The Unvoiced Core and the Superego
In the intrapsychic realm of the Freudian unconscious, the superego asserts a powerful force that often arises in conflict with the things we want to do. It asserts itself with such intensity at times that it feels physically palpable. How can something intrapsychic be physical? How do parental sanctions from childhood become a physical part of (be introjected into) who we are?
The physical core of experience we establish at the first tier is shaped by our own viscerally guided responses to the constraints, often intense, imposed by parents and caregivers and reinforced by our community, culture and religion. It incorporates the unvoiced, viscerally guided responses we have in those interactions that involve how to conduct ourselves in the world. Freud interpreted the unvoiced impact of this viscerally guided substrate on our actions in terms of unconscious intrapsychic forces called the superego. Visceral processes that generally guide us toward meeting our personal needs are reshaped in the core of experience by the force of the personal resonance we experience through mirroring to our parents and caregivers.
We resonate viscerally through mirroring to the significant others we encounter without conscious awareness that we are doing so. We have no direct knowledge of this resonant responsiveness apart from the strength of the bonds that develop. These visceral connections are incorporated into our unvoiced core of experience at the first tier. They assert a continuing guiding force that binds us closely to our important connections even when they have been unreliable, inconsistent, frightening and abusive. These connections may be difficult to sustain, but we maintain them because we need them for our survival.
It is often said of patients in psychotherapy that the map they learn within their family of origin is not the territory of the realities they later encounter. The family system we experience in childhood, physically incorporated into our unvoiced experience core, is established by a pre-empirical substrate that functions without conscious awareness. Children who develop connections with inadequate or abusive parents often experience conflicts as adults, develop symptoms and are treated by mental health professionals. It is not surprising that the initial conception of the unconscious involved a psychopathological formulation.
In traditional societies, the guidance imposed by parents through mirroring is supported by the values of the surrounding community. We assimilate this guidance as we become members first of our family and then of our community, culture and religion. We follow the example set by our parents and assume the traditions and beliefs of the others around us. Nothing is imposed, and nothing is conflictual as we take our place in that world.
Traditional shaping forces, anchored in the past, cannot maintain their authority when the ground of everyday life evolves too rapidly. The accelerating rate of change in the modern world not only competes with traditional ways of being but overwhelms them. The rejection of the traditional teachings incorporated into our physical core of experience results in a loss of grounding and the undermining of our sense of self.
We physically incorporate parental guidance into our pre-empirical core of experience through mirroring, and this has a persistent unvoiced impact on our behavioral choices. This guiding core is established in the weeks, months and years of life prior to gaining control and autonomy, and it continues to impact us from behind the scenes of conscious awareness. Since this guiding core is physically part of who we are, it asserts powerful influence and control over the things we do.
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