Amos, or somebody, could you clarify for me what is meant by a lucid dream state?

I once had a dream where I was at elementary school trying to cope with my child, who happened to be Calvin, of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons - someone at the time told me that you are all the people in your dreams, which when I worked it out made alot of sense to me - I *was* Calvin the irrespressible child, I *was* the hapless parent, I *was* the disapproving (and smug) authority figures whose faces appeared through the doorways as I pursued Calvin down the hallways - at the dreams' end Calvin and I were handcuffed to each other and to a chainlink fence in some far corner of the schoolyard.

Years layer, I look back on that dream and say, oh, of course, how obvious...

The "naked in public" dream I think must be almost universal - who hasn't had one of those? Also the "unprepared for the exam" dream I have heard from so many people that I think it must be universal too - here's what dreammoods.com has to say about both of those situations:

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Dreaming that you are completely or partially naked is very common. Nudity symbolizes a variety of things depending on your real life situation.

... Metaphorically clothes are a means of concealment. With clothes, you can hide your identity or be someone else. But without them, everything is hanging out for all to see. You are left without any defenses. If you are in a new relationship, you may have some fears or apprehension in revealing your true feelings.

Nudity also symbolizes being caught off guard. Finding yourself naked at work or in a classroom, suggests that you are unprepared for a project at work or school. You may be uninformed in making a well-formed decision. With all eyes on you, you have this fear of having some deed brought to public attention. You fear that people will see through your true self and you will be exposed as a fraud or a phony.

Many times, when you realize that you are naked in your dream, no one else seems to notice. Everyone else in the dream is going about their business without giving a second look at your nakedness. This implies that your fears are unfounded; no one will notice except you. You may be magnifying the situation and making an issue of nothing. On the other hand, such dreams may mean your desire (or failure) to get noticed.
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To dream that you are taking an exam, indicates that you are being put to the test or being scrutinized in some way. Such dreams highlight your feelings of being anxious and agitated. You may find that you cannot answer any of the questions on the test or that the test is in some foreign language. Is time running out and you find that you can not complete the exam in the allowed time? Or are you late to the exam? Does your pencil keep breaking during the exam? Such factors contribute to you failing this test. These dreams usually have to do with your self-esteem and confidence or your lack of. You are worried that you are not making the grade and measuring up to other people's expectations of you. You may also experience the fear of not being accepted, not being prepared, or not being good enough. You feel nervous, insecure and tend to believe the worst about yourself.

These dreams also suggest that you may feel unprepared for a challenge. Rarely, are these dreams about the content of the test, but rather the process and how you are feeling during the exam taking process. Generally, you feel distressed and frustrated. These feelings may parallel how you are feeling in a particular challenge or situation in your waking like.

Dreams of this nature are also an indication that you are being judged and this dream is a signal for you to examine an aspect of yourself that you may have been neglecting and need to pay attention to. You may harbor some guilt because of your neglect in preparation for a school exam, meeting, business project, or some challenge. Most of the time, though, people who have such dreams are unlikely to fail a test in real life. This dream goes back to their fear and own anxiety that they may not meet other's standards of them. They are afraid to let others down.