Let me illustrate these points of criticism of the psychoanalytic methods,
by the analysis of a sample dream; speaking first as the dreamer giving the
simple narrative; next as Freud applying the reductive method; then as Jung
employing the constructive method; and finally explaining the dream, as I
would myself prefer, by the use of what I may call the reconstitutive
method. The dream itself, for reasons, that will be obvious, I call the
"Scratch-Reflex Dream."
"I was looking down upon a microscope from the right side of the lens-tube,
and could see, laid upon the stage, a glass slide. Under the cover-glass, in
place of an ordinary specimen, there was supposed to be a new reflex,--one
of those discovered by my friend the neurologist, Dr. X., whose scrawly
handwriting I recognized on the label. I was anxiously trying to decipher
what he had written, and was having the same trouble with it that I had
experienced in real life with the record of some of his dreams, which I had
interpreted successfully. The handwriting on the label, as I gazed, appeared
less and less like script and more like disconnected, scratchy lines or
hachures, owing to the formation of lacunae in the inky traces. It became
scratchier and scratchier as I wakened. On coming to my senses . . . "
"That is enough," we hear Dr. Freud saying, "It is obvious what kind of
reflex-action you have in mind! The word 'slide' is of a punning nature,
and in conjunction with the easy moveability of the microscope-barrel
suggests a meaning akin to that of dreams of skating and sliding, which are
usually sexual. From the standpoint of symbolics, the geometric forms and
relative positions of cover-glass and microscope suggest allusions to the
generative powers of nature--like the phallicism of the ancient Egyptian
religion, whose sacred emblems of sexual objects still confront the explorer
and the tourist. Here, the 'stage' of the microscope refers obviously to
the theatre, so often the scene of exhibitionistic activities. Your dream
represents the male and the female principles in such a manner that it must
mean a survival of infantile curiosity related to the mystery of parenthood.
Sir, this proves your Libido to have been fixated at the 'voyeur'
level."[25]
"Not so fast," says Dr. Jung, while the dreamer remains nonplussed at the
foregoing example of the reductive method. "It is not good for the health
to overvalue the past, as my colleague does. Nous avons change tout cela,
in Zurich. Your curiosity, according to the constructive method, is a
demand for satisfaction in new and better ways than those of infancy. I will
prove this to be so, by an investigation of the dream material. This Dr. X.,
what of him and his handwriting?"
The dreamer then explains that Dr. X. had consented to have his dreams
analyzed, and that the outcome had been the uncovering of his secret
intention to be married; the dreamer also states that Dr. X. had written
some very original papers on periosteal reflexes.
"Ah," says Dr. Jung, as it were, making quotations from his own writings,
(as indicated in italics) "one has only to hear this dream material in order
to understand at once that the dream is not so much the fulfilment of
infantile desires as it is the expression of biological duties hitherto
neglected because of . . . infantilism.([6]) To be sure these are sexual
objects that you are looking at in the dream, as Freud would have it. But
your interest in them is not so primitive as it would seem. For do you not,
symbolically speaking, 'look down upon' them in your fancy. And moreover,
since you are looking at these emblems of parental union 'from the right
side,' does it not therefore mean that you are contemplating something
legitimate; namely, marriage on your own account-- not exhibitionism on the
part of others. One infers you wish to put away childish sex-curiosity and
fulfil your destiny as a parent. In this case symbolical value, not concrete
value must be attached to the sexual phantasy."
At this point, the dreamer makes free to admit that he is a bachelor, and
that he would not be averse to marriage if he could manage to take a wife
and at the same time keep up his research work.
"Precisely," Dr. Jung might say, rapidly turning these clues to account,
"your interest in future advancement is clearly reflected in your anxiety to
decipher the handwriting of Dr. X., with whom you have identified yourself.
You desire to emulate his scientific achievements; his published work on
reflexes excites your ambition. The handwriting on the label, which
perplexes you, is an allusion not only to his authorship but to the
difficulties in the way of your own contribution to the science of dream
interpretation. By imitating Dr. X's triumph you wish to make your marriage
possible. Your Horme or elan vital is pushing you to evolve new and higher
forms of the Libido. You are sublimating!"[26]