Association of ideas; Memory; Paragrammatism; Psychoanalysis; Psychology, Pathological; Repression (Psychology)
I have observed in myself a simple and easily explained example, which
is probably a good model for similar occurrences of those familiar
“remarkable coincidences” wherein we meet a person of whom we were
just thinking. During a walk through the inner city a few days after
the title of “Professor” was bestowed on me, which carries with it a
great deal of prestige even in monarchical cities, my thoughts suddenly
merged into a childish revenge-fantasy against a certain married
couple. Some months previous they had called me to see their little
daughter who suffered from an interesting compulsive manifestation
following the appearance of a dream. I took a great interest in the
case, the genesis of which I believed I could surmise, but the parents
were unfavourable to my treatment, and gave me to understand that
they thought of applying to a foreign authority who cured by means
of hypnotism. I now fancied that after the failure of this attempt,
the parents begged me to resume my treatment, that they now had full
confidence in me, etc. But I answered: “Now that I have become a
professor, you have confidence in me. The title has made no change in
my ability; if you could not use me when I was instructor you can get
along without me now that I am a professor.” At this point my fantasy
was interrupted by a loud “Good evening, Professor!” and as I looked up
there passed me the same couple on whom I had just taken this imaginary
vengeance.
The next reflection destroyed the semblance of the miraculous. I was
walking towards this couple on a straight, almost deserted street;
glancing up hastily at a distance of perhaps twenty steps from me,
I had spied and realized their stately personalities; but this
perception, following the model of a negative hallucination, was set
aside by certain emotionally accentuated motives and then asserted
itself in the apparently spontaneous emerging fantasy.
A similar experience is related by Brill, which also throws some light
on the nature of telepathy.
“While engrossed in conversation during our customary Sunday evening
dinner at one of the large New York restaurants, I suddenly stopped
and irrelevantly remarked to my wife, ‘I wonder how Dr. R. is doing
in Pittsburg.’ She looked at me much astonished and said: ‘Why, that
is exactly what I have been thinking for the last few seconds! Either
you have transferred this thought to me or I have transferred it to
you. How can you otherwise explain this strange phenomenon?’ I had
to admit that I could offer no solution. Our conversation throughout
the dinner showed not the remotest association to Dr. R., nor, so far
as our memories went, had we heard or spoken of him for some time.
Being a sceptic, I refused to admit that there was anything mysterious
about it, although inwardly I felt quite uncertain. To be frank, I was
somewhat mystified.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account