The Spirituality of Dreaming
Unlocking the Wisdom of Our Sleeping Selves
- Publisher: Broadleaf Books (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2023
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Publisher's Description
1st Place Winner of the Chanticleer International Book Awards 2023 in Mind & Spirit category Enhance your dreaming with groundbreaking research and wisdom from vivid dreamers throughout history, sacred texts, and the present day. We're asleep almost a third of our lives. What if those sleeping hours hold wisdom, creativity, and even connection with the divine? What if our dreams offer spiritual insight and guidance—not just for ourselves, but for our communities? In The Spirituality of Dreaming, leading dream scholar and expert Dr. Kelly Bulkeley brings us a set of time-honored methods to stimulate innate dreaming capacities and amplify their impact in our waking lives. Dreams have been a perennial source of spiritual insight and guidance across all cultures and religions throughout history, he asserts, but the sacred energy of our dreams has often remained untapped. Relying on years of research, data analysis, and interviews, Bulkeley offers wisdom and strategies from "big dreamers"--people who have vivid, intense dreams and remember them. He also distills the latest findings on dreams: the impact of digital technologies on our dreams, the phenomena of lucid dreaming and dreaming incubation, practices of dream-sharing, the creative role of dreams in cultural innovation, and the growing evidence that animals dream too. In conversation with people who care about dreams and spirituality, Bulkeley makes a case for taking ourselves seriously as dreaming visionaries. By drawing on classic and contemporary works of theology, anthropology, and psychology, along with the latest dream research, Bulkeley maps the spiritual power of dreaming and argues that our dreams matter in ways we do not yet fully realize, both individually and collectively. Together we can learn how to unlock the sacred truths revealed within our sleeping selves.
Endorsements (6)
“What if dreams have value?’ This question, which Dr. Kelly Bulkeley poses early in The Spirituality of Dreaming, piqued my curiosity. I’ve always had vivid dreams, many of which have felt revelatory or even prophetic, yet I’ve always dismissed my dreaming as having very little relevance to my day-to-day life. So Bulkeley’s scientifically researched thesis, bolstered by stories of religious, spiritual, and historical practices from cultures around the world, has felt mind-shifting. Dreaming as a tool for social transformation: Who knew? This eye-opening book feels deeply hopeful, and I may never sleep the same way again.”
“While reading The Spirituality of Dreaming, I kept deeming it a sheer privilege to be led into the strangely familiar offline world we enter each night by so learned and lucid a guide as Kelly Bulkeley. As the leading researcher on dreams and dreaming in world religions, he amiably captures here a lifetime of scholarship in this pulsating, personal, playful invitation to delve into rich spiritual possibilities generated by our dreams. This is a brave and beautiful book. Prepare to be moved and enlightened.”
“Filled with both research evidence and personal examples, The Spirituality of Dreaming is one of the most intriguing and fascinating books I’ve read. Kelly Bulkeley leads us inside of the world of dreams and illustrates how our dreams offer spiritual spiritual healing to us and others. Dreams serve as a portal to and from the divine and provide another opening for the Spirit to lead us home.”
“Calling all dreamers! In this compelling, beautifully written book, dream researcher Dr. Kelly Bulkeley makes a persuasive argument that dreaming can be cultivated as an intentional spiritual practice. In addition, dreaming is essential for leadership; if we want lives that are Spirit-led and Spirit-filled, we must listen closely to the language of our dreams. This book weaves together cutting-edge evidence, ancient wisdom from faith traditions, and practical techniques that readers can utilize in everyday life. This book has offered me deeper understanding and a renewed commitment to take my dreams seriously!”
“The Spirituality of Dreaming makes clear why Kelly Bulkeley is one of the foremost dream researchers—if not the foremost—in the field of the psychology of religion and spirituality. He reminds us of the power of spiritual dreaming, that dreaming is fundamentally a spiritual practice for ‘a culture that has fallen dangerously out of touch with its own dreaming resources.’ The book will appeal to scholars and researchers, as well as to the general reader interested in envisioning better possibilities for the future, even ‘when apocalyptic threats are looming on all sides.”
“The Spirituality of Dreaming offers clear guidance to connecting with the creative and deeply personal power of the dreaming mind, through the well-presented methods of science, culture, and tradition. Kelly Bulkeley reminds us that sleep is an absolute essential, and he invites us to become more active players in the meaningful drama of our dreaming lives. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.”
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