[mplawssix]

I'm constantly fighting off sleep paralysis and spontaneous projections and sometimes I wonder if I should stop fighting it and try to OBE and lucid dream.

Is it life changing?

What good can come from it?

[VemyhemiHef]

I don't know if it's life changing. I am glad to be able to do it, and can think of many times when it was extremely uplifting. But 'life changing' is a weird concept. IMO, anything can be life-changing.
It's a form of exploration, so the good that can come of it is personal- I have been able to see my father and grandparents in the afterdeath zone, was able to interact with my grandmother when she went into a coma and before she passed, and other things like that. But like I said, these things are deeply personal.
I think (or believe) that when you're ready to do it, you will need no reasons, or the reasons will come to you.
If you feel you need to be convinced to let it happen, then you're not ready, IMO.

[mplawssix]

My many feelings on the matter:

I guess I'm just looking for answers. Something to put energy into.

I know nothing of astral projection, but I'm running out of rope, and that kind of experience might open doors of much needed awareness.

There is much fear I'll continue to become more detached from those around me. Astral projection isn't something that anyone I know practices (atleast openly), or knows about.

It does feel that I'm running away from it...it's just that, I know there is probably going to be alot of things I never wanted to see or know about.

My life seems to be without any structure right now (it never had any). Apart of me knows that there will be a day when I'll jump in, but I thought it would be when I'd have my life in order. Could this....over complicate things?

It's a point of no return, isn't it?

[diegogo]

There is much fear I'll continue to become more detached from those around me.

I can address this one. It's something I, too, have struggled with.

Detachment is a good thing. Generally speaking, the sense of significant detachment (if you get it at all) doesn't last that long, and even when it's upon you, it's not like you hate them or have no regard for them. It's just a matter of being not directly and/or immediately emotionally and mentally affected by interacting with them, because your focus is somewhere other than the dreamstate that is material reality. It's just a change in perspective, and it's a broader one which still includes other people, but is bigger and more expansive.

I know there is probably going to be alot of things I never wanted to see or know about.

That's not really a helpful attitude. If you believe that, it's what's likely to happen.

Also, what you seem to be defending is denial, or ignorance. While it's everyone's right to choose that, think hard about whether or not living in ignorance/denial (when you have an opportunity to expand your awareness) is really want you want. It may be, and that's okay. But I suspect you want more than that.

Could this....over complicate things?

It depends on what you mean by "complicate". If you mean "change", then, yes, it will probably generate change. How much is impossible to say. Change is good. Without it, we become stagnant and complacent.

It's a point of no return, isn't it?

Not necessarily. It's true that once something is changed, it usually doesn't go back to the way it was before, but in almost all cases, the new state is found to be the preferred state. I would never, for any reason or circumstance, go backward. Yeah, my perspectives are wildly different than they once were, and maybe my life was "simpler" when I was more ignorant and more closed and less aware, but it certainly wasn't happier or better.

So that's my perspective, anyway.

[Xcqjwarl]

I truly think if God wants you to astral project, you'll astral project.

I started astral projecting involuntarily when I was atheist. This was at a time when I didn't believe in God anymore, or souls.

So yes, it is deeply personal. If you do astral project there is probably a reason for it.

[VemyhemiHef]

My many feelings on the matter:

I guess I'm just looking for answers. Something to put energy into.

Sounds to me like the fact that you are putting energy into thinking about it, you are looking for an excuse to try it. So, try it.

I know nothing of astral projection, but I'm running out of rope, and that kind of experience might open doors of much needed awareness. Or it may give you something to be aware about, and I think this is a good thing.

There is much fear I'll continue to become more detached from those around me. Astral projection isn't something that anyone I know practices (atleast openly), or knows about. I think this is true only if you think it's true. I don't feel it's isolating, in life there are things you'll do as a group and things you'll do by yourself- at the moment, this may be something you do by yourself, but there is a time when you will be able to do it as part of a group. That's the thing about life, things change all the time.

My life seems to be without any structure right now (it never had any). Apart of me knows that there will be a day when I'll jump in, but I thought it would be when I'd have my life in order. Could this....over complicate things? It may help with the structure part, because any cultivated practice takes a degree of discipline.

It's a point of no return, isn't it? I don't think so.

