Dreams & Creativity
Since you spend one-third of your
life sleeping -- but your brain never
sleeps -- wouldn't it be wonderful to
tap into some of the action, to coax
out in the open some of your brain's
random firings and synaptic bursts
where they can illuminate, reveal or
inspire?
Dreams -- those nightly messengers
that dance back and forth between the
conscious and unconscious -- are just
waiting to be your guides and
translators. Dreams, the source of
rich characters and bold story plots,
of innovative scientific breakthroughs
and ingenious inventions, can boost
your creativity and help you find
answers to your waking dilemmas and
conflicts.
We humans are designed to be creative:
self-healing, nurturing, intuitive,
powerful beings. Part of our strength
lies in our ability to remember,
imagine, and dream. Especially potent
are the images which surface with our
dreams, and those which flash upon the
just-closed eye. They have been
filtered through the soul,
and sometimes through the very
soul of all life.
Do we stop to realize how many images
enter through our worldly eyes every
day? Where those images come from,
what they are put there for, the
effect they are designed to have on
us?
Paying attention to our own imagery is
an affirmation of our own power.
Growth doesn't happen to us; it's a
process we participate in. Our
responsibility involves being
responsive to the imagery of the soul.
Uncovering a soul image is like
receiving a gift in the mail, a little
parcel left on the doorstep. We
gingerly unwrap it, a little eager, a
little wary. What is this? Maybe a
fine sphere of crystal, maybe a
well-loved childhood doll, maybe dog
poop!...or
maybe something we have never seen
before, something we can only begin to
imagine how to make use of.
The beauty of images is that they
don't always need to be recognized or
explained. Lodged within us, they
resonate, pulse. We find our feelings,
thoughts and actions align with our
imagery. We build and create.
Dreamwalk - The Complete Conscious Dreaming Program - Dreamwalk is an exciting new program designed to help you learn how to become
consciously aware during your dreams, how to remain lucid throughout the dream,
and how to apply the practice of conscious dreaming for personal growth and
improvement. More details...
Amazing Dream Interpretation Guide Book
Amazing Dream Interpretation Guide Book reveals Dream Symbols,
Astral Travel, Nightmares, Freud, Christian dream Interpretation. Dreams are
more
powerful and more
personal
than anything you can imagine. More powerful
than astrology readings. More "dead-on" than psychic advice. More illuminating
than anything your therapist may have told you. From the most important decision
that will change every minute of your future… to the smallest question about
everyday life … your dream messengers are waiting here with
the answers! Your
dreams are trying to speak to you. This
book is not sold in stores. It’s not in
libraries. It’s
only available here.
Directed Dreaming
- Can you possibly be in the right place at the right time - all the time?
Discover exactly how to control your dreams, and your destiny use conscious
dreaming, subconscious dreaming; and
find out the truth about Lucid dreaming.
Dream
Interpretations Revealed - Learn
how to interpret your dreams to gain meaning or
let us interpret them for You! Email us your dream
24 hours a day. Dreams hold messages for you -
past, present and future. Learn what the different
symbols mean and become a dream interpreter.
record your dreams and interpret them and you can
discover the key to becoming unlimited.
How To Stop Bad
Dreams & Nightmares - by world
renowned dream expert, Jane Teresa Anderson. HOW
TO STOP BAD DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES is an easy to
read, easy to print ebook detailing 25 common bad
dreams, what they each mean, and how to stop them.
A different, easy to follow method is given for
each dream. Instructions are included for other
bad dreams not in the list.
The Creative Impulse in Dreams
There is an archetypal creative
impulse woven into the fabric of every
dream.
Sometimes this creative energy is
clearly visible to the dreamer, but
more often it is
hidden by the emotional experience of
the dream. It may require an unusual
effort of
imagination (often aided by the
suggestions and assistance of other
people) to bring
the dream's message more fully into
the light of conscious self-awareness,
but with
careful study, we often find dreams
provide solutions to problems the
conscious mind is grappling with to no
avail.
The story of Elias Howe's invention
of the sewing machine in 1845 is a
case in point. Howe had been
struggling to invent a machine that
would sew with the same speed and
efficiency as Hargreaves' and
Cartwright's new machines would spin
and weave, but with no success. As the
tale goes, exhausted by frustration,
Howe fell asleep at his workbench one
night and had this dream:
He is in Africa, fleeing from
cannibals through the jungle. Despite
his frantic efforts to escape, the
natives capture him, tie him up hand
and foot, and carry him back to their
village slung from a pole. There they
dump him into a huge iron pot full of
water. They light a fire under the pot
and start to boil him alive. As the
water starts to bubble and boil around
him, he discovers that the ropes have
loosened enough for him to work his
hands free. He tries repeatedly to
take hold of the edge of the pot and
haul himself out of the hot water, but
every time he manages to heave himself
up over the edge of the pot, the
natives reach across over the flames
and forcibly poke him back down into
the pot again with their sharp spears.
