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Movement in dreams. (Harold Kelman; Sept. 28, 1949) To understand the abstract concept of process, I shall start with the concept movement. I am urging a greater consciousness of our capacity to think abstractly and to develop that capacity. The concept of wholes is an abstraction. Humans limit their horizon by demanding visual concretions. This is based on the false assumption that anything of which a picture cannot be drawn does not exist.
Dr. Horney has used the concept of movement in speaking of moves toward, against, and away from others. In her recent work on attitudes toward self, she speaks of moves away from the self toward glory, and against the self, as expressions of self-hate. The concept of movement is present throughout the biological and physical sciences. I shall use the words “movement,” “moves” and “moving” as we are accustomed to hear them, but in all instances the connotation shall be that of moving. The word moving more appropriately connotes the concept of process.
Movement is an essential aspect of process. Also, movement is a psychophysically neutral term. By “psychophysical,” I mean it is equally applicable to psychological and to physical processes. Starting with psychophysically neutral terms, we will be able to arrive at a more adequate understanding of disorders now referred to as psychosomatic. Movement manifests itself in physical and psychological processes.
Neutral terms are words used as concepts which have a minimum of value connotations. Psychophysically neutral concepts, if they are nuclear, can act as a corrective because they are multidimensional. They keep things open and loose much longer. They retard our tendency to form closed systems too early. If we start with neutral concepts, we can collect the evidence more objectively. The value aspects subsequently attached to such observed instances can then have greater validity.
A dream is not a phenomenal entity. It is not static or circumscribed. We abstract a segment of our though