Accessing the unconscious through ‘Loganathan and
Sivakumar’s Baum Test’.
Sivakumar
Ramakrishnan1, Ari Marappan2, Indradevi Marimuthu3
, Rajaletchumy Grant4 , Nuriahh Sahjahan5
1
School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, University Science
Malaysia
2,3,4,5:
Ullaganar Agamic Sciences Center, Malaysia
In this article, we discuss the application of
‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’( LSBT ) in accessing the unconscious.
The ‘unconscious’ since its introduction by Sigmund Freud has been generally
accepted in the scientific world as a reality even though there is not much
empirical evidence to prove its existence in terms of hard science. Using
Freud’s analogy of the iceberg, the contents of the unconscious influences
human behavior in a major way. Till today, accessing the unconscious is only by
way of ‘Freudian slips’ and dreams. But these two methods are not practical to
conduct a scientific research as we don’t have control over them. Now we are
introducing LSBT as a technology to access the unconscious. In this article we
describe the method to conduct LSBT and have also included a case study.
Besides knowing the contents of the unconscious, LSBT can also be used to take
a ‘psychological history taking’ of a person and also the future projection of
a person’s psychological makeup. LSBT holds tremendous potential in solving a
lot of human existential struggles as it gains momentum. The methodology used
in analyzing the drawings is
hermeneutics, where the drawings stand as the ‘surface structure’ and the
actual meaning as the ‘deep structure’.
“Man’s task is to
become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.” – Carl Gustav Jung
Even though the concept of what is called
‘unconscious mind’ has been around even before Freud, the credit of making this
concept of the ‘unconscious mind’ popular and making it as an important concept
in the mainstream psychology should be given to Freud.
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) visualized the idea of the
‘conscious’ and the ‘unconscious’ mind using the iceberg analogy.
While the contents of the conscious mind is rather
easy to understand, the constituents of the unconscious is rather difficult to
fathom. According to Freud, the unconscious contains all the significant and
disturbing materials, events that happened in our lives and our inner thoughts
that are stored since our childhood. He uses the iceberg analogy to explain
that the primary source of human behavior is the unconscious mind. Just like
how the movement of the iceberg is determined by the iceberg below the water,
according to Freud, human behavior is primarily determined by the contents of
the unconscious.
The acceptance of the concept of the unconscious as
in psychoanalysis in the domain of psychology is rather lacking even today.
Mainstream psychologists are of the opinion that the research in the field of
unconscious lacks scientific foundation as it defies objectivity and
reliability of modern day science, physical science specifically to
differentiate it from hermeneutic science. Therefore psychoanalysis is
sometimes pushed to the domain of pseudoscience. Nevertheless this gap between
between psychoanalysis and psychology with regards to the unconscious is
narrowing. For example cognitive psychology has identified unconscious
processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing
(Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology has shown
the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995).
In spite of this lack of acceptance, practicing psychologists
and psychoanalysts would acknowledge that there is such a thing as unconscious
though in an informal way. Even though the notion of reliability and
objectivity is demanded by modern science, the ones on the field continue to
use this concept of unconscious in their daily practice by way of exploring the
unconscious. The general understanding is that the unconscious determines human
behavior though the mechanism and the way it works is yet to be understood by
modern science. And as the iceberg analogy the major part of human behavior is
determined by the unconscious.
Accessing the unconscious is the theme of this
article. As it is quite well established, this unconscious determines human
behavior in a significant way. Therefore by accessing the unconscious, we can
influence human behavior significantly. And also the application of it can be
used in almost every human existential struggles, including the clinical.
How do we access the unconscious? Do we have the technology
to access the unconscious?
According to Freud, we get glimpses of the
unconscious through dreams and ‘slip of the tongue’ or parapraxis and commonly known as ‘Freudian
slip’ is a slip of the tongue, whereby we say something but mean something else.
Therefore what comes out from our mouth is slightly different than what we mean
to say. According to Freud, ‘Freudian slips’ gives us access to the
unconscious. By analyzing the words used in ‘Freudian slips’ we can have a
better understanding of a person’s unconscious.
