Image in the Dream

butterfly

Einstein: Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere*

An image that presents itself in a dream to you may not have the same meaning that I would ascribe to it were I to have a similar image, e.g. dreaming of lilies. For you it may mean flowers on a coffin, or remembering fields of lilies, or loss or just your favourite flower. I’m reminded of the tears that fell from Eve’s eyes as she and Adam left the Garden of Eden and, where her tears fell, lilies sprang up – and of course Lilith, the serpent in disguise who returned from her exile in the depths of the Red Sea and offered Eve the apple.

The dream image is usually specific to the dreamer and their particular cultural and social circumstances, although the collective unconscious is ever present. There is no ‘one size fits all’ meaning of an image. If there were a simple formula this would fix the dream and would render it lifeless. It invites you to use your imagination! The impulse to making an immediate interpretation is to be resisted.

Nevertheless, there is some universality in dream images. Many of us dream of being unprepared for an exam, being naked in public, driving over a cliff, being in the sea facing a wave that is about to engulf us, being chased, an intruder, losing teeth or our identity documents and wallets, opening or closing a gate, a bridge, fishing. These sorts of images are helpful in that they speak to our inner lives.

Insight gained from working with the dream, no matter how irrational, helps develop an integration between our inner and outer lives. By accepting the invitation from our dreams and working with our interior world, we develop an intimacy with the unknown, and known, parts of the self and thus we are led towards our individuality.

The dream is on your side, waiting in the wings, wanting to intrude, wanting your individual expression of your inner other.

Einstein quote from brainy quotes; thumbnail google images

57 Comments on Image in the Dream

  1. Since my husband’s death, I dream about being lost, driving with my eyes closed, driving in 100% darkness, or driving into a ditch. It’s not easy to find equilibrium on my own, but theses dreams often end with a balancing image. Or the balancing image comes a different night. Recently in a numinous dream: I open all the shades and windows in an old church so the full moon illuminates the space. To make it a synchronicity, as I painted the dream image, a friend told me to look behind me. Through her window, a huge apricot full moon rose over Ithaca. We turned out all the lights and let it illuminate our world.

  2. I am enjoying your post; you have the ability to make every single post so interesting and I get engrossed in reading your post. I also like your page and how neatly you are maintaining…. I hope to improve my blog too… thanks for being an inspiration… appreciate you and thank you for all the learning I am having about dreams.

  4. I love that quote by Einstein. Most of my dreams don’t make sense or they are about people I don’t know. I’ve never tried to analyse them though so perhaps if I thought about them a bit more there might start to make sense.

    • Thanks Suzy for coming by. It is a lovely quote! It’s quite hard making associations to self on a dream- it takes practice, lack of guile and loads of imagination!

  5. Hi Susan – I suppose I must dream some images .. but this is fascinating .. and I need to read all the posts through properly to take your thoughts in and everyone’s comments – they are all so interesting and adding to the conversation … which is great … cheers Hilary

  6. WE are in agreement on this. I’ve said pretty much the same thing on my dream blog in the past except you have said it more eloquently here.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    A Faraway View

  7. Einstein: Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere* That’s a great quote. This reminds me I had a rather bizarre dream last night but forgot to write it down. I’ll see if it resurfaces later. Been trying to keep up w/ A to Z this year! Phew!
    Maui Jungalow

    • The collective unconscious is awe-making and awe-inspiring AJ thanks for noting this in your comment. Teeth – I have those loss of teeth dreams sometimes. I wonder what I’m not getting my teeth into, or what’s ‘biting’ me – and so on -thanks for coming by.

  9. “By accepting the invitation from our dreams and working with our interior world, we develop an intimacy with the unknown, and known, parts of the self and thus we are led towards our individuality.” Good advice for understanding, connecting and communicating not only with ourselves but also with others in the mundane world. I love that you present these connections, Susan. So much to think with.

    –Or not think and just imagine. What an enlightening concept!

    Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

    • Thank you Samantha and for emphasising about the mundane world with which we interact and are continually image-making with it. The connections are alive and well.

      Or not think and just imagine … 🙂

  10. When I remember my dreams they never make sense to me, and they didn’t seem to fit into the examples you listed.

    • Thanks for coming by Sandy – really, those were only very examples. Dreams do seem to be non-sense much of the time. They are very individual to the dreamer. Many of mine seem to make no sense.

  11. Susan – you explanation of the varying lilies image and how our interpretations are unique to each of us makes me think our dreams are almost like learning a foreign language within another foreign language. It can get quite complicated! I’m sure it’s like writing though – the more we practice interpreting our dreams, the more we understand them.

    You’ve now got me ‘talking’ to you each morning about the portions of my dreams I remember!

    • Thank you for commenting Sammy D! – and good morning from the other side, it’s lovely to talk to you! It’s a foreign language but as you say the more we practice the more familiar we become, as in dreaming, writing, remembering ..

