Lazy Critique of Popular Psychology (Part 2)

3. On Dreams:
i. Dreams are symbolic representations of the mind's subconscious clearing house mechanisms. Issues are considered and even dealt with by dreaming. Dreaming allows the expression of inhibited instincts, urges and thoughts. Often repressed or forgotten, dreams are not generally remembered. Dreaming may preserve sanity, which certainly flees when sleep is continually interrupted. Fleeting dreams may be important or inconsequential. The misty recollections may be incomplete or edited by the conscious mind. Many dreams have no real end, instead repeating or just stopping. Some dreams are redundant from previous sleep cycles. The subconscious communicates in a fundamentally different manner from conscious language. Even the waking mind can dream. Fantasy is guidance. Reductive descriptions of dreaming often prove little more than educated guesswork. Understanding may always be incomplete. Dreams are not very well fathomed.
ii. Day dreams are often popularly attributed to idleness or a short attention span. These seemingly mental musings are regarded as empirically unproductive, and better replaced by something more industrious. The mind always has something better to do, like focusing on work. Possibly a grave error, the economic view attaches little significance to daydreaming. The wanderer might stumble upon the unseen by poking and probing where the fully conscious mind could not even tread. The lightning may only strike once, and the moment is lost. In addition, day dreams may be more logical and realistic than REM sleep dreams, being closer to the conscious mind but less concerned with concrete details. Lest one explode, the shadow may actually find appeasement, allowing some release of inner stresses, through daydreaming. Hyper-stimulation may be defined as excessive deprivation of dreams. It must wait until the night, when the moment is over. Sleep becomes less restful, and the individual grows tired. Tempers grow short. The maladaptive rarely only affects the individual. Ultimately, day dreaming allows one, and possibly others, to survive.
iii. Dreams are not ideals.
iv. Suppressing natural coping mechanisms always entails consequences. Unmitigated, the thwarted response will either be repressed or expressed through other mechanisms. The resultant behavior may be neurotic, decadent or even nihilistic. The anti-natural kills culture, sometimes quickly. The human intellect may be boundless, but it must view itself as boundless. The threaded dreamer may never realize it.
v. Sentience and self-awareness are over-rated concepts. Their meanings are esteemed less and beyond their potential: a by-product of our sentience and self-awareness. Imagination allows a certain type of immortality. Monuments live beyond their years. Memory is the only assured path to immortality. Lasting legacies are ignored for supposed ever-lasting life. Priorities become skewed when combined with technique. Image is a guide. The subconscious is discounted on all fronts. The ideal is embraced and grasped with the promise of dreams fulfilled. The world grow slowly insane, and nobody knows why.

4. On Revenge:
Revenge is a powerful motivator and coping mechanism. Although popular psychology would espouse the instinct for revenge as destructive, vengeance need not be carried to decadent or nihilistic extremes. Indeed, some require enemies as obstacles to be overcome. Their downfall can be especially satisfying. Revenge is beyond the morality of sheep. Forgive and forget means nothing. Vengeance can be quite cleansing and even healthy. Very little emotional baggage is left behind, only consequences. Form and extent are different matters. Lest one loose oneself, revenge must be appropriate. Justice is based upon this premise. Only a weak mind or society would kill over a verbal insult. Slander may be countered by a lawsuit. Hence, dueling is frowned upon. On the other hand, execution of a mass murderer is completely suitable and fitting. A justified campaign of terror instigated against an annoying neighbor might be looked down upon by others. Often implied threats are far more traumatic and stressful toward a target than actual physical violence. The object invents all sorts of possibilities and becomes paranoid whenever facing the instigator. These fears may be preyed upon with nothing more than a malevolent gaze. Police are kept out of the situation when the conflict is kept in the abstract. Eventually, the target cracks and the goal of revenge is fulfilled without raising a finger. Deflated.