History of Dreams : Online course : March 1
RCWilk
http://www.dreamgate.com/class
DREAM CLASS ONLINE: From Ancient Trace to Cyberspace.
The History of Dream Sharing.
Richard Catlett Wilkerson
This class has been offered online since 1994.
DreamGate Courses on Dreams & Dreaming. Starts the first of each month. $29.95
Classes and groups all done via email. (And other special Net venues)
From Robert Van de Castle, Ph.D., author of OUR DREAMING MIND,
"...It is a GREAT course!"
"... The best value on the Internet or off! " C. Ryan
From Rita Dwyer, Past President of the Association for the Study of Dreams,
"... I recommend this wonderful course of Richard's to anyone interested
in dream sharing and especially to those are interested in forms of dreamwork
that respect the individual."
This delightful class gives you both e-mail essays on the
history of dreams and dream sharing, as well as
interactive labs and groups to teach you ways of working
and playing with your dreams.
See the Syllabus below or
at DreamGate Web:
http://www.dreamgate.com/class.htm
The class is $29.95 (US) and you will receive the address
to send the check or money order when you register.
Send to rcw...@dreamgate.com
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This is a non-accredited class and there will be no psychotherapy provided.
These are peer classes, with research gathered by the grassroots networks
in dreamwork and dreamsharing around the world. You must be at least
18 years old to participate in the groups.
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REGISTRATION:
Simply send an E-mail to Richard Wilkerson at
rcw...@dreamgate.com and say:
"Yes, I'd love to be in the Dream Class. Put me on the
Class list and send the me registration address!"
WHAT YOU GET ======>
When you have finished the class, you will have a grasp
of the whole history of dream work and be able to apply
many of the techniques to your own dreams and others.
[Six Week Class, 2 Lesson Modules per week plus groups)
You will also be plugged into the global dream
community, given a free subscription to the Dream Sharing
Ezine _Electric Dreams_, which includes the Global Dreaming
News, events , articles and dreams.
But what people like most about the class is that you
get to SHARE YOUR DREAMS IN GROUPS ONLINE! We teach you
successful dream sharing techniques in group situations.
It is really fun - Come join us & register today!
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Class Syllabus: History of Dreams
Module 1. Introduction and Basic Recall Skills: The Peer-Relations Approach
---- Sign-up for online dream groups.
Module 2. Ancient Dreams: Messages from the Gods
Module 3. Sigmund Freud: The Dream-work of the Unconscious
Module 4. Carl Gustav Jung: Mythic Dreams and Wholeness
---- LAB A: Dream Sharing via Web Message Boards.
Module 5. Other Pre- 1960's Dream Theories (Adler, Boss, Surrealists)
Module 6. Frederick (Fritz) Perls : Gestalt Dream Techniques
---- LAB B: Dream sharing via Chat Rooms. (IRC, AOL)
Module 7. Mindell and Gendlin: The DreamBody
Module 8. From Couch to Culture: Grassroots & Modern Dreamwork Movements
Module 9. Non-Interpretive Dreamwork: Lucid, Mutual, Paranormal & Pro-active
Dreaming
Module 10. Dream Science and Dreamwork: Friends or Foes?
----LAB C: Dream sharing via Net-Voice & Networking (Firetalk, Netmeeting)
Module 11. Dream Anthropology: How Culture Influences Dreamwork
Module 12. Dreaming In Cyberspace: New Trends in Dream Sharing on the Internet
Supplements:
o Freud’s Dream-work - a model of primary process.
o Jung: Me and my shadow, Beyond and through the personal, Jung and dreams.
o Dreams and Health: The Revival of Ancient Dream Healing in Modern Medicine.
o Couch to Culture: Montague Ullman and Walter Bonime.
o Nightmares: New approaches and techniques.
o Dreams and Western Religions: An account of what happened.
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EXPANDED SYLLABUS
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Introduction - Sign up to Electric Dreams E-zine Get plugged into the major
source about dreams and dreaming online, the e-zine of the global grassroots
movement. Still in its infancy, this newsletter is more of an online community
and is highly interactive. --=@=-- Dream Recall Basics include the essential
for recalling and recording dreams. --=@= Sign-up instructions for the
DreamWheel dream sharing group. --=@= Dreamwork and Dream Sharing ethics.
Module 1. Introduction and Basic Recall Skills: The Peer-Relations Approach
Module Objectives: Participants will
o Gain an overview of the direction and emphasis of the class.
o Understand the limits of dream sharing.
o Be able to develop and implement a dream recall plan.
