Kelly Bulkeley is a visiting scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, with a focus on dream research, education, and consulting. A former president of the Association for the Study of Dreams, he has written several books, including Spiritual Dreaming: A Cross-cultural and Historical Journey. This helpful resource had its origin in a woman's dream after the September 11 attacks. She was sitting in a room, like at a retreat center, with several people, and they were all connected to each other by wires or electrical cords. The woman told Bulkeley that she understood the dream as "an expression of her need for connection and regained power to counter the shock and the helplessness she and so many others felt after the terrorist attack." The author has aimed this resource at those who have experienced strange and disturbing dreams as well as therapists, counselors, clergy, physicians, educators, and parents.
Bulkeley begins with the dreams over a six-month period of a 57-year-old woman who was critically injured in an automobile accident in 2001. Her personal catastrophe is contrasted with the troubling dreams of others who were shocked, confused, angered, and frightened by the terrorist attacks of September 11. For many people, the turmoil of the outer world brought to the surface many conflicts and bewilderments of the inner world. A ripple effect took place whereby private anxieties were mingled with the collective trauma of the society.
Bulkeley assesses some of the dreams that came bubbling up in response to external dangers such as crashing airplanes, terrorist attacks, warfare, domestic violence, disease (anthrax and biological warfare), and bad guys. He agrees with other dream analysts that every dream, even our worst nightmares, can serve as a catalyst to healing and wholeness. Bulkeley concludes with a look at reassurance dreams whereby some people tried to rally their energies.
This paperback makes a good case that dreamers know what their own dreams mean and that a good interpretation is one that is related to waking life, multidimensional, and open to novelty.
