'Alien abduction' stories may come from lucid dreaming

[Leigha]

I've heard that lucid dreaming can be ''taught'' - that we can train ourselves to manipulate our own dreams. (No thanks)

And, these types of dreams affect your brain in a similar way that your ''waking life'' does. This explains a lot then, if many of these ''visions'' of alien abductions happened in dream-like states. I wonder how you can tell the difference between a lucid and ''regular'' dream? We have likely all had dreams that during our waking hours, images from a specific dream linger throughout the day... while other dreams, we can't remember at all. I'm surprised though that people who claim alien abductions don't realize that once they're awake, it was all just one, crazy dream. (lucid or not)

https://www.livescience.com/lucid-dreami...tions.html

[C C]

The sleep-paralysis episodes I experienced early in the morning, years ago, often did an feature entity looming over me and at times trying to drill into my skull. But it was unclear what the intruders were specifically.

So... certainly, after a hard day's work in the homemade meth-cooking lab, I can imagine Cleon and Eva Jo filling in that ambiguity with a space-alien face (rather than an incubus, old hag, etc) and relocating the perforation operation elsewhere.

[Leigha]

The sleep-paralysis episodes I experienced early in the morning, years ago, often did an feature entity looming over me and at times trying to drill into my skull. But it was unclear what the intruders were specifically.

Did you feel afraid during sleep paralysis? (Not in a “nightmare” sense, but on a conscious level?) I’ve heard it can be a very jarring experience.

So... certainly, after a hard day's work in the homemade meth-cooking lab, I can imagine Cleon and Eva Jo filling in that ambiguity with a space-alien face (rather than an incubus, old hag, etc) and relocating the perforation operation elsewhere.

[C C]

The sleep-paralysis episodes I experienced early in the morning, years ago, often did an feature entity looming over me and at times trying to drill into my skull. But it was unclear what the intruders were specifically.

Did you feel afraid during sleep paralysis? (Not in a “nightmare” sense, but on a conscious level?) I’ve heard it can be a very jarring experience.

Sometimes, the bedroom would be replicated so convincingly that I would wonder if I was still dreaming, despite having experienced that kind of scenario multiple times before. A lot of that had to do with the level of amnesia applicable to a particular event. Usually at least half-knowing that I was asleep was essential for the vividness.

If the amnesia was pretty heavy, I'd shout at the agency in a frantic way (I could overcome that much of the immobility). But nothing really traumatic lingered that bothered me minutes, hours, or days afterwards. My entire life I've been able to recall dreaming even I if just nodded off for five minutes, so I was pretty much an oneiro-naut by my teens.

In contrast, I can see how sleep-paralysis or conventional nightmares might trouble a person for an extended period if they rarely remembered dreams, or are part of that population group that claims it doesn't have dreams 99% of the time.

[confused2]

From the ever popular Teachings of Don Juan (as remembered):
If you can see your hands in a dream you're in control and can travel where you want and do other stuff. If no hands visible then it's probably just ordinary dreaming.
I'd forgotten about this until this thread - I'll have a go at looking for my hands if/when dreaming tonight.

[Leigha]

I’ve read that too confused, but also that if you “check” your hands several times throughout the day whispering to yourself “I’m awake,” you might be more apt to becoming aware of a lucid dream, should you see your hands in the dream. I’m feeling a little skeptical tbh that we can manipulate our dreams like this. Hmm.

[C C]

From the ever popular Teachings of Don Juan (as remembered):
If you can see your hands in a dream you're in control and can travel where you want and do other stuff. If no hands visible then it's probably just ordinary dreaming.
I'd forgotten about this until this thread - I'll have a go at looking for my hands if/when dreaming tonight.

I’ve read that too confused, but also that if you “check” your hands several times throughout the day whispering to yourself “I’m awake,” you might be more apt to becoming aware of a lucid dream, should you see your hands in the dream. I’m feeling a little skeptical tbh that we can manipulate our dreams like this. Hmm.

Similar to the sleep-paralysis episodes, the lucid dreams that I had when younger were all unintentional, and predominantly occurred after 5:00 AM.

In retrospect, they may have been triggered by my tendency to pull the cover over my head. Anticipating an annoying light of either artificial or natural variety, or vainly trying to buffer an alarm sound that was approaching. My oxygen was maybe diminished. But I can do the same thing today and they just don't happen. (Perhaps, like Wendy, some of us can't return to Neverland after a certain age.)

