From the Dreams On The Internet Panel, 1999 ASD Conference
Forum 2: Dream Research and Experimentation
No dreamwork exists in a vacuum. I
believe it's important to let people know your dream lens, your
philosophy, where you are coming from. I'm a community dreamworker. That
means I share my own dreams with the group. As an observer-participant
researcher, I dream along with the group. In particular, I'm a member of
the Partnership Paradigm. Off-line the San Francisco Bay Area
Dreamworkers Group, BADG, supports a user-friendly space for those
approaches to dreams. In that forum, I have practiced some values that
apply on-line just as well.
For example, I learned it's *not* okay to
- Gather dreams, but not tell people who you are.
- Listen to dreams and not alert folks to the fact you plan to use
them in some way, shape or form.
- Collect dreams and not say that you plan to "interpret"
them.
- Say you'll "interpret" the dream, but actually infer a
host of things about the *dreamer,* especially without reality
checks to show that your inferences are correct.
Manners, morals, ethics apply on-line as well as off. The prime rule
of the Partnership Paradigm is:
Ask permission first. Ask permission first. Ask permission first.
To share dreams. To do dreamwork. To dream with other people.
Advantages and disadvantages of cyberspace as compared with face-to-face
and snail mail research.
After doing field research for 15 years, I've found some advantages
and disadvantages to using cyberspace. I have to type or retype dreams
that arrive by snail mail. Cyberdreamers routinely word process their
dreams, saving lots of time when they send me such text. Receiving a
dream the very day it was dreamt means I can ask questions about day
residue that the dreamer will be more likely to remember.
Off-line, I have worked with Jill Gregory to define dreaming terms
(among other things,
to help determine what sorts of material would go into the Dream Library
and Archive). We addressed the question, "What *is* a dream?"
and decided that the term "dream" referred to sleep-in-bed
dreams and not to waking visualizations, hypnotic regressions, piece of
"channeled" information, intentionally "made up"
dreams or the like.
I bring this up because in a non-personal format like the Internet
(or a book, for that matter) it can be harder to differentiate between
states of consciousness than when the dream is shared in person.
Personally, I would very much appreciate it if researchers would let the
reader know from whence comes the so-called "dream" report,
rather than lump all "dreamy" experiences together. For my own
research purposes, it's crucial to distinguish between apples, oranges
and pears, rather than to squash them all together and call the
concoction "fruitopia."
Regular research: solicitation of sample dreams and distribution
of questionnaires. News groups, bulletin boards, e-mail distribution
lists, e-zines and chat rooms.
When
I need to solicit sample dreams or send out questionnaires, I can post
research requests at news groups, bulletin boards and web sites. I have
advertised in the *Electric Dreams* and *NightFlyer* e-zines and have
used my own e-mail distribution list.
Requests might get a mention in chat rooms, too. But lurking on-line and
swiping dreams off the mailing lists and bulletin boards? No. Don't do
it without contacting the dreamer for permission.
When I use my general mailing list to send out announcements, I let
folks know that the notices are provided as a service to the dream
community. But I also include information on how one can be removed from
the list. I am indebted to Linton Hutchison at DreamLynx for helping me
create that disclaimer.
By e-mail you can easily send thank-you notes for the material you
receive. I'd like to see the dream community be at the leading edge on
this one: to set a good example for research instead of ignoring the
research subject. Sometimes I think there's a black hole that swallows
up our dreams. To receive something (especially something you plan to
use) and not say "Yes, I got it" or "Thank you" is
extremely rude. Off-line, I agree that response can be costly and take a
lot of time.
But on-line, there's no excuse to shirk our professional
responsibilities. I know we're all busy, but I don't think that really
forgives us, since it's so easy to type "Thanks!" as a reply
message.
Cyberspace lends itself to posting the results of our projects in a
timely manner, too. At the very least, a dreamworker can send e-mails
about where to find the final product: the report, article, thesis or
book.
Proactive dreaming, Use of web site, mailing lists and
distribution list announcements. The FBNC Task Force and private
experiments and projects.
I do research in proactive dreaming with the accent on flying, lucid,
telepathic and mutual dreams. Single experiments, I can do at my web
site. I just post the exercise and await dreams in response. But
interactive dreaming projects require an on-going group. Mailing lists
like Intuition Network and SethWorks have been open to dream projects. I
join the list, suggest a project and see if there is anyone interested.
Dreams are posted to the entire list of members, where everyone can
comment on resonance among the dreams or between one person's dreams and
another person's waking life.
My research group is called *Fly-By-Night Club.* On-line, it's easy to
do global projects. The Club sponsors an annual group dream-in and the
participants have hailed from Japan, Australia, Canada and Europe as
well as the United States. Cross-dreaming is truly an international
endeavor.
The active dreamers who do individual projects are called the
"Task Force." Those dreamers have generally known me for a
long time. There are a few who have given me blanket permission to use
any of their dreams as I wish. But I begin a relationship with dreamers
as an unknown. It takes a while to develop that level of trust.
Developing two-way trust: confidentiality of subjects, asking
permission, distribution list manners, disclosure of researcher
biography and researcher intentions, validity of information gathered.
I
have created a general blurb to attach to research requests that
confidentiality will be respected. I ask dreamers to let me know if
they'd like me to use their full name, an e-mail name or a pseudonym
when I print their dreams and comments. I've also created a "Right
to Reprint" form that grants me permission to use dreams and either
designates specific confidentiality parameters or allows me to use my
own judgment about sensitive material.
BTW, when I sold *Mutual Dreaming,* the publisher would not accept e-mail
permission to disclose the full name of the dreamer, although the legal
department would accept a Xerox or FAX of a handwritten signature.
Nowadays, I'd scan in the document as a graphics file.
I back up this permission to print dreams or disclose the dreamer
with my own disclosure. I have known of so-called researchers who do not
provide identifying information and can't help but be suspicious. Just
what do they have to hide? What are they going to do with my precious
dream?
At the very least, I use a blurb on who I am plus my address. To
whatever extent possible I alert folks to the possibility that their
dreams may be published, especially by telling them I'm an author.
Nowadays my full biography is posted at the Bay Area Dreamworkers
Group site (thanks to Peggy Coats for hosting us) and at my Fly-By-Night
Club (now *Dream Flights*) web site (thanks to Richard Wilkerson for the
first draft). But even before that, I had a bio on his original
DreamGate site and at the ASD site. Providing information to the public
about individual dreamworkers is the sort of service that a group like
ASD can do well, and it makes a nice fringe benefit of membership.
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html
Linda Lane Magallón
Linda Lane Magallón, MBA,
created the Fly-By-Night Club research group. She wrote Mutual Dreaming,
the Internet course Psychic-Creative Dreaming, and wrote the "Dream
Trek" Column on Electric Dreams. She is a founding member of ASD
and co-founder of the Bay Area Dreamworkers Group. http//members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html
E-mail caseyflyer@aol.com
