the unconscious?!

Freud has proven to be the most interesting of all the philosophers I've encountered thus far! The study of the human mind baffles me, regardless of whether or not I agree with his view or analysis. One point that stuck with me in Pals reading on Freud was the section on the "unconscious." I remember back in my high school philosophy class briefly going over this concept but reviewing it now with (what I'd like to think) a different mindset I find it all the more interesting!

According to Freud the unconscious is the source "of our most basic physical urges, our desires for food and sexual activity... an assemblage of ideas, impressions, and emotions associated with everything a person has ever experienced or done or wished to do" (Pals 57). The unconscious greatly influences all we think and do. Freud claims that dreams are really material from the unconscious surfacing in your realm of conscious!

I have found since the start of this semester I have had frequent bizarre dreams. They involve people I haven't seen in years, places I've never been, and some are even reoccurring.After reading this in Pals, I have tried to interpret some of these bizarre dreams and maybe even seek meaning in them. Of course I don't want to take these too seriously but for an experiment I think I'll keep a dream journal on my bedside table so I can record my dreams right after they occur (so they'll be fresh in my mind!) Then I guess I'll put my border's gift card to use and purchase a book to help me interpret and possibly find some symbolism to what bubbling under the surface! I'll exercise my own psychoanalysis :)