Can't denigrate Freud enough, IMHO. Harold Bloom had a good article about him in the WSJ last week, where he said that Freud was essentially a fiction writer who came up with his theories and bizarre invented terminology (libido, for example) the way any fiction writer does, to explain himself to himself in a quasi-poetic way but without using the prior terminology. Freud was somewhat of a megalomaniac, like the Unibomber, and was simply producing a manifesto. (Bloom liked his style, although I'm not sure exactly why.)
For various historical reasons,including the desire of late 19th-early 20th century writers to believe that they were "scientizing" human life, the terms caught on, particularly since they essentially rejected the Christian view of human nature. Nowadays, Bloom pointed out, Freud's terms look pathetically dated and silly, and in fact, psychology has abandoned him. But he did incalculable damage to society and our vision of what it means to be a human being, and I wonder if we can imagine what it was like to live before Freudian theory undermined us, that is, how it was to simply act without believing that everything one did was motivated by hidden and rather grubby forces.
Most of his theories were already considered outdated by the mid 1970s. But he got one thing right, that could be paraphrased as "The more civilized humans are, the easier they will get mental illnesses."
Hmmm .. L Ron Hubbard ... Tom Cruise ...
The science fiction writers out there have certainly given the world untold numbers of headaches. Marx probably is the king of them all, with Darwin and Freud tying for second place.
I think I know of a way to begin the process of relearning how to live the way you refer to: grow things. Flowers, corn, whatever. But actually in the spring, plant it, ideally from seeds, cultivate, weed it, water etc...
I have several rose bushes I planted a few years ago. It has been a re-education to say the least trying to keep them alive, much less keep them blooming properly.
Golf too, is an activity that can help w/ de-Freuding the mind, I must confess.
"But he did incalculable damage to society and our vision of what it means to be a human being, and I wonder if we can imagine what it was like to live before Freudian theory undermined us, that is, how it was to simply act without believing that everything one did was motivated by hidden and rather grubby forces."
Well stated. I never thought Freud was anything more than a drug addicted sexual deviant who self-analyzed and reported his conclusions as human nature.