Volume XXX - Joining Together as a Community

Dear Dream Tending and Imagination Community,

I am in Zurich, Switzerland, preparing for a presentation that I will offer at a conference paying tribute to Carl Jung and his work as illuminated in The Red Book. I am reflecting on the value of the story. I have found that telling and listening to stories invites other stories from our life experience as well as those that originate in the deep psyche. Stories from one dimension of consciousness spark stories in the other. Stories energize and illuminate the story-web of psychic life, a matrix where new or forgotten stories emerge.

In the world of today, listening to the emerging stories of deep imagination offers new possibilities. Different from the more familiar narratives originating in egos power drive, emerging stories offer sparks of the new possible.

Experiment with writing out one of your waking or nighttime dreams. Bring the dream into the present tense. Notice a section of the dream that makes a claim on your attention. Write this section out as a story. It might help to start with the familiar phrase, “Once upon a time. . .”

Let the story unfold, taking on a life of its own making. Next, find the “voice” of the dreaming psyche, as distinct from the more familiar ego persona. Let this author now tell the story out loud. Notice what comes forward. Imagine what it would be like to join with a group of storytellers of the same kind and share your stories in community.

Until next Tuesday . . .

In the dreamtime,

Steve

Inside The Curious Mind

This is a quote that resonated with me this week…

“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”

― Graham Greene, novelist and author

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Stephen Aizenstat

Stephen Aizenstat, Ph.D., is the founder of Dream Tending, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Academy of Imaginal Arts and Sciences. He is a world-renowned professor of depth psychology, an imagination specialist, and an innovator. He has served as an organizational consultant to major companies and institutions, and as a depth psychological content advisor to Hollywood film makers. He has lectured extensively in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He is affiliated with the Earth Charter International project through the United Nations, where he has spoken. Professor Aizenstat is the Chancellor Emeritus and Founding President of Pacifica Graduate Institute. He has collaborated with many notable masters in the field including Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, Marion Woodman, and Robert Johnson.