To learn the symbolic language of the dreaming mind, one must simply practice. There are generalizations, but most dream dictionaries are useless. For example, water often represents sex (and therefore affection generally): one takes off one's clothes to go swimming; there is rhythmic motion, a novel skin sensation, and so on. But to dream that one's place of work was flooded, that one stood on one's desk and escaped through the skylight, where a pair of shoes were waiting, which fit poorly and clashed with one's socks -- and to look this dream up and be told it is "about sex" is useless.

Water was one of the symbols present in the dream; it may represent sex (or may not); for the dream to be understood, one must decode the story that it tells, which requires the the decoding of each element, unravelling how they relate ot each other and applying this decoded story to the dreamer's inner life.

Similarly, consider how poor an understanding of a Hollywood movie like Titanic we would be responsible for if we were to annound that it is "about sex." The goal of dream interpretation is to lead the dreamer gently into a richer understanding of their inner life.








#