An Example from James Joyce’s “Dubliners”
By Jerome Liss, M.D.
Neurophysiological research demonstrates that our consciousness is being constantly influenced by unconscious sub-cortical circuits. (LeDoux, 1996; Edelman, 1989 ; Ochsner, 2001) Is it possible to verify this research hypothesis by studying consciousness?
An earlier paper, “Three Case Studies Explained by the Sympathetic-Parasympathetic Dynamic: Pat Ogden and Peter Levine,” proposed that consciousness and behavior in therapeutic sessions were correlated with the Sympathetic-Parasympathetic sub-cortical impulse system. (The Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic are the two components of the Autonomic Nervous System. They usually work together with alternating dominance, that is, sometimes the sympathetic is dominant, creating emotions of rage and frustration, and at other moments the Parsympathetic emerges into dominance, creating states of visceral desire or else emotional hurt, loss and humiliation.) The case studies cited in this earlier paper were based on exceptional articles by Pat Ogden and Peter Levine. Each therapist took great pains to present the therapeutic sequence within a thrapeutic session. This means a blow-by-blow recounting of what the patient says and how the therapist replies. Verbal and non-verbal language, of both patient and therapist, are presented in an explicit way. Thus, their concrete case material permited a refined analysis that demonstrated “repetetive sequences” – sympathetic stress, parasympathetic pain, sympathetic discharge, parasympathetic resolution – and this created the “observational basis” for “the theoretical interpretation,” summarized as the “sympathetic-parasympathetic dynamic.” Is this clinical study “science”? Carl Hempel’s study of epistemology declares that “science is the back and forth” movement between observable facts and theoretical concepts. This justifies making theoretical hypotheses based on the clinically observed sequences.
In this present article the same scientific theory and scientific paradigm are employed. The theory: To show repetetive sequences in consciousness and suggest that there are unconscious mechanisms that are the origin. The scientific paradigm: Examine concrete events as the basis of scientific inquiry. Ideally, one would like to examine the internal thoughts of a person lying in bed at night disturbed by obsessions, that is, disturbing repetetive thoughts. The hypothesis is that such repetetive disturbances emerging in consciousness are “riding upon” disturbing unconconscious sequences, much like the white foam (consciousness) of a wave is riding upon an underlying dynamic of the powerful (unconscious) wave impulse.
But we do not have the means to access and register the stream of consciousness of a person alone at night who is ruminating while lying in bed or walking alone in a quiet park. In terms of scientific inquiry, this means we do not have the raw material for a scientific analysis. This is unfortunate, if our project is to study the inner stream of consciousness undisturbed by outer perceptions and action strategies. It is only in these moments of total aloneness, without a specific action program, that the thalamic-cortical circuit of “dynamic consciousness” (Edelman, ) switches its program from an action-oriented consciousness to a state of consciousness almost totally regulated by sub-cortical unconscious amygdala and cingular gyrus, the seats of emotion and of self-esteem.
How can we find “concrete case material” representing “the stream of consciousness.” The following story by James Joyce, “Counterparts,” in his important book, Dubliners, describes a man humiliated by his boss. His repeated trips to the bar for a drink give reason for his boss’ criticism and intolerance. What is interesting is how the inner “stream of consciousness” spontaneously changes to the thought of returning to the “snug bar”, a refuge, each time he is faced with frustration. We will show the repetitions of this “stream of consciousness. After this we can reflect on the “unconscious mechanisms” that can explain these repetitions.
Farrington, a middle aged man who shows physical signs of chronic alcohol consumption, works for a lawyers’ firm, Crosbey and Alleyne. He is criticised by Mr. Alleyne for not having copied an important contract while the client is expected to arrive at any moment. Mr. Alleyne’s words are filled with contempt, given that Farrington is constantly escaping his work duties. Mr. Alleyne scowls, “Farrington. Why have I always to complain to you?” Farrington tries to defend himself. “But Mr. Shelley (the office supervisor) said, sir…” Alleyne cuts him off: “Mr. Shelley said, sir…” (mocking voice) You have always some excuse or another for shirking your work… I might as well be talking to the wall. Understand once for all that you get half an hour for your lunch and not an hour and a half.” This means, for Farrington, less time at the bar.
Joyce writes, “Farrington stared fixedly at the polished skull (Alleyne’s) which direcdtged the affairs of Crosbie and Alleyne, gauging its fragility.” (This means that Farrington has an sudden image of breaking that fragile skull.) Joyce continues, “A spasm of rage gripped his throat for a few moments and then passed, leaving after it a sharp sensation of thirst. Farrington recognised the sensation and felt that he must have a good night’s drinking.”
This means that sympathetic rage is washed away by a parasympathetic thirst for alcohol. Let us see other examples in which the sympathetic emotion – anger or frustration – is immediately followed by the parasympathetic wish: bar, drink, conviviality with drinking companionsm, etc.
