Reading in the Astral or while OOB - New member intro

[Undertones]

Hi all,

New to the forum. By way of intro, I'll say that I've been interested in OOB for quite some time.

Close to 20 years ago I first attempted to successfully project but didn't get very far. I had one experience where I could feel myself lifting away from the body into my bedroom. I saw a very strange thing - best I can describe it is that it looked like a red and dark blue ski jacket floating in the corner and undulating. I took it to be a creature of some kind and I think it freaked me out and chased me back in. I was also not completely aware/concious and had probably seen something while in the Hypnagogic state. After that, I was not very succesful.

In the last couple years, I've woken several times (probably 8-10) with vibrations. I knew I was close, but couldn't bring myself to roll out, lift up, drop out, etc. It seems like when I think of moving, my physical is still getting engaged and my muscles tighten up. Still trying though and I can't wait for the next time I feel the vibrations.

I've been meditating for a long time also. So now I am trying to conciously project using a better understanding of the type and method of meditation that will aid me. Thanks to some info on the forum here, I feel reinvigorated. It's interesting to think that when I first tried this years ago, there was no Internet to help. You'd have to go out to New Age meetings or read books and feel kind of isolated. Tech is great!

My question is this: I've been going through the forums and notice that retension of reading and words in the Astral is very difficult. Is there an agreed upon reason why that might be the case? I'm guessing it's because the information, even in writing, is very symbolic. But if that's the case, why can people remember other symbolism, but not text or words we hear?

Thanks!

[Stookie]

Welcome to the Astral Pulse Undertones!

I know that I've read text. I also know that it rarely makes sense, or seems way too dramatic, or just a single word like "EXIT". When I do remember text, it's normally because I can still picture the words in my mind afterwords. If you could create an image to go along with what you read, memory of it would probably be increased (like card-counters do). Images affect memory much more than words. It's easier to remember a person's face than a name (for some I guess). And astral images can be really weird or exaggerated which helps memory. Printed text doesn't have the same effect.

[Xanth]

Hi there Undertones. 
Nice to meet you.

Reading... I think it also highly has something to do with "How Conscious" your awareness is.
The greater the degree of conscious awareness you have, the higher the "chance" that you'll remember what you're reading.

Now... if the words you are reading is the problem in that they seem jumbled and not making any sense (even if this is in just a dream/lucid dream)... try stepping back a bit, asking for more clarity and re-reading it.  You might find the second or third time you try this what you're reading will seem a bit clearer.

[ka0s]

This is a great topic. I've tried reading things several times with mixed results.  Each time i try reading something really close I am usually prevented or the symbols and letters change while i read them. I have had extreme focus on what I read and its not a matter of forgetting but noticing the words change as i read them. Theres been many times it just appears as a separate language or symbols. Here are some of my entries:

--
8/20/2008

10:25am-I'm not going to lie, today marked an incredible experience. We had people over to fix our chimney on the side of our house (which is right outside of my room). I decided to go try to sleep in my mother's room. I was drifting in and out of sleep on several occasions. I decided to lay on my back and induce an OBE. I was slowly drifting off to sleep and I kept trying to pull myself out of my body. Eventually I looked down and I saw my legs freely floating out of my body but the rest of my body was still attached to my physical. My legs were somewhat transparent but also had a skin-like tone to them as well. When I was fully out of my body I did not look back at my body lying in bed. I decided to go towards a goal I made a long time ago. That goal was a psalm that hangs in the kitchen. I have never read the entire psalm, so I tried reading it today during the experience. I remember my vision wasn't all so clear, so I remember standing there in front of It for a while. I read a line about 3/4th the way through the psalm that said something like "Having for T.....". When  I physically woke I went to read the psalm and this was nowhere on the psalm itself. The font itself was also drastically different on the physical psalm on the kitchen wall.This is the 2nd time however I have noticed a weird symbol on things that I have read. It is a circular black symbol with a tiny spike that goes through the center of it (it contains some
----
8/27/2008

I found this lucid dream of enough importance to write it down. I will do some research on both "The Horizon" and this address to see if I can get any leads. I did not get the mothers name but I felt at peace inside the house. This experience had some vividness of being an OBE but no feeling of separation between my body. I am not sure what to make out of this experience yet. It seems I am having problems reading signs and other guideposts within any of my OBE's or lucid dreams. Maybe the address was not an address but significant of someone's name?

[Psilibus]

This is a fun question. I can't say how many times I have tried to read something in a "dream". I also have written in dreams. It never makes sense to read because it just doesn't seem to work. Now, when lucid dreaming, and focusing hard, I am able to "know" what is written while being unable to actually decipher the text. I am not sure if I have ever "astral" projected but in the "RTZ" I find "reading" to be similar to the lucid dream experience, I "know" what is to be read.
I hope that makes sense. You might try to see if you just "know" what is written when focusing on the text.
Enjoy!

[Xanth]

I read something the other day in a post Frank made regarding reading in the Astral.
He was saying that what generally happens to people is that the second they read something they form a preconceived notion regarding it.  This notion then gets translated into something real and it then prompts confusion when overlayed with what you're reading.

So, next time, when reading... try not to do this.  Keep a complete open and neutral mind.