My Evidence, So Far

About two months ago I started to investigate OBEs again and found the gnosticweb.com website and enrolled in the Dreams & OBE course. During the course, I had several lucid dreams and one false awakening. It was not until after the course had ended that I had my second OBE. But better late than never! The third OBE happened Oct. 8, 2009. Because the second OBE scared me so much I decided to try something whenever the next one happened. I decided on an experiment.

Before going to sleep that night I told myself that I am ready. I wanted to experience and to remember an OBE. I thought that early morning would be best, after I have had a sufficient amount of sleep. In the early morning, I woke up, rolled over to my back, and went back to sleep intending to have an OBE.

Some time later, I became aware of my physical body and saw dropdown menues overlapping the surroundings. I read the menu items and noticed that there was an option for the "roll out method." I thought it was an interesting interface and selected the "roll out" option since it was the only one I could see available, related to OOBEs. I rolled out of my body immediately after the selection was made.

Everything was quiet this time. There were no vibrations and no unusual sounds. This time the spinning out was not as uncontrollable as the first time. I expected to be sucked back in again, but nothing happened. Then, I realized that I must be partly inside my sleeping husband. He made some noises in his sleep, and I tried to wake him up. When that did not work I decided to continue into the kitchen to try an experiment.

The experiment: I came across a description in one of the books about this topic and decided to try it out. My husband picked out a card without looking at it and placed it on top of one of the kitchen cabinets. My goal was to find the card while out and then describe when I returned.

I was less scared this time but still very skittish. I decided that I did not want to see anything, like a kid hiding under a blanket, refusing to see monsters. I knew I was moving through the living room toward the kitchen. I knew where I was, but everything was dark. I wanted to see just the outlines of furniture and such, but could not perceive that way.

When I knew I was in the kitchen I thought "OK, I want to see now" and I saw the kitchen. I was floating at an angle near the sink. My feet were about a foot off the ground and my upper body was leaning toward, and partially over, the sink. I saw my arm. The arm looked normal. Since my arm was under the faucet I tried to move the arm through the faucet. It worked. It felt cool to the skin, and felt cool as it slid through the arm. I smiled and thought, "I'm finally at the faucet, and I am not even thirsty."

I then decided to find the card. I floated upwards. I remember my husband saying something about a metal bowl on top of the cabinet, that I should not try to move the bowl around to cheat and determine the card that way (in the physical). Based on what he said I thought the card would be next to the metal bowl on the cabinet to the right and above the sink. I focused on the card and found it to the right of what I thought was the metal bowl.

I had trouble interpreting the surface of the card. The vision was still fuzzy (I'm such a chicken. I knew I could sharpen my perceptions if I had wanted to). I saw that it was a red card right away. That was the easy part. Then I thought that it must be a seven, I counted seven symbols on the card. But I realized that was not right. I took another look and saw a red square followed by a red three. I thought that the red square could be some weird interpretation of a diamond and decided to hurry back to my body.

I floated back from the kitchen and over to the bed. At the same time, I kept thinking "red card, red three, red diamond, three of diamonds..." I could see the curtains, the bookcases, and two bodies on the bed. I expected to pop back in again as I got closer; to feel a drag of some kind. But, nothing. I swooped into my body and nothing happened. I adjusted, but nothing. I could not even feel the body as I entered into it. This is the first time that I did not experience any duality/plurality. Perhaps that might have something to do with the difficulty in getting back in. My physical body must have been completely asleep.

When I finally came to, after a lot of squirming, I got up and started writing it all down. The time was 5:20 am. I woke up my husband and said that the card on the cabinet is the three of diamonds. He got up and took down the card. (He had to use a chair to reach it). The card was the three of hearts. This was surprising. I should know a heart. When I observed the card I noticed that there were seven red symbols on it: two small hearts, two threes, three larger hearts. This might explain why my initial impression was a seven.

When I described that I moved up by the metal bowl and found the card to the right of it, he pointed out that the card was not on top of that cabinet. It was on top of one of the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen. There are some coffee cans on top of the other cabinets and that might be what I interpreted to be the metal bowl. Oh well. Overall, it was a good run. In a way it feels like being an infant. I am learning how to move, how to touch, how to perceive. Yet, I know that I know this stuff, somehow.

A simple card experiment is clearly insufficient as proof to anyone else, but it helps me to know that there is something more to this experience than just something that is going on inside my own head. Also, it helps tremendously to have a task to focus on. By focusing on that card, I was able to build up enough nerve to continue. If I were just floating around, with nothing to do, I would probably end up scaring myself so badly that I would never do it again.

I have another card on top of the cabinets, just in case I get too scared the next time.

-SL