ABSTRACT
A social dreaming project began in London meeting once monthly and consisting usually of ten to fifteen people of various nationalities. The social dreaming process demonstrated this struggle for understanding, this grasping at structure. As one member of the matrix put it, “It seems we have to be almost about to be killed, in order to realize we can save our lives.” The process of catching a fish was seen to parallel the process of social dreaming, catching and then following the myriad images which emerge from the unconscious deep. When communication is generated via the self rather than through the dream, the narrative becomes self-conscious, competitive, uneasy, even paranoid. Participants in the matrix appeared to be grappling to connect with lost memories as they dreamed, with marked psychotic anxiety, of disconnection and avoidance.
