Besides this story of identification with Christian, there follows as a further example an extraordinarily plastic memory of the sea, evoked by the sight of a photograph of a steamboat on the high seas. (“Je sentis les pulsations des machines, le soulèvement des vagues, le balancement du navire.”)
We may mention here the supposition that there are connected with sea journeys particularly impressive and strong memories which penetrate deeply into the soul and give an especially strong character to the surface memories through unconscious harmony. To what extent the memories assumed here agree with the above mentioned problem we shall see in the following pages.
This example, following at this time, is singular: Once, while in bathing, Miss Miller wound a towel around her hair, in order to protect it from a wetting. At the same moment she had the following strong impression:
“Il me sembla que j’étais sur un piédestal, une véritable statue égyptienne, avec tous ses détails: membres raides, un pied en avant, la main tenant des insignes,” and so on.
Miss Miller identified herself, therefore, with an Egyptian statue, and naturally the foundation for this was a subjective pretension. That is to say, “I am like an Egyptian statue, just as stiff, wooden, sublime and impassive,” qualities for which the Egyptian statue is proverbial. One does not make such an assertion to one’s self without an inner compulsion, and the correct formula might just as well be, “as stiff, wooden, etc., as an Egyptian statue I might indeed be.” The sight of one’s own unclothed body in a bath has undeniable effects for the phantasy, which can be set at rest by the above formula.[[58]]
The example which follows this, emphasizes the author’s personal influence upon an artist:
“J’ai réussi à lui faire rendre des paysages, comme ceux du lac Léman, où il n’a jamais été, et il prétendait que je pouvais lui faire rendre des choses qu’il n’avait jamais vues, et lui donner la sensation d’une atmosphère ambiante qu’il n’avait jamais sentie; bref que je me servais de lui comme lui-même se servait de son crayon, c’est à dire comme d’un simple instrument.”
This observation stands in abrupt contrast to the phantasy of the Egyptian statue. Miss Miller had here the unspoken need of emphasizing her almost magic effect upon another person. This could not have happened, either, without an unconscious need, which is particularly felt by one who does not often succeed in making an emotional impression upon a fellow being.
With that, the list of examples which are to picture Miss Miller’s autosuggestibility and suggestive effect, is exhausted. In this respect, the examples are neither especially striking nor interesting. From an analytical viewpoint, on the contrary, they are much more important, since they afford us a glance into the soul of the writer. Ferenczi[[59]] has taught us in an excellent work what is to be thought about suggestibility, that is to say, that these phenomena win new aspects in the light of the Freudian libido theory, in so much as their effects become clear through “Libido-besetzungen.” This was already indicated above in the discussion of the examples, and in the greatest detail regarding the identification with Christian. The identification becomes effective by its receiving an influx of energy from the strongly accentuated thought and emotional feeling underlying the Christian motif. Just the reverse is the suggestive effect of the individual in an especial capacity for concentrating interest (that is to say, libido) upon another person, by which the other is unconsciously compelled to reaction (the same or opposed). The majority of the examples concern cases where Miss Miller is put under the effects of suggestion; that is to say, when the libido has spontaneously gained possession of certain impressions, and this is impossible if the libido is dammed up to an unusual degree by the lack of application to reality. Miss Miller’s observations about suggestibility inform us, therefore, of the fact that the author is pleased to tell us in her following phantasies something of the history of her love.