If you've ever attended a lecture on Sigmund Freud's theory of sex, you've probably heard of sublimation. Freud claims that human emotions are like steam engines, and sexual desire is steam. If you lock a valve, the pressure will make it out with another valve. Sublimation is the process of turning your desires from being sexually into something that is more beneficial to the society, such as writing a psychology article or repairing lawn mower or developing a software. If you've forgotten all the frustrations of just making something, or feeling a bit weirdly satisfying when you're creating a work of art, that's sublimation. Then, other psychologists have perfected the concept of sublimation. According to theorist Jacques Lacan, sublimation does not necessarily translate into other activities such as building homes. It may just be to move the desire from one object to another - for example, transferring your feelings from your boyfriend to his neighbor.
