Thinking Aloud....
Abstract Patterns in Dreams
From time to time, people report "abstract patterns" in their dreams. Sometimes these patterns appear to be so disconnected from the action of the dream, so apparently dissociated, so in-the-background, non-representational and meaningless, that dreamers often fail to report them at all. Since this archetypal element of dreams is so often ignored it tends not even to be remembered upon first awakening. In fact, it may always be there, whether or not it is remembered.
Recently I re-read salient portions of Carl Schuster & Edmund Carpenter's visually beautiful and magisterially researched book, Patterns that Connect - Social Symbolism in Ancient and Tribal Art (H.N. Abrams, 1996.)
This book is available at Amazon.com, but the price of the book has gone crazy - $300 for a new copy and $230 for a used copy. If you can't buy a copy of the book to look at the patterns, hopefully this brief article will serve to alert to the importance of "abstract" patterns in our dreams
Not only does this book reward re-reading, I am even more impressed with it than when I first came upon it back in 1998. The text and pictures present numerous specific examples, and offer a compelling case that what has been almost unanimously dismissed as mere decoration has always been a profound visual/symbolic statement of the psycho-spiritual experience of deep connection with clan and tribal ancestors, and with the entire living cosmos as a whole.
I am persuaded by their arguments, primarily because I have so many "aha's" of insight about my own dreams and the dreams of others, stimulated by their suggestions about "abstract" patterns.
Schuster and Carpenter suggest that all the repetitive patterns, such as chevron's, meanders, decorative hatch marks, etc. are all variations on the basic thematic image: "stick figures" attached at the hands and feet, representing the generations that have gone before, and the generations that will succeed the present one.
Patterns of this sort abound everywhere in ancient and contemporary "tribal" art. These patterns are themselves archetypes of the collective unconscious, and far from being abstract, they are a distillation of visual symbolism celebrating the endless and constantly present connections to the ancestors, stretching back beyond individual memory, and to the living cosmos as a whole, past, present, and future.
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New Caledonian doorposts, each said to represent a side of the owner's family.
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The patterns appear "decorating" all sorts of common household objects, tools, and weapons. Their presence on weapons suggests that even in the midst of life and death struggles, the ancients constantly reminded themselves and each other that these conflicts take place in the "eternal now." Australian aborigines use the concept, "the Dream Time" to evoke the same understanding of eternal time - dedicating even the simplest most common actions and situations to the celebration of the connection of each with all across the span of time, past, present, and future, all - one.
Patterns of this kind can be found everywhere painted and inscribed on a wide range of objects (including tattoos on the human body) in all periods of history and prehistory. This fact alone suggests that the basic algorithm of this kind of "infinite" repetitive marking is archetypal. I believe that Schuster and Carpenter have given us an immensely powerful "skeleton key" to understanding the psycho-spiritual and religious/philosophical implications of similar patterns in the dreams of contemporary people.
I cannot recommend this book to your attention strongly enough. Schuster and Carpenter's insights into the broader implications of this most ancient pattern of artistic expression is as resonant with our own deepest unconscious lives today as it was with the unconscious lives of our most ancient ancestors.
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October 16-17
Portland, OR
Weekend Workshop 
Workshop: "The Wisdom of Your Dreams"
Everyone is welcome, regardless of experience.
Schedule:
Friday, 7-9pm
"Why Remember Our Dreams"
Saturday, 9:00-5:00pm
"Experiential Workshop: Exploring Our Dreams"
Where:
Friends Meetinghouse
4312 SE Stark St, Portland, OR
Cost:$125
Sponsored and Organized by Tina Tau
More Information:October 23-24 Mendocino, CA
Weekend Workshop
Workshop is full. Contact the organizer to be put on the waiting list and/or get on a list for the next workshop (Oct 14-15, 2016).Everyone is welcome, regardless of experience.
Schedule:
Friday: 6:30-9:00pm
Saturday, 9:30-4:30pm
Where:
For the Joy of It! Creative Retreat
Mendocino, CA
Cost: $125
Lodging:
There are a couple of rooms available at the Retreat Center. You can see them at http://www.forthejoyofit.org. Other lodging possibilities in the town.
What to Bring:
Please bring your lunch since the Retreat Center is off in the forest with no restaurants nearby. There is a refrigerator and microwave.
Sponsored and Organized by:
Marilyn Hagar
Information:
November 21
Kentfield, CA
(Marin County)
One-Day Workshop
Everyone is welcome.
Where:
Private home in a residential area of Kentfield, in the beautiful Bay Area. Please bring a bag lunch as no food is nearby. We will have snacks. There will be a refrigerator and microwave....
Cost of Workshop:
$80 Regular Rate
Sponsored and organized by:
Laura St. Claire
Registration & Information:
Contact Laura at
December 5
Sacramento, CA
One-Day Workshop 
Workshop is open to all.
Where:
4542 North Park Drive, Sacramento, CA (about 1.5 hours from the Bay Area)
Schedule:
9:30-5:30pm
Cost:
$125 (lunch included)
Sponsored and Organized by:
Ruth Reynolds
Registration & Information:
Contact: Ruth at:
On-Line Dream Work
Leadership Training
Church of the Larger Fellowship
Postponed until 2016
Jeremy and the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) will once again offer this unique training program completed in 10 meetings.
More and more innovative and exciting dream work is taking place on the Internet. The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Larger Fellowship, a congregation without walls, is excited to support this work. You do not have to be a member of CLF to participate. The program will begin with tech sessions on Sept 7 with CLF staff. Jeremy will be teaching 4 sessions.
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APPOINTMENTS
with Jeremy for 2015-2016-2017
(for 2015 only cancellation spots remain)
Please contact Kathy:
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