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DREAMING This year representatives from the School of Metaphysics recently attended the 2010 Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD). The IASD is a not-for-profit, international, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the investigation of dreams and dreaming. Its purposes are to promote an awareness and appreciation of dreams in both professional and public arenas; to encourage research into the nature, function, and signification of dreaming; to advance the application of the study of dreams; and to provide a forum for the eclectic and inter-disciplinary exchange of ideas and information. IASD membership represents over 30 countries and people from all disciplines including clinical psychologists, academic scholars, therapists, anthropologists, dreamworkers, researchers, artists, educators, writers, scientists, government officials, filmmakers, ministers, and many more. 
For more diary entries from Karen Mosby and Bryan Menne Dr. Laurel Clark Dr. Sheila Benjamin Damian Nordmann
| | The Collective Diaries of the SOM Delegation for June 26-July1, 2010 A dozen teachers and students from Schools of Metaphysics across the Midwest traveled to Asheville, NC to meet in conference with over 300 people from around the world. The topic: Dreaming. Here are their diaries about the people, the education, and the personal growth. I am so grateful that I was able to attend this year’s IASD conference. IASD is a great organization that offers a vast scope of information and learning on much more than just dreams. The School of Metaphysics has much to give and receive in this gracious and curious worldwide community of like-minded people. I lived in gratitude this week for being able to share such a unique opportunity with so many people. This feeling began on Saturday, strengthened on Sunday and carried throughout the week. Here’s a little bit about why…
Saturday, prior to the conference, intuitive reports were conducted with people who were mostly unfamiliar with this mental technology. I was honored to be present for this because it stimulated a deeper appreciation for having lived the last three years with unbelievable access to Truth and ways to understand it. To some extent I had taken this granted and I am humbled by the fortune and abundance we have and the grand opportunity to aid others with intuitive reports.
On Sunday, Kera, Damian, and I journeyed to a Unity Church with Tad and the Condron family. The congregation was welcoming and joyful. Dr. Daniel had a book signing for Universal Healing Truths after the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services. I attended the first service and was touched by Dr. Daniel’s humbleness as he shared a few words with the congregation about his spiritual journey. The entire service that Reverend O’Shea gave was peaceful and inspiring. I experienced a welling up from within when we all sang “I am the Light. I am the Spirit. I am a song that God sings.” Gratitude filled me for being able to start the week like this.
This was my first time to travel with SOM and serve as a representative. I appreciated Barbara Condron preparing us for our interactions with attendees by simply explaining our need to be receptive, which meant listening to people tell their dreams and only offering an interpretation if asked…no pressing SOM teachings or methods on people. Listen, receive, serve and connect was the gist of what I received from her; beneficial advice that grounded me and allowed me to absorb so much from so many.
Jeremy Taylor, a cofounder of IASD, stated repeatedly in his keynote address that dreams speak a universal language and are always about health and wholeness. A belief that many have tended to argue about in the past. Ending this argument and encouraging people to be more of one mind seemed to be his primary reason for passionately stating this. There is so much to share in terms of information, learning, perspective...so I look forward to sharing my experience more with everyone.
I had an extraordinary time and definitely plan to attend future IASD conferences. Next year’s will be in The Netherlands…I wonder how many SOM reps we’ll have there!
Love,
Heather Hunt (above in downtown Asheville with Damian and Kera. These three formed the Dallas part of our delegation.)
 I have received many insights from my first IASD Conference. Being here has been heart opening and mind expanding. Those of us students, teachers, and leaders of the School of Metaphysics have been able to shine brightly and add to the brilliance of the people who are already an integral part of this organization.
I see the great power we have to give in the way of service and understanding how to respond and attend to other people’s needs. All of us emanated a powerful presence and influence. Our understanding of dreams and the universal language of mind is of great value to this group of people, and our understanding of the structure of mind and how to access it through undivided attention and mental discipline is even more outstanding and priceless.
I eagerly look forward to talking with many of you who will read this e-mail. I want to share more specifically my experiences with the wonderful people I met, the intuitive reports that we offered, the presentations I received, and the vision I have for more of us attending and presenting at future IASD Conferences. I have loved this experience and I love all of you. I will see you in your dreams!
Damian Nordmann (above on the left, with Bryan Menne, Heather Hunt, Kera Everet (back), Laurel Clark)
 This is my first IASD conference as well, and I had a great time. It was wonderful to spend more time with Dr. Barbara, Dr. Sheila, Dr. Laurel and Dr. Daniel! And Heather, Damian, Brian, Karen, Tad, Bethany, Nicholas, Adonai and Hezekiah!
Hezekiah’s film debut of The Dream Mystery was fantastic and I was glad I was there!
And now I will list all the people I met here…just kidding! Suffice it to say it was numerous, and from many different countries.
So many people excited about dreams!
Funny enough though, one of the first people I met when we went to the Unity Church for a book signing lives in Dallas and goes to my Unity Church!
And Brian and I realized we were studying the same lesson, which is, of course, "The Consciousness of Dreams"!
Love to all,
Kera (the blonde with glasses, the blonde in the red shirt is Robert Gongloff conference host this year)
The Wonderful People We Met by Tad Messenger (at right in picture) I have experienced many gifted and creative people at the IASD Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. Two of them are Lauren Schneider, a spiritual psychotherapist, and Athena Johnson, a graduate student studying the Tarot. I went to a presentation of theirs that was extremely insightful. They introduced the Tarot in its classic sense of pictures, and symbols, that told a story of our journey toward spiritual man. After the introduction, they explained how one could use the pictures to bring awareness and wholeness to issues in our lives, or questions that we wanted to know about. There are many ways to use the pictures. In their workshop, they asked us to write down an issue, or a question, and then to write down the resolution, or the answer which could be a question from the issue. I wrote as #1 "Who am I?" and as # 2 "Where am I going?"
