why can't I interprete writing during experience

[Gandalf]

I have been having this problem for a while now.. everytime I am in the middle of an experience and I come across writing in any form, whether it be on a page or say a name on a shop front, I just can't read it.. in fact the more i stare at it the less sense it makes!

At first I thought maybe it was because I constructed a belief that I couldnt read writing in the astral, therefore this is why I can't, but I'm not so sure about this as the first few times this happened I had no clear ideas about it at all, in fact I didnt even bother thinking about it, it was only after a while i became aware of the fact that I could never interprete writing and when i thought back I realised this had always been the case.

more recently i have been activly trying my hardest to read shop front signs and so on but no matter no hard I force it the more i stare the less comprehensible it gets.. the funny thing is when i glance at it for the first time I can *almost* read it, but not quite, but its down hill from there.

last night i had what appeared to be a rtz experience where I was flying down my local high street and there where several recognisible shop  front signs there but I found mysefl unable to interprete them, the writing actually shifts under my gaze.

I wonder if it is because the act of interpreting writing involves certain higher awareness functions which are perhaps not switched on via my main means of astral experience, which is coming from an initial dream state.. is it the case that if you engage from a fully awake (c1) state and you have 100% of your faculties then you can read things no problem?

Doug

[Tom]

My experience is different. No matter how far from lucidity I am, it is easy to read anything I want in dreams. I have even read several pages of a book in a dream that I was reading while awake a few days previously. Ever since I was a little kid, it has always been natural to read and even to learn new things from my dreams. My guess as to the explanation is that it is because of how much reading I do in my ordinary waking life. It just carries over when I'm dreaming.

[manuel]

I have had simmilar experiences, though not as that calabre, i say, just relax and let it come through, hopefuly it should work.

[clandestino]

Hi Gandalf ! I've had similar experiences, but also plenty of occasions where reading was not a problem. On one occasion, I remember reading guitar tab for a song I'd never heard of before ! Remembering it was nigh on impossible afterwards though..

Perhaps you could try focussing on one object in your dreams... This isn't an exercise I've attempted at length, I'll admit. I've only tried it on a few occassions, for a few seconds. I read about it a while back in Castaneda's "the art of dreaming".  As I recall, the object of the exercise was to focus on an object, thereby practising your ability to remain focussed upon one scenario, or train of thought, within the astral.

Kind regards,
Mark

[astralspinner]

Research on the brain shows that the portion of it responsible for reading is not active during dreams.

It's quite common for projectors to have difficulty reading. The usual explanation is that it's the brain itself that does most of the 'automatic' reading and since we don't take it with us when we project, we're on our own.

Try the "kid's way" - letter by letter - rather than the usual "glance and understand" that we can use when in-body. . .

[Tayesin]

Hi Gandalf,
Maybe it is the pressure of your efforts to see ?  Maybe you are reinforcing it with a thought about "I can't see it" ??

Perhaps you could try commanding "Show Me", and let it come.

Or as has been suggested already, and the most effective way in my mind.. .. to relax about it, just observe calmy and let it resolve for you.  Even take your attention away from the words and look at other things before going back to see it.

Hope it resolves for you.

[Nostic]

.. is it the case that if you engage from a fully awake (c1) state and you have 100% of your faculties then you can read things no problem?

Doug

I'd tend to agree with that. If while OOB you were fully in control, fully conscious, and close to physical reality, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to read text easily. But I also assume that words become more and more meaningless the higher up you go. It seems to me that this problem is perhaps a reflection of something deeper within you. What that could be, I could only guess.