Thread: Mistaking an OBE for a lucid dream?

Let me start from the begining. I took a nap today and started dreaming almost instantly. In my dream I was some arena fighter in the future... think Star Wars. Anyway, at one point in my dream I made the laser shooting noise with my mouth in which I heard laughing. I woke myself up to see if anyone was laughing, noticed no one was laughing and went back to sleep. I immediately began saying stuff like "You are relaxed and are going to begin dreaming soon." When I started dreaming I was looking upon my body and I immediately began to float.

As I floated up uncontrollably I got insanely scared and tried to wake myself up. I said to myself "I NEED TO WAKE UP" and all sorts of stuff like that when I eventually I made myself moan. This distracted my mind enough for me to wake up.

Now, I'm very confident that this wasn't an OBE, but how can I be sure? My roomie says it sounds exactly like one, but I think it was just a very vivid lucid dream. What do you guys think?

Since I don't really believe in the whole OBE thing, my opinion is that it was just a lucid dream, taking a form that resembles what your mind thinks an OBE would be like.

IMHO, it was only a lucid dream. i've had 4 or 5 lucids where i felt myself rise completely out of my body. and a dozen or so others where i felt 'phantom limbs" or rolled out of my body.

the mind can create amazing things

in my opinion, next time you shouldn't try to fight it. just constantly remind yourself nothing can harm you, and you are only dreaming. explore around abit, see if you find anything interesting.

the worst that will happen is you will actually be having an OBE, and experience something which you can verify during waking life. and i don't see how that's bad.
both lucid dreamers and (most) astral projectors stress the point that nothing can harm you while 'out of body'.

how many lucids have you had before this experience?

Originally posted by Asher
how many lucids have you had before this experience?

Just one. I completely forgot about lucidity untill that experience. It was a real refresher.

Originally posted by Crimson_Edge


Just one. I completely forgot about lucidity untill that experience. It was a real refresher.

i suspected as much. i know how freaky it can be to have something like that happen when you aren't familiar with it (or even trying to do it! ).

yet i also suspect you want to have lucids, or you wouldn't be here. push past that initial fear if this is the case. trust me, it is well worth it

I used to believe I could tell dreams and real life apart by the various factors (temperature, wind factor, etc). With lucid dreams, even the minute details are present. If you ever feel you are experiencing an OBE, take advantage of the situation and thoroughly analyze your surroundings. You'll be able to verify the results.

Originally posted by Crimson_Edge
Now, I'm very confident that this wasn't an OBE, but how can I be sure? My roomie says it sounds exactly like one, but I think it was just a very vivid lucid dream. What do you guys think?

How can you be 'confident' that what describes as a classic OBE was not an OBE? What indeed else could it have been? You think that the simplest explanation would be that you had a dream you were having an OBE. Or is it more straightforward to say that you had an OBE. You know, philosophically, we must prefer the simplest explanations over the more byzantine.

So, no, you had an OBE.

But now you need to consider why you were so fearful about it all. Why, on the OBE pages there are people who would give their left eye-tooth for an OBE, and then you have one and are crying like a little girl about it. Well, you should grow some guts and be positive about such coveted adventures. Next you'll be telling us how terrified you are of wet dreams.

Originally posted by Leo Volont


How can you be 'confident' that what describes as a classic OBE was not an OBE? What indeed else could it have been? You think that the simplest explanation would be that you had a dream you were having an OBE. Or is it more straightforward to say that you had an OBE. You know, philosophically, we must prefer the simplest explanations over the more byzantine.

So, no, you had an OBE.

But now you need to consider why you were so fearful about it all. Why, on the OBE pages there are people who would give their left eye-tooth for an OBE, and then you have one and are crying like a little girl about it. Well, you should grow some guts and be positive about such coveted adventures. Next you'll be telling us how terrified you are of wet dreams.

You seem inexperienced in LDing, if you were you'd realise that the chance of this being an actual OBE compared to a lucid dream are seriously low. Lower than the chance of you winning the lottery.(Maybe i'm wrong in the thought of you being inexperienced, if so, apologies.)

You think that the concept of your mind seperating from your body and gaining the ability to maneuver through the space and time which we call reality the more simple explanation. A simpler explanation than the concept of just gaining awareness while dreaming.....