[enactolaelant]

the 'fear' being thought of in this topic is actually reversed as one seeing themself of the world, relatively.

in actuality, pursuing such recourses does deconstruct one's perceived attachments, as to cause fear of detachment. yet, this is merely intuition coming online to the practitioner, wherein the senses report 'detachment'; this detachment present though having been thought of as attachment, but it being of the world, relatively as mine and yours.

point is, intuitively one discovers that they've not been attached at all (in thought), they identifiably only of these relationships that have been of the outlying world alone. hence the fear of losing, whilst intuition disspells the thoughted realm of 'world outlying'.

thus it is, that as intuition deconstructs thoughted world to reclaim the 'you' in it, as it, one truly arrives to that 'attachment' which has never been of the world, but rather of 'you' being of god, that while you are in the world with others relationally; neither you nor they (all) have been undetached or undetachable, all being as one body of.

ergo, the dualistic 'thought' of polarised attach/detach is just that, dualistic thinking; and as such is False Evidence Appearing Real, therefore being F E A R.

the Beauty of this, is that 'you' remain as it were, to be relational, yet these relationships are NOW identified as You within, wherein the thoughted roles of separation and division having been claimed through deconstruction, the reclamation of true self being free is also free of role playing, whereby all others are freed as 'well'.

or what is realized within is also realized in the outlying. so to say, that realization within is actualization of the inner realization outward into that which had seemed to not have been 'you', but which now is seen as that which without, there is no YOU to be in it.

or to say, you being of god, it is that the world is of you, it being the you which is of god; therefore the world is of god through you, even as you of true self remain in it to be.

but, upward until this 'actualization', as an arc of understanding intuitively igniting the reclaiming lights within, one is that which has been written of in this saying, "forgive them Father, for they know not what they do".

to end this then would be to say, that this fear of becoming further detached is as if the light arriving is driving the shadowed self back into the corners of ones thought constructed identity.

yet, we being human are not roaches, are we?

finally, while we may run from this we may not hide, for in the deconstruction of thoughted world is all which would be hidden within removed, that the light fills completely to overflowing, whereupon overflowing one's relationships are as abundantly enriched as are they enriched first.

truthfully, to have such thought constructions removed has to enrich what is outlying in the world, because it simply places the values completely within the god-constucted which naturally through us...IS.

a tree in it's full import is now free to be as it is, free of whatever one would have constructively restrained it as a limitation toward usage. the same for all others, freed from usury, or the thought of what am "I" getting from this relationship, or 'conditional' berating of even those we'd thought to have loved, yet knew not that we misunderstood the true connection of sharing in kind equally and unconditionally.

ok, enough meandering nonsense....

but, the 'point of no return' is suggestive of having returned, such that here is you....finished/complete.

tim

[WoCTrt0X]

Hello, SleepGOTweird.

My many feelings on the matter:

I guess I'm just looking for answers. Something to put energy into.

Developing OBE skills can be part of looking for answers. Read a few inspirational OBE authors - Robert Monroe, Kurt Leland for example work fine for me. Or for example Karen's OBE diary here on site - if that feels "closer to home" for you. If you can feel that it positively contributed to their "finding the answers," you might have an easier time considering it for your own inquiries as well.

I know nothing of astral projection, but I'm running out of rope, and that kind of experience might open doors of much needed awareness.

It might. Pursuing it for spiritual insight is one good motivation that might be helpful in having good and meaningful experiences.

There is much fear I'll continue to become more detached from those around me. Astral projection isn't something that anyone I know practices (atleast openly), or knows about.

That's normal. You will find for example reference to this issue in many of Kurt Leland's descriptions of his adventures out of body. Yet his life was enriched (and those of others) by what he experienced. In the end you also need to find peers or friends that you can share this experience with, and frankly, I think by being here you make a good start.

It does feel that I'm running away from it...it's just that, I know there is probably going to be alot of things I never wanted to see or know about.

Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on what you need to learn. But fear can be a sign of not starting something that might contribute to your growth. A silly yet known example - many people might remember being afraid of their first day at school. Their parents might have told them it's good for them, but at first it was all strange and unknown, and for some that's totally scary. In the end after the first week everything works out, but if all those people just stayed away from it because of the fear they felt, would it have been for their benefit?

Whenever you feel fear, first make sure whether you think it's dangerous. That's primal fear and serves to protect you. If it's not really dangerous, allow yourself pondering "What would happen if I did this?" Allow yourself to daydream, write a bit about it, explore the idea, see how exploring these possibilities makes you feel. Then maybe give it a try.

My life seems to be without any structure right now (it never had any). Apart of me knows that there will be a day when I'll jump in, but I thought it would be when I'd have my life in order. Could this....over complicate things?

Well, integrating this aspect into your life might help getting your life in order, who knows? It's all about getting helpful guidance - for example through dreams. Or through projections.

It's a point of no return, isn't it?

Maybe. It's not like you get sucked in and never return - that's what you make it sound like. Unless you were rather pushy and ambitious about what you want to accomplish and did things like meditate all the time or neglect your waking life for your dream/OBE life, it should be rather manageable in my opinion.

Take care,
Oliver

[mplawssix]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

Now it's just a matter of when.

[Nundduedola]

you'll know when the time is right. you just have to take the opportunity when it comes. opportunity presents its self, but we still have choice to let it go