DREAMS 189 



According to Freud and his school, sexual impulses 

 are determinative in the shaping of most dreams. In the 

 troubled consciousness of the dreamer there are present 

 at once the current of desire and the sense of the restraint 

 which is habitually imposed upon it. Both are disguised 

 almost beyond recognition, for the dreaming mind is cu- 

 riously disingenuous and indirect. The concealment is so 

 effectual that the average reader does not readily accept 

 the interpretations placed upon the dream imagery by the 

 modern successors of Joseph and Daniel. It seems as 

 though people of an introspective turn might do them- 

 selves serious injustice by applying too rigorously the 

 Freudian ideas to self-examination. 



For such there are certain consoling considerations. 

 First of all, it may be stated that the relation between the 

 waking and the dreaming life of a man who is approxi- 

 mately normal is one of contrast rather than one of resem- 

 blance. Therefore, if a man seems to display a tendency 

 to cowardice, frivolity, deceit, or sensuality in his dreams, 

 it may be because these evil traits have been decisively 

 subordinated in his waking hours to their very opposites. 

 It is only when the will is in abeyance that they can be 

 brought to the fore. It is the best of us that goes to sleep 

 most soundly, and if there is a shocking deficiency in 

 generosity and renunciation in the apparent character 

 of the dreamer, it may be that the instruments of these 

 faculties are plunged into a narcosis which is the sign of 

 their continuous exercise during the day. It is reasonable 

 to suppose that in health the parts of the complex mech- 

 anism which are most employed while one is awake will be 

 most profoundly restrained from action when sleep has 

 come. 



For similar reasons it is unjust to conclude from the 

 unworthy impulses of a man in delirium that his previous 

 life has been one of hypocrisy and duplicity. It may 

 well be that he has been master of the situation until his 

 fine powers have been temporarily dissipated. We must 

 bear in mind that virtue does not consist in the inability 



