According to Freud every dream is the fulfilment of a
wish. Do you mean to tell me that I wish to be in such a company?"

I explained that the dream as told is not the dream in reality, the
meaning lies behind the symbolism, and it can be got at by the method
of free association. I also explained that I did not believe the Freud
theory, that the dream is always a wish, and suggested that Jung was a
surer guide.

"According to Jung," I said, "the dream is often compensatory. In your
own case you are consciously living the higher life, but there is
another side of life that you are ignoring, and that is the vulgar pub
side. Your dream is a hint that the vulgar side of life cannot be
ignored. You may ignore it consciously, but your unconscious will seek
the other side in your dreams."

This seemed to make him think.

"But the saints and martyrs!" he cried. "Think of the thousands who
crucified the flesh so that they might win the everlasting crown! Do
you tell me that they were all wrong?"

I lit my pipe.

"I think they were," I said, "for they merely repressed their animal
life. They thought that they had conquered it, but they only buried
it. The real saint is the man who faces his flesh boldly and loves it
too, just as much as he loves his God."

Then the minister fled.

The interpretation of dreams is one of the most fascinating studies in
the world. The method as evolved by Freud is simple, although the
interpretation is anything but simple. Obviously the average dream has
no meaning. You dream that a horse speaks to you, and then it turns
into your brother. It is all nonsense, yet behind the nonsense is a
serious meaning. Not long ago I was analysing a girl of sixteen.
About a week after the analysis began she brought a dream which began
thus: "I am invisible, and I have a tail that I can take off or put on."

Following the method of free association I said to her: "What comes
into your mind about being invisible?"

"Oh, I've often wanted to be invisible, for then I could do what I
liked; then I would be free."

Being invisible therefore meant being free.

Then I asked her associations to the tail part.

"Tail . . . monkeys at the Zoo; they are poor things always kept behind
bars. Just like me. I forgot to say that my tail wasn't on in the
dream."

Tail therefore meant something associated with confinement and
restriction. It is significant that her tail was unattached. I took
i