In this article, we will examine some of the essential aspects to consider in order to understand the differences between lucid dreaming and astral projection, and how they compare. The focus here is on the practical and experiential aspects that a lucid dreamer and astral projector should consider.
I will address common questions such as how we experience lucid dreaming, and how we can distinguish it from other phenomena, such as out-of-body experiences and remote viewing.
Most of us have trouble defining these experiences. Some people call their out-of-body experiences “lucid dreaming” and their lucid dreams “out-of-body experiences”. Regardless of this, the question remains: How can you tell the difference?
What is Lucid Dreaming?
Let us break it down: lucid dreaming is first and foremost a dream. In this type of dream, you can be aware that you are dreaming. And because you are aware that you are dreaming, you can often control the dream itself.
You can make it longer or shorter, introduce characters, and even utilize the dream to address trauma. But it is important to note that all of these factors are within the control of the dreamer.
The dreamer is simultaneously seeing what is happening and deciding what will happen within the dream itself. It is your creation within your own mind.
Of course, emotions may get involved, and often the decisions are less conscious for the inexperienced lucid dreamer. However, the entire experience is created by the imagination within your mind.
What is Out-of-Body Experience / Astral Projection?
In this phenomenon, there is an actual separation of the consciousness (soul, spirit, or one’s essence) from the physical body.
The consciousness is lucid out of the body and manifests independently of the brain. The body remains in a deep sleep state during this process. This is often referred to as the nonlocality of consciousness.
Sensations of separation from the body
When your astral body is detaching, you may clearly sense the separation. Often, there are specific sensations related to the OBE that accompany this phase.
Such awareness of the separation and related sensations is not present in lucid dreams.
Access to previously unknown information
In such an experience, you may see things that you never knew existed; therefore, it cannot be solely your imagination that creates them.
You may learn information from characters that you never knew. As the astral projector you can learn from a deceased relative, for example, personal information that they needed to convey to you, even specific numbers and addresses in some cases. Therefore, you can access knowledge that you have never heard of or seen before.
Shared experience
There may be other people who are also projected into the same dimension that you are projected into at the same time. If those are people you know, you will recognize them and the experience you share in that projection is a common reality, rather than something that was created by your mind. When you meet them in the waking state, you can talk about the shared events you have experienced, given that they recall it.
If you meet the same people in a future projection, you and they may be able to remember the previous encounter and even talk about that!
One could interpret an astral projection like this as just a dream. However, if you can connect with someone else who experienced the same occurrence at the same time in the same context, then it is no longer a dream, it is an astral encounter.
Encounter with spirits
Other interesting facet of the out-of-body experience is the possibility to encounter a consciousness who is in-between lives (spirits, entities). Different than happens in the lucid dream, in the astral projection this is something you cannot control; therefore, there is a surprise factor to it.
Some of the spirits you encounter can be incredibly advanced, perhaps even to a point that you could never even imagine they existed. Others can feel like an unpleasant encounter, due to the unbalanced or even aggressive state of those specific spirits you encountered.
So, in astral projections you are not in control of the environment or the actions of the other spirits or projectors you encounter.
In summary
The most important is that in a lucid dream you are in control of your experience, the people, the place, and the entire event, while during an astral projection, the people and spirits you encounter, and the events you participate in exist independent of your knowledge or control.
Personal Development and Scientific Progress
It is incredibly important to be able to distinguish a lucid dream from an astral projection or out-of-body experience.
Some individuals consider that classifying their astral projections as dreams is a “looser commitment” to what they have experienced, which allows them for a more flexible definition of the phenomenon. However, this stance does not help you grow your understanding of your experiences as deeply as you could. Nor it contributes to the scientific study of these phenomena.
One of the amazing uses of lucid dreaming is that it can lead to conscious out-of-body experience. In other words, because you can control lucid dreams, you can lead your lucid dream into a conscious astral projection.
Once you can distinguish the difference between lucid dreams and astral projections, you can use them in a profound and amazing way! Enjoy my TEDx Talk to learn some of the benefits of the OBE.
- Here is a video in which you can learn the 7 steps to turn a lucid dream into an astral projection.
Nanci Trivellato
14 Dec 2018
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