Points of Particular Interest:
1. Differences between clinical and peer-relations dream work.
2. Techniques for enhancing dream recall.
3. Tips for safe and healthy dream work.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. How might an individual working on his or her own approach a dream
differently than a therapist?
2. What might you do if you can't recall as many dreams a you would like?
3. What kind of information do you wish that dreams could tell us?
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Module 2. Ancient Dreams: Messages from the Gods
A quick tour of Western Roots and its classical attitudes towards dreams and
dreaming. Historical information as well as a doorway into re-combinations
allowing novel approaches to dream imagery.
Module Objectives: Participants will be able to
o Trace the major influences on dream sharing in Western Civilization before
the 19th Century. o Identify the major religious & cultural influences on
modern dream interpretation techniques.
o Know how to differentiate between systems that give meaning and systems
that don't.
Points of Particular Interest:
1. The development of the dream-as-message approach was used by the
Babylonians, the Ancient Hebrews, the Ancient Egyptians, and the Ancient
Greeks.
2. The ancient technique of dream Incubation in Egypt and Greek Asklepions.
3. The dilemma posed by visions and dreams for the Early Church and how this
lead to the suppression of dream sharing.
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Outline
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o The First Dreamers
o Hebrew Dream Sharing
o The Ancient Greek Dream Network
o The Christians and Islamic Reactions to the Dream
o Conclusion
o From Here
o Online Resources
o Recommended Readings
o Bibliography & Citations
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Module 3. Sigmund Freud: The Dream-work of the Unconscious
Since my interest is not in teaching psychotherapy but in tapping into each
individuals own source of (a. Creativity and (b. Inner authority on meaning and
value, my approach is historic and playful, seeking in Freud want can be used
as productive viewpoints to engage dream imagery. Some basic ideas are needed
for this. --=@=-- Dream Techniques From Freud - and in-depth look at the
Dream-Work + References. Freud's model for dreaming is still so highly
referenced in academic and clinical thought that I felt it was essential to
include this a part of an overview on dream theories. Also, as postmodern
thinking becomes dominant, it is important to see the psychoanalytic roots and
bias that come with it.
Module Objectives: Participants will be able to
o Identify the major elements from Freud's dream theory.
o Apply variations of free-association in a peer-relations context.
o Use the idea of the unconscious to view dream material.
Points of Particular Interest:
1. The difference between latent and manifest dream content.
2. How the dreamwork operates to disguise an undesirable thought.
3. How free association reverses the disguised dreamwork and reveals the wish.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. If you were the dream maker, how would you disguise unacceptable wishes?
2. What happens to dream imagery when we assume it is about one theme?
3. If you were the dream censor, what kinds of thought would you censor?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction: Freud's place in the history of dreaming
o Dreams as the Disguised Fulfillment of a Repressed Wish.
o Interpreting Dreams - Manifest and Latent
o Free Association
o Sexual Symbolism
o The Dream-work
o Conclusion
o Bibliography
o Special Dream Freud Bibliography
o Internet Resources
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Module 4. Carl Gustav Jung: Mythic Dreams and Wholeness
[Intro now Archetype and Myth, with I,II and IV as supplements]
C. G. Jung I. Me and my Shadow.
I feel that even a quick foray into Jung yields potent tools in perception and
significant relationships with oneself. But it’s a little odd for many to
learn how to approach icky, yucky stuff in dreams as potential gold mines.
C. G. Jung II: Beyond & Through the Personal.
This essay carries Jung's basic model into contact with the non-personal realms
as they relate to dreams and dreaming and extends the idea of what a
relationship with the unconscious might look like and how dreams may mediate
this relationship.
Jung III: Archetype & Myth. (Now the Main Class Module)
One of the most accessible & popular aspects of Jungian thought and practice
evolves from Jung's love of story, fables and myth. Campbell helped bring to
the late 20th Century American Culture this love of story and together they
offer tools for those of us in love with myth to continue the journey. When
combined with dreamwork, the study of myth becomes a study of the journey of
ones self as well as The Self.
09. Jung IV: Jung and Dreams.
Though Jung never wrote a separate book on dreams, there is *so* much material
that a special essay is needed to give a general lay of the land. Although Jung
felt *each* dream should yield its own new theory, the Jungian have developed a
wide array of helpful techniques. While one could spend several lifetimes
mastering these techniques, many are accessible right away with a little
practice. As a matter of fact, Jung thought dreams were *already* doing what
they needed to be doing. We simple help the processes along.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Amplify a dream image
o Tie a dream image in with a meaningful myth or folktale
o Approach dream imagery in a way that supports wholeness and individuation.
Points of Particular Interest
1. The difference between Free Association and Thematic Association.
2. How a Jungian dream symbol reveals insight rather than disguise desires.
3. How myths and other stories contribute to the meaning and value of a
dream.
