Thoughts on Freud?
Please note that the names used in this article are chosen at random and all connections to real life are purely coincidental. This is pure fiction.
Several users are having deeply meaningful conversations online.
LeRussell: Hey, long time no see.
TheHume: Yeah, good to see you.
LeRussell: I had a crazy dream last night.
TheHume: What was it?
LeRussell: I was on this mountain, on top of a unicorn. The crazy horse started to fly and I thought I was going to fall off and die. I hung onto its pink mane but ended up slipping. I woke up just before I hit the ground. It felt so real.
TheHume: Haha well you know dreams don’t mean anything, right?
LeRussell: I agree, we can’t decipher them using logic and there is no reasoning, so yeah.
ORex: I disagree. Dreams are reflections of your deep, dark secrets.
LeRussell: Please don’t tell me that my subconscious mind is a fan of unicorns.
TheHume: That’d be hilarious
ORex: Well, think about it. You have your primal, uncontrolled desires deep down in your mind. For example, you have an innate desire to live within you. This desire is so passionate that you will do anything to prolong your own life. There are many other desires too, such as lust A famous philosopher and psychologist (wonder who that could be) called these desires the id. Oftentimes, you suppress many of these ids. You know that you shouldn’t let your desires overcome you all the time. Your more rational mind that keeps your id in check is the ego.
LeRussell: On what basis does the ego make decisions? There must be some kind of guideline, such as “Don’t eat a burger in this job interview, no matter how hungry your id is.”
ORex: Great question. The master of the ego is the superego, which is made up of external factors such as laws and social norms. It governs the ego pretty well. In your example of the job interview, the social norm of basic manners would have curbed you from ordering two quarter-pounders into your future job’s office.
TheHume: But how does all of this have to do with dreams?
ORex: That’s precisely where I was going to go. When you’re asleep, the superego and ego both turn off. You have absolutely no rational control over your thoughts and actions. This situation leaves the id free to do whatever it wants. So what you see in your dreams is your unbridled id.
LeRussell: So my purest, most primal desires and thoughts are just telling me to fall off a unicorn?
ORex: Absolutely.
