In the realm of the subconscious mind, where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, lies a fascinating phenomenon that has intrigued humans for centuries: the enigmatic world of sleep. Beyond the veil of consciousness, where the body rests and the mind wanders freely, lies a realm where dreams take flight and the spirit transcends its physical confines. Within this realm, two extraordinary experiences captivate the imagination: lucid dreaming and astral projection.
Did you know that approximately 20% of people have one very interesting ability that spontaneously occurs every month? That unusual ability is associated with an activity that all people, without exception, have to do every evening. Because, if they don’t, huge problems quickly arise in the body. Problems that in extreme cases can even lead to death.
Why Do We Sleep?
Do you know why we have to sleep? If you ask any person this very simple question, in most cases you will get the answer: “To get rest.” But the answer is much more complex than this simple statement, that we have to rest. Because it will surprise you that the state we call sleep is much more complex than it may seem at first. And that there is no simple answer to why we sleep at all.
Why does a person, along with a huge number of other beings on this planet, go through these cycles in the form of a seemingly unconscious life? An ordinary person spends a third of his life sleeping. If you have lived, for example, 75 years, you have spent 25 years of your life in your bed, completely unconscious. These stunning numbers can at first seem like a waste of time. They are present in nature among many animals. Some sleep less, some longer. But it seems that all living beings are “condemned” to, the so-called, circadian rhythm.
The duration of the circadian rhythm is influenced by environmental factors, such as the cyclical alternation of light and darkness. Circadians are constant rhythms that exist even in completely external conditions. This shows that they are regulated by some mechanisms inside the organism, the so-called biological clocks. Because yes, every being has its internal biological clock.
There are different hypotheses and theories, but no one knows for a fact, and with proof, why different organisms have to sleep. And we are talking here about serious scientific research and scientific studies. Because sleep activity itself is supposed to be, by the official opinion of the scientific community, the product of evolution. But why would evolution develop this seemingly aggravating circumstance?
The Physiology of Sleep
Well, one hypothesis says that evolution developed sleep as an answer to dangers, enabling animals to hide from predators at night, and in some cases even during the day. But this hypothesis is immediately faced with huge problems. If an animal is hiding from a predator for, say, 8 hours during the night, that animal is completely immobile and can easily become prey for hunters and predators that are active during the night. If this hypothesis is correct, why evolution didn’t create sleep cycles in all living beings? Like dolphins, for example, whose brains can only sleep partially. One brain hemisphere is asleep, while the other is active, watching out for possible danger. And then the other half sleeps, and so on in cycles.
Of course, it would be extremely dangerous for a dolphin to sleep, say, like a human being, immobile, 8 hours a day. How would it breathe underwater? It would only be a matter of time before it becomes prey for other predators. Although scientists are trying to come up with an answer to why would evolution create such a function, for now, we still do not know the real answer.
Your amount of rest, after a night of sleep, is just a consequence of sleep. Many of you are resting by reading this article. You are lying down and doing nothing. Your muscles and your body are resting. And rest is not the only reason why we sleep, a third of our lives. Your brain needs sleep the most.
Your brain simply cannot operate without this extremely vital function. Why is that so? Human babies in the early stages of life do not understand the difference between day and night at all. On average, they sleep most of their day, for about 16 hours. During that time, in the first three months of life, there occurs an incredible development of the brain. During sleep, the entire nerve-system infrastructure is built up.
These processes take about two and a half years of our life. After that, we retain the ability to sleep, and over time, we settle up to an average of 7 to 8 hours of sleep as adults. While newborns spend about 50% of their resting time in the REM phase, that drops, for example, to 25% in the next 10 years and continues to drop as we grow older.
Dreams: The Gateway to Consciousness
Sleep is as important as food. And it is amazing how well sleep meets the needs of our nervous system. From jellyfish and birds to whales. Everyone sleeps. And while we sleep, our brain is not resting. And this is fascinating because most people think that sleep is important for rest. But sleeping does not rest the brain, which is active in cycles, similar to a wake-up state, and goes through several very important cycles during the night.
Throughout the whole night, the human body goes through non-REM and REM sleep phases, three to six times. REM is an English abbreviation for Rapid Eye Movement. When our brain enters the REM phase, an unexpected activity happens, and that is dreaming.