Questions for the Discussion Zone:
1. How is it different when the dream is revealing rather than concealing
information?
2. What is your favorite Fairy Tale and what themes show up in your dreams?
3. What are some advantages to having a dialogue with the unconscious?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction
o Individuation and Wholeness
o Jungian Dream Theory Outside of Therapy
o Jung and Archetype
o Amplification
o Active Imagination
o Conclusion: Dreaming the Dream Onward
o From Here
o Jung on the Net
o Bibliography and Citations
o Recommended Reading and Resources : Mythology
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Module 5. Other Pre- 1960's Dream Theories
All is not Jung and easily Freudened! The Surrealist movement championed dreams
as a path away form the deadness of everyday worldviews and a gateway into
novel experience and surreality. Existential/Phenomenology combined with
psychoanalysis to produce ideas about approaching dreams on their own,
bracketing out our pre-conceived notions and allowing the imagery to evolve on
its own. This essay explores these and other dream movements and theories that
haven't gotten as much attention as they deserve.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Approach a dream using techniques learned from Alfred Adler.
o Approach a dream using techniques learned from Medard Boss.
o Approach a dream using techniques learned from the Surrealists.
Points of Particular Interest
1. Medard Boss and the meaning in the surface of the dream.
2. How Alfred Adler saw our personal styles revealed in dreams.
3. How the Surrealists used the dream to enter surreality.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. What do your dreams reveal about your personal style?
2. Where can attention to the surface of a dream image lead?
3. If you were a surrealist, what parts of the dream might you attend to?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction
o Alfred Adler & Dream Styles
o Existential/Phenomenology and Dreams
o Dreams and Surrealism
o Conclusion
o From Here
o Internet Resources
o Bibliography and Citations
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Module 6. Frederick (Fritz) Perls : Gestalt Dream Techniques
The 1960's brought with it an explosion of new therapies and with them a
renewed interest in dreams. None was as popular as the Gestalt movement. While
many saw Perls’ techniques as derivative of others before him, none can deny
that Perls brought dream awareness to millions of Americans and those in the
world following the development of the new therapies. This essay explores this
history and the relevant techniques that we can use outside of therapy.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Identify Gestalt dream techniques.
o Apply variations of Gestalt techniques in peer-related settings.
o Apply variations of Gestalt techniques to individual dreams.
Points of Particular Interest
1. How to take the parts of the dream subjectively.
2. Why Perls had group participants dramatize different parts of the dream.
3. How the dream help us to "Be where we are".
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. How is a dream different when we take all the images as parts of ourselves?
2. How does dramatizing our dreams lead to feeling more alive and aware?
3. How do we determining authentic meanings from a Gestalt perspective?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction
o The basic concept of Gestalt
o Gestalt approaches to the dream
o Gestalt measures of intensity
o Conclusions
o From Here
o Bibliography
o Net Resources
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Module 7. Mindell and Gendlin: The DreamBody
One of the areas that came into the light in the past 30 years in therapy has
been the body. This essay looks at two major practitioners who have combined
Freud, Jung, Reich, Eastern Practices and existential/phemomenology to produce
methods we can use to dialogue with the body. In this, there is a paradigm
shift from content to process. The dream becomes then a part of our process
that we come into dialogue with. Much of this work can be done outside the
therapeutic setting.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Identify dream body techniques
o Use the body as a touchstone of insight with dream imagery.
o Shift from a dream content to dream process approach.
Points of Particular Interest
1. Focusing and how is it used with dream imagery.
2. The dreambody and its relation to dreams.
3. The differences between process work and dream content work.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. What parts of you body tend to feel the most when you recall a dream?
2. What are some options to do when you are not getting "shifts"?
3. What kinds of information about yourself does focusing reveal?
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Module 8. From Couch to Culture: Grassroots & Modern Dreamwork Movements
There has been an explosion of regional small dreamgroups in America which now
has its own history, journals, mini movements and conflicts. Some of this
movement has been organized and part of other social institutions and
communities, but the soul of the movement has been the local dream group,
usually of a dozen or less people. These are the people tinkering in the
garages with techniques that now form a larger body of literature and practices
that can be found in popular literature.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Identify the major elements of the dreamwork movement.
o Differentiate between clinical and peer dreamwork techniques.
o Apply modern dreamwork to individual and group shared dreams.
Points of Particular Interest
1. Popular non-authoritarian and non-objective dreamwork techniques.
2. Application of the partnership model in dreamwork.
3. The settings that are more appropriate for Interview, Re-entry and Comment
Methods.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. Is it safe to do dream work in non-clinical settings?
