Understanding the Self

Module 8 The Physical Self

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Explore the different aspects of Physical self
2. Examine one’s self against the different aspects of self that are discussed
in class.
3. Demonstrate critical, reflective thought in integrating the various aspect
of the Physical Self

The Physical Self

Physical Self refers to the body, this marvelous container and complex, finely
tuned, machine with which we interface with our environment and fellow
beings. The Physical Self is the concrete dimension, the tangible aspect of the
person that can be directly observed and examined.

Scientifically, however, this important aspect of our Self seems to have lost
somewhere between the Eastern detachment and Western narcissism, so
much so that sufficient theoretical development on this issue is lacking.
However, directly or indirectly, the discussion on Physical Self has found a
place in various schools of psychology like psychoanalysis, behaviorism,
humanism etc. with some of its most ardent exponents and followers dealing
with the issue in varying proportions.

William James considered body as the initial source of sensation and

necessary for the origin and maintenance of personality. However, James
considered body subservient to the mind, for e.g., mental concentration can
be so tightly focused? as not only to banish ordinary sensations, but even the
severest pain? (James, 1890, Vol. 1, p.49). A simple example could be the
numerous reports of soldiers in the battle or a boxer in the ring who suffer
severe wounds but do not notice them until the intensity of the fighting
abates. For James the body is an expressive tool of indwelling consciousness
and good physical health is something that wells up from the every part of
the body of a muscularly well trained human being, and soaks the indwelling
soul in him with satisfaction?. It is an element of spiritual hygiene of supreme
significance. (James, 1899. p. 103).

In Psychoanalytical school, Sigmund Freud's construction of self and

personality makes the physical body the core of human experience. Freud
was of the view that the ego is first and foremost a body ego (Freud, 1937).
However, in spite of Freud's recognition of the centrality of body, his own
Course Module
 writings on therapy rarely discuss it. Among western theorists Wilhelm
Reich seems to probably most concerned with body (Fadiman and Frager,
2002). Although, in his later works, Freud placed less emphasis on libido,
Reich took Freud’s concept of libido as his central principle. For Reich, the
freeing of the blocked bioenergy is the chief task of psychotherapy. Reich
argued that mind and body are one; all psychological processes, he
postulated, are a part of physical processes, and vice versa. So for Reich, body
is essential dynamic in all psychological functioning and it plays a critical role
in storing and channeling the bioenergy, which is the basis of human
existence and experience.

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

1. Frank Trentmann is the author of Empire of Things: How We Became a World of
Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First (UK: Allen Lane/Penguin;
US: HarperCollins, 2016)
2. <Unlimited World>;<https://www.unlimited.world/unlimited/the-material-self>;
<May 10,2018>
3. <Oxford Scholarship
Online>;<http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/978019539
1381.001.0001/acprof-9780195391381-chapter-16>; <May 10,2018>