Section Headings [ Reversal of Values] [ Immoral Compulsions] [ Morality and Ethics]

[ Sexual Abuse of Children] [ Suggestion] [ Examples]

The abreaction of guilt can also be labelled as moral abreaction.

Once the final quiescent state is reached, when the resentment fades away, we see what has been achieved. This abreaction eliminates compulsiveness not only in aspects of immorality in our subconscious mind, but also in aspects of morality.

The abreaction of guilt eliminates the compulsiveness of both immorality and morality.

This effect implies that the development of morality is not the final goal of humanity. Morality is just a stepping-stone to the production of full self-consciousness. Morality is a half-way house on the road of human evolution. But why is its compulsiveness eliminated?  It is obvious that immorality is not desirable. What is it that is limited about morality?

Morality, considered as the unthinking acceptance of social values, is derived from the social conditioning of the child. Therefore the ego, and its values, cannot be changed without a corresponding change in the person’s morality. Morality, based on social conditioning, represents standards of conduct that have not been developed by choice but by fear and punishment and guilt-induction.

To put these ideas another way, consider the child. The resentment at having morality forced on itself is built into the subconscious mind. Hence morality is intertwined with immorality. So in order to abreact one the other has also to be abreacted at the same time.

I make a distinction between morality and ethics.
I consider ethics to be the critical evaluation of standards and values. On the road of human evolution all fears and all compliant rule-governed behaviour will eventually be replaced by choice. Choice allows the person to freely construct new ideas on ethics and values that are harmonious to his /her fulfilment. A psycho-analysis helps the individual to learn to choose freely what moral attitudes to uphold and what ones to reject. Morality then becomes personal choice. [¹]

The sequence of abreaction leads the individual along the path that is "beyond good and evil" (to use Nietzsche’s classic phrase).[²].  Abreaction leads beyond morality. When a person goes beyond good and evil, psychology replaces morality. Psychological judgements supersede moral judgements.

Footnotes

[¹]. I analyse this contrast between morality and ethics on my website A Modern Thinker, in the section on Belief.

Books

[²]. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Translated by W. Kaufmann. USA, Vintage, 1966.

Copyright @2002  Ian Heath
All Rights Reserved

The copyright is mine and the articles are free to use. They can be reproduced anywhere, so long as the source is acknowledged.