2. What are the advantages of non-projective techniques in peer dream groups?
3.What are some warning signs that peer dreamwork may not be appropriate?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction
o Montague Ullman
o Cognitive Revision in America
o Jeremy Taylor - How groups get started
o Edgar Cayce and the A.R.E. dream groups
o Ann Faraday, Patricia Garfield and Gayle Delaney - Forefront of
Popularization
o Summary
o From here
o Recommended Readings
o Bibliography and Citations
oo Supplement: From the Couch to the Culture: Walter Bonime & Montague Ullman.
While the Jungians have always enjoyed working with manifest dream material,
the psychoanalytically trained schools have only come to this more recently.
Bonime and Ullman were two pioneers in this regard. Bonime shifted the emphasis
to the manifest or visible dream and Ullman taught practices and held groups
that could work with this material in non-clinical settings. These techniques
have become the standard in grassroots dream work and are used by the
Association for the Study of Dreams at their conferences for introducing new
participants to group dreamwork.
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Module 9. Non-Interpretive Dreamwork: Lucid, Mutual, Paranormal & Pro-active
Dreaming.
Lucid Dreaming and Lucid Control: One of the popular new offshoots of dreamwork
is lucid dreaming, or knowing you are dreaming while you are dreaming and being
able to varying degrees to control the events and content of the dream. While
clinical practice has not been able to respond adequately to this phenomena
(usually siting issues of too much ego control based on old theories of the
unconscious)the lucid dreamers have formed groups and organizations to address
the particular issues involved and advance the techniques used to increase the
frequency of its occurrence. This essay explores the history and give some of
the most popular techniques for inducing lucid dreaming and control.
Alternative Dreaming :There is now a wider range of dreaming practices that are
being explored besides the use of dreams for therapy. Some make intentions
before going to sleep and incubate dreams. Some find that telepathic powers are
increased during dreams. Some people like to meet in their dreams with others
at pre-designated places, some like to use dreams for inspiring writing and
other arts. Some simply like to *do* things in dreams, increasing the chances
of flying, eating, having sex and going on virtual journeys. James Hillman &
the Archetypal school have opened the dream to the culture at large, and soon
the postmodern writers & cyberspace will be opening us up to unheard of
categories yet to be explored. This essay explores the alternatives and offers
options to our usual egoic efforts that impose uses on dreams. Yes, even
"being open" is an imposed paradigm.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Differentiate between objective and non-objective dream psi (paranormal).
o Identify the elements of pro-active and mutual dreaming
o Apply techniques used to bring about lucid dreaming and lucid dream
control.
Points of Particular Interest
1. What lucid dreaming is and how can it be learned.
2. Dream activities that can be planned ahead of the dream.
3. Mutual and Telepathic dreaming.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. Is it really necessary to have a objective witness to paranormal dreaming?
2. What are some ways during lucid dreaming to remain lucid?
3. What kinds of questions work best in dream incubation?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction
o Brief History of Lucid Dreaming
o Lucidity How to do it
o Inducing Lucidity
o Controlling Lucidity
- Preparation
- Recognition
- Control- Castaneda- Relationship- Enlightenment
o Laberge's MILD
o Tholey's Combined Technique
o Dream Incubation & Group Dreaming
o Dream Re-Entry
o Psi Dreaming
o Mutual & Shared Dreaming
o Conclusion
o From Here
o Lucid Dreaming on the Net
o Alternative Dreaming on the Net
o Bibliographies
on Incubation, Re-entry, Mutual Dreaming, Psi Dreaming
on Lucid Dreaming
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Module 10. Dream Science and Dreamwork: Friends or Foes?
Why do scientists say we dream and what is dreaming? New developments in dream
science have thrown the old notions of REM or Rapid Eye Movement into question.
Instead of the brain being activated by random firing from the brain stem, the
dreaming brain is now seen as having a complex, heteromodal activation of its
own, of which REM is only a part. In this class you will learn how science and
imaginative exploration go hand in hand. From the first REM discovery nights in
the Chicago labs to the latest debates on neural networks, this essay not only
explores the history of empirical findings, but takes a more positive approach
and looks at how dream science can aid in dreamwork.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Identify the major areas of dream research.
o Apply these studies to enhance dreamwork.
o Separate true dream science from dream scientism.
Points of Particular Interest
1. How REM gave birth to modern dream science
2. The major theories on dream recall.
3. The scientific arguments about the meaning of dreams
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. What kinds of environmental stimuli might cross the sleep barrier and
influence your dream?
2. How might you use R.E.M. research to increase your dream recall?
3. In what ways is dreaming a third state between wakeful consciousness and
dreamless sleep?
