Sigmund Freud attended the University of Vienna, Austria, where he began to research anatomy and physiology. He believed that human beings are often driven by contradictory feelings of both love and aggression directed toward the same object or person. "Religion would thus be the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity," according to Freud's The Future of an Illusion. He sought the psychological dimension in almost every aspect of human life, from seemingly insignificant things like dreams, jokes, and personal quirks to the deep, complex emotions that steer personal relationships and shape social customs. This analysis of the psyche opened a door on the innermost motives of human thought and action, from the stress of the individual personality to the powerful forces that control and carved civilizations.
After returning from a trip to Paris, Freud to Vienna, continued his work with the mentality ill, and published his first book, Studies on Hysteria (1895). This book described the study of the process of repression, by which troubled people seem to force themselves to forget painful experiences in their lives. Freud also reported success in treating neurosis-that is, the irrational behavior of these troubled individuals by using hypnotism or simply by engaging them in discussions of their illnesses. Freud envisioned the clinical practice of psychoanalysis consisted of listening to a patient, who came to regular sessions and was encouraged to say whatever came to mind, even if, it wasn't in logical sequence. These patients were to speak by "free association" of ideas and memories. Freud listened, read, reflected, and then drew conclusions that were put into a work entitled The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). This was an epoch-making book, which launched the "Freudian revolution" in modern thought. The book was first to introduce the idea if "the unconscious." In 1902, he formed the Vienna Psychological Society with several colleagues. This group gradually enabled psychoanalysis to transform from a method and a few creative ideas to a groundbreaking new field of scholarly investigation.
Later, a number of journal articles came a decade before WWI, including one on religion and neurosis and several others on primitive religion. This became the book Totem and Taboo (1913). This work expressed Freud's main ideas on religion. He was personally non-religious, but exposed to Judaism and Christianity. He felt there was no religion or god. Religion was seen as similar to a neurosis. Religious people do irrational things, like pray. However, it isn't seen as such according to Freud because it is the normal thing for a religious person to do. His approach to religion paralleled Tylor's and Frazer's, but went further. They all agree that religion is erroneous, or superstitions. Freud explored why, how come people keep religion with a strong conviction and how do they acquire it? Freud was curious about these ideas and wanted to explain them and this is what set him apart from Tylor and Frazer. Totem and Taboo was regarded by Freud as one of his best; it included a psychological interpretation of the life of primitive peoples. It encompassed the intellectual and social evolution. For example, a tribe chooses to associate itself with a specific animal or plant, which serves as its sacred object, its "totem." The second custom is "taboo" if a tribe wanted to declare it off limits or forbidden.
The practices of totemism and taboo present us with a particularly striking display of psychic ambivalence-one which opens a window on the power of human emotions in the very earliest age of humanity. A modern sacrament like the Christian communion shows its true character. Like the ancient totem ritual, it reenacts, and seeks to reverse, the original crime of humanity. On the behalf of us, Jesus atones for our prehistoric crime. Yet, the atonement is also a re-enactment because the father and son are one. The sacrament of the son's death is symbolically in the same moment the sacrament of the father's murder. Thus the communion secretly recalls oedipal hate as well as love. "Totemic religion arose from the filial sense of guilt, in an attempt to allay that feeling and appease the father by deferred obedience to him. All later religions are seen to be attempts at solving the same problem." According to his book, Totem and Taboo the revolt in the primeval horde had a two-sided emotional outcome: love and fear. Judaism idealized the Father, to make him into a loving God and repress the guilt left behind by his murder. Christianity felt the same mix of affection and guilt, but responds by declaring the need for atonement. Freud had a functional account of religion that arose only in response to deep emotional conflicts and weaknesses; he insists that these are in fact its true and fundamental causes and, consequently, that once psychoanalysis has scientifically resolved such problems, we can guess that religion will eventually disappear from humanity.
I can agree on how some people practice pointless traditions in religions; however, I feel that religion will always have its place in society. It brings comfort, answers, and stability to those who may not see anything positive in their horizon. Freud felt that it could be " “reduced” to little more than a by product of psychological distress, to a collection of ideas and beliefs that, once their surface appearance has been penetrated, turn out to be illusory wish fulfillment generated by the unconscious." Freud's atheist perspective influenced his reason for the idea of futile reason to revere religion as something holy. However, he completely ignored the polytheistic religions because he didn't know how to attack it, except they shouldn't believe in anything other than themselves. Therefore, this theory seemed flawed in some reasons.
