The Fuhrer is himself the bearer of the collective will of the people. In his will the will of the people is realized. His will is not the subjective will of a single man, but the collective national will is embodied within him in all its objective, historical greatness.

The people's collective will has its foundation in the political idea which is given to a people. It is present in the people, but the Fuhrer raises it to consciousness and discloses it. (in Murphy 1943)

Once an idea has become conscious within a people, what follows is the will to act upon it: to turn the idea into reality. The leader’s role is to create or invent ways to activate the people’s will and to set a path that enables a people to express its collective will.

Ideology represents or reflects a fantasy that is shared by members of a society. This shared fantasy lies at the core—constitutes the heart and soul—of a given culture. The leader’s role is to “divine” the cultural fantasy, to give it voice.

Why was Hitler able to hold his audiences spellbound? Why did Germans become so excited when he spoke? Because what he said evoked something deep within many of them. People were “turned on” by Hitler’s words.

Highly successful leaders are deeply plugged in to the ideological fantasies that they put forth. No one was more moved by Hitler’s ideas more than Hitler. By virtue of his ability to share his excitement and passion, he was able to evoke a similar experience within his followers.

Ideologies function to express, contain and engage society’s members’ fantasies. The ideology becomes a modus operandi: the vehicle allowing a shared fantasy to make its way into reality (man in culture, Norman O. Brown said, is “Man dreaming while awake”). They act as a gravitational force, “pulling” fantasies into the world—capturing or sequestering the energy bound to a fantasy.

Political history occurs when a group acts upon an ideological fantasy. Hitler worked to transform his fantasy of Germany into a societal discourse. His aspiration was the to persuade the German people to embrace--and eventually enact--propositions contained within the ideological fantasy.

Political ideologies in the 20th century revolved around the idea of mystical objects such as "nations"--that are endowed with omnipotence. "History" revolves around these omnipotent objects and the competition between them. 

Historians study the “reasons” why specific conflicts arise at a particular moment in history, for example, why a nation goes to war. However, they rarely deconstruct the sacred object--without which nothing would happen.  For action to be undertaken at all, there must be a core fantasy—an omnipotent object that is the foundation of everything that occurred.

To understand a particular ideology is to uncover and reveal the foundational fantasy that gives the ideology meaning: the bedrock. In the case of Nazism, this fantasy revolved around the idea of Germany as an actual body (politic) suffering from a potentially fatal disease, the source of which was the Jew. Hitler put himself forward as “doctor” of the German people, the man who could root out and destroy the cause of Germany’s suffering, thereby rescuing the nation and saving it from death.

For any ideology, one may pose and attempt to answer the question: Why does this ideology exist? Ideologies are meaningful. They "do something" for members of a population.

• What fantasy or set of fantasies does the ideology contain or convey?
   
• What methods are used by the leader to encourage members of his society to believe in and act upon the ideological fantasy?

• Why are followers willing to perform violent acts in the name of the ideological fantasy?

• What do leaders and followers hope to achieve by acting upon their society’s ideological fantasy?

Ideologies constitute modus operandi for the expression and enactment of shared fantasies. They become central within a society precisely because they allow unconscious fantasies to be expressed and articulated. They are containers for shared fantasies, driving the historical process. Unconscious fantasies enter history through ideologies.

Just as Freud analyzed and interpreted individual dreams and dreaming, so I analyze and interpret collective dreams and dreaming, seeking to ascertain latent thoughts beneath manifest content: the hidden narratives that drive the historical process. When I speak about “making conscious the unconscious in social reality,” I'm suggesting it is possible to reveal the unconscious phantasies that are the source of ideologies--and history.

The Nazi revolution represented the enactment of a shared fantasy—a fantasy powerful enough to give rise to an ideology and social movement. Dreaming this dream most deeply, Hitler was able to articulate the Nazi fantasy. To know why Nazism achieved popularity, one seeks to determine precisely what Hitler said that caused Germans to rise to their feet and shout "Heil Hitler."

It is through the medium of an ideology that a shared fantasy becomes part of the world. An ideology is believed, embraced and perpetuated—achieves status and power as an element of culture—insofar as it resonates with a fantasy and permits this fantasy to be activated and enacted upon the stage of society.