Where three roads join Exploring the triangularity of

“Where three roads join…”: Exploring the tri-angularity of human experience 1

Oedipus in three’s 3 visits to the oracle Sphinx’s riddle: 3 ages of man 3 exiles of Oedipus 2

Bollas: “On the oedipal structure of a psychoanalysis” 1. The dream = the infant 2. Free association = sponsored by mother 3. Interpretation = provided by father 3

Collecting 3’s n Dimensions of space and time n Developments (beginning / middle / end) n Rankings (gold / silver / bronze) n Completeness (Father / Son / Holy Ghost) n Other examples? 4

Psychoanalytic Examples n Anal / Oral / Genital Id / Ego / Superego Unconscious / Preconscious / Conscious Neurotic / Borderline / Psychotic n and… Foundation / Formation / Supervision (CTP) n n n 5

Ogden’s The Primitive Edge of Experience 1. Klein’s Depressive position 2. Paranoid – Schizoid Mode 3. Autistic – Contiguous Mode 6

Depressive Mode n n n Symbol re-presents the symbolized Capacity for ambivalence Historicity is created Guilt Others are experienced as subjects BUT– can slip into certainty, closure, arrogance, and deadness 7

Paranoid-Schizoid n n n n n Brittleness of object relating Re-writing of history (revisionism) Reversals: good becomes bad becomes good Evacuation of pain Projective identification Omnipotent thinking Splitting Persecutory anxiety Symbolic equation 8

Symbolic Equation 9

Autistic-Contiguous n n n n Pre-symbolic, sensory-dominated mode Surface contiguity: e. g. “molded” skin surfaces; harmonic sounds; rhythmic rocking; symmetrical shapes Danger of coming apart Need for holding (together) “The sensory experience is the infant in this mode, and the abrupt disruption of shape, symmetry, rhythm, skin moldedness, and so on, marks the end of the infant. ” The patient unconsciously managed to create a sensory base for himself “…by focusing intently on a rectangular shape that he discerned in the pattern of the lines and texture on the ceiling above the couch. ” “unremitting eye contact that begins in the waiting room and is only painfully terminated by the closing of the consulting room door at the end of the hour…” 10

Balint’s The Basic Fault 1. Oedipal level or area 2. Area of the Basic Fault 3. Area of Creation 11

Balint: The three areas of the mind Oedipal level or area 1. n n n Verbal Conflict 3 -person Area of the Basic Fault 2. n n n Words have no conventional meaning Not about conflict--fault 2 -person Area of Creation 3. n n n Unworded No external object present 1 -person 12

The Unbearable Lightness of Threeing n The Three-ness of three n The Two-ness of three n The One-ness of three 13

Three Motifs Three-ness: Persecutor / Rescuer / Victim Two-ness: Paper / Rock / Scissors One-ness: Impossible (Penrose) Triangle 14

Motifs Abbreviated n PRV = Persecutor / Rescuer / Victim n PRS = Paper / Rock / Scissors n PRT = Penrose Triangle 15

PRV: Persecutor / Rescuer / Victim P V R 16

PRS: Paper / Rock / Scissors 17

PRT: Penrose Triangle 18

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PRV: “I am Oedipus…You can trust me. I am ready to help. ” 22

PRS: Oedipus to Tiresias: “Now I see it all. You helped hatch the plot…” 23

PRT: “I’m at the edge of hearing horrors” 24

Oedipus Wrecked: “Oh the agony! I am agony…” 25

Healing Properties of the Motifs PRV PRS PRT Justice Judgement Aesthetics Empathy Play Focus Respect Risk-taking Creation Socialization Surprise Meditation Relating Decisiveness Religion 26

“Where three roads join…” the dialectical interplay of three PRV depressive / oedipal area / Father PRT autisticcontiguous / PRS Paranoid-Schizoid / Basic Fault / Mother Area of creation / Child 27

“…violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting …crashes down the abyss—sheer doom! But the healthy strife that makes the city strong— I pray that god will never end that wrestling…” (l 964 ff) 28

Leowald’s “Atonement” “The self, in its autonomy, is an atonement structure, a structure of reconciliation, and as such a supreme achievement. ” Self-responsibility is both a crime and restitution for the crime “…the oedipal objectum is consubstantial with the pre-oedipal identificatum…” 29