Face it: Sigmund Freud understood the soul, albeit the "soul" he designed was not the way we were created. In the beginning, our soul was filled with God's Holy Spirit; all the way full! With the first sin, the human soul became filled with "us". Adam's was filled with his "I', and Eve's with her "I". Thus, the ego and superego were born. Bad mistake ancient parents!
Let's focus on the superego for a moment. It's our set of moral principles. It governs the rules within which we operate. It's entity, so to speak, is the conscience. That is the part of the mind which directs our desires and impulses. Originally, mankind's superego wasn't there. The soul was subject to God's will. After the fall of mankind, the superego became our will.
Adam and Eve were born pure. Sin created a dualism in the minds of our antecedents. Our superego is somewhat confused. Jesus identified that dualism and inner conflict:
Mat 26:40 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.Within the superego are two governors of two very different laws: one, the law of sin, and the other the Law of God. Our conscious, or superego looks at the choice each and every time, and evaluates the possible outcomes: self-gratification or divine reverence. The superego has a built-in bias. Because of original sin, and Adam's DNA, even infants have a propensity to sin.
The superego is the messenger to the ego. The gloomy part is that there are two types of messengers with opposing messages. The ego is our flesh. It thinks "me" important! The id is the nature put in us which enjoys the flesh. Of course, Freud would say that is our foundation, but it is better considered and add-on from sin.
The superego appeases the flesh, or if righteous, controls the flesh. The "flesh' is much more than skin; it's the receptor of pleasure and consists of all the senses and emotions.
We were created with a soul enclosed with some type of divine covering which scripture merely describes: just as Jesus became glorious, we were created with the same glory. We don't know of its substance, but it is beautiful, pure, and immortal. This glory covered the soul and housed the mind. Thus, we were created in the image of God. There was not originally a need for a superego because there were no opposition to morality in the conscience. That came with eating of the tree of knowledge.The superego didn't exist because man was created totally innocent.
The superego came with the forbidden fruit. A new moral code came into effect. It went from purity and innocence to uncleanness and confusion. Satan tampered with the superego, exchanging God's moral code with his own.
The ego (better called a container for love) was created differently as well. It was all about God in the beginning, mankind being created in the image of God. With sin, mankind esteemed himself rather than God. Psychobabblers call this self-esteem, and it's a layer on the way to the peak experience. As one self-actualizes, they come to think they are gods, thus fulfilling Satan's accusation (Gen 3:5).
It should be obvious that Freud knew about God, but he also knew his subjects. His model for mankind was the juxtaposition of the Designers intent with Satan's scheme. They look the same side-by-side on the outside but the contents are opposites!
There are peak experiences for everyone. That's when everyone is enlightened. One side is duped by deception. They come to believe that they will die, and adjust their mind to the finality of death. Those are they who have no hope for eternal life because of their self-exultation.
On the other hand, the peak experience of those persuaded that there is more is called "the second birth" (the born-again experience). They realize that their ego has no power, and their superego is confused - they are not gods and cannot save themselves but possibly Jesus can! If that realization is strong enough, it is called faith. The superego is no longer super, it becomes servile, and instead of doing our will, the new desire is to do God's will. The enlightened righteous one loses the superego in favor of super-reverence. The ego is hung on the cross as a living sacrfice, and the soul is filled with Christ's Spiritual Existence. Mankind's nature changes from self-esteem to Christ-esteem ( see my commentary at http://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2013/07/christ-esteem-answer-to-self-esteem.html; "Christ Esteem: The Answer to Self-Esteem")
There is much going on which we can't see, and this is how I see it.
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