What I Learned at the 29th Annual International
Dream Conference by Lorrie Kazan
Friday evening opening ceremony was light and humorous. Rita Dwyer, tiny behind the podium, joked
about her hair and many others’ now being grey.
She was glad that younger people were joining the association and
carrying the work forward. Younger
people could also mean anyone under 60.
This is the largest, most prestigious dream association in
the world, open to anyone from anywhere.
Many first-time attendees this year. 450 attendees in all.
Founders: Patricia Garfield, Jeremy Taylor and Gayle Delaney
were given Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Jeremy Taylor is known for the phrase: “In my imagined
version of the dream,” initiating the “If it were my dream” template.
“I’m a Martian; describe a sword to me,” is a dream
interpretation phrase associated with Gayle Delany.
Keynote Speaker: Fred Alan Wolf, Phd (physician, writer,
lecturer, 17 bks & audio cds.
Featured in “What the Bleep” and “The Secret, National Book Award winner)
Notion is truer now that there is a god dreaming this
universe.
What we call the dream is going on right now. Reality is less real than the dream world.
Re-thinking the second wave function – even experts don’t
know what it is.
Ontology means out there, epistemology means in there. Quantum physics scrambles these – observer
influenced.
“Why does electrically hydrogenated matter (your brain)
dream?”
We dream to create a self.
What isn’t dream? Waking reality – we don’t know what’s
going on. Dreaming reality may be
stronger: brings in imagery of what was, is and will be.
How do we dream? Superimposing images.
Self & non-self split.
All influenced by Freud – psychoanalytic mind. Freud was first and made mistakes. But Freud believed imagery was an ancient language. Imagery lays down the crocodile and the angel
in one vision.
Jung said dream is the small hidden door.
Early humans held dreams to be the voice of god.
For Jung dream was a teacher and guide to wholeness.
Overlap of realities can take place in the mind. Energy is quantum, it goes one place or
another. Both ways occur sometimes, confirmed by experiments.
Late version of photon interferes with earlier version of
itself. Self is being born from this
processing (id). Time plays no role.
Creating the self – fetus has 15 hours/day REM.
Dream yoga – dream something into existence. Buddhists (ulpas?) meditate on an image until
clearly seen in the mind. Then projected
outward where others see it.
Aboriginals say we are the dreamer and the dream.
Matter forms out of an idea.
From my morning dream group:
What question is the dream asking?
Finding the dream theme.
Ex: What is the basic theme of being naked or well dressed in a dream?
How I’m seen.
How can I apply the theme to my waking life? Where in my waking life am I feeling this?
If you ignore an issue it will keep coming back, even as a
nightmare.
Look up Bob Hoss and his 6 Magic Questions. Sarah Weisman also mentioned.
Referenced Von Franz’s Lectures on Jung’s Typology.
Jung had a color code applied to dreams. Ex: Red pen in a dream indicates
introversion, green/brown indications sensation.
(To be cont'd)
