I have often had the impression that our thoughts, dreams, and mental images originate more from an internal state of mind than from external influences. In other words, it is the state of mind that seeks out images to represent it, rather than the images themselves that arise from the outside and determine it.
It is the container that shapes and determines the qualities of the content itself. The things contained not only mold and shape themselves but also transform. Sometimes the content changes its image, but the emotional and conceptual significance of the new image formed in our consciousness remains the same as the previous one. A dream, for example, can continue until morning, naturally with several awakenings. The images and content may differ from one phase to another, but if we think about it, the dream is always the same. It is the emotion that seeks the image, not the image that determines the emotion. IN OTHER WORDS, IT IS NOT THE BIG BAD WOLF THAT CAUSES FEAR, BUT THE FEAR THAT CREATES THE BIG BAD WOLF. Fear pre-exists in our unconscious and seeks out all the images capable of representing it. This is why I say that even if the images in a dream change, the dream, until morning, remains essentially the same. For instance, when we are in a state of anxiety, it is as if we are wrapped in a thick fog from which a series of ghosts and terrifying, unpleasant images are ready to emerge. It doesn't matter if the trigger for these images comes from outside; the impression they make on us will always depend on our state of mind at that moment.
It could certainly be argued that this is an exaggeration and that certain images or events always induce unpleasant states of mind, regardless of the pre-existing condition of the mind as a container. This is true, but it is because these events and images bring us to a point where the container and content come close, brush against each other, and touch. The anxiety of becoming, birth, death, the great primordial instincts. In the trauma of birth, the external event and the mental content become one; one cannot in any way alter the other.
Without wanting to excessively exaggerate, I believe that many, if not all, of the images and events that trigger our most intense emotions and fears connect us, through associative chains, to the moments of birth, death, and sex.