This is one of several short books Freud published that
dealt with the major subjects of life, addressed his wide range of interests,
and expanded his avocation beyond psychology and into philosophy. Others in the series include Totem and Taboo (1913), Thoughts for the Times on War and Death (1915)
and Civilization and Its Discontents (1930). The
Future of an Illusion deals specifically with religion, with Freud treating
it head-on as a willful, and childish, delusion that keeps us in a dependent
state and in need of rescue and protection by an imagined uber-parent. The chapters grow increasingly pointed, until
by the end Freud is essentially mocking the intelligence of grown men who
profess a belief in God and require His watchful attention in order to behave
ethically. I don’t disagree with much in
these chapters, but I actually prefer the earlier ones that deal more with man’s
establishment of civilization as a barrier against the might and horror of
nature. Religion is merely an offshoot
of the same process that builds culture.
Freud has alternately been criticized for not going far enough in his confrontation
with religion and for misunderstanding (as Harold Bloom accused) the purpose
and power of faith. But Freud’s stance
is not anxious or desperate; his is not the voice of strident provocation, but
the measured poise and good humor of the scientist-philosopher; a calling that
he created and was later emulated by Jacques Cousteau, Carl Sagan and Stephen
Hawking. To spice things up, Freud also
utilizes a playful rhetorical format in the book, in which he writes in the
voice of a debate opponent issuing arguments to his premises and baiting responses
from Freud.
“Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Religion's eleventh commandment is ‘Thou shalt not question.’”
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