Creating reality & community - Symbol Creation is natural: Native American Dream Folklore: Chipewyan Sonenekuiñaji, Parintintin, & T'nalak T'boli-Bla'an Dream Weaving A. Casale:: "Indigenous societies in America have dream theories that reveal a phil

Alessandro Casale observes: "Indigenous societies in North and South America have dream theories and interpretations that reveal a philosophical order about the nature of the universe." Symbol–Meaning Creation: Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself! - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950 Nobel Prize, Literature in 1925) In a sense, it doesn't matter "what it is", it matters what you do with it. "Leslie White (1995) defines a symbol as a thing whose value is bestowed upon it by those who use it. This implies that meaning of the symbols is derived from and determined by the individuals who use them. The creative faculty of human beings makes them bestow values upon things freely, actively and arbitrarily, driving them towards symbolization. This symbol-making tendency is innate in man." "Devereux (1979:28) highlights the fact that "symbolization helps to hold man's segmental capacities together and fosters a broader direct involvement with the situation'. A symbol reduces the enormous complexity of communication by using a concrete sign as a kind of shorthand for a complex of interrelated concepts, ideas, and values systems." Symbol–Meaning Creation: Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself! - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950); Nobel Prize, Literature in 1925) It doesn't matter "what it is", it matters what you do with it. "Leslie White (1995) defines a symbol as a thing whose value is bestowed upon it by those who use it. This implies that meaning of the symbols is derived from and determined by the individuals who use them. The creative faculty of human beings makes them bestow values upon things freely, actively and arbitrarily, driving them towards symbolization. This symbol-making tendency is innate in man." "Devereux (1979:28) highlights the fact that "symbolization helps to hold man's segmental capacities together and fosters a broader direct involvement with the situation'. A symbol reduces the enormous complexity of communication by using a concrete sign as a kind of shorthand for a complex of interrelated concepts, ideas, and values systems." Synthesis-Consensus of William James, Viktor Frankl, and Carl Jung: As William James observed in 1902, spiritual experiences can create a "sense of reality" Through art, music, and spirituality - as well as cognitive analysis people create reality. That is what spiritual processes did for tens of thousands of years - for better or worse – Creation of human reality and truth. Michael Steger emphasizes: "meaning is, at its heart, an integrating factor for people. Meaning pulls together people's ideas about who they are, the kind of world they live in, and how they relate to the people and environments around them. Meaning incorporates these elements into people's aspirations and overarching aims. (Quest p. 169)" So, "meaning" and consciousness are not static abstractions found on bookshelves, but a dynamic ongoing process of creation.