Dreaming Beyond Death: A Guide to Pre-Death Dreams and Visions - Hardcover

Bulkeley, Kelly; Bulkley, Rev. Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807077208 ISBN 13: 9780807077207

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2005

Synopsis

Documented throughout time and across cultures, dreams experienced by those on the verge of death can offer profound insight into the process of dying and provide deep spiritual solace for the individual passing away. In Dreaming Beyond Death, Kelly Bulkeley and the Reverend Patricia Bulkley bring together their diverse areas of expertise to create a guide to pre-death dreams that offers practical advice and provides a broader understanding of this phenomenon.

Beginning with a look at dreams and dreaming in culture, history, psychology, and modern dream study, the authors show us that pre-death dreams tend toward three themes: dreams in which death is represented as a journey; dreams in which a guide appears; and dreams involving obstacles that parallel concerns of the dying in real life. They draw on Patricia's ten years of hospice counseling to take us through the pre-death dreams of several terminally ill people, show us how to explore the meanings of dreams, and tell us why these particular dreams gave their dreamers a sense of resolution and tranquility. The last chapter provides clear, practical advice for caregivers on how they can respectfully guide those close to death through their dreaming experience.

Rev. Patricia Bulkley's experience as a spiritual counselor lends this book a deeply personal and human touch, while Kelly Bulkeley's intellectual framework makes it easy to understand the larger meanings behind pre-death dreams. Suitable reading for both the dying and for their caregivers, Dreaming Beyond Death brings to light a distinct and profound part of the dying process. From this book, we come to see that understanding pre-death dreams can not only provide comfort, it can also lead ultimately to a profound sense of peace.

About this title

About the Author

Kelly Bulkeley is a visiting scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and the author of several books, including Dreams of Healing and The Wandering Brain. Rev. Dr. Patricia (Tish) Bulkley is a Presbyterian minister who was the spiritual services provider at Hospice of Marin for ten years. She currently serves on the teaching staff of the Program in Christian Spirituality at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Reviews

The authors offer a unique how-to on interpreting dreams one has during the period just before death. With a nod to various scientific and religious factions whose opinions of dreams range from considering them to be of no value to believing they are works of Satan, the authors contend that "one of the functions of dreaming is precisely to create the meanings that will help us face the end with courage and understanding." If the very thing that defines humans is the ability to find meaning, they say, then allowing oneself to experience, remember, and find meaning in dreams can only serve to enrich one's last days. To support that supposition, they present anecdotes gleaned mainly from hospice spiritual-services provider Bulkley's professional experience. They make a case in favor of dreams as endowing the journey to death with opportunities for mending fences, making peace with a troubled conscience, and looking beyond temporary pain to a rich reward or, at least, a welcome serenity. Donna Chavez
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Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807077208
• ISBN 13: 9780807077207
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160