Somewhere along the line of our mathematical and written language, we began as a civilisation to think in a very literal way. We take pieces of literature like the bible and we picture a 'talking snake' as an event. Further back in history we didn't always think this way. There was a time where we would look at a story about a talking snake, and it would mean something symbolically.

This is a time when our thinking was not so literal. The incorporation of science really has taken this literal thinking to the extreme. There is no room whatsoever for the type of thinking that is actually very natural to balance your awareness. If you are thinking always literally, there is no way you are going to understand dreams, because what happens in dreams, is not literal.

The way in which we remember things, numbers, lists, and so forth. If you study mnemonic memory you will discover that you will only be able to remember these things, is with stories, pictures, and experiences. The mind does not deal in random numbers or abstract maths. The mind isn't natively literal. Literal thinking, is only a small part of the mind.

When you go to study your dreams, you do start to discover that literal thinking will get you no where in understanding the dream. To understand you must think symbolically.

The ironic thing is the same thing should apply to life. You go all your life thinking literally, and you miss big opportunities of awareness. Even civilisations like the Mayans, or Ancient Egypt, they did not think literally at all, and you can see that in their records.