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The Living Labyrinth: Exploring Universal Themes in Myth, Dreams, and the Symbolism of Waking Life
Explores archetypal symbols in myths and dreams and explains how these have structured people's spiritual lives. Aimed at a general readership. †
- GenresNonfiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
12 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Taylor
10 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Jeremy Taylor, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, has worked with dreams for over thirty years; he blends the values of spirituality with an active social conscience and a Jungian perspective.
Founding member and past president of the Association for the Study of Dreams, he has written four books integrating dream symbolism, mythology, and archetypal energy. The latest is: The Wisdom of Your Dreams: Using Dreams to Tap Into Your Unconscious and Transform Your Life. His earlier books - The Living Labyrinth: Universal Themes in Myths, Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life; Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill; and Dream Work, have been translated into many languages.
Jeremy appears regularly on local, regional, and national radio and TV, and pioneered on-line dream work as host of AOL's innovative dream work show. He has taught in the schools and seminaries of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA for 30 years and teaches at a wide variety of colleges and universities in the Bay Area and in South Korea.
He has led workshops (most recently) in Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, England, and Peru as well as all over the United States.
Jeremy Taylor died January 3, 2018 of a heart attack less than 48 hours after his wife and life partner of 55 years, Kathryn, died. They are survived by their daughter Tristy.
Jeremy Taylor, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, has worked with dreams for over thirty years; he blends the values of spirituality with an active social conscience and a Jungian perspective.
Founding member and past president of the Association for the Study of Dreams, he has written four books integrating dream symbolism, mythology, and archetypal energy. The latest is: The Wisdom of Your Dreams: Using Dreams to Tap Into Your Unconscious and Transform Your Life. His earlier books - The Living Labyrinth: Universal Themes in Myths, Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life; Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill; and Dream Work, have been translated into many languages.
Jeremy appears regularly on local, regional, and national radio and TV, and pioneered on-line dream work as host of AOL's innovative dream work show. He has taught in the schools and seminaries of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA for 30 years and teaches at a wide variety of colleges and universities in the Bay Area and in South Korea.
He has led workshops (most recently) in Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, England, and Peru as well as all over the United States.
Jeremy Taylor died January 3, 2018 of a heart attack less than 48 hours after his wife and life partner of 55 years, Kathryn, died. They are survived by their daughter Tristy.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 27, 2012
Anyone interested in the sociology of myths and beliefs will love this
April 6, 2014
This book was an excellent read for me. I had never considered my dreams to be terribly useful, other than as a way to provide some emotionally charged recap to what I already felt. However this author changed my mind in making his case that dreams are indeed additional and important info to what lies in your conscious mind.
In this book, he outlines the theory of how dreams and myths are related (based heavily on Jung's psychological concepts, such as archetypes, and the collective unconscious), gives some specific examples of his past work in dream analysis, and offers tips for you to dig into your own. At a couple of points in the book I felt like he was bordering on a little "out there", but there was so much good info that this didn't bother me.
I particularly liked his coverage of the Oedipus story / complex and the Frog prince/princess stories.
I recommend this to anyone who has any interest in these topics.
In this book, he outlines the theory of how dreams and myths are related (based heavily on Jung's psychological concepts, such as archetypes, and the collective unconscious), gives some specific examples of his past work in dream analysis, and offers tips for you to dig into your own. At a couple of points in the book I felt like he was bordering on a little "out there", but there was so much good info that this didn't bother me.
I particularly liked his coverage of the Oedipus story / complex and the Frog prince/princess stories.
I recommend this to anyone who has any interest in these topics.
January 30, 2019
Taylor’s Living Labyrinth_BookReview
In The Living Labyrinth: Exploring Universal Themes in Myths, Dreams, and the Symbolism of Waking Life Jeremy Taylor navigates across a vast field of images, story, dreamwork technique, and the evolution of human consciousness. He is unabashed in declaring the underlying infrastructure that permits such exploration: the “collective unconscious”—what we (and possibly other species) share that constitutes our humanity. His book is a storytelling tour de force.
