He Let Go Of His Ego...

...and Id emerged:

I know so many people who think they can do it alone

They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zone 

What can you tell them?

What can you say that won't make them defensive? 

Hang on to your ego!

Hang on to your ego!

Hang on to your ego! 

Hang on, but I know that you're gonna lose the fight 

They come on like they're peaceful

But inside they're so uptight

They trip through the day

And waste all their thoughts at night

Now how can I say it?

And how can I come on

When I know I'm guilty? 

Yeah, hang on to your ego!

Hang on to your ego!

Hang on to your ego! 

Hang on, but I know that you're gonna lose the fight 

a doobie doobay-doo

[cool banjo interlude]

Now how can I say it?

And how can I come on

When I know I'm guilty? 

So, hang on to your ego!

Hang on to your ego!

Hang on to your ego! 

Hang on, but I know that you're gonna lose the fight

a doobie doobay...do

[Marylin Wilson to BW's dog]: Banana!

[Brian Wilson]: Hey Chuck is it possible we could bring a horse in here without...if we don't screw anything up?

[Chuck Britz]: I beg your pardon?

[Brian Wilson]: Honest to God, now, the horse is tamed and everything.

A Conservative Notion of Mass*

I find the designation of the Higgs Boson particle as the "God Particle" amusing. Amusing because I associate God particles with the lighter particles--the ones that defy measurement by virtue of their zero-point energy.

Zero-point energy is like Freud's terms das Ich, das Es, and das Über-Ich, which resounded better in German. As originally posited by Einstein, zero-point energy is that residual energy present in matter even at absolute zero Kelvin.  Those who don't believe in absolutes should ponder temperature scales--there are no negative degrees Kelvin. Anyway, even at zero Kelvin, atoms like hydrogen, the most abundant element, still have energy. If uncertain as to why, consult Heisenberg.
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*Lavoisier gave us the notion of Conservation of Mass--before he was beheaded by his government.

How Freud's "Ich Factor" got lost in translation

When Sigmund Freud invented and first wrote about the Id, the Ego, and the Super-Ego, he used the German language terms: das Es, das Ich, and das Über-Ich.  German speakers will instantly recognize the corresponding pronoun parts of speech. This point has been made before: link.

When I thought about Freud's constructs as a sketch, I discovered it had been done already (of course):

original

In that scheme, das Ich (Ego) encircles an inchoate Es (Id). Each individual* Ich is in turn surrounded by a larger circle, "the Environment" (super-ego).

More often, Freudian constructs are sketched as an iceberg, for example:

original

I like the circles sketch better. Stretching the notion, the political constructs of individuals, states, nations, and supra-national entities fit an expanded "circles of circles" diagram and also help explain my father's favorite dictum:

If people can't control themselves, the government will. If the government can't control itself, another government will.

His was not an argument for the authority of a nation versus individual states, nor was it a model for the authority of nations versus supra-national bodies. Rather, it just explained a mechanism for maintaining a semblance of order in the world. The Ich (Ego) is the most important aspect of personality because it maintains the balance between the irrational and the super-rational. The Freudian model is also a model for self-governance.
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*Individual: a portmanteau word giving a sense of both (1) duality--having both "idward" and outward facets--as well as (2) indivisibility.

Freud Am Leben

Mediocre spirits demand of science a kind of certainty which it cannot give, a sort of religious satisfaction. Only the real, rare, true scientific minds can endure doubt, which is attached to all our knowledge.

~ Sigmund Freud (see page 4)