Mental Energy and Libido Determine Destiny

I. Freud’s “Libido” Is What Chinese Culture Calls Inner Strength and Vital Energy

All great paths converge. Chinese people often speak of depleted vital energy and exhausted inner strength. Mao Runzhi wrote *The Power of the Mind* in his youth; Zhuangzi spoke of “fasting the mind” and “an empty room filling with light”; Chan Buddhism teaches that “the mind itself is Buddha” and speaks of “innate wholeness”; Wang Yangming said, “My mind is luminous”; and spiritual circles speak of “spiritual energy.” These are all the same thing.

Freud has himself to blame for being misinterpreted and criticized. Libido—the mind’s driving force, instinct—was something he discussed primarily in terms of sex, aggression, and the urge to destroy, emphasizing its pathological rather than positive aspects. If human nature were truly so base at its core, humanity would have gone extinct long ago. China’s entire twentieth-century history should have demonstrated that the underlying character of human nature is simple, true, good, and beautiful. Contemporary psychology refers to libido and psychoanalysis as “psychodynamics.” More precisely, it is “inner strength.”

II. Innate Wholeness VS Karmic Obstructions

Everyone’s innate wholeness is a basic axiom. I have discussed this extensively. It is also central to Chan Buddhism and to the Buddhist concept of the “Buddha-nature within.” Everyone has a whole and complete mind and whole and complete inner energy. Just visit a kindergarten or the first two grades of elementary school and you will see.

But why are the people we see around us not like this? Why are secondary school and university students not like this? Innate wholeness is like the sky obscured by dark clouds—karmic obstructions. I have also written extensively about this, so I will not elaborate here. (Earlier article: “A Special Series on Karmic Obstructions”)

III. Where Has Each Person’s Complete State Gone: Innate Wholeness, the Tranquility of the True Self, the Deeper Mind, and the Energy of the True Self?

A. Looking inward and recording the tranquility of the true self, which has never disappeared, is something I have written about extensively in my series on spiritual practice. See “Spiritual Practice Is a False Concept.”

B. From the perspective of developmental psychology, the self and its core have not yet fully developed, yet they have already been contaminated by toxic energy.

Earlier articles: “A Common Form of Confusion Among University Students: Existential Crisis” and “Psychological Growth in East Asia: Psychological Boundaries, Self–Selfobject Relations Theory, and Object Relations Theory”

C. Libido turning inward, internal conflict, and self-attack

Earlier article: “Carrying Hell Around with You: The Truth About Internal Conflict—Libido Builds a Hell in the Inner Theater”

“Everyone Suffers: On ‘Deep Collapse and Deep Suffering,’ Answering a Reader’s Question, ‘Why Does Fate Treat Me So Badly in Particular?’”

D. “Zhuangzi’s ‘Equalizing Things’ and Marx: Returning from Surface-Level Verbal Thought to the Deeper Mind”

IV. Libido Chooses a Direction

Libido determines destiny.

A person’s issues, interests, traumas, complexes, projections, and so on, along with self–selfobject relations, object relations, and existential concerns, determine their choices: the people they choose—friends and girlfriends—and the things they pursue—studies and careers. This is the young person’s version of the traditional first-birthday object-picking ritual.

For example, students adept at solving exam problems admire Bill Gates and study computer science, while students in the arts, sports, humanities, and business each have their own dreams. (Earlier article: “The Cult of Genius and Meritocracy Among East Asian Mathematics and Physics Students Is Narrow-Minded and Immature”)

When inner strength explores outward, it encounters positive feedback—high frequencies, resonance, respect, self-actualization—and negative feedback—attacks, belittlement, toxic shame, and so on. It may then be sublimated into growth and awakening, or trigger fight, freeze, or flight, after which libido turns inward into self-attack and avoidance, with various defense mechanisms constructing a minefield of the ego.

Thus, among ordinary people, we commonly see psychological “issues” determining destiny: inferiority, opportunism, aggression, feeding off others, and so on.

This is also why “striving” is useless: often, after inner strength has been frustrated, it merely intensifies self-attack and self-belittlement.

This is also why the proletariat is more advanced than the petty and very small bourgeoisie: it has fewer karmic obstructions and more of the true self.

V. A Weak Inner Core Makes It Impossible to Follow the Heart

But for many people, the issue is a weak inner core and a confused mind, leaving them unable to follow their hearts. This is common among high school and university students. They need to slowly restore their vital energy, love themselves, listen to their own voices and feelings, and gradually recover their true selves, little by little.

What healing circles often call caring for your inner child refers to this confused libido, these karmic obstructions, and the ego.

Karmic obstructions block the flow like fragments of ice. As they are processed, frozen inner strength returns. Libido that had turned inward in self-attack turns outward again. Inner strength grows, and people feel full of energy.

VI. The True Self Knows Everything; the True Self Knows the Direction

The true self knows everything and knows the direction. Earlier article: “Choosing Your Social Relationships”

Let inner strength follow the direction of the true self, balance work and rest, and allow things to unfold naturally. (Earlier article: “On Balancing Work and Rest”)

As for external things, be at peace with the times and accept fate. See all things as equal; unite with nature.

Life flows as smoothly as Cook Ding carving up an ox, without ever forcing or straining. Su Shi’s final words: “The moment you exert force, you go astray.”

Zhuangzi’s eight absences: no ego, no attachment; no assertion of ability, no contrived action; no desire, no seeking; no worry, no anxiety.