Freud chose the myth of Oedipus as the foundation for his understanding of human development, obedience to the law and his theory of civilization, and wrote that he saw no value in analyzing the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden from a psychological point of view.
Drawing on biblical interpretation, the kabbalah, and the work of C. G. Jung, Erich Fromm and others, Sanford Drob explains how Adam and Eve’s transgression serves as an archetype for an “Eden Complex” and provides a broad and useful paradigm for understanding the dynamics of individual development, parent-child conflict, morals and values, and both psychotherapeutic and societal change. Comparisons between the biblical narrative and Sophocles’ trilogy highlight two different views of suffering, tragedy, and the human subject.
Sanford Drob holds doctoral degrees and has had a career in both philosophy and clinical psychology. He is Professor Emeritus at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara and is on the faculty of the C. G. Jung Institute in New York. His books, including Kabbalah and Postmodernism, Kabbalistic Visions: C. G. Jung and Jewish Mysticism, and Archetype of the Absolute: The Union of Opposites in Mysticism, Philosophy and Psychology, develop the theme of “rational mysticism” by examining Jewish mystical symbols through the lens of contemporary philosophy and psychology.
His most recent papers explore the psychological significance of the “Eden complex”, C. G. Jung’s views on the meaning of life, the threat of artificial intelligence and the value of an interrogative approach to the ultimate question of why the world exists. Dr. Drob also maintains an active practice in criminal psychology in New York City and is a narrative painter whose work resignifies Jewish, mystical, and archetypal themes in contemporary terms. His paintings can be seen at www.sanforddrobart.com