Oedipus
Freud got it wrong.
Yes Oedipus killed his father
Married his mother
But that is not the story.
Those are the symptoms
The surface presentation
That if not examined
Becomes a diagnosis
Of lust and greed.
There is more, in the marrow
A deep tragedy
In the sacrifice
The honour
The courage
Of people caught unknowingly
Enacting the very outcomes
They are desperately trying to avoid.
A story of love.
A story of missed identity.
A story of humanity.
With all its messy imperfections.
Do you see now?
How the meaning is in the context.
How gilded eyes don't always see.
How choice can be an illusion
Within the oppressive regime
Of prophecy.
Can we see beyond all these predictions
To the person,
Flawed and trying?
To the here?
To the now?
.png)
September 13, 2020: What pieces am I missing with my flawed and biased eyes? What rests just beyond the surface image, deep in the oceanic process? This is my fear, being so caught within the words, within the emotional presentation that the meaning is lost at sea. I fear taking on the role of expert, of prophet, speaking truths that move in me, not in my clients. My processes feel shaky, unformed. How can I be in the moment —present for my clients— when thoughts of interventions, goals, and procedure are taking up all the space? There is so much to remember, I steep in my own thoughts, pulled out of the present and into all the possible futures. I remind myself of Yalom's advice, that "the flow therapy should be spontaneous, forever following unanticipated riverbeds" (2002, p.34). To "go wherever the patient goes" (Yalom, 2002, p.35). This is my goal for this first week of counselling. To stop. Breathe. Listen. To meet each client in this now, guided by their experience, their story.
Yalom, I. D. (2002). The gift of therapy. Harper Perennial.