Searching Buddha

Freud says that every dream is an unfulfilled wish and that we frequently condense many images together.

An example, unshared in class:

I have a friend who is married and has two children. His biggest frustration is that his wife isn't supportive of their family life and he wishes she would be more involved. He told me about one of those real-real dreams that he had where he dreamed about another friend, who is an excellent mother. In the dream, they were married and had children together and a very close-knit family. He was horrified that this other friend would pop up in his dream in a romantic situation, because he certainly didn't feel that way about her. Also, it was awkward, because he had a great deal of respect for that friend and her husband.

My amateur psychoanalysis was that his brain just took someone who fit the desire (a good mother) and popped her into the place of the wife. The actual person was irrelevant because it was just the quality of good motherhood that mattered. The actual figure in the dream probably was his wife, but with the trait of being a good parent added. Condensation.

Watch out Freud - here I come!