ACCORDING TO FREUD'S GREAT CONCEPTION IN The Interpretation of Dreams, the dream is a symbolic entity. The dream is not intrinsically efficacious, as is the physical "cause" of a physical "effect." The dream derives its efficacy from its status as "signifier" of what is "signified." The manifest dream stands for or signifies meanings (latent thoughts); meaning, in this sense of the term, is that which is signified.

One may ask about the dream as a manifest representation of meaning: out of what materials is it made? by the use of what techniques are the materials treated, combined, or transformed to