The Three Stages of the Mortal Life of an Individual and How They Relate to Oedipus - Research Paper Example

? Introduction: All actions of human beings originate at the mind-level first in the form of thoughts. The basic nature of the human mind is to remain calm. Agitations in the mind are like the waves in the ocean. Higher the intensity of the agitation, the bigger is the wave. Normally the waves of the ocean remain within the boundary of the ocean. But at times, they assume violent form and cause all-round, unimaginable devastation. Similarly, the mind that has lost control does actions that it will not normally do. This can happen with the best of human beings, those who are normally good natured, and very good at heart. In the state of traumatic stress, an individual loses his mental equilibrium, all types of emotions come to a naught, problem solving will and abilities get lost, which results in desperate actions like serious self-injury. Self-injury is an unpardonable evil action which will not go unpunished, and any amount of repentance, would not be able to stall the reactions for that action. This is the eternal law, from which there is no escape. The evil-doer will have to suffer the consequences for his actions. With utter remorse for the actions committed, one may decide to undergo appropriate self-punishment. But who is to decide about the quantum of punishment? The nature of Oedipus’ choice of punishment has to be judged in this context. One cannot be the lawyer as well as the judge for one’s actions. The judge has to be a third party…..not involved in the crime, yet has the knowledge of the circumstances leading and all other facts related to the crime. The total justice can be had from only that source—one that commands Total Knowledge. It is also hailed as Divine Power! But what if an individual is blocked at the mind-barrier and fails to challenge the vicissitudes of life by judging the issues in their proper perspective? Laura N. May et al. in the article “Differential Reactions to hurt” writes, “It may be that those who experience introjective hurt are at even greater risk of developing self-esteem problems and even depression as they internalize the hurtful experience and compound its self-effacing negativity.”(p.58) Oedipus was an over-confident individual who thought that he could successfully challenge the fate and guide its movement in the desired direction. That was his greatest folly. When Sophocles revealed Oedipus’ riddle of birth, it also lead to the loss of his greatest abilities. That revelation was shocking to him and it imbalanced him totally. Confronted with horrid revelations or incidents any individual may land in such a plight in, whether he is a King or a commoner. The November 9/11 incident of America was one such incident that affected many individuals in different ways. To some, the loss of near and dear ones was too much to bear. Sherry Ricchiardi, in the article, “After the Adrenaline,” writes about the plight of a reporter thus: “She went to the newsroom, a completely changed person—emotionally, physically, spiritually, she says.”(p.36)The destined events happen and no one can stall them. In case of Oedipus he was advised against trying to manipulate his own fate. Having discovered the sins he had committed, he reacted violently by self-mutilation. That willful self-inflicted punishment resulted in his blindness. To challenge fate and to think that its course could be alerted was blasphemy against gods. Yet Oedipus acted thus with overzealous confidence that human power was supreme to divine power. But that was only his initial reaction to the circumstances around him. Soon he realized the limitations of the human frailty and self-imposed punishment was a pointer towards his transformation. They say anger leads to confusion; confusion leads to loss of equilibrium of the mind. With the loss of equilibrium, the mind loses its power of discrimination; mind, having reached that state, it leads to one’s total downfall. He commits such acts, which in the ordinary course, he would never have committed. As atonement for the sinful acts, he weighs various options to come out of the grave predicament; in that state of utter confusion, one may commit many actions that have no relevance to rhyme or reason. So, the ‘remedy may turn worst than the disease.’ The same thing happens with Oedipus. But he is a peculiar character. He is not willing accept that he is ill-starred and unlucky. The implied challenge to the destiny is still seen in his line of thinking. He admits that he is vile or evil-incarnation! Then, why does he blind himself? That act has a great spiritual significance and indicates his deep understanding of the truths of life. The Three stages of the mortal life of an individual and how they relate to Oedipus: The act of blinding needs to be viewed in the context of riddle of the Sphinx. An individual goes through three processes as far as his physical body is concerned. 