Psychoanalysis as Hermeneutic Science
A few words on the methodological principles are in order here. I have already pointed out that the notion of Hermeneutic Science was already available to the Tamils at least from the days of Tolkaappiyam if not earlier and that the principles of Hermeneutic Logic, the EraNaviyal ( as it was called later) was the most rigorous expression of this rationally.
This is available in this Patikam of Appar and only because of which he declares - KaNdu aRiyaatanak Kandeen: SAW what are normally difficult to see. Such seeing is what I have called Transductive Perception and which is a rendering into English of such notions as Yogak Kaadci, Vinjnjaanak Kaadci, Civanjnanak Kaadci, Njnanap Pariyaaka Kaadci and so forth in Indian texts. Now Appar has added his own depth into this and which has come to stay as a permanent feature of Saiva Thinking i.e. kaaNpaar aar kol KaNNuutal Kaaddaakaalee? - Who can see anything at all if not shown as such by the BEING of the Third-Eyed?
The fact is Hermeneutic Sciences develop along the lines of: Showing by BEING and Seeing by the anmas exactly as shown. The blindness intrinsic to anmas are violated and something is SHOWN (disclosed, revealed etc) and the anmas prepared and prompted to SEE and when the seeing is such that it sees exactly as shown and not otherwise, it is disclosed to the anmas by the feeling of TRUTH implanted by BEING at that point. Thus truth-experiences become the register of the anmas, seeing exactly as shown by BEING and therefore being in agreement with BEING.
Now it appears to be that Freud did not have such a clear understanding of the principles of Hermeneutic Science within which only, the human sciences can be developed. He postulated as part of meta-psychology such notions as Id, Ego and Superego and so forth more as theoretic constructs rather than as REAL structures lurking there in the Depths.
In Hermeneutic Sciences there cannot be theoretic constructs but only REAL things either at the surface or the depths. Now even if we take these meta-psychological constructions as something in the vein of deep structure (DS) elements and which is a possibility, then we can see that Freud is not wrong but rather quite primitive, not sufficiently matured enough.
The most glaring omission is the ‘instinct’ towards Moksa as the deepest element of the psychodynamics, the overriding MEANING of existence, that towards attaining and enjoining which the psychodynamics is configured by BEING. Here there is also transmutation of sexuality (Id, Eros etc) into Pure Love, something that Freud never operates with at all.
Now Jung thinks in terms of psychic functions and he takes thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation as the four basic psychological functions. The psychological function is understood as a 'form of psychic activity that remains theoretically the same under varying circumstances and is completely independent of its momentary contents' . Consciousness through sense perception reveals the existence of the world but does not tell us what it is. Seeing what it is that is sensed, as an existent constitute for him an apperception process and is identified as the cognitive, arising from thinking as such. Associated with this apperception is what he calls a 'feeling-tone' that implies evaluation of some sort. An object is now seen positively as pleasant, desirable and beautiful or negatively as unpleasant, disgusting, ugly and so forth. In addition to these, he also recognizes another, the 'intuitive process' as distinct from the above.
Intuition is said to be a basic function of the psyche and consists in perceiving 'the possibilities inherent in a situation'. His theory of psychological types, considered a major contribution towards a better understanding of human personality, rests upon the four different psychic functions identified as above.
Thinking and Feeling are characterized as rational in the sense that they are judgments, evaluations and so forth with respect to certain norms. Thinking proceeds on the basis of logical consistency, correctness or incorrectness, true or false and so forth. Feeling proceeds on the basis of right and wrong, agreeable or disagreeable and so forth.
So much for the essence of the analytical psychology of Jung. Here again quite obviously there is the OMISSION of transductive perceptions, the Yogak Kaadci and which transmute the feelings and emotions by the INNER PURITY they bring about. The notion of seeing what lurks in the depths and thus destroying the reign of the Unconscious, the Mystery, the Hidden and Concealed etc is ABSENT in Jung (unless we subsume this under Jung’s ‘intuition” ). Absent here is also the notion of Moksa and which puts an end to all psychic functions as such.
Thus we can conclude that both Freud and Jung are naive in relation to the Methodological Principles of Psychoanalysis and even though Appar does not spell out explicitly in this verse, he states it quite clearly in many other places.
With this difference in the methodological principles cleared, let us now come to the most glaring omission in the HUMAN condition in relation to sexual behavior where again we see an important difference. This is available in the following verse:
9.
muRpiRaik kaNNiyaanai moykuzaalaa Lodum paadi
paRRik kayiRu aRukkilleen paadiyum aadaa varuveen
aRRu aruL peRRu ninRaarodu aadi AiyaaRu adaikinRa pootu
naRRunaip peedaiyodu aadi naarai varuvana kaNdeen
kaNdeen avar tiruppaatam kaNdaRiyaatana kaNdeen.
Meaning:
BEING as Candrasekaran stands as the One wearing the just born young Crescent Moon along with Umai who appears with thick and black hair indicative of the essence of all the feminine charms. I who has seized upon for my delight all the worldly bonds but without severing those ties, came with the great ones who have done so and who because of that enjoy the aruL of BEING, singing and dancing away, to AiyaaRu, the great Temple of Siva. There on the way I saw (just with ties like me) the male storks coming with their females dancing away in great joy. At that point I saw with my mental eyes, the Divine Feet of Siva, (where he creates the male and females of all species with agitating the Natam and Bindu). Thus I saw what are impossible to witness with the fleshy eyes alone.
This is the only verse in this Patikam where Appar talks about human sexuality with all others describing animal sexuality. Here he does NOT speak the joys sexual life brings but the joys of those who have transcended sexuality and with that gaining the Grace of BEING live in a kind of happiness that is more satiating than the sexual. These are those individuals:”aRRu aruL peRRu NinRaar” and which he sees as his own possibility but something that he can see only as an ideal and NOT something he has achieved though he would like to. He still uses sexuality as a rope to climb up towards the higher reaches of Existence without severing it (paRRik kayiRu aRukkilleen) and classifies himself as one of the ordinary folks who can only appreciate the state of Purity but not as yet enjoy it as a reality.
Thus unlike in the case of animal sexuality, in the human there can be a battle, a serious struggle to FREE oneself from being pulled by the sexual instincts and emerge victorious and in that enjoy a state of purity and Being-with-BEING as the SAME.
We can see there can be suppression and repression and hence pushing down some experiences into the unconscious in the sense of Freud here. But why should there be such activities?
This is a moral struggle and it is there only because there is an intuition of Absolute Purity and as intimated by the presence of BEING and an intuitive grasp of the essence of BEING on the part of the anma. We can also see that there must be forces OPPOSING such a movement and against which the anmas have to struggle, wage a battle. Thus the moral struggle is there only because both BEING and AntiBEING are there in the interior of the anmas, each pulling them in their own direction. Thus it may not be because of nasty events in early childhood in course of suppression and repression of which insanity and abnormal behavior results but rather because of doing EVIL things under the dominance of the Killer Power, the Malam, the AntiBEING.
Insanity, the disintegration of normal human functioning and hence a person becoming abnormal may not be because of early childhood experiences being suppressed and repressed but because of EVIL actions that draw the anmas more and more into the hold of Malam, the Universal Killer Force, the Saitan.
ULLAGANAR
( Editing and re-paragraphing by his student )
