[Buddha-l] Buddhism and Psychology becomes unfalsifiable

[Dan Lusthaus]

Hi Bob,

>I have no problem with seeds buried in
> the _alaya-vijnana_ as a metaphor for memory.

If all the alayavijnana was was just a metaphor for memory, there wouldn't 
be much to Yogacara. But let's leave that for another day (at least we've 
managed some Buddhist content).

You write:

>this three-part unconscious-consciousness can [...] can cause us to hurt 
>ourselves,
> to trip, to send us coded messages while we dream in extraordinary
> symbolic forms, and can even cause us to mis-speak in very clever and
> humorous ways. This unconscious sends messages about disguised wishes,
> etc. etc. One part of this unconscious (ego) tries to fool another part
> of our unconscious (id) by substituting dreams for reality, etc.

So there are no such things as freudian slips, self-destructive behaviors, 
projection, etc.? As for dreams, once again
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/health/dreams-ride-on-freud-s-royal-road-study-finds.html


> I have to say that the psychology professors at my college consider
> Freud an important part of the history of psychology, but do not
> consider his theories worth even one chapter of their text books.

Too bad. No wonder so few people today know anything other than the comic 
book Freud.

Freud would have been the first to say he is not areligion (in fact, he 
wrote exactly that to Jung, who later pretended Freud insisted the 
opposite). That means no one is insisting you believe anything. Observe. 
Analyze. Either you see it, or you don't. Of course, there are all sorts of 
things we look at without seeing, but that would have nothing to do with an 
unconscious...


Dan