[MrPumpernickel]

I frequently have lucid dreams...no OBEs yet tho...

[Ben Barker]

Every time I hear an account of an OBE, I am really hearing an account of an episode of temporal lobe seizure, more commonly known as "sleep paralysis". Everything you described is a textbook example of sleep paralysis, when the body falls asleep but the mind remains awake. The temporal lobe goes into a flurry of electrical activity. It activates the primal fear centers of the brain, sometimes convincing people there is some evil presence in the room, that someone is sitting on their chest. This phenomenon is the origin of the succubus, the "old witch woman", and in our modern fairytales an OBE.
Sometimes people feel the sensation of floating. Aural and visual hallucinations are common when this happens.
I've had about three of these experiences myself.
Not exactly mystical, but still pretty cool. Except when you have a scary one, that really sucks. You go from being in your nice warm bed into an alien world of fear. I thought a demon was floating outside of my window, watching me through the slats of the venetian blinds. Hell, I didn't think, I KNEW it was there, and IT knew I was paralysed, and helpless.

I've only realized I was in a dream once when I was very little, and the dream ended shortly after I came to the conclusion. You should have seen the look on this guy's face though when I told him his whole world was a dream. He looked at me like I was nuts.

[ July 31, 2001: Message edited by: Ben Barker ]

[Ben Barker]

Heh, well the guy who said that did actually. They can recreate the experience in experimental conditions, using powerful magnets mounted inside of a helmet. It's pretty cool. There is a physiological explanation. I saw this on a TV show though, so I don't have a link.
I think it's fascinating how humans have never changed. We always have our goblins and trolls. Instead of our frontier being the dark forest full of witches, or the oceans filled with sea monsters where you can drop off the edge, our frontier is an outer space filled with aliens, and psychic stuff. I wonder what it will be in a few hundred years. Hopefully we won't be back to the dark forest again.
I'm glad you got some use from my links page. Would you believe the ingrates at school use the links page "all the time" but I never get one email? Bah.

[Gnome the Juggalo]

I thought there was someone living under my bed, so I sawed the legs off my bed. NOW LETS SEE THE BITCH TRY AND GET UNDER THERE hee hee hee

[Ahcri]

I think lucid dreaming is pretty usual, at least for me. My sister told me that I sleepwalk nearly every night, and what I was saying completely matches my dream. Sometimes I wake up knocking my hands on the wall or banging my head against the wall. Good thing it's made of wood.

[Happy Man]

I'm not too sure how typical this is, but I've experienced numerous dreams in the 3rd person perspective.

I specificly remember my dream showing me rolling around on the ground or something, and yet I feel myself doing this action.

Lucid dreaming is something that I never really delved too deeply into, simply because its basicly the way I dream.
Almost every other dream I have some sort of awareness, and usually have "magical" powers and if someone trys to shoot me, I can block the bullet or something

As far as OBE, never had one..except in a drug-induced state, but thats another story.

Dreams have always fascinated me, and I can't help but respond to a post with something about it.