ABSTRACT
Symbol translation is the easiest part of dream interpretation, but good symbol translation is the hardest part. Dream symbolism touches on the fundamental question: how does our mindbrain organize the world? What aspects of the organization of the world are intrinsic to it and to what degree are they imposed on the world by our mindbrains? This chapter considers some of the primary sources of relation between symbol and symbolized. These are: similarity of shape or form; linguistic connection; cultural references; similarity of associated materials; mythic references –the collective unconscious; idiosyncratic connections. Symbols can combine all the different modes of mental transformation. Dreams show the mindbrain at work creating symbols. Symbol interpretation requires the application of selective attention and then its renunciation. Because of Sigmund Freud's division of manifest and latent content, psychoanalysts have tended to feel that the symbol is less important than the symbolized.
