Reading in OBEs, dreams, etc

[kiwibonga]

Dear fellow travelers,

This is a big post, and I'm sorry

When I started training for wake-induced OBEs, I would reach the hypnogogic state consciously for about a split second and snap back to the physical before I could do anything. I have since improved tremendously, and while I have yet to confirm it, I think I'm capable of rather limited clairvoyant remote viewing. The longest I was able to stay focused on my "target" was about 20 seconds.

I have had a lot of trances where I was given information in the form of websites or simply series of numbers on a white background, and I have the hardest time reading them. I always know what they say, but as soon as I try to read and memorize, the words change into sentences that don't make sense. Numbers simply change to other values, which completely destroys the purpose!

I've compiled my impressions from conversations I've had on the subject...

The first obstacle for most people is the reflex to move your eyes (this is not a problem in OBEs, though). If you try and read, your (physical) eyes will most likely start going left and right, making you lose focus.

Then, the next obstacle is that everything will seem blurry, but not blurry in the sense that it's out of focus, blurry in the sense that you'll see text, but won't be able to actually read it. A bit like if you had never learned how to read -- the letters won't make sense to you. To fix this, we have this tendency to try and look closer, to look at the top left of each character to make out a letter, to recognize the "font."

As soon as you grasp how the letters look, and what to expect in the text, you'll be able to read full words.

Problem: When I reach this stage, the words shapeshift. You read a word, then the next one, then the next one, and you realize it says "Become red hello." That doesn't make sense. You read it again. "Never close orange."

I've talked to several people about this, and there are usually those who can read without a problem, and those who can't read anything.

Interesting to note: most of those who can read without problems in the astral have terrible spelling.

We also had a conversation about left-brained and right-brained people. Strongly left-brained people are analytical. When they read something, they analyze each character to compile a word, they remember spellings, etc... Strongly right-brained people are intuitive. When they read, they have a tendency to match patterns rather than decode.

Women are known to be more right-brained than men, although it isn't systematic, and people who are strongly right-brained are very rare, whether it's male or female.

From what I observed, right-brained people have a much better time not only communicating in the astral, they can also read better. So for some people, it's not even an issue at all, while others have years of experience in the astral and can't read for peanuts!

Now, in fact, I wrote a lot about the reasons for this difficulty, but it's not really what I'm after with this thread.

What I wanted to know was:

1. How well can you read in the astral?
2. Was it always the case?
3. Why do you think it's difficult for some to read in the astral? What did you observe when you were reading?
4. Do you have any tips to help others read better?

Now, you don't have to answer this like it's a bunch of test questions, they're just here to provide an idea of what I'm getting at. The subject is not covered in many books, and I'm really curious about it -- how can I improve my astral reading?

[Stillwater]

It's "Hooked on Phonics: Astral Edition" !  :reading:

This is just my two cents, but Mr. Bruce made a spiel years back about intentions and expectations; sometimes what we believe we will see in the astral may actually manifest itself to the point where we see our expectations rather than objective reality others can verify.

I am sure that you have considered this aspect, but it is just a factor to keep in mind when speaking of subjectively effected phenomena like projection.

[kiwibonga]

Yes, I think it's a very important aspect of it actually -- what is created by us, and what comes from an outside source?

The problem is, we can never really tell, but I suspect there are techniques we can use to better target the information we are looking for. Essentially, the whole problem may come from the way we target the information ; for example taking things that are there and impregnating them with our ideas, perceptions, etc...

I know Robert Bruce had this "core image removal" technique to get rid of unwanted fluctuations... It looks good on paper, to say the least.

[nwb]

i read in my dreams practically every night and the words/letters NEVER shape shift, i have NO problems reading at all, sometimes its lots of words, sometimes its one or 2 words....Ive only had words shape shift in my first OBE and its never happened again, i don't understand why people cant read in obes/dreams, because of shape shifting or whatnot, my words in my dreams are plain as day and as easy to read as if i picked up a book in the real world and started reading it.  I'd say that my first remembrance of reading in a dream that actually worked was when i wrote a letter to my guides asking them some questions and put it in my pants pocket then went to sleep, then in my dream i pulled a letter out of my pocket, and my guides basically wrote me a rhyme telling me they were working out some kinks in my life...and everything was going as planned........but after that, yea, i can read fine...I'm not sure why most people cant

[AndrewTheSinger]

Nice topic!

1. How well can you read in the astral?

Pretty much like you I think, need to concentrate to distinguish the letters, then the words, sentences usually don't make sense and change when I try to read again.

2. Was it always the case?

Yes?

3. Why do you think it's difficult for some to read in the astral? What did you observe when you were reading?

The environment is very unstable, or maybe we are, or both, even the landscape tends to change on a second look, a person turns into someone else, it's definitely not the place for attachment or rationalization.

Now that's pretty cool, I've read things that I found out to be latin, turkish, and others that I still have no idea, here are some of them: NOSSOSIS, ALALAKARA, KAPUMA (name of a waterfall), SIRGETA, PREDOQUE (latin?), BABAEVI (Turkish for father's home).

Maybe those were just coincidences, but I was impressed.

4. Do you have any tips to help others read better?

Your advice is very good, adjust your eyes to what's written, concentrate and eventually you will make out the word.

[jalef]

i ecountered pretty much the same problem. i think the right approach to this is NOT to try to read the letters but focusing on the impression they give you. the point with right and left brained people is quite good. you said yourself that right brained ones are less analytical. i think its just what they do: they dont focus on reading, but on understanding. i guess its just like with astral sight: dont concentrate on opening your eyes but concentrate on seeing.

dreams are a bit different. while i have a hard time reading while out of body i have no problems while dreaming. why is this so? i think in dreams the analytical mind is quite much shut down. this seems to be directly linked with lucidity and indeed: its much harder to read in lucid dreams then in normal dreams.

there is one more interesting thing with reading in dreams: in most cases whatever you read makes perfectly sense to you while you dream, you just understand. you wake up, think about what you were reading and notice that you read something like 'kulimbu waya kasa'. here im again at the beginning of my post by saing that you dant have to focus on what is written but on the impression it gives you.

what is the reason? maybe it has something to do with kinda natural language of our mind. it is on a level of impressions, pure thoughts. it has to translate these impressions into language. if even this is a problem in altered states (think about hypnogogic audio haluzination) then going further and translate this language into written text is even harder.

nice topic kiwibona!

[nwb]

jalef thats interesting about what you said about whatever you read in dreams make sense, but it doesnt make sense when you wake up......i will still read real words in the dream , a sentence will make sense when i read it, but when i wake up and think about i will be like, hey that sentence made no sense.