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of consciousness recognized throughout history as the source of CREATIVE THOUGHT by numerous distinguished philosophers, artists, and scientists including: Aristotle, Brahms, Puccini, Wagner, Goethe, Keats, Coleridge, Nietzsche, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, Salvador Dali, Henry Ford, and Albert Einstein. (Mavromatis, 1987) According to Bernd (1978), Thomas Edison often used this mental state to acquire perceptive and ingenious solutions to mechanical and electrical problems.
"Edison used to work very hard in his research at beta, the faster brain wave frequencies. Then when he would reach a 'sticking point'he would take one of his famous 'cat naps'. He would doze off in his favorite chair, holding steel balls in the palms of his hands. As he would fall asleep - drifting into alpha - his arms would relax and lower, letting the balls fall into pans on the floor. The noise would wake Edison and very often he would awaken with an idea to continue with his project." But what exactly is hypnagogia? Mavromatis (1987) notes that the word 'hypnagogic' (from the Greek hypnos = sleep, and agnogeus = conductor, leader) was first used by the Frenchman Maury (1848) to specifically denote the deeply relaxed state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep during which flashes of inspiration and creative insight often appear. Mavromatis (1987) goes on further to define the hypnagogic experience as hallucinatory and quasi- hallucinatory events taking place in this intermediate state. In terms of brainwave patterns, hypnagogia is the drowsy interval just preceding stage 1 sleep characterized by a slowing of the alpha rhythm (8 - 12 Hz) which then breaks up and is replaced by a slower and smaller amplitude theta rhythm (4 - 7 Hz). According to Schacter (1976), hypnagogia is quite common occurring in 72 to 77 percent of the population although many times people are unaware of the phenomena. On the average, only 5 to 10 minutes is spent in hypnagogia as one passes from a relaxed alpha brainwave state on into the first stages of sleep. During this fleeting psycho-physical state, people typically report randomly occurring visual and auditory experiences which, in comparison to the dreams characteristic of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, are more disconnected and short-lived. (Continued. Go to Creativity!) |
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