DREAMS AND DREAMING: MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
Graduate Level University Course, East-West Psychology Department
EWP 6376 – 3 Units – Spring 2016, January 21 - May 12, 2016
Thursdays 6:15 – 9:15 pm
We enter this world with the innate ability to dream, and the multi-dimensional act of dreaming includes spontaneous sleep dreams, imagination, inner knowing, bodily felt sense, synchronicities, and other ways of perceiving. Dreaming is both individual and shared experience, and one’s view of dreams is influenced by one’s culture and experience.
What is a Dream? What is the act of Dreaming? What are effective ways of working with dreams as opportunities for transformation and growth? Is it possible to integrate more than one approach to dreaming into a holistic view of what it means to be a dreamer? We’ll include a look at contemporary Western dream working techniques and consider their applicability in a cross-cultural context, with a presentation of the instructor’s original inquiry into Balinese dreaming and cosmology while living in Bali.
The course will include discussion, visual presentation, story telling, and active engagement with dreams, including shamanic journeying. The experiential nature of this course is designed to activate a personal exploration that will inspire you to dig deeply into a multi-level inquiry into the purpose and value of dreams and dreaming, and may even result in the emergence of an important life epiphany. All dreams that are shared in class are held sacred and confidential in a safe and supportive environment. You are required to keep a dream journal and submit for evaluation dreams and dream interpretations you feel comfortable sharing with the instructor.
