Omnipotence....of thought.

What is omnipotence of thought and where can we recognize it?

Well, basically it alludes to the power of certain beliefs that subsequently can transform or distort reality through one’s thought.

Commonly seen in the obsessive character; a magical thought becoming a symptom.

This superstitious idea brings out a simple question: Is this symptomatic in nature or part of a system of thought?

“Neurotics… are only affected by what is thought with intensity and pictured with emotion, whereas agreement with external reality is a matter of no importance” (Freud,1912-13a, p 86).

Omnipotence is related to thoughts that only express or are developed from a repressed wish, this is just a way to switch reality.

This kind of thinking proposes the way a child may use hallucination to deal with a perceived lack of gratification. In adults, avoiding unconscious aggressive wishes that lead to animistic thinking.

I wanted to make a link between language/aesthetic meaning and what we have read this semester because the concept of omnipotence of though can’t be separated from narcissistic thinking/primary process/preverbal stage.

Freud used the term when he spoke about primitive people, schizophrenics and regressed infants. Later on in adulthood, leading to repression of all that fails to conform the ego ideal; in the same way, “every remnant of the primitive feeling of omnipotence which…experience has confirmed helps to increase… self regard” (1914c, section 2), which is the expression of the ego’s grandiosity.

It is difficult to constrain limitations on the big idea of omnipotence of thought and to choose sides because whether located in magical practices and animistic thinking or in neurotic symptoms, it is appropriate with the boundary-less character of primary narcissism.

This article will help all of us to visibly comprehend this power that gives expression and movement to all this desires in this artistic vehicle called poetry.

Embrace our Madness.