07/02/82 Fri - OBE #77
Early this morning I was dreaming. I dreamed that I was talking to someone about astral projection. After the conversation ended, and I was back inside my bedroom, I said to myself (still in a dream state), “That's an excellent idea; I think I'll project.”
So in the dream, I stood up and went outside. I walked to the place just behind (east of) my house and woke up there out of my body! I realized my condition, and I was surprised, but I stayed in perfect control of my emotions: the dream had prepared me to be calm for the upcoming OBE.
I was standing outside, facing east. I thought about recent failures with astral levitation, but I said calmly to myself, “It's worth a try.” With an act of will, I started rising through the air, straight up, in an upright position (standing). It startled me but I told myself, “Stay calm; it's no biggie. I'm going to go for a nice, simple flying lesson. I'm not going to try for a big adventure.”
I waited until I was about fifteen feet in the air, then I said, “Okay, that's high enough for now.” The thought that I might not stop rising did cross my mind, and it caused me to rise a bit further, but I said to myself, “It's okay. Nothing bad can happen. I can't be harmed. I'm in control.” So I stopped in midair. I totally relaxed my astral body so I couldn't even feel it, and propelled myself forward through the air toward the east with a mere thought properly placed.
I was slowly moving (flying) toward the east in a comfortable position. I thought, “I'm totally relaxed. This is a great bodily position to be in for flying.” Then I looked down at my astral body, and I saw I was almost upright. My arms were hanging down, my head was forward, and I was leaning forward about thirty degrees. My legs were relaxed and naturally bent about forty-five degrees. The position I was in was almost exactly that of a ten-speed bicycle rider except I was more upright and my arms were relaxed by my side.
I wasn't too steady in my flying. I bobbed up and down, left and right, trying to correct my direction of flight. I was moving slightly faster now, and the ash tree in my yard was straight ahead of me. I tried to steer around it, but I could not; I wasn't practiced enough at flying. I was just about to hit the tree, when I wiggled my torso to the left (north) and my head managed to miss hitting the tree. The rest of my body hit the tree, and much to my surprise, it bent around the tree and slithered around it elastically like a snake overcomes an obstacle. “Whew!”
After that, there was nothing in my way. I started flying a little faster, and I purposely climbed higher and higher. I climbed to about four hundred feet, then I descended back to about two hundred feet, so that I could see the scenery more closely. I looked down without any panic at all. I noticed that I could see everything well—equally as well as in the body—and very clearly. But I saw there was no sun, and I felt it was dark out. I could see fine, however, and everything appeared in a pale, almost gray light. It was like seeing a picture from an infrared camera.
I glided softly, somewhat slowly over the houses, eyeing the details of the neighborhood houses. I kept a close eye on all the details of everything as I moved, and verified that once again I was in a real, waking situation. The details didn't change, nor did my speed. And the tremendous detail I saw around me assured me I was seeing reality and not a dream. I reasoned that
1. In dreams I notice very few details, only those that are necessary to the immediate story unfolding around me. This wasn't a dream. Besides, I was fully awake and conscious.
2. Even in ordinary reality we screen out and ignore most of the details of our surroundings. So I knew I was experiencing reality with more clarity than normal, in-the-body life.
3. Since what I saw didn't change (I was looking for changes), I knew my eyesight was at least normal, and that I wasn't dreaming. Dreams have a bad habit of changing the scenery to produce certain situations and emotions.
4. I verified and studied the details I saw below. The details were all the same as in waking life.
I flew to the east about three city blocks. I looked to the north and saw a man come out of a house that was on the north side of Lowry Avenue. He stood and looked at me, up in the air. So I brought myself softly down across the street, on the south side of Lowry, also to the west (I was now kitty-comer to where he was standing). He walked across the street toward me and came up to me. Just as he began to speak, I lost consciousness and entered the dreamlike semiconscious state. In this state, the man and I exchanged a few words, and I lost consciousness. He was about thirty years old, with short brown, wavy hair, very friendly, with kind eyes. He wore casual clothes. He was a little taller than I—perhaps six feet tall. I can't remember anything we said while I was in the dreamlike semiconscious state.
