It's always reminiscent of passing a kidney stone when I am asked to elaborate on the Sheer's  50-words-will-do-instead-of-1000  

But I will say this:    emotions are the key; Not intellect.   

You can intellectualize till the cows come home - and still not get any closer to Enlightenment, SUGMAD, Nirvana, Heaven, Mt Olympus, Zanadu, Zoe's whore house - WHATEVER you call where your spirit is trying to climb it's way outta this muck we call the Wurld.  I'm not talking about abstract philosophy.  This IS going to happen to you.  Whether it happens in this life (you'd want it to) or it happens after you're dead...it's agonna happen.  You're gonna need to "deal with" "being dead" - and i can tell you it can be fun... or it can be a pissing Hard time (like when your spirit is stuck in "earth-mode") and you continue to relive past events over and over and over...talk about "new and fantastic"  

Here...in this wurld ---- You will use your intellect to make decisions that lead you into places you may not otherwise want to go, whether in lucid dreams or in conscious-states; but it's your gut - your feeling that you are More... your ability to extend LOVE, and your capacity for HOPE... that's going to get you through the times when your mind won't be able to fathom a response based on intellect.

Your intellect will get you To the doorway based on your travels and training and hard work....detachment and balance based on controling and directing your emotions will get you Through the doorway.

Both are helpful.  Now-a-days, one might say both are needed.  But I know of exceptions, so I can't make that statement without also saying "there are exceptions." 

Good question, laurel.  Sometimes the question seems better than the answer.  But - the key is emotion.