ABSTRACT
Freud’s dilemma regarding the two different principles of psychic regulation – the pleasure principle and the dual instincts of life and death – was not possible to solve solely from the drive-economic point of view. The solution can be found on the organised level of psychic functioning in relation to genital reality first represented by the parents for their child. The issue is a lifelong process of structural transformation within an individual’s preconscious mind, where the pleasure principle gives way to the perceived reality. This also involves the painful recognition that one’s time is limited.
An individual’s lifetime refers to a metaphorical space closely related to the ego-ideal. In containing the integrated memories of lost objects, the ego-ideal frames the meaningful past. Projected onto the future, it represents hope, forming a container not only for object-libidinal wishes but also primary narcissistic interest in life, vitalising psychic experience. The recovery of this interest is not possible without the capacity for mourning and sorrow, adumbrating the delight of being alive. From this point of view, psychic survival refers to a process of inner transformation in accordance with genital reality involving the recognition of a temporal limitation on individual life.
