Freud and the Ideal Self 237
Jesus and Buddha and Confucius teach us that it is possi ble to
remove oneself from the sorry provinces of the Self and join a uni-
versal being. This happens for the sages not under the sign of re-
gression, but under the sign of compassion. Love God with your
whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, the Savior says.
And when he becomes most exultant about the fi gure he calls the
Father (and Blake calls Nobadaddy), Jesus is often about to be most
radical. For then he tells us, Love your neighbor as yourself.
Who is your neighbor? A man was beaten and robbed and thrown
in a ditch. Two power ful members of his own tribe passed him by.
But then there came a Samaritan, a man who had no blood relation
to the poor man left like refuse on the side of the road. Yet the
Samaritan hoisted him up and bound his wounds and took him to
the inn and paid for his stay and for his care. Who then was the true
neighbor to the poor man beaten and thrown in the ditch? Worlds
of possibility (and risk) open when Jesus tells this tale. Just so, worlds
open when Gautama responds to Mara— his Self hood— after she
tells him that when he unfolds the noble truths about life there are
many who will laugh at him. (Aristocrats do not like to be laughed
at.) “Not all of them will,” the Buddha says. “Not all.”
To which Freud replies: Jesus and Lord Buddha and Confucius
and all the rest are asking too much of human beings. It is enough
to create the basis for justice in this world, but all- encompassing
mercy, that is beyond our capacity as humans. Asked to be com-
passionate in the way Jesus commends, people will fabricate
compassion, or they will rebel against its dictates and become even
more Self- centered than before. (There is only Self, Freud tells
us. Everything else is an illusion.) How can we love our fellow
men? Freud asks. Our fellow men, in general, have at best a mild
contempt for us; at worst, they nurse murderous rage. That rage be-
comes more likely to manifest itself if we ask too much of the Self.
There is only Self. Soul is an illusion.