Dream researcher, author of "The Spirituality of Dreaming," director of the Sleep and Dream Database. Everything about dreaming interests me. Everything.
Estacada, Oregon
Joined May 2013
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"Dreaming with the Machines": a new post for the Stanford U. Press blog that Maja Gutman-Music and I co-wrote, discussing the dynamics between dreaming intelligence and artificial intelligence
blog.sup.org/digital-project…
Kant says the following about poetry, "the first rank of all the arts," in his Critique of Judgement (1790) - can't we say the same of dreaming?
"It expands the mind by giving freedom to the imagination... It invigorates the mind by letting it feel its faculty--free, spontaneous, and independent of determination by nature--of regarding and judging nature as phenomenon in the light of aspects which nature of itself does not afford us in experience, either for the senses or the understanding, and of employing it accordingly on behalf of, and as a sort of schema for, the supersensible. It plays with semblance, which it produces at will, but not as an instrument of deception; for its avowed pursuit is merely one of play, which, however, understanding may turn to good account and employ for its own purpose" - (section 53)
Here is the new Weird Studies podcast (#220) on Dostoevsky's short story "A Dream of a Ridiculous Man" from the recent Dreams Symposium at the Brooklyn Public Library organized by Alisa Minyukova and me from the Dream Mapping Project
open.spotify.com/episode/4kh…
"Anything said about the possible meanings in someone else's dream is always a projection, a reflection of the interior life and symbol dramas of the person making the comment, more than it is a reflection of the possible 'objective' significance of the dream itself" - J. Taylor
The Dream Symposium 2026, Sept. 25-27 at the Brooklyn Public Library, will include a talk with David Pena-Guzman, author of When Animals Dream, plus a live performance by Yuki Kawahisa based on the Japanese classic "Ten Nights of Dreams" - it's all free!
bklynlibrary.org/calendar/dr…
"The human instinct is to attach to dreams the significance of reality. It is man's first reading of the phenomenon--and sometimes his last... Dreams are thus in large part the fashioners of early religions" -
A.J.J. Ratcliff, "A History of Dreams" (1923), 27-28
On the latest episode of the "Suspicious Minds: AI and the Apocalypse" podcast, I speak with host Sean O'Grady about the psychology of apocalypse, and try to answer his question of whether AI systems can dream...
from min 6 to min 12 of the episode
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
The balusters and handrails have been installed on the second floor of the Dream Library - a very good sign, it means the finish process is nearing completion...
"A dream often shows you acting in some puzzling way, which is actually a metaphor for how you do act, usually. It might be your way in relation to others, or toward a part of you" - Eugene Gendlin, "Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams" (1986), 79
"In dreams, the process of integration or 'individuation' can appear as a flower, a geometric form, a jewel, a person, or a common object which takes on new meaning" - Stanley Krippner & Joseph Dillard, "Dreamworking" (1988), 149
"It is when objects *do* something in a dream, or play some ridiculous, nonsensical part, or feature in the forefront of the action, or are particularly noticeable in some way, that they reveal themselves as being of some importance. Often they reveal an attitude or conception of the dreamer, or possibly a fear, and as such may be extremely valuable in interpretation" - Valerie Moolman, "The Meaning of Your Dreams" (1969), 90-91
My new book, The Spirit of Dreaming in Shakespeare, will be available online Oct. 6, in print Oct. 27 - the playful relations among this thematic trio of dreams, spirituality, & Shakespeare has inspired more than 400 years of Western cultural creativity
link.springer.com/book/97830…
Recent conversations about dreams, 4/4:
The SDDb, consciousness, lucid dreaming, and the transpersonal dimensions of AI - a wide-ranging interview with Nilou Hashemi for her "Dispatches from the Lucid Frontier" youtube channel
youtube.com/watch?v=GGKzxK9R…
Recent conversations about dreams, 3/4:
The interweaving of dreams, live theater, Shakespeare, play, and consciousness - an interview with Katherine Bell for her "Dream Journal" podcast -
youtube.com/watch?v=Vl1C_kj8…
Recent conversations about dreams, 2/4:
The Dream Library, mostly - an interview with Laura Payne for the Dream Boat podcast
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
Recent conversations about dreams, 1/4:
Dreaming and food, an interview with James Gabriel Martin for Image magazine
image.ie/living/what-dreams-…
"Life and dreams are leaves of one and the same book... If we assume a standpoint of judgment external to both, we find no distinct difference in their nature, and are forced to concede to the poets that life is a long dream" - A. Schopenhauer, "The World as Will and Idea" (1819)
This Saturday, 8/1, at 10-11 am Pacific, I'll be on The Dream Journal podcast with host Katherine Bell, in Santa Cruz, CA - You can tune in to the live conversation at 90.7 FM and at KSQD.org - Please feel free to call in to comment or share a dream during the last half of the show at 831-900-5773 or via email [email protected]
