Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/97

 PSYCHO ANALYSIS AND THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 351

stages are reached; but certain other organs and structures persist

ji..> ,, in rudimentary form long after their functions have ceased. But,

j;f' unUke the embryonic organs which disappear after fulfilling what-

tr ever role they may play during the embryonic phase of our phys-

^1 ical existence, unlike the rudimentary structures which are carried


 * ^ forward but lie dormant and useless in the adult, the mental

.| vestiges of our earlier existence, our primordial cravings, our racial

'^'; instincts persist in their raw and naked form alongside the more

complex, subtle emotions, ideals and aspirations which we acquire

,..: ' in later life as the heritage of historic civilization. Our raw instincts

0k not only persist but so long as they are allowed to remain 'un-


 * §^ charted' within us they compete with consciousness for mastery

• ;^^ over our conduct.

Man's unconscious, the bearer ol the racial past, the instinct- ive and primordial in human nature, functions long before con- sciousness is awakened. Its beginnings cannot be traced. It seems to be always present. It reaches far beyond any stage in our in- ^f dividual development which can be subjected to direct investiga-

^^ tion. All we know is that during intra-uterine existence the foetus

^■; ■ already shows reactions which must have a psychic counterpart,

Ije it ever so vague. Certain it is that our mental life does not begin with consciousness; and consequently any psychology that concerns itself with consciousness to the total exclusion of the unconscious is neglecting the greater for the lesser part of our mental existence. The unconscious has back of it a biologic history of millions of years compared to which the phyletic period of man's consciousness is like the efflorescence of an hour. A proper • knowledge of the unconscious will enable us the better to pene- trate the^ mental processes of primitive folk and to reconstruct, as it were, the kind ot world in which man's ancestors moved, lived ■ and had their being. Finally we can understand neither the mental aspects of childhood and infancy nor the true requirements of education unless we appreciate the significance, extent, operation and consequences of our unconscious mental processes.

Sleep is a state during which it is possible for the unconscious within us to find a sort of vicarious expression. Dreams are largely the expression of the unconscious, hence the significance of the meaning of dreams; hence the fundamental importance of Freud's discovery of the technique and methodology for the interpretation of dreams.

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