When James Cameron captivated audiences with his remarkable "Avatar," did he make that amazing world up or did he dream it up?
"That was his expression of what a lucid dream could be like," said dream researcher Bill Murphy.
Murphy says big names in Hollywood have already discovered how to use their dreams as a creative tool called lucid dreaming.
"Leonardo DiCaprio, when he performed in the movie 'Inception,' he did so because he's a lucid dreamer. As is Chris Nolan, who is a lucid dreamer, who directed the film," said Murphy.
Renowned expert Robert Waggoner, author of "Lucid Dreaming," says a lucid dream is when you consciously realize that you are dreaming, and as a result, you begin to influence and direct the dream.
"When you become consciously aware in a dream, you can fly around like Harry Potter or walk through walls or talk to dream figures. You can do all that kind of fun stuff. But you can also do very interesting things. You can get rid of recurring nightmares that you might have. You can access inner creativity, become a better musician, a more interesting artist or a better writer," said Waggoner.
And there's physiological proof. By measuring brain waves, scientists have discovered lucid dreaming is a hybrid state of consciousness.
"The dreaming part of the brain is active, but also parts of the prefrontal cortex are also simultaneously aware and active at the same time," said Waggoner.
It apparently happens quite often when we are asleep, but you probably don't remember. Your brain isn't designed to hang on to your dreams. But perhaps a device called a DreamNet can help.
"It's a soft material that you can sleep in. The primary electrode is on the forehead. It's got the proper placement. There is the secondary electrode over the mastoid bone, which is behind the ear. It has a wireless connection to a mobile device," said Murphy.
Your brain waves tell your smartphone you're in a lucid dream. At the end of the dream, it wakes you up.
"Because if you're not woken at the end of a dream, and you either journal it or speak about it, it's never going to be committed to long-term memory. So the benefits of lucidity are lost unless you have a way to enable dream recall," said Murphy.
Murphy is trying to get the DreamNet to people interested, so there's a Kickstarter campaign. With the public's help, he thinks your dreams may be the new frontier to creativity.
