Form and Process in Online Psychological Groups

Walter Logeman walter@psybernet.co.nz  Based on two posts to Dreamevent Tue, 21 Dec 1999

The depth in dreams comes from the attention we give them. Simply writing them down and sharing them gives them a life.

There are many ways of going deeper into the dream, reentering it imaginatively, entering into dialogues with aspects of the dream and working on them together, interpreting as we have been doing, entering into the dream as if it were our own.

This group aims to use the *Game* to attend to our flood of dreams. We can of course use many other approaches in our discourse... however...

~

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;

~

The Hipbone game allows the symbols of the dreams to speak and provide us with a way to cooperate with the psyche so that the dreams reveal their treasures.  The section of the move, that links one move to another requires careful attention.  There one symbol can be related to another.  One sound to another... there are many possibilities, but the specific connection, clearly stated will deepen our appreciation.

The form of the game is like the canvas of a painting.  To have a well made canvas, at least for certain types of oil painting is inspiring in its own way, and while it restricts the painter to that one space and texture, it is also the basis of creativity.

Consider the structure of a sonnet... the beat in music... the chapters in a novel, these are forms that are auxiliaries to art.

Our ability to use the forms available to us here is of the essence at this point.

Let's focus on *form*. 

~

In my emphasis on the formal in a group that is so beautifully free flowing, I feel vulnerability. As the facilitator I see it as my job!  Is that responsibility?  I think so, especially in the sense of being engaged here... responding to our group and our creations here as they unfold.

~

Stephen quotes Steve:

> "I have a mental habit of collecting and sorting, until there > are fewer and fewer categories."

The Game is a way of sorting, selecting, organising our dreams, once we are through this learning phase, and we "get it", I think it will reveal its value, to those whom sharing dreams is enough, and also to those who appreciate the convergent processes.  They will tie in together, I think.

The game through its definite form, will sort dreams in a way that is "of the psyche". 

~

I have called this post "Process and Form" ... they are both on my mind... my next will focus on process.

To: dreamevent@egroups.com Subject: Re: Process and Form From: Walter Logeman <walter@psybernet.co.nz> Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 14:31:38 +1300

All,

I have just written a post on Form... now one on Process.

Interesting how both these words contrast to Content.  Clearly my mind is on How we do what we do here...

~

We are a group... this unique bunch of us will have an interconnection that is unknown to each of us... bigger than us. I think of that interconnection as a psychological force, another window into the psyche.

Our dreams reveal the unknown and also our group, as it interacts. A passage from this group on this theme, by Hillel, from Steve:

  Re: More Move Number ? Responsibility Sat, 18 Dec 1999 01:52:52 EST

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now. when?

~

It beautifully expresses something about individuality and collaboration!  Steve, your theme of Responsibility, as it gives voice to this idea, I think, is a precise marker for a delicate process.

We do not loose our individuality as we are "for others". In fact through the group's process psychological depths can be revealed.

Mike, in this sense the word is not heavy at all!

~

In groups, often one person will carry the group's life forward more than another person.  We are not "equal" at that moment... one person is a protagonist, mirroring back something of ourselves. When a person comes forward and says:  I'll make a move... we can then become their auxiliaries. 

~

OK, to be specific about the process here in the dreamevent:

One Move on the board must follow another.  Hence when a person is making a move, and they announce it, then we brainstorm, assist, appreciate, critique encourage the Mover.  When the move is made we respond, with applause, or other expressions of our feeling. 

So far there are lots of moves ... mooted.  Now is the time to attend to the game form and the group process to have these moves actually made.

Walter
 
PS I just clicked that what I am talking about here is about the relationship between the group and the individual... this is the subject of a paper I wrote, and it may be of interest to some. Online at:

http://www.psybernet.co.nz/gp_prot.htm

You could go straight to the conclusion:

http://www.psybernet.co.nz/gp_prot.htm#_Toc441217554
 

Version:

Based on two posts to Dreamevent Tue, 21 Dec 1999

Edited and placed on the web:  2 January 2000