Telling off

I consider "telling off" (interpreting) the symbols, but I don't.

In therapy, simply telling patients the meaning of their symbols and symptoms elicits resistance and proves far less effective than letting them experience the meaning for themselves.

In hypnosis, trying to "tell off" a patient's symptoms often merely results in a substitute symptom.

Ultimately, one cannot "tell off" one's symbols or symptoms by reducing them to a single true meaning. One can only exchange them for other symbols which may shed new light on the situation.

My not telling the librarian off suggests that one is not well equipped to interpret another person's symbols. C- has to fight her own battles. Someone well-versed in dream psychology may be able to help the process along, but ultimately the dreamer possesses the associations needed for the understanding of his own dream.

Even if one were able to do so, it would do no good simply to tell the dreamer the dream's meaning--the dreamer must figure out the symbolism on his own in order to understand at a deep level that he is the one who created the symbolism and is responsible for his symptoms. One must do the work of the mind oneself.