I wanted to add crown molding to a room, but didn't know how to make the corner cuts. For two nights in a row, I went to sleep thinking about it. The next morning, while still asleep, a thought came to me: "Use a miter box." That brought me half-awake.
My reaction was, "What? Use a miter box for what? That sounds like an answer, but what's the question?" I awoke further. "Oh, you mean for cutting crown molding corners? That won't work." Then I visualized a miter box. I saw that if I thought of the inside back of the box as a wall, and the bottom as the ceiling, an angle cut would do the job. I tried it, wedging the molding in place, and it worked.
Clearly this insight was not the result of deduction, but a gift from my subconscious.
