Lucid Dreaming and Astral projection

[Matt1]

I am wondering what the difference is between lucid dreaming and an astral projection, as far as i am aware they are basically the same thing more or less.

I have had many lucid/astral projection experiences. I had two last night when i simply woke up and got out of bed then went outside was able to fly with using willful thought. The experience normally only lasts for a few minutes at best before everything goes into darkness like sleep paralysis.

One of the most interesting things is how real the experience seems to be, i would say its even more vivid than real life. I am able to pull space towards me or travel to vast places. Normally the reality is just my home town but the more far out i go reality seems to create itself by thought and it can be quite bizarre at times.


Normally i see different people walking about just outside my house or sometimes a car driving. They seem just to appear after a few moments, they always mind there own business. I tried to talk to them but they just give this blank expression or just smile its almost a little creepy.

My first thoughts is that i am accessing my own subconsciousness through lucid dreaming and these are projections of my own unconsciousness through the subconsciousness which could give me quite a learning experience if i was able to talk with them. Perhaps a part of me doesn't want to talk to them and this is reflecting in the dream? Or are they maybe astral entities who are watching how i will react in a more astral projection sense?

I haven't noticed a silver cord or an effect of coming back into the body, i have received some teachings before in the lucid experience where i met a teacher in the sky kinda like an Guru style person who said that life is but a static image if you believe and have faith you can move through it freely. Then he allowed me to experience his own consciousness so i was able to see everything in the dream environment as my own body thus i could pull space towards myself. I did this in another experience and was able to goto a star which seemed kinda gray and gassy although i grew fearful about how far away i was and just how big the universe is.

So i guess my question is how to maintain the experience and what the experience is?

Another fun fact is that drinking seems to have a direct connection for this to happen and getting up early in the morning then going back to bed. Normally going into sleep paralysis before having the experience.

[anagogy]

I am wondering what the difference is between lucid dreaming and an astral projection, as far as i am aware they are basically the same thing more or less.

I have had many lucid/astral projection experiences. I had two last night when i simply woke up and got out of bed then went outside was able to fly with using willful thought. The experience normally only lasts for a few minutes at best before everything goes into darkness like sleep paralysis.

One of the most interesting things is how real the experience seems to be, i would say its even more vivid than real life. I am able to pull space towards me or travel to vast places. Normally the reality is just my home town but the more far out i go reality seems to create itself by thought and it can be quite bizarre at times.

From my perspective, lucid dreams are just low level astral projections. There is more awareness in an astral projection. And yes, they can be more real than physical life, and oftentimes, our consciousness is brighter than in physical life, but the memories appear to dim somewhat after returning to the physical. When you're "there", that world seems more real than this one. When you get back, the most mind blowing experiences can begin to dim and fade a bit.

When in phase with the physical energies of the physical body, these subtle memories seem less "loud" or pronounced than the physical memories. The only way I've found to cement them in your physical mind is to come out of sleep slowly and impress them gradually on your physical brain.

Normally i see different people walking about just outside my house or sometimes a car driving. They seem just to appear after a few moments, they always mind there own business. I tried to talk to them but they just give this blank expression or just smile its almost a little creepy.

My first thoughts is that i am accessing my own subconsciousness through lucid dreaming and these are projections of my own unconsciousness through the subconsciousness which could give me quite a learning experience if i was able to talk with them. Perhaps a part of me doesn't want to talk to them and this is reflecting in the dream? Or are they maybe astral entities who are watching how i will react in a more astral projection sense?

Could be either. In most astral projections, and or lucid dreams, and even regular dreams, we are just slightly out of phase with the physical in what I call the "orange ray zone" or "lower astral". This zone has to do with Self. So here you are primarily projecting into your personal subconscious mind. Other souls don't have very much access to this zone (its like your personal zone), so the projections you see are predominantly symbolic counter aspects of yourself.

If you go higher up in the astral, you begin to run into other self-aware souls and they are actual other people, not projections of your subconsciousness. And they act in ways that are like people in the physical world (i.e. unexpected and self aware ways, with a full range of behavior) Most people don't dream in this area, they stay close to the physical. If you enter a regular dream in full waking consciousness, you'll find the people there are kinda "off". That's because they are projections of your mind, and have very limited ranges of human behavior, just enough to serve whatever symbolic purpose you generated them for, based on what you were thinking about.

I haven't noticed a silver cord or an effect of coming back into the body, i have received some teachings before in the lucid experience where i met a teacher in the sky kinda like an Guru style person who said that life is but a static image if you believe and have faith you can move through it freely. Then he allowed me to experience his own consciousness so i was able to see everything in the dream environment as my own body thus i could pull space towards myself. I did this in another experience and was able to goto a star which seemed kinda gray and gassy although i grew fearful about how far away i was and just how big the universe is.

The silver cord is a nonphysical connection, and the only time you will see it is if you want to see a symbolic representation of the connection to the physical body.

So i guess my question is how to maintain the experience and what the experience is?

Another fun fact is that drinking seems to have a direct connection for this to happen and getting up early in the morning then going back to bed. Normally going into sleep paralysis before having the experience.

Sleep paralysis, which scientists have severely misunderstood, is a manifestation of unfocusing your consciousness from the physical control board that is your body. You unfocus from your body, you lose control of it. Simple.

And I fully concur about the waking up and going back to bed. It provides the perfect balance of "relaxed", little bit of energy to stay focused, and still sleepy enough to easily focus into the inner world.

As for maintaining the experience, still working on that one. Sometimes phasing back to your body, for brief periods of time (but not fully waking up), and then going out again can help maintain the experience.

[Bluebell]

thank u anagogy that makes sense to me! i've never reached the higher astral meeting place. =/