Book 8 of 2015

Always Dreaming by David L. Rivinus
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Always Dreaming by David Rivinus takes dreams and their interpretation a little bit farther by arguing the point that during our waking hours, we have 'waking dreams' and they too are significant and are meant to instruct us once we learn how to interpret them. He shows examples and explains his five-step technique on how to do just that.

Although his interpretation of 'sleeping dreams' are pretty well the standard that have been discussed in countless books that I have read saying they shouldn't be taking literal and are symbols, I had a problem with this book when I realized he wasn't talking about 'day dreams' as being 'waking dreams'. I am sure everyone has had a day dream: they were wide awake and just fantasizing or thinking of something else/somewhere else. The author wasn't calling this the 'waking dream' he calls 'reality' the waking dream. The life we lead while we are awake.

One of his examples of a 'waking dream' is about a man who was leaving the store and started his car but before he even understood what was going on, the car went forward across the small parking lot, crashed through a retaining wall, and ended up broadside across the middle of the street. The author called this a 'waking dream' and went on about interpreting it page after page. This is what I call 'reality' and has nothing to do with anything the man is thinking or what is bothering him in his life. It is due to the fact, just as the mechanic said, the computer that regulated the cruise control wasn't working properly.

Another problem I had is that each person is suppose to 'own' the metaphors. In other words, if someone including one of your co-workers are mean to you, it is a metaphor for something else and you are the one responsible for it. Until you change and address this so called 'waking dream' then it won't go away and will be a re-accruing 'waking dream'. Since when is one person 'responsible' for another person's action? So if you were raped, beaten, or robbed, it is your fault because you didn't pay attention and own your so called 'waking dream' and make changes in your life is simply preposterous that I can't even begin to explain why I totally disagree with it.

Although the author doesn't go so far as to say everything in reality/life when we are awake is a 'waking dream', it does go so far where one gets the impression that not much of life is reality and we either are in a near constant dream state since so much can be interpreted as a 'waking dream'. It is like he is saying if you drop your morning cup for coffee on the floor and it shatters, then you are unhappy in life and feel it is overwhelming and you are being pulled in random pieces. If you wash your clothes, fold, them and realize that there is a wrinkle in them that is stubborn and won't come out then you have a rift in your life and are having marital problems with your spouse that needs to be addressed. If you see the car in front of you crash and are caught in the traffic on your way to work then your life is a disaster and although you choose the road to travel you feel there are obstacles that need to be addressed so you can reach your destination. To me, almost anything in life can be interpreted as his 'waking dream'.

I really did not care for this book or agree with author's concept of 'waking dreams'. Maybe he is 'Always Dreaming' but I am still living in reality.

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* Note: I just want to clarify that this author does write clear, explains himself with examples that are easy to understand, so don't think this low review is because he is an careless/bad writer, He is a good writer but I just don't agree with or care for the subject.