Do people need to reproduce to feel complete?

[Litsnob]

The worst thing for parents is the death of their child. On the other hand, if we never had children, we don't miss what we never had.

Yes, I agree. And not everyone wants or needs a child to feel complete, but people do tend to project their own needs onto others and thus we have this myth.

 

[Mole]

Yes, I agree. And not everyone wants or needs a child to feel complete, but people do tend to project their own needs onto others and thus we have this myth.

It seems the parent child relationship is largely unconscious. We see this clearly in the Ancient Greek myths of Oedipus and Electra.

And the myth of Oedipus and Electra is a tragedy and a most important element of the tragedy is that they did not know it was their parents they were relating to. In other words the tragedy is no one's fault, it is entirely unknown by the protagonists, and is plainly unconscious.

The myth shows us the tragedy can't be avoided. This is in stark contrast to our own society where we live by the myth of the happy ending.

And I must say I prefer the tragic view of life.

 

[Litsnob]

It seems the parent child relationship is largely unconscious. We see this clearly in the Ancient Greek myths of Oedipus and Electra.

And the myth of Oedipus and Electra is a tragedy and a most important element of the tragedy is that they did not know it was their parents they were relating to. In other words the tragedy is no one's fault, it is entirely unknown by the protagonists, and is plainly unconscious.

The myth shows us the tragedy can't be avoided. This is in stark contrast to our own society where we live by the myth of the happy ending.

And I must say I prefer the tragic view of life.

That's interesting that you prefer the tragic view of life. I am not so solid in preferring one over the other. If I am reading or viewing for entertainment it might be to escape reality. In Canadian literature the writers of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia tend to write rather bleak stories that feel as though they are bleak for the sake of bleakness. Perhaps it's something to do with style. Modern novels attempt to suck us in and make us identify with or love the characters so to then give them a miserable ending is like stabbing the reader in a vulnerable place. If you know you are reading a tragedy or if it is a certain kind of storytelling it doesn't feel like a betrayal. I don't care for a story where the message is 'life sucks and then you die'. I don't see the point. If there is a moral to ponder, an insight that might be useful, then it makes more sense.

That may be a flaw in my character. I am always looking for things to make sense.

Well, that got me way off topic. I had to remind myself what the topic of this thread actually was.

My head is spinning with thoughts on what it means to be a child and a parent. I have typed them all and then decided they were not coherent enough, some fragmented. I think out loud, or in type if that's my only option.

 

[Mole]

That's interesting that you prefer the tragic view of life. I am not so solid in preferring one over the other. If I am reading or viewing for entertainment it might be to escape reality. In Canadian literature the writers of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia tend to write rather bleak stories that feel as though they are bleak for the sake of bleakness. Perhaps it's something to do with style. Modern novels attempt to suck us in and make us identify with or love the characters so to then give them a miserable ending is like stabbing the reader in a vulnerable place. If you know you are reading a tragedy or if it is a certain kind of storytelling it doesn't feel like a betrayal. I don't care for a story where the message is 'life sucks and then you die'. I don't see the point. If there is a moral to ponder, an insight that might be useful, then it makes more sense.

That may be a flaw in my character. I am always looking for things to make sense.

Well, that got me way off topic. I had to remind myself what the topic of this thread actually was.

My head is spinning with thoughts on what it means to be a child and a parent. I have typed them all and then decided they were not coherent enough, some fragmented. I think out loud, or in type if that's my only option.

Ancient Greek tragedy is not empty of meaning rather it is replete with meaning. And Ancient Greek tragedy encompasses the unconscious as well as the conscious, what we know and what we can't know, but influences our lives and our persons.

And Greek tragedy has gravitas and beauty.

And each country has its own myths and its own sense of humour. My country is a Continent vast, flat and dry and we claim half of other Continent that is even larger, flatter and dryer. Our land does not yield its riches without tragedy along the way, And so we have developed a sense of humour to match our country. Our sense of humour is deprecatory, and not just self deprecatory. It is as though we falstore tragedy by laughing at it first.

For instance, our One Day of the Year, our National Day remembers our massive military defeat, a complete tragedy, at Gallipoli, Turkey.

Our national hero is Ned Kelly who dressed in home made armour, killed a couple of police in a gun battle, and so we hanged him.

So like the Ancient Greeks we have a tragic sensibility, but unlike the Ancient Greeks we have based our sense of humour on tragedy.