Dear Dreamers,
It was such a pleasure to continue our conversation this week and keep planning together. All in all, there were six of us back for a second week, three joining the conversation for the first time and three apologies. We opened the door at 6pm with bread and soup and sat down at 6.30pm and ended at 8pm. Half the time was spent sharing introductions and reflections on the previous session and on the week that had passed. Many people spoke about how they felt tired at the beginning of the session and we wondered whether the shift in weather was partly behind that. During the session, we noticed the temperature drop and spoke about coming to future sessions prepared to keep warm as the winter months unfold. The question was asked whether it would be ok to bring blankets to the future sessions and the answer was yes.
We had what felt to me to be an important conversation about the kind of space we are seeking to create and to what extent Dream Ecologies should offer a closed space or a public space and how far we should privilege confidentiality versus accessibility to the space that we are facilitating. I believe we reached a kind of consensus that since this is not intended as a therapeutic space we do not need to be “closing the door” and that in fact to think of how we might facilitate the space so that the door can remain open to anyone who would like to come in and listen and maybe share a dream might also open the door to new ways of understanding how our dream-lives interact with our daily lives.
We spoke about dreams as data and our role as gatherers of this dream data for a purpose about which we are not yet so clear. We spoke about the protocol that we will need to design so that expectations about what this space is and what is expected of participants can be clear to everyone who seeks to be involved. We spoke about the space for incorporating movement and principles of embodiment into the session and Sarah offered to start the next session with a physical exercise – an offer that we as a group accepted with gratitude.
We confirmed the plan to hold a first session of Dream Ecologies at KARST in Plymouth on 19th October from 9.30am until 11am. The session will take place in the context of the Plymouth Art Weekender and a day-long public programme that Radical Ecology is offering around the New Contemporaries Exhibition across the city.
At least one person said that it felt too early in the Dream Ecologies process for them to participate in a public event and that they would not therefore be involved in the facilitation of this event. In response, the group confirmed that this position is understandable and OK and that there will be space for everyone to participate in the collective process that is unfolding at the pace that feels most comfortable for them.
With regards the Plymouth event, others expressed great enthusiasm to get things started and to be involved and we committed to holding further sessions from 6 for 6.30pm to 8pm on Tuesday 8th October and Tuesday 15th October, where we will focus on practicalities of refining the format and the protocols for the Plymouth event on 19th October. This will take us to a tally of four meetings in so many weeks – perhaps an appropriate reflection of the pace needed to get things started and create something new. But we also spoke of the need to slow the pace once we’ve delivered our first matrix on 19th October.
We have spoken about the intention of holding a public matrix once a month and also about the possibility of a meeting for the collective once a month. We can try to pin this down into some kind of a schedule in the coming weeks.
I look forward to seeing those of you that can make it and would like to join for these two forthcoming sessions on the 8th and 15th October. Please let me know either way so that we know who to expect. The address is The address is The Loft, 1b Cedars Units, Webbers Yard, Dartington TQ9 6JY.
Best Wishes,
Ashish.