This OBE brings up a very important question: what's the difference between a lucid dream and an OBE? I do believe that occasionally people confuse one experience with the other. It's very difficult to tell the difference in some cases. Some people believe OBEs are poorly-developed lucid dreams. Others believe lucid dreams are poorly-developed OBEs.
A comparison of the two experiences is given in chapter 6 of With the Eyes of the Mind: An Empirical Analysis of Out-of-Body States by Gabbard and Twemlow (1984). The authors found the following differences between OBEs and lucid dreams:
Lucid dreams occur in fifty to seventy percent of the population, whereas OBEs occur in fourteen to twenty-five percent of the population.
There are two types of lucid dreams. The first occurs during REM sleep, and they are known as dream-initiated lucid dreams (DILDs). The second type occurs at the beginning phases of sleep, and these are called wake-initiated lucid dreams (WILDs). Both types occur only during sleep or the onslaught of sleep. Typical OBEs are initiated from a waking state, much like WILDs are, but some OBEs unexpectedly occur from a waking state. Several people have reported OBEs during which they have unexpectedly “fallen out of their body” from total consciousness, as described in chapter 9. Some of these occur when the physical body is active, such as walking down the street.
Lucid dreamers can consciously program their dreams, whereas OBEers are usually passive observers.
Lucid dreamers have an integrated body image, whereas OBEers view themselves as separated from the physical body, which is inert and thoughtless.
Lucid dreamers have vivid, even mystical consciousness, whereas OBEers experience a more normal form of consciousness.
Lucid dreamers view their experience as a production of their minds, whereas OBEers view the experience as objective reality.
Lucid dreamers have brain waves typical of dreaming, whereas OBEers don't exhibit dreamlike brain waves.
Lucid dreamers have rapid eye movements (REMs), whereas these are not observed during an OBE.
Lucid dreamers typically don't see their physical body, but OBEers usually do.
In addition, the authors felt that fewer lucid dreams have a lasting positive impact on the subject, whereas OBEs usually have a highly positive lasting impact.
In a lucid dream, one typically does not dream about being in one's bedroom, as is common in the out-of-body state.
After a lucid dream, the subject accepts the “unreality” of the dream after awakening. After an OBE, the subject usually asserts emphatically that the experience was “real.”
Many lucid dreams contain sexual content. In fact, author Patricia Garfield indicates that “fully two-thirds” of her lucid dreams have sexual content. Lucid-dream sex is convincingly real; it feels the same as real sex. OBEs, however, rarely have sexual content. When OBEers report having “astral sex,” the experience is not anything like physical sex. It's more like an ecstatic mind-trip, a transfer of energy, or a euphoria, but it doesn't feel like physical sex.
Lucid dreams—like normal dreams—are not easily remembered, unless one is conditioned. Memory is a key factor of having lucid dreams. OBEs, however, are usually remembered vividly for years without prior conditioning.
Also, an out-of-body experience is a typical feature of a Near
Death Experience (NDE). One can hardly think that lucid dreams occur during an NDE, especially because the physical body doesn't spontaneously go into REM sleep during an NDE.
Perhaps the most convincing argument is this: I've had lucid dreams in which I had complete control, then dispelled the dream only to wake up in an out-of-body state. When this happens I've noticed that the scenery in a lucid dream seems artificial, unlike OBE scenery. It's even possible to change the scenery with your mind. Here is an example:
05/17/86 Sat - OBE #126
This morning I was in the beginning of a dream in which I found myself walking through the hallways of a hospital, and there were other people in the hallways. I realized I was dreaming and became lucid.
