My browser fortunately has my homepage set to MSN.com: MSN Astrology: Free astrology Glossary. This is probably what Freud would have considered to be a "symbol dictionary" mentioned way back in one of my posts. The thing here is, the "symbols" aren't restricted to objects like "air" or "marriage", these symbols also include situations like being "alone" and so forth. After browsing through the text of this "dictionary" it seems to have some good and bad qualities in it, with regards to dream interpretation.
Personally, I don't believe in astrology so anything from this part of MSN, I usually don't take as truth. So, I don't completely believe this "dream dictionary" because it connects more with astrology rather than Freud's psychology; psychology is a science of observation (the human mind from which our dreams are born), astrology is not. Some entries contain "parallels" like "Animal" has "Astrological parallel: Virgo" and so on. So, initially, this dictionary is already losing its credibility by relying on astrology, not psychology.
If one recalls, Freud mentioned that symbols should not be used to determine the meaning of a dream entirely. Unfortunately, with the only guiding text on the site being "Your guide to interpreting your dreams," the astrology division of MSN.com in a sense tells you that the only way to interpret your dreams is by using this "dictionary".
Despite all of its seemingly bad qualities, some of the entries do seem reasonable. Watch:
Abadoned
1. A sense of emptiness, of having no one around whom you can depend on. Bewilderment.
2. Betrayal of someone who loves you, like that suffered by the children in the story of Hansel and Gretel.
3. The need for self-sufficiency.
(MSN Astrology). The first two are essentially like the majority of the "dictionary". But look at the third entry, "the need for self-sufficiency". What is this? "Need" It seems to be a wish...and Freud says that dreams are just wishes (wish fulfillments) so this site has some truth to it, or at least truthful practice based on Freud's idea of wish fulfillment.
This site is an interesting look at what modern interpretation of dreams may be like. Compared to Freud's 1900's take on dreams (as a observational science), today's people seem to view dream interpretation as something like astrology, I suppose mystical and full of "symbols". This is an interesting shift from old-content to new-content. The newer content is less "sciency".
Friday, January 25, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Was it a Dream?
Have you ever woken up and gone through your day, wondering if you really dreamt something up that night? Freud finally touches upon the topic of the loss of dreams. To start off, he tells us how unreliable our memories are: "...everything goes to prove that our memory reproduces the dream not only incompletely but also untruthfully, in a falsifying manner. As, on the one hand, we may doubt whether what we dreamed was really as disconnected as it is in our recollections, so on the other hand we may doubt whether a dream was really as coherent as our account of it." Basically, Freud is trying to say that our memories are really unreliable. In that particular quotation, Freud says that our memories tend to remember our dreams incorrectly. We might recall dreams that are broken up into little pieces that don't fit together, just because our memory forgot certain parts of the dream. Conversely, we might find that our dreams fit together too well because our memory has pulled other thoughts in, tying the separate pieces together when they really weren't supposed to be connected. Freud concludes, "thus we are in danger of being deprived of the very object whose value we have undertaken to determine." To sum up: we could possibly never find the true meaning of our dreams through dream interpretation, because our memories just aren't perfect.
But Freud tells us not to worry: he says that our memories may alter our dreams in this way to hide details (censorship). Freud prescribes a test to figure out the details being hidden: "If the first report of a dream seems not very comprehensible, I request the dreamer to repeat it. This he rarely does in the same words. But the passages in which the expression is modified are thereby made known to me as the weak points of the dream's disguise...These are the points from which the analysis may start." So, if you're interpreting any dream (yours or someone else's) and it doesn't sound too coherent, repeat it (or have them repeat it). Whatever changed in the second recall are "the weak points of the dream's disguise" (censoring of details).
As a final note, Freud tells us that forgetting parts of dreams, as we naturally do, is not important. After all, what we're really after is the meaning behind it, not the dream itself. He says that this "is possible to discover from a single remaining fragment."
But Freud tells us not to worry: he says that our memories may alter our dreams in this way to hide details (censorship). Freud prescribes a test to figure out the details being hidden: "If the first report of a dream seems not very comprehensible, I request the dreamer to repeat it. This he rarely does in the same words. But the passages in which the expression is modified are thereby made known to me as the weak points of the dream's disguise...These are the points from which the analysis may start." So, if you're interpreting any dream (yours or someone else's) and it doesn't sound too coherent, repeat it (or have them repeat it). Whatever changed in the second recall are "the weak points of the dream's disguise" (censoring of details).