While it’s difficult to evolutionarily explain the processes that lead to sleep, dreaming represents a real problem. Because why would evolution create dreaming? And why would evolution create phases of dream in which the human brain becomes so active as in a wake-up state – all the while creating clear and lucid images and events?
Because every human being has dreams. But why do we have them? It is one completely unexplored and unknown territory, for which we only have hypotheses and theories.
Sleeping is very important for our psychophysical health, during which our body relaxes. Breathing slows down, heartbeats slow down. Biological and chemical processes during that period physically renew our bodies. And that is a process that we have to go through every day, because if we don’t, huge problems may occur. Dream is so important, that you could die without it.
After just one night without sleep, our psychophysical capabilities, concentration, and memory considerably weaken, causing other dangerous processes too, such as raising blood pressure. Every following sleepless day leads to bigger and bigger problems.
One of the champions, who was thoroughly medically studied during this process, was the 17-year-old Randy Gardner. A youth, who spent 11 days and 25 minutes in a wake-up state in 1963. The effects of sleep deprivation on this youth are well documented. The symptoms included anxiety, prolonged decision-making, and cognitive rigidity, in which this individual could think only in one, fixed way.
Other symptoms included motivation loss, high blood pressure, paranoia, memory problems, mood changes, sight problems, hallucinations, and speech difficulties. This boy became completely dysfunctional after only a few days, and his condition worsened from day to day.
Unfortunately, there is even a syndrome and a disease that a very small percentage of people in this world suffer from. This disease is called fatal insomnia, the state in which the body, due to various causes, I won’t go into detail here, cannot achieve sleep processes and cannot enter all those cycles I wrote about previously. These people, due to lack of sleep, die in a few months to a maximum of a few years. Once diagnosed, it means certain death, because there is no cure for this condition yet.
Besides people in scientific experiments, testing mice has also shown that mice deprived of sleep die within a month. Deprive any biological organism of sleep, and it dies. Therefore, you can easily see the importance of this rather mysterious process.
All people, without any exception, have to sleep. All people, without exception, are dreaming. Maybe some of you don’t remember your dreams, but you still dream.
Lucid Dreaming: Taking Control of the Dream Realm
What if I told you that 20% of the population, at least once a month, has one incredible ability? What if I told you that some people not only dream but can consciously navigate their dreams and can consciously live inside their dreams as in the waking world? And not only that.
Rare individuals can during such a process, leave their body and visit some other unknown and incredible worlds. Because we are talking here about lucid dreaming and astral projection. I will tell you about my own experience.
Lucid dreaming and astral projection are real phenomena that occur during the sleep process. And before we continue with this topic, it is necessary to emphasize that these are real and proven phenomena that are recognized by modern science and modern medicine. When I say modern medicine, I mean modern Western medicine. Even the CIA was interested and thoroughly researched such states.
Although this phenomenon is being researched and is being researched even today by a large number of people, there are different interpretations of this phenomenon. Because today’s modern science, although it studies such states in humans, believes that these states are exclusively tied to the human brain.
So, in layman’s terms, everything that happens during dreams, no matter how vivid it is, happens solely in your brain. You are not leaving your body and you don’t go anywhere outside your physical body. And everything that is happening with your consciousness is limited to the physical barrier called the brain. In general, Western science believes that consciousness is a product of the brain, and is located exclusively in the brain because there is no evidence of some kind of higher planes of existence of human consciousness.
As many of you already know, Eastern philosophies and spiritual traditions that arrived to the West believe something completely different. They believe, like some Western religions, that there is something more than a human body, that there is also an astral body, or a soul, that dwells in the physical body. And that it can temporarily leave it if needed, or permanently, of course, during physical death.
All religions agree here, that there is a so-called non-physical body that is called by different names. Some of these traditions believe that it is possible to separate your astral energy body even before death, visit some other worlds, and connect with the so-called universal cosmic intelligence.
Some very rare individuals can achieve these phenomena in a waking state through meditation. Most other people can achieve these states during sleep, although a very small percentage of people can consciously navigate through these processes, as lucid dreaming and astral projection happen to them spontaneously, approximately once a month. Here we are talking about those 20% of people who have this ability, at least spontaneously.
