Creativity Essays - Dream, Neurophysiology, Consciousness

Creativity In Dreams The mind at its Creative Peak "That which the dream shows is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in man, even if during his waking state he may know nothing about it..... We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are sleep in regard to that which is real within ourselves."-Paracles The quote on dreams, taken out of the novel by Ann Faraday entitled The Dream Game, sums up the necessity for the dream and the importance of our creativity in the dream state. Not only is it imperative to understand this importance of creativity, but to ask and find out how this process we call dreaming takes place. One can accomplish this task by using a step by step approach to dreams. First looking at the mind from a psychological standpoint and then moving on to the creative process and how it is involved in dreaming. Ultimately, one will move to see that in a dream, the mind is at its creative peak because the mind is unconsciously opening doors to information processed during the day that has been unknowingly passed over. The mind is probably one of the most complex systems in the body and is constantly being studied. Though much is still to be understood, scientists have been able to watch carefully and see how the dream images are produced. Many experts say that more information is processed in a dreaming brain that in the awake state (Faraday 17). The brainstem generates signals (PGO Waves) with sensory information, the brainstem responds to the signals, but is not activated. These images are the sources of dream images. Although a brainstem is not activated, the signals do trigger a system called the Central Motor Pattern Generator, during REM sleep, which causes the sensation of movement during ones dreams (Hobson 162). REM sleep occurs every 90 minutes of the sleeping state, beginning first, with short activity and increasing with each passing period. REM periods are when the eyes move back and forth underneath the eyelids according to the brain activity in dreaming (Faraday 20). Not only is there a complicated process in the production of the dream image, but also as the brainstem is producing signals it causes a reaction called A.S.H. which creates the contents of ones dreams. A.S.H. or Activation-synthesis Hypothesis is the loss of a neurotransmitter that chemically charges the mind to process information differently (Hobson 164-5). These neurotransmitter's help creativity in dreams, but are not always used to their full potential. 95%-99% of dreams are forgotten because the aminergic neurotransmitters are blocked in REM sleep. However, when awaked in the REM state the transmitters are opened and information is recorded and remembered; creativity during the dream period is utilized (Hobson 166). The creative process is looked at from two main views. The first is that the creative process is not enhanced by dreaming, but when one is asleep, stress is not invading the mind and therefore it is free to think; that is the illusion of the mind being more creative. Stress is something that affects everyone almost every day. When applied to the creative thought process, it is easy to see how it can become a wall that is difficult to push through. The dream content can be traced to the current ongoing of the individuals life, before sleep, and to the emotional level of the dreamer on the subsequent morning. In a dream, events, thoughts and feelings are reflected, that are passed by because we are not aware to catch them; we are to stressed (Faraday 4). Stress comes from many sources in life such as home, work, and one of the most common among young adults and kids is school. When in deeper, longer period of REM sleep, stress is less and less a factor. This relief, during REM awakening dreams, leads to more bizarre dreams that include more physical and emotional activity. Each sense, in a dream state, is enhanced when awakened during REM cluster (Hobson 155-6). When this view of creativity in dreams is opened, stress is simply shown to be the cause of suppressing the mind and blocking the creative/problem solving ability in the awake state. The second approach to the subject of creativity in dreams, is that the mind is unconsciously opening doors to the information that we pass over each day, but unknowingly process. Brain-wave records show, that the dreaming brain is more active than the one that is awake. Therefore, these records prove