Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann [1842-1906]

As the cosmic process advances, idea prevails over will, making aesthetic and intellectual pleasures possible. Yet intellectual development increases our capacity for pain and material progress suppresses spiritual values. Hence ultimate happiness is unattainable on Earth or heaven, or by progress towards an earthly paradise. These illusions are ruses employed by the absolute to induce mankind to propagate itself. — Hartmann

 

Hartmann’s discoveries of the “unconscious” brought about a paradigm shift in the field of psychology. His works on the unconscious influenced several of the modern psychologist’s like Sigmund Freud’s and Carl Jung’s theories of the unconscious

Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann

 

 

[pullquote]Medical historian Henri Ellenberger writes in his “The Discovery of the Unconscious” (1970) that the main interest of Hartmann’s work is not its philosophical theories, but its wealth of supporting material.[/pullquote]

He was born in Feb 23, 1842 in the then Prussia’s Berlin. Was educated with the intention of a military career. He entered the artillery of the Guards as an officer in 1860, but was forced to leave in 1865 because of a knee problem and latter spent most of his life in study.

Hartmann reviews the work of many German philosophers and discusses the ideas of the Indian Vedas as well as collecting facts about perception, the association of ideas, wit, emotional life, instinct, personality traits, individual destiny, and the role of the unconscious in language, religion, history, and social life.

His reputation as a philosopher was established by his first book, “The Philosophy of the Unconscious” in 1869.

According to Hartmann, the unconscious has three layers:

1. The absolute unconscious, which constitutes the substance of the universe and is the source of the other forms of the unconscious

2. The physiological unconscious, is at work in the origin, development, and evolution of living beings, including man.

3. The relative or psychological unconscious, which lies at the source of our conscious mental life.

Mankind had reached the second stage, with the forces of irrational will competing with rational mind, while misery and civilisation would advance until misery and decay reach a climax when the third stage will be possible, the will checked for reason to prevail.

We see that Past Life Regression Therapy has realised his philosophy of the unconscious repeatedly.