First, I wanted to play with the lucid dream state for a little while, so I started gliding through the hallway. Then I levitated my feet and began to fly down the hospital corridor at a good speed. The hallway ended, but instead of hitting the wall I decided to change my focus and create a tunnel that I could fly down. With an act of will, a hole appeared in the wall ahead, and a tunnel formed. The hospital scene slowly blended into a tunnel scene, the hallway becoming the tunnel. In real life, a tunnel of this size (without lights) would appear to be darker toward the end of the tunnel. The dream-tunnel I created didn't seem to end, and it appeared lighter in the back and darker in the front. There was a strange kind of grayish light, almost like a fog, that obscured the end of the tunnel.
I started flying down the tunnel at a great speed, but I knew it was an illusion. I got bored with flying, so I slowed myself down, lowered my feet, and focused myself back in the hospital. I was in the same hallway. I turned and started floating myself back down the hallway in the opposite direction, turned left, and moved toward the main desk. Then I stopped completely and decided that I didn't want the illusion of the dream anymore.
I closed my eyes to unfocus from the dream. The dream scenery melted away and my vision went black. I was floating out of my body. Then I decided to have some fun, and I started flying wildly in all directions, doing loop-the-loops and having a ball. I turned about twenty loops of great size, just like a jet airplane, but was unable to open my eyes for some unknown reason. Still, the sensation of flying was a blast.
I was having great fun flying so freely, so I decided to try an experiment—to try to fly to the sun. I stopped and stood straight up. I reached up over my head with an imaginary line of force, and I kept reaching, trying to touch the sun with my line of force. When I decided that my line of force had reached the surface of the sun, I tried to “feel” what it was like at the end of the line. It really didn't feel any different, just a little “denser” (that's the only way I can describe it).
Then I started pulling myself straight up, along that line of force, toward the sun. I accelerated tremendously toward the sun until I was traveling what I felt to be near the speed of light. After about three minutes of this tremendous speed I still didn't feel any change, so I stopped and tried to see where I was, but I wasn't able to see anything. With that, I blacked out and woke up inside my body.
If I had remembered any astronomy from my childhood, I would have known it takes more than eight minutes traveling at the speed of light to reach the sun. And I might not have been traveling at the speed of light.
The difference between the out-of-body experience and the lucid dream is not always apparent. I guess you'll have to rely on your own sense of “real” and “not real” to decide this for yourself. One thing is for sure: more scientific study is needed. It is premature to jump to the conclusion that “OBEs are actually variant interpretations of lucid dreams,” as proposed by Stephen LaBerge in chapter 9 of his excellent book Lucid Dreaming.
EXERCISE 12
lucid dreaming
Many OBE experts say that some part of our psyche is already familiar with the out-of-body experience. Many books claim that every night some part of our psyche leaves our physical body and goes about work of its own. What happens then is so far removed from the physical world that we usually remember only bits and pieces of these journeys as “dreams.”
During OBEs and lucid dreams your body is asleep, but unlike dreams, your consciousness is awake. Well, your body goes to sleep every night. Suppose you had a way to “wake up” your consciousness but leave your body asleep. You could turn an ordinary dream into an OBE. You could wake yourself up and say, “Wait a minute. I know this is a dream. I'm wide awake now.” From there, you could either keep dreaming and have a lucid dream, or wake yourself out of the dream and have an out-of- body experience. Both are fun.
Lucid dreams are great. You literally can do anything you want. You can remain completely conscious and do anything you can imagine. They're almost as much fun as OBEs, but they're not as real. The scenery will be fake. OBEs, on the other hand, are sometimes more constraining, but they're real.
The problem is, when you're dreaming, you usually don't think to wake yourself up. In fact, you usually don't realize you're dreaming: you think you're awake.
Here's a simple exercise to help you get around that problem. Ask yourself in all seriousness, “Am I dreaming?” Well, are you? Maybe you're just dreaming about reading this book. So how do you know you're not dreaming all this? I want you to make sure you're not dreaming this.
If you ask yourself this question every fifteen minutes today, you'll probably ask yourself the same question tonight when you're dreaming. Daytime habits often carry over into dream habits.