“Farrington returned to his desk in the lower office and counted the sheets which remained to be copied. (JL: He still had l4 pages to copy, and it was late Friday afternoon.) He took up the pen an dipped it in the ink but he continued to stare stupidly at the last words he had written: In no case shall the said Bernard Bodley be… (JL: Suspension of thought) The evening was falling (JL: darkness brings on a parasympathetic state) and in a few minutes they would be lighting the gaslamps:then he could write.(JL: cognitive escape from his task) He felt that he must slake the thirst in his throat. (JL: The parasympathetic association that washes away all tension of the sympathetic system.)
And so Farrington returns to “the dark snug of O’Neill’s shop,” that is, to the refuge of the bar. He drinks up the glass of porter in a gulp.
Farrington returns once again to his office and sits at his desk. Joyce writes, “He realised how hopeless was the task of finishing his copy of the contract before half past five. (JL: sympathetic frustration) The dark damp night was coming and he longed to spend dit in the bars, drinking with his friends amid the glare of gaslamps and the clatter of glasses.” (JL: Parasympathetic rebound into the drink scenario.)
The pattern repeats itself. Joyce writes, “Farrington sat down again at his desk. He stared intently at the incomplete phrase: In no case shall the said Bernard Bodley be…and thought how strange it was that the last three words began with the same letter… (JL: A moment of Parasympathetic tangential escapist thinking) But his head was not clear (JL: parasympathetic mental cloudiness) and his mind wandered way to the glare and rattle of the public house. It was a night for hot punches.” The “stream of consciousness” returns to the same end-point: a momentary parasympathetic release from sympathetic impulses of rage and frustration. But the release is not lasting. Joyce relentlessly follows the “stream of consciousness.” He writes, “Farrington struggled with his copy, but when the clock struck five he had still fourteen pages to write. Blast it! He couldn’t finish it in time. (JL: Sympathetic frustration.) He longed to execrate out loud, to bring his fist down on something violently. (JL. Growth of sympathetic frustration into sympathetic rage.) He was so enraged that he wrote Bernard Bernard instead of Bernard Bodley and had to begin again on a clean sheet. (JL A climax of sympathetic frustration with reality.) Farrington felt strong enough to clear out the whole office singlehanded. His body ached to do something, to rush out and revel in violence. All the indignities of his life enraged him…” (The rage mounts to its apex.)
And the next thought? How to get money for pay for his drinks at the bar! “Could he ask the cashier privately for an advance? No, the cashier was no good, no damn good. He wouldn’t give him an advance. (JL: First a Parasympathetic wish, then reality frustration, that he wouldn’t get the money, that returns him to an uncomfortable sympathetic state. But Joyce shows that Farrington cannot remain with the frustration of reality.) Farrington’s next thought, “He knew where he would meet the boys.” (JL: His stream of consciousness repeats itself. He returns to the Parasympathetic wish, dependence on alcohol drink.) And this train of thought is only interrupted when his name is called twice, with his boss, Mr. Alleyne, standing at the door with the client who is waiting for the copy of the contract.
What is the point? The “stream of consciousness” is constantly riding upon unconscious impulses. According to our neurophysiological map, what happens is as follows: The brain structure is divided into an upper cortex and a lower sub-cortex. The cortex is the physical basis of consciousness. The sub-cortex is the physical basis of unconscious impulses.
The repetitions of the conscious stream of thought are based on the sub-cortical impulses. Sympathetic and parasympathetic impulses are based on parallel sub-cortical circuits running from the highest levels of the sub-cortex, that is, the cingulate gyrus and the amygdala, and descending downwards to the lowest levels of the sub-cortex, the visceral nuclei found at the bottom of the brain. These parallel circuits create an oscillation between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. In the example of Farrington, uncomfortable sympathetic states of frustration and rage give way, continuously, to parasympathetic states of the alcoholic world. But reality continuously returns and, in fact, gets worse and worse, given that the alcoholic behavior (return to the bar) increases Farrington’s inadequacy in dealing with reality and, so, provoking yet further his frustration and rage. This is a knot.
Conclusion:
In another article, “Three Case Studies Explained by the Sympathetic-Parasympathetic Dynamic,” it is show how therapy sessions can reveal “healing sequences” of sympathetic-parasympathetic oscillations. This article seeks to reinforce our understanding of the brain as a generator of cortical-conscious states being continuously and influenced by sub-cortical unconscious impulses. The division into sympathetic and parasympathetic-dominated states helps us understand the “disturbed” stream of consciousness of suffering and the “healing” stream of consciousness that emerges in psychotherapy.
Bibliography
Edelman, Gerard M., The Remembered Present, New York, BasicBooks, 1989.
LeDoux, Joseph, The Emotional Brain, New York, Phoenix, 1996.
Liss, Jerome, “Psychoanalysis and Neurophysiology,” Ricerca Psicanalitica, XVII,3., 2006, pp.295-314. Available in English: www.biosistemica.org
Liss, Jerome, “Three Case Studies Explained by the Sympathetic-Parasympathetic Dynamic: Pat Ogden and Peter Levine,” www.biosistemica.org
Ochsner, Kevin and Barrett, Lisa, “A Multiprocess Perspective on the Neuroscience of Emotion”, (Ch.2 ) in Mayne, Tracy J. & Bonanno, George A., Emotions. Current Issues and Future Directions, New York, The Guilford Press, 2001.