Students
in Professor Tim Kasser's "Dreaming" class came out to his small farm
for a Dream Campout on May 17, 2004. In addition to fun roasting
marshmallows by the campfire, the class was trying to experience the
atmosphere that many indigenous tribes create with regard to dreams,
including sharing dreams immediately upon waking in the morning. The
class also tried an experiment in the ancient practice of "dream
incubation," whereby one member of the class presented a personal issue
and shared past dreams relevant to that issue. The "incubant" and the
rest of the class then formulated a question concerning the problem and
went to sleep with the intention of having a dream about the problem
and the question. The experiment, despite our skepticism, met with
surprising success, as the incubant and 4 other members of the class
reported dreams clearly relevant to the question that had been asked
the night before. Pictures of the class taken on the night of the
campout can be seen below. The excellent picture of the campfire on the left
was taken by Andrew (Scooter) Batt, one of the students in the class.
