Bergson, Henri, Dreams

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EX LIBRIS.Bertram C. S.

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NO doubt the fact that there is a great and growingrevulsion against the crass materialism of theVictorian period has much to do with the vogue whichBergson's works have obtained, but in no small respectalso do they owe their popularity to the ease and grace-fulness of their language and the persuasive manner inwhich their arguments are brought forward. Of none ofhis books is this more true than of the charming essayon Dreams just published (Dreams. By Henri Bergson,Translated, with an introduction, by Edwin E. Slosson.London: Fisher Unwin. 1914. 2s. 6d. net).

According to the writer the dream is the image ofone's mind in a disinterested condition, not, even thoughTin Witt ir '


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DREAMS


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DREAMSBY

HENRI BERGSON

TRANSLATED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BYEDWIN E. SLOSSON

SECOND IMPRESSION

T. FISHER UNWINLONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE1914


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IM INSTITUTE OF STUDIES10 L

FFB201932

English Edition^ 1914

(All rights reserved]


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INTRODUCTIONBEFORE the dawn of history mankind wasengaged in the study of dreaming. Thewise man among the ancients was pre-eminently the interpreter of dreams. Theability to interpret successfully or plausiblywas the quickest road to royal favour, asJoseph and Daniel found it to be ; failureto give satisfaction in this respect led tobanishment from court or death. Whena scholar laboriously translates a cuneiformtablet dug up from a Babylonian moundwhere it has lain buried for five thousandyears or more, the chances are that it willturn out either an astrological treatise ora dream book. If the former, we lookupon it with some indulgence ; if thelatter with pure contempt. For we know


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6 INTRODUCTIONthat the study of the stars, though under-taken for selfish reasons and pursued inthe spirit of charlatanry, led at length tophysical science, while the study of dreamshas proved as unprofitable as the dream-ing of them. Out of astrology grewastronomy. Out of oneiromancy hasgrown nothing.

That at least was substantially true upto the beginning of the present century.Dream books in all languages continuedto sell in cheap editions, and the inter-preters of dreams made a decent or, atany rate, a comfortable living out of thepoorer classes. But the psychologistrarely paid attention to dreams exceptincidentally in his study of imagery, asso-ciation, and the speed of thought. Butnow a change has come over the spiritof the times. The subject of the signi-ficance of dreams, so long ignored, hassuddenly become a matter of energeticstudy and of fiery controversy the worldover.

The cause of this revival of interest is


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INTRODUCTION 7the new point of view brought forwardby Professor Bergson in the paper whichis here made accessible to the English-reading public. This is the idea that wecan explore the unconscious substratumof our mentality, the storehouse of ourmemories, by means of dreams, for thesememories are by no means inert, but have,as it were, a life and purpose of theirown, and strive to rise into consciousnesswhenever they get a chance, even into thesemi -consciousness of a dream. To useProfessor Bergson's striking metaphor, ourmemories are packed away under pressurelike steam in a boiler, and the dream istheir escape valve.

That this is more than a mere metaphorhas been proved by Professor Freud andothers of the Vienna school, who cure casesof hysteria by inducing the patient to giveexpression to the secret anxieties andemotions which, unknown to him, havebeen preying upon his mind. The clue tothese disturbing thoughts is generallyobtained in dreams or similar states of

.04-


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8 INTRODUCTIONrelaxed consciousness. According to theFreudians a dream always means some-thing, but never what it appears to mean.It is symbolic, and expresses desires orfears which we refuse ordinarily to admitto consciousness, either because they arepainful or because they are repugnant toour moral nature. A watchman isstationed at the gate of consciousness tokeep them back, but sometimes theseunwelcome intruders slip past him indisguise. In the hands of fanaticalFreudians this theory has developed thewildest extravagances, and the voluminousliterature of psycho-analysis contains muchthat seems to the layman quite as absurdas the stuff which fills the shilling dreambook.

It is impossible to believe that the sub-consciousness of every one of us containsnothing but the foul and monstrous speci-mens which they dredge up from themental depths of their neuropathic patientsand exhibit with such pride.

Bergson's view seems to me truer as


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60 DREAMSmight dream that night that the car hadrun over my body. I watch at the bed-side of an invalid whose condition ishopeless. If at any moment, perhapswithout even being aware of it, I hadhoped against hope, I might dream thatthe invalid was cured. I should dreamof the cure, in any case, more probablythan that I should dream of the disease.In short, the events which reappear bypreference in the dream are those ofwhich we have thought most distractedly.What is there astonishing about that ?The ego of the dream is an ego that isrelaxed ; the memories which it gathersmost readily are the memories of relaxa-tion and distraction, those which do notbear the mark of effort.

It is true that in very profound slumberthe law that regulates the reappearance ofmemories may be very different. Weknow almost nothing of this profoundslumber. The dreams which fill it are,as a general rule, the dreams which weforget. Sometimes, nevertheless, we


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DREAMS 61recover something of them. And thenit is a very peculiar feeling, strange,indescribable, that we experience. Itseems to us that we have returned fromafar in space and afar in time. Theseare doubtless very old scenes, scenes ofyouth or infancy that we live over thenin all their details, with a mood which'colours them with that fresh sensation ofinfancy and youth that we seek vainly torevive when awake.

It is upon this profound slumber thatpsychology ought to direct its efforts, notonly to study the mechanism of uncon-scious memory, but to examine the moremysterious phenomena which are raised by" psychical research." I do not dareexpress an opinion upon phenomena ofthis class, but I cannot avoid attachingsome importance to the observationsgathered by so rigorous a method andwith such indefatigable zeal by the Societyfor Psychical Research. If telepathyinfluences our dreams, it is quite likelythat in this profound slumber it would


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62 DEEAMShave the greatest chance to manifest itself.But I repeat, I cannot express an opinionupon this point. I have gone forwardwith you as far as I can ; I stop upon thethreshold of the mystery. To explore themost secret depths of the unconscious, tolabour in what I have just called thesubsoil of consciousness, that will be theprincipal task of psychology in the centurywhich is opening. I do not doubt thatwonderful discoveries await it there, asimportant perhaps as have been in thepreceding centuries the discoveries of thephysical and natural sciences. That atleast is the promise which I make for it,that is the wish that in closing I havefor it.


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Bergson, Henri, Dreams

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