Years ago I had a very vivid dream of having sex with my mother; in the dream she said, 'it's Ok, these things happen' - there was no condemnation.
I forgot & repressed this dream. Years later I read Earl Thompson's A Garden of Sand, about this taboo & this triggered my interest in this; I began collecting stories in magazines sent by mothers & sons about their incestuous experiences. I got excited by the accounts from both perspectives. During this time the memory of my dream didn't come back; it made no connection.
But I'm also very religious & every time I felt guilty I'd threw my collection away! For some years now the memory of the dream has come back. I also began writing erotic stories of the same type but nobody knows about it, not even my wife! It's my secret hobby! Recently I saw this book - it's long discontinued - & I bought it, for the 5th time! I thought it would be my Shadow coming back to haunt me but it didn't' & I'm not going to throw it again!
Now I know that Jung was right in differing with Freud; the oedipal instinct points beyond the mere physical/sexual - it's our desire to go back to the Womb, our Source.
Has any thinker, psychologist, whatever, expanded further on Freud/Jung, this the oedipal phenomenon?

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 56 phil

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Phil,
Robert Johnson has expanded on Jungian thought and approached the oedipal complexes in his writings on the subject of psychological femininity. His book 'Femininity Lost and Regained may shed new light on the subject.
Another link that may provide new insights is
Dissociation and the Self in the magical pre-Oedipal field {PDF}. This is very deep stuff but if you have studied the subject as you say then you will have an understanding of the complexities of the subject matter.

But what your feelings of guilt and your religious orientation? Have you reconciled these two aspects? If you are writing exotic stories but hiding the fact how are you coping with the opposing aspects {if indeed there are opposing aspects}? Are you approaching the oedipal phenomenon as self theraphy or as a mere advantage to writing your stories? Perhaps it is both.

As far 'as things happening', as a matter of dreaming about it is not uncommon. It is a part of the historical psyche of many cultures. But the acting out implies deeper psychological tendenacies.
As for the dream, perhaps looking at the mother attachment is what the dream message is asking you to do.

Our desire to go back to the Womb? Yes, this complex is addressing that aspect. But it is metaphor for finding the true self, symbolizing new life and the potential for new development.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 55 Murfreesboro, Tn.

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Thanks Gerald,

I'll check out those links & that book.

When I was on my bible-fundamentalist phase I felt guilty about my eodipal erotic writings but now I'm more of a universalist or new ager outlook & I'm transcending my guilt. The thrill only comes during the writing itself, anyway, & I never reread them. I have no desire to be a porno writer either! But for most people, including my wife it's abomination, so I destroy them to keep them out of other's eyes.

I guess I want some explanations why it's within me, in the 1st place, & why these stories excite me. Except for the half an hour I waste every day writing, during my morning coffee (in McDonald's!) it's doing no harm to me or to the people around me.

Of course, I'm still growing & if one morning I find myself not writing it wouldn't surprise me either!

thanks again.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 56, HK

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