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    After this week in class, I have been thinking about the 'unconscious' and also about the implications of dreams in general. There is most definitely a barrier of some sort between the conscious and the unconscious, otherwise wouldn't crazy and incoherent dreams seem less odd, random, or pointless to our conscious selves? It seems like the flow of thoughts and ideas is much more efficient from the conscious to the unconscious than it is the other way around. Why can't we penetrate our dreams? Why can't we remember more of them? Does the conscious self have less respect/use for the unconscious than the unconscious self has for it? I do not believe it is completely reasonable to separate ourselves into two distinct selves, as there is certainly some cross-over between these two domains that makes each one of us who we are, but there is something that distinguishes one 'self' from the other. They have different names, but they certainly overlap (semi-permeable barrier?). 

   But what I think is truly amazing about this strange perhaps semi-permeable barrier is that anything that passes from the 'unconscious' side to the 'conscious' side makes the conscious 'self' a fantastic storyteller with specialized knowledge. I do not see my conscious 'self' as one who can create stories, deliver jokes smoothly, or recount things as cohesively/clearly as it would like. BUT, when my 'conscious' remembers a dream, I find I can consciously, clearly, easily, and adequately describe extremely random or interesting things that my conscious self could probably never ever create without the aid of some sort of substance (Whitman?). I can communicate my dream to others because part of me was 'there' and witnessed it, and I can easily recount something so innovative, avant-garde, and cutting-edge without any effort or expended energy. It is strangely empowering, even though often times no one, not my 'conscious' nor my audience, knows what it means or why it came together that way. But does my unconscious know what it means? After all, didn't it put this dream together, selecting somehow the elements of its composition? But my unconscious can't consciously select, right? And as in most cases, even if I don't, myself, understand the meaning of my unconscious creation, the fact that it happened within me and passed through that semi-permeable barrier to my conscious gives me quite a lot to think or be perplexed about...as does Whitman! Hmmmmm...