Modern medicine and science don’t distinguish lucid dreaming and astral projection, considering them the same condition, nothing more than very real and life-like dreams. But from my personal experience, I know that there is a clear difference between lucid dreaming and astral projection because I experienced both.
Lucid dreaming is a state in which, during a dream, you realize that you are dreaming. Instead of waking up, you continue to dream consciously, directing the actions within your dream. During lucid dreaming, there is no difference between reality and the world of dreams. Hence the saying: “Was it a dream or reality…” These dreams are so real that you simply cannot distinguish them from our perception of reality.
In addition, you know that these are not physical realities from a waking state, since, for example, you can consciously fly in these dreams. You can do whatever you want in them.
A few weeks ago, I had a lucid dream, which prompted me to write this article. In the middle of a dream, I became aware. I was walking around the city and stopped next to a first car that was parked on the road. I clearly remember how I admired the color and details of this car.
Why would I admire an ordinary purple car? Because I was trying to find imperfections in a dream. I was admiring the details, admiring how real that dream was. So real, that there was no difference between the dream and our reality. Like some of you who admire graphics in the latest video games. Now, imagine there is absolutely no difference between graphic games and our reality. Astonishing.
Lucid dreaming occurs in 20% of our population, but most get scared of it and wake up frightened from this kind of dream. Very few can consciously manage such dreams. But these kinds of dreams are extremely fun, because instead of waking up in the morning and trying to remember your uncontrolled dream, which you forget as soon as you get out of bed, through lucid dreaming, events from dreams will remain 100% etched in your memory and will become a memory like any other event from, let’s call it, a real life.
Why? Because they are so real and so impressive. For example, I have lucid dreams periodically and spontaneously and I have no control over their initiation. As I said before, Western science is well aware of this phenomenon, but it localizes it to your consciousness, inside your brain. In Eastern philosophies, there is a consensus regarding lucid dreaming.
Astral Projection: Journeying Beyond the Physical Body
Let’s put it this way for everyone to understand.
Imagine your brain as a computer hard disk. On the hard disk, all important pieces of information are stored. Just like in your brain. Lucid dreaming is exploring the content of that hard disk, which is, your brain. And it is happening only in your brain, where you are recycling various experiences. During my lucid dreaming, no situations occurred outside my memory.
So, you have your body, which is a computer. You have a hard disk, which is your brain. You explore data inside your brain, which enables you to dream and lucidly dream. This is a very fun, but localized experience. But there is also a step further. A drastic step further, which is so scary compared to lucid dreaming that it is rarely experienced.
And when I say scary, I mean deadly scary, if you are not ready for it. Compared to lucid dreaming, astral projection connects your hard disk, that is your brain, to the Internet. And that new world is not even similar to ours.
The process of leaving your physical body during astral projection is, based on some people who have experienced it for the first time in their lives, so scary that you will think you are dying. You will think that you are dying and that you are done, that you are going towards the light and “Bye. Bye, I’m leaving. Literally dying.”
How do I know this? Because I experienced that process three to four times before I experienced the whole process of astral projection. And I’m not going to lie, that’s probably the biggest fear I’ve ever felt in my life. For most people that’s the biggest fear, the fear of death. But there is one catch.
That fear in these initial phases is completely normal but unjustified. Because in this process you never die. You are, when you go through this mechanism, passing to the astral world from our physical world, only at the beginning of probably the best experience you can have in your life.
Personal Experiences: Navigating Lucid Dreams and Astral Realms
I will now describe as best I know and as best I can, how this process looks and feels from my personal experience. And why you shouldn’t be afraid. Because if you don’t know what’s happening, you will think you’re dying. But if you know what to expect, that initial fear should be far smaller.
And since I’m sure that there are quite a few of you who have experienced what I’m talking about, write in the comments your experiences, for all those who have never experienced something like this.
The process, at least in my case, begins with a sudden realization that I am sleeping. Instead of a lucid dream that I can easily manage, I am aware that I am lying in the dark, paralyzed. Nightly paralysis of the body is a normal thing during sleeping. It’s a protective mechanism of your brain, so you simply don’t hurt yourself when dreaming. Because otherwise you would be waving your arms and legs around or walking in your sleep. For that reason, your body is paralyzed at night.
