QA197 QUESTION: I have come to see the unbelievable degree of my own attachment to my father and my mother, and yet it is as if I could see the whole picture of my life. It is an indescribable experience, and through this I would like to ask, what is the spiritual significance of the Oedipus Complex? Why is it that apparently all of us have to go through this very strong tie – this situation with our parents that is really so painful to go through and so difficult to resolve?
ANSWER: The Oedipal situation is truly the symbol and the symptom of the individual’s difficulty with the opposite as well as with the same sex. Since all relationship deals with either the one or the other, it is quite obvious that this must be very strongly experienced in a focused relationship. Therefore, the Earth situation is arranged in such a way that each incoming spirit is, in the first years of his life, totally dependent on a male and a female spirit, which brings out automatically the as-yet unresolved patterns, in this entity’s life, to both.
The parental situation is always chosen in such a way that it perfectly fits the unresolved problem with the same sex as well as the opposite sex. And there is a deep, deep wisdom in this. Only as the entity grows and deals with these problems can he free himself of these problems. For you all know the truth of life – that is, you can only see your problem when you are given an opportunity to have it manifest.
If there would be no opportunity, the unresolved problem would germinate inside of you and would make you vulnerable in a wrong way, would make you unpurified, so that you are dependent on ideal conditions – and that is never purification. Purification means that you can deal with impure and unideal and painful circumstances and not be thrown by them. So the parental situation signifies exactly that. It brings into very clear, exaggerated focus the man and the woman in your life.
