If you don't always remember dreams clearly...

[Sachiel]

Okay, well I'm laying in bed at 11 trying to get to sleep because I need to get to work tommorow. I wake up at around four and decide offhandedly to play an online game which I do for an hour and then go back to sleep. Then, I became aware that I was on my side and start doing the ROPE method for no apparent reason, or if there was one I can't remember and then just rolling out of my body. Now, then I had what is very similar to what people describe a RTP as...The only problem, is that sometime through this it lapsed and it was very clear I was dreaming. I knew I was dreaming, but didn't become lucid, and yet I wasn't accepting randomness like in normal nonlucid dreams. The whole experience was recounted like a dream, but I remember vividly the feel. This brings up a few questions, besides the obvious which is how to tell if I really projected.

1) Is it possible to go from an OBE to a dream without a significant or willing transition?

2) Is it possible to have a semi-lucid dream and if so, why didn't I become lucid with that much awareness of my situation?

3) Will I remember all projections like a dream? That would....suck.

Anyway, sorry if these have been asked and answered, please respond.

~Sam

[BriMercer]

One of the things you'll learn about OBEs done from the sleep state (e.g., you wake up enough to go for the OBE exit and are successful) is that, being so close to the sleep state, your Dream Mind has a tendency to become active and effect the OBE. Thus you might be having a perfectly valid OBE with all the classic symptoms (vibrations, feeling of falling, etc.) but then dream elements impose themselves on the experience and the whole thing devolves into a dream.

The same thing can happen, though it's less likely and will take longer, if you have a conscious exit OBE where you were awake then purposefully relaxed, slipped into trance and projected.

Basically, your consciousness can experience a lucid dream and/or an OBE based on the amount of energy you have to work with and depending on which energy body has the focus of energy (the Dream Mind vs. the projected double). Glancing at your astral hands while in the OBE state can have the effect of focusing your energy on the projected double, thus keeping the OBE more "pure" for a longer period of time. Read chapter 9 in MAP for a more detailed explanation.

In terms of how OBEs are remembered, a lot of factors are involved. The quality of energy available plays a factor (raising energy helps here), but also how you came out of the OBE (deliberately ended OBEs are more easily remembered without dream elements because one wakes themselves before the Dream Mind has a chance to engage). Also, the intensity of feeling can play a role. Saying "I will remember this" is one method, but simply having a really scary experience can help channel those memories into one's consciousness in a more concrete way.

[Sachiel]

Okay then. God, it's frustrating though because it leaves me wondering whther I exited on reflex when the conditions were right and as you said, the dream mind took over, or if I really just dreamed that I had an OBE...

[Psi]

Always always always have a plan when conciously attempting an OBE. ALWAYS. I'm gonna do this this and this and then return. If you lack a plan, and your focus changes a bit, you may find yourself falling to your subconcious will to do something random, which isn't bad, but it causes a problem if you didn't have a 100% plan to begin with. I've noticed that if I lack a plan, I tend to get influenced by my subconcious , such as...random ideas popping into my head and testing them. The biggest problem here is, if you have cajones, your going to be thinking with it, and it may just devolve into a sexual dreamlike experience, which beleive me, is awesome, but is cut short VERY fast.

[Sachiel]

The biggest problem here is, if you have cajones, your going to be thinking with it, and it may just devolve into a sexual dreamlike experience, which beleive me, is awesome, but is cut short VERY fast.

LOL.

Okay. The point was more that the experience was so short that I wasn't sure if I really exited, but thanks for the help.