Guided?

The vast majority of my OBE's seem to be "guided". For many years after my son's diagnosis with autism, I was extremely close-minded and skeptical of anything outside of our contemporary "reality". Initially I was angry at whatever "god" would "cause" this, shook my fists at the sky and walked around with my stomach in knots. During this time which was in about 1985, I read an article in Omni magazine about controlling dreams. After practicing for several months I was able to do so, and had a great deal of fun (literally creating large spheres that I could jump off of or throw, and all the while being completely aware that I was dreaming and could do "anything". Several weeks later, I was in a dream of a misty place with a fence, and my son, who was only six at the time was leaning on the fence talking to me, and although I recognized him, he was an adult. I was a single dad for years, and my son is autistic. I was an extremely close-minded skeptic, believing in nothing but the material world, but always with a loving heart for others. My heart was broken observing the experiences of my son, but I had a dream all those years ago in which I was talking to my son. In the dream he told me he loved me, and not to worry about him, that we were on different paths (this last part I remembered only because it was odd to me, my worldview at the time would not even know what a "path" was. Years later events occurred (catalysts) which forced me to awaken and look inside for answers, and that particular dream took on new meaning for me. It was not until many years later that his statement to me would make sense, and I suspected that instead of this being a dream, it was an out of body experience. Shortly after this I had another dream, and I was in a misty place again, but I had access to what seemed to be knowledge of everything all at once, as though time did not exist there. It was such an awesome experience I awoke in tears (I had never an experience of that intensity and magnitude), and though I couldn't remember the information I remembered the experience well. You wrote about flying, and taking ever-greater leaps. I have had this experience many times, so real that upon awaking I still believed flying was easy. In my experience, I was jumping over puddles of water that were ever increasing in size, and flapping my arms to get over them until I realized that I didn't have to put my feet down. Frankly, I was shocked when I read in one of your books "don't laugh, this really works"--since I had been doing exactly that for years that I can recall. I was in that misty place again with what seemed like all the knowledge/information that has ever or will ever be, and that time I awoke laughing. When I asked myself why I was laughing, it was simply because everything seems so difficult and complex here, but from there it is so extremely simple. I had to create a description for it--"profoundly simple". I had a spontaneous OBE, which seem "guided". I experienced one of my incarnation"s lives in it's entirety, every thought and emotion all at once. That incarnation was a physically beautiful young woman at the time she died (in her 20s). This was during the Victorian period (keep in mind that aside from knowing who was queen, I know nothing about this era in England), and she was blind from birth. There were three men who were attracted to her and were in the process of "courting" her (something I found very interesting), willing to overlook her handicap. Her parents loved her very deeply, they were neither wealthy nor poor. "Society" was extremely judgemental of people with disabilities, considering them through a false filter of religion, as a "curse". She was well aware of this, and would not marry because she did not want the experience of pity or judgement on her or on others. She knew that her parents would not be around in her future, and she felt as a burden to them, although they truly loved her and didn't contribute toward her perception of this in any way. She made the decision to commit suicide and followed through with it. Specifically why I was led to see this (and "see" is an understatement, as it was a life experienced from my perspective in a single moment) is still a mystery to me. I felt everything, the frustration, despair, sorrow--all of it. Her identity and the reason for this experience has not been revealed to me. What had the greatest impression on me was not just the sad and hopeless feelings she was experiencing while alive, but an overwhelming feeling of remorse because of the pain she caused her parents. After, she observed the tremendous amount of pain this caused her parents and regretted with intense remorse her decision, but prior to doing so she could not envision any other options. Once it was done, there was no way to change it. I have had limited success at consciously generated OBE's. The first time I was lying on my side and found myself out of my body sideways, and sinking down to the floor (although I realize that gravity has no effect, I suspect I was moving downward simply because in my mind it did). I couldn't see anything, but I focused "up" and it ended right there. The second time I was floating above my body which was on the couch, and I was near the ceiling. I realized that I was out, but could not see anything which somewhat frightened me at which point I immediately returned to my body. After doing some research, I came across something called "astral blindess" which is caused because there is a strong mind-link with the physical body with closed eyes. I have accomplished going out of body with conscious intent and memory but become frightened-and this ends the experience very quickly. My question is how common are these guided OBE's? I understand that they serve a purpose, and I have experienced places in which time seemed non-existent, as in that place with all that knowledge/information/hard to describe, misty with so much--thoughts/words/whole concepts/etc. all at once, and no human being could possibly bring back that amount of information, nor could one learn in such a manner here. And that young woman's life, feelings--everything all at one moment. I'm not asking why these have occurred, that's something I believe is for me to deduce myself. I just wonder how common this is, the sense that these are guided out of body lessons? Thanks!