The natural man is an enemy unto God . . .

I know the title may give you some idea that this is going to be a religious ranting. It's not. We have been studying Sigmund Freud in my Personality Theory class. In previous classes, I had really hated studying Freud. I did not like being told about children's sexuality. Today, however, we discussed the concepts of the id, the ego, and the super-ego, terms I was familiar with but obviously did not fully understand. My professor illustrated the functions of these three "parts" of us by explaining behaviors that each part may be responsible for. These parts are the "id," the "ego," and the "super-ego."

The id is what we are born with. It is established to that we, as humans, can gain pleasure. Unfortunately, this comes in the most untactful, irrational ways. And so the ego evolves. The ego helps the id obtain the pleasure it so vehemently seeks, but it more realistic ways. The ego lives in reality. It is the one negotiating between reality's constraints and the id's needs.

Next the super-ego develops. The super-ego also develops to fulfill pleasure, but it is our voice of moral reasoning. The id may demand that we get a hamburger NOW, but the super-ego knows that politely standing in line is more socially appropriate that jumping on the counter and screaming at the poor Wendy's employees.

Now this is interesting and all, but is it at all true? And how does it relate to the natural man? Well, God states that the natural man (carnal, sensual, etc.) is unholy and must be contained in order to become a child of God. I thought it was pretty cool (and amazing) that something I learned about in psychology, of all disciplines, could be applied to religion. Who would have thought?

Study Abroad is coming along . . .

It appears that Jacob and I will be traveling to Austria this May. Crazy. The only countries I have been to are Canada and Mexico and suddenly I'll be living for a month in Europe. We've just hit the tip of the iceberg in things that need to be done before any of this goes down. I submitted my application yesterday (luckily mine is tiny and easy, since I won't be enrolling in German classes while we're over there) and hopefully Jacob's will be done next week. Still haven't dropped any cash for this grand expenditure, but we're in the process of getting everything done. So exciting! I can't wait to see the beauty of Vienna and Salzburg. I will actually get to see a building that has been around for longer than a few centuries. Anyway, time for class.