Thread: Misconception of a Misconception [SP]

It's been bugging me for a while now but I noticed a lot of people get extremely angry when someone mentions Sleep Paralysis, especially when I say it on the irc. I can understand why people do not like the term but it kinda throws me off and I feel like I'm being made out as some sort of evil doer just because It's a term I've always used in my life. And I feel that a lot of people are also used to the term SP, especially from my few days of experience on the irc. And many of those people do not understand why it's considered a word of taboo.

All this about it being a bad thing based on an already huge misconception of the term just makes things more complicated for those who have grown up with it. It really 'urks me because for years back when I astral projected, the immobilization of the physical body was always called SP and was never seen as a negative thing. And yes, I have had times where I "awoken" or more so ended up in a real-like dream where I find myself laying in my room unable to move and encountered shadowy creatures (perhaps Shadow People) who emerge from various silhouettes of the furniture I have. Yes, I did indeed have that kind of experience. I was not afraid and actually, the creatures were very nice to me and it was the most pleasant and heartwarming experience that I ever felt. But not to say that I could have a negative experience, just as if I had a nightmare like many people have had. Fear shouldn't keep people from doing these sorts of things.

It sucks that I couldn't move to engage with such beings, but from an astral projectors stand point on the matter is that one who is immobilized is just having a hard time detaching their spiritual/dream body from their physical. SP for many of us has never been described as actually being paralyzed in the "true" wakening state. And it may just be an astral projection thing, and I agree that WILDing shouldn't focus on SP.

Then we get to things like HH (Hypnagogic Hallucinations). Anything with the term hallucinations has been, from my stand point, a term that is offensive to those who practice third-eye manipulation and telepathy with otherworldly beings (like myself and some people I met years back at another college). Hallucinations from where I come from is described to be some sort of mental illness symptom. And I do not know where most of you come from but here in the western society, our media categorizes those who do practice third-eye manipulation, believe they can see ghosts and aliens, as some sort of schizophrenic disturbed person who sees fake things. And a lot of our comedy mocks those using the same kind of terms.

But if we here on this site don't see the term hallucinations as something of offense then why must terms like Sleep Paralysis do? But then again...this is a dreaming forum and not an astral projection forum...so I guess the viewpoints are different when it comes to it...

Ultimately I feel that these changes in terminology has been making it more confusing on people. Why can't SP just be another way to say REM atonia and the like? Why must humanity let the fear and misconception of a misconception force upon a different vocabulary source?

http://www.dreamviews.com/sleep-heal...ml#post1942590

Originally Posted by Empedocles

Why complicate things this much?

Sleep paralysis cannot be mistaken for anything else. It is literally being unable to move. It feels as if you are being "blocked". Everything, your arms, your legs, your head. In SP I have to try very hard, with great strength, to move my head, and that way (with lots of "pushing") I am able to break SP. It feels exhausting afterwards. So if someone describes their experience as finding it difficult to move, but nonetheless being able to move, then he/she definitely did not experience SP.

The problem: Some people have never experienced SP, and therefore they will mistaken SP for something else which isn't even remotely related to it.

SP happens either 1.) when falling asleep, or 2.) when waking up.

I have had SP since I was a kid, but I also know many people even in their 60s who have never experienced it. Why that is, I don't know, it beats me. But those who experienced sleep paralysis will know they had it. There is no doubt about it.

Therefore, let's keep it simple. When you feel sleep paralysis, you won't be able to move. It will feel as if you are stuck in an extremely tight box with no space whatsoever. The best way to "get out of it" seems to vary from person to person. For me, it's attempting to move my head with great effort, and then I break out of it.

SP feels uncomfortable, especially to people who don't know what it is, or to those who aren't used to it. For me, an experienced lucid dreamer who also experienced SP countless times, sometimes I feel absolutely OK with it, and I use it to go into a WILD, but yet other times it feels uncomfortable and I simply have to break out of it.

Either way, SP is a feeling you can't mistake for anything else.

Now I feel like I should of posted this on the SP Verdict thread...I'm sorry.

It's an extreme reaction that gets people's attention and then they realize that Sleep Paralysis and REM Atonia are in fact distinct phenomenon, though not mutually exclusive of each other. REM Atonia is like a rectangle, and Sleep Paralysis is like a square. Not all rectangles are squares, but all squares are rectangles.

Is the reaction some people have to seeing the terms used incorrectly warranted? Depends on your opinion really. I don't find it worth my time to freak out about it. I personally like to be correct and accurate, so I've changed my usage except in a context where I clearly make it known that I am using SP as short hand for what we otherwise know as REM Atonia for posterity's sake. I think on a personal level, an animated reaction is silly, but on a macro-level it does in fact serve a purpose. That purpose, of course, is being accurate in what we say and keeping with modern terminology as a group. Traditions and traditional usage of words and other customs also have their own place on a macro-level when it comes to human culture, knowledge, and information. However, keeping something around or continuing to do something simply because "it's what we've always done/used to do" or because it someone feels like it isn't something I'm a fan of.

So, this is why SP is a taboo word on this website now. There is always a time where someone like yourself needs to step in and actually ask why we are being so hard on each other over terminology, but it's all a part of how change comes about. When I see that the moment is opportune, I might say something like you have. Or, if somebody else says it, I will agree with it or at least not be against it. Otherwise, it's a process that I observe and do my part to contribute to here and there.

Originally Posted by snoop

It's an extreme reaction that gets people's attention and then they realize that Sleep Paralysis and REM Atonia are in fact distinct phenomenon, though not mutually exclusive of each other. REM Atonia is like a rectangle, and Sleep Paralysis is like a square. Not all rectangles are squares, but all squares are rectangles.

Is the reaction some people have to seeing the terms used incorrectly warranted? Depends on your opinion really. I don't find it worth my time to freak out about it. I personally like to be correct and accurate, so I've changed my usage except in a context where I clearly make it known that I am using SP as short hand for what we otherwise know as REM Atonia for posterity's sake. I think on a personal level, an animated reaction is silly, but on a macro-level it does in fact serve a purpose. That purpose, of course, is being accurate in what we say and keeping with modern terminology as a group. Traditions and traditional usage of words and other customs also have their own place on a macro-level when it comes to human culture, knowledge, and information. However, keeping something around or continuing to do something simply because "it's what we've always done/used to do" or because it someone feels like it isn't something I'm a fan of.

So, this is why SP is a taboo word on this website now. There is always a time where someone like yourself needs to step in and actually ask why we are being so hard on each other over terminology, but it's all a part of how change comes about. When I see that the moment is opportune, I might say something like you have. Or, if somebody else says it, I will agree with it or at least not be against it. Otherwise, it's a process that I observe and do my part to contribute to here and there.

Hmmm...I understand what you mean.