Introduction to the Life of the Dream

Introduction to the Life of the Dream

I begin my discoveries with a phenomenal sphere; for the real investigator must first seek to grasp the Soul within her circles of appearance, before he approaches her essence, and then penetrates ever deeper and more closely into her innermost secret of being. I choose the Soul ‘in dream,’ however, because, as I hope, the life of the dream is one of the most appealing fields of appearance of the Soul, and can most easily win for her a more general affection. And finally, I am convinced that, if I succeed in showing, already within the flitting shadow-plays of the dream, the life of the Soul as something magnificent, this will win for her, in advance, a correspondingly more favorable opinion regarding her more powerful and deeper regions.

As for the execution of the problem, however, since I have resolved to investigate in a manner full of life and objective, I must not, in doing so, be guided by any preconceived abstract method; rather, I must ask the subject-matter itself in what manner it permits and demands to be investigated most many-sidedly, most penetratingly, and most vividly; and this must be the method of the investigation. In this way, then, the problem of the dream offers the following fruitful and essential points of view for consideration.