Entrepreneurism, Creativity, and Lucid Dreaming:
 Tapping into the Subconscious
Published: 2019-12-01 21:29:32

##_What is Creativity?_
	Psychology is one of those those areas of study, which once committed to, consistently delivers on matters of perspective and creative problem solving throughout life’s wildly different phases. As an entrepreneur this fact has been made clear time and time again--be it through understanding the subtle nuances of human behavior or motivations, or the ability to analyze macro-level patterns in the norms of a given group or business. Essentially what is described here is the universality of the social sciences, which philosophers, anthropologists, and historians could speak to as well. The struggle, however, is that not every student of these schools of thought will recognize how to apply the concepts of a seemingly separate world to that of entrepreneurism and careerism. 
	In other words, I think there is a crucial ingredient to the equation of merging one’s education to their career--that ingredient being creativity, or more specifically the skill to creatively apply what one has learned in their education to their professional aspirations. Creativity in one’s career is a defining aspect of both productivity and outlook. CEOs [cite] (https://kapost.com/b/creativity-stats/) creativity as the greatest characteristic of a leader, and report is as one of the most desired traits of an employee--the ability to use creativity to problem solve. And yet interestingly statistics indicate that 75% of people feel they are not living up to their creative potential, while about the same number (7 of 10 Americans) report that creativity is valuable to the nation’s economy. 
	With such an enviable pedigree to the notion of creativity, what then is the major hindrance at play in achieving it? Well for one thing it is notoriously hard to define exactly what creativity is. We know what it looks like when we see it, but for many of us, we may not realize we are employing creativity when that is exactly what we are doing. A popular operational definition of creativity is that it’s the skill where one recognizes similar qualities in things that are dissimilar. And therein lies the problem. If two things appear similar to us, we might not realize that appear dissimilar to others--thus employing the skill of creativity also requires a skill of self-awareness and empathy of perspective, a rather tall order considering all the other requisite skills of our day to day professional lives. 
	This has fueled the age old search for definable ways for the individual to both increase their creativity, and to better apply it in their lives. Among the most popular areas of intriguing research here is the relationship between sleep and creativity. The Atlantic published a well thought-out [introduction] (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/sleep-creativity-theory/560399/) to this research last year. This research was spurred on by narrative reports of the unconscious being the true master of creativity. Foremost among these accounts was that of Otto Loewi, who on the night before Easter Sunday in 1920 woke up seemingly possessed by an idea that would later become the foundation of all neuroscience, that is, the communication of nerve cells through the transmission of chemicals and neurotransmitters. 

##_Dreams and the Final Frontier_
	So how does dreams influence creativity? Dreams are unfortunately one of the last frontiers of human science where we simply do not fully understand what is going on. In 2019 though we do have a pretty good understanding of how dreams occur and some of the implicit processes therein. Specifically, we see that in deep sleep the individual enters a deep psychological state where all the neurons of the brain fire in collaboration almost like a concert of neurotransmissions. What is happening during this kind of sleep is the brain is enacting a process which is the very definition of creativity, that is, the mind explores memories and thoughts, looking for similarities or patterns found that were not noticed within the waking state. Thus dream science represents one of the final frontiers in understanding human consciousness, and its interplay with reality. This seems to be a fact that our ancestors knew almost instinctively with mystic traditions of dream interpretation dating back thousands of years. 
	The primary conceptual issue here though is one of comprehension and interpretation. In other words, no matter how great the creativity is during these sleep states, if we cannot comprehend these lessons within our conscious mind we may never enjoy the fruits of these labors. And similarly if we misinterpret these messages, we may arrive at a false understanding that in turn leads to incorrectly assigning blame to the unconscious. 
One could argue here that the conscious mind need not understand the inner workings of the subconscious mind, but I find this view to be short-sighted and ultimately a subjective issue. Unfortunately, while the existence of the subconscious mind is rarely debated in modern psychology, its qualities are one of ceaseless misunderstandings and contention. The two primary foundations of thought here are represented in the models presented by Freud and Carl Jung. 
	Instead of getting bogged down in the intellectual histories of this debate, or the admittedly disconnected musings of strictly academic conversations, I’m going to offer what I believe of the most actionable and comprehensible takeaways from the science thus far, and report the personal experiences that have shaped my understanding. For those of a westernly scientific mind, narrative report is the weakest form of evidence, but I would argue that in an area of science--that is subjective by its most essential nature--it is a strong form of evidence. 

