Tracks in the Wilderness of Dreaming :
Exploring Interior Landscape Through Practical Dreamwork
by Robert Bosnak
Published by Delacorte Pr
Publication date: February 1, 1996
ISBN: 0385315260
Synopsis:
A ground-breaking approach to dreamwork, this book relates Bosnak's journey
to the Australian Outback to probe the nature of dreaming with an aboriginal
spirit-doctor. From their conversations, readers learn practical tools and
processes to explore the depth of one's inner lives. This is a psychological
work that will change the way readers look at their dreams forever.
Reviews:
H.R., 05/10/97 A masterful perspective on
dream interpretation
Sometimes the most simple, obvious statement contains the most profound
truth. Case in point: A dream is a story. It's a simple idea, almost obvious
when you think about it. Dreams have the drama of powerful stories. Have
you ever wondered why, if dreams are supposed to be messages, that they
usually come in the form of stories, rather than in the form of explanations
or instructions? I'm sure you've wished, "If my dreams are trying to
get a message across to me, why don1t they do it more directly?" Have
you ever considered that, maybe, the story is the most direct method? We
all enjoy stories. We respond to them more directly than we do to dry, intellectual
explanations. We are now just beginning to understand, in a dry intellectual,
scientific way, how people understand stories and grasp their meaning. Responding
to stories is so natural, we never wondered how we do it. Carl Jung pointed
out the dramatic structure of dreams and began the study of how stories
affect us. Edgar Cayce used the theme of the dream's story as a basis of
his dream interpretations. That method is now a cornerstone of modern dream
interpretation. If story is such an important way of learning, it would
seem natural to teach about dreams by telling stories about them.
Of all the dream experts I know, the one who does the best job of this style of teaching is Robert Bosnak. A Jungian analyst originally from the Netherlands, Bosnak first came to national attention with his book, Dreaming with an AIDS Patient. In this book (that became the basis for a stage play), he told us the story of his involvement with a person who was very much alive as well as terminally ill. At the same time he taught us a lot about dreams and dreamwork, using both his patients and his own dreams. In an earlier book, titled, A Little Course on Dreams, he told us stories about himself and his patients to illustrate the life of dreams and the attempts to find meaning in them. Bosnak's latest book, Tracks in the Wilderness of Dreams (Delacorte Press), is a story within a story, and an important new contribution to dream interpretation. At one level, the story is about his visit to Australia where he exchanges professional trade secrets with Aborigenee healers. At another level, it is Bosnak's own story of his dreams helping him reconcile with his father's death. Within these two personal accounts we learn how to work with dreams in the Bosnak mode.
Dreams are stories our souls tell to elicit our empathy. Listen to them!