When Howe awoke from this "nightmare,"
much of his mind was absorbed with
sorting through the emotions of the
dream--but another part was able to
note with
objectivity, "That's odd--those spears
all have holes in the points...." As
Howe came
more fully awake, he thought, "Holes
in the points... holes in the points!
That's it!
That's the answer! As he awoke, Howe
realized that the trick to making his
sewing machine work was to move the
thread transport hole up to point of
the needle (as opposed to a handheld
needle, where the hole is on the
base).
It then was a relatively
simple matter to design a system of
gears that would cause the needle to
poke the thread down through the
layers of cloth, wrap it around a
second thread, and then pull it up
again, all very neatly and
efficiently. And with the invention of
the sewing machine, the last
bottleneck to the mechanical
production of clothing was
broken--this dream lead very directly
to the realization of the industrial
revolution!
Unfortunately, I do not know enough
about Howe's personal life and
emotional history to make anything
more than vaguely educated guesses
about the layers of meaning and
significance in this historic dream
that refer to his personal psychology.
Even though I can only guess at them,
they certainly exist. At the level of
Freudian sexual imagery, for example,
the sewing machine itself is a prime
example of the sublimation of
primitive libidinal energy into
creative expression and cultural
artifacts, and the specific imagery of
the dream evokes that layer of
possible meaning very strongly. In any
case, it is very likely that the hot
water was also metaphoric of the sweat
of Howe's intense mental efforts.
Even more importantly, the dream
offers an extraordinary example of the
Jungian
archetype of the "shadow" and its
creative and gift-giving aspect. In
Howe's dream,
the creative solution to the technical
problem is literally in the hands of
the darkest,
scariest, and most repugnant
figures--the cannibals. This imagery
manifests one of
the deepest truths about the
archetypal energy of the shadow:
The conventional waking
consciousness views all that is not
yet clearly manifested and understood
in the world of the ego as nasty,
ugly, frightening, dark, and
dangerous. Yet the deep unconscious
contains the things the waking
unconscious desires and longs for the
most (the energies of love,
creativity, and communion with the
divine, to name a few); strip away the
dark and frightening mask of the
shadow, and that which is devoutly
wished for and sought is revealed.
In all our nightmares there is this
challenge to look into "the magic
mirror that never
lies," see the reflections of the
least understood and most problematic
shadow
aspects of the self, and consciously
acknowledge, "I am that, too." When we
have the courage and imagination to do
this, we are invariably rewarded with
the gift of greater awareness of the
creative impulse that is part of every
dream. (c) 1996 Jeremy Taylor
Working with Dreams and Images
Books About Dreams & Creativity
READ MORE EXCELLENT
DREAM BOOKS
Here or
Here
Barrett, Deirdre
The Committee Of Sleep: how artists,
scientists, and athletes use dreams
for creative problem-solving - and how
you can, too
New York: Crown Publishers, 2001.
BF1099 .P75 B37 2001
Berger, Merrill and Stephen
Segaller
The Wisdom Of The Dream: the world of
C.G. Jung
New York: TV Books, 2000.
BF173 .S443 2000
Black, Julie
Dream Catchers: myths and history
New York: Firefly Books, 1999.
E99 .C6 B53 1999x
Broder, Patricia Janis
Earth songs, moon dreams: paintings by
American Indian women
New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 1999.
E98 .P23 B76 1999
Cameron, Julia
The Artist's Way: a spiritual path to
higher creativity
New York: J.P. Tarcher/Putnam, c2002.
BF408 .C175 2002
Cameron, Julia
Walking in this world: the practical
art of creativity
New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam,
2002.
BF408 .C178 2002
Carpenter, Katherine, producer and
director
The power of dreams: the creative
spark
Bethesda, MD: Discovery Channel Video,
1994.
Video (New Film & Audio - First Floor)
Castaneda, Carlos
The art of dreaming
New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
BF1091 .C34 1993
Delaney, Gayle
Breakthrough dreaming: how to tap the
power of your 24-hour mind
New York: Bantam, 1991.
BF1091 .D378 1991
Evans, Christopher
Landscapes of the night: how and why
we dream
New York: Viking Press, 1983.
BF1078 .E88 1984
Flanagan, Owen
Dreaming souls: sleep, dreams, and the
evolution of the conscious mind
New York: Oxford University Press,
2000.
