Utopian Dream as Psychic Reality

Utopian D ream as Psychic Reality IS A B E L F . K N IG H T qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA The title of my e ssay contains a claim that at a ce rtainle ve lof analy sis the re is no opposition b e twe e n d re amand re ality ,that for the psy che “reality” is not confined to that which has or will be given objective existence. In a dream—or a fantasy—there is no distinction between remembered events and imagined events, between what is plausible and what is impossible, between the perceived and the projected; all are equally manifestations of psychic reality. But all are not equally transparent. The expression of repressed wishes and anxieties, which lie at the deeper levels of the psyche, is necessarily (in order to safeguard the repression) obscured. The illumination of these dark places of the soul has been the work of three generations of psychoanalytic theory and practice. In their recent book The W ish to be Free, Fred Weinstein and Gerald Platt used the Freudian framework to analyze the psychic sources of fundamental value change.1 Their work is stimulating and suggestive in the connections it makes between individual and collective psyche, between psychic reality and idea systems, and between idea systems and social change. I intend to take up certain of their suggestions and apply them to this exploration of the utopian imagination. 427 4 2 8 cbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA / ISA B E L F. K N IG H T qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Und e rly ingmy ve nture is a se t of inte rlocking historical and psy chological assumptions. It is assume d that the stab ility and cohe re nce of any socie ty re st upon ind ivid ualinte rnalization of the most fund ame ntal value s, b e havior patte rns, and authority re lations of that socie ty .The inte rnalizationof norms me ans that the y are pe rce ive das ine vitab leand unive rsal, that the y are not availab le for rational criticism, and that wishe s which would violate the m te nd to b e re pre sse d .Significant change s in the normative structure of socie ty re quire that such re pre sse dwishe s come to the surface and that hithe rto untouchab le value s and authority re lations b e come availab le for criticism; in short, that there be a breakdown in internalization. Furthermore, this break­ down must become general; idiosyncratic dissonance is not suffi­ cient to bring about social change. But the breakdown of internalization is a traumatic experience, both individually and socially. The withdrawal of emotional commitment from one institution or value structure tends to threaten the commitment to adjacent institutions or values which the psyche is not yet ready to abandon. The coming to the surface of some formerly repressed wishes tends to open an avenue for still other wishes which the individual or collective ego cannot yet bear to confront. In order to cope with the intense anxiety generated by this breakdown, compensatory mechanisms are needed. So, for example, if one authority relation is denied, another will be clung to still more tightly than before, or a new one will be set up which is at least as rigid as the one it replaces. If overt expression is given to a formerly repressed wish, then the lid must be clamped down tightly on other wishes lest they too spring forth to claim satisfaction. The Enlightenment is the intellectual expression of a break­ down of internalization. Emotional commitment was systemati­ cally withdrawn from the institutions and values of the Ancien Regime, which then could become subject to rational criticism. One side of this eighteenth-century withdrawal is contained in its vast literature of attack; another side is manifest in its utopias. A utopia is an alternative society; implicit in it is a complete U topian D ream as Psychic Reality / YXWVUTSRQPONM 4 2 9 qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ normative state me nt ab out the unive rse . Utopian write rs may d iffe rin the practicality of the irintentions; some mean to predict the future, even to provide a blueprint for...