Dreams-and-Creativity

LINKAGES BETWEEN DREAMS AND CREATIVITY

Although creativity is a product of conscious process it is not the product of this process alone. There is a large part of the creative process that takes place in the unconscious. Creativity then is a two way information highway between the conscious & the unconscious mind. It also happens  between literal,  symbolic,  rational & intuitive &  between explicit & tacit knowledge.

Understanding the linkages between Creativity & Dreams is crucial for dreamwork. Certain questions often arise when talking about creativity. For instance;

  1. Can dreams inspire creative problem solving?
  2. Are exceptional creativity & brilliant problem solving available only to the chosen few?
  3. If dreaming is universal why is it that creativity is ascribed to only a few ?
  4. What is the case for linking dreams to the creative process? Such questions often remain unanswered.

Dreams speak in a language of symbols and through metaphors. So, they require interpretation and appreciation from waking point of view.

ILLUSTRATION OF CREATIVE DREAMS

There are a number of well documented scientific discoveries & artistic creations inspired by dreams. These instances are  indicating that many dreams reflect a form of sophisticated thinking  and problem solving.

  1. August Kekule von Stradonitz was a chemist working on the chemical structure of Benzene.  He was fed up with his data, which made no sense as a ‘long string’ molecule. One day, while sleeping in afternoon, Kekule was startled by the image of a snake biting its own tail in a dream. The image of the snake eating its own tail provided a hidden analogy. This resulted in the  symbol for the molecule structure of the benzene molecule. Kekule woke  up and worked out the equation of the Benzene molecule. As a result, he proposed Benzene structure  as a ring rather than a long string.

 

2. Another example  is about young Albert Einstein. Einstein dreamed that he was sliding down a steep mountainside, at a rapid speed  that was approaching  the speed of light. This incident  caused the stars in his dream to change their appearance.  As a result, while meditating upon that dream, Einstein eventually worked out his  most extraordinary scientific achievement. This was later termed as The Principal of Relativity.

The creative production by a process of only conscious work can never effectively happen. A large part of creative process takes place in our unconscious mind.

CREATIVITY & DREAMS

Creativity is a two-way information highway between the conscious & the unconscious mind. How do we build bridges to the unconscious? Therefore, it is important to  understand the process of  dreamwork. There is definite link between dreams and the creative process. Creativity can be fostered through a variety of techniques. I have explored this in several chapters in my book.

This can be done through Dreams! Dreams are royal road to the unconscious.

Have you  exhausted all ways of dealing with a problem? Secondly, have you  considered all factors and thought over it again and again with no results?

If your answer is a Yes,  then perhaps it’s time to look closer into your dreams for some answers.

This conclusion was arrived after undergoing extensive research for more than two decades. Well documented scientific discoveries & artistic creations  are inspired by dreams. I have also drawn similar inferences from interviews with well known creative artists, writers & musicians.