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Friday November 9, 2007

For growth, look to your dreams, author says

by stacey palevsky
staff writer

In the quiet corners of his slumbering mind, Rodger Kamenetz awoke to a silent morning. The author — in life, a grown man; in this dream, a child — pushed off his blankets, stepped out of bed and tiptoed to his bedroom window.

Snow blanketed the ground below. His first thought: No school today!

Then he awoke. But instead of pushing the dream from his mind, he focused on the imagery of fresh snow and boyhood wonder. What did it mean for his waking life?

“The dream takes me back not only to that feeling, but the whole attitude of being a child, which we lose track of as adults,” he said. “The dream restores me to that, and that takes me closer to my essence — who I’m meant to be and how I’m meant to be.”

Kamenetz’ latest book, “The History of Last Night’s Dream: Discovering the Hidden Path to the Soul,” explores dreams through a cultural, psychological, intellectual and Jewish lens. In the book, he contends that dreams are powerful windows into our souls, and investigates why modern humans have strayed from this idea, first expressed in the Book of Genesis. On Nov. 13, Kamenetz will speak on this and other topics at the Osher Marin JCC.

Kamenetz is a poet, author (he wrote the best-selling “The Jew and the Lotus” in 1994) and professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. During a phone interview from his New Orleans home, he made it clear that his book is not a step-by-step, how-to book on dream interpretation. Rather, it’s a sort of road map, helping readers navigate the path to better understanding their own dreams and what those dreams mean for their lives.

“One of the reasons I wrote this book is that I think people are wasting their dreams, and I want to wake people up to the power of their dreams,” he said.

“I think dreams can teach us about ourselves in a really deep way. They can tell us the truth about our pain. They can show us who we really are born to be, meant to be, despite what the world thinks. And if you stick with them, they can lead you on a really important spiritual journey.”

But that journey should not be a solo one. Most people have “blind spots” regarding their dreams, Kamenetz said. Finding a teacher, counselor or a loved one who will listen can be helpful when distilling the real meaning of dreams.

For Kamenetz, that meant studying with an 87-year-old female kabbalist in Jerusalem, a Tibetan Buddhist dream teacher in Copenhagen and a postal worker-turned-dream master in Vermont.

“The History of Last Night’s Dream” includes personal anecdotes from the past 10 years of Kamenetz’ life, such as when he went to Berkeley in 2003 to attend the convention for the International Association for the Study of Dreams. He also describes the summer he spent at an art colony, where he began working with a dream teacher out of his Vermont farmhouse.

During their first meeting, Kamenetz brought a lengthy printout describing all the dreams he had that week — short ones, long ones, fragments. Eventually the dream teacher taught him to analyze his dreams through images and feelings rather than words.

“I’m trying to go back to roots of religion, to look at Genesis, to the story of people viewing dreams as a ladder between earth and heaven,” he said. “They had these direct experiences that connected their lives in a very personal way to God, and that’s often missing for many people today.”

Rodger Kamenetz will speak Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Rd., San Rafael. Tickets: $12. Info: www.marinjcc.org.

“The History of Last Night’s Dream” by Rodger Kamenetz (272 pages, HarperOne, $24.95)

Hear them here

The following events celebrate Jewish Book Month at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael.

friday | 9

Diane Levin Rauchwerger, author of “Dinosaur On Shabbat,” gives a reading with singing, rhyming games and finger puppets. 10 a.m.

sunday | 11

Lisa Rauchwerger, author of “Chocolate Chip Challah and Other Twists on the Jewish Holidays,” gives a cooking demonstration. 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

tuesday | 13

Rodger Kamenetz, author of “The History of Last Night’s Dream,” explores the history of dreams from Genesis on. 7:30 p.m.

friday | 16

Israeli children’s author and illustrator Miri Leshem Pelly presents her first book in English, “Lon Lon’s Big Night.” 10 a.m.

thursday | 29

KQED radio host Michael Krasny discusses his new autobiography, “Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life.” 7:30 p.m.

For more information, call (415) 444-8000 or visit www.marinjcc.org.

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