A look at fear in dreams

[CFTraveler]

This is kind of off topic, but do you have any strategies for remaining in a frightening dream after becoming lucid? I want to try the lucid-dream-to-OBE transfer, but I keep waking up because nightmares are the only dreams I can get lucid in. As soon as I realize that it's just a dream, my brain yanks me awake in order to escape what it still sees as a dangerous situation.

My answer is almost the oppossite of what you want, but maybe you can get something useful out of this: When I was young, I had a period of very disturbing nightmares. It seemed the more I dreaded going to sleep, the worse they got. Then I had an idea: Before sleep, I called the nightmare and experienced it in it's every horror. I basked in it until I went to sleep. The nightmares stopped, and I also became more lucid in my dreams. (I also projected, probably as some sort of side effect of this). This won't help you stay on the nightmare, as is your wish (although we're all different, so who knows) but somehow it helped me to be more lucid.
sorry for busting in, I just coudln't resist!

[Beekeeper]

CF,

I think that was the idea: for those who knew an answer to get involved. I know I'm always interested in what you have to offer.

[Ziltron]

I'll try something like that, CF. Since doing this helped stop your nightmares, it will be interesting to see if lucidity and 'calling' the bad dream as unreal automatically gets rid of the fear. Because in that case, it would seem that nightmares come about because of non-lucidity and feelings of lack of control.

[terra incognita]

I think there is a relationship between fear and growth. Think about this; how many times have you been jarred awake by intense feelings of happines? I think the association between fear and growth are needed in primary levels of development because there is so little else to push us to change. There may also be a charge of energy built up in the base energy centers (to forcibly cause brief periods of lucidity) due to the fight or flight reaction which allows us to gain lucidity when it otherwise might be impossible. I do think it happens for a reason. (I think that is a run-on!)
We might just float through our dream life never questioning it's reality if fear wasn't present occaisionally. I wonder why, if children have been so recently on "the other side", why they are subject to night terrors more than adults. If night terrors are (in my opinion) just the side effects of the projectable double's experiences while it tries to project, maybe this could give us more insight into the development of a "new mind" theory. The idea is that we each receive a new consciousness when born into this world. The "new mind" idea might be likened to a ring on a tree. A new layer of consciousness which must come to terms with it's spiritual core. This might also explain why we don't consciously remember previous lives.
I think the question about remaining in a fearful dream is interesting because it contains a conundrum. To remain in the dream means to remain within the 'reality boundaries' of the dream. But the real power in the fear is that it gives you more power to break through the dream walls.

[terra incognita]

Ziltron, I think you are right on the money about that. Also, I think CFTraveler is exactly right too. Imagine encountering a ravenous beast in your dream state. It gnashes it's teeth and crouches as if ready to spring for your throat. There are two ways to deal with this situation. One is to turn and flee. That is a subconscious reaction bred into us from millenia of survival. If you are less lucid, this is how you will respond every time. Now if you bring lucidity into the situation, you can recognize this fear and embrace it. You can give the ferocious beast a great big hug and it will disapear. It may turn into the vibrations or you may just wake up with an intense feeling of satisfaction.
Once, I embraced a zombie that was walking down a dank musty corridor toward me and it smiled and disapeared. I know this all sounds slightly corny but it really works.
The key is lucidity. When you are lucid you can take control of the situation thereby feeling less or no fear. Energy building. Developing the ability to do effective reality checks (sometimes they fail in dreams too!). It's all in Robert's MAP book. Some people walk around in their bare feet on lush grass and swear it helps them gather energy.
Ultimately there are two paths to follow. One path is unconscious dreaming which causes us to leap awake (the path of non-lucidity). The other path is to use the energy of fear which causes us to leap to conscious projection (the path of lucidity).