Another way of accessing the unconscious, according
to Freud is through dreams. Dreams erupt while the person is sleeping and by
analyzing the dreams by way of interpreting the meaning of the dreams, we can
have an understanding of the unconscious of the person.
But the problems of accessing the unconscious
through ‘Freudian slips’ and dreams are quite obvious. We have no control at
all over these two methods. We don’t know when a person is going to dream,
neither do we know when a person is going to utter a ‘Freudian slip’. Therefore
these methods are not suitable for a scientific study. The shortcomings using
these two methods are just obvious and does not need further elaboration.
In our research in accessing the unconscious, we
have developed a new method by modifying a projective psychology test known as
the Baum Test, whereby in the standard Baum Test, only one tree is drawn, in
our newly developed Baum Test, we draw four trees, each tree with its unique
instruction. This new Baum Test, where four trees are drawn instead of only one
has been named ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’ to differentiate it from
the standard Baum Test. Through our research using LSBT in accessing the
unconscious, we find that we have been quite successful. LSBT, being a tree
drawing test, avoids the verbal disclosure from a person, and there the ego
interference is censored. LSBT also avoids the questionnaire kind of
psychological testing which is also heavily influenced by ego and other
conscious factors. Therefore, by avoiding the conscious factors and the ego
interference, LSBT manages to access the unconscious. Further, the four
specific instructions to draw four trees in LSBT somehow manages to reach the
deeper layers of the mind and through that manages to access the contents of
the unconscious, which we feel is something novel.
In this paper we want to introduce ‘Loganathan and
Sivakumar’s Baum Test’, in short ‘LSBT’ to access the unconscious. This test
should aptly be called the technology to access the unconscious. Unlike dreams
and ‘Freudian slips’, LSBT can be used in a scientific study, it is simple to
administer, takes only a few minutes and can be used in small or large scale
studies.
This test was discovered by Loganathan, a psychology
lecturer and also the founder of a new field in psychology called ‘Agamic
Psychology’ in the University Science Malaysia ( 1987 ) and further developed
by his associate Sivakumar ( 2015 ) This test is an improvement of the standard
Baum Test that is used worldwide. The standard Baum Test involves drawing a
fruit tree or just drawing a tree. Subjects are instructed to draw a fruit tree
or just draw a tree on an A4 paper. In LSBT, subjects are instructed to draw 4
trees on an A4 paper which has been divided into 4 quadrants. The idea of
drawing 4 trees, each with its unique instruction came from an ancient hermeneutic
science Tamil texts on metaphysics called Tirumanthiram by Tirumoolar ( 6th
CE ).
Loganathan has tested this test on hundreds of university students and
finalized the instructions for each tree as below:
1. In
quadrant A - Draw a tree bearing fruits as it comes to your mind.
2. In
quadrant B – Draw a tree bearing fruits as realistic as possible.
3. In
quadrant C – Draw a tree bearing fruits which is your own creation.
4. In
quadrant D – Draw a tree bearing fruits which is your imagination, nowhere to
be found anywhere in the world.
• The
above sequence must be followed strictly so as to capture the contents of the
unconscious.
• The
individual should not look at trees or pictures of trees while drawing as the
drawing must come from memory.
• Also
the individual should not be told on how to draw the trees or what trees to
draw. Explaining the meaning of the instructions is allowed.
( Note : The above instructions, in sequence, officially known as 'Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test (LSBT), in whatever language is under copyright protection )
What is drawn is not just an artistic expression of
the person. It is actually a ‘text’ but in the form of a drawing. The drawing
needs to be understood using hermeneutic semiotics as the methodology. What the
person has drawn on the paper is actually the contents of his unconscious
without he realizing it as in LSBT the ego interference and conscious factors
have been bypassed. The drawing needs to be interpreted. This science belongs
to the field of hermeneutic semiotics, a subset of the general field of
hermeneutic science. The drawings are the surface structure and to understand
the contents of the unconscious, we have to move to the deep structure as in
the hermeneutic science that we have developed. By understanding the meaning of
the drawing, which is the deep structure, we can understand the unconscious of
the person. Once the unconscious is understood, it can be brought out to the
consciousness of the person and therefore the person becomes aware of his
unconscious. As what Carl Jung said, we need to bring out the unconscious to
the conscious. Therefore, instead of waiting for dreams and Freudian slips to
occur which we don’t have any control at all, LSBT provides a convenient and
practical way to access the unconscious.
