Brilliant book for inducing lucid dreaming

I have just read a book on lucid dreaming which seemed to increase my lucid ability simply by reading it. While reading it I was having lucid dreams nearly every night. Before I tell you the title, two things:

1) This book is not a 'how to' book and is more suitable for those who already know the main techniques for inducing lucid dreams. If you are a beginner I'd recommend ETWOLD by Stephen LaBerge.

2) Don't be put off by the title. The book was written by a man born in 1885 and he didn't know whether his experiences involved traveling outside of his body or not. As we all know, lucid dreams, SP and FAs all can feel like you are leaving your body and there was not much scientific research on the subject back then.

The book is called "Astral Projection: A record of out-of-the-body experiences" by Oliver Fox

There are loads of copies on ebay/amazon for only $1 (excl shipping)

The book is a beautifully narrated account of the author's discovery of lucid dreaming as a young boy and his ongoing experiences and experiments over the years. He writes very descriptively and reading it activates your visualization and imagination specific to being in dreams and false awakenings. I believe that reading this book primed my mind and caused me to have lots of lucid experiences. I mean, it makes sense: If you spend lots of time thinking about, visualizing and imagining the feeling of being in a dream during the day and especially before bed, then it's bound to have some influence on achieving lucidity.

I could barely put this book down while I was reading it. The only reason I did was that I wanted to spin it out! It was so fascinating reading about someone having lucid dreams nearly a century before I was born! Reading about the lifestyle back then adds an element of interest too.

But like I said before, the book is probably only useful if you have already experienced at least one LD so you can relate to his descriptions of LDs, FAs and SP and imagine them vividly and realistically as you read.

Let me know what you think if any of you read it :)

This sounds really interesting and coming from you I would definitely give it a shot, is there any online version of this?

Thanks for the compliment, MadWorld. I have no idea if there's an online version, however I would recommend buying a hard copy since it's the sort of book one would probably want to read over and over. I can't wait to read it again but first I'm making myself read another lucid dreaming book (which I'll report on when finished but so far am enjoying).

Spoiler for Here is an excerpt from the book which I've typed out where he writes about his first lucid dream::

"And it was in the early summer of this year that I had the dream which marks the real beginning of my research.

I dreamed that I was standing on the pavement outside my home. The sun was rising behind the Roman wall, and the waters of Bletchingden Bay were sparkling in the morning light. I could see the tall trees at the corner of the road and the top of the old grey tower beyond the Forty Steps. In the magic of the early sunshine the scene was beautiful enough even then. Now the pavement was not of the ordinary type, but consisted of small, bluish-grey rectangular stones, with their long sides at right-angles to the white kerb. I was about to enter the house when, on glancing casually at these stones, my attention became riveted by a passing strange phenomenon, so extraordinary that I could not believe my eyes - they had seemingly all changed their position in the night, and the long sides were now parallel to the kerb! Then the solution flashed upon me: though this glorious summer morning seemed as real as real could be, I was dreaming!

With the realization of the fact, the quality of the dream changed in a manner very difficult to convey to one who has not had this experience. Instantly the vividness of life increased a hundredfold. Never had sea and sky and trees shone with such glamourous beauty; even the commonplace houses seemed alive and mystically beautiful. Never had I felt so absolutely well, so clear-brained, so divinely powerful, so inexpressibly free! The sensation was exquisite beyond words; but it lasted only a few moments, and I awoke." - Oliver Fox

It's such a beautifully written book. I definitely advise refraining from reading it all in one sitting and to try and spin it out as much as you can.

I like the sounds. Trying to buy it now... I've been convincing my mom to buy things online:)

Sounds great! I might give it a try and "borrow" it from the internet.

-CV

Hiya Queenie :D

I've just ordered mine from Abebooks. It sounds brilliant! I love old books.

It's nice to see a kiwi here because I just came back from 5 months in Whangarei! It was the best 5 months of my adult life. I really miss it. :( I can't wait to go back next time I'm lucid!

Hey paragon, nice to see you again. Let me know how you find the book. I'm sure you'll love it.

So where are you now?

It looks like the style of writing and the vividness of the descriptions would be a lot of fun to read! I have a few finals left before the semester ends and i wanted to start reading more on my own time anyway, so I will have to put this book on my reading list!

Since its from 1885, any online versions would be legal, but I can't find them.

It was first published in 1962 I believe. Oliver Fox was born in 1885. But whatever the case, it's dirt cheap on Amazon/ebay and totally worth the read. I might buy a second copy so I can keep one copy in my lucid book collection. It's just so good - really transports you away from your life and into the dreamworld...