##_Lucid Dreams and 3 Maxims for Exploring the Subconscious_
	While I do believe subjective evidence is a primary component of advancing this conversation and our understanding of dream science, I am acutely aware of the pitfalls of narrative report. Thus I will rely on what in philosophy is known as the logical argument of truth by common sense. In other words I will avoid unnecessarily complex concepts and more contentious points for the remainder of this article, and will focus instead on what I believe will function as common sense to the reader. While these will entail sticking to more general points, it will function better as an introduction to those new to such a topic. These takeaways will offer actionable tips for the open minded entrepreneur, as well as present the benefits you can expect to achieve. 
	As a psychologist, I am intimately aware of the struggle presented in trying to assimilate the objective facts of science into the subjective endeavor of living a fulfilling life as a human being. This struggle is made tenfold when the science itself is in a fledgling state as it is in sleep science. Thus the most crucial component to improving your relationship with your subconscious is to improve your relationship with yourself. More specifically, it is because your subconscious communicates by way of simulated personal experience and memory (i.e. dreams) that you must understand what those experiences represent. 
	Here we arrive at our first maxim know thyself. It is a rule that underpins even the most ancient of introspective philosophy, a fact made clear by its author, the ancient greek philosophy, Socrates. If introspection and self-knowledge are areas of burden to you, or if they feel like unnatural pursuits then the hard truth may be that you are not ready for this kind of practice. Attempting to explore you subconscious without self-knowledge will be like trying to translate a coded message without the keyword, and there are dangers in this kind of practice. Mostly alarming of which is the risk of insanity, even if it might be a necessary evil in small doses as Aristotle would have us believe: No genius has ever existed without a strain of madness. 
	One need only look to the life-outcomes of our most creative artists to see the spiritual burden at work. Michelangelo, Beethoven, van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, and so many others have fallen victim to their inner demons, and so I would be remiss to move forward without a word of caution. Did all of these figures of history explore their dreams? Actually most of them did, and you can find evidence of this in both their work and their biographical information where many creative geniuses of history speak openly about their descent into the dreamworld and their work of actualizing that reality. Thus it is no surprise that the word ‘dream’ has become synonymous with pursuing one’s passions and inspirations. 
	This leads us to our second maxim, know your subconscious. In order to know yourself, and in the context of this conversation, to know your subconscious, you must be able to experience it with clarity. This is where lucid dreams become the sole protagonist of your efforts. Lucid dreams are an increasingly common topic of interest, and thus are becoming more common as interested individuals seek out guidance. In a [study] (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263207397_The_Phenomenology_of_Lucid_Dreaming_An_Online_Survey) that explored the commonality of lucid dreams, 83.5% of individuals reported having experienced lucid dreams. Lucid dreaming is defined as the act of dreaming while maintaining a conscious state, therefore while in a lucid dream the dreamer is aware of the unreality of their present consciousness. 
	What makes this such a wondrous experience is that when the locus of control shifts from the dream to the dreamer, one can create all manor of experiences that would normally be impossible within the waking world. Lucid dreamers report everything from flying, jumping from planet to planet, to actively conversing with dream characters. How does one lucid dream? It is relatively simple in the beginning but notoriously difficult to master. The best tips for inducing lucid dreams involve creating as much comfort as possible, removing any distracting stimuli, and creating an anchor, or reality-checker. 
	The main challenge is that when one obtains a conscious state within their dream, there is an increased likelihood that literally anything might wake you up--be it the texture of your sheets or the breathing of your partner, human or furry, beside you. Because of this many guides encourage the use of sleep aids, but it is crucial to avoid anything that might adversely affect your ability to achieve consciousness in your dream, which rules out nearly every sleep aid on the market.
 From my personal research and experience, higher doses of CBD are the absolute best option. It simultaneously relaxes your body and mind through its anxiolytic properties without constraining your ability to attend to your state of mind. Do your [research] (http://guidetocbd.com/) and find a high potency, pure-CBD option without any add-ins including other cannabinoids. The idea here is that you want to become a master of your own sleep, and thus you need to figure out what contributes to your best sleep and what works against it. 
	This brings us to our final maxim, integrate dream and reality. This final stage is a doozy and it is where most everyone will struggle. At this stage you will have become familiar with recognizing the symbolism of your dreams and will now seek their meaning in the real world. In other words, the relationship between your consciousness and the unconscious functions like any other relationship. The more effort and attention you give to that relationship, the more the unconscious takes an active role in your life, much like an ongoing conversation. This can take the form of heightened intuition and elevated creativity, because your unconscious--which is the master of finding connections between seemingly unrelated things--will be contributing to your conscious mind. 
	Entrepreneurs and intellectuals who already practice meditation will know what I am talking about. When you reduce the clutter of the conscious mind, you increase the presence of the unconscious mind, and may find yourself able to form complex ideas or recognize complex patterns instantaneously. This is a state of mind commonly referred to as the flow state, but few people have recognized that a fast track to obtaining this state is the practice of lucid dreams. This is due to the common mistake in modern introspection to view the mind and its process as separate things, when in fact everything we experience as humans, is our mind. Practicing the three maxims listed above is only one method of returning to this natural state of being, but will surely act as a springboard for those looking to begin the journey.