LSBT besides giving access to the unconscious goes
much deeper. From our research, we find that LSBT gives a historical
understanding of a person and also the future projection. Therefore, LSBT can
be used as a tool to take a psychological history taking and at the same time
the future psychological condition of the person. We find that Baum A is about
the person’s past, Baum B is about the near past, Baum C is the current
situation and Baum D is the future projection.
Below is a sample drawing of a person who did the
test and the analysis using hermeneutic semiotics as the methodology:
-
Wanting to move away from their
situation to better things.
-
Seeking to rise above the situation
-
Although well grounded and supported,
there seems to be some sort of insecurity.
-
Feeling exposed with regards to their
past.
-
Lots of thoughts with regards to hopes
and dreams.
-
Feeling they are beyond reach.
Baum B ( immediate past )
-
A creative and artistic person consumed
by confusing and conflicting thoughts.
-
Hopes, desires and dreams are marred by
fear/ guilt/ depression and vulnerability.
-
May tend to portray themselves as more
confident and better than the rest. Their salt is always saltier, so to speak.
-
Always seeking appreciation and
attention. Lots of issues on self confidence.
-
May not reveal their true physical or
emotional nature.
-
May tend to be stubborn and unwilling to
listen to others opinion.
-
They feel they are always right but
internally lots of confusing thoughts and emotions are going on.
-
Their whole being is about seeking
appreciation and love and it’s consuming them.
-
These may tend to manifest as anger or
violent thoughts tpwards themselves and the world.
-
May not be able to control their anger.
-
Not open to the outer world.
-
Their consuming thoughts are beyond
their capacity, overwhelming and suffering.
-
There seems to be a block in their
capacity or capability to express love.
-
They are more dominated by fear than
love.
-
Feeling darkness within.
-
Trying their level best to grasp for
support.
-
A very confused person who has put so
much of mental limitations within themselves.
-
Consumed by fear, guilt, depression and
confusion.
-
Everything is a cycle unto itself.
-
Completely cut off from their source of
motivation and support.
-
Unable to have a core system to support
them.
-
Their personality with regards to their
emotional and physical nature seems to be in conflict.
From the above analysis, a wealth of information can
be obtained with regards to the person’s mental makeup. From the history, which
we have termed ‘the psychological history taking’ right to the future
possibility.
What makes LSBT stand out from other projective
tests is that besides knowing the history which explains the present
predicament the person is, we also get a peep into the future of the person.
This is where the strong point of LSBT stands. Intervention is possible when
the history is known and by knowing the future. While nothing can be done about
the past, remedial action can be undertaken now to avoid the current and the
future if the current and future looks unsavoury.
Through the unique instructions for each Baum,
somehow the contents of the unconscious can be extracted. In addition, the
future possibility can also be known by the fourth Baum. By knowing these
contents, a better intervention can be planned. It is going to be a very useful
tests in the coming years in solving a lot of human existential struggles,
namely in the clinical, education, special needs children, human resource and
many others. It must be noted that this ability or rather the technology to
gain access to the unconscious of a human mind in a systematic way is the first
in the whole history of mankind and we find it to be a novel discovery. There
has never been a test which is capable to access the unconscious to the depth
that LSBT goes. The roots of this discovery goes to the ancient Tamil
psychology system, developed to great heights by the Tamils, the beginning of
which can be found in the ancient Tamil text called Tolkaapiyam dated around 3
rd century BC.
Aptly, ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’ should
be called the X – ray machine of the mind.
Note
: The above projective test, ‘Loganathan and Sivakumar’s Baum Test’, in
short LSBT is protected under worldwide copyright. While its use for commercial
purposes is strictly prohibited, anyone who wants to use it for research and
academic purposes can do so with prior written permission from the copyright
owners by emailing the corresponding author. Permission may be granted on a
case by case basis.