Some people can be at that point befallen by first deathly fear that leads to a disorder known as “night terror”. People who wake up, but remain trapped in their body, that is, remain paralyzed and then have panic attacks and huge fears. Some people, during this state, often see so-called “shadow people” who then besiege them.
I have never experienced such states. Except in the transition phase, because at that moment, you will either start panicking, ending up in “night terror”, or you will initiate an astral projection. For me, the latter happened spontaneously.
While lying motionless and, of course, paralyzed in darkness, although in my case it never came to night terror, because I always had the feeling that I could move, I focused on going back to the dream, and during that process, a completely new mechanism unfolded, which I will try to describe in more detail.
Suddenly, your body is enveloped in great, huge vibrations. You have a feeling that your whole body is buzzing and vibrating. Then, along with vibrations, comes a very loud sound, similar to crackling and static noise. The sound and vibrations are getting louder and faster. Vibrations of the body are getting stronger and higher and the sound becomes completely deafening.
Then, at least in my case, a white light appears, like a TV static screen moving faster and faster toward you. These effects become so intense that you feel like you are going away somewhere. You feel like you are going to pass some kind of barrier.
Overcoming Fear of Astral Projection
I experienced this process three or four times. I was engulfed in such a great fear. I stopped the process and suddenly woke up. I was so afraid of what was coming that I suddenly woke up. I thought I was dying. And if I continue with this, I will die. An indescribable fear.
But then, many years ago on the internet, while I was researching this phenomenon, I found people who were experiencing identical things. And all these people were saying the same. You simply have to allow the whole process to unfold. And several years ago I experienced my first astral projection.
The process again happened spontaneously. Because I never practice such things. Audio effects, sounds, vibrations, light. Even though I knew what was coming, reading the experiences of others, I was in mortal fear. But at one point I thought, and I will be vulgar, but I meant it: “Let’s go. Fuck it. If I die, I die. I don’t give a damn.”
I was still afraid, but somehow I pushed through. After these frightening vibrations and huge white noise, which in my case lasted about 30 seconds, I was suddenly catapulted into an incredible world. I had a feeling that I suddenly came out of a vibrational tunnel. All the noises and vibrations disappeared and I flew into a new world.
That world is extremely hard to describe, but the closest would be flying rocks on the planet Pandora. An unusual place. I don’t even know if it was a planet. Unlike lucid dreaming, in astral projection, which I then experienced for the first time, I had absolutely no control. I was floating and flying by some kind of inertia in one direction. I was like an observer, uncontrollably flying through this unusual world.
That was my first experience of astral projection. Lucid dreaming compared to this seems like a child’s game. This was a far more intense experience. In this first unusual world, I didn’t have any contact with any unusual beings. I saw them at great distances. Some unusual beings and some unusual animals, but I was flying uncontrollably toward one of these rocks.
Even today, I clearly remember the incredible feeling, all the while thinking that I will hit this solid object. But in such worlds, you don’t have a physical body, and you can go through seemingly solid objects. This is an incredible and indescribable feeling for someone who never experienced something similar before. Because when you go through such things, you feel you are going through such objects.
But of course, without any consequences, because such things are completely normal in such worlds. That was my first experience and I remember it vividly. Every subsequent experience will permanently etch in your memory, like any other important event from, let’s call it, a normal life.
After that, when I already had a little more experience, I was consciously researching the Universe around the Earth if it can be called the Universe at all. You are simply not sure where you are. You move where you want, you go where you want, you also appear wherever you want. As a kind of teleportation. Only those who experienced astral projection, know the feeling.
And when you communicate with beings in some unknown language, you don’t understand the language, but at the same time, you understand it. An incredible feeling that cannot be described in words. When I say “beings”, I don’t mean aliens. I have mostly met beings that were quite similar to humans. Oftentimes I wouldn’t see anyone, except some, let’s call them, animals. I would simply explore these strange worlds because I don’t even know how to describe them. Planets, some other dimensions, I really don’t know.
In fact, unlike lucid dreams, where scenography would always be similar to our world, in this case, I wouldn’t even know where I am actually. Unfortunately, I don’t control such things. They happen to me every few months. But there is a potential to exercise and train in such things, so you become better and better at such activities.
I’m sure there are a lot of people out there, more experienced than me, who will confirm this in the comments. In short, astral projection is the most intense and the best experience I have ever had in my life. Without a doubt.
