ABSTRACT
Since self-knowledge is an aim of psychoanalytic procedure the equipment for attaining knowledge, the function and apparatus of pre-conception, must be correspondingly important. Growth and a capacity for growth are equally fundamental. Choice of the Oedipus myth as a reservoir on which to draw for symbols to replace the horizontal axis enables to illustrate a feature of the myth as a pre-conception. The Oedipus myth may be regarded as an instrument that served Freud in his discovery of psychoanalysis, and psychoanalysis as an instrument that enabled Freud to discover the Oedipus complex. The facility with which subtle shades of feeling can be expressed makes the communication of what appear to be ideas an ideal vehicle for the communication of premonitions; the ‘ideas’ should be scrutinized accordingly.
