In 1930, Sigmund Freud published a book, Civilizations and its Discontents, in which he begins explaining that religion is an irrational illusion and within the text further stated, “-A feeling as of something limitless, unbounded – as it were, ‘oceanic’” (Freud 613). Despite not experiencing the sensation himself, Freud doesn’t deny others may have felt it and considers this feeling of limitlessness to be the groundwork upon which current religious systems were built. Freud then begins to question as to whether this sensation is truly the justification for religion or something completely separate. Deferring to his background in psychoanalysis to find an answer, Freud attributes this feeling of limitlessness to the human ego. To begin his argument Freud states, “This ego appears to us as something autonomous and unitary, marked off distinctly from everything else. That such an appearance is deceptive, and that on the contrary the ego is continued inwards, without any sharp delimitation” (Freud 614). By pointing out the boundless nature of the ego Freud makes a connection between it and the limitlessness sense, but now he must relate this fact to religion. To accomplish this Freud uses the example of an infant and its ego in the most
In 1930, Sigmund Freud published a book, Civilizations and its Discontents, in which he begins explaining that religion is an irrational illusion and within the text further stated, “-A feeling as of something limitless, unbounded – as it were, ‘oceanic’” (Freud 613). Despite not experiencing the sensation himself, Freud doesn’t deny others may have felt it and considers this feeling of limitlessness to be the groundwork upon which current religious systems were built. Freud then begins to question as to whether this sensation is truly the justification for religion or something completely separate. Deferring to his background in psychoanalysis to find an answer, Freud attributes this feeling of limitlessness to the human ego. To begin his argument Freud states, “This ego appears to us as something autonomous and unitary, marked off distinctly from everything else. That such an appearance is deceptive, and that on the contrary the ego is continued inwards, without any sharp delimitation” (Freud 614). By pointing out the boundless nature of the ego Freud makes a connection between it and the limitlessness sense, but now he must relate this fact to religion. To accomplish this Freud uses the example of an infant and its ego in the most