Freudian Words of the Day 22Feb 2014 ~ Oedipus Complex

Oedipus complex: Oedipus explains the riddle o...
Oedipus complex: Oedipus explains the riddle of the Sphinx, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. (ca. 1805) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Religion is the universal obsessional neurosis of mankind; like the obsessional neurosis of children, arouse out of the Oedipus complex, out of the relation to the father… [It is] a parallel to the neurosis which the civilized individual must pass through on his way from childhood to maturity.”

“The GodCreator is openly called father. Psychoanalysis concludes that he really is the father, clothed in the grandeur in which he once appeared to the small child… The emotional strength of this memory-image and the lasting nayure of his need for protection are the two supports for [the religious man’s] belief in God.”

“Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing the personal one.”

“Think of the depressing contrast between the radiant intelligence of a healthy child and the feeble intellectual powers of the average adult. Can we be certain that it is not precisely religious education which bears a large share of the blame for this relative atrophy?”

Portrait of Sigmund Freud
Portrait of Sigmund Freud (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Like other neurosis or addictions, religion can be overcome, but only by facing up to the truth:”They will have to [Step One] admit to themselves the full extent of their helplessness and their insignificance in the machinery of the universe; they can no longer be the centre of creation, no longer the object of tender care on the part of a beneficent Providence… ‘education to reality.’… It is something, at any rate, to know that one is thrown upon one’s resources. One learns then to make a proper use of them.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

English: Sigmund Freud's signature.
English: Sigmund Freud’s signature. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Comments

4 responses to “Freudian Words of the Day 22Feb 2014 ~ Oedipus Complex”

  1. Marc Gilbert-Widmann on Facebook Avatar

    What the fuck is wrong with some people??? It won’t be long before the wingnuts declare the need for more extended mags.”You have no rights here… only privilege” Posts on marcgilbert.com do not necessarily represent the opinion of Marc Gilbert.

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