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One way of describing neurosis is to say that it is the psyche at war with itself. The integration of disparate elements of ego necessary for a subjective sense of wholeness is compromised. The neurotic conflicts one experiences are not due to innate contradictions within the self, or to the circumstances in which they arise. Rather, they derive from the incompatible values assigned to the complexities of life, which then lead us to experience conflict as absolute. (The degree to which this is present determines the extent of the psychopathology.)
What aspects of being human are subject to such conflict depends, in large part, on the qualities and categories one uses to structure his or her experience of reality, and on the value system by which he or she lives within the structure. This essay focuses on one common human duality that, when processed neurotically, can give rise to profound conflict.
Two great currents flow through the psyche. One derives from the very nature of the evolutionary process, establishing an automatic and immediate harmony between organism and environment so that the organism is virtually a response to its surroundings; it is embedded in reality. This is readily apparent at the molecular, cellular, and physiological levels of functioning. It holds in the neurological sphere of activity approximately up to the level of the cortex. From this develops the move toward merging, submitting, toward experiencing self as part of a greater whole; toward living by feelings and intuition; toward finding meaning in the similarities between self and the world.
The other current flows out of the uniquely human quality of abstract thought. It moves us toward observing, categorizing, and judging; toward mastering and separating; toward finding meaning on the basis of differences between self and world; toward living through and over the world in contrast to living within it. It is that for which we entitle ourselves to be placed by the side of the angels.