FUSION...an emergence, a response, a forum for images in pursuit of good company, the result of an overflowing of developments. James Hillman has spoken of the great need we have in our culture for appropriate settings in which to entertain ideas. In contrast to the thousands of publications to which one may turn to obtain information, FUSION exists to stimulate the reader to consider images and entertain ideas.
The purpose of Dream Psychology Northwest, an educational center for dreams and depth psychology, has been to provide a setting in which we invite the images of the unconscious psyche to speak, to shout, to infiltrate our waking rational consciousness. This publication, an extension of our educational center, provides a similar function over greater distances and for larger numbers of people. The goal of FUSION is to create a forum for ideas and images emerging into the human imagination in relation to dream, imaginal and archetypal psychologies, education, spirituality, and the arts. We will present quality thinking and imagining from the heartminds of the community of souls with whom we are networking. We encourage interlogue, a group dialogue, and thus anticipate your active involvement in this experiment in communication.
This publication is one expression of the rapid growth of an educational community still in its infancy. Dream Psychology Northwest was founded as a result of my commitment to combining education, depth psychology, and personal growth therapies. Since the beginning the path has been marked by generous portions of grace, hard work, determination and inspiring synchronistic connections. The fine people who have found their way to our doors as both colleagues and participants are of course the single most important factor in the establishment of Dream Psychology Northwest. The synchronicity which has consistently demonstrated itself in my life and in the lives of my co-workers has spilled over into the life of our organization and this publication. On the same day we received the Dream Network Bulletin from New York, accompanied by Dr. Stimson's letter inviting my contribution, one of our people brought to a planning meeting a copy of the Brain/Mind Bulletin, which had on its cover an article announcing to the national eye the Dream Community and the Dream Network Bulletin. We are now pleased to be associated with this labyrinthine web of people who recognize their affinity for dreams is a response to the call of becoming conscious.
I wish to acknowledge the support of Richard Jones and Montague Ullman as editorial consultants for FUSION. For six years I have been inspired and motivated by personal and professional contact with these two men. Their support for this project encourages me to press on with several incubating ideas: a second Northwest Regional Dreamworks Week, a national conference, a tape series on topics in dream psychology, and a handbook for working with dreams entitled The Dream Shield.
The strictly hierarchical days are over. Contemporary dreamwork is characterized by the egalitarian relationship between the dreamer and the helper. We are each learning resources for each other. Whether it is in the group, in private therapy sessions, or in individual dreamwork, more and more people are learning to let the dream speak for itself. People are slowly beginning to heed Hillman's notion of "sticking to the image."
As you read and consider what follows, keep in mind that this is an introductory issue designed to intimate the range and breadth of FUSION. Now that this project has reached into the community, we offer it up to the four winds to be spread like pollen, to find its way where there is an opening, an open hand, an open mind, an open heart. To begin then...welcome!
