Introduction to Psychoanalysis

Chapter 20 Dream Work (2)
Some words such as "because", "so", "however", etc. express the relationship between ideas. If you want to turn words into graphics, it is not easy, so these parts have to be omitted.Likewise, the content of the dream-thoughts is transformed by the dream-work into "raw materials" consisting of objects and activities.If you can present some relationships that cannot be described in pictures with more definite images, maybe you will be satisfied.In the same way, the dream-work expresses most of the latent dream-contents precisely by means of the formal features of the manifest dream-content, such as clarity or obscurity, and the division into its various parts.The number of dream segments is often equal to the number of dream themes or rising and falling latent thoughts.An initially brief dream is often the precursor or cause of a later, longer dream.The change of situation in the dream is represented by secondary latent thoughts.Therefore, the form of the dream is also important, which itself still needs to be analyzed.Multiple dreams in one night often have the same meaning, and it represents the dreamer's efforts to gradually control a growing stimulus disturbance.Elements which are particularly incomprehensible to a single dream are often represented by "double" symbols, that is, by more than one symbol.

If we continue to compare the latent and manifest thoughts of dreams, there will be unexpected discoveries in every aspect, and even the most absurd facts in dreams have their own meaning; on this point, medical scientists analyze dreams and spirits. The analyst analyzes dreams with greater differences than before.Medical scientists believe that the absurdity of dreams is due to the temporary cessation of mental activities during dreaming; while our psychoanalysis theory believes that the absurdity of dreams is that it expresses the opinion contained in the hidden meaning of the dream that "it is absurd". .The previous example "go to the theater to see a play and buy three tickets for one and a half florins", the declared opinion is: "It is ridiculous to marry so early."

In the analysis of dreams we have found that the dreamer often doubts whether an element is in the dream or whether it is indeed this element and not another.As a rule, these equivalents of doubt do not exist in the latent; doubt is induced entirely by censorship, as a result of the incomplete success of the repression.

One of the most striking discoveries we have made in our research is the way in which the dream-work deals with opposing ideas in the latent dream-content.We have seen above that the various common elements in the latent dream-content are condensed into one in the manifest dream-content.The opposite idea, however, is also treated in the same way as the common element, especially if it is often expressed with the same manifest element.If there are two sides of the manifest dream, then it represents three different meanings: one is only representing itself; the other is the opposite meaning; the third is both positive and negative meanings.How to carry out dream analysis is determined by the context.Therefore, there is no representative of the word "no" in the dream, and some of them are at least puns.

Fortunately, this curious phenomenon of dream-work finds an analogy in the history of the development of language.Most linguists maintain that in the most ancient languages, for example, all words that are antonyms to each other: strong and weak, light and dark, size, etc., all use the same root to represent, that is, the two extremes of the original text.Another example is the ancient Egyptian word "ken" originally meant "strong" and "weak".When speaking, it is supplemented with different tones and postures, which will not cause ambiguity and misunderstanding; when writing, it will add the so-called "restricted attributive", that is, add a picture, for example, draw a "ken" behind "ken". For human beings, those who stand upright with their chests upright are "strong", while those who kneel down mean "weak".It's just that in later generations, slight changes in language elements were gradually adopted to express two opposite meanings of the same original text.Therefore, "ken", which originally means "strong" and "weak", has evolved into the word "strong" (ken), and the word "weak" has become "kan".This is not only a phenomenon in ancient languages, but also in modern times, or in another case, today's common language has retained many early ambiguous words in the development of the most recent period.Consider some examples given by C. Abel:

Latin has the following ambiguous words:
Altus, meaning "high or deep," and sacer, "holy or evil," slowly shifted their roots.The actual example is as follows:

clamare = shout; clam = quietly, silently, secretly; siccus = dry; succus = juice.

In German, stimme means "sound" and "stumm" means "dumb".

If we compare words with similar meanings, there will be many such examples.for example:
English: lock = closed; and German: Loch = hole, cavity, Lücke = crack, ditch.

English: cleave = separation, German: kleben = sticking, attachment.

"Without" in English originally had both positive and negative meanings, but now it is only used to express negative.However, "with" not only has the meaning of "together", but also the meaning of "deprivation".We need only look at the words "withdraw" and "withhold" to see.

Other features of dream-work can also be confirmed in the development of language.In ancient Egyptian and later languages, different characters were formed by changing the positions of the sounds, one before the other, but the basic concepts expressed did not change.Parallel examples of the same basic concept in English and German are as follows:
Topfpot-pot (pot); Boat-tub (barrel);
Hurry (hurry) - Ruhe rest (rest);

Balkenbeam (beam) - Klobenclub (stick);
wait - tuwcntoWait (wait).

Here is an example of Latin and German parallelism:

capere - packen (toseize) (catch);
ren-Niere (kidney) (kidney).

