[Haftdrarp]

Hi, CRW3! I usually post on another site that holds a more pragmatic view on the whole thing. You really want to know what I think? That OOBEs, Astral Projection, DILDs, WILDs and False Awakenings are one and the same...just different entries. They are all labels that we have come up with. It is a peculiar state of consciousness that can be entered before, during and after sleep. We merely call it the phase.

EEG scans have been able to identify the phase as a hybrid state between wakefulness and dreaming. Here are differences which will help you to distinguish between states of mind:

Waking State:

Also known as wakefulness. In this state, people perceive the physical realm. An individual who is awake is conscious, self-aware, and there is realism of perception. The environment is stable and there is no required effort to enter this state. The perceived world seems to follow set rules, and, only on a quantum level, do things appear to be less logical and more uncertain.

Dream State:

This entails non-lucid dreams and falling asleep is all that is needed to enter this state. Self-awareness is absent and the unconscious mind often rules over the conscious one. The dreamer is immersed in plots and often detached from waking life memories. The experience can be vivid or vague, and, despite the instability, the illogical is accepted as being logical and true. Certain techniques can be employed to boost dream recall.

Phase State:

This entails out-of-body experiences (OOBEs or OBEs) and lucid dreams. Both are one and the same as a practitioner of this state has the distinct sensation of being elsewhere other than the physical body. This elusive state can be entered before, during, and after sleep. Effort is required in order to enter the phase voluntarily, although, some experiences are induced involuntarily. The practitioner is conscious and self-aware in what appears to be a reality of a mental nature which often emulates the waking state experience. One perceives a realistic phantom reality that can surpass the quality of the waking world, and, although phase environments can appear stable, they can also transmute. It is possible to slip into the dream state from here and vice versa.

This is a diagram taken from Michael Raduga's School of Out of Body Travel:

The-Essence-Of-The-Phase-Phenomenon-001.jpg