To be sure, the study of dreams is not a harmless or peaceful endeavor. It entails risks, not least the treacherous territorial skirmishes of professional disciplines. For example, brain physiology. The physiological approach to dream events does not generally align. With Mr. Taylor’s emphasis on dreams coming “in the service of [personal] health and wholeness.” Thus, in another of his books, The Wisdom of Your Dreams: Using Dreams to Tap into Your Unconscious and Transform Your Life (2009), he spars with the reductionist tendency of “hard science” that by its methodology avoids the “hard questions” that define our character in our efforts to answer.
Jungian scholars are probably not sanguine either. Mr. Taylor did not follow the recognized academic course that is the standard for speaking with “authority” about archetypes. Indeed, he even disputes statements by long-deceased Carl Jung, for example, about the Trickster archetype being “primitive” and no longer carrying the relevance it once had early in human evolution. Mr. Taylor repositions the Trickster archetype from the margin to the center, claiming that the Trickster is the very archetype of evolving human consciousness. As he says: when consciousness is partial (as it always is), irony is inevitable.
I mention these two influential pockets of opinion about dreams because Mr. Taylor blazes a trail that, in my opinion, makes his contribution to dreamwork unique. He has had four decades of direct experience facilitating dream groups, and he claims to have listened to (and projected onto) more than one hundred thousand dreams which would give any person claim to be heard on the insights to be garnered from such a wealth of detail. The high number is credible. His approach makes dreamwork accessible through a non-hierarchical process that transfers the role of expertise from “professionals” to ordinary people assembled in a group—as many as twenty people responding to a group member’s retelling of a dream. And the “authority” for what a dream means is relocated to the dreamer when he or she recognizes a relevant point in the personally felt “ahah!” in response to another’s projection. (See the appendices for more on the procedure and rationale.)
Furthermore, by providing examples across time and cultures, he unpacks the essential common features of dreaming (the archetypes) in a way that permits detecting them not only in dreams but also in myths and legends as well. Asserting the cross-cultural relevance of archetypes is not new, but Mr. Taylor risks taking a step farther. He proposes that the archetypes continue to evolve today as part of our evolving human consciousness. Significantly for the reader, he asserts that the evolution of the archetypes is directly related to our own growing awareness through dreamwork because dreaming is simultaneously both a personal and a collective experience.
My comments may appear somewhat abstract and much too brief. So be it. For those who can catch the drift, I merely wish to point out that Mr. Taylor’s books are neither technique manuals nor symbol dictionaries but rather disciplined explorations of how dreams connect us with a reality much more expansive than the picture our habitual thinking paints. To that extent, the reader need not require that Mr. Taylor be correct in all his assumptions. The reader, however, can expect Mr. Taylor to further stimulate the reader’s investigation of his or her own personal nightly theater.
And when the curtain goes up, he never disappoints.
In The Living Labyrinth: Exploring Universal Themes in Myths, Dreams, and the Symbolism of Waking Life Jeremy Taylor navigates across a vast field of images, story, dreamwork technique, and the evolution of human consciousness. He is unabashed in declaring the underlying infrastructure that permits such exploration: the “collective unconscious”—what we (and possibly other species) share that constitutes our humanity. His book is a storytelling tour de force.
To be sure, the study of dreams is not a harmless or peaceful endeavor. It entails risks, not least the treacherous territorial skirmishes of professional disciplines. For example, brain physiology. The physiological approach to dream events does not generally align. With Mr. Taylor’s emphasis on dreams coming “in the service of [personal] health and wholeness.” Thus, in another of his books, The Wisdom of Your Dreams: Using Dreams to Tap into Your Unconscious and Transform Your Life (2009), he spars with the reductionist tendency of “hard science” that by its methodology avoids the “hard questions” that define our character in our efforts to answer.
