The Golden Phallus

Analysis of the following five dreams will illustrate certain factors in human behavior which have a more or less common parallel. The analyses of the dreams are not in any way complete. In certain instances they are even sketchy. A brief outline of certain outstanding features which were uncovered in the histories of the patients will be presented. The object of the paper is to show how many avenues may be explored from a single simple starting point.

Frequently it is difficult to assign specific values as causative factors in behavior. From the amount of information we have at present, it seems as though the best we could do is to explore and uncover as many of the mechanisms and as much material as possible. Most important of all, we should not be content with the uncovering of a few of the obvious ones, but we should endeavor to dig as deeply as possible. We should remember that as yet we do not know all there is to know about the workings of the psyche. We do know enough to uncover vast fields which have hitherto remained buried and bring them to the light of consciousness. This is most valuable, for it enables us to deal with matters at a point, consciousness, where understanding may, in a measure, replace affect; and in a vast number of instances a readjustment may be made by the patient on a basis far superior to the blind one previously employed. Situations may then be handled intelligently instead of emotionally.

My first idea in presenting this paper was to work out the symbolic significance of the color which is common to all the dreams cited—yellow or gold. After working over the material carefully, I found that the importance of this was overshadowed by other factors which seemed of far greater value, namely, a definite pattern-trend which was found to underlie the general behavior of this group of patients. On examining another group of cases I found that the hypotheses which I had been working out in the cases herein presented were borne out by the lat