Wilderness of Dreams

Kelly Bulkeley is Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Education Committee, of the Association for the Study of Dreams.

"There are so many things I like about this book: the clarity of the prose, the breadth and depth of the ideas and the intellectual analysis, the elegant synthesis of seemingly disparate schools of thought and points of view, the strength and practical usefulness of the central thesis. It provides both a framework and a vocabulary for productive dialogue in the most important issues in the study of dreams, across disciplines that have traditionally been separated by misunderstanding."The book is not only filled with dramatic insights and healing metaphors: the flavor and excitement of deepening understanding of dreams is communicated with a blend of clarity and enthusiasm that immediately appeals to a wide and diverse audience."— Jeremy Taylor, author of Dream Work, and Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill: Using Dreams to Tap the Wisdom of the Unconscious"The author eloquently expresses one of the oldest approaches to understanding dreams, i.e., that they are intimately related with religious meaning. The author's use of the 'root' metaphor is an invaluable contribution toward explaining how dreams may be meaningful. I think this book is destined to engender a great deal of discussion about dreaming and perhaps even a new way of understanding this elusive phenomenon."— Tore A. Nielsen, Hospital Sacre-Coeur de Montreal

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart 1. Introduction: First Steps 1. Dreams through the History of Religions2. Exploring the Wilderness of DreamsPart 2. Eight Paths into the Wilderness of Dreams 3. Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud4. Surrealism: Andre Breton5. Analytical Psychology: Carl Jung6. Content Analysis: Calvin Hall7. Neuroscience: J. Allan Hobson8. Lucid Dreaming: Stephen LaBerge9. Anthropology: Barbara Tedlock10. Cognitive Psychology: Harry HuntPart 3. Dreams and Interpretation 11. The Crisis of Dream Interpretation: Gadamer to the Rescue12. A Hermeneutic Critique of Modern Dream Interpretation Theories13. The Interpretation of Dreams: Hermeneutic Principles14. Dora's Dream: The Hermeneutic Principles in ActionPart 4. Dreams and Religious Meaning 15. The Concept of Root Metaphors16. Flying with Great Eagles and Eating Short Bananas: Examples of Root Metaphors in Dream17. Root Metaphors and the Eight Paths into the Dream Wilderness18. Towards Integration: Interpreting "Being Dissected by the Evil Alien" Part 5. Conclusion: Out of The Wilderness 19. Why All the Interest Now in the Religious Meaning of Dreams?20. The Future of the Wilderness of DreamsAppendix 1: Other Paths into the Dream WildernessAppendix 2: Does God Speak in Dreams?NotesBibliographyIndex