Culture
Dreaming
Richard Russo is an author
and dream explorer in Berkeley, CA. He is the Editor of
DreamTime, Chair of the Arts Committee, and a Past President
of IASD.
Abstract
We dream about the world around
us as well as our private selves. Any dream might be a hologram
that refers to the larger cultural body we share. We have no
template or cultural form by which to hear and understand such
dreams, however. This innovative method, modeled after the Social
Dreaming Matrix method developed by Gordon Lawrence, author of
Experiences in Social Dreaming, attempts to create an open forum
in which dreams can be shared and heard for cultural referents. We
will detach the dream from the usual personal referents, listening
instead for socio-political, spiritual, or environmental
relevance. Often participants emerge with a deeper sense of
interconnectedness as a result of this experience.
Richard Russo, M.A., and Meredith
Sabini, PhD, have been facilitating monthly Culture Dreaming
sessions at the Dream Institute in Berkeley, CA, for nearly two
years, as well as at other venues, including the 2005 IASD
conference. Articles about this work y Russo, Sabini and Gordon
Lawrence appeared in the Fall 2005 issue of DreamTime.
Format
Part I (20 – 30 minutes)
A brief introduction to the
method, distinguishing it from Ullman and other approaches more
familiar to dreamworkers. Some simple ground rules will be
presented, along with a description of what to expect in Part II.
Part II (45 minutes)
During Part II, participants will
share dreams. We will not comment upon or attempt to interpret
them. Instead, we will open ourselves to listening. Dream images
will link to other dream images, and may also stimulate waking
reveries. We will follow the dream threads wherever they may lead,
weaving together our personal dreams to create a new, collective
dream.
Part III (45 minutes)
After a brief break, we will look
back on the dream we have created together, and discuss possible
themes and cultural implications that emerge from it. There will
be time at the end for questions, and for participants to share
their personal feelings about what they experienced.