I have never experienced anything uncomfortable or dangerous during these, let’s call them, trips. And I have never experienced floating above my body while asleep, as described by many other people. An astonishing phenomenon that people experience during clinical death.
Scientific Perspectives vs. Spiritual Beliefs on Dream States
I’m sure you have all heard the stories of people who, for example, died in the hospital, left their bodies, and watched the doctors below them, as they were being revived. These are phenomena that many people have experienced, which modern science cannot explain. Astral projection can be, at the beginning, so frightening an experience, because you might think you are dying. It seems that these are very closely related and connected things, with an important difference. The astral projection can also happen without physical death, which brings us to some very interesting things.
There are no religions in this world, or any other spiritual teachings, that do not believe in some kind of another world or worlds, where your soul, or astral body, goes after physical death. Most religions and such teachings interpret this physical reality and our physical body, just as a means of transportation for our non-physical body. Because, of course, we are not our body.
I like to connect modern science and spiritual teachings. Because even modern science is looking for the possibility of the existence of some other dimensions, parallel universes, other spheres of existence, and some other worlds that are hidden from our eyes. And for such things, there is a foothold in science. These are not just some stupid hypotheses. It seems that we simply cannot physically visit such places because such places are completely different from this 4D physical construct of our reality. How to visit or be aware of these other dimensions of existence?
Well, there is only one possibility. Because, if you are not your physical body, but a non-material consciousness that lives in that body, is there a possibility that such a consciousness, that is, your true self, can visit such places and return to this physical body, with which it is inseparable until true physical death?
Science, of course, says it’s not possible. And that there is no evidence of any kind of leaving the body. And that everything that happens, only happens in your head. As briefly possible, these are just ordinary and vivid dreams. But if the astral projection is a mechanism with which your astral body leaves your physical body, how to record and detect such activity with measuring devices that we currently have? If such a body or soul is based on completely different non-physical mechanisms.
The fact that we cannot measure such things today, does not mean that they do not exist. What if our need for sleep, which makes up a third of our lives, is the need of our astral body, that is, the soul, to connect daily with the world that it comes from?
Unlocking New Dimensions of Existence through Sleep
Every time you go to sleep, you connect with this world, and at the end of the cycle, you return this physical world, to your human body. Today, science cannot locate our consciousness. Yes, it appears in the brain, we can even measure brain activity, but what is the trigger for this consciousness?
We cannot point a finger at some specific part of the brain and say: “Here, consciousness emerges here, and consciousness is created through chemical processes.” Because consciousness is non-physical. The question arises, whether consciousness exists only as a product of the brain, or if the brain is a physical receiver of consciousness that comes from outside.
I think it’s the second and that the very essence of our existence does not come from this 4D physical universe, but from some other planes of existence. It is a shame that such an ability has deteriorated in the vast majority of people. Only about twenty percent of people have this ability. And from these twenty percent, only a very small percentage can control it.
Even if we assume that modern science is correct, that everything that happens, happens inside our brain, and you do not go to some other places. If there is no brain, there is no consciousness. And when you die, absolutely nothing happens, you simply stop existing. Even if something like this is true, and I personally think it is not, even then, lucid dreaming and astral projection would be a stunning tool at man’s disposal. Because your life in the waking state would get another completely new life during sleep. Whoever tells me that lucid dreams or astral projection are not important, and are nothing special, I know for a fact that he/she has never experienced astral projection.
Imagine one-third of your life, which most people are unaware of. Imagine you get control over that third of your life, and that in that state, every night, during sleep, you do whatever you want. It is in any case an incredibly useful tool, but I think that much more is happening. Because many inhuman intelligent entities do not come from a physical planet in our universe. They do not visit our world with the help of some kind of spaceship. There are those too, but many of them come to our world from these astral worlds. And if they are coming here, and many people think they are, it seems that you can also go to them.
And for that you don’t need any SF technology. Everything you need, you already have in your head. But most people have lost the ability. Most people have lost this ancient knowledge, and perceive sleep as a necessary evil. Some consider it, as I once did, a waste of time. When in fact, it seems that it is anything but a waste of time. Because that part of the cycle of our lives, which unfolds at night when we are sleeping, seems to open up some new and unexpected possibilities.
