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Conflicted spells Ambivalence...

I maintain that Freud was right about us in one respect - that whatever our professed opinions might be on the surface - there is always a hidden current of thought and feeling that flows in a different direction... full of messy, inappropriate, hostile, aggressive, irascible impulses - directed outward at various outside sources of irritation and aversion. These repressed "sentiments" (I hate x, y, z...) have a way of inserting themselves into our daily train of thought,  trickling into our speech patterns, making for unexpected gaffes, over-reactions, out-of-kilter behaviors, white-lies,  double-standards... making us feel for lack of a better word, conflicted - at least on the inside, ambivalent, more susceptible to insensitivity than our otherwise liberal-progressive consciences would care to admit.....to acknowledge to this sub-current of aggression hiding in the shadows doesn't mean that our conscious opinions (of peace, love, cooperation, tolerance, urbanity, inclusivity etc. etc.)  aren't still the more important ones - does it? -  the ones we identify with most of the time. If the "bad thoughts" are somewhat, fleeting, peevish, whimsical and involuntary, then what do we have to worry about, right? Isn't this comparable to the power of suggestion (we all hate broccoli, right?) or when our minds absorb random impression from the outside world - a loud noise, a noxious odor, a grotesque image - it did not originate with us, but it's still becomes included into our stream of thoughts - part of our ongoing consciousness nevertheless... But why then do we hold onto such thoughts or feelings? Is this some kind of OCD tendency? How much does this underground reservoir of repressed this and that really determine who we are...There lies Freud's question to us...

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