The LDs were difficult to hold onto. Either eventually resulting in my waking up because I knew I was asleep or drifting back into conventional dreams, especially if it was the weekend.

You can indeed levitate and fly in them and move objects with your mind and the whole shebang. Didn't always work for me, though. Sometimes it would be dark both indoors and outdoors and no amount of willpower on my part could get a light-switch to work, or the bulb would burn out immediately. I suspect those were times when I was close to losing awareness that I was dreaming.

The detail was pretty striking, too. Peer close at the wrinkled bark of a tree or watch ants crawling around on a doorstep; look at graffiti and fine patterns of decay on the walls of abandoned homes; and opening up books and magazines to read them.

There was a game I'd often play involving a sequence of seemingly endless big rooms, each opening into another by doorway. I'd race through them as fast as I could hoping to find one that was empty, because my brain wouldn't have time to ad-lib and create anything for it. But it always did, and they were usually filled with different gatherings of people, and parties. Miscellaneous faces all carrying on a multitude of conversations, and dressed according to varying themes per chamber. I'd tune in on some just to hear what they were specifically saying, to make sure it wasn't nonsense.

Even these days I may have a rare dream where I can travel by jumping up and remaining afloat, but it's not a lucid one -- just a normal dream where I have limited powers but don't realize how crazy it is. My usual amnesia of the waking world and its logic.

[confused2]

While bearing in mind that Carlos Castaneda wrote fiction - it is enticing (for some).
https://www.prismagems.com/castaneda/donjuan3.html

[Leigha]

Similar to the sleep-paralysis episodes, the lucid dreams that I had when younger were all unintentional, and predominantly occurred after 5:00 AM.

In retrospect, they may have been triggered by my tendency to pull the cover over my head. Anticipating an annoying light of either artificial or natural variety, or vainly trying to buffer an alarm sound that was approaching. My oxygen was maybe diminished. But I can do the same thing today and they just don't happen. (Perhaps, like Wendy, some of us can't return to Neverland after a certain age.)

The LDs were difficult to hold onto. Either eventually resulting in my waking up because I knew I was asleep or drifting back into conventional dreams, especially if it was the weekend.

You can indeed levitate and fly in them and move objects with your mind and the whole shebang. Didn't always work for me, though. Sometimes it would be dark both indoors and outdoors and no amount of willpower on my part could get a light-switch to work, or the bulb would burn out immediately. I suspect those were times when I was close to losing awareness that I was dreaming.

The detail was pretty striking, too. Peer close at the wrinkled bark of a tree or watch ants crawling around on a doorstep; look at graffiti and fine patterns of decay on the walls of abandoned homes; and opening up books and magazines to read them.

There was a game I'd often play involving a sequence of seemingly endless big rooms, each opening into another by doorway. I'd race through them as fast as I could hoping to find one that was empty, because my brain wouldn't have time to ad-lib and create anything for it. But it always did, and they were usually filled with different gatherings of people, and parties. Miscellaneous faces all carrying on a multitude of conversations, and dressed according to varying themes per chamber. I'd tune in on some just to hear what they were specifically saying, to make sure it wasn't nonsense.

Even these days I may have a rare dream where I can travel by jumping up and remaining afloat, but it's not a lucid one -- just a normal dream where I have limited powers but don't realize how crazy it is. My usual amnesia of the waking world and its logic.

Detailed dreams can be very unnerving (ants crawling around and wrinkled bark? eek) and I've been tempted to keep a dream journal (but never do) to see if there are any dramatic differences from one dream to the next. (and why) I've found in my dream experiences, that most detailed dreams aren't very pleasant, although I wouldn't characterize them as nightmares, if that makes sense. Have you ever kept a sleep diary?

While we're on the topic...

Scientists entered people's dreams

[C C]

[...] Detailed dreams can be very unnerving (ants crawling around and wrinkled bark? eek) and I've been tempted to keep a dream journal (but never do) to see if there are any dramatic differences from one dream to the next. (and why) I've found in my dream experiences, that most detailed dreams aren't very pleasant, although I wouldn't characterize them as nightmares, if that makes sense. Have you ever kept a sleep diary?

While we're on the topic...

Scientists entered people's dreams

Never even thought of documenting my dreams. Probably another side effect of overfamiliarity with their wide variety of instantiations. Recalled with such commonness that they become illusory mundane and insipid, like the nightly gunshots and other racket of a bad neighborhood to a longtime resident.