Sageous: The author of the post (not the thread) I linked to, Hukif (formerly Walms), was to whom I referred. The dude pumps out an average 13 LDs on a bad night, has crafted an entire alternate, persistent universe complete with self-imposed rules (like perma-death for instance), and that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The myth still persists, I implore you to be looking out for it as you browse through each section. Admittedly, the core of active users around here is much more informed than previous generations, so this may be less of an issue now than it was in the past. That said, I couldn't leave FryingMan's assertion be, as I see the effects of such ideas harmful in a similar sense as misunderstandings regarding sleep paralysis. Believing expectation to be all there is to dream control is absolutely limiting factor, and I'd like to see everyone reach their full potential.

Hitting your point on arrogance briefly: convincingly lying to one's self is an invaluable tool with applications well beyond dreaming. So long as your are capable of tempering your arrogance, such an ability allows you direct and total control over your own beliefs, attitudes, and schema... Speaking from a personal standpoint, it's essential when performing a number of more complex techniques which shortcut the traditional association-building process. As an example, forcing an associating between lucid dreams and any given goal...like stabilization, for instance...is a great memory shortcut which will allow you to easily recall pretty much anything you'd like within a lucid dream, no matter the state of your recall levels upon becoming lucid.

Also, this is just a thread. I know "proper etiquette" is to leave the educational threads of others alone, but discussion and debate are always a good learning tool (for all involved) when performed respectfully, which I trust all participants here to do. =)

Steph: Use whatever terminology you'd like, I don't think I've tried to make any efforts to change any terminology. On the contrary, I've stated that I currently have no interest in doing so (where dream control is concerned). As far as the crutches you've mentioned and everything else I've described go, they've enabled me to consistently take total control of dream at will ala: http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-cont...ll-things.html

Thus, I am of the opinion that crutches, as you call them, are way more versatile than one might first assume. Obviously, it takes a bit of creativity to turn a crutch, or a number of crutches, into something much grander, like time-dilation. But after a short while such manipulation becomes a simple, intuitive task (much like riding a bicycle) capable of overcoming all conceivable limitations.

But hey, what do I know? =P