14. Freud and telepathy in dreams
In the early 1920s, Freud prepared a paper which he intended to deliver as a lecture on the subject of telepathic dreams. The paper was never delivered to the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society as he intended, but was discussed among his colleagues and enemies in Vienna and elsewhere. His paper was eventually published. He presented the argument that although the possibility of telepathic communication in dreams had not been proven, nor had it been disproven, arguing that it was possible. Freud argued that though he had not personally seen evidence of dream telepathy, while sleeping the mind was uniquely configured for the phenomenon.
His position was widely disregarded by colleagues, who argued that the absence of evidence for the ability was scientific proof that it could not be accomplished. Still, Freud studied the possibility of telepathic communication for the rest of his life. Freud later claimed to have no opinion on the subject one way or the other, writing to a colleague, “In reality, however, I was anxious to be strictly impartial”, in an attempt to distance himself from the minor scandal which arose over his comments on the subject. Freud accepted telepathy, particularly in dreams, as linked to psychoanalytical theory, rather than to the occult, which was the widely held opinion of the time.