Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities
Typical Human Paralyses Promise Possibilities for Growth (Vol. 6; Issue 3)
Most people encounter stumbling blocks in life that are seemingly insurmountable. A lack of intimacy with a romantic partner. A boring job you hate. Working so much that you have no fun in your life. These impasses fall nicely into three major categories of living — love, work, and play — and are, unsurprisingly, the problems most frequently encountered by practicing psychoanalysts in their everyday work. These difficulties, although unavoidable, can be transcended by working through them and can enhance personal agency and freedom along the way.
According to the German idealist* philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1795/1970), the concept of self-as-free requires overcoming obstacles. In Fichte’s system (known as the Wissenschaftslehre), the self or “I” must encounter a “check or resistance” (Anstoß in German) to fully embrace human subjectivity. In other words, striving to overcome (Streben) these difficulties is required for “I” (the subject) to realize its own potential. Fichte uses the phrase, “heroic ego,” for we who “become ourselves” by transcending these blocks.
The wide variety of hindrances, snags and other typical life gridlocks may be considered two sides of a coin. One side is the paralysis; the other side is an opportunity for growth, for positive change.
Consider how these ideas apply to the above-noted hypotheticals.
That marital situation involving partners unable to free themselves to enjoy the relationship may indicate, as one possible underlying cause, an unconscious fear of intimacy. In that case, freedom results from facing into the fear of closeness. Once accomplished, the parties become closer to one another, a breakthrough of the “hidden problem.” Such changes involve pain, such as enduring the previous fear of intimacy. But it also brings them greater freedom.
Cultural factors, such as our era of hyper-capitalism** in which exploitation and income inequality run rampant, also play a role. The demands for sufficient income and for attending to children likely contribute to the two partners sacrificing their own relationship. Perhaps something material has to go. But, even here, freedom beckons. Why let a sociopolitical system control you if there is another way out? Ultimately, this couple needs to find a way to attend to their relationship as much as to their jobs and the kids.
Many possible unconscious forces might drive the perceived inability to quit a seemingly boring job. The key to this particular barrier is the word, “boring.” Transcendence involves exploring what that word means. It is possible the boredom results from a failure to engage more fully in the work. Perhaps an alternate position at the same workplace could increase satisfaction. The boredom may serve to hide what is really a fear of change. In that case, finding the courage to seek another job would bring freedom. Sometimes, sadly, the solution is submission*** until, say, a partner or a family member could earn more money to help the family. Pressing economic forces, like struggles to pay rent or feed a family, may render even a thought of changing jobs frightening. Many people in America, overwhelmed by immense student debt, find themselves in similar situations. Submission can, at times, bring freedom by increasing a person’s tolerance for the boredom until a later solution can be found.
Hyper-capitalism also influences this situation, but in a different way. The rise of massive worker-insensitive corporations, such as Amazon, Blue Shield, Google, or even Starbucks, makes it extremely difficult to find work consonant with one’s authentic interests.
The workaholic’s impasse has two parts to it. This person, say, a software developer, for example, complains about constantly writing code, and finds it difficult to have fun. Both invite the possibility for positive change.
Similar to the other two hypotheticals, this person would ideally begin by seeking the “payoff” of the over-involvement in work. Perhaps he actually finds joy in writing code and fails to realize how important it is to him. Or, perhaps, he fears joy itself. Some individuals think they want more joy, but deep down they they feel unworthy of it. They have an unconscious need to self-sabotage, to avoid situations that bring joy, because it contradicts an unconscious need to punish themselves.
Fichte’s ideas offer tremendous hope. Every obstacle in life represents, in truth, an opportunity for growth, for enhancement of personal freedom and opportunity. Never an easy task (coincidentally the word Fichte uses), individuals can transform themselves by first identifying the meaning of any blockage. These usually have an unconscious component to them, and either psychoanalytic help or focused introspection is needed to find the veiled reasons for the perceived obstacle. Then, through gathering courage and determination, persons can face into whatever they fear. These types of paralyses need not elicit dread; they can instead be viewed as opportunities to expand personal freedom through transcending them.
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*Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, (1809/2007), and G.W.F. Hegel (1807/1977) formed a major philosophical movement, German Idealism, popular from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. A rebellion against scientific objectivism, the philosophical school instead privileges human subjectivity. The movement influenced art, politics, and later philosophies by emphasizing reason, freedom, and the dynamic, interconnected nature of reality.
*Hypercapitalism, known as late-stage capitalism, describes a socioeconomic environment wherein commercial interests dominate nearly every aspect of life, commodifying culture, relationships, and even human identity. Typically driven by deregulation, globalization, and technology, it leads to inequality and consumerism where profit outweighs public good.
**Some scholars, like Ghent (1990), distinguish between submission, which suggests a less-than, lower level of power to another person, and surrender. The latter can occur when a person “lets go” and does not involve a diminishment of power.
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References
Fichte, J. G. (1795/1970). Science of knowledge (Wissenschaftslehre) with the First and Second introductions. Trans. P. Heath and J. Lachs. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Ghent, E. (1990). Masochism, submission, surrender – masochism as a perversion of surrender. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 26, 108-136.
Hegel, G.W.F. (1807/1977). Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A.V. Miller. Cambridge, UK: Oxford University Press.
Schelling, F. W. J. von. (1809/2007). Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom. Philosophische Untersuchungen über das Wesen der Menschlichen Freiheit. Trans. J. Love. New York: State University of New York Press.