GALAXIES AS FREUDIAN ENTITIES

Patrick Das Gupta

Department of Physics and Astrophysics,
University of Delhi, Delhi - 110 007 (India)

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 [The other day, I was having TEA in the university COFFEE house (an oxymoronic act,
if you will), when there was a typhoon in my tea cup! I felt a hard thump on my back. It
was Fraud’s doing. He was grinning from ear to ear. I call him Fraud, as he is our local
expert on Freudian psychoanalysis.]
Fraud (visibly pleased, seeing that I had spilt tea on my dress): Say, what is a galaxy?
I (trying to keep cool, said): Has your subconscious been dreaming about one, lately?
F (as if he did’nt hear me, continued): I was holiday-ing with friends in Nainital, few days
back. The night sky there was really starry. One evening, a friend of mine pointed his finger
excitedly in the direction of an oval silvery fuzz, exclaiming, ”Theres Andromeda!” Looking
upwards, expecting something as pretty as the damsel in distress of Greek mythology, but
finding just a white smudge, I remarked, ”That milky smear of a thumb can in no way
represent Perseus dream heroine.” (Then, becoming sullen, Fraud continued) Upon hearing
that, every one burst out laughing. Later, I was told that the celestial fuzz was Andromeda,
a spiral galaxy.
And hence, my question: What is a spiral galaxy?
I (sympathizing with him): Well, galaxies are gigantic swarms of stars held together by
their mutual gravitational attraction. The same force that glues us to the surface of the
earth. Just switch off the gravity (if it was possible at all), and feel being hurled out from
the merry-go-round, that is our spinning Earth! Stars and gas in a galaxy too feel the same
attractive force.
F: A fatal attraction, eh? But where do spiral staircases come in? (His mind still under
the Pavlovian conditioning caused by spiralling stairs in murder mysteries that he is fond
of.) I: Most galaxies are of spiral type. Use a powerful telescope to look at a spiral galaxy
from top, face on, and what do you see - a cosmic whirlpool of light! A vortex of bright,
young stars bunched in spiral patterns. The side view of a spiral galaxy gives you the feeling
that it is a fried egg - a disc with a bulge at the centre, where the yellow yolk is supposedly
located.
F : Disc dislocated? Does a spiral galaxy suffer from Freudian slip-disc or what? (Then,
remembering the fried egg, he summons a waiter) Food talk makes me hungry. I need to
develop a bulge in the middle too. (After ordering for an egg dish, he resumed) So the spiral
structure lends the galaxy its ego. It thumps its belly-bulge and proclaims, ”Hey, I am a
rich spiral!”

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 I : Spirals are indeed rich in gas. The gaps between the spiral arms contain older stars
and gas, mostly hydrogen. The disc stars, both young and old, as well as the gaseous matter
go round the centre, making a complete circle roughly once every 100 million years! Gravity
providing the centripetal force, and all that.
F (becoming animated): I get it! The stars in the pirouetting spiral arms are like bright
and cheerful thoughts in the conscious part of the brain. While the darker regions resemble
the gloomy and mysterious subconscious!
I (not wanting to digress): Returning to the galactic theme, rotation of matter around
the galactic centre gives rise to an outgoing spiral density wave. When this density wave
sweeps across the inconspicuous but gas rich regions, it compresses the dark gas clouds to
undergo gravitational collapse. They collapse to form stars. That’s how bright stars are
born from dark gas clouds. F: Ah, like a bright thought popping out of the subconscious
during a Freudian slip! So, the density wave is like a psychoanalyst who prods a clients
subconscious to let out a repressed thought into the conscious area.
I: Density waves are actually travelling compressors. When they cross clouds of gas, latter
get compressed to smaller sizes. After that, gravity takes over.
F: Rather strange. Normally, external pressure or stress leads to depression. A depressed
mind seldom shines like a bright star! Take yourself, for example.
I (coldly): Here, we are talking about compression of a gas cloud. Hit by the density wave,
the cloud size reduces but its weight remains the same. Gravitational pull between different
parts of the cloud then increases. So, the giant ball of gas contracts further. This goes on
till the density and temperature inside the cloud becomes so high as to trigger a nuclear
reaction. The core of the cloud becomes something like a hydrogen bomb. Continuous
nuclear blasts stop the cloud from collapsing further. Hence, for the time being, gravity has
been checked by nuclear fusion. Now, the object starts shining radiantly due to all those
hydrogen nuclei fusing to become helium, releasing energy copiously. A star is born! That’s
the MAIN SEQUENCE of events.
F (not convinced): A confusing sequence, mainly! But wait a minute. May be one can
think of the density wave going round as the creative force, causing first a turmoil in the
subconscious. Out of this fusion or confusion, a bright idea is born in the conscious. Eureka,
there we go!
I (showing signs of impatience): Look here, there are about 100 billion stars in a galaxy!