BF1091 .F58 2000
Gamwell, Lynn, editor
Dreams 1900-2000: science, art, and
the unconscious mind
Binghamton: Cornell University
Press/Binghamton University Art
Museum, SUNY, 2000.
rqBF1078 .D729 2000
Garfield, Patricia L.
Creative dreaming
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975.
rBF1078 .G17 1975
Gold, Aviva
Painting from the source: awakening
the artist's soul in everyone
New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.
ND1500 .G59 1998
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen
The dreamer's way: using proactive
dreaming to heal and transform your
life
New York: Berkley Books, 2004.
BF1099 .S36 G85 2004
Harary, Keith and Pamela Weintraub.
Lucid dreams in 30 days: the creative
sleep program
New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999.
BF1099 .L82 H37 1999
Harrison, Holly and Paula Grasdal.
Collage for the soul: expressing hopes
and dreams through art
Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers,
2003.
TT910.H357 2003
Holbeche, Soozi
Thorsons principles of dreams
London: Thorsons, 1998.
BF1091 .H566 1998x
Homer, William Innes and Lloyd
Goodrich
Albert Pinkham Ryder, painter of
dreams
New York: Abrams, 1989.
qND237 .R8 H66 1989
Janco, Candice
The bedside dream dictionary: 500
dream symbols and their meanings
Gloucester, MA: Fair Wind Press, 2004.
BF1091 .J37 2004
Kaplan, Connie
Dreams are letters from the soul:
discover the connections between your
dreams and your spiritual life
New York: Harmony Books, 2002.
BF1091 .K17 2002
Krippner, Stanley and Mark Robert
Waldman, editors
Dreamscaping: new and creative ways to
work with your dreams
Los Angeles: Roxbury Park/Lowell
House, 1999.
BF1078 .D748 1999x
Leonardo's ink bottle: the artist's
way of seeing
Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 1998.
N71 .W427 1998
Lyons, Mary E.
Painting dreams: Minnie Evans,
visionary artist
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
jND237 .E79 L96 1996 (Children's
Dept.)
Marchesseau, Daniel .
Chagall: the art of dreams
New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
N6999 .C46 M3413 1998
Mayhall, Yolanda
The sumi-e dream book: an
impressionist approach to the art of
Japanese brush painting
New York: Watson-Guptill Publications,
2003.
ND2462 .M462 2003
Mellick, Jill
The art of dreaming: tools for
creative dream work
Berkeley: Conari Press, 2001.
BF175.5 .D74 M44 2001
Moss, Robert
Conscious dreaming: a spiritual path
for everyday life
New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks,
1996.
BF 1078 .M64 1996
Myers, Tona Pearce, editor
The soul of creativity: insights into
the creative process
Novato, CA: New World Library, 1999.
BF408 .S584 1999
Niki de Saint Phalle: my art, my
dreams
New York: Prestel, 2003.
qN6853 .S255 N55 2003x
Painting the dream: the Shamanic life
and art of David Chethlahe Paladin
Rochester, VT: Bear & Co., 2003.
qND237 .P18 A2 2003
The portable Dali
New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.
Introduction by Robert Hughes
ND813 .D3 A4 2003x
Rakezic, Sasa and Bob Kathman,
editors
Flock of dreamers: an anthology of
dream inspired comics
Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press,
1997.
Graphic Novel (First Floor)
Richmond, Cynthia
Dream power: how to use your night
dreams to change your life
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
BF1078 .R473 2000
Robertson, Ian
Opening the mind's eye: how images and
language teach us how to see
New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.
BF367 .R63 2003
Rock, Andrea
The mind at night: the new science of
how and why we dream
New York: Basic Books, 2004.
QP426 .R63 2004
Rogers, Natalie
The creative connection: expressive
arts as healing
Palo Alto: Science & Behavior Books,
1993.
RC489 .A72 R64 1993
Schmied, Wieland
Giorgio de Chirico: the endless
journey
New York: Prestel, 2002.
ND623 .C56 S3613 2002
Sutton, Peter et al
Dreamings: the art of aboriginal
Australia
New York: George Braziller/Asia
Society Galleries, 1988.
qN7401 .D73 1988
Turpin, Ian
Ernst
London: Phaidon Press, 1993.
qN6888 .E7 A4 1993x
Van de Castle, Robert L.
Our dreaming mind: a sweeping
exploration of the role that dreams
have played in politics, art,
religion, and psychology, from ancient
civilizations to the present day
New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
BF1078 .V35 1994
Waldman, Diane
Joseph Cornell: master of dreams
New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002.
qN6537 .C66 W343 2002
Washington, Peter, editor
Poems of sleep and dreams
New York: Knopf, 2004.
PN6110 .S55 P64 2004
If
you can imagine it, you can achieve
it.
If you can dream it, you can become
it.
William
Arthur Ward
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