Is Our Creativity "Faster" in Dreams??

"Faster" may not be the right word.

But there have been a number of times where I have seen acts of "creativity" happen astoundingly fast inside of dreams.

For example, a friend of mine once was asked a rhyming riddle while in the dream by a DC, and was able to come up with a rhyming answer that made total sense to the riddle with very little effort. And so in a short moment his mind both came up with a riddle and an answer too that riddle, and gave both the question and answer to that riddle a rhyme and cadence.

Meanwhile, in my own dreams, there have been a number of times where I, or another DC, has spontaneously sprung into Song. The lines of such songs are always unique, contain matching syllables, the lyrics match the tune of the song, and everything rhymes perfectly. A lot of the time (but not always) the songs are about the concept of Friendship for whatever reason, and I am able to come up with such a song as fast as it can be sung.

Unfortunately, I can never remember the songs in full. Even when in the dream I start actively trying to memorize the lyrics, I can't manage to commit everything to memory, as the song moves by so quickly that trying to remember the song is like trying to remember the lyrics to any song you have listened to only once. All I get are the snippets of the song, the most memorable lyrics, the stuff that stood out the most.

So while dreaming my mind is able to create songs quicker than it is able to memorize a song. There was similarly one time that I was extremely tired, but awake, and was able to similarly come up with and sing a song as fast as I was able to sing it, so maybe it's not entirely tied to dreaming, though sadly I'm never in a state to remember what I sung when I'm in the state required to spontaneously burst into song.

Has anyone else had similar experiences to this?? Anyone else able to create songs, poems, riddles, or other works of art as fast as you can sing or recite them when in a dreamstate??

If it were true, you might be able to prove it by monitoring the brain activity of someone in a dream. I've heard that the right side of the brain is more active when a person is resting and dreaming. It is also the side of the brain that is credited for processes involving creativity, so it sounds like a sensible theory.

I'm not sure of the answer, but I did want to comment on your anecdote about songs, lyrics, and riddles in dreams. My opinion is these sorts of things will sound profound and sensible in the dream, but would be a total nonsense if you were able to reflect upon them when you are awake. Without having a full memory of what you heard in the dream, it isn't possible to verify the consistency and quality of it all.

It is very common for a person to dream about beautiful songs, lyrics, puzzles, or philosophical ideas, that seem incredible and sophisticated in the dream, but are laughable when reflected upon in real life. Just last week, I had a dream about a ghost who was able to reverse time, who managed to travel backwards to before he was born to induce his birth earlier, thus changing his future so he would not be involved in the circumstances that lead him to die. Instead, he was reborn and became a mob boss... naturally. This seemed like an explosive and exciting way to cheat death in the dream, and I was sure I had just discovered something important. That was until I woke up.

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Originally Posted by Conceptor

If it were true, you might be able to prove it by monitoring the brain activity of someone in a dream. I've heard that the right side of the brain is more active when a person is resting and dreaming. It is also the side of the brain that is credited for processes involving creativity, so it sounds like a sensible theory.

I'm not sure of the answer, but I did want to comment on your anecdote about songs, lyrics, and riddles in dreams. My opinion is these sorts of things will sound profound and sensible in the dream, but would be a total nonsense if you were able to reflect upon them when you are awake. Without having a full memory of what you heard in the dream, it isn't possible to verify the consistency and quality of it all.

It is very common for a person to dream about beautiful songs, lyrics, puzzles, or philosophical ideas, that seem incredible and sophisticated in the dream, but are laughable when reflected upon in real life. Just last week, I had a dream about a ghost who was able to reverse time, who managed to travel backwards to before he was born to induce his birth earlier, thus changing his future so he would not be involved in the circumstances that lead him to die. Instead, he was reborn and became a mob boss... naturally. This seemed like an explosive and exciting way to cheat death in the dream, and I was sure I had just discovered something important. That was until I woke up.

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Well the thing is my friend's riddle actually does make sense upon, reflection:

"We eternal soldiers four,
Are all that's assured, for the poor.
What are we?"

The answer being the four horsemen of the apocalypse, with war, famine, pestilence, and death the only thing that's really assured for the poor in this world.

As for the mere fragments of songs I can recall, there is indeed rhythm and rhyme going on. The lyrical content is, to be sure, all about the nonsensical happenings of dreams, but I am more amazed by the fact it all composed together and rhymed. I can't recall enough of the songs to make the whole, but I can recall enough to know they did rhyme.

I've definitely noticed an impressive amount of creativity in dreams, far more than I ever seem to be able to tap into in my typical waking life very readily (in fact, in waking life I don't really consider myself all that creative a person in general). That includes apparently even things like music, which I have no conscious clue how to compose. And indeed, it can be difficult to remember those things, just as it's difficult to remember something new I've encountered for the first time. I've seen possible evidence of creativity improving even before I fall asleep, when I'm just on the edge and my mind is going through random unconscious thoughts. It'd be really cool if I could figure out how to tap into this kind of creativity when fully awake.