ABSTRACT
Herbert Silberer gives credit to Freud in the development of his own ideas on dreams, but also makes it clear that he has also relied on his own research and experimentation to inform his theory. He begins by reiterating what he mentioned earlier: namely the frequent 'instigator' of dreams is the 'high value, high quality complex' – i.e. the 'sore spot' in our psyche that may have lingered since childhood. Silberer's panoramic understanding of dreams and their possible meanings was groundbreaking, almost breathtaking – especially for his time. Perhaps, it partially reflected his unique vantage point in the balloon, a place where 'altitude' and human potential might have synergistically fused in his psyche. To introduce his discussion of dreams, Silberer returns to the discovery that essentially elevated his profile in the psychoanalytic community back in 1909: the exploration of what he termed the 'hypnagogic phenonemon'.
