Elevator

With the elevator, we go up and down in a building, using a machinery we don’t have immediate access to; it is also the only thing an elevator does (unlike, for example, a helicopter). It has a very limited, predictable function. At the same time, the elevator is scary – what happens if it doesn’t go up or down, if it gets stuck or falls freely? Then we are trapped in the small windowless room with no way to influence the situation. Typically, we also don’t see where we’re going in a typical elevator; we are sort of blind in that small room and then find ourselves on another level.

Up and down is a strong symbol that recurs in dreams. See Wheel, Height, and Stairway. It may refer to "the ups and downs of life," how one can feel both elated and downhearted, and so on.

"High up" can have a positive connotation – we think of higher salary, rising in status, uplifting experiences, etc. – which may be the intent of the dream. But it often has a negative resonance; it may imply that we are "up in our heads," leaving our natural environment by pressing a button and riding up in a machine in what is probably not our own HOUSE (as opposed to, for example, climbing up a tree or walking up a mountain).

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