The Puzzle Box and Dreams
By Equitis Bic
I’ve recently renewed my fascination with puzzle boxes. For those of you who aren’t familiar with a puzzle box it’s literally a box that’s a puzzle. It’s almost always made of wood. It consists of a series of mechanical releases that, when done in the right order, reveals a small prize hidden inside.
Each puzzle box is beautifully and ornately hand crafted to be pleasing to the eye. The challenge is that they can be incredibly difficult to figure out. I’ve got to admit that I’ve never attempted to solve a puzzle box. I have, however, had sever small metal brain teaser puzzles when i was growing up. I was never able to figure them out without looking at cheats.
So I was watching this video of a Youtuber who solves very intricate puzzle boxes in under an hour without using cheats. As this expert was attempting to solve the challenge before him, it soon looked like he was attempting to solve the mystery of a dream.
As this man was attempting to decipher the knobs, gears and symbols of this Steampunk puzzle box, he flipped it around so he could see it from all sides. It’s the same strategy that helps when you’re trying to solve a dream. He then drew from the knowledge he gained solving other puzzle boxes, and applied it while keeping in mind his current riddle was a unique experience.
I was captivated by the realization that it was as if he was handling a dream that had been given a strange physical body. This hands-on puzzle expert knew that he could move a certain gear to get a lever on the other side of the box to open an access point. He had to do it keeping in mind he could only use a certain amount of force. If he got too aggressive and forced one of the intricate parts to work past its function, the box would seize up.
If one attempts to use force to coax out the solution of a dream, the mystery is hidden even deeper. It takes a great deal of patience to be able to lure out the mystery to a place where it can be solved.
I thought I’d just share my thoughts on puzzle boxes and dreams and include the video if you care to watch the process.
EB