Oh, Freud

Sigmond Freud talks all about civilization and life and living in Civilization and It's Discontents. He likes to approach the idea of life and living in an extremely objective way, to distance himself as much as he can personally from the subject. One thing I noticed was how he likes to refer to living as a sort of art, something that can be approached from many different angles but still produce the same conclusive feeling. A concrete example of this is on page 32 where he is talking about fate he says, "And how could one possible forget, of all others, this technique in the art of living?" I have never thought about life as something in need of proper technique or skill. It seems to contradict the very essence that is life, something nobody can predict or control fully. Freud does establish that he does not know the proper way to go through life either. I actually kind of agree with him when he suggests that such ideologies like fate, religion or lack thereof are just ways people choose to deal with life, to help themselves get through it. It's just interesting to think of your own life in that way because everyone thinks that their way of living is the right way to live, the best that can be done. But in reality there are all sorts of "techniques" to approach this "art of living," I guess I just hope my technique works out ok.