ABSTRACT
At first glance it may look as though Freud has missed the point. The impulses that are getting expressed in my dream are largely outside of my conscious awareness; and certainly not under my control. Why should I blame myself for my dreams – even if they express evil impulses? They are, after all, not up to me. Freud would only take issue with the words ‘after all’. His point is not about blaming oneself for the dream or for the impulses expressed in it. It is about holding myself responsible for what I do next. I do this in part by coming to recognize these impulses as part of me. And in part I do this by acquiring the practical skill by which I can recognize these impulses as they arise – and by which I can either modify or redirect them. This is not an activity by which I blame myself for impulses not under my control, it is an activity by which I expand my living repertoire and bring these impulses into the domain of my life. (As we shall see in Chapter 6, the former is the activity of the superego, the latter is the activity of the ego.) Freud’s point is that if I don’t engage in this practical activity of making these impulses my own, if I leave them split-off and unconscious, they will eventually leak out into public space – and then others will blame me.
