Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 21:58:50 -0800
From: "Wilkerson, Richard" <rcwilk-AT-dreamgate.com>
Subject: re: Postmodern Dreaming



>Brent,

thanks for your Lyotard readers list, I am taking this list into 
consideration. Any translations better than others?



>your project sounds interesting.  what i'm not sure about (but what
>interests me) is that hermeneutic moment of assuming that the dream has
>a meaning ...
>
>brent ....


   Yes, I need to be careful how I approach this issue. Sometime I prefer 
to just get people to drop the notion of seeking a buried meaning or 
message in the dream, and focus on the interpretive method that produced 
the most intense results.  Just like with my friends, I try to find the 
best relationship with them without assuming hidden meanings. (sometimes)

     Yet I lose too many people when I begin by asking them to drop the 
notion that we are going to uncover some stable authorial intention.

      For me, life is over-determined anyway and the issue is not so much 
finding a thing or person's meaning, but selecting from the overwhelming 
flow of meanings and their demands. Same thing, but a different angle.

    Both these positions then require that I answer "Why dreams?"  and not 
some other object or subject?   This is a difficult spot for me in my 
theory. Personally, I just like dreams. But why foist this relationship on 
anyone else?  I will probably go for the seductive approach, though I have 
plenty of studies that show people prefer dream narratives to other 
narratives when introspecting about one's life. That is, they prefer them 
after they learn a few approaches.  No, I would rather show how a 
relationship with these nocturnal creatures is desirable, once our 
prejudices have been addressed.

   However, it appeals to me as a kind of social activist-for-the-imaginal 
to say dreams are a marginalized part of our life, a process that began 
when mother whispered in our ear "its only a dream."  Here I get to play 
redeemer and feel good about participating in the return of the repressed.

    - Richard