Freud's Unfinished Business

Here's an interesting snippet about everyone's favorite psycho-analyst, Sigmund Freud. Nothing is ever quite what it seems in Freudian psycho-analysis. There are hidden meanings in just about everything. Indeed, many of our adult malaises are caused by the suppression of childhood memories, particularly if the memories we choose not to remember are of events that were traumatic. Freud's treatment often involved the uncovering of suppressed memories (some would say the invention of false memories), allowing the analyst to help the patient to deal with unfinished business.
Freud was brought up as an orthodox Jew. As a child, his father would often read to young Sigmund from a Philippson Hebrew Bible, illustrated with woodcuts. In Freud's father's Bible, the illustrations had been colored in by a child's hand, presumably by Sigmund. It was this Hebrew Bible that Freud's father presented to his son on his 35th birthday.


For all of his adult life, Freud was a militant atheist. He rejected Judaism. Even though his wife was Jewish, he refused to allow her to light Sabbath candles in their home. On one occasion, he threatened to become a Protestant rather than partcipate in a Jewish wedding ceremony. It was an empty threat. His philosophy would no more allow him to be a Protestant than a Jew. It was a position Freud held until the end of his life.
Ana-Maria Rizzuto writes that, when his father died, Freud began to collect small antique figurines. His study contained many; his desk always had a number of statuettes upon it. Freud spoke of his collection with great fondness; he even bequeathed it to his daughter, Anna.
Here's the interesting aspect of this story. Rizzuto tells us that the figures bore a striking resemblance to the woodcut illustrations in his father's Hebrew Bible.


Is it possible that Freud was using them as substitutes for religious devotion? Was the father of psycho-analysis suppressing his impulses? Did Freud have unfinished business? Perhaps the figurines represent the pleasure he had once experienced while hearing the stories of the people of Israel at his father's knee? Who knows! But, Freud taught a great deal about the human capacity for self-deception. It seems at least possible that Freud was deceiving himself. In his professional life he denied the possibility of God; but he surrounded himself with objects that reminded him of his religious upbringing. Did the arch-atheist have, deep down, a heart that longed for God?