The Oedipus Complex as Archetypal Initiation in the Individuation Process
Friday, May 9, 2008, 8:00
p.m.
Nuin Center, 5655 Bryant St., Highland Park
Cost: $10. Light refreshments after
lecture.
It is well known that Jung criticized Freud for his
tendency to interpret the symbolic richness of psychological life in terms of
the child’s primary relations with father and mother. With regard to the Oedipus
complex, Jung did not take incest fantasies as literally as Freud did,
emphasizing instead their symbolic meanings, especially in adults, and
interpreting them subjectively in terms of the soul's telos at that time. This
move from Freud to Jung will be discussed. In addition, Jung's contribution to
understanding the Oedipus complex as a childhood and adolescent developmental
stage will be elaborated. It will be shown that Jung does not merely cede our
understanding of this stage to Freud, as he sometimes over-modestly claims. A
Jungian understanding of the Oedipal complex as a developmental stage will
appreciate it as an archetypal initiation crucial for
individuation.
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Roger
Brooke, Ph.D., ABPP, is
Professor of Psychology and Director of Training in Clinical Psychology at
Duquesne University, an Adjunct Faculty member of the C.G. Jung Institute
Analyst Training Program of Pittsburgh, and an Affiliate Member of the
Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. He was recently elected to the Board
of Directors of the American Academy of Clinical Psychology, which is the member
organization for specialist Diplomates of the American Board of Professional
Psychology. He is author of Jung and Phenomenology (Routledge, 1991) and contributing
editor of Pathways into the Jungian World (Routledge 2000), as well as
papers in psychotherapy, psychological assessment, and phenomenology. He is an
inveterate
runner.