Ah the irony. I originally purchased a book so I could have out of body experiences (OBE) and the induction way that works best for me is through lucid dreaming. The book is called Astral Dynamics By Robert Bruce. Its very comprehensive and up to date infromation. Anyways, When I have lucid dreams, I seem to have a knowing awareness that I can have an (OBE) from there. The funny thing is that sometimes I wake up when I achieve lucidity because I am try to determine if I want to continue with the lucid dream or have an OBE.:cheeky:

How is an OBE different from a lucid dream? It's all just neural activity in one's brain. Even the term OBE is misleading as it implies that something really leaves a person's body. Having an OBE is the same as continuing with the lucid dream. There is no choice to make :huh:

Thanks! I'm getting a copy.

Got any other suggestions on good LDing books?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DreamQueen

How is an OBE different from a lucid dream? It's all just neural activity in one's brain. Even the term OBE is misleading as it implies that something really leaves a person's body. Having an OBE is the same as continuing with the lucid dream. There is no choice to make :huh:

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Hmmm I guess it depends upon your pesepective. I do understand and see your point, but I am not an expert and since I dont know for sure and I dont trust what many people say, its a bit of a different perspective for me. I've learned too often that just because a book or leading scientific person says somehting is this way, doesn't make it right. From my direct experiences and perspective; Lucid Dreaming differs from OBE's in that they feel more realistic to me. A powerful lucid dream can be indistinguishable from reality, even if you enter it from a waking state. In a lucid dream, I am much more aware than during a real time OBE or astral projection of having a physical body. In lucid dreaming I experience physical sensationslike gravity, different textures feelings, temperature, taste, pleasure and pain. If the dream is particulary powerful, then these sensations become very real. I think a Lucid Dream is a projection of my thinking mind, a projection of my mind into a mental dimension. To me a projection of the mind has a much more refined subtle body the a real life astral body. Since I have done both, I have specific experiences to compare the two. AS an example when I have an OBE, I can have bodily vibrations, get stuck in one part of my body, have issues with jewelery that can stop me from leaving my body. To me a real time OBE involves a projection that is generated from the substance of the physical body, not just the mind. When I OBE and I look at hands, they melt away, during a lucid dream that doesn't happen. Things like this make me believe there are some differences.

Now its important to understand something. I am not saying your wrong. I am just not going to believe what others say and accept. I feel like many times we are prone to the conditioning of society. I like to use my own experiences and awareness as my truth. At this point, I just experiece some differences which leaves some doubt for me.

Experimenters have tried to prove that people actually leave their bodies during oobies, by for example putting things in the next room then asking the oobie-ee to identify what was in the room. No-one appears to have proven that you can leave your body, although there do appear to be certain specific characteristics that differentiate oobies from lucids. :S

Thanks. I pretty much just wanted to say the word "oobie-ee". :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paragon

Experimenters have tried to prove that people actually leave their bodies during oobies, by for example putting things in the next room then asking the oobie-ee to identify what was in the room. No-one appears to have proven that you can leave your body, although there do appear to be certain specific characteristics that differentiate oobies from lucids. :S

Thanks. I pretty much just wanted to say the word "oobie-ee". :D

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Actually Edgar Cayce and Robert Monroe are two people that have been reported to accomplish this. As with most experiements though, there are good ones and bad ones and the setting, number of participants, task, methods, biases of experimenters and variables play a very large part in experiments. While I do believe most people may not be able to accompish thia type of thing, due to misunderstanding what is occurring, I believe some people probably could do this. I like your last line about just wanting to say the word. Gave me a good laugh yesterday.

There are all sorts of weird and wonderful experiences our brains can achieve - lucid dreams, SP sensations, vibrations, hallucinations, FAs, deja vu, nostalgia, emotions, etc. But the point is, it is almost certainly all a result of neural activity. There is no reason to believe anything is leaving our bodies and "going somewhere". Anyone is welcome to believe that they leave body, it's certainly an exciting idea isn't it? But I'm certainly not planning on pursuing a career researching it. I get the distinct impression I'd reach the end of my life and find myself saying "Gee, I dedicated my life to this but I've come up with nothing concrete at all. Damn. I wish I'd spent my life differently."

Still, the one good thing that comes from chasing rainbows is that you are filled with a feeling of excitement and anticipation which is good in itself, even if nothing ever comes of it.

EDIT: And good on Edgar Cayce and Robert Monroe. I've never heard of them, but I eagerly await their rise to fame if they have indeed discovered concrete evidence that people can actually leave their bodies and travel around in the physical world. I'll keep an eye on the newspapers since it is a pretty huge discovery. I'm sure it can't be more than a few days until it's in the headlines. I mean, in all seriousness, if someone really has proven this, then it is one of the biggest discoveries of mankind. It is as important as the day we landed on the moon. So, I'm expecting a banner headline.

If only that was the way science worked! :roll: If only it was the way humans worked! Unfortunately when something is too astonishing and upsetting to peoples' complacency, it tends to take a long, long time to become accepted - if it ever does.

