It is the transcendence of duality that is central to the
mystery. The central pole of the Sun Dance lodge is
forked, as an expression of this principle, and is thus
reminiscent of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The One is separated so that it may become consciously
aware that it is One. That is perhaps the mystery.
      We can go around and around about this point. There
are many mythological spinoffs of this central, Universal
Idea.
      The lesson for community is that the tension between
the Many and the One can be a creative tension. But
when operating from a dualistic frame of reference, the
choices are seen only as being either to "surrender the
ego" and be one with the group, the community, the
Whole, or to separate oneself as an "individualist." But
the initiation into the mystery comes when the tension is
sustained until the time arrives that it is possible to
transcend dualistic consciousness. Then we experience
ourselves neither as merely individuals nor as merely
one with the community or Whole, but somehow as both.
      As a result of the dream story I've told here, I would
now call my imaginary experiment in revelation the
"Sundance Experiment." The basic hypothesis of this
experiment is that a community of people can obtain
from their dreams the necessary symbolic patterns to
create their own appropriate method with which to
experience the secret of the universal mystery central to
the mythology of the Sundance motif. Evidence of this
possibility has been found in the dream incubations and
community dream enactments conducted at Atlantic
University. The A.R.E. Dream Research Project showed
that it is possible for contemporary dreams to provide
further clues to the nature of the mythological Sundance
motif. Inasmuch as the Community Dream Journal
provides a focus for dreams about the concept of
community, it too may elicit dreams that will contribute
to the Sundance Experiment. In fact, subscribers'
dreams (see page 132) are already reflecting aspects of
Sundance imagery as well as a concern for the tension
between individual needs and group unity. It does seem

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