Thread: OBE vs. Lucid Dreams

let's see...

an OBE (it seems) is where your energy body projects outside of your physical body and your awareness is present in the 'real time zone.' this is basically the consensus reality we exist in, but when out of body it is a buffer zone, beyond which is the astral (non-consensus reality).

for example, the last time i had an OBE i floated towards the far side of my room, whereas an AP is sort of an extension of this and much closer to the dream world. by that i mean a lucid dream is more 'in your head,' although those who have experienced shared dreams will point out that it can also be more than that.

in terms of what it's like... i think you can do a lot more in a lucid dream than in a OBE. i much much prefer LDs.

...i think there are others here who can elaborate on this.

There is not much of a difference really. I'm sure a huge percent of OBE's are really dreams. Try for the verrification ones, and i don't mean where you hear someone in the same room as that can be done anyway. Other side of the world, or tools in the area you have never been to (hospital?), someone who did so and so and then other things and it was in that order they were told.

I always thought the difference is that OBE is out of body and not a dream, while a LD is, well, a dream where you are lucid <.<
Still don't see the relation... unless you go for FA/OBE, but thats another story.

Isnt an obe like a dream while your awake, like an hallucination. But a lucid dream, is being aware that your in a dream.

The differences for me are subtle.

In an OBE, the energy body separates from the physical body and is free to operate in non-common reality. Some call this alternate reality the Astral Plane, others call it the Nagual, or the Spirit Realm. Whatever you call it, it is an alternate reality that is very much associated with our shared 'common' reality but on a different level.

A Lucid Dream allows a person access to the same information and experience without the necessity of releasing the energy body. Therefore, your energy body remains fixed within your physical body but without the restrictions your waking consciousness imposes.

They're the same thing.

The elements that some claim distinguish OBEs from Lucid Dreams are, in reality, just variations of dreaming.

As most lucid dreamers will tell you Dreams are very much driven by expectations.

Everything from absence of body, to ghostly hands or silver ropes anchoring you to your body are simply dream elements.

There is absolutely nothing that OBEers can give as evidence which can't simply be explained as being part of the dream.

Heres the hilarious part. Say you have a False Awakening and find yourself in your bedroom. Then oops, you notice an extra window - OBEers will claim thats ok, your room just looks a bit different on the Astral Plane.

Say you have a near perfect repreduction of your flat, and surprisingly find you can use your astral body to move a book around.
Guess what, when you wake up the book hasn't moved.
What do the OBEers say. You guessed it - the Astral Plane get out card.

Originally Posted by moonshine

They're the same thing.

The elements that some claim distinguish OBEs from Lucid Dreams are, in reality, just variations of dreaming.

As most lucid dreamers will tell you Dreams are very much driven by expectations.

Everything from absence of body, to ghostly hands or silver ropes anchoring you to your body are simply dream elements.

There is absolutely nothing that OBEers can give as evidence which can't simply be explained as being part of the dream.

Heres the hilarious part. Say you have a False Awakening and find yourself in your bedroom. Then oops, you notice an extra window - OBEers will claim thats ok, your room just looks a bit different on the Astral Plane.

Say you have a near perfect repreduction of your flat, and surprisingly find you can use your astral body to move a book around.
Guess what, when you wake up the book hasn't moved.
What do the OBEers say. You guessed it - the Astral Plane get out card.

Wrong, first, OBE would be considered a non-lucid if you don't believe in it, you know, the one who is having it knows its an OBE, not a dream, so can't be lucid.
Now, as I has always seen it, OBE happens in the physical realm, while AP doesn't, and therefore, can't be separated from a dream. I don't think an OBE in which you see something weird in the room is ever an OBE, I only consider OBEs where you see something that you could not have guessed from when you were asleep, and comfirm it upon awakening (And there was no extra things to the enviroment), so don't generalize please <.<

Originally Posted by Walms

Wrong, first, OBE would be considered a non-lucid if you don't believe in it, you know, the one who is having it knows its an OBE, not a dream, so can't be lucid.
Now, as I has always seen it, OBE happens in the physical realm, while AP doesn't, and therefore, can't be separated from a dream. I don't think an OBE in which you see something weird in the room is ever an OBE, I only consider OBEs where you see something that you could not have guessed from when you were asleep, and comfirm it upon awakening (And there was no extra things to the enviroment), so don't generalize please <.<

So, just a word of temperance here; Since we are talking about personal views and beliefs, to state flat out that one is wrong is inappropriate at best and offensive and denigrating at worst. So, please, if you wish to be taken seriously, perhaps try to express your own personal opinion in a way that doesn't attempt to make someone else 'wrong' by theirs.

I disagree with Moonshine's statement as well. However, it is their opinion and they are welcome to it. And, since this is an open forum, they are free to express that opinion in any way they wish so long as it is respectful. So far, it has not been 'disrespectful' though they have made certain statements of "fact" that may or may not be supportable.

OBE is in the astral plane, and dreaming is on the dream plane. The astral plane is between the dream and physical planes.

When you have dreams of walking down the street at night, it could be astral.

Holy god.. I should write tutorial about different schools of thought on what OBE and astral projection is as believers can not really agree among themselves what those term mean.

As for OP's question: OBE means Out-of-body experience. At the very least, it means an experience when you feel like you is going out of body. During practice of WILDs it happens a lot. It does not mean that you have really went out of body just as flying in dream does not mean you were flying in real world.

At the other side, a lot of dreamer held obsolete occult view that while OOBE your soul or «energy body» leaves your physical body and goes into real world or in some cases (depends on which school of esoteric thought dreamer belongs to) into "astral plane" (whatever it is - astral warriors do not have unified opinion on this matter as well).

And by "obsolete occult view" I do not mean that being occult is the case. I mean that concept of "soul or something leaving the body" is more then century years old, and for this century years old world have moved a lot as well as occultism. The idea of something leaving your body and "Astral" is just plain boring. Even Grandpa Castaneda is way more progressive and modern than this.

I always thought that they were the same thing. I think that most OBEs are dream initiated. I had an experience that changed my mind about them being the same. From then on I knew that although they are similar they can be quite different. If I explain it it sounds like a WILD but it was different. Of course you could say that I dreamed it different. They are related. They overlap. The best I can describe it is like an OBE is a higher octave (in musical terms) of a lucid dream. Or a lucid dream is like a visible color but an OBE is in the ultraviolet or Xray range. It is the same but way more intense and more real feeling. But trying to define the difference might be a matter of semantics and beliefs.

Can you move things in an OBE? I always thought that in an OBE you couldn't control anything like you can in a lucid dream. You just sort of explore, or go to different dimensions.
So if you thought you were having an OBE but managed to make something happen like making someone appear, then you'd know it was actually a lucid dream wouldn't you? Although I guess it is the astral plane, where you can make stuff happen. then you'd have to distinguish between AP and OBE, no wonder everyone gets so confused!
I've floated out of my body before but I've never thought it was an OBE, just a lucid dream, although I do believe in them and want to have one.

I've had lucid dreams and I've had one OBE with multiple separations from my body. As noted before, there is no way of logically explaining the difference, it is something felt. The one time I purposely "left my body" was real beyond amazing, but if I explain it the OBEers will say, "yeah, I've done that", the dreamers will say, "that's just a "WILD", and people who've never done either will stay confused.

As with everything in the dreaming/astral world it is something you need to resolve in your own experience and forget trying to talk about it logically - it can't be done. Do it for yourself and figure out what is what for you. For me, the OBEs I've had were qualitatively different from anything I've done in dreaming, lucid or otherwise.