Field Trip Read Solms article on how dreams are not REM
http//www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/Archive/bbs.solms.html
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction: Why Dream Science and Dreamwork?
o The REM story in short
o Why we have REM
o The New Brain Science of Mark Solms
o Stages of Sleep
- Theories and REM Deprivation
o Recall science
o Content of Dreams
o The Effect of Stimuli before and during Dreaming
o Dreams as Meaningful vs Nonsense
o Conclusions
o From Here
o Bibliography
o Internet Resources
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Module 11. Dream Anthropology: How Culture Influences Dreamwork
If science is correct, we have been dreaming for as long as we have been
mammals, maybe longer. If Campbell and Jung are correct, we have been making
meaning from dreams before recorded history. This means that some cultures have
been practicing dreamwork for millions of years. This essay explores a general,
brief overview of what we know about native cultures and their dream practices.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Identify influences of culture on dream imagery .
o Judge the relative cultural position of various dream techniques & theory.
o Identify the influences of dream interpretation on culture.
Points of Particular Interest
1. The difference between the personal and cultural level of meaning in a
dream.
2. Nineteenth and Twentieth Century changes in anthropological assessment of
what aboriginal people believe about dreams.
3. How the Senoi influenced our techniques in dream work.
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. What kinds of symbols in your dreams might be cultural specific?
2. If you were a Senoi at the breakfast fire, how might you discuss your dream?
3. If your dream was a wandering soul, where might it wander, what might it do?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Preface and Introduction
o Early Dream Anthropology
o Sir Edward Burnett Tylor & the Ancient Savage Philosophers
o Roheim and Freudian Anthropology.
o Lincoln and the Nuclear & Cultural Complex Dream
o Devereux and Ethnopsychoanalysis
o Kilton Stewart and The Marvelous Senoi Dream Controversy
o 1950's & 1960's - Manifest Destiny
o Late Twentieth Century Dream Anthropology
o Conclusions
o From Here
o Recommended Reading
o Net Resources
o Bibliography on Dreams and Anthropology
oo Supplement: The issue of dreams and religion (Western Religion) is a fairly
sensitive subject and I removed this class from the final series for
distribution on wider channels. But I feel that for a fuller understanding of
how dream sharing became lost in our culture, these stories need to be told.
So I’m adding it as a supplement for optional reading. Including
>Dreams and the Children of Abraham
>A Hebrew Dream Story
>A Christian Dream Story
>The Dreams of the Prophet
>Late Christian Dream Mysticism in Alchemy
>Dream and Religion in the Late 20th Century
>The Dream Work of the Spiritual Community
>Spirituality and the Internet
>Recommended Readings
>Dreams and Spirituality Bibliography
Module 12. Dreaming In Cyberspace: New Trends in Dream Sharing on the Internet
From modems to hetero-modal swarms, from avatars to cyber-cars, this class
explores both the history of dream sharing online as well as offering more
practical accounts and how-to advice. Ethics and philosophy, as well as
politics and metaphysics are explored.
Module Objective: Participants will be able to
o Connect with the major venues for dream work dream on the Internet.
o Identify the major issues surrounding the controversy of online dream
sharing.
o Create online dream groups using the peer-relations model.
Points of Particular Interest
1. The advantages and challenges of dreamwork with e-mail, message boards and
other delayed response venues.
2. The advantages and challenges of dreamwork with IRC, IPhone, Pow-Wow, Chat
Rooms and other real-time teleconferencing venues.
3. The new categories of Web based dreamwork, and possible future developments
Questions for the Discussion Zone
1. If you had a web site about your dreams, what would it look like, what would
be included?
2. Develop a plan for a dream group via e-mail or a message board.
3. If you were moderating a dream sharing session, what would you do, what
would you add?
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Outline of Material to be Covered
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o Introduction: Learning Dreamwork On the Net
o A History of Dream Sharing in Cyberspace
o E-mail Venues
o Starting & running an e-mail Dream Group
o Starting a peer dream group on the Net
o Chat Rooms, IRC, Iphone & Other Telecommunication Venues
o Dreams and Newsgroups
o Usenet Newsgroups
o World Wide Web: Bringing it all together
o Conclusion
o Internet Resources
o Bibliography and Citations
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(C) Copyright 2000 by Richard Catlett Wilkerson
Specific Bibliographies will be included with each class,
Though no books are necessary - all material included
via e-mail!
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(C) Copyright 2000 by Richard Catlett Wilkerson
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DreamGate Classes on Dreams rcw...@dreamgate.com
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http://www.dreamgate.com/class.htm
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