Ödipus der Rätsellöser - Der Mensch zwischen Schuld und Erlösung

In his latest work, Dethlefsen unravels the mystery of tragedy and, by extension, the mystery of our very humanity. In ancient Greece, performances of tragedies provided the community with a way to release psychological pressure in a socially accepted manner. People recognized themselves in the faceless figures on stage: as they experienced their fates, they freed themselves from their pent-up conflicts. The absence of this form of collective psychotherapy in our materialistic culture is, according to Dethlefsen, deeply regrettable. For ancient tragedy, particularly the Oedipus myth, still offers guidance for contemporary individuals.

We project our problems onto the so-called environment and confront its themes and characters in a combative manner. In doing so, we fail to understand that the roots of all conflicts, even if unconsciously, lie within ourselves. In a thorough examination of the two tragedies King Oedipus and Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles, Thorwald Dethlefsen develops that life-affirming fundamental pattern that underlies every fate: Humanity acts within the polarity of guilt and failure and can only attain redemption by learning to shed the external and embark on the journey inward.