Flight

With the continued refinement of psycho-analytical theory and practice it is to be expected that Freud's original contributions to symbol-interpretation should have been enriched and expanded. In fact, Freud anticipated this growth, stating in his lectures, “This is some material for a study of dream symbolism. It is not complete and could be both extended and made deeper.” (1) Continuing, he summarized the sources from which many of his interpretations were drawn, pointing out, in effect, certain psychological springs from which still further material would come bubbling forth probably as long as there are cultures to be studied.

“We derive our knowledge,” he said, “from widely different sources: from fairy tales and myths, jokes and witticisms, from folklore, i. e., from what we know of the manners and customs, sayings and songs of different peoples and from poetic and colloquial usage of languages. Everywhere in these various fields the same symbolism occurs and in many of them we can understand it without being taught anything about it. If we consider these various sources individually, we shall find so many parallels to dream-symbolism that we are bound to be convinced of the correctness of our interpretations.” (2)

In The Ego and The Id, Freud discusses the working out of thought processes into the conscious and describes the dynamics of verbal and picture symbols. Speaking of the latter, he mentions “… the importance of optical memory-residues — those of things (as opposed to words) …”. He continues, “… it is possible for thought-processes to become conscious through a reversion to visual residues, and that in many people this seems to be a favourite method.”