Is this an OBE?

[clandestino]

Hi there Atalanta !

quote:So are these just very vivid dreams or is there more to them?

Well, lets take the example you describe. Think back to how you felt whilst you were teaching people the abilities you mentioned, and consider how "real" the experience was at the time.

Now, take another event where you felt similar happiness (this time during your waking life) and do the same.

For each event, consider how real they both were at the time, and then think about how tangible each of the memories are now.

In my experience, when I compare physical and non-physical events, and consider how i felt at the time, both are as real as each other. Furthermore, my recollections of physical and non-physical events seem to be just as tangible as each other in my memory. I believe that our concious / rational thinking minds view these experiences with incredulity, so we find it very convenient to dismiss them as dreams.

I'm positive that there is far more to it than we accept. What do you think ?

kind regards
Mark

[atalanta]

I had a lot of difficulty adjusting after that dream.  It was like that was the real reality that I belonged to and somehow I had been pulled back into the reality in which I am now.  I desperately wanted to go back to that reality.  It took me over a couple of months to re-adjust.  I felt like a child that had been plucked from its mother.  Freud would have a lot to say about that![]

So yeh, for me it wasn't a dream, it was very real, more real than my current reality.  But because the brain thinks it up doesn't mean that its real.  People claim to experience, remember a lot of 'real' things when it can be shown that the experiences were not real.  So I guess my question becomes two then,

1. By definition, is this what is described as an OBE?
2. Although I am probably speaking to the converted but are OBEs real, what does science tell us about them?  (keep in mind, I am new to this topic)

Thanks for replying.

[clandestino]

Hi there,

Bear in mind that there are no hard and fast answers. OBE's are not accepted in the world of science (yet ?!) because satisfactory proof has not been produced. This is an area of great debate, I'm sure you'll find plenty of interesting discussions on the subject if you search this forum.

Your questions :

1) By definition, it doesn't fit in with the classic etheric / "real time" projection where you find yourselve floating out of your body and see yourself lying on your bed. But this is just one of several ways that an OBE can be experienced, so I would not discount your experiences at all.

2) Again, debating the nature of reality in this context is a massive topic . !! But here's my view, for what its worth. The reality an individual experiences is a result of his or her brain interpreting electrical signals and energy frequencies. I think that the reality we experience in an OBE is just as valid as in waking life.

Just as you recounted, I've had a couple of OBE's which were as real, if not more real, than waking life.

There have been many scientific attempts to validate OBEs... In fact there is currently a project in the UK looking for sponsorship to monitor heart attack victims who are resuccitated using ECGs. Its following up the reports of many doctors who time and time again are told by patients that they saw "a white light" or "they floated from their body and saw themselves being revived".

Mark

[shaman]

It sounds like OBE starting from a dream. I had a similar one some 20 years ago, but the difference with your experiences is that I actually saw myself lying down on my bed as I started floating upwards. Then I started drifting in the house. Other differences with your experiences is that it happened to me like that only once and that I saw my deceased grand mother while drifting/floating away. Eventually it turned into a dream. Initially I thought it was all just a dream and only later (a bit like you) I realised it was and OBE. Since then I have had only one successfull volontary OBE and one unsucessful (it stopped withing seconds). When I was a kid in dreams I would fly and pass through windows, but I am not sure if these were OBE. More recenlty I have some other experiences, more like premonitions.

Can you fly in your dream to a place you know to check after that if it was real? (if the place you saw was a real place in the physical world).

In these dreams, do you know that you are dreaming, are you lucid? Or only when you wake up you realise?

Cheers, []

[atalanta]

Hi,

I have never talked about these sort of things before and I am new to this site.  I have been reading a little about OBEs here and some of it sounds familiar but I am not sure.  Could someone tell me if my experiences are OBEs or some other kind of shamanic or psychic event?

I don't remember exactly when I started having my flying dreams.  I was a child at the time.  At first I would see myself floating but as soon as I became aware of my breathing or that this was happening, I would float back down.  I use to have a couple of those a year.  When I would wake up, my body was really heavy and stiff.  

Another feature of the dreams was that there was always something that kept me from going too high.  I would find myself in buildings, train stations, airports, etc.  If it was outside, I would try to go high but there were cables that seemed to attach themselves to my feet or body so I couldn't go beyond them, a very frustrating experience.  In the past few years they have become more frequent, I control the flying a lot better, and there seem to be fewer things hindering me.  Its as if I have learned how to fly over the years.  

I now find myself meeting people and helping people in these dreams.  The last one I had, there were a number of people on a white cliff-top and it was an incredibly beautiful clear day.  I allowed myself to float up and I flew over the ocean and came down close enough to touch it with my right hand.  When I got back up on the cliff-top, the people there wanted to know also how to do that.  I tried to explain it, but they just couldn't do it by themselves.  I got them to stand on either side of me and we held hands and as I floated upwards, they came along as well.  I was teaching them how to do it.  It was sooooo beautiful that when I did wake up and for several weeks after that, I found it difficult to adjust to this world.  I would only have to think about the place and I felt like I could float up even though I was awake.  A real challenge when driving!  If someone could tell me how I could stay in that world permanently, I wouldn't look back or think twice!

So are these just very vivid dreams or is there more to them?