  12. I do have recurring dream images… I even have dream-versions of real like places that look different from reality, but looks the same in every dream. That would be interesting to explore…

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary – Epics from A to Z
    MopDog – 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

  13. I LOVE that quote from Einstein! (among many others!)
    This is a thought-provoking post for me today – love it. Dreams are strange and mysterious to me; and frankly I don’t spend much time thinking about them. But just like in storytelling, imagery is primary!! And those recurring dreams…and then you learn that others have them, too – strange! My most-common one throughout my life has been the “It’s the last day of the term and it’s time for the final exam and I haven’t been there the entire term…plus I do NOT know where the classroom IS!!!!” It gave me a jolt to read in your list that “losing teeth” is also a common one – I don’t think I’ve known that; I used to dream pretty frequently that I would lose dental fillings when chewing something very chewy…I’m glad I haven’t had that one for several years…!
    Wow, I haven’t commented on your postings lately and suddenly I write a mini-novel here…! Thanks for your thought-provoking writing (even when my thoughts are tending merely towards fragmented anecdotes…!). 🙂

    • Thanks for coming by Pam and your comment! As you say ‘…in story telling, image is primary’. I love reading for this very reason, seeing and creating images in my mind. And surely this is the one of the greatest reasons for parents reading to their children; they’re involved in image making/imagination from an early age. Einstein, when asked by an audience how they make their children clever, replied ‘read them fairy stories’. Losing teeth also makes me think of the times when I’ve felt I can’t get my teeth into this …

  14. Another surprising comment today about dream images. In my dream I was seeing and hearing a crew of road repair guys cutting up cement with jack-hammers. I awoke from this LUCID DREAM and I discovered that my wife, Anita, was snoring into my ear.

    • Well… well… I’m not sure what to say Joseph! Maybe she tapped into your dream and thought she’d give you real live action? 🙂

  15. This message has my head working overtime. I loved it!!! Because I nearly always remember my dreams, I am happy to feel my imagination at work. Your posts are always inspiring.

    • Thank you Marsha for your comment and your kind compliment. My imagination runs riot many times, it’s hard to pull myself in!

  16. Imagination; oh yes it can take you evrywhere! Some people use imagination to plot wickedness on their beds at night (biblical warning) Some people use imagination to create false gods and idols, but according to biblical lines some people see ‘Heaven is at hand” which leads to grace, beauty and the power of peace. The inner imagination is indeed a powerful tool. Thank you Susan for the reminder.

    • Thank you Gillian very much for your comment and adding as you do – ‘…according to biblical lines some people see ‘Heaven is at hand” which leads to grace, beauty and the power of peace’. That is such a beautiful image, thank you again.

  17. An image that shows up in my most distressing dreams is that of big road equipment – it is blocking my path and I always have to take some scary way through, around or over it (like a gondola basket, a roller-coaster rail etc…). My mother dreamed of cows on her path. She’d come down in the morning saying “those pesky cows wouldn’t let me get home last night!” We thought it might be the Welsh in her as the Welsh dream of cows when they are about to die. Supposedly.

    • Thanks Jan for sharing this! Our dreams can take us a roller coaster ride! Cows, an interesting symbol I’m sure on many levels, revered in India, stubborn, nary a care in the world of other traffic.

  18. How interesting that different images can mean different things to different people, and yet there are still universal themes among all of us. I used to have recurring dreams of my teeth falling out. I can wager a guess on what it meant for me, but I wonder on what such a thing might mean to different people.

    • Thank you Sara for coming by. I’ve had that dream – and wondered about it in relation to me. What was I chewing over; did I want to make biting remarks to another – that sort of thing.

  19. Congratulations on taking one topic and successfully writing about a different aspect of it everyday. You have done a lovely job!

    It is so interesting how various images can mean different things for different people because of the internalization of the subject. Now-a-days when I remember my dreams I seem to be teaching myself something or my subconscious is really at work. Interpretations is another interesting “I” word. Thanks, Susan for your lovely post.

    • Thank you Gwynn! You’re right, what matters is how we internalise that image from the unconscious, which has a larger different meaning than the subconscious. Yes, they teach us something.

  20. Einstein had a lot more to him than a big brain. Imagination–how else would we conceive of holograms and virtual worlds without that. Good article, Susan.

    • Thank you Jacqui – I mention in a further post of a dream that he had which he said led to him to his theory of relativity.

  21. I love that quote from Einstein. I have an imagination that runs rampant and I wouldn;t have it any other way.

    Stephen Tremp
    A to Z Co-host
    Twitter: @StephenTremp

  22. Ah, I had some interesting images last night — I like that I am remembering my dreams better, knowing that you’ll be posting about them! Images of plates of salad and soup pot in one; trying to figure out how to get my meds and drips smuggled out of the hospital earlier than discharge date. Not sure what THAT meant!!!

    • Thank you Beth. Food is always interesting in dreams. It can ‘feed’ and be nourishing – or not. Your 2nd dream is interesting – being in a hospital where one supposedly goes for ‘healing’ – and your actions from there …

  24. I think dreams imagery often helps us sort out difficult things in real life. I also think it prepares us for things yet to happen and changes we need to make. Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that dreams help us heal from past wounds too. All those images, when put in proper perspective, have the potential to be a very powerful and positive force in our world.

    • Thank you M.J. – and for saying that they help us recover (by uncovering) from past wounds inter alia when images are put into their proper perspective i.e. when we relate to it in an individual way. I’m paraphrasing you.

  26. A wonderful post–I loved the way you discussed both universal image/themes and yet emphasize that they are also specific to the individual.
    I also like the Einstein quotation.

  27. To Patrica Garcia, I love your commentaries – – – if feel like I am a student in a university and you are the professor! Much appreciated. Best regards.

    • I absolutely agree with you Joseph, about Patricia’s commentaries. I too love reading her commentaries

    • Thank you Joseph. They were just the fewest of examples. Many more examples and more beautiful ones abound. Many collective images abound too.

  29. Good morning,
    This is a beautiful explanation for the images that we have in our dreams. As you have said, we don’t have to be afraid. What I like about this article is that you stress that two, three, or even more people can see the same thing, and it has a different interpretation or provokes a different meaning to each person.
    Thank you, my dear. I am so proud of you for taking on this enormous task of researching and writing about dreams.
    Still enjoying it more and more everyday.
    Shalom,
    Patricia

    • Thank you very much Patricia. So glad you find it enjoyable! Images abound, in our every day lives as well.

      Shalom to you, Susan

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