Dreamflesh

I believe there is a spectrum of forms of collapse. At one end is the ideal, optimistic future where we solve all our problems and we live happily every after. At the other end is catastrophic collapse. We have tended not to fill in all the spaces in between, but that’s actually where things might be very interesting. There may be some forms of disruption and crisis that will actually stimulate us to be really creative. Most importantly, they may allow us to get the deep vested interests that are blocking change out of the way. […] My suggestion is that we’re not going to see fundamental shifts until we confront a major crisis. Whether we’re able to exploit such crises effectively will largely depend upon whether we’ve planned well in advance, whether we’ve thought through how we’re going to mobilize at those critical moments. Thomas Homer-Dixon ‘

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During November and December last year I took part in a dreamwork group. There were just a few of us, which made it quite intensive.

The leader of the group was grounded in the work of Strephon Kaplan-Williams, which I felt boded well. Williams’ work developed from a combination of Jungian “active imagination”, Gestalt “drama therapy” , and somewhat discredited accounts of dream practices among the aboriginal Malaysian Senoi people. (Williams responded to attacks on his appropriation of these techniques with the sound enough claim that they’ve worked for him and his clients; certainly, if you bear in mind that you’re not necessarily following some “authentic tradition”, Williams’ work represents a good model for dreamwork.)

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A couple of events worth noting here have just come to my attention…

Although it’s not listed at the time of posting on the South Bank Centre website, there’s been an announcement that there’s to be a memorial to Robert Anton Wilson:

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Today I went to cast some offerings into the River Avon as part of some ritual work I’m doing. I eyed my umbrella on the way out, but it seemed like a bright, placid day, so I left it hanging there (rarely a good idea in a West Country winter). Down by the river, I watched from a footbridge as some people walked round the jetty I work on. Some little fish seemed to be jumping in the water; or at least, that’s what it looked like until I saw how prevalent the ripples were…

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I’ve just posted a review of David W. Kidner’s excellent book, Nature & Psyche: Radical Environmentalism and the Politics of Subjectivity. Absolutely anyone who’s feeling a pull towards the ideas and feelings I’ve been trying to articulate here should grab a copy as soon as possible.

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Poet, activist and Dreamflesh Journal contributor Claire Fauset has prepared an excellent report for Corporate Watch titled What’s Wrong With Corporate Social Responsibility?. The stall I was doing at the recent London Anarchist Bookfair was next to Corporate Watch, and I overheard someone perusing their stuff, talking to Claire. He said he worked in CSR until recently. He read this report and it was the last straw; he quit.

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An old zine-head friend, Kian, a former editor of the fabulous Head magazine, is starting a new erotic electro club in London… Click for clearer infos!

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After seeing Werner Herzog’s brilliant documentary Grizzly Man, about zealous environmentalist Timothy Treadwell and his eventual death in the jaws of the bears he became obsessed with, I could write a lot about it. I’m immersed in studying the history of our conceptions of wilderness, and how civilization has positioned itself with regard to nature, and this film is a vital meditation on the whole subject. I’ll try and just throw out some ideas that have come to me in its wake.

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It’s here.

Dreamflesh Journal Volume 1 is back from the printers and is looking good. A florid and protean collection of ideas, investigations and experiments weaving together altered states, ecology, healing, mythology, magic and prehistory. In A5 book format, 192 pages of essays, interviews and art explore the most fruitful gaps in our dualist heritage. With original cover art by Amodali, and a free A3 pull-out poster by Pablo Amaringo, it’s a feast for the senses as well as the mind.

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Thanks, Corpus Mmothra.

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