We shall learn more by testing the remaining component parts of the
dream as to their occurrence in the dream thoughts. _The coloured plate_
refers (_cf._ the analysis on p. 145) to a new subject, the criticism
passed upon my work by colleagues, and to a subject already represented
in the dream—my hobbies—and also to a childish recollection in which I
pull to pieces the book with the coloured plates; the dried specimen of
the plant relates to an experience at the Gymnasium centering about and
particularly emphasizing the herbarium. Thus I see what sort of relation
exists between the dream content and dream thoughts: Not only do the
elements of the dream have a manifold determination in the dream
thoughts, but the individual dream thoughts are represented in the dream
by many elements. Starting from an element of the dream the path of
associations leads to a number of dream thoughts; and from a dream
thought to several elements of the dream. The formation of the dream
does not, therefore, take place in such fashion that a single one of the
dream thoughts or a group of them furnishes the dream content with an
abridgment as its representative therein, and that then another dream
thought furnishes another abridgment as its representative—somewhat as
popular representatives are elected from among the people—but the whole
mass of the dream thoughts is subjected to a certain elaboration, in the
course of which those elements that receive the greatest and completest
support stand out in relief, analogous, perhaps, to election by
_scrutins des listes_. Whatever dream I may subject to such
dismemberment, I always find the same fundamental principle
confirmed—that the dream elements are constructed from the entire mass
of the dream thoughts and that every one of them appears in relation to
the dream thoughts to have a multiple determination.
It is certainly not out of place to demonstrate this relation of the
dream content to the dream thoughts by means of a fresh example, which
is distinguished by a particularly artful intertwining of reciprocal
relations. The dream is that of a patient whom I am treating for
claustrophobia (fear in enclosed spaces). It will soon become evident
why I feel myself called upon to entitle this exceptionally intellectual
piece of dream activity in the following manner:
II. “_A Beautiful Dream_”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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