whether or not he really shows her anything._[EM]
I must mention still another series of associations which often serves
the purpose of concealing sexual meaning both in dreams and in the
neurosis,—I refer to the change of residence series. To change one’s
residence is readily replaced by “to remove,” an ambiguous expression
which may have reference to clothing. If the dream also contains a
“lift” (elevator), one may think of the verb “to lift,” hence of lifting
up the clothing.
I have naturally an abundance of such material, but a report of it would
carry us too far into the discussion of neurotic conditions. Everything
leads to the same conclusion, that no special symbolising activity of
the mind in the formation of dreams need be assumed; that, on the
contrary, the dream makes use of such symbolisations as are to be found
ready-made in unconscious thought, because these better satisfy the
requirements of dream formation, on account of their dramatic fitness,
and particularly on account of their exemption from the censor.
(_e_) _Examples—Arithmetic Speeches in the Dream_
Before I proceed to assign to its proper place the fourth of the factors
which control the formation of the dream, I shall cite several examples
from my collection of dreams for the purpose partly of illustrating the
co-operation of the three factors with which we are acquainted, and
partly of supplying proof for assertions which have been made without
demonstration or of drawing irrefutable inferences from them. For it has
been very difficult for me in the foregoing account of the dream
activity to demonstrate my conclusions by means of examples. Examples
for the individual thesis are convincing only when considered in
connection with a dream interpretation; when they are torn from their
context they lose their significance, and, furthermore, a dream
interpretation, though not at all profound, soon becomes so extensive
that it obscures the thread of the discussion which it is intended to
illustrate. This technical motive may excuse me for now mixing together
all sorts of things which have nothing in common but their relation to
the text of the foregoing chapter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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