The Scribes of Sleep : Insights From the Most Important Dream Journals in History

## Abstract Dream journals are a surprisingly powerful resource for psychological and spiritual discovery. Contemporary dream science has shown that as much as we can learn from single dreams, far more information can be derived from analyzing a series of dreams over time. Various people through history have intuitively understood this point, and they carefully recorded their dreams for years and even decades, drawing profound guidance from the patterns they discovered. This is the first book to gather historical and cross-cultural evidence showing the value of dream journals as a potent means of healing, religious experience, and metaphysical insight. Seven remarkable people who kept dream journals are profiled—Aelius Aristides of second-century Rome, Myōe Shonin of twelfth-century Japan, Lucrecia de León of sixteenth-century Spain, Emanuel Swedenborg of seventeenth-century Sweden, Benjamin Banneker of eighteenth-century America, Anna Kingsford of nineteenth-century Britain, and Wolfgang Pauli of twentieth-century Austria. Because dreams are so complex and multifaceted—especially when viewed in a series—an interdisciplinary approach is required to shed light on their meanings. In this work, three broad methods are applied to the seven journals: data science, depth psychology, and religious studies. As the findings of these different methods are woven together and mutually illuminated, it becomes clear that the practice of keeping a dream journal stimulates several specific qualities of religiosity, prompting the dreamers to move in more individualist, mystical, and pluralistic directions—toward becoming a free spirit. Dream journals are a surprisingly powerful resource for psychological and spiritual discovery. Contemporary dream science has shown that, as much as we can learn from single dreams, far more information can be derived from analyzing a series of dreams over time. Many have intuitively understood this point, and carefully recorded their dreams for years, even decades, drawing profound guidance from the patterns they discovered. The Scribes of Sleep is the first book to gather historical and cross-cultural evidence showing the value of dream journals as potent sources of healing, religious experience, and metaphysical insight. Dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley profiles seven remarkable people who kept dream journals: Aelius Aristides, Myoe Shonin, Lucrecia de León, Emanuel Swedenborg, Benjamin Banneker, Anna Bonus Kingsford, and Wolfgang Pauli. Because dreams are so complex and multi-faceted, especially when viewed in a series, Bulkeley employs an interdisciplinary approach to shed light on their meanings, drawing on data science, depth psychology, and religious studies. As the findings of these different methods are woven together and they begin to illuminate each other, it becomes clear that the practice of keeping a dream journal stimulates several specific qualities of religiosity, prompting the dreamers to move in more individualist, mystical, and pluralistic directions-towards becoming a free spirit. Cover 1 The Scribes of Sleep 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Introduction 10 Part I Seven Dreamers and their Journals 20 1. Aelius Aristides: Devotee of the Healing God 22 2. Myōe Shonin: Extreme Visionary 30 3. Lucrecia de León: Prophet of an Empire’s Doom 38 4. Emanuel Swedenborg: Mystical Scientist 46 5. Benjamin Banneker: Mapping the Heavens 54 6. Anna Kingsford: Spiritual Dynamo 62 7. Wolfgang Pauli: Quantum Physicist, Depth Psychologist 70 Part II Discovering Patterns of Content 78 8. Digital Methods of Analyzing Dreams 80 9. Baseline Patterns in Dream Content 88 10. Anomalous Patterns in Dream Content 110 Part III Interpreting Psychological Meaning 120 11. Psychoanalysis 122 12. Archetypal Psychology 138 13. Cultural Psychology 150 Part IV Exploring Dimensions of Religiosity 160 14. Individualism 162 15. Mysticism 172 16. Pluralism 182 Conclusion 192 Further Reading 196 Appendix: Summary of Word-​Search Results 200 Notes 208 Bibliography 214 Index 218