As a final note, Freud tells us that forgetting parts of dreams, as we naturally do, is not important. After all, what we're really after is the meaning behind it, not the dream itself. He says that this "is possible to discover from a single remaining fragment."
Friday, January 11, 2008
Numbers
Freud starts off the last bit of his "common dreams" section with dreams containing numbers. Dream content, he says, "may be shown in an instructive manner by the numbers...which occur in dreams." Essentially, numbers are significant pieces of data that represent content (as do symbols). He gives us an interesting (but farfetched) example. There is a lady who has enrolled her daughter at school in Vienna. The lady stays in Vienna only because her daughter studies there. Meanwhile, she is under Freud's treatment and she has a dream where she is paying for something. In this dream, her daughter takes out "3 florins 65 kreuzer from her purse" to pay, and she replies "What are you doing? It costs only 21 kreuzer." Freud jumps right to the connection with the numbers and says that the 3 florins and 65 kreuzer represents 365 days, i.e.: 365 days in a year, (which refers to an academic year). 21 kreuzer relates to the duration of Freud's treatment, in days. So, he says that the lady wants her daughter to stay in school 365 more days so she can stay longer and do another session of treatment. Quite odd.
Freud also shows us that dreams cannot do math, period. A man dreams that he is sitting in a house of a family he once knew. He asks the girl next to him, Amy, "How old are you?" She replies, "I was born in 1882." And he "calculates", "Ah, then you are 28 years old." The dream was dreamt in 1898...so, that was not possible...she would've been only 16. The thing Freud overlooks here, is what if the dreamer was dreaming in a different time period than his own? Like, he dreamt that dream as if it was in the year 1910, when the girl would really be 28. Since Freud does not mention this, I consider it bad writing...because even though it is general instinct to assume that the dream was "dreamt" in the same year as the real year, we are not really sure. I feel Freud should have mentioned that, just to clarify. Regardless, the point is that dreams are unable to do calculations (this is probably not true all the time...) and this is because the subconscious treats numbers the same way it does with other dream material; It just takes pieces of the material and strings them together, like it did with the man's numbers. It just picked out 1882 (the year he was married), and 28 (an estimate at the age of one of Freud's clients whom he was interested in). The subconscious picked those numbers for their significance, but it just put them together, saying that the current year, 1898, minus 1882 somehow equaled 28. (I hope that makes sense).
Freud also shows us that dreams cannot do math, period. A man dreams that he is sitting in a house of a family he once knew. He asks the girl next to him, Amy, "How old are you?" She replies, "I was born in 1882." And he "calculates", "Ah, then you are 28 years old." The dream was dreamt in 1898...so, that was not possible...she would've been only 16. The thing Freud overlooks here, is what if the dreamer was dreaming in a different time period than his own? Like, he dreamt that dream as if it was in the year 1910, when the girl would really be 28. Since Freud does not mention this, I consider it bad writing...because even though it is general instinct to assume that the dream was "dreamt" in the same year as the real year, we are not really sure. I feel Freud should have mentioned that, just to clarify. Regardless, the point is that dreams are unable to do calculations (this is probably not true all the time...) and this is because the subconscious treats numbers the same way it does with other dream material; It just takes pieces of the material and strings them together, like it did with the man's numbers. It just picked out 1882 (the year he was married), and 28 (an estimate at the age of one of Freud's clients whom he was interested in). The subconscious picked those numbers for their significance, but it just put them together, saying that the current year, 1898, minus 1882 somehow equaled 28. (I hope that makes sense).
Friday, January 4, 2008
VI
The Roman numeral VI (6), is pronounced "sex" in Latin. This is a really bad unintentional pun since the chapter in which most of Freud's sexual symbol content is none other than Chapter VI, the chapter on symbolism.
On general symbolism, Freud states the obvious when he says that "dreams employ...symbolism to give a disguised representation to their latent [i.e.: unconscious] thoughts". He goes on saying that "it is impossible to arrive at the interpretation of a dream if one excludes dream-symbolism." This is true; if the unconscious thoughts are hidden, then symbolism must be employed to get the entire picture (anything else, and you're missing out on key details and processes). However, Freud gives us a warning, "At the same time, I must expressly warn...against overestimating the importance of symbols in the interpretation of dreams, restricting the work of dream-translation to the translation of symbols, and neglecting the technique of utilizing the associations of the dreamer." Basically, don't use symbolism, exclusively, 'cause then you're also missing out on the dreamer. Symbols are symbols, everyone has them, but they gain true, unique meaning when you consider the details and associations specific to the dreamer.