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Please dont bring in the ”mind”. Sheer size of a galaxy is mind-boggling.
F (absolutely ecstatic): What a coincidence! There are that many neurons or brain cells
inside our skull cave!
I (trying hard to outwit Fraud): Astronomers have also discovered super-massive black-
holes at the centres of galaxies, weighing more than a million suns. The ultimate collapsed
objects, these blackholes! Chandrasekhar, the great, thought that they were the most per-
fect macroscopic objects. These powerful monsters remember nothing else but their strong
gravitational identity, not letting even light to escape from their clutches.
F: Then, these blackholes are the ”superegos”! What are their inherited ”id”, I wonder?
I (by now resigned): They are more like Vakasura, devouring anything and everything in
their horizon. Stars, gaseous matter and radiation get sucked into their stomach, making
them grow heavier day by day.
F (chuckling): The rogues have huge libido for gobbling up matter, eh! (Clucking and
shaking his head) Eating all the time. Must be a worried lot, them blackholes.
I: Listen, apart from spirals there are other types of galaxies.
F (excitedly): Dont tell me, don’t tell me. Let me guess, let me guess!
I (amused): Alright. After spirals, what?
F (with a bright expression): Viral galaxies!
I (throwing up my hands): Wrong. First of all, there are elliptical galaxies. Elliptic in
shape. Then, there are .....
F (interrupting me): Imagine galaxies being epileptic. Had he known this, Julius Caesar
would be in fits!
I (unperturbed): ... irregulars. With no well defined structure. Large and Small Magel-
lanic clouds are two such galaxies. They are the companions of the spiral galaxy we inhabit,
called the Milky Way. The gravitational tidal force due to the Milky Way is believed to be
responsible for disrupting LMC and SMC. Like the way moons (as well as sun’s) tidal pull
causes upheaval in our oceans!
F: Yes, bullies do bring about identity crisis among individuals. Highly irregular, these
domineering acts!
I (speaking at cross-purpose): At times, when galaxies approach each other, powerful
tidal forces tear apart a loosely bound galaxy! Reminds you of the fate of Jarasandha
during his combat with Bheema. Many astrophysicists believe that elliptical galaxies are

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formed when two spirals come close and merge into one. In the beginning, the resulting
object is all messed up and resembles an irregular due to mutual tidal tugs. But with time,
it relaxes into a smooth elliptic structure, resplendent with a cosmic Diwali celebration!
F (highly skeptical): How can an epileptic state be relaxing? These tidal influences cause
a lot of mental untidiness.
I (in a pedantic manner): The elliptical galaxies dont seem to exhibit much organized
rotational motion, while a single spiral possesses a lot of spin. But when two distinct spirals,
each with mutually uncorrelated spin axis, merge there is very little rotation left. Indeed,
it fits with the observation that ellipticals have less angular momentum.
F (making up his mind once for all): From this angle, everything is crystal clear to
me. Galaxies are like individual minds. Young, bright stars make the conscious part while
gaseous matter and old, faint stars the subconscious. Density waves are the prime mover
of creativity. They shock the subconscious in producing bright ideas, I mean, stars. At the
heart of a galaxy is a superegoistic and libidinous blackhole. Two spirals merging is like
two identities in one mind. Thats split personality, ofcourse! After the merging, what you
have is a epileptic galaxy undergoing fits! (Then, in a puzzled tone) But surely something
is missing. Where is the completely hidden unconscious part?
I (deciding to play along): Well, that is your ”missing matter”! All galaxies possess dark
matter. Sometimes these are referred to as missing or hidden mass. They dont give out
light, but their presence is nevertheless felt due to their strong gravitational pull on visible
matter like stars and gas clouds. In fact, they outweigh shining matter by more than a
factor of ten!
F (jubilant): Freudian mind is supreme. (Then, cart-wheeling Descartes on his head) I
think, therefore the galaxy is!
I: Interesting. Immanuel Kant, the idealist, believed that space, time and matter are all
due to an innate structure of human mind. He had already foreseen that the wispy fuzz one
observes in the night sky are separate ‘island universes, much before they were identified by
astronomers as distinct galaxies.
F (slightly annoyed): Why bring in the ”islands” when we are discovering ”brave new
worlds”? Kant cant be a Freud.
I : But Freud can be a ”can’t”. Although, ”no man is an island ...”, Kantian ”island
universes” are galaxies. Whether it is ”Treasure Island” or Islet of Langerhans, islands

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are important. For that matter, do you think ”Descent of Man” would have been possible
without Darwins voyage to the Galapagos.
F (visibly irritated): I would rather have YOU deported to Pagal-logs island !
I (sarcastically): Mad about the idea, I am. So, when do we start? Islands usually have
clear skies. We can sky gaze, and observe Andromeda and Whirlpool galaxies.
F: We? What makes you so sure that I too will drown in the whirlpool?
I: Fraud, ”we” are ”I” - the alter ego of one another! We possess distinct egos but are
bound to one physical brain. And like Edgar Alan Poes protagonist in Maelstrom, we are
trapped in a whirlpool - getting gradually sucked towards the eye of the whirlpool, into
an unknown abyss. Two spirals merging - their central cores coalescing into a gargantuan,
spinning supermassive blackhole..........!
[ I confess : Fraud and myself are two distinct identities residing in the same brain. Just
an ordinary case of split personality that I suffer from. All the conversations above were
mere soliloquy. So, you find the end somewhat chilling, eh? ]