PSI Symposium Fall Journal 1997
Preface

The 1997 issue of the Psi Symposium Journal includes three main themes:  Dreams, Life After  Death, and Angels.  It also includes a closing piece about Spirituality.

The lead article, Dreaming  a  Eucharist:  a Vision for Reclaiming the Cosmic Christ Archetype, is by Marybeth Stackhouse Truran, who is a church member and Worship Committee Chair of the First Unitarian  Universalist  Society of Middleboro, Massachusetts.  It was originally written for a course  in  religion and psychology for the Vermont College Adult Degree Program and slightly edited for the Journal.  It is a wonderful example of a powerful archetypal dream in a woman's life and the reverberations of that dream for her future goals and development.  When Marybeth Truran completes the degree program she intends to go on to theological school in preparation for the Unitarian Universalist ministry.  Her dream has helped her move in that direction.

What are the dreams that tend to haunt a minister's night life? In The Stuff That Dreams Are  Made Of, the Rev. Dr. J. Peter Hughes, minister of the First Universalist Church in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, since 1986, talks about a repetitive dream of being back in school and having to take a perennial examination. Is this a common dream for ministers? I can confirm that it is also one that "haunts" your Journal Editor from time to time year after year. Peter imagines a dialogue between himself and the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, as together they seek to unravel the meaning of his dream.

The Rev. Jeremy Taylor, was our program speaker for the Psi Symposium Lecture at the UUA  General Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona last June. Nearly 300 people were packed into a room, sitting in the aisles, against the walls, and by the open doors, to hear Jeremy Taylor talk about the significance of dreams and the role of the unconscious in liberal religion.  He stated his belief, in the words of Ferenzi, that "dreams are the workshop of evolution," that our hominid ancestors probably dreamed the possibility of speech before language was first spoken. Jeremy operates on the principle that all dreams come in the service of healing and wholeness, even the nightmares, and that only the dreamer can determine the meaning of the dream for him or her self. Jeremy teaches courses in dreams at the Starr King School for the Ministry and the University of Creation Spirituality, both in California, and has authored two books on dreams, his most recent being Where People Fly And Water Runs Uphill. We are pleased to be able to publish this piece by Jeremy Taylor that focuses on the meaning of "Dream Tornadoes." Have you had any "stormy dreams" lately?  Read on.

On April 13, 1997, three members of the Greater Boston Psi Symposium conducted a service entitled "Evidence of Survival After Death" at their home church, the First Parish in Needham, Massachusetts Louis Sutro's part was included in the Spring '97 Psi Symposium Newsletter.  We are pleased to publish the remaining two pieces by Ruth Sutro and Shirley Pratt.  Ruth Sutro is a former board member and previous editor of the Psi Symposium Newsletter. Shirley Pratt, who has published a book about spirit rescues, is the Membership Secretary for the Psi Symposium Board of Directors.

The Rev. Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz, minister of the First Parish Universalist Church in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and your Editor, the Rev. Richard M. Fewkes, minister of the First Parish in Norwell, Massachusetts, have each ventured to talk about "angels" to their respective UU congregations. Jeff's sermon on "The Physics of Angels," also preached on April 13, 1997, is an extended Matthew Fox and biologist Rupert Sheldrake. There may have been a flutter of wings  heard in the sanctuary that day. 

Dick's sermon, "On The Tide of the Angels," was first preached  in angels is indicative of a spiritual hunger for that which transcends the corporeal realm. Angels  can be adapted to a variety of world views. What is important is that we be in touch with the better angels of our human nature whatever our belief or theology may be. Jeff and Dick are both members of the UU Psi Symposium Board of Directors.

The Rev. Edgar C. Peara, minister of the UU Community Church in Park Forest, Illinois, asks, Is Spirituality Reasonable?  He argues that at its best it certainly is and that UUs should not be afraid to embrace spirituality as part of their rationality. "Reason does not negate spirituality, it enhances it."  What better note to conclude this issue of the 1997 Psi Symposium Annual Journal! One of the purposes of the Psi Symposium is to bring reason to bear, to make sense of, our psychic and spiritual experience.  Or as one of the possible acronyms for the meaning of PSI expresses it:  Physical Spiritual Intellectual integration.

Richard M. Fewkes
Editor

Complete Fall Journal 1997 (pdf download -2.7 M)
Includes all of the articles listed above.
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