Freud, Modernism, and the Rise of the Cult of the Self

Monotheism creates the idea of the individual by establishing a direct, exclusive connection with God, removing the person from communal mediation. The Catholic Church originally mediated that connection, but the Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther, demands direct, absolute devotion and triggers a “crisis of faith.” This radical break from the Holy Trinity and earlier polytheistic traditions reshapes how people conceive personal identity.

Philosophical Responses to the Crisis of Faith

In the wake of the Reformation, several intellectual currents attempt to resolve the crisis. Calvinist ethics link wealth accumulation to divine favor, laying groundwork for capitalism. Jihad frames sacrifice as a collective expression of faith. Transgression encourages the rejection of social taboos and human morality, producing feelings of exhilaration and liberation that signal absolute faith in God. Kant’s “active subjectivity” argues that humans actively impose space and time onto reality, constructing a world of appearance rather than passively receiving it. Hegel’s “Gist” presents the spirit or mind as the manifestation of God, while Marx inverts Hegel to focus on class consciousness, urging the proletariat to recognize exploitation and unite against the capitalist class.

Freudian and Jungian Framework

Freud’s early 1896 work, The Aetiology of Hysteria, identifies sexual trauma as the root of hysteria. Later, Freud shifts to blaming patients’ sexual fantasies and desire for attention, a change attributed to protecting the reputations of powerful fathers who fund treatment. Jung expands the unconscious model, adding the collective unconscious, persona, and shadow, and ultimately breaks with Freud over theoretical direction. The rift underscores competing visions of the unconscious and its social implications.

Political Economy of Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis moves from a trauma‑based theory to a fantasy‑based theory, aligning with the interests of powerful patrons. The Ignaz Semmelweis parallel illustrates how challenging entrenched institutions can lead to professional blacklisting and institutionalization. Freud’s system, therefore, functions less as a therapeutic tool and more as a safeguard for elite interests, reinforcing existing power structures rather than dismantling them.

Modernism and the Cult of the Self

Modernism emerges as the “cult of the self,” prioritizing self‑improvement and self‑empowerment over collective action. Literature such as James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) and Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927) exemplify elitist, self‑referential art that contrasts with the democratic ethos of epic poetry. Modernist art receives strategic promotion by the West, especially the CIA, as a Cold War tool to counter the collective appeal of communism. Social media and smartphones amplify this cult, culminating in a 2015 spike in depressive symptoms and suicide worldwide, linking technological proliferation to a global epidemic of depression.

Mechanisms and Explanations

Transgression resolves the crisis of faith by rejecting taboos, producing exhilaration that affirms absolute devotion. Kant’s active subjectivity frames humans as creators of perceived reality, while Hegel’s Gist situates the spirit as God’s manifestation. Marx’s class consciousness drives the proletariat toward collective revolt, yet modernist individualism undermines that potential by glorifying isolated freedom, which can devolve into “freedom of nothingness” or “the nothingness of freedom, slavery.” The cult of the self, originating in Europe, now spreads worldwide through technology, reshaping cultural and psychological landscapes.