No,I am not going to shed light on Freud’s classic work ” The Interpretation of Dreams” but it’s simply a take on his methodology, which I feel does not do justice given the huge discrepancies which one notices in character of an individual. Now let’s analyze the cases, wherein an individual describes that he/she is flying in the dream. As per Freud, this is indicative of repressed sexual desires. Let’s examine this view of Freud in a critical way. I agree with one of my friend’s Jayashree view that Freud’s views are result of intensive studies that he conducted over decades.However, I am of the opinion that it’s entirely impossible to have accurate prediction on basis of these studies. Freud like Chiero came up with right predictions because he had knack in hitting upon the right meaning, being in league with some sort of god-gifted ability to predict accurately. However, for rest of us, it’s entirely impossible to be confident in predictions based on what we come to read in his books.
Before I present my view, it would be interesting to anticipate the view of Jayashree: “I see him (Sigmund Freud) as someone who had the guts to speak about a lot of things people did not want to accept. He was realistic, born way too early in time; it showed in his ideas and in his attitude. His theory may seem like a lot of crap, but it was based on intensive studies that he conducted over decades, and he included things he learnt from introspection of his own self. Like when he spoke about repressed memories, there was a time when he had memories about being sexually abused by his father though he was not sure his memories were true. Thus, he mentions in the theory that no one can be sure recalled memories can be absolutely right. Freud’s theory has not been completely disproved because he left everything to doubt. He was sure that the mind, such an extremely complex thing, could not be explained like a mathematical formula. Nothing, in this field, is absolutely black or white.”
Now let’s be more critical in anticipating that when you fly in dreams, you are more or less in grip of repressed sexual desires. Repression that differs from suppression in a sense that it occurs consciously while the latter is a conscious effort- a matter of choice. It’s not the case with repression, which is usually involuntary. Well, I am not challenging Freud’s view but I do feel that had flying been linked with repressed sexual desires nearly every teen would have talked about flying in the air experience . Or for that matter , since repressed desires for sexual intercourse is integral part of Indian people psyche at some point in their lives nearly every Indian should have flying experiences at great speed. Is that’s the case? No.
I agree that we Indians do have repressed sexual desires, more so in age marred by globalization, when movies, debates on gender issues like live-in-relationships convey the impression that having intercourse is the most important phenomenon of human life .However, since we are more or less guided by morals and ethical values, a dilemma of intense nature revolving around sexual preference has become order of things. So according to Freud every Indian should be flying at great speed but I don’t think that’s the case. So what’s the solution ? Get above such desires by fulfilling them? Having done that if one gets above such repressed sexual desires, can one claim that dream in which one flies in great speed would stop? In lighter vein, my friend Jayashree feels that if she comes to fly in dreams it’s all because she reads Harry Potter too much!
Anyway, I feel that Freud was so successful in arriving at right interpretations because he was gifted or in other words there was X factor too. For example, Cheiro has left behind number of books related with occult science but that has not produced masters like Cheiro. Even Cheiro was not able to interpret in light of his theories during his last phase of life because that X factor was now missing. In sum, it’s highly dangerous to rely on fixed line of interpretations while intercepting mysterious phenomenons of nature. In my eyes, there are many flaws in psychological assumptions, which makes healing in case of mental disorders a tough task.
One of the psychologist in a conversation with me revealed that medicines used in disorders merely suppress the symptoms. They in no way lead to removal of symptoms in totality. At this point, I a would again like to quote words of Jayashree: ” People suffering mental disorders don’t show a very good prognosis because because we aren’t equipped to deal with such delicate matters yet. Much of the human brain remains unknown; the effects of what goes on in there is even less comprehensible. What’s more, we live in a world where what is sane or not is decided by the majority who change their mind every alternate day. And it isn’t a very easy job to cure a mental disorder when the ’curer’ is just as liable to develop the disorder. None of us are immune to it; at the end of the day, no matter how hard we try, the disorder has the last laugh.”
If that’s the case, I feel it’s highly dangerous to rely too much upon psychological theories as that would more often than not produce fallacious interpretations. Psychological assumptions often leave one in the lurch.Probably, this is why many people suffering from psychological disorders fail to show any sign of progress despite being treated amid state-of-the-art facilities . Whether you accept it or not, the modern psychological theories have many missing links.
Today it has become some sort of a fashion to quote Freud even as there is no substantial basis to approve the validity of Freud’s hypothesis in tackling cases of myriad types. Let’s not be guided by them in a blind way, becoming open to better ways to tackle the mysterious world of human brain. The human brain is much more complex in its functioning and therefore it would be lethal to anticipate it with flawed notions, views and theories.
References:
The Interpretation Of Dreams
Sigmund Freud
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