You don't have to ask it every fifteen minutes, but the more often you ask, the more likely you are to catch yourself dreaming. You can set yourself a reminder, like your watch. How often do you look at a clock? Every time you look at a clock, try to figure out if your're dreaming. It won't take long. And it could be a life-changing experience!
So happy dreaming. And perhaps, happy OBEs!
CHAPTER 13
“ever the silver cord be loosed”
My first strategy for contacting people from the out- of-body state—using thought power—didn't seem to work. My second strategy—flying—didn't work well either; some distraction always stopped me before I reached my goal. I decided to try a third strategy, walking—at least until I could find a better way to travel. After all, what could go wrong with walking?
That's when I discovered the “silver cord” the books talked about. Most books call it the silver cord, based on a verse in the Bible (Ecclesiastes 12:6). The cord, they said, connects the astral body to the physical and will pull you back inside in case of danger. I soon found out the cord doesn't play fair:
03/08/80 Sat - OBE # 11
…I jerked myself out of line of my body and floated up. I tried to get away from my body by clawing the atmosphere and using my legs to push. I got about five feet away from my body when the cord's pull became stronger and started pulling me back toward my body.
I fought the pull and about one foot away from my bed, I resisted the pull for a few seconds, and then was violently sucked back into my body by my cord. After I was rejoined to my physical body, I woke up and looked around.
I wasn't in danger, or even emotional during the whole OBE, and yet the silver cord pulled me back in the body against my will. Why?
Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington tried to address the cord-problem in their book, The Projection of the Astral Body. They claimed there was a “cord activity range” which is like a fifteen-foot magnetic field all around the physical body. If you're within the cord activity range, they said, the silver cord is likely to pull you back inside. However, once beyond that range, you are free to roam.
I was fairly angry with my silver cord, but what could I do to keep it from pulling me back to my body? Many books on astral projection warned me against tampering with my astral cord. They said if I damaged the cord, my body would suffer great physical harm, and if my cord was broken my body would die.
But what made them the experts? How often have people actually tried playing with their astral co
rd? I decided to be cautious about it, but not cave in to fear and occult superstition. Rather than accept my limitations, I decided to fight back!
07/30/81 Thu - OBE #44
…My cord started a gentle tug back, but I responded immediately by resisting and, with a swimming-like motion, propelled myself forward in a southeast direction through the corner of my bedroom and into our kitchen hall. I walked into the kitchen against the tug of my own astral cord.
After struggling all the way to the kitchen, I got very angry at walking with the cord tugging against me. I turned around and grabbed hold of the cord and yanked it with all my might, to make more slack. The cord drooped down to the floor and I continued….
In the experience above the astral cord seemed like a glowing piece of garden hose. I soon found out the silver cord can take different shapes, especially when the astral traveler is a somewhat disoriented computer programmer.
01/31/82 Sun - OBE #63
Last night I stayed up watching a television show until 1:00 A.M. I was very tired. This morning I woke up early once, and went back to sleep.
I started to dream. I dreamed that there was a party going on at our house. Then I woke up. The only things I remember from that dream were that (1) JP and CA were outside when the dream ended; (2) my bedroom door was open; and (3) LD and some others were upstairs in JP and CA's bedroom.
I drifted back toward sleep, but then I realized that I could project very easily; all I had to do was to throw my consciousness forward, and start astrally swaying. I was lying on my right side. So I pushed my whole consciousness forward. At once I was zapped into my astral body, and I started swaying forward and backward. The vibrations built until they were noticeable but were getting constantly stronger. I knew I was now partly in and partly out of my body….
On a forward swing (or sway) I lunged forward and twisted up to separate the two bodies in a very sudden and violent manner. In my astral body now, as I made the movement, I felt a great tearing sensation coupled with the feeling that my solar plexus had just dropped, and I felt a bit sick to my stomach.
Out-of-Body Experiences Page 8