Keys of the Dream

keysimages (1)

It’s one thing to reach for the key

key in lock

and, through trial and error finding the only one that fits.

It’s another thing to put that unique key into the lock –

– and yet another to turn the key –

– and then yet another, of opening the door –

and perhaps the most daring of the lot is to step inside, and enter.

Your dream is key to what’s going underneath –

Truly, like the original explorer who wants to know more, is reminded of the Oracle of Delphi – Know Thyself. These words are often attributed to Socrates who did in fact say them: “I am not yet able, as the Delphic Inscription has it, to know myself; so it seems to me ridiculous, when I do not know that, to investigate irrelevant things”. Socrates publicly acknowledged his lack of self-knowledge and thus made his audience aware of their own.

C.G. Jung: He who looks outside dreams, who looks inside, awakes.

Bhagavad Gita: Wake up! Be thyself!

Ramayana: Enquiry into the truth of the Self is knowledge.

The keys to self-knowledge are in the dream. There will be knots to be untied – patiently, and not rushed – before the metaphorical kite can be extended and flown. But what a reward to see it take to the skies and clouds – reaching upwards, at long last – into the night sky and it’s depths – and to return it back to our hands.

kiteimages (2)

With thanks to google images for graphics.

43 Comments on Keys of the Dream

  2. I do look at dreams differently now and see them as a means to knowing myself better. It makes me wish i dreamed more. Dreams are a safe place to test ‘stepping out of our comfort zone’ too. There have been dreams where I feel I’ve worked all night trying to resolve something. Again, fascinating Susan!
    Inventions by Women A-Z
    Shells–Tales–Sails

  3. Another beautifully written post–metaphorical, just like our dreams. Truly knowing ourselves is a difficult, and scary, thing. I know it is for me, at any rate. But I like to think maybe I’m getting there (slowly). Allowing myself to start writing helped with that, I think. Maybe dreams can help a little more…

    • Thank you Sara. It is for me also a slow but ongoing (hopefully) process. Writing means being present and is a great gift. Your dreams will help if remembered.

  5. I am analytical. I examine the shape of the key and compare it to my options before I slide it into the hole. As I have aged, I am better at identifying the right key for the lock. You are SO correct that the key needs to fit the lock. I love the analogy. Thanks for the wonderful post.

  6. Many different keys and many different ways to access the power within. Peace, so much internal peace is needed for this, isn’t it? A way to see inward. Thank you, Susan.

    • mmmm difficult to answer this clearly Silvia .. but if you are talking of inner peace this is a worthwhile goal. Peace invariably also implies going through conflict before hand. In other words, inner conflict is part of the deal. Peace and conflict are two sides of the same coin. Thank you for your comment ..

  7. You simply amaze me. I am more able to interpret my dreams than ever. I’ve done this for three or more decades, yet I feel like I’m learning to go deeper and rather than centering on the dream, I am recognizing more of who I am. Thank you Susan!!

  8. Hi Susan – having the key to letting the dream into my mind would help .. but I guess all things will come .. and as Misha says above – self-awareness grows … when we allow it .. and we start with the wider world and our own relationship with it .. before moving inwards … cheers Hilary

    • Hi Hilary, thanks for coming by. Onwards and inwards, say I (not a typo) while keeping a foot firmly in the wider world.
      Susan

  9. Self awareness is a precious thing, but then when I look at how hard-fought mine was, I understand why so few people my age has it.

    • Thanks for coming by Misha. Yes, it’s never easy. It’s precious indeed and sometimes we’re younger, sometimes older.

  11. Three hours after my dream that I posted about today, I was “minding my business” at the kitchen sink, degreasing and washing a container.

    An unexpected phrase sounded in my head: “I’ ‘v seen it coming!. ”

    One might guess “who” was speaking to me.

  12. Last night I had an unpleasant dream. When I awoke, I discovered the event did not actually happen in real life. So the key to this dream was waking up! Great images, Susan.

    • Thanks Marian for commenting. Good that the unpleasant dream was not representative of a real life event! The dream ‘speaks’ in metaphors though. I haven’t actually faced a tidal wave in real life but they appear in my dreams from time to time.

  17. Hi,
    Excellent. To take the risk of turning the key that opens and exposes you to yourself and who you really are. That is potent awakening into a new world that has to be explored.
    Shalom,
    Patricia

    • You’re right Pat, thank you and as Susan below says :”Maybe people do not remember dreams because they do not want to find the key…’ This is very powerful. Sometimes we do not want to move out of our comfort zones.

  18. When I worked more closely with my dreams – was in a dream group and wrote them all down – I paid attention to every detail. Now I work with my dreams in a different way – mostly dependent on a feeling tone. I fret less about remembering and see if I can just tease out what my concern was. Lately I’ve been dreaming work almost every night. I think that is appropriate as I’ve just started a new and demanding job that feels like it might be something really important in my life (working with aboriginal youth). I dream my way into what I want to be….

  19. Another great post, Susan, about the metaphorical symbols of keys!

    Only a few minutes ago, I awoke from a dream where I was following maintenance instructions to slide out 3 boxlike segments from some piece of equipment and to later replace these to get everything working right. I was experiencing anxiety, having a lapse of memory where the boxes should go to. In a sub-dream, I visualized I had previously removed a battery-pack from the underside of a laptop computer and placing the pack back improved the electrical connections. my anxiety problem got resolved.

    Within 24 hours earlier, I read about Samantha Mozart who published books with Amazon.com. In these books, Samantha described her life after her mother had Alzheimer’s disease following age 90.

    Dreams can be very interesting and useful. For example, within this past month, my wife and I talked with a lawyer about the importance of leaving information with surviving children in order to more easily manage things. This could also apply to aging parents with Alzheimer’s.

  21. “your dream is key to what is going on underneath”
    indeed Susan well put-
    It is surprising to me how little at times I know about what is going on underneath as if I am some strange foreign object to my Self. and then in other moments I can feel quite at home and in touch with who I might possibly be.But as I am not a fixed point I have to concede that I really havent got a clue.
    thank you for this trip thru the Dream…
    sandra

    • Thank you Sandra. It’s a reality that we swing from knowing and not-knowing and feel ‘… as if I am some strange foreign object to my Self’ and then at other times being quite comfortable in one’s skin. It’s how life is ..
      Susan

  22. Beautiful Susan, you are so right, self awareness and self knowledge is the key, not only to empowerment of self but also enlightenment. Lord Buddha also spoke of self awareness and equanimity, which is supposed to be two wings of Vipassana Meditation, which is an art of living in the present; and learning to see things as they are and not as one wants to…. After reading your post.. I am making attempts to recall and remember my dreams and being thankful-for I know it will help me understand myself better.. Loved all the quotes and thanks for sharing..

    • Thank you so much Genevive for commenting and adding to the conversation. Self knowledge and enlightenment are very ancient teachings as is meditation and while ancient are so applicable in today’s life as well.

Comments are closed.