Customer Reviews

The Wilderness of Dreams: Exploring the Religious Meanings of Dreams in Modern Western Culture (S U N Y Series in Dream Studies)

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This is one of the best books ever written on the religious meanings of dreams. In Part One, Dr. Bulkeley traces the role of dreams in the history of religions, giving the background for the questions he will pose. He also presents the guiding metaphor of the book, the "wilderness" of dreams, indicating that while several "explorers" have come back from there with "maps", the territory is still not known -- and thus is open to interpretation. In Part Two, he summarizes some of those "explorers", twentieth century writers who have put forth theories of dreams interpretation; these include Freud and Jung, the surrealist Andre Breton, the neurobiologist J. Allen Hobson, the lucid dream advocate Stephen LaBerge, the anthropologist Barbara Tedlock, and the cognitive psychologist Harry Hunt. The variety of possible interpretations leads nicely into Part Three, where Bulkeley introduces hermeneutical theory to defend, as it were, the wilderness from the writers who would claim that it is "known". Indeed, he shows that none of the previously cited interpretations of dreams is complete and satisfying in and of itself. In Part Four, building on the work of Lakoff and Johnson, Bulkeley introduces the concept of a "root metaphor." As he explains: "Root metaphors are metaphors that express our ultimate existential concerns; root metaphors provide religious meanings that orient our lives" (p. 145). From there, he reveals his masterstroke: "dreams are our primary source of root metaphors" (p. 151). He goes back to each of the previously discussed theories of dream interpretation and re-analyzes them in terms of root metaphors, and then shows how to work with dreams using the idea of root metaphors. In Part Five, in light of the increasing secularization of the modern world, he argues that one antidote would be a more prominent place for dreams and dreamwork in our lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in dreams, as well as to anyone concerned with the problem of meaning in the modern world.

This is one of the best books ever written on the religious meanings of dreams. In Part One, Dr. Bulkeley traces the role of dreams in the history of religions, giving the background for the questions he will pose. He also presents the guiding metaphor of the book, the "wilderness" of dreams, indicating that while several "explorers" have come back from there with "maps", the territory is still not known -- and thus is open to interpretation. In Part Two, he summarizes some of those "explorers", twentieth century writers who have put forth theories of dreams interpretation; these include Freud and Jung, the surrealist Andre Breton, the neurobiologist J. Allen Hobson, the lucid dream advocate Stephen LaBerge, the anthropologist Barbara Tedlock, and the cognitive psychologist Harry Hunt. The variety of possible interpretations leads nicely into Part Three, where Bulkeley introduces hermeneutical theory to defend, as it were, the wilderness from the writers who would claim that it is "known". Indeed, he shows that none of the previously cited interpretations of dreams is complete and satisfying in and of itself. In Part Four, building on the work of Lakoff and Johnson, Bulkeley introduces the concept of a "root metaphor." As he explains: "Root metaphors are metaphors that express our ultimate existential concerns; root metaphors provide religious meanings that orient our lives" (p. 145). From there, he reveals his masterstroke: "dreams are our primary source of root metaphors" (p. 151). He goes back to each of the previously discussed theories of dream interpretation and re-analyzes them in terms of root metaphors, and then shows how to work with dreams using the idea of root metaphors. In Part Five, in light of the increasing secularization of the modern world, he argues that one antidote would be a more prominent place for dreams and dreamwork in our lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in dreams, as well as to anyone concerned by the problem of meaning in the modern world.

I much preferred Dreams: Gateway to the True Self.