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a technical method? What becomes of our traditional reliance
on the ideal of the unbiased, controlled replicability of scientific
knowledge if participating in such an experimental ritual further
presupposes surrendering as if in faith to the operation of factors
necessarily beyond our individual control? Other researchers have
already meaningfully investigated phenomena in a manner which stretches
the credibility of this traditional ideal (16,17,31). As we continue
to explore altered states of consciousness and parapsychology, maintaining
our idealization of causal research paradigm, requiring the manipulation
and control of the experimental variables by an impartial and detached
observer, we may be led into the moral ambiguities of the practice
of magic. The use of symbolic ritual may provide us with an causal
but meaningful paradigm through which we can attune ourselves to
the self-realization of the realities we wish to explore (28). Toward
this endeavor, I have a dream to share:
We are gathered together for research and enlightenment. We have not yet found the appropriate paradigm for our research and we are standing around in the dark. Suddenly, we begin to dance together in a circle, and we discover that the paradigm we long for is contained and expressed in our dancing. As we greet and celebrate one another in turn, each of us displaying our personal dream emblem, our dance generates a central fountain of sparks which fly off to illuminate our space. Postscript: In the few years since I had the above dream and wrote this paper, events have proved the fertility of dream-inspired research. The process of dream incubation, guided into communal action by the above dream of the research dance, led to the creation of Sundance Community Dream Journal. For the story of this evolvement, see "The A.R.E. Dream Research Project" and "The Sundance Experiment," appearing in the first issue of this journal. References1. Assagioli, R. Psychosynthesis. New York: Viking,
1965.
2. Bonny, H., & Savary, L. Music and Your Mind. New York: Harpers,
1973.
3. Bro, H. High Play: The Approach of Edgar Cayce. New York: Coward-McCann,
1970.
4. Brown, M. "The new body psychotherapies." Psychotherapy:
Theory, Research, and Practice, 1973,10, 98-116.
5. Campbell, J. Myths to Live By. New York: Viking, 1972.
6. deBecker, R. The Understanding of Dreams and Their Influence on the
History of Man. New York: Hawthorn, 1968.
7. Edelstein, E. J., & Edelstein, L. Asclepius: A Collection and
Interpretation of the Testimonies. 2 vols. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins Press, 1945.
8. Fish, J.M. Placebo Therapy. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1973.
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