Discussion of Albert J. Lubin's Article, The Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Freud's Wolf-Man: A Hypothesis (With an Epilogue Based on Visits with the Wolf-Man)

Dr. Lubin has presented in a careful and thoughtful manner impressive material to uphold his interesting hypothesis that the Wolf-Man identified himself with the crucified Jesus and that this current of thought was also incorporated into the famous childhood anxiety dream of Freud's patient. In a convincing manner, evidence is presented to show that the Wolf-Man attended church as a child, saw religious rituals, religious pictures and heard religious stories. Elements from those experiences were then woven into the dream.

In his paper “The Occurrence in Dreams of Material from Fairy Tales” Freud1 says that “for some people a recollection of their favorite fairy tale takes the place of memories of their own childhood; they have made the fairy tales into screen memories. Elements and situations derived from fairy tales are also frequently to be found in dreams.”

If elements from fairy tales can enter into

dreams, then so can elements from other sources, for instance, from religious stories, religious rituals, etc. Freud wrote that varied forms of impressions from the day's experiences borrow something from the unconscious when they succeed in taking a share in the formation of a dream, namely, the instinctual force which is at the disposal of the repressed wish, but that they also offer the unconscious something indispensable, namely, the necessary point of attachment for a transference.

The religious stories and ceremonials seen and heard by the Wolf-Man were the day residues that connected with unconscious forces striving for discharge. Recently Fisher2 restated the same concept, writing that “the unconscious wish makes contact with percepts associated with day residue experiences. Memory pictures from the past associated with the dream thoughts make contact with and are covered by the recent memory images of the percepts connected with the day residue, some of which have already undergone distortion; various fusions,