Parapraxes, Accidents and Necessary Mistakes

Copyright © 2009 Michael Clark, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

That was the river… this is the sea
—The Waterboys

Parapraxes is an unusual word that might intimidate those unfamiliar with psycho-analytic theory. But it’s a pretty simple idea. In the Psychopathology of Everyday Life Freud says parapraxes are unintentional acts resulting from an unconscious wish, desire, attitude or thought (London: Penguin, 2002 [1901]).

This could entail forgetting names and sequences of words. But classic examples of parapraxes are slips of the pen or tongue. Imagine someone at a cocktail party accidentally saying “I love your horse” instead of “I love your house.” For Freud the hidden meaning points to the person making the slip. In this example he or she could be an avid equestrian or possibly an intensely sexual person, the horse being a well-known symbol of virility. Freud in particular attributed tremendous significance to the libido.

C. G. Jung picked up on the idea of parapraxes and tried to explain their occurrence with his concept of the shadow. Jung’s notion of the shadow has both personal and collective aspects. An irruption of shadow contents into daytime activities could stem from an unresolved personal complex, the larger forces of the collective unconscious¹ or some combination of the two. For Jung, unintended slips don’t always refer exclusively to the person making them. They can point to an entire situation among several or perhaps many people.

Charles Brenner, M.D. believes that parapraxes have profound implications. Although we may dismiss accidents and mistakes as mere flukes brought on by stress, distraction, sleep deprivation or malnutrition, Brenner says “in the mind, as in physical nature around us, nothing happens by chance, or in a random way” (Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis, New York: Anchor Books, 1957, p.2).

The difference between healthy and unhealthy attitudes toward parapraxes hinges on whether or not we learn from them.² If an accident or mistake is not too serious, with a few hours of reflection we can usually figure out why it happened and how we might avoid similar problems in the future. An unhealthy attitude, however, would be something along the lines of “I’m no good. Why do I always keep messing up? Life stinks and so do I.” Another unhealthy attitude would be aggressive denial: “I don’t have time for this. I don’t give a damn anyhow.” Or perhaps childish self-aggrandizement, “He’s just an idiot. I’m better than him so can do whatever I please.”

How we respond to mistakes is crucial. Jung felt that the self is on a natural trajectory toward wholeness. That is, nature heals and corrects. And since mankind sprung from nature, Jung believed that increased psychological awareness increases our mastery over the environment. Thus for Jungians, self-knowledge translates to increased confidence as well as new vitality and a sense of meaning.

Jung’s perspective, however, seems to overlook the theological ideas of grace, spirit, and providence. Granted, Jung does use the word “grace” in his Memories, Dreams, Reflections (New York: Vintage, 1965, p. 40). And he does say that numinosity plays a role in psychological development. But we really can’t know if the types of numinosity Jung discusses are of the same quality and texture as bona fide grace.

Even Satan, so Christian theologians say, comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).³ And it seems that one must carefully discern spiritual experiences and stay open to the possibility that something better might be just around the bend (Jacques Guillet et al., The Discernment of Spirits, Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1970, p. 110; Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, New York: New American Library, 1955, p. 361; William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, London: Penguin, 1985, p. 423).

Along these lines Jung wrote that numinosity isn’t a single type of experience. It’s manifold. Some forms of numinosity are said to be healing and others destructive. But, again, we really can’t know just what Jung was talking about because numinosity as a personal experience arguably is impossible to compare among individuals and difficult to publicly verify. The Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade recognized this problem when comparing a vast array of world religions and their respective mystics, yogis, saints and shamans. Eliade felt it was far too simplistic to assume that all seekers experienced the same kind of inner light (Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, New Jersey: Bollingen, 1969, p. 339). He also questioned, somewhat diplomatically, whether Jungian theory was accurate to the facts or, especially with regard to alchemy, an overlay of Jung’s thinking (The Forge and the Crucible, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978, p. 196).

Psychological development may entail parapraxes, accidents, mistakes and perhaps even numinosity.⁴ But, one might ask, why would mistakes be necessary?

Trying to answer this could involves several different approaches. Jung believed that psychological complexes have a life of their own. Just as marine life invisible to the eye is easily forgettable, the moment we take a swim in the ocean the charms and potential dangers of underwater creatures suddenly become quite real. Remember the movie Jaws? So it is, Jung says, with the contents of the unconscious-particularly the collective unconscious. Ignore or repress them and they return full-force.

In trying to answer why we make mistakes, and why this might in some sense be necessary, a believer in reincarnation – and let’s not forget that it is a belief – might speak of the alleged truth and related effects of karma theory and reincarnation.⁵ Catholics, on the other hand, believe that God permits parapraxes, accidents and mistakes for some good reason, such as the restoration of humility, this being essential for true spirituality. Jung too speaks of deflating the bubble of excessive egoism. But for Jung this would be a natural process directed toward psychological integration – a union of opposites – instead of something permitted by God for humility and the requisite purity for heavenly existence. Jung himself notes this difference, suggesting, particularly with Protestant Christianity, that its Trinitarian symbols are upwardly skewed and overly masculine. He also contends that Protestantism as a whole ignores the fourth element of the shadow as well as an ‘eternally feminine’ (anima) aspect of the self, the latter being emphasized in Catholicism with the Virgin Mary.

Regardless of how we explain them, it seems that mistakes are, if not absolutely necessary, at least inevitable because inferior psychological components eventually express themselves. If not recognized, integrated nor articulated in a healthy way, they usually force their way out, slip out or perhaps are permitted out.⁶ Such intrusions may occur during moments of solitude or within the complicated dynamics of relationships.

As imperfect human beings living in a world tarnished by hypocrisy, exploitation and violence, it seems we’re bound to encounter parapraxes, accidents and mistakes. How we learn or don’t learn from them makes all the difference. It might even determine whether our species survives into and beyond the 22nd century.

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Notes

1. Daryl Sharp’s Jung Lexicon conveniently defines this and many other concepts with excerpts from Jung’s work.

2. Some say that even tragedies may ultimately be viewed in a positive light. For examples of this theological perspective, see There Are No Accidents: In All Things Trust in God (Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. with John Bishop, 2004) and A Step Further: Growing Closer to God Through Hurt and Hardship (Joni Eareckson Tada, 1980).

3. “Satan Comes as an Angel of Light.“ Talk like this often pushes a few buttons. Some get quite upset as unresolved complexes are activated. Meanwhile some Christians self-righteously dismiss all things perceived as non-Christian. Surely both extremes are to be avoided or possibly redirected. But redirection usually takes time. It also requires a degree of psychological maturity and a great deal of patience. Sometimes the exigencies of life mean we just have to move on until things hopefully sort themselves out.

4. Jung says it also involves synchronicity but this is beyond the scope of this article.

5. I find this limiting. In my view far too many believers in reincarnation have a few (or many) unusual experiences and don’t stop to consider that their interpretation of inner events may be unduly colored by underlying assumptions, desires and beliefs. For alternatives to the theory of reincarnation, see Farewell to Karma and The Belief in Reincarnation.

6. Philosophically speaking we’re touching on the idea of teleology and in theology, soteriology. Teleology refers to the belief that creation moves or is directed toward some logical endpoint. Soteriology has to do with belief in a divine plan, the afterlife and personal salvation.

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