I'm so glad you brought metaphysical connections into consideration Dannon, earlier when I was discussing with Velzhead I had a hard time trying to fathom how spirituality might tie in to lucid dreaming - of course I'm guessing this is mostly because I'm still trying to figure out my own beliefs. Anyway having said that I found your post fascinating. First I'd like to address how you look at the mind and the distinctions between the conscious and the subconscious, I love your sunset analogy. That makes sense to me because I do believe parts of the mind are better capable of understanding different forms of information (logic vs. emotion) but after discussing with Velzhead I’ve felt unsure. This is why I’m so fond of the sunset analogy because it provides me with a new, comfortable way to look at the mind. Further, I also really admire your approach to using dreams to learn more about yourself and enlightenment (I apologize if I've worded that incorrectly).

I’m very interested in how you talk about overcoming fears. One thing I’ve noticed is that even when I go lucid, I still fall out of it if negative emotions work their way into my experience, particularly fear of “past demons.” I’ve been trying to overcome certain things from my past, and obviously I would like to do so, whether that’s through dreaming or not. On a side note: I do realize that dealing with past problems is probably best done consciously, but regardless of that I’m still curious as to whether or not lucid dreaming could be of any assistance. So with that said, the reason the fears sometimes take over my lucid dreams (even when I know I’m in control) is that I have this weird idea in the back of my mind that maybe those past problems would somehow manifest themselves in my dream - I know they couldn’t actually harm me, but for some reason that possibility is enough to disrupt my dreams. After reading what you said about the scary mansion, and I’m assuming you mean fixing it up is like a symbolic way of overcoming a fear, I’m wondering if perhaps I could take a similar approach with my negative emotions and basically fight them away, “slay” them. I imagine this would occur like a fantasy showdown, me fighting a scary troll monster or something, but maybe this whole idea is silly. I guess the question would become how much growth can we stimulate in the dream world? I feel like overcoming fears and overcoming past problems are two very different things.

Moving onto your metaphysical references, first again thank you for posting! The background information was very helpful, though I have trouble completely understanding it, and again I think this is simply because I’m not familiar with the teachings. I’d say it’s always hard for someone on the outside looking in to fully grasp such concepts. For example you said “Any meaning found in dreaming is not in the dreams inherently but attributed to the dreams by our conceptual mind.” If it’s possible could you elaborate on this a little more? I’m very intrigued and I’d like to comprehend it more clearly. I think I have a basic idea of how you use dreams as a spiritual experience, but at the same time I think full comprehension is sublime, I’d have to feel it for myself to really know what you mean. But again I just want to reiterate that despite those questions I’m very thankful that you brought this perspective into the discussion. (Another side note, are you familiar with the art of Alex Grey? I've read one of his books and a lot of what you're saying about spirituality reminds me of what he depicts in his paintings.)

I apologize for writing another long post, just trying to keep the discussion going and learn more. I do hope more people chime in on this topic.