Dream Exploration: A New Approach [Paperback]

Robert P. Gongloff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2006

Dreams speak to us in a symbolic language. From night to night, those symbols and images can appear wildly different. But in truth, they are likely replaying an important theme in your life, a vital message from your dream world to your conscious mind.

While most dream books focus on symbolism, Dream Exploration helps readers go deeper by exploring the themes presented in dream life and their relationship to waking life. Written as a how-to guide, this first-of-its-kind book includes a twelve-step process that helps you identify core themes in your life and how best to grow with them. Also included is a theme matrix that offers practical actions readers can take to move beyond their dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Dream Exploration goes to the very core of the dreaming process and how it relates to the dreamer's daily life. Readers will receive an intimate tour of the dream landscape and how relevant it is to the rest of their lives." --Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-author, Extraordinary Dreams and How to Use Them

"Three words describe this book: fresh, innovative and exciting! Robert Gongloff has developed an effective approach to dreamwork that goes beyond the benefits to daily life to the fulfillment of one's life purpose. Dream Exploration is more than a book--it's a journey!" --Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Ph.D., author, The Dreamer's Way: Using Proactive Dreaming for Creativity and Healing

"In this well written and appealing book, Robert Gongloff presents an exciting new approach to comprehending the important messages we receive in our dreams. His theme identification approach is a novel one that is a significant step beyond the concept of Jung's archetypal imagery. Extensive dream examples are used to demonstrate his provocative system in action. I applaud Gongloff's original contribution and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to reach a new level of understanding their dreams." --Robert L. Van de Castle, Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center and the author of Our Dreaming Mind

"Robert Gongloff's excellent book should be read and enjoyed by any one interested in the deeper meanings of dreams." --Reverend Jeremy Taylor, D.Min., S.Th.D. (hon.), author of Dream Work

"Who knows what a dream means? We dreamers do, as my colleague Robert Gongloff ingeniously demonstrates in Dream Exploration, a book bound to attract neophytes and experienced dream workers with the most practical and productive exercises I have ever read. Many dreamers find it difficult to mine the meaning of their dreams from the dark caves of the unconscious, but Robert leads us directly to the gold with his innovative focus on approaching the core of the dream, its very heart, its theme. While there are a proliferation of books on various approaches dreamers might follow to find the meanings of their dreams, Robert's concepts are a bold breakthrough from sifting through tortuous and sometimes misleading paths to the beneficial message the dream is delivering. He paves his route with concrete outlines, exercises and examples, proving that the path of themes is the most direct route to the essence of the dream.

Robert distills his own decades of dream work and his extensive studies in esoteric and ancient wisdom into easy-to-follow yet invaluable guidelines for working with dreams, helping us to discover what themes are but also what they are not, erasing popular misconceptions and replacing them with core themes that fit any dream or waking life situation. With his genius for problem solving and clear organization of information, Robert has created a Theme Matrix, replete with twelve core themes which are common to all of us despite the varied aspects of our lives. We find ourselves challenged with pertinent questions which bring hidden issues to the light of consciousness.

As we transfer these insights, both positive and negative, into conscious awareness and forge ahead with concrete actions to bridge that awareness into waking reality, the fully realized Self begins to emerge. Acting as an ace detective, Robert addresses our personal issues, advising us to inspect our motivations for what we do, and challenges us to address our preconceptions and listen to what dream wisdom is imparting on all levels of our being. Dream Exploration truly leads to Self and Soul Discovery.

This synthesis of psyche and soul is of tremendous personal and societal value. The famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined the term "Collective Unconscious", that vast storehouse of knowledge which dreamers are able to tap into through their dreams, but many of us also believe in a Collective Consciousness which conjoins us in both waking and dreaming realities. Though dreams are guides in our personal development, they also manifest energy to achieve the goals we humans strive for collectively in our waking world--peace, love, joy, goodness. When we trace our themes and honor our dreams, we shift consciousness to a higher level, an evolutionary upward spiral towards our personal and communal ideals.

Thank you, Robert, for writing this informative and inspiring book, a precious gift and powerful tool for all dream appreciators."

--Rita Dwyer, International Association for the Study of Dreams

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (February 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738708186
• ISBN-13: 978-0738708188
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,396,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you're into this, then the book should work, March 14, 2006

By 

Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dream Exploration: A New Approach (Paperback)

We all dream at night (or whenever it is that you chose to sleep). But not everybody remember their dreams, and of the ones that do, not everybody decide to spend time figuring out what the dream really was all about.

Which is understandable, since dreams have a tendency to be completely illogical, very frightening, and simply too complex to return to. However, if you DO choose to try to interpret your dreams; learning how to remember them and trying to understand what they mean and want to tell you - then there's a whole new world out there, or rather in there, to explore.

And in Dream Exploration Robert P. Gongloff, famous dream researcher, has constructed an easy-to-use method for anyone wanting to explore his or her dreams. Personally I never used it, though, since I prefer to simply write my dreams down and leave it at that. However, as I read through the book I got the impression that IF someone wants to explore their inner world, then Gongloff's ideas are a great start.

But it's true, the term "dream research" can easily make you think about spaced out New Agers and yes, Gongloff does sometimes write in a way that's pretty spaced out. This doesn't mean, however, that he and his book should be disregarded straight away. Gongloff, after all, has some good things to say, for instance how one should not focus exclusively on what happens in the dream but rather what the strange actions and setting might symbolize, and also how dream dictionaries are a load of crap, since dream symbolism is objective and cannot be applied universally.

So, if you feel the urge to start exploring your dreams, then Dream Exploration can be a very good choice. It's not a very long and the text is easy to read.

Personally, though, I'll place my copy in my bookshelf and continue simply enjoying the fact that I'm able to remember my dreams, and leave it at that.