillusionment.

In assisting the individual gradually to become more aware of what is going on in his life, what he is doing with it, and the conflicting patterns, strategies and social techniques that he practices unconsciously, we have to consider what are the ev