If you showed an iPhone to an ancient Babylonian, they'd think it was magic. We react the same way now when anything is truly beyond our ken - except because we don't believe in magic, we close our eyes, cover our ears and pretend it didn't happen.

Someone claiming we can leave our bodies is never going to be accepted by the mainstream media and academia. Especially given that we live in a society that by and large, denies the existence of the soul.

I still don't believe we leave our bodies btw, but I'm not totally closed to the possibility.

Anyway, we've gone off track here. Oh, and OOBIE-EEs !

I'm not closed to the possibiltiy that we can leave our bodies either. But I do think it's unlikely and if I was forced to bet my life savings either way, I'd bet that we can't.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paragon

Someone claiming we can leave our bodies is never going to be accepted by the mainstream media and academia. Especially given that we live in a society that by and large, denies the existence of the soul.

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Why wouldn't it be accepted by the mainstream media and academia? Amazing scientific discoveries are being made on a regular basis, and provided they are supported by valid data resulting from correct utilization of the scientific method, then these discoveries are published and implemented in society.

The fact that many people in society do not believe we have a "soul" as classified by the Judeo-Christian religion does not mean scientific evidence that people can leave their bodies would be ignored. If someone did find scientific evidence that people could leave their bodies this would not be conclusive proof that a soul existed anyway. It would merely be evidence in favour of that theory. There are many other theories that could explain it, each of which would have to be investigated. But it certainly would be an astounding discovery that I'm sure anyone, whatever their religion, would all want to see investigated further. I for one don't believe the answer to how how universe came about is that a deity who goes by the name of 'God' made it in seven days and he made creatures in his image and gave those creatures a soul. I think that's nonsense. But I would be infinitely interested if I saw a banner headline in the newspaper announcing that valid scientific experiments had discovered humans could leave their bodies. It wouldn't make me jump to the conclusion that there was a god after all. But I would certainly re-evaluate my model of the universe, and I would certainly want to know more. It would open up so many new doors of possibilities and generate many new questions.

In fact, I would consider it the greatest and most exciting discovery to occur in mankind's history - outshining even the wheel, jet propulsion, anaesthesia, antibiotics, electricity, plastic, the internet, transistors, the printing press, telephones... certainly anything I can think of.

But yes, we have digressed! As I've said, it doesn't matter what anyone believes is the cause of these amazing experiences we oneironauts have while the rest of humanity slumbers away in a comatose state, the fact is, it's awesome!!! :)

If the general public could have OBEs, the consequences would be dire. Information would be impossible to guard, and privacy would be nill. :panic:

I am not worried, knowing that the general public will dismiss the idea, even if there is solid scientific evidence behind it. For most religions, this conflicts with their beliefs, and will lead to rejection of the idea because of the confict. It certainly would be a great 'invention' (should we call it that), but it would take many years to gain public acceptance.

Let's just be thankful that the "rest of us" slumber away, while we can discuss the amazing powers of the human mind from our experience. :)

Well said- dreamqueen!

peace :shadewink: ,
tech

I love the book. I'm reading it and its fascinating.

I love how he describe the Astral Plane, or at least, what he calls its similar to the Astral Plane.

I have a feeling that this book, reading about it and all that stuff will increase my lucid dreams and the possibility to experience an Astral Projection (sorry for the non believers, I'm just bringing up my two cents)

The other day (I did not read the book yet) I was going to WILD and I had a very severe and extreme vibrations in my body. It could be SP right, but I felt it before and this time it was like 10x times a regular sleep paralysis. In addition, I thought that my body was standing up when I was not moving. And trust me, it was not a dream... the sensation I have on a dream is different, if I become lucid, is the same sensation of the dream increased... but this, was real... for sure. Now, reading the book I feel assured that I was going to project that other day... and I will attempt. Now I feel more determined for what I read in the book. Is more intense that just a "Dream of Knowledge" how Oliver calls what we call lucid dreaming...

I love the way he has to describe the astral "body" for items in the physical plane and the astral colors. Now, I found out I might have experienced OBE's when I was a child... this book is changing my point of view for both the Astral and Dream planes.

Oh I am so so pleased to hear this, PercyLucid and thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. Yes, it doesn't matter what we believe is happening or not happening, the simple fact is, it's A TON OF FUN!!!! I'm sure it will enhance your lucidity/projecting etc. It definitely did mine. It just gets you in the right frame of mind. He writes so descriptively I felt as though I was experiencing everything he wrote. I am going to read it again soon. There's just something magical and mystical about this book. You feel like you're in dreamland when you read it.

I'd really like to read this book, unfortunately my family is pretty religious and it would just cause drama.
If anyone happens to find an online version I can read from, I'd definitely be interested.