Sacrifice in its archaic essence

Abstract

The article reveals the influence of archaisms on the motivational potential of psyche. The article proves that among different archaisms (the Oedipus complex, guilt, slaveholding / slaveconquerness etc) sacrifice (self-sacrifice) plays a synthesizing role. There are some grounds to state the interconnection of all these categories with the Oedipus complex, finding its display in the universality of the image: “guilty without guilt” (Jesus Christ). Like Jesus Christ Oedipus turned to be an innocently suffering person who had destined himself to death (having put out his eyes and having refused to eat). Psychodynamic paradigm (formed by the group of researches for more than forty years) gives theoretic-methodological prerequisites to explore archaisms, the most prominent of which is sacrifice. The leading conclusion of the research concerning depth psychology is that a person’s motivation-meaningful potential in its archetypical essence is the central problem of psychology, uniting binary of views on psychic in the living and scientific, academic and applied, traditional and depth understanding of it. Consideration of the issue on the motivational potential of archaisms (expressing themselves in the archetypical symbolism) comprises doubled contents, which are inherent for a human from birth, that have not only individual and personal (ontogenetic) nature, but also phylogenetic one. The article is fixed on the basic archaic-dynamical tendencies of the psyche, namely: the Oedipus complex, guilt, self-sacrifice, slaveholding etc. A special attention is paid to the methods of the psyche depth cognition in the context of detecting the motivational influence of the self-sacrifice archaism on the person’s psyche. The process of the mankind development is connected with prosocial restrictions, causing unfreedom to realize the natural instincts, which set the spontaneous activity of the psyche. The archaic heritage of the mankind is presented concerning the research’s results of the possibilities to cognize the integrity of psychic, its motivation-meaningful potential. The article proves a considerable role of the archaisms in the individual’s personal development with his characteristic tint of the past that is synthesized in the category “suffering”, which accompanies with self-sacrifice. The article does not only give scientific and fact-finding material on the mentioned problem, but also a short-hand record of the dialogic-analytical work with a respondent, that proves a tendency of his psyche to his own suffering (self-sacrifice) due to his parents’ or his teachers’ incorrect treating him. The article shows that in the process of ASPC it is possible to nullify the destructions of the psyche, having the prospect of the psychical re-establishment due to the expansion of self-realization, evoking the self-preservation instinct. The last one opens the prospect of nullifying the tendencies to self-punishment, self-criticism and self-deprivation.