Then, they had 30 different Tarot decks on a table. We went to the table and picked up a deck that we were attracted to. Then, we were to pick two cards from the deck always thinking about our two questions or topics. Then place the cards under our numbers and explore the symbols, the images, the dream work, in terms of what our issues or questions were.
The card I picked for "who am I?" Was Harmony. This was what my recent Creative mind report had said that I endeavor to harmonize with my environment. The picture was under water of a person with two dolphins swimming in harmony, one touching the top the head of the person in the water. Everything was blue. There was a white glow from the heart and the head of the person in the picture. I thought of my conscious choice of practicing being centered in both the heart and head and to have them in balance during my life experiences.
The second card of "Where am I going?" was a picture of an eagle flying over the mountains. The mountain was very rocky and each rock layer had very beautiful, vibrant and different colors. This reminded me of the third level of mind and my endeavors to earn my doctorate of divinity and move into study of the Adam lessons. It also reminded me of another conference I will be attending in Arkansas during my birthday (10-10-2010). This will be held at the crystal fields where the Atlanteans have buried under the mountain a sacred Emerald Crystal. The conference and the timing is to activate this crystal for the health of the planet.
We met in groups of three to discuss our images, and dreams with the others. Each of us gave each other greater insight and clarity with the issues that we had been wanting to know about. There was a sense of mystery, magic, and understanding of how the Law of Attraction is so exact, detailed and brings to each exactly what they need to learn.
I am blessed and grateful for this experience. Athena and I have become friends and we will share our learning with each other. We have some of the same types of interest in the Tarot and in aiding the planet and humanity.
Another person I met at IASD was Maria Volchenko. She is from Moscow Russia and is a very bright soul. She sat next to me and would talk very quietly with a smile, always laughing. At first she would say things like "the person on the other side of you is named Maria also. When you sit between two people with the same name it is good fortune. You should make a wish." Then she would laugh and listen to the speaker. There was a wonderful connection between us. After the lecture, we talked some more. She told me about regression therapy work, and I told her about intuitive reports.
She then came to an intuitive report session that we gave at Carole's house (a lady Dr. Laurel and I met at the Malaprop's bookstore during Dr. Laurel's talk on Thursday before the conference). Maria exchanged cards with me and said she was very interested in the reports. When I looked at her web site I noticed that she was an integral part of a group who published books from English to Russian. The books are focused on many dream topics as well as reincarnation. The next day, we saw each other and talked some more. I showed her some of our books. She said that she wanted to publish some of them in Russian. We would have to go through the channels of legality with her firm, which includes lawyers and experienced publishers. The books and topics she was most interested in were about children. This could very well be another avenue to have How to Raise an Indigo Child published in Russia. I will give Dr. Christine the information and further discussion with Dr. Barbara when I return to the COM. Maria and I met several more times briefly, and continued to build upon our relationship. She is also a wonderful artist that does pictures from her dreams.
Sunday, the morning before the conference, I had the great opportunity to accompany Dr. Daniel, Dr. Barbara, and Hezekiah Condron, along with Damian, Heather, and Kera (from Dallas) to a Unity Center Church near the airport in Asheville. The Reverend O'Shea was a very dear minister who very warmly welcomed us and set up Dr. Daniel to talk about his new book Universal Healing Truths at both services (9:30 and 11:00 A.M.) He also had a table set up where Dr. Daniel could do a book signing after each service. The whole atmosphere was in a beautiful country setting. There were about 150 or more people who attended the services in total. The service had two things that impressed me. One was talented musicians who created some very joyful and moving moods. Much of it drew me inward and swayed me in the breeze of holiness. The Rev. O'Shea was very poetic, personable, and a great story teller. He shared his humble and inspirational story of meeting Ram Das, and the import of that influence on his life. He also had great one-liners and included reading some of Dr. Daniel's distilled wisdom from his new book. My experience at Unity set the tone for a wonderful heart to heart conference. I believe some of our connections that were made that Sunday Morning will continue to grow into something very splendid. This was an experience of the Lord working in wondrous ways. It seemed like every one from our delegation was caught up in talking with the people at Unity well after the service was over and most people had gone home. I am truly grateful.
At the IASD conference, there was a morning session that lasted one hour from 8:00A.M. until 9:00 A.M. There were several different sessions at that time. Whatever one I chose, I would continue in that group everyday of the conference. I chose a dream theater group. The people who facilitated it had studied at the Haden Center under Jeremy Taylor. They had introduced us to a way to bring the dream alive through play and focus on different parts of the dream according to where the dreamer wanted to focus. By enacting the dream, and having different people play the parts, the dreamer could get more of a feeling of the dream. This was very interesting in terms of what kind of experiences, and what kind of depths the dreamer could receive from their dream. At first it seemed like the dream mystery theater that we did at the College. However, as we continued to enact one dream for an hour, the dreamer and the participants were able to gain a sense of depth, especially with the kind of emotions that were imparted in the dream. There was also a certain way to discuss the dreams. One would say, "If it were my dream, it would be telling me..., or it would mean..., or I would think about...." By saying "If it were my dream" and by acting it out, I experienced a movement toward putting myself in the place of the dreamer, and making a more solid connection with what they were experiencing in their life, and who they were. Each day we pulled out of a hat a different name. That person would tell us their dream and then the facilitators would aid the dreamer in picking people to be certain characters in the dream and dressing them with different cloth. After we enacting their dream and talked about our experiences, each of us would take off the garment and for example say "I am no longer the sliding door, I am Tad" This was creating a completion and returning to our identity. The experience was rewarding and worthy of more experimentation.
Much love and light,
Tad Read more |