1) The baby 2) The grown-up man, 3) The feeble man in old age. The third stage causes complications and leads to various interpretations of the life of Oedipus. He refuses to accept that the body has to undergo such a transformation, old age but a natural process and he believes that he is still very strong. This is a case when an individual is unwilling to accept the realities of life. Destiny has to teach the hard lesson to such an individual, who challenges it out of arrogance. When the soul-force of natural evolution is challenged, it results in frustration for an individual and one pours out the rage on the frail body and inflicts punishment on it. Such an individual indulges in actions that are difficult to comprehend and beyond the scope of reason. Blinding has two meanings in this context. Apart from the normal action of blinding the eyes in the physical sense, the action has also a profound spiritual meaning, which even great philosophers like Freud tried to interpret but failed. They reached up to the final frontiers of the mind, but did not clear the last hurdle of transcending the mind. So their confusion remained confounded. Oedipus saw no utility of the external eyes, as compared to the experience of the inner eye, they had no significance. The utility and importance of the external eye is equated with the genitals. Both are organs of knowledge. The Revelations of Christianity also state the same. The act of adultery can also be committed not only by the genitals but also by the eyes. Extending the same fact further, sin also can be committed by the thoughts in the mind, for every thought is an action, and bound to have the relevant reaction. Why Oedipus engages in such a desperate act? No precise answer can be provided to this riddle. Desperate acts have no fixed or acceptable reasoning and therefore such actions are labeled as desperate acts. Recollections of the ugly acts that he committed were too much for Oedipus to bear and he would not have courage to meet such people face to face. He was devoid of the moral right to meet his father and mother ‘beyond the grave.’ One of the reasons tendered by him for the act of inflicting self-blindness was to detach himself from the humanity for all time to come. His act of physical blindness is linked to mental blindness. The other possible interpretation is that an individual doing such ominous acts is mentally incapable to judge the consequences of such actions. Erin Polk et al. in their research report on “Exploring the Motivations behind Self-injury” write, “The most frequently endorsed reason for self-injury was to obtain emotional releases. The second most common intent was to resolve disassociation and feel alive or real.”(p.233) Oedipus wanted to come out of the cocoon of dire, self-created mental state. No one can chase and stall the advancement of the events that are fated to occur. It is known as the lateral movement of destiny, over which one has no control. If he were to possess the knowledge to stall the activities of other senses, he would try that as well. What was the reason for such a high level of desperation? The acts of two crimes committed by him were not ordinary. In the strongly patriarchal society of ancient Greece they demanded sternest punishment. Polk gives an interesting example of an individual for motivations behind self-injury. His response was, “I hate who I am. I hate who I was. I hate what I am becoming. If I can work to kill that, even if only to hurt it, I will accomplish my goal. I feel deserving of punishment, for all my wrong doings and if that punishment doesn’t come from anywhere else, it will come from me.”(p.237) Read the headlines of newspapers, almost every day—such incidents happen all over the world and the materialistic civilization has added new dimensions to those tragic incidents in the real world. As per the conditions prevailing in the era during which Oedipus was penned, the author has done full justice to the subject and the sequences depicted in the play are highly probable. Conclusion: Oedipus suffered an unbearable traumatic stress. Robert Senn in his article, “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: One Firefighter’s Story” quotes Dr. Mark Lerner, Clinical Psychologist and President of the Institute for Traumatic stress writes, “ Traumatic stress refers to our emotional, cognitive, behavioral, psychological, and spiritual reactions when we are exposed to, or witness, events that overwhelm our coping and problem-solving abilities.”(p.60) Oedipus had created serious problems for him at all fronts, and only the spiritually enlightening solutions came to his rescue to restore his mental balance somewhat! References: May, Lawra N (Author) Jones, Warren H (Author) Article: Differential Reactions to Hurt, Journal of Worry and Affective Experience, 2005, 1(2) Polk, Erin (Author) Liss, Miriam(Author), Research Report: Exploring the motivations behind self-injury. (Final version of 234 July 2009), Counseling Psychology, Quarterly. Vol 22, No2, June 2009, 233-241 Ricchiardi, Sherry, Article: After the Adrenaline, American Journalism Review, November 2001. Senn, Robert, Article: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: One Firefighter’s Story, Fire Engineering qMags. Read More