Peter,

Something I now realize about consciousness is that I can focus on only one thing at a time. There are limitless inputs coming into my brain, but it is up to me to choose where to focus. My time here is very short. It is important to me that I choose to spend my time wisely. Dealing with intolerant people provides far less benefit than so many other things I could choose to do.

"Do not try and bend the spoon; that's impossible. Only try to realize the truth... There is no spoon."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

John:

Please rest assured that the moderators (of whom I'm one) are not asking contributors to stay on topic to save money or space.

This site has certain specific goals toward advancing our understanding of lucidity, and we strive to maintain focus on those goals. I think we run a fairly wide range of topics to maintain exceptional flexibility, but we really do wish to make sure that in the end each topic leads us closer to a better understanding of the experience and practice of lucid dreaming.

This site actually exercises minimal "control," and we try to do it as carefully as possible, with the wishes and feelings of the contributors in mind at all times. We're sorry if that sounds like control to you, but to us it's an effort to keep conversations focused, for all participants' benefit, on lucid dreaming.

Peter

Peter,

I'm always surprised how many times people misunderstand my dry sense of humor, and don't realize when I'm putting them on. I thought surely the comment about saving pixels would indicate my state of mind.

I also worded my "control" comment so it could be taken either as a criticism of the moderator or of closed minded people. Ha, you fell into my trap!

John:

I guess I wasn't prepared for a trap, and I did indeed miss your put-on and misunderstood you. I suppose that will happen to me again, too, because it is more important to me to respect your post to hold meaning as written than it is to look for traps or dry humor.

I hope you'll forgive my simplistic approach, but clarity is needed so that the diverse people reading these posts can gather meaning from them (especially the folks for whom English is a second language, and the subtler jokes might be missed or misinterpreted).

Now I also hope that we can get back to discussing lucid dreaming as soon as we can!

Peter

Peter,

Sorry, but I didn't really mean to trap you; not exactly. I do sometimes like to word things that can be taken two ways as a method of testing the other preson's point of view. It can be rather revealing.

I appreciate your point of view of a simplistic approach to posts for the purpose of clarity. I recall hearing somewhere that most communication is non-verbal, and that without the availability of non-verbal cues, written conversations can be easily misunderstood. (Making mental note to include more smiley-faces in my writings.)

The underlying reason I wrote my reply that way was because I found myself getting too serious about the subject, and just had to lighten-up a bit. Closed minded people, particularly those who are right-wing Christians, really get under my skin.

I like this forum because it's about a subject which I find very open and flowing. I mean, what boundaries are there in dreams, other than one's own imagination?

-John

John:

Thanks for your truly lucid response -- it is appreciated!

We'll do our best to keep the openness (and smiley-faces)flowing on all the Forum pages.

Peter

To go back a few posts, if I may? And quote "I'm just intolerant of those who are intolerant" This is very indicative of how we are effected from the outer reality, to the very core of our inner reality, or our ....dream world. Like breads like. Lucid dreaming doesn't help us escape our deeper subconsious drives, (if we are not aware/lucid that we have them) those feelings, that are just beyond our perception/awareness. The more we discuss our behaviours and emotions and how we react to our closed mindedness or other such outer barriers and situations, the more we prepare ourself for fully, truly lucid dreams. To be aware of a particular emotion is a way towards controlling it. Our fears and even our "closed mindedness" are all stop signs in the world of dreams. Everything we ever do or say will effect our dreams. So what subject is then NOT about lucidity? As long as we make the conection!!!! As long as we say "hey this can be used to my benifit" And learn a lesson towards improving our state of mind/lucidity. Lucid dreams and lucid life to all.