Jungian scholars are probably not sanguine either. Mr. Taylor did not follow the recognized academic course that is the standard for speaking with “authority” about archetypes. Indeed, he even disputes statements by long-deceased Carl Jung, for example, about the Trickster archetype being “primitive” and no longer carrying the relevance it once had early in human evolution. Mr. Taylor repositions the Trickster archetype from the margin to the center, claiming that the Trickster is the very archetype of evolving human consciousness. As he says: when consciousness is partial (as it always is), irony is inevitable.
I mention these two influential pockets of opinion about dreams because Mr. Taylor blazes a trail that, in my opinion, makes his contribution to dreamwork unique. He has had four decades of direct experience facilitating dream groups, and he claims to have listened to (and projected onto) more than one hundred thousand dreams which would give any person claim to be heard on the insights to be garnered from such a wealth of detail. The high number is credible. His approach makes dreamwork accessible through a non-hierarchical process that transfers the role of expertise from “professionals” to ordinary people assembled in a group—as many as twenty people responding to a group member’s retelling of a dream. And the “authority” for what a dream means is relocated to the dreamer when he or she recognizes a relevant point in the personally felt “ahah!” in response to another’s projection. (See the appendices for more on the procedure and rationale.)
Furthermore, by providing examples across time and cultures, he unpacks the essential common features of dreaming (the archetypes) in a way that permits detecting them not only in dreams but also in myths and legends as well. Asserting the cross-cultural relevance of archetypes is not new, but Mr. Taylor risks taking a step farther. He proposes that the archetypes continue to evolve today as part of our evolving human consciousness. Significantly for the reader, he asserts that the evolution of the archetypes is directly related to our own growing awareness through dreamwork because dreaming is simultaneously both a personal and a collective experience.
My comments may appear somewhat abstract and much too brief. So be it. For those who can catch the drift, I merely wish to point out that Mr. Taylor’s books are neither technique manuals nor symbol dictionaries but rather disciplined explorations of how dreams connect us with a reality much more expansive than the picture our habitual thinking paints. To that extent, the reader need not require that Mr. Taylor be correct in all his assumptions. The reader, however, can expect Mr. Taylor to further stimulate the reader’s investigation of his or her own personal nightly theater.
And when the curtain goes up, he never disappoints.
May 10, 2018
I once belonged to a dream interpretation group, facilitated by my friend, Lori DeWitt. We read books by Jeremy Taylor: WHERE PEOPLE FLY AND WATER RUNS UPHILL and THE LIVING LABYRINTH: exploring universal themes in myth, dreams, and the symbolism of waking life. I came to love all of those who participated in the group and found that the suggestions for techniques in the book related to dream interpretation that were utilized group reflection times were very revealing and often helpful in walking through some of the days of our lives at that time.
July 18, 2012
Thy mythology and symbolism were very useful and interesting. Very productive for my dreamwork.
January 7, 2021
Not always easy to read, but an interesting look at a topic that affects all of us more than we realize.
March 31, 2021
Very interesting, a leisurely read and dive into archetypes, myths and dreams. Taylor is a fan of Jung,whom I read many years ago, so it was interesting to be back in Jungian territory.
September 4, 2008
Jeremy Taylor is a gift. I've had the good fortune to live in the same area as he, and so have seen him personally for a few "dream sessions."
His website, www.JeremyTaylor.com, has a handy little dream symbol reference for a handfull of the most common themes. I find it very helpful now and again.
This book blew my mind. It's beautiful, poetic, highly educational, and I could feel it had a sort of...building effect on my consciousness as I read it. Something about the structure required to traverse the multi-dimentional trails in and around symbology, mythology, and the dream scape.
His website, www.JeremyTaylor.com, has a handy little dream symbol reference for a handfull of the most common themes. I find it very helpful now and again.
This book blew my mind. It's beautiful, poetic, highly educational, and I could feel it had a sort of...building effect on my consciousness as I read it. Something about the structure required to traverse the multi-dimentional trails in and around symbology, mythology, and the dream scape.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews