I also have had a similar experience quite a few years ago. I had fallen asleep and awoke to find that I was unable to move my limbs even though I was attempting to do so. I felt as if I was being pinned down. The experience which gave me a deep feeling of anxiety must have lasted about ten seconds. I distinctly remember I was lying in bed on my back at the time.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It highlights the anxiety one feels which, as you mentioned, can be very frightening. I am inclined to believe that there are more CS bloggers who have had a similar experience.
The reference to dreams re vampires, ghosts, demons, etc. may have been more prevalent, in earlier times when people were more inclined to superstitious beliefs about such “beings”.
In current times, some dreams involving sleep paralysis are associated with aliens as you have mentioned. The article recognises this stating: “People don’t tend to make the supernatural attributions anymore but their experiences have such a vivid quality, they tend to think there’s something deeply wrong with them. And these days it seems to be more palatable to put it down to extra-terrestrials.”
You wrote: “But hey" we don't need a scientist to tell us its the meds messing with the brain.... yeah right”
The sleep paralysis mentioned in the article is a natural experience for some persons, and it is independent of meds.
The reference to extra-terrestrials in this blog is in the context of sleep paralysis.
However, in relation to your experience to what you believe was an UFO, I know that several persons have claimed to have had a similar experience. I recall that quite a number of years ago, in the late evening, I saw what I thought was some object way up in the sky moving forward and spinning at the same time. I thought it may have been some satellite or man-made object up there, maybe even space junk. It lasted for about five seconds and then disappeared from view. I think also that there are natural things like meteorites, etc., and it may have been something of that sort. I never attached much significance to it, especially in terms of UFOs and extra-terrestrial beings, etc..
You asked whether dreams can warp a person's sense of reality. According to the article on which this blog is based, and for which I have stated the link, it would appear that it can. One may have very intense anxiety-filled dreams that feel very life-like and real as you mentioned.
I think that religion provides a sense of psychological security to the sincere believer which helps him/her to cope with hardships in life and it is important for a person to respect the religions of others that may be different from his/hers.
It's good to see that you have taught your children this respect:
“My children ,like myself that was taught to believe in respecting each and every other person for whatever religion they believed in and never to judge or compare.”
As we become adults and begin to think for ourselves, we see things more clearly. More than likely, we question some of the things we once believed in religion.
However, the young child is not yet able to think like that. In view of this, I support your action :
“I raised my own child in the ways I was raised believing the basic principles taught in church were good training for personal growth.”
It is very interesting that your father believed in Buddhism and encouraged you and your siblings to think outside the box.
I know that you mentioned you are an atheist. You must have arrived at that point through your own thinking. Yet, as an open-minded parent, you did not want your thinking to influence your children's perspective. They had to find their own.
I agree with your view about the significance of individual interpretation in religion. Yet, for religion to exist as a social institution, which, it is, per se, there must be some commonality in interpretation.
You seem to have had a very dynamic experience with religion, striving for your own individual perspective on it.
I may be wrong but I have the impression that in Denmark, (Scandinavia on the whole), people tend to be more open minded in their thinking. Your dad seemed to be such a person.
"The other journeys when taken in a spaceship were not the same. They just happened when travelling around and outside the earth then they sent a capsule to collect 2 of us (we were 2 doing the journey) which took us to another large spaceship which was orbiting the earth and then it took us to some other solar system And finally landed on a planet and into some tall building."
This sounds very much like a UFO episode re aliens.
Who are "they" in your report? Why were they travelling around and outside the earth?
So you and another person actually took a ride in a capsule to a large spaceship which then literally took you to another solar system and finally landed on a planet and into some tall building?
What was that planet like? What was the building like?
“Only on occasions I was taken into some kind of spaceship but they never showed me the planet itself. I was always taken inside some big rooms.”
I assume that some form of meditation or spiritual practice is required in order to journey to higher dimensions as you have done during which you encountered certain spiritual beings.
However, how does the spaceship come in? Do spiritual beings, as you have stated, require a space ship for travelling?
"Travel to some planet that has not yet been investigated by our scientists or are currently being investigated and report back to us about conditions on the planet that you observe during your travel there."
Perhaps, Mars may be suitable in view of the robot "Rover" exploring there.
Are you familiar with the name Timothy Leary? He was a noted Havard lecturer and researcher university professor who was an advocate for LSD during the “hippie” generation?
Yes, we have discussed this topic before. Still, thank you for your input here for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with it.
As I said, I accept the validity of the meditative experience, its benefits and the reference to “other dimensions”.
What I am questioning is whether persons actually travel to the stars and planets literally. Have you ever done it? Or do you know someone who has? What evidence is there to substantiate such a claim?
As I said, I accept the use of the term figuratively but not literally.
Thanks for the interesting story re the guy who travelled to the other side of the planet. It would have been even more interesting if he travelled to the home of a total stranger instead, and then have the stranger corroborate his report.
I accept the validity of certain paranormal experiences, similar to what we have discussed earlier.
However, what I am questioning is that some persons actually travel to other stars and planets literally.
Based on one of your previous blogs, re Eckhart Tolle, I expect that you are into meditative experience. If you have done it, as you state, that is, astral travel, what was it like? Did it involve actually travelling to stars and planets?
Essentially, we are all part of Nature. We came from her and shall return to her some day. Realizing our connection with her and being aware of this in our daily lives is a source of deep and genuine fulfilment.
When I checked CS this morning soon after I awoke, I noticed this blog. I was hoping to send you an email, requesting correspondence with you on stimulating topics in psychology, etc. for I greatly respect and admire "your mind".
However, when I checked again, your profile was not available.
Please do not be put off by whatever unpleasant experience you have had with some persons here.
I am sorry you cannot see the video I posted with the two kids singing their hearts out in a beautiful rendition.
Any way, here is some information from wikipedia about the song:
"You Raise Me Up" is a song that was originally composed by the duo Secret Garden. The music was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. After the song was performed early in 2002 by the Secret Garden and their invited lead singer, Brian Kennedy, the song only became a minor UK hit. The song has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including Josh Groban, who popularized the song in 2003; his rendition became a hit in the United States. The Irish band Westlife then popularized the song in the United Kingdom two years later. "You Raise Me Up" is sung as a contemporary hymn in church services.
I think that there is general agreement, even here on CS, that a lot of the emigrants are economic migrants. Looking at world history, that is one of the main reasons why people migrate, including migration to the United States.
I disagree with you that the migration to which you refer, is to dominate.
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The Nightmare of Sleep Paralysis
I also have had a similar experience quite a few years ago. I had fallen asleep and awoke to find that I was unable to move my limbs even though I was attempting to do so. I felt as if I was being pinned down. The experience which gave me a deep feeling of anxiety must have lasted about ten seconds.I distinctly remember I was lying in bed on my back at the time.