Q Hey Jennifer, I want to ask you something in relation to your late videos and some thoughts I've been wanting to get your perspective on, rather than solely my own and that of the psychoanalyst I visit. Do you think structure in a character can be built later in time as opposed to early childhood? Maybe the presence of structure results in feeling your limits. How is structure developed in any case? I sense it has to do with investing into something or even fooling yourself into it....but then the investment itself will crumble down if structure isn't present, or maybe this happens only if you don't know what your desire truly consists of and mistake the demands of an external agent as your own desire.
A The question you ask is very general, so I can only answer generally. But to my mind, the so-called oedipus complex, which would be better called the authoritarian complex, so that one does not get it mixed up with notions of sexuality and gender, is built at later times. In my view, it also seems to develop more slowly, as you are gradually molded to the fit of your society. It's what military bootcamp is about, and why they break you down so as to build you up into their own shape. They don't want you after the age of thirty or so, because by then you can't be remolded.
If you're molded to one society and then you have to fit to a different society of course this is problematic. Certainly one feels a different set of limits to everyone else in that case. In fact, apart from cases of deliberate transgression, one may only FEEL that one has a character structure at all if one is among those who simply FEEL differently about things as a matter of course.
We all "invest" in something as we get older -- we subconsciously invest in the idea that are societies will continue and will be able to support us... we invest in the feeling that our authorities can teach us what is important and what we need to know....we also invest in the notion that if we conform to what is required of us from our society and its authorities, we will not be harmed. These are all subconscious investments that shape our character in youth. Also, if the authorities are particularly frightening or violent, we may develop a rather too narrow and shrinking character structure at a fairly early age.
Jennifer
A The question you ask is very general, so I can only answer generally. But to my mind, the so-called oedipus complex, which would be better called the authoritarian complex, so that one does not get it mixed up with notions of sexuality and gender, is built at later times. In my view, it also seems to develop more slowly, as you are gradually molded to the fit of your society. It's what military bootcamp is about, and why they break you down so as to build you up into their own shape. They don't want you after the age of thirty or so, because by then you can't be remolded.
If you're molded to one society and then you have to fit to a different society of course this is problematic. Certainly one feels a different set of limits to everyone else in that case. In fact, apart from cases of deliberate transgression, one may only FEEL that one has a character structure at all if one is among those who simply FEEL differently about things as a matter of course.
We all "invest" in something as we get older -- we subconsciously invest in the idea that are societies will continue and will be able to support us... we invest in the feeling that our authorities can teach us what is important and what we need to know....we also invest in the notion that if we conform to what is required of us from our society and its authorities, we will not be harmed. These are all subconscious investments that shape our character in youth. Also, if the authorities are particularly frightening or violent, we may develop a rather too narrow and shrinking character structure at a fairly early age.
Jennifer
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