The misinterpreted phallus
M Winther
unconscious is in psychoanalysis defined as the repository of our
drive nature. To this is added the ramifications of our relations with
our parents, etc. However, the unconscious contains another part. This
is the "spirit". Hence spirit is that part of the unconscious which is
not rooted in the mundane. This is an unconscious urge that must be
articulated. That's why a spiritual form of creativity seems to be a
constant concern in the dreams of modern people. In my dreams I
discover that my clothes have been stained with oil paint. It makes me
irritated. Who is slopping oil paint on my clothes all the time? Those
dreams only stop when I start painting in oil. A good example are the
spiritual paintings of the Australian aborigines, an activity that has
gone on for 40,000 years: http://tinyurl.com/6c42jzy . The notorious
phallic dream symbols typically points at spiritual content.
Psychoanalysts have caused great damage by again and again
misinterpreting this symbol in the traditional sexual way. Two
examples of phallus dreams, which the unconscious tirelessly produce
in modern people.
A British male dreams: "I am studying ancient musical instruments, and
have an ancient Egyptian trumpet. I take it off the wall. Somehow, a
former work colleague is involved as an expert. I try to blow the
trumpet, but have problems. I cannot blow hard enough to make a proper
sound..."
An American male dreams: "30 years ago I had a dream about a penlight
that began to make a high pitched sound, which started off soft, but
became louder and louder until the sound it made threatened to destroy
the entire world..."
Comment: the trumpet is an eminent phallus symbol, as is the pen. It
is a symbol of spiritual power in some form. Sound is very "spiritual"
in a sense, as it is invisible. The spirit wants to manifest, but it
needs help to do so. However, the dreamers cannot yet handle the
trumpet or pen. Likely, it is something in themselves, some capacity
which they underestimate, which holds the key to sounding the trumpet
and writing with the spiritual pen. A penlight is a perfect phallus
symbol-'phallus' means the "shining one". Light is very "spiritual" in
a sense. One can write about spiritual matters with this pen.
Obviously, it wants to make itself heard, and if nobody picks it up it
will scream louder and louder until the whole world is threatened.
Such dreams use the phallus to point at the spiritual creative factor,
and to highlight its immense importance. Creation by sound occurs in
myth. According to an Egyptian creation myth, the universe was created
at the cry of the goose: the sun was said to be an egg laid daily by
Geb, the "Great Cackler". He took the form of a goose, whose piercing
call awakened all the movement of creation.
Just imagine how the two dreamers would have been misled by the
psychoanalyst, had they attended therapy. Analysts steeped in the
tradition of infantile sexuality would have destroyed the healing
attempt of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis won't make significant
headway until it integrates into its theory the notion of the creative
spiritual factor, symbolized by the phallus. Patients will suffer
while their unconscious urges continue to be neglected. The dream
symbols are likely to be misinterpreted, which makes matters worse.
Mats Winther
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/