The Interpretation of Dreams

the like, it will be because he permits himself
to be critical of them.
I have noticed in the course of my psycho-analytical work that the
psychological state of a man in an attitude of reflection is
entirely different from that of a man who is observing his psychic
processes. In reflection there is a greater play of psychic activity
than in the most attentive self-observation; this is shown even by the
tense attitude and the wrinkled brow of the man in a state of
reflection, as opposed to the mimic tranquillity of the man
observing himself. In both cases there must be concentrated attention,
but the reflective man makes use of his critical faculties, with the
result that he rejects some of the thoughts which rise into
consciousness after he has become aware of them, and abruptly
interrupts others, so that he does not follow the lines of thought
which they would otherwise open up for him; while in respect of yet
other thoughts he is able to behave in such a manner that they do
not become conscious at all- that is to say, they are suppressed
before they are perceived. In self-observation, on the other hand,
he has but one task- that of suppressing criticism; if he succeeds
in doing this, an unlimited number of thoughts enter his consciousness
which would otherwise have eluded his grasp. With the aid of the
material thus obtained- material which is new to the self-observer- it
is possible to achieve the interpretation of pathological ideas, and
also that of dream-formations. As will be seen, the point is to induce
a psychic state which is in some degree analogous, as regards the
distribution of psychic energy (mobile attention), to the state of the
mind before falling asleep- and also, of course, to the hypnotic
state. On falling asleep the undesired ideas emerge, owing to the
slackening of a certain arbitrary (and, of course, also critical)
action, which is allowed to influence the trend of our ideas; we are
accustomed to speak of fatigue as the reason of this slackening; the
emerging undesired ideas are changed into visual and auditory
images. In the condition which it utilized for the analysis of
dreams and pathological ideas, this activity is purposely and
deliberately renounced, and the psychic energy thus saved (or some
part of it) is employed in attentively tracking the undesired thoughts
which now come to the surface- thoughts which retain their identity as
ideas (in which the condition differs from the state of falling
asleep). Undesired ideas are thus changed into desired ones.
{II ^paragraph 25}
There are many people who do not seem to find it easy to adopt the
required attitude toward the apparently "freely rising" ideas, and
to renounce the criticism which is otherwise applied to them. The
"undesired ideas" habitually evoke the most violent resistance,
which seeks to prevent them from coming to the surface. But if we
may credit our great poet-philosopher Friedrich Schiller, the
essential condition of