Liber Aleph

LIBER ALEPH VEL CXI 12 l De Somniis g: Vestimenta Horroris. (Of Dreams. III: clothed with Horrors) OW then if in a Dream the Will be always triumphant, how cometh it that a Man may be ridden of the Nightmare? And of this the true Explanation is that in such a case the Will is in Danger, having been attacked and wounded or corrupted by the Violence of some Repression. Thus the Consciousness of the Will is directed to the sore Spot, as in Pain, and seeketh comfort in an Externalisation, or shew, of that Antagonism. And because the Will is sacred, such dreams excite an Ecstacy or Phrenzy of Horror, Fear or Disgust. Thus the true Will of Oedipus was toward the bed of Jocasta, but the Tabu, strong both by Inheritance and by Environment, was so attached to that Will that his Dream concerning his Destiny was a Dream of Fear and of Abhorrence, his Fulfilment thereof (even in Ignorance) a spell to stir up all the subconscious Forces of all the People about him, and his Realization of the Act a madness potent to drive him to self- inflicted Blindness and fury-haunted Exile. n