Why Do We Do What We Do?

Abstract

In 600 bce, Greek sage Thales of Miletus observed that the most difficult thing in the world was “to know thyself.” His observation is as true today as it was then, and is even timelier now, as Sigmund Freud’s theories about unconscious mental processes are being rediscovered. Freud used the metaphor of the iceberg to describe the human mind. The part seen above the water is the conscious mind but the bulk of the iceberg lies unseen beneath the waterline and represents the unconscious.