Plastic Paths: The Defining Dilemma
What’s the Difference?
Dreaming, lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis, and astral traveling. All, in my opinion, are in the same family. The same subconscious cluster that is hard to define, difficult to explain, and even harder to prove. So what is the difference between these four? As a OBE group moderator for the past 9 years and astral travel course teacher I’ve been asked this question many times, and the truth is that I still can’t fully explain how one can tell when they are out of body rather than lucid dreaming other than saying “you’ll know when you’re experiencing it.”
This is, of course, the worst possible answer for the questioner because it isn’t really an answer at all. I wish upon wish I could provide a clearer response, but to be honest, I’m still learning, too. We all are. And in the astral/dream realm, things aren’t always one or the other.
One night I found myself walking through a small amusement park type of village. The houses were about three feet tall and had fake snow over the roofs. I walked along plastic paths that had been painted to look like dirt and grass. There were a lot of people there, too, and we all seemed to be having a nice time, but I wasn’t entirely happy for some reason. Then my parents walked past me in the path. They were talking and smiling until they looked at me, then they looked startled and pretended not to see me. I got annoyed by this and decided I didn’t want to be part of this dream anymore and told myself to wake up. That voice of truth we often hear in dreams or astral traveling, the voice that is our own (our higher selves perhaps) said, “No.”
No? I’ve never been in a lucid dream before where I couldn’t end the dream. The voice replied, “You’re not dreaming and this needs to be done.” Right then I knew it to be true even though the specifics of what “needs to be done” were never revealed. In this state they don’t have to be because we somehow just know.
I walked further along the path and came to the end of the village, which now looked like a movie set. I understood that I had a choice to make so I said, “I don’t want to do this anymore,” and I walked off the village set. Looking back over my shoulder, my parents were smiling and talking to other people but now they looked like animatronics. “They’re never going to leave, are they?” I asked. My voice of truth replied, “No.”
“Can they, if they want to?”
“Yes.”
I felt sad and empowered at the same time. I said I wanted to go home, walked into darkness a few more steps then opened my physical eyes. I was in bed, back in my body.
I thought the experience was a dream until it was revealed otherwise, so how do I explain what the difference is between astral traveling and lucid dreaming with any other answer than “you’ll know when you get there.”?
Label this: False Awakenings
Ever experience a false awakening? For me, these are the oddest experiences. The alarm goes off, turn it off, get into the shower and physically feel the water, the heat, the soap, the shampoo. Get dressed, make coffee, turn on the television, physically feeling the remote control in hand. Physically smell and taste the coffee. Nothing is different, everything is how it normally is. Get in the car, hear the radio, feel the seat beneath the body, feel the steering wheel in hands and then the alarm goes off. Blink and you’re back in bed. Shut off the alarm and do it all again.
What is that? Why does that happen? What could possibly be the purpose? I’ve heard theories that it is a time hiccup, or an intentional time jump. Perhaps in the first timeline something happens, like a car accident, and the spirit or universe or whomever decides that this is not the preferred outcome so we are taken back in time for a redo.
Perhaps it was all just a dream and the mind is so familiar with the routine that one only thinks they are feeling and sensing everything? Perhaps it was a practice run? I honestly don’t know.
The Answers
Life would be so much simpler if everything was easily definable. But then what would be the fun of exploring? If it is answers you seek then I encourage you to find them. Don’t go to Google, don’t rely on the testimony of experts, and don’t take it from me. When you go to bed tonight, tell yourself what you want to learn. Or tell yourself that you will astral travel tonight and remember it all when you wake up. Tell yourself that you will experience a lucid dream tonight, if that is what you want. Don’t be shy about speaking up and telling the universe and your higher self what it is you want to experience, what you hope to find, and certainly don’t be shy about demanding answers.
The universe has probably been trying to talk to you for a long time and has been eagerly waiting the moment you decide to listen.
Happy travels!