What is Given

I had a dream last night about being at a strange convention with lots of scientists milling around.  I couldn't understand what people were saying, but one phrase stayed with me: "What is Given".  For a scientist, this could mean the initial conditions for a problem that one needs to solve, the starting point for a calculation.  Somehow, I felt that this phrase was also a call to examine what currently exists before rushing into "What is Imagined" and "What is made".  Knowing what is given, means being grounded in the current situation before rushing ahead.  Having the fundamentals fully in hand before moving into abstractions of the solution.  For me, personally, this means taking the time to examine the now and the here.  Ordinarily, we take this for granted.  I feel like this dream is asking me to take stock, look where my own feet are planted and own the ground I live on before attempting to make myself something else than what I am.  I am guessing that it is my unconscious asking me to "be" and to silence the unrest that takes me away from here and now.  I find it strange that these messages come bubbling up sometime from dreams, leaving me to interpret them as I need.  Nonetheless, dreams reflect some inner configuration of the unconscious, indeed they reflect "What is Given."