The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams (32 page)

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Authors: Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras

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BOOK: The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams
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Dream-Inspired Music
Ancient cultures looked to dreams to inspire their music and ritual songs. Indeed, many dreamers of today hear songs in their dreams, and some find it quite revealing to uncover the message their lyrics contain. Pop musicians such as Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, and Stevie Nicks have all looked to dreams to add a creative dimension to their work. Classical musicians, too, have drawn from their dream music to create musical masterpieces. Richard Wagner attributed the opera
Tristan und Isolde
to a dream.
The Messiah
, a breathtaking holiday favorite, is based in part on music composer George Frideric Handel first "heard" in a dream. And in 1954, Steve Allen dreamed some of the lyrics of what was to become "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," which was one of his greatest successes.
Dream-Inspired Scientific Discovery
To the uninitiated, science might seem to be anything but a creative endeavor. But consider: In science, as in art, a person gathers information, materials, or facts and then responds to them in a new way, taking what is known and making something new from it, which is the essence of creativity. Like artists, scientists go to sleep at night with thoughts and ideas swirling in their heads, awaiting the inspiration that will make sense from seeming nonsense. Indeed, many inventions and discoveries have come from the stuff of dreams.
Inventor Elias Howe toiled unsuccessfully for years before a scary dream led to the invention of the sewing machine in the midnineteenth century. The problem was the needle. The solution? In his dream, Howe was captured by savages whose leader commanded him to complete his invention. As he looked around
 
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at the warriors in the crowd, he saw that their spearheads were punctured with eye-shaped holes. Unlike sewing needles, which featured a point on one end and an eye for thread on the other, Howe's sewing machine needle was unique. And it worked!
Scientists have puzzled through many a difficult riddle in their sleep. In 1890, German chemist Friedrich Kekulé von Stradonitz figured out the carbon-ring structure of the benzene molecule after a dream in which a snake touching head to tail pointed him in the right direction. Niels Bohr's dream of planets encircling the sun inspired him to theorize that electrons revolve around atoms. A dream resulted in a 1903 Nobel Prize for Otto Loewi, who came up with an experiment that proved nerve impulses were transmitted not electrically but chemically; according to author Ann Faraday, however, Loewi actually experienced cryptomnesia, or "forgotten memory," having hypothesized the same theory eighteen years earlier and then forgetting it. Albert Einstein's famous theory of relativityE=MC
2
also has its origins in a dream.
Dream-Inspired Athletics
A favorite story dreamworkers like to repeat is how professional golfer Jack Nicklaus used a dream to get out of a slump. Despite intensive training, he continued to play badly. A dream in which he used a new grip changed his luck, however. The next time he played, he tried holding his club as he had in the dream, and his playing improved. Other athletes, too, have found guidance in dreams. German psychologist Paul Tholey, a lucid dreaming expert and skateboard champion, has used dreamwork to improve his own and others' athletic performance, building on a common sports psychology technique called mental imaging, a visualization strategy that enhances
 
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performance. (Athletes such as skier Jean-Claude Killy and tennis player Chris Evert have used mental imaging to improve their performances.) According to the book
Control Your Dreams
, Tholey's theory is that "the amount of actual practice time can be dramatically reduced by rehearsals that recreate the whole athletic environment while [lucid] dreaming"that is, the roar of the crowd, the feel of the terrain, the intensity of the competition, all of which are perhaps best simulated by the dreaming mind. Sports psychology is a rapidly growing field, and it is to be expected that, along with visualization and other kinds of waking fantasy, work with dreams will find a prominent place among the techniques an athlete relies on for sports success.
Your Creativity and Dreams
The relation between the dream state and the waking state of creativity is a direct one. And the achievements of creative dreamers are not limited to the fine or performing arts. Indeed, any original idea is a creative one. Anything imagined can take its inspiration from a dreamnot just artistic creations, but decisions of any kind. You can draw on your dream experiences to solve problems at work, in your relationships, and at home with your family. You can use your dreams to help heal yourself and encourage personal growth in some very direct ways.
"But I'm not a creative person," you may say. Everyone is. Everyone dreams. Of course, creativity is not automaticwhether you are dreaming or awake. But abandoning the negative thoughts that block your creativity and then learning to call up that creativity through dreamwork will enable you to access your creativity immediately, whenever you like. Don't give in to "creator's block." Instead, trust your creative self and enlist your dreams to open up your creativity.
 
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Most creative dreams occur spontaneously, born of whatever currently preoccupies the mind in waking life. But it is possible, and even more productive, to use dreamwork techniques to actively incubate creative dreams. Prompting your dreams to help you answer questions, solve problems, or see new variations on a familiar theme transforms the dream experience. Dream incubation may sound like a tall order but, in fact, with practice, you will get results. Along the way, pay special attention to the contents of your dreams; you will probably begin to see some relevance to the questions you are presenting. Eventually, you will be able to make productive use of the dreaming mind's natural tendency to focus on whatever your waking mind is concerned with.
''In Dreams We Catch Glimpses Of A Life Larger Than Our Own . . . . Thoughts Are Imparted To Us Far Above Our Ordinary Thinking."
Helen Keller, blind-deaf author and educator
Building on the dreamwork exercises of chapter 6especially Creating a Special Dream Space on page 157we offer the following dream incubation strategies. No matter which technique, or combination of techniques, you employ, it is essential that you remain open to the possibility of your creativity emerging through your dreams.
Dream Incubation: The Technique
Think about it: Determine what problem or question you want to work on, then think about it in depth. What is your goal? What has gotten in the way, or is an obstacle now? What do you know about the problem? What things seem impossible to know for sure? Now, settle on a single question that sums up your concerns. Be specific, and try again if you don't get an answer; sometimes rephrasing the question is the jump start your dreaming mind needs to provide you with a solution.
 
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Put it in writing: Identify an area you would like to work ona question you want to ask, a dilemma you are facing, or a direction you may pursue. Formulate a question, then concentrate on it for a few minutes just before bedtime. Write the questions down in your dream journal or on a slip of paper and put it under your pillow. As you go to sleep, repeat the question in your mind.
Use creative meditation: This exercise draws on Carl Jung's concept of a collective unconscious, turning to the creativity inherent in all of us for inspiration and power. Before you begin, take a few minutes to relax and focus on the moment. Then, repeat the following statements. You may wish to modify them somewhat or speak them aloud, or perhaps commit them to memory. (If you prefer, you can write them down in your dream journal.)
I know that I am an integral part of the universe.
My consciousness is intimately connected with the consciousness of all things.
This fantastic pool of consciousness and creativity is available to me whenever I wish to experience it. Tonight, as I dream, I will immerse myself in this boundless pool of creativity, adding what I can and drawing from it what I need most.
Tomorrow I will awaken a better person for it. As always, I promise to make the most of any dreams I remember when I awaken.
Now allow yourself to fall asleep, remaining open to all creative possibilities.
Remember, successful dream incubation takes practice, and there is often a lot of trial and error as a dreamer learns to use this remarkable technique. Joan Windsor, author of
Healing &

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