More on "animal vitality"

Posted by R. Berg on December 02, 2001

In Reply to: More on "animal vitality" discussion posted by Chet on December 01, 2001

: To sum up the earlier discussion...

: :: Freud, Jung and Adler often spoke of the "triadic nature" of the subconsciousness. Popularly, we know it as the ego, id and superego.

: :: Freud called "etheric vitality" or "animal vitality" a "dense jungle" consisting of temper, aggression, anger, passion, sexuality etc.

: : Well, you are surely right that this was Freud's idea of where animal vitality fits into the facts of psychological life. But I still wonder about the general use of the phrase. And about how it compares and differs with other sorts of vitality.

:
: To which I will add, yes, animal vitality is "garden variety" or physical vitality... the sort of vitality we notice in a healthy child (or puppy, or foal, etc). Writers and thinkers have also commented on mental and spiritual forms of vitality. But I'm at a loss, too, as to some of the terminology they have used. Anybody have some terms to offer?

Creativity, creative energy, fertility of imagination. For animal vitality, another term is "animal spirits," as in "You're full of animal spirits today."