The trouble with Freud
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Freud named his theory well. The Oedopus complex is named after the story of a man who married his mother and killed his father. But, the meaning runs deeper than that, to a level which is most revealing.
Oedipus's father, Laius, at his son's birth, visited the oracle of Delphi, a blind but all seeing wiseman. It was he that told the king of Thebes that his son would grow up to marry his mother and kill his father. Horrified, Laius had his son put to death. Or so he thought...
The events themselves could be seen as reason enough for Freud to adopt Oedipus as the monicker for his major and most famous theory. However, there is a nother layer of meaning, more to do with the Oracle than Oedipus.
The Oracle in Ancient Greece served as a kind of refrence point for the population, to give meaning and reason to events that occurred in these peoples lives. The Oracle could also be seen as an agent provocateur for the events tat they predicted, as in the story of Oedipus; If the
Oracle had not prophesied, then Laius might not have sent away his son to be murdered by the Shepherd.
There is a strong paralell between the Oracle of Ancient Greece and the Psychoanalyst of today. They make sense of people's lives for those who cannot create or handle their own realities.
But what about the agent provocateur? Well, it would seem with Freud that you either take it or you leave it. Meaning that either you accept that it has always been like the man said, or it never was. Freud did not invent, he only observed, accolytes insist. Unless you take the view that Freud was the instigator of man's fate, just as the Oracle could be he creator of the Oedipus narrative.
Seeing it this way suddenly reveals that Freud has distracted us from something significant. He, in his choice of name for a theory so prevalent and accepted in the modern world, has shown us
the seeds of its fabrication.
The result of this acceptance and the banal reading of the importance of Oedipus, used by most? People are afraid of their own minds, the hidden subconcious that Freud has taught us was so horrific. In a time when we moved away from religion, along came another bearded man to
replace him. 'If God did not exist, we would have to invent him". Indeed.
Oedipus's father, Laius, at his son's birth, visited the oracle of Delphi, a blind but all seeing wiseman. It was he that told the king of Thebes that his son would grow up to marry his mother and kill his father. Horrified, Laius had his son put to death. Or so he thought...
The events themselves could be seen as reason enough for Freud to adopt Oedipus as the monicker for his major and most famous theory. However, there is a nother layer of meaning, more to do with the Oracle than Oedipus.
The Oracle in Ancient Greece served as a kind of refrence point for the population, to give meaning and reason to events that occurred in these peoples lives. The Oracle could also be seen as an agent provocateur for the events tat they predicted, as in the story of Oedipus; If the
Oracle had not prophesied, then Laius might not have sent away his son to be murdered by the Shepherd.
There is a strong paralell between the Oracle of Ancient Greece and the Psychoanalyst of today. They make sense of people's lives for those who cannot create or handle their own realities.
But what about the agent provocateur? Well, it would seem with Freud that you either take it or you leave it. Meaning that either you accept that it has always been like the man said, or it never was. Freud did not invent, he only observed, accolytes insist. Unless you take the view that Freud was the instigator of man's fate, just as the Oracle could be he creator of the Oedipus narrative.
Seeing it this way suddenly reveals that Freud has distracted us from something significant. He, in his choice of name for a theory so prevalent and accepted in the modern world, has shown us
the seeds of its fabrication.
The result of this acceptance and the banal reading of the importance of Oedipus, used by most? People are afraid of their own minds, the hidden subconcious that Freud has taught us was so horrific. In a time when we moved away from religion, along came another bearded man to
replace him. 'If God did not exist, we would have to invent him". Indeed.
