Elevator

The elevator is the modern dream’s contribution to Jung’s vertical psyche. Where older dream books give us ladders and stairs (slow, effortful ascents), the elevator is instant — and often out of control. A dream elevator that falls, overshoots, or goes sideways is a classic image of an anxiety that the self is no longer steering its own levels of consciousness. Descending elevators often mark a needed return to body or basement material the dreamer has neglected; ascending ones, an incipient shift toward broader perspective. Notice who else is in the elevator with you; they are usually aspects of yourself.