Chapter 7

Jeremy TaylorÕs Assumptions About Dreams

Draft (Please do not distribute)

I met Jeremy Taylor years ago at the Association for the Study of Dreams, a national organization that I was a member of for a while. This man is doing absolutely wonderful things with building community with dream work.  He works especially with prisons, helping prisoners get in touch with the authentic part of themselves. 

But he has all kinds of dream work groups and so forth going.  But I love his ten assumptions, some of which are very much like those of CREEI, with which you are already familiar.

1. All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness.
2. No dream comes just to tell the dreamer what he or she already knows.
3. Only the dreamer can say with any certainty what meanings his or her dream may hold.
4. The dreamer's "aha" of recognition is a function of previously unconscious memory and is the only reliable touchstone of dream work.
5. There is no such thing as a dream with only one meaning.
6. All dreams speak a universal language of metaphor and symbol.
7. All dreams reflect inborn creativity and ability to face and solve life's problems.
8. All dreams reflect society as a whole, as well as the dreamer's relationship to it.
9. Working with dreams regularly improves relationships with friends, lovers, partners, parents, children and others.

10. Working dreams in groups builds community, intimacy, and                  support and begins to impact society as a whole.

Discussion of Taylor's assumptions

1. All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness. 

I like that formulation better than my own. 

2. No dream comes just to tell the dreamer what he or she already knows.

No dream comes just to tell the dreamer what he or she already knows.  ThatÕs the same thing as a dream always contains something new. 

3. Only the dreamer can say with any certainty what meanings his or her dream may hold.

Better said than mine.

4. The dreamer's "aha" of recognition is a function of previously unconscious memory and is the only reliable touchstone of dream work.

ThatÕs really key; I love the way he says that. 

5. There is no such thing as a dream with only one meaning.

There is no such thing as only one meaning.  The dream is, for me, is a daily miracle. 

6. All dreams speak a universal language of metaphor and symbol.

ItÕs the universal language.  All cultures, all societies; everybody dreams every night.  You may not remember them all, but everybody dreams every night, whether youÕre a child or an old man or whether youÕre sophisticated or unsophisticated. 

It crosses all barriers, all cultures, all societies.  It is the common denominator.  And it has multifaceted meanings, if you give value to it and reflect on it, youÕll find continuous understanding and wisdom coming out of the dream.

I get unhappy when I hear people say, ÒOh, itÕs just a dream; it doesnÕt mean anything.Ó  ItÕs a dream, what do you mean!  All dreams speak the universal language of metaphor and symbol.

7. All dreams reflect inborn creativity and ability to face and solve life's problems.

WeÕre going to find a little bit more about that in our exercises later on with this. 

8. All dreams reflect society as a whole, as well as the dreamer's relationship to it.

A dream may refer to any relationship: a friendship, a marriage, a family or society as a whole.

W. Clark Rex talks about this aspect of dream in his ÒSix Aspects of Human BehaviorÓ.   You can see how those levels are simply progressions of increasing complexity, but theyÕre all on the same line, theyÕre all put together. 

9. Working with dreams regularly improves relationships with friends, lovers, partners, parents, children and others.

This is the great value of community dream discussions.

10. Working dreams in groups builds community, intimacy, and support and begins to impact society as a whole.

ThatÕs the value of dream analysis.  ThatÕs so exciting to me. And Jeremy Taylor is a master.  He has put many groups together that are making tremendous impact on their respective societies.