== Dream Event ==

This "event" will be an exploration of dream life, a celebration -- and an
experiment.

It will take place entirely on a private email mailing list. During the
life of the list, we shall explore a dream -- provided by one of the
participants and selected by group process -- in some detail. We will be
looking into its personal and archetypal meanings, and bringing them into
focus on one of the HipBone gameboards designed by Charles Cameron.

The process will run for approximately 6 weeks, starting on 10 May
1996.

This event is the result of an initial suggestion made by Charles Cameron
of HipBone Games, and will be hosted as a PsyberGroup by Walter
Logeman of Psybernet.

*

Who is invited?

All members of the Psybernet mailing list Psyber-L and the "spirituality in
games" discussion list Magister-L are warmly encouraged to join us --
and any others who hear of this by word of mouth or screen, and who
think this is for them! We hope to form a lively group of active participants.

*

Three phases of the Dream Event.

The first is the introductory phase, during which the participants will
meet, introduce themselves, connect, and learn about the process we
shall be using. This will be a time to *find a dream* that will form the
basis for our event.

This may well be a time of dreaming and sharing dreams -- or
one dream may present itself clearly, early on in the process.
In either case, we anticipate that the dream will speak its truths
for the group as a whole, touching other participants as well as
the dreamer. This will be an time for us to listen together, to
hear what is emerging in the life of our group as a whole.

During this introductory phase, Walter will assist the group in
the task of connecting and focusing to find our dream. While
this is going on, Charles will introduce the Game process and
its history, and we will take a look at some examples of games
in this tradition.

Those of you who remember the book will see that the games
draw their inspiration from the "Glass Bead Game" described
by Hermann Hesse in his novel, *Magister Ludi*.

In the second phase the group as a whole will "amplify" the dream, by
means of discussion and the sharing of associations -- or the sharing of
more dreams. Walter will guide us as the spontaneity of the group itself
unfolds this process. During this phase, Charles will be working with the
group to map the dreamwork onto a game board: the game will be played
in a collaborative spirit under his guidance.

Members of the group are encouraged to post any and all
dreams they feel like posting, together with any comments,
elaborations, or questions they may have regarding other
posters' dreams -- indeed, we should all feel free to go off on
tangents, and form threads that may have nothing to do with
the dreams at all...

We will be on the lookout for those comments on individual
dreams which ring most true for the dreamer in question. At
the same time, we shall explore the possibility that our dreams
speak to the group as a whole -- that they are not "exclusive"
to any one individual.

This phase concludes when the ten games moves are completed.

The third phase is that of closure -- a time to share our experience and
learning.

The event is both tightly structured and very fluid.

We start on a given date, we will conduct the phases of the
group as planned, we shall make the ten moves on the game
board, taking advantage of the heightened impact that the
structure of the board itself imposes: these are the structures
which will focus our enthusiasm.

Within these structures, we will allow both the group and the
game to develop their own rhythms. We shall see just how the
*virtual music of our dreams* will play itself to a close.

Walter will facilitate so that the group closes on a specified date.

*

We intend to use this process as a vehicle for honouring the dreams and
the dreamers. We look to making this event a celebration. There will be a
place to attend to feelings as they arise in the work. These are our aims
-- this dream event is the first of its kind, and we are in the hands of
the gods as to how things will turn out. We can promise each other
nothing more than that we will attend to the process to the best of our
ability.

Your hosts for this event will be Charles Cameron and Walter Logeman.

Charles is a poet and writer who believes that "sacred games"
have an important part to play in the emergence of a spirituality
for the next millennium. Charles draws his inspiration for the
HipBone family of games from Hermann Hesse's "Glass
Bead Game". His next dream? To design an interactive game
along the lines of MYST...

Walter is a psychotherapist in private practice in Christchurch,
New Zealand. His main therapeutic training is in psychodrama
and he has an interest in the work of Carl Jung. Walter is the
originator of the Psybernet project, which explores "psyche in
cyberspace", and which is hosting this event as the first in a
series of PsyberGroups. Other events are in the planning
stages.

A game, a party, a celebration of dream life and an experiment... We
invite you to join us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was followed with subscription information, which need not bother
us here, and by a request that participants should *not* share the posts
on this list with anyone outside the group with the occasional exception
of spouses, intimate friends and therapists: the list would be a closed
one, so that participants would feel able to share their dreams and emotions
more freely. Lastly, the invitation mentioned that Walter and Charles
would be preparing a summary of the event, taking all due precautions to
ensure privacy of the participants, for the use of the participants
themselves, and in developing further projects of this sort:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is our intention, however, to prepare a summary of the event, including
an overview of the group process and the final text of the game itself, so
that this can be shown by group members to interested friends, and used
in the further development of projects of this sort.

When this summary has been prepared it will be presented to the group
in draft form, and at that time group members will be invited to say
whether they wish their own contributions to be presented anonymously
or by name, and to suggest any other changes that will preserve both the
privacy of the individuals concerned and the depthful expression of the
event as a whole.

The final text of the summary will then be archived separately, and made
available to others on both the Psybernet and HipBone home pages.