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Dreams, embodied imagination and the creative mind: a pilot study

    Richard R. Szuster Affiliation

Abstract

This pilot study is the first attempt to investigate the use of embodied imagination in the creative process. Embodied imagination is an emerging method for working with dreams and the imagination that employs two fundamental processes: First, embodied imagination takes place in a hybrid state of awareness including both wake-like and dream-like experience. Second, embodied imagination focuses on direct engagement with dream images. Seven participants, currently engaged in a creative project, were guided in a two-step embodied imagination process. The first session focused on a memory of feeling blocked in the creative process and the second session focused on a dream that had emerged between sessions. This process was found to be an effective support for the creative process. During the second session an electroencephalograph was employed to determine whether participants entered into an awakened mind state during the embodied imagination process. Awakened mind is hypothesized to be a more creative form of waking awareness characterized by a specific relative amplitude relationship between brain wave frequencies. During the embodied imagination session participants were found to enter awakened mind and were able to re-enter awakened mind after the session when re-engaging the “composite”, a somatically anchored network of experiences generated during the embodied imagination session.

Article in English.


Sapnai, įkūnyta vaizduotė ir kūrybinis protas: bandomasis tyrimas

Santrauka

Šis bandomasis tyrimas – tai pirmosios pastangos išnagrinėti, kaip kūrybos procese pasitelkiama įkūnyta vaizduotė. Įkūnyta vaizduotė – tai besiformuojantis metodas dirbti su sapnais ir vaizduote, kuri įveiklina du fundamentalius procesus. Pirma, įkūnyta vaizduotė yra mišrios sąmoningumo būklės, apimančios patyrimus, panašius tiek į būdravimą, tiek į sapną, dalis. Antra, įkūnyta vaizduotė yra tiesiogiai susijusi su sapnų vaizdiniais. Septyni dalyviai, kurie šiuo metu dalyvauja kūrybiniame projekte, vadovavo dviejų etapų įkūnytos vaizduotės procesui. Pirmosios sesijos metu buvo susitelkta į jausmo, užsifiksavusio kūrybos procese, atsiminimą, o antrosios sesijos metu – į sapną, iškilusį laikotarpiu tarp dviejų sesijų. Buvo nustatyta, kad šis procesas – tai veiksminga paspirtis kūrybos procesui. Antrosios sesijos metu buvo pasinaudota elektroencefalografu, siekiant nustatyti, ar, vykstant įkūnytos vaizduotės procesui, dalyviai tapo pabudusios sąmonės būklės. Keliama hipotezė, kad pabudusi sąmonė – tai kūrybiškesnė bundančio sąmoningumo, kuriam būdingas specifinio santykinio masto santykis tarp pasikartojančių smegenų bangų, forma. Buvo nustatyta, kad įkūnytos vaizduotės sesijos metu dalyviai tapo pabudusio proto būklės ir gebėjo vėl panirti į tokią būklę pasibaigus sesijai, iš naujo įsijungdami į „sudėtinį“, somatiškai įtvirtintą patyrimų tinklą, susikūrusį įkūnytos vaizduotės sesijos metu.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: pabudusi sąmonė, kūrybiškumas, sapnai, įkūnyta vaizduotė.

Keyword : awakened mind, creativity, dreams, embodied imagination

How to Cite
Szuster, R. R. (2018). Dreams, embodied imagination and the creative mind: a pilot study. Creativity Studies, 11(1), 184-200. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2018.2204
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Oct 2, 2018
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