I've noticed that these kind of things happen almost only to people who... are interested in dreams. People who are not interested in dreams might have maybe once or twice such an experience in their entire lifetime, but that's all. These are people who are usually very tightly connected to mundane matters, their "down-to-earth" life and problems, science etc. These people are sort of half-people, they loose a half of reality in their lives, but think that the life they have is everything what is reality. Note that the same is with animals. Animals are very down-to-earth creatures, they are very focused on mundane and material level of reality and thus living half-life (except some - probably - exceptions for e.g. cats, cat-like animals and so who are said to have a second life when they sleep).
I think that extension of consciousness is the first step to the next level of existence. I'm not talking of just having OBE, LD isolated experiences etc. - these are just tools, or - if to search for a better word - "toys" for the mind to focus on, just like ancient Chinese said that the (lower) mind needs a "banana" to grab its attention. An isolated experience as mentioned (LD, OBE...) is just an example of some possible steps to the real next level of existence. Taoists who seeked for immortality often were - after living centuries on the Earth - abandoning the physical shell, but some of them did not, i.e. they stayed on the planet in their physical bodies, while being aware of the wider reality despite keeping the body, or - speaking more technically - to vibrate on the physical level, not the subtle level.
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