You cant just tell the person "So, no, you had an OBE. " You dont know whether it was an LD experience or an OBE for sure.

In my opinion, it looks to be a lucid dream.

If anyone here disagrees with this i'll quite happily explain as to why the chance of having an OBE is so low and that the majority of people that practice having OBE's are infact experiencing Lucid Dreams.

Originally posted by Leo Volont
Why, on the OBE pages there are people who would give their left eye-tooth for an OBE, and then you have one and are crying like a little girl about it. Well, you should grow some guts and be positive about such coveted adventures. Next you'll be telling us how terrified you are of wet dreams.

Go easy, Leo. Don't get all pissed off that no one besides yourself thinks this person had an OBE. People are less likely to think over your explanations if you write childish crap like this at the end of them.

An OBE IS a lucid dream.. just a different type. There is an argument that says that all lucid dreams are "OBEs"- after all, you are "out-of-body" in a sense.

Your experience sounds like a non-OBE lucid dream. The typical OBE contains a view of the sleeping body in the everyday waking reality.

I agree with Oneiro; an OBE is a Lucid Dream that takes place in real space/time, as opposed to Lucid Dreams that take place in the (insert your favorite explanation here)

Crimson_Edge said: “When I started dreaming I was looking upon my body and I immediately began to float.”

Was your body lying in the place you laid down to take a nap? Did it seem like the same time of day as when you laid down? Why are you confident that it wasn’t an OBE?

Originally posted by Dust Mote
Crimson_Edge said: “When I started dreaming I was looking upon my body and I immediately began to float.”

I missed this first time around. Now your experience sounds like an OBE, although it is not unknown for DCs to impersonate oneself in a dream scenario.

Sorry for not replying recently, been busy with a move and such.

To answer some questions...

Originally posted by Dust Mote
Was your body lying in the place you laid down to take a nap? Did it seem like the same time of day as when you laid down? Why are you confident that it wasn’t an OBE?

My body was lying in the place I was sleeping, yes, however nobody that I could see was in the room. When I awoke a friend of mine was looking at me from my roomies bed saying "Dude, you ok?" as I made a noise to wake myself up quickly.

I'm fairly confident that this wasn't an OBE but instead a lucid dream in the third person (many of my dreams are in the third person) mainly because I was able to wake myself up from it by making a slight moan. As I fell asleep I also told myself that I was about to fall asleep and other such things that the LD tape that was on the forum a good while back said to do.

The instant I began dreaming I was looking at my body and was immediately pulled away from it... floating up if you will. This frightened me and I began trying to wake myself up.

I believe that if this were a true OBE I would not have been able to wake myself up as my concious mind would have left my body, leaving my body in a sort of coma. Atleast, this is my theory on OBE's (as a true OBE would be your mind outside your body... not the LD type of OBE).

My body was lying in the place I was sleeping, yes, however nobody that I could see was in the room. When I awoke a friend of mine was looking at me from my roomies bed saying "Dude, you ok?" as I made a noise to wake myself up quickly.[/b]

Apparently there was someone else in the room when you were floating above your body. Did you see that person when you were floating? Do you remember looking at the bed he was laying in?

The instant I began dreaming I was looking at my body and was immediately pulled away from it... floating up if you will. This frightened me and I began trying to wake myself up.[/b]

Can’t say for sure but, I believe that people are more likely to find OBEs more frightening than Lucid Dreams.

I believe that if this were a true OBE I would not have been able to wake myself up as my concious mind would have left my body, leaving my body in a sort of coma.[/b]

Aye, there’s the rub. Where is your conscious mind? If, as you suggest, in an OBE your mind leaves your body that doesn’t mean that you have lost contact with your body. When you made the moan to wake yourself up were you still floating above your body, or had you returned?

I’m sure, with more experience, you will be able to sort out for yourself what kind of label you want to attach to this experience. I had no idea what happened the first time I had an OBE. But after a couple dozen LDs I had another one and I definitely knew the difference.

Originally posted by Dust Mote
When you made the moan to wake yourself up were you still floating above your body, or had you returned?

I just woke up. There was really no returning, just a "Oh I'm awake."