The Freudian Unconscious
Freud’s psychoanalytic system involves an unconscious realm and three hypothetical intrapsychic forces: the id, the ego and the superego. A substantial theoretical system has been developed regarding these forces, and a large number of clinical cases have been analyzed in depth, treated successfully and described at length. This extensive body of work, accomplished by a dedicated group of brilliant analysts, cannot be lightly dismissed.
The two tiers of consciousness that I proposed offer an alternate understanding of the unconscious and Freud’s intrapsychic forces. The unvoiced physical core of experience at the first tier of consciousness is established by a pre-empirical substrate without conscious awareness. First-tier experiences have a physically conscious awareness of presence but are otherwise undifferentiated. Although first-tier experiences provide grounding for the conscious version of the world we develop, they remain in the background of our awareness, unknowable and unvoiced.
The physiological processes that generate experiences at the first tier of consciousness are guided by sensory inputs that govern our movements with precision and accuracy, visceral inputs that ensure that those movements lead in a direction that meets our needs and mirroring inputs that connect us to the personally significant others around us. These three sources of guidance provide the basis for Freud’s intrapsychic forces of id, ego and superego.
First-tier experiences meet the requirements for what Freud thought of as unconscious processes, and they establish a positive grounding for the things we do without psychopathology, conflict or repression. First-tier experiences are accumulated through our direct encounters with reality, and they provide physical grounding for being in the world. We are guided toward meeting our needs by visceral inputs to the brain, and we gain competence in our movements through sensory guidance. These represent what Freud thought of as the forces of the id and ego respectively. These self-serving movements toward the world are kept from excessive indulgence by mirroring constraints established by parents, caregivers and community that provide superego guidance. The powerful force of superego constraints is fueled by the potential pain of loss of these critical mirroring connections.
Freud’s intrapsychic system involves a flow of energy that is also readily explained in terms of first-tier processes. The dynamic flow of energy associated with the intrapsychic struggles that Freud proposed is better represented by the physical core of experience at the first tier. The core structures at the first tier are physical in a concrete sense and do not represent energy metaphorically. The pre-empirical responses generated by the core of experience at the first tier are physical, and they involve a flow of energy that provides a basis for the forces proposed for the id, ego and superego.
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