Thread: Stabilization Fundamentals

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Mzzkc, I eagerly await the links to these threads that debunk the "myth."

As do I, Mzzkc.

Expectation/intention, by whatever name* you attach to it, is a critical aspect of successful LD'ing, and is certainly important in dream control. It obviously isn't everything, and from my perspective comes in a distant third behind self-awareness and memory, respectively, and likely is even less important in dream control than, say, a steady calm, but that does not mean it is not important (though expectation may have a hand in that steady calm). Expectation/intention is instrumental in setting your focus, getting your entire mind on the same playing field in preparation for lucid dreaming, and this preparation will follow you into the dream, directly affecting control. I know it should not be elevated to too much prominence, but it is not a good idea to sell something as fundamental as expectation/intention short.

For me, successful dream control is a byproduct of successful application of the fundamentals -- if you have developed a strong sense of self-awareness, can access your memory, and have developed solid expectations/intentions, you will likely have little trouble controlling your dream when the time comes.

I also have seen very little evidence of this term being "thrown around" these forums. If anything, it is spoken of far too rarely (as are self-awareness and memory), eclipsed regularly by more exciting -- and far less important -- things like techniques, supplements, or devices that promise shortcuts through the necessary work -- like developing strong expectation/intentions. Nor have I seen the term used as a catch-all; indeed, expectation/intention is fairly tight term that pretty much means what it says, and would be a very bad catch-all. Could you cite a couple of cases of where it is a catch-all?

I don't mean to be argumentative here -- this is your thread, after all -- but for a member of your caliber and knowledge to be dismissing expectation/intention as unimportant seems odd.

All apologies, BTW, if this contradicts your tutorial; I haven't read it in years, but I believe -- or at least I had thought -- that, though your direct terms might be slightly different than mine, we are talking about the same thing. I just felt a need to come to the defense of one of the fundamentals; normally I wouldn't have, but your opinion holds a lot of sway on DV, so a little bitchin' seemed appropriate...


*Aren't you simply renaming the basic substance of expectation/intention when you use words like "confidence, arrogance, assertiveness--whatever--" to replace it? Aren't confidence, assertiveness, arrogance, etc merely drivers of expectation/intention?

[EDIT: I just read through this ramble and decided it needed a tl;dr: I personally think expectation/intention is fundamental to successful LD'ing (including control), though certainly not everything, and I also think that "confidence, arrogance, assertiveness--whatever--" are terms that merely rephrase, or perhaps are couched in, expectation/intention. Perhaps dismissing it as an overused, unimportant term was a bit much? If not, then why?]