In general we are not in a position to interpret the dream of another
person if he is unwilling to furnish us with the unconscious thoughts
which lie behind the dream content, and for this reason the practical
applicability of our method of dream interpretation is seriously
curtailed.[BR] But there are a certain number of dreams—in contrast with
the usual freedom displayed by the individual in fashioning his dream
world with characteristic peculiarity, and thereby making it
unintelligible—which almost every one has dreamed in the same manner,
and of which we are accustomed to assume that they have the same
significance in the case of every dreamer. A peculiar interest belongs
to these typical dreams for the reason that they probably all come from
the same sources with every person, that they are thus particularly
suited to give us information upon the sources of dreams.
Typical dreams are worthy of the most exhaustive investigation. I shall,
however, only give a somewhat detailed consideration to examples of this
species, and for this purpose I shall first select the so-called
embarrassment dream of nakedness, and the dream of the death of dear
relatives.
The dream of being naked or scantily clad in the presence of strangers
occurs with the further addition that one is not at all ashamed of it,
&c. But the dream of nakedness is worthy of our interest only when shame
and embarrassment are felt in it, when one wishes to flee or to hide,
and when one feels the strange inhibition that it is impossible to move
from the spot and that one is incapable of altering the disagreeable
situation. It is only in this connection that the dream is typical; the
nucleus of its content may otherwise be brought into all kinds of
relations or may be replaced by individual amplifications. It is
essentially a question of a disagreeable sensation of the nature of
shame, the wish to be able to hide one’s nakedness, chiefly by means of
locomotion, without being able to accomplish this. I believe that the
great majority of my readers will at some time have found themselves in
this situation in a dream.
Usually the nature and manner of the experience is indistinct. It is
usually reported, “I was in my shirt,” but this is rarely a clear image;
in most cases the lack of clothing is so indeterminate that it is
designated in the report of the dream by a set of alternatives: “I was
in my chemise or in my petticoat.” As a rule the deficiency in the
toilet is not serious enough to justify the feeling of shame attached to
it. For a person who has served in the army, nakedness is often replaced
by a mode of adjustment that is contrary to regulations. “I am on the
street without my sabre and I see officers coming,” or “I am without my
necktie,” or “I am wearing checkered civilian’s trousers,” &c.
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