Sociologist G. Rattray Taylor's table of Matrist and Patrist Societies: Matrist / Patrist Permissive towards Sex / Restrictive toward sex Freedom for women / Limitation of freedom for women Women have high status / Women have low status Chastity not valued / Chastity highly valued Egaltarian / Authoritarian Progressive / Conservative No distrust of research / Distrust of research Spontaneous / Inhibitions Sex differences minimized / Sex differences maximized Fear of incest / Fear of homosexuality Hedonic / Ascetic Mother Goddess / Father God
Would like to think if you chronologically plotted out an individual's shifts back and forth between these contrasting matrist and patrist values, one could map out which chakra or freudian complex had the greater influence throughout one's life. Could make for some personal revelations.
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
Edited by CosmicJoke (05/25/05 10:47 AM)
|
Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: I believe that Freud is unparalleled as a spokesman for the Root Center [Muladhara-Svadhistana chakra complex; i.e., the anal-genital complex]. The Oedipal-Electra Complex can be observed throughout the world. Certain tribal cultures forbid boys to look their mothers in the eyes after they have been initiated into manhood (usually through pubescent circumcision).
The movies have been full of these themes, some of which were based on extreme pathological cases of unrepressed Oedipal longings (like the female gangster Ma Barker and her sons depicted in film, that one X-File which had a disclaimer at the beginning - the one with the quad-amputee mother kept under a bed who produced miscreant progeny with her son, a Nathalie Wood film, (the title of which escapes me) in which the physical affection of a beautiful girl to her father is met with reactive physical violence towards her, and my favorite example - Forbidden Planet in which actor Walter Pidgeon experiencing jealousy over his daughter played by Ann Francis' attraction to the male crew of a visiting spacecraft creates 'monsters from the [Freudian] Id,' which tear the crew members to gruesome shreads. The desire can work both ways, but healthy daddies repress it entirely. Pidgeon, using an alien [Krell] mind-enhancing device did not expect the bestial Id to be enhanced as well, and as it turns out, this is what destroyed the super-brilliant Krell race).
For heterosexual women, there is the additional dynamic of "the penis-breast equation," in which oral-genital longings are transferred from the more-or-less conical shape of the breast to the glans penis. Mothers and Fathers may well be the first possessors of these important organs that we ever see, coupled with the natural (if healthy) bonding with these people.
I have several early childhood memories that illuminate these dynamics. One instance was when I was about 3, before my brother was born. I was playing soldier and my Mother began singing this little song: 'Soldier, soldier, will you marry me...with your rifle, fife and drum?...' I remember feeling uncomfortable with those lyrics because they immediately evoked feelings of threat and guilt since Mom was already married to Dad! I also remember that at that age, I still used to crawl into my Mother's bed and cuddle against her practically naked body under the covers. Although there was no genital stimulation at that age that I can recall, there was the possessive element, as well as the secretive-seeming 'infidelity' that this act entailed since I used to do this after Dad had left for work.
My Mother was emotionally enmeshed with me when I was older, and I had to do different things to cut the cords (e.g., not phoning home during camping trips to the national parks, becoming a strict vegan since cooking was one of Mom's major leverages to get me home from college on weekends. My Mother was completely ignorant of Freud's theories, as I discovered in conversation shortly before she died, but basic description of Oedipal stuff literally opened her eyes!
Sorry, but despite Freud's cocaine inflation and misogynistic leanings, he described some very Root Center (and this Tibetan Buddhist term is completely appropo: visions of copulating couples in the Bardo draw one into a womb - the "primal trauma" - seeing one's parent's 'do it.') phenomenon very accurately in my opinion.
Ditto  Excellent ! And i loved the way you connect Freud with some Buddhist teachings.
MAIA
-------------------- Spiritual being, living a human experience ... The Shroomery Mandala
 Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy. Voltaire
|