Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 1.djvu/75

 WOMB AND BIRTH SAVING PHANTASIES IN DREAMS 67

to the second floor. I opened a door and entered a room which had no other exit. All aroirnd I saw stands on which were coffins. My brother L. stood in the middle of the room and received me with the words: "You have come at last, we have been expecting you." I had the feeling that in one of the coffins lay my sister, although I did not see her. At that moment a stranger who had been following me appeared. He opened the door wishing to enter, but remained standing in the doorway. I called to him in ^harp but calm tones; 'What are you looking for here? This is the resting place of all my brothers and sisters.' He immediately drew back and closed the door. I turned to my brother and awoke."

A serious and lasting sorrow over a youthful friend who had died constituted the background of the dream. The dream begins with a pronounced longing for death. Freud has with great del- icacy and psychological insight described the condition in which the sorrowing person finds himself engaged on the "work of sorrow", to whom the command is issued to withdraw from the lost one all his libidinous object charges.* In a moment of egoistic joy at being still alive the unconscious touches on the situation of birth and the place of abode before birth. The dream originated from such a narcissistic self-reflection, yet in it the gloomy fundamental frame of mind also comes to expression. I will pass over the interpretation of the details and only mention in a general way the similarities between this and the preceding dream. The proof of the correctness of this idea I obtained when my brother recounted a third dream. This he had dreamt before he knew of my contributon on the "Labyrinth'', and was now- able to recall.

"I found myself with a friend (not the one sorrowed for, but another who is also dead) on the water in a boat. The boat over- turned on account of the stormy weather, and we both fell into the water. My friend was sinking and he called out beckoning me with his hand. But I saved myself and after a severe struggle got to the shore."

The saving out of the water is, as we know, the primary form of representation of the birth dream.

1 The equating of grave and womb is found in the unconscious thoughts of all peoples.

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