On sexual symbols, Freud has quite an imaginative list. For the phallus, there are trees, sticks, and buildings (obvious), and then there are umbrellas (which "open" up, or expand). For females, there are ovens, and cupboards (things with open spaces), and then there are round tables (Freud is implying that women generally have no "corners", i.e.: they have "curves"). Further symbolism includes machinery for the testes (they work all the time, and "never" tire)...and then there are hair cuts which represent castration. Many of these are gigantic stretches. Here's an example that Freud uses: A 35 year old man remembers a dream in his childhood where regularly gets two pears. The man (or boy) eats one and leaves the other on a window sill. Then he woke up, thinking it was real and asks his mother for the other pear (there isn't one to begin with). Now, out of the dream, the man's mother breast-fed him a little longer than usual. So, what Freud comes up with is that the pears are the breasts and the window sill is the bosom. Eating one pear represents breast-feeding (the action has been done, so the pear is gone). Seeking another pear is seeking breast-feeding again. I say, this is a stretch...but with Freud, a lot of things seem far-fetched.
Note that I am skipping a lot of inappropriate content and so I'll finish up with Freud's specific warning with regard to sexual symbols: "In dream-interpretation this importance of the sexual complexes must never be forgotten, though one must not, of course, exaggerate it to the exclusion of all other factors." I think he's forgotten this himself, because he often uses sexual symbolism alone, or that's how it seems. Regardless, this warning, in conjunction with what I mentioned at the very beginning (Freud's warning on symbols), are useful guidelines to avoid exaggeration with dream-interpretation.
On general symbolism, Freud states the obvious when he says that "dreams employ...symbolism to give a disguised representation to their latent [i.e.: unconscious] thoughts". He goes on saying that "it is impossible to arrive at the interpretation of a dream if one excludes dream-symbolism." This is true; if the unconscious thoughts are hidden, then symbolism must be employed to get the entire picture (anything else, and you're missing out on key details and processes). However, Freud gives us a warning, "At the same time, I must expressly warn...against overestimating the importance of symbols in the interpretation of dreams, restricting the work of dream-translation to the translation of symbols, and neglecting the technique of utilizing the associations of the dreamer." Basically, don't use symbolism, exclusively, 'cause then you're also missing out on the dreamer. Symbols are symbols, everyone has them, but they gain true, unique meaning when you consider the details and associations specific to the dreamer.
On sexual symbols, Freud has quite an imaginative list. For the phallus, there are trees, sticks, and buildings (obvious), and then there are umbrellas (which "open" up, or expand). For females, there are ovens, and cupboards (things with open spaces), and then there are round tables (Freud is implying that women generally have no "corners", i.e.: they have "curves"). Further symbolism includes machinery for the testes (they work all the time, and "never" tire)...and then there are hair cuts which represent castration. Many of these are gigantic stretches. Here's an example that Freud uses: A 35 year old man remembers a dream in his childhood where regularly gets two pears. The man (or boy) eats one and leaves the other on a window sill. Then he woke up, thinking it was real and asks his mother for the other pear (there isn't one to begin with). Now, out of the dream, the man's mother breast-fed him a little longer than usual. So, what Freud comes up with is that the pears are the breasts and the window sill is the bosom. Eating one pear represents breast-feeding (the action has been done, so the pear is gone). Seeking another pear is seeking breast-feeding again. I say, this is a stretch...but with Freud, a lot of things seem far-fetched.
Note that I am skipping a lot of inappropriate content and so I'll finish up with Freud's specific warning with regard to sexual symbols: "In dream-interpretation this importance of the sexual complexes must never be forgotten, though one must not, of course, exaggerate it to the exclusion of all other factors." I think he's forgotten this himself, because he often uses sexual symbolism alone, or that's how it seems. Regardless, this warning, in conjunction with what I mentioned at the very beginning (Freud's warning on symbols), are useful guidelines to avoid exaggeration with dream-interpretation.
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