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an experiment. We had one guideline
to follow, a suggestion we had inferred from some of Edgar
Cayce's readings on psychical research: The experiment
should be so designed that people's focus and intention is on
helping one another, not on scoring "hits" in an ESP test. By
following this suggestion, we were able to design an
experimental approach, the "dream helper ceremony," that
does bring into clearer view the kind of ESP dreaming that had
previously only occurred spontaneously. The procedure follows
people's natural interest in exploring the personal and
emotional aspects of their dreams and at the same time allows
for documentation and study.
Here is part of the story of the first dream helping group I was in. There were nine helpers in all, dreaming for a 21-year-old woman, "Mary." When we had our meditation together, Mary gave me a drawing she had made earlier that week. I took it to my bed and stared at it for a long time before falling asleep. In the middle of the night I awoke startled, as her drawing had fallen over from the place where I had propped it up. Then I realized that I had been dreaming: I am lying on the deck of a sinking ship. The water level is rising slowly and is beginning to enter my mouth. I begin to choke. The next morning I awakened with another dream. I am in my childhood home. I hear "mom" playing on the piano. I also see her in the bathroom taking a shower. Then I see her standing in the kitchen, dripping from the shower, talking on the telephone to someone about how her piano playing is always interrupted. I also see "dad" lounging in the living room in his pajamas. Then I go outside to return a book to the library. Outside on the lawn is my personal library, being soaked by a lawn sprinkler. I didn't see how this dream could have anything at all to do with Mary. When our group of helpers assembled in the morning to share our dreams with her, most of the other people didn't think their dreams related to her either. But the common patterns in our dreams suggested differently. One helper dreamed of going to an airport as an experiment, driving a car to a supermarket. Another person dreamed about going to a drugstore to purchase a "pocket shower kit," but encountering difficulty paying for it.This person also dreamed of being at a library with our group of helpers where the question is raised, "Are you dependent on Mother?" One helper dreamed of a "Jewish Mother" who never accepts that 107
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