It's pretty fascinating how broad of an audience lucid dreaming has engaged over the last few years. Here is a list of several world famous lucid dreamers that you probably recognize. It’s interesting to note that each of these lucid dreamers are known for their unique creative work, several of which are famous writers and movie directors.
James Cameron
Did you ever see the movie Avatar? And did you happen to notice any parallels with lucid dreaming? If you think on it for a little while, it’s not hard to notice some overlapping parallels between the plot of the movie and the concept of lucid dreaming. For instance, Jake Sully enters his avatar by falling asleep. It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that James Cameron is indeed a lucid dreamer. Interestingly, he has publicly expressed a unique interest in the art of lucid dreaming and is a well-known lucid dreaming practitioner himself.
Stephen King
If you’ve ever read any of Stephen King’s novels, it is pretty apparent that he adds a new dimension to story telling. Many people have wondered and even asked King where his genius stories come from and his response often includes talk about creativity inspired by dreaming. Interestingly, he has spoken openly about his experience with lucid dreaming as well, and he seems to have been highly inspired by the idea of lucid dreaming in general. In fact, his novels Insomnia and Dream Catcher both contain heavy lucid dreaming themes in them.
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison clearly had a gift for inventions, but did you know that many of his inventions were inspired by dreams, possibly even lucid dreams. Although the term “lucid dream” did not exist during his time, many experts believe that Thomas Edison was indeed an avid lucid dreamer. He would sometimes place a metal tin on the floor between his feet with a rock in his hand while brainstorming. As he’d drift into sleep, the rock would fall out of his hand, crashing into the tin and would then wake him up. This was Edison’s way of thinning the line between his conscious mind and his creative unconscious genius. Edison had received so much inspiration through dreams that he would intentionally try to access his unconscious genius through this method. This of course is an outdated strategy for lucid dreaming today (some would refer to this as WBTB – Wake Back to Bed).
Christopher Nolan
One of the greatest movies about lucid dreaming -Inception was actually inspired by Christopher Nolan’s personal experiences with lucid dreaming. Yes, as it turns out, he is an avid lucid dreamer. Although the movie follows a dramatic exaggeration of certain aspects of the dreamscape and lucid dreaming in particular, it’s a surprisingly accurate representation of the principles involved in lucid dreaming.
“I experienced lucid dreaming, which is a big feature of Inception — the idea of realizing you’re in a dream and therefore trying to change or manipulate it in some way. That’s a very striking experience for people who have it. It’s clearly in the film, and a big part of it.”
-Christopher Nolan