Research Catalog

Title

The otherworld in myth, folklore, cinema, and brain science / by Jim Kline.

Author

Kline, Jim

Publication

• Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 243 pages : illustrations; 21 cm

Summary

This volume explores a dimension of reality usually scoffed at by rational-thinking individuals living in modern industrialized societies, but still experienced by these same individuals when they are in a stage of sleep known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; this is the stage in which vivid and bizarre dreams are a person's living reality. While in this stage, we believe what we experience is real, but then deny its reality upon awakening as we go about our daily routines. Yet, in many cases, a dream with vivid imagery and bizarre goings on is communicating with the dreamer in an archaic language directly associated with an "Otherworld" reality. This reality exists within us and expresses concepts and ideas about our realm of existence that pertain to our waking lives, as well as to an alternate, archaic life with its own language and ideas transcending physical reality. By studying various myths and folk tales, along with cinematic portrayals of otherworldly experiences, commentary from modern individuals, and reports from traditional shamans who are experts at traversing the Otherworld reality, this text discerns the features and characteristics of this supernatural realm. Contemporary research into the Otherworld marks this realm as corresponding to the unconscious substratum of the human psyche, what C.G. Jung referred to as the collective unconscious. Certain scientists have found evidence of its connection with various aspects of brain functioning, suggesting that the brain in many ways encourages a belief in the Otherworld. However, it would be a mistake to call the Otherworld a figment of the human imagination, since this realm seems to have a type of physical existence. The book considers the Otherworld to exist and provides reasons why rational-thinking individuals are hesitant to accept its existence even when their brains are telling them: the Otherworld is real, and you have just experienced it.

Subject

• Dreams
• Dreams > Mythology
• Dreams in motion pictures
• Dreams > Folklore
• Subconsciousness

Genre/Form

Folklore.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction: What and Where is the Otherworld? -- Chapter One. The Psychological Basis of the Otherworld -- Chapter Two. The Otherworld, Trauma, and the Fear of Death -- Chapter Three. The Otherworld and Animism -- Chapter Four. The Otherworld and Waking World Overlap -- Chapter Five. The Otherworld and the Bending of Time, Space, and Consciousness -- Chapter Six. The Otherworld and Dreamtime -- Conclusion: A Personal Journey to the Otherworld.

Call Number

JFD 19-3997

ISBN

• 152753040X
• 9781527530409

OCLC

1090832820

Author

Kline, Jim, author.

Title

The otherworld in myth, folklore, cinema, and brain science / by Jim Kline.

Publisher

Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Form:

Electronic version: Kline, Jim. Otherworld in myth, folklore, cinema, and brain science. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019 9781527532908 (OCoLC)1097664897

Research Call Number

JFD 19-3997