Art as Meditation: Waking Up to our Inner World: Exploring Dreams - # 61003H

Instructor: Jeremy Taylor                      

Faculty Bio:   

Dr. Jeremy Taylor, a Unitarian Universalist minister, has worked with dreams for over twenty-five years; he blends the values of spirituality with an active social conscience and a Jungian perspective.   Past president of the Association for the Study of Dreams, he has written three books integrating dream symbolism, mythology, and archetypal energy.                           

Course Description:  

We all dream several times a night, and each dream is like a snapshot from the unconscious showing us what we do not yet grasp with our waking mind. Our dreams have a way of exploring our most complex problems in creative, amusing and ultimately positive and productive ways. How can we work with our dreams to understand our complex spiritual selves? How can we understand the dreams of others?  Is dream language the language of the Divine?  Why do dreams speak in metaphor? How does understanding our dreams affect our life in the world?  This course explores these questions and more, and offers fundamental assumptions and techniques for group dream work, and working with dreams on your own.

Ultimately, the dreamer is the only one who can say with any certainty which meanings his or her dreams may hold. The "aha" of recognition of the dreamer, when presented with some truth about the meaning(s) of his/her dream, is the only reliable touch-stone of dream work.

Objectives:

§         To explore universal themes in myths and other sacred narratives from diverse cultures;

§         to familiarize students with the basic theories and techniques for exploring and identifying the salient features of unconscious life through a focus on the sacred narratives of world religion ("myth" is just a name for someone else's religion)

§         to familiarize students with basic theories and practices of archetypal analysis of both personal and collective material

§         to give students practical tools to understand and work with the mythic themes in their dreams and the dreams of others.

§         to provide an opportunity for extensive self-exploration and increased conscious self-awareness

§         to provide an experience of dynamic group process to strengthen  skills in group facilitation and participation

Schedule:

Fundamental Assumptions and Techniques for Group Dream Work.

Introduction to the Dark Shadow

The gender archetypes of Anima and Animus

Integration of the Bright Shadow archetype

Doorways to the Divine: Universal Themes in Dreams and Sacred Narrative…understanding       Creation Spirituality and the role of the unconscious

Note: we’ll be working with student’s dreams in class, each day….

Suggested Reading:                          

§         .Living Labyrinth: Exploring Universal Themes in Myths, Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life, Jeremy Taylor, Paulist Press (1998)

§         Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill: Using Dreams to Tap the Wisdom of the Unconscious, Jeremy Taylor, Warner Books (1992)

§         Dream Work,  Jeremy Taylor, Paulist Press (1983 – still in print)

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