There are many ways in which the dream work transforms words and syllables, including the meaningful inversion or the mutual substitution of antonyms that we are already familiar with.In addition, there are inversions of situations and inversions of kinship in dreams, which is like entering an absurd and wonderful world.In dreams, it is often the rabbit chasing the hunter.The order of events has also been reversed.Therefore, in the dream, the effect is mostly followed by the cause, which reminds us of stories staged in third-rate theaters, where the main character first falls to the ground and dies, and then the gunshots from both sides.Sometimes, the positions of the elements in the dream are all reversed, so when we analyze the dream, we must restore the entire order to make sense.You should remember that this phenomenon also occurs in the symbolism of dreams. For example, falling into the water and coming out of the water are both symbols of childbirth or childbirth, and the same meaning is also descending and ascending the ladder.There is no limit to the form of expressing latent thoughts, which is more favorable to the disguise of dreams.

We may call these features of the dream-work "primitive."They are based on language, and their mode of expression is an ancient system of expression, and they are as difficult to understand as primitive languages, as we will explain in detail later.

We now turn to other aspects of this issue.Obviously, the transformation of latent thoughts into perceptual forms, especially visual images, is the ultimate aim of the dream-work.This is how our minds behave.Their "raw material" and initial stage of development are impressions of the senses, or more precisely "pictures of memory" of some impressions of the senses, and then emerge the written expressions based on such pictures, coherent with each other to form thoughts.The dream-work thus causes our thoughts to have a regressive effect, to return to the old paths through which they were developed; up.

This is the meaning of the dream-work, and having understood its course, we shall place our interest in the manifest dream in a secondary position.Since manifest dreams are the only directly perceptible part of our dreams, I still want to give an overview of manifest dreams here.

It is evident that the manifest dream is no longer the most important object to our eyes, and whether it is carefully assembled or split up into a series of unrelated pictures, it means nothing to us.Although the dream representations are also meaningful, we have seen that these representations are formed by the disguise of the dream and have no necessary connection with the content of the dream, just like the doors of Italian churches, so it is not enough to know the general shape of the church. Design of structures and foundations.Occasionally, the representations of the dream also have meaning, clearly presenting the latent element.We shall, however, have to grasp the degree of disguise through the analysis of dreams before we can see this.Sometimes two components seem to be closely related, which can also lead to similar doubts; that is, by analyzing this connection, it can also be inferred that there is a similar connection between the related components in latent dreams, but we know that in latent thoughts However, the relevant elements of the dream are far apart.

Generally speaking, we cannot use one part of the manifest content of a dream to explain other parts, as if the dream were continuous and consistent.The structure of most dreams is no different from that of sticking stones, that is, various stones are glued together with cement, so that the boundaries on the surface are different from the original boundaries of the inner stones.This mechanism of the dream-work, which we have named "secondary retouching," aims at merging the immediate results of the dream-work into a coherent whole; Violation of the order, in order to achieve this goal, interlacing will do everything possible.

But let us not limitlessly exaggerate the possible achievements of the dream-work.Its activities are limited to the four categories mentioned in this chapter: the condensation, transfer, imagery, and embellishment of dreams.There is no other ability to speak of.All judgments, criticisms, surprises, and manifestations of deductive reasoning in the dream do not arise from the dream-work, and are rarely the expression of a later recollection of the dream; The dream coincides so that the intrusion into the manifest dream can be expressed.In addition, except for a very small number of conversations in the dream, most of them are not the creation of the dream work, but the dreamer imitates or supplements what he has heard and said before, and enters the "raw material" or inducement for the latent dream formation.Calculation of numbers is also not dream work. Even if there are calculations in manifest dreams, they are mostly a mixture of numbers, or estimates that do not deserve the name, and can only be regarded as a copy of a certain calculation in the hidden dream.Given this circumstance, it is no wonder that our interest aroused by the dream-work is soon transferred to the latent content, which is expressed in a disguised form in the manifest dream.However, our theoretical investigations must not divert our interest so much that we replace all dreams by latent images, and apply the comments of the former to the latter.It is not surprising that others therefore misuse the conclusions of psychoanalysis and confuse the two.We should realize that the word "dream" can be used only for the results of the dream-work, or for the form in which the latent content has been processed by the dream-work.

The work is unique and interesting; one of a kind in the spiritual world.The so-called condensation, transfer, and transformation of thoughts into reduced visual images are all our novel inventions and the fruits of our psychoanalysis.You can even infer the relationship between psychoanalysis and other sciences, especially the study of the development of language and thought, from the parallel phenomenon of dream-work.You will see how important this discovery is in the future when you understand that dream-works are typical of neurotic symptoms.

We are still not yet fully aware of the new contributions to psychology which the study of dream-analysis has made.We can put forward at least two points: first, our research confirms the existence of subconscious mental activities, that is, the latent content of dreams; second, the results of dream analysis allow us to know such a wide range of subconscious activities of the mind, which is indeed unexpected.

We shall now illustrate the various features of dreams by giving a few brief examples.

(End of this chapter)