So here is my question. It is going to be a long post sorry. Hope you will want to read it anyway…
More than a year ago, I had my very first lucid dream (to be precise, it was the first time I was becoming lucid in the dream and could remain some time in it before waking up immediately). At the time, my motivation was to find a solution for a story I was working on. As I had a writer’s block on this story, having a dream in which I discovered an answer was the only way to overcome. And so came the White Door.
In this first lucid dream, I was in a small shop, and at the back of it was a door, painted white. The shop owner then disappeared behind it and I tried to follow him, but woke up before opening the door.
Well, this door hadn’t anything particular, but to me, it became a mytho. When I woke up I wondered if the answer I was looking for was behind that door and I spent a lot of time thinking about this White Door. It became the symbol of the place beyond which laid the answer to the point that I eventually saw this door again.
Sometimes I cross it, sometimes I close and open it to change what is in the next room (as an example I made appear stairs once).
I guess it is a good thing to have my mind associating it to the idea of going further and find something interesting, but here is my problem.
I think I misuse it. I had several dreams with a white door, but there is always something in it that makes me fail finding my answer. I guess I should not expect my dreams to help me finding bright ideas like this, but I never got anything, not even something that isn’t a idea but something pleasant.
So, my question is: is there a way to take advantage of this symbol to achieve my goals or should I try something else, or using this one on a different way?
Perhaps I could answer it by myself, but I would be glad to have the point of view of other LDers too
Sure, I already tried to fall asleep while thinking about the story. I almost succeeded today…
I didn’t try to maintain consciousness, though…It’s quite hard to be focused enough to keep the right idea in mind and not to be concentrated enough to stay awake at the same time xD
There’s a whole section on using LDs for creativity in Stephen LaBerge’s Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. I had a quick flick through it. There’s one exercise that suggests you incubate (visualise and create) a dream in which you will find the solution to your problem.
Another interesting suggestion is creating a workshop for your creative process within the dream. In this workshop can be found every possible tool you might need for writing stories. The first step is creating an ideal environment for your workshop. Perhaps it’s here that the white door itself could be incorporated; perhaps this is the door you will step through at the end of your workshop process to bring everything together.
This workshop also, however, includes dream characters that you may be able to question to help you. Perhaps you have some writers that inspire you, or perhaps you wish to put the characters themselves in that workshop. Whoever it is, consider asking them things.
Another solution might be to just ask yourself your question (what could the solution to the story be?) and get it in your head before going to sleep, and then explore the dream world with an open mind, receptive to anything that could be of creative value. Or you could get the question in your head, enter the white door, but not expect to find anything definitive in there. As opposed to assuming the answer to your problem will just be staring you in the face, consider going there with curiosity at what there might be and soak up what you find.
Don’t credit me for these suggestions. I’ve basically been paraphrasing from Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. I hope you manage to solve your problem! There are certainly plenty of success stories of people that have used lucid dreaming to do exactly that.
maybe you will find some inspiration