Originally Posted by sivason
There are two explainations the way I see it. 1) All of them are weird forms of LDs. 2) All of them use a similar portion of the brain and similar processes are used in all. Thus creating the seeming interconnectedness.
My latest belief is that dreams and out-of-body experiences are, at the core, not distinguishable from each other. That is to say, that all dreams are out-of-body experiences, and all out-of-body experiences (though I suppose it'd be fair to limit the definition to those naturally induced) are dreams. I used to say that they were different experiences, but I now only think of that as on the whole. I thought that because I used to think that a dream was limited to REM sleep, but my views have changed since in my research I found that dreams do not require REM, nor does REM necessarily imply dreaming. My understanding is that states such as REM, non-REM, and waking consciousness are just various states of mind, and dreams/out-of-body experiences are generated by a single process. They are then colored by the differences in those mental states and the ways in which they are induced and in which awareness is focused.
Blocking the dopaminergic areas of the brain, particularly those in the limbic system, will block the formation of dreams, the psychotic effects of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, and the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. I'm not aware of any official tests which tests antipsychotic efficacy against an out-of-body experience measured in a waking state, but I would be shocked if they didn't end up with the same results. Dopamine really does seem to be at the heart of all non-physical experiences if you ask me, even in just visualization if my understanding is correct. It's because of this that I believe these all to truly be the same process simply being stacked against different aspects of the brain at different levels of being awake or asleep, or against different induced or unusual neurochemical balances.
That's not to say that I don't think those different states of mind can make for some significant changes in the subjective experience, but I do think that they are the same at the base. So to answer the original post, if you ask me a lucid dream is an out-of-body experience and an astral projection where you're consciously aware of what's going on is a lucid dream. However, that doesn't mean that any experience induced by any method or in any level of consciousness should be considered completely interchangeable.
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