The Wisdom of Your Dreams: Using Dreams to Tap into Your Unconscious and Transform Your Life Paperback – October 15, 2009

As noted, this is a revised & updated version of Jeremy Taylor's classic WHERE PEOPLE FLY AND WATER RUNS UPHILL … but even if you've already read & own that book, you need to get this one as well. The original material is still there, but explored at a much deeper & richer level. And there's a good deal of new material as well, all gleaned from subsequent years of dreamwork. The first book was wise; this one is wiser still.Yet Taylor remains an essentially humble writer, still open to learning new concepts or interpreting old ones in a new way. The one binding thread that remains constant is his firm belief that all dreams come in the service of healing & wholeness. Because while he examines different approaches to dreamwork, finding good in all of them, his primary goal is still helping people grow inwardly & deal with their inner demons through their dreams. And he's quite candid about his own uncertainties & doubts along the way.In short, Taylor inspires trust & confidence in his readers, always reminding them that in the end, only they can truly say what their dreams mean. His writing & life's work is in service to that goal, offering helpful advice & knowledge gleaned from his decades of experience in working with others on their dreams. Speaking for myself, I've found his work to be exceptionally good in exploring my own dreams & learning from them. There are fine books on theory; but his books make use of theory in order to be quite practical.Let me add that this is NOT just one more self-help book about dreams, so many of which tend to be shiny happy gloss without much substance to them. Taylor never pretends that dreamwork is anything other than difficult & even painful at times, even though it does lead to greater understanding & wholeness when pursued diligently. But that's the only way for dreamwork to be of any real use to people.For any serious student of dreams, this is an indispensable book, most highly recommended!

I found the depth and breadth of his knowledge valuable in learning how to interpret dreams. I am newer to dream work so I appreciated all the ideas conveyed as well as the examples of interpretations of dreams to help me learn even more deeply.

This book covers much of what Jeremy has talked about before but still it seems fresh and up to date and always so informative. Jeremy's mind is sharp and he retains and assimilates material from such varied sources that one cannot fail to learn new pearls of wisdom and insight.

I have listened to Jeremy Taylor speak in person and participated in a dream circle led by him, he is genuine and simply brilliant. The way he understands dreams and how it comes in the service of our wholeness and well-being is the cornerstone to how one may go about interpreting dreams. It is very clear to me that Jeremy wants to do nothing but help people. I highly recommend that you try out a dream circle, which is basically a group of people getting together helping each other understand each others' dreams by talking about it. No one needs to be an "expert". You will be blown away by the power of the simple fact of sharing dreams with people and how others can see what you don't see. If you do that, this book will have double the value for you. Even if you don't, and you are simply curious about the meaning of your dreams and how it really is there to help make your life better, read this book. A whole new world awaits you, and Jeremy will be nothing short of brilliant in introducing that world to you.

As a several-time reader of "Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill" and having experienced Jeremy's classes and workshops live dozens of times, I need to stress that "expanded and updated" does not do this fine work justice. While it retains the pleasingly polyphonic quality of the work that preceded it by 15 years, much painstaking editing throughout results in clearer imagery and easier reading.And much new material is distributed through the book, not just in the added chapter.So this book both updates Jeremy's global view of dreamwork from the standpoint of 15 years more experience -- over 40 years formally of group dreamwork by now -- while still portraying very accurately the flavor and presence of live group dreamwork.It could fairly be said to be an experiential encyclopedia in one volume, from sheer inclusiveness.It is worth noting that Jeremy is a co-founder of the International Association for the Study of Dreams over 25 years ago -- but neither old enough nor inactive enough to be called an elder statesman.His approach is distinctive by an effort always to recognize consciously effects of psychological projection: "We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are." Thus THE dream does not exist, like a laboratory specimen spread on a table to be dissected by experts. Rather a dream has as many versions as there are hearers of it, and anyone may have a valuable contribution about its meaning.And he strives to be a dreamwork universalist, as well as a UU minister: his emphasis is about how many theories about dreams are true simultaneously, rather than one approach triumphing over or excluding another.

I have used this book twice now in my classes on dreams on the college level, and students invariably dislike it, despite the wealth of great information. The first time this happened I was annoyed at my students for their feeling that Taylor talks too much, makes too much of himself, and is an untrustworthy witness. Having met the man and found him to be a sweet soul, I tried to explain to my students that they were wrong. Second year, same thing. So maybe he does goes on too long and maybe he does sometimes appear to be a little pompous. He certainly is NOT untrustworthy. Maybe it's just that college students are little too critical? Who knows?

This is the "go-to" dream book I recommend to all beginners in dream work. Jeremy Taylor teaches you, encourages you, welcomes even your worst nightmares with his warm, wise, compassionate advice. He's been doing it for decades, is one of the best (I've read dozens, am a trained DreamTender myself) -- but I always mention this one first. Inspirational!

What to better way to learn the power of observing and listening to your dreams than reading from someone who has dedicated 40 years of his life to them

a travers des etudes de cas, taylor nous guide dans la comprehension et l'interpretation de nos reves et cauchemars en meme temps qu'il nous montre comment ce travail nous aide a retrouver la memoire de notre enfance.