The Waking Dream: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of Our Lives [Paperback]

Ray Grasse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

The telephone rings. It is a grammar school friend you have not heard from in 30 years, but just now, while going through a box of old photographs, you came across his picture. Is this coincidence, or do such events have deeper significance? This engaging and penetrating book opens readers to the world of meaningful coincidences. Weaving ancient insights with contemporary teachings on sacred psychology, astrology, and subtle energy. Grasse shows readers how to understand the deeper meaning of the symbols and synchronicities of their everyday lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Symbolism, Grasse claims, is "the forgotten language." He does not mean only literary symbolism but also what Baudelaire called life's "correspondences" --the sense that everything means something, that all of life is a dream and can be interpreted as such. Drawing from mystical traditions and quantum physics, from astrology and Jungian psychology, Grasse offers us a virtual dictionary of symbolisms and the finding that contemporary culture is almost unique in its disregard for symbolist ways of thinking. His well-presented argument should open eyes and, perhaps, minds. Patricia Monaghan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: Quest Books (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835607496
• ISBN-13: 978-0835607490
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What More Could One Ask of a Book?, October 20, 2001

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Waking Dream: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of Our Lives (Paperback)

This book represents the best, most comprehensive, exposition of the symbolist world view in a single volume. Infact, if I wanted to truly understand the deep, fundamental roots of mysticism or occultism, this is the book that I would read first. Symbolism stands in contrast to stark materialism in that it assigns inherent Meaning to the world. Symbolism holds that this physical, material world is the lowest level of reality and not it's totality, as "science" would have us believe. The lower levels merely reflect the archetypical currents, patterns, and laws of the higher: "As above, so below." To personally validate this mode of thinking in one's own life is to experience permanent mind shift. You never see creation as dead, sterile, and meaningless again. What more can one ask of a book or a teaching?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well done, September 26, 2002

By 

"rex_mundi_23" (Prescott Valley, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Waking Dream: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of Our Lives (Paperback)

This book changed the way I see the world around me. It's one of those rare books that effectively help make sense of the "sublime" natural of reality. Books like the Celestine Prophecy try in their new-age way to address this concept of symbolic language around us, but this book is not fluff; it marries the esoteric with psychological principals, and does it in a demonstrably REAL way.

Fantastic reading. Buy it now.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open a whole universe of awareness, December 27, 2000

By 

NICOLE B. PORTNOY - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Waking Dream: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of Our Lives (Paperback)

Ray Grasse clearly outlines many thought processes which open the reader's mind in several fields of metaphysical studies. The reading level is some what high, so a good base of study on archetypes, Eastern theology, and all around understanding of the Crusades of the Light Warriors are helpful. Great book. A must have for reference and study.