I just had the worst nightmare

[Ryan H.]

Originally posted by svosen
That's interesting, Farf. I can't think of any specific times when I felt demonic influence in my dreams, unless, of course, my theory of nightmares in general is correct.

I've had some strange "encounters" in my fully-waking moments, though. Nothing overt enough that I would credit demons unquestioningly; but I have felt some pretty dark presences.

We've all had the cliche "I'm being watched" sensation. I've occasionally had such feelings be accompanied by sudden dark thoughts and easily-detectable drops in ambient temperature (indoors) instantly. I imagine there are plenty of possible explanations for such things, ranging from internal biochemistry to building climate control, but I still had the overwhelming "feeling" that it was spiritual on these occasions. What's more, prayer always immediately removes these sensations in my experience.

It's interesting to me how many people discount out of hand the claims of certain others who claim to have seen ghosts or communicate with the dead via seances.

I personally have no trouble at all believing their stories, with the exception that I believe the people practicing Spiritism (or Spiritualism) are actually seeing/communicating with demons instead of human spirits.

And there are those who think I and the Spiritists are all complete nut jobs...

Could be.

Personally I don't think you're right. At all.

But I respect your beliefs anyway

[farfus]

I think part of the reason this forum is kinda unique is that people can share their personal feelings and beliefs and not be raked all over the coals. If it were it would be like most of the other forums, and not visited by me. My personal beliefs have been certified through legitimate and verifiable experiences, albeit over several years, some of the people who can acknowledge some of the experiences arent even alive now. But i can say for a fact that life is a journey of exploration and well worth the effort to discover the truth for yourself. Ive always appreciated people's openness no matter what they believed and the variety of topics on this forum have always been part of what keeps it alive...

[svosen]

"In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" -- Luke 4:33,34


"Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!" -- Luke 4:41


"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." -- James 2:19
________________________________________________

There you go, Farf. I think you were speaking of the first one up there, but it may have been the second one, too.

I personally love the last one.

~~~~~~~

Ryan, any counter beliefs? If you don't think I'm right, then you must think there's another way to go, eh?

[Pocky Fiend]

I was only joking around, and I was also trying to make a jab to help instigate an argument..in hope that it would make the forum a little more lively.

Otherwise, I don't really care what others beliefs are, and I'm sure no one really cares about mine.

[farfus]

I think you can be assured that most if not all of us can handle any kind of ragging on any subject. And the fact is we all have gotten along a long time, partly because we know that none of us have all the answers. The way humans are created is to always have questions, thats why a forum is a neat thing, we all have questions, and there are always such a variety of answers that no matter what they wont ever be completely answered. But having an open mind helps lead to an open heart, which is what we all need. Yeah you found it for sure, Svos. The bible also says that someday every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Meaning that even if you dont believe whatsoever in this sort of thing right now, there will be a day when you have nothing more to say but Jesus Christ is Lord, and you will have to literally bow to the truth. Believing that, myself, helps curb any problems i have with what people say.....

[sabbas]

Originally posted by Dmitry M. (Lazer)
Sleep Paralasys is a psychological state of mind. You are awake while your mind is slow to realize this it keeps your body asleep. Most common times this happens is when you are having a nightmares. I have never had this happen to me but best way to get out of this state is to relax and your body will awake from its sleep.

A good thing to do is write down all your dreams once you awaken from them if you believe something was truly freaky. Sometimes your dreams can come together and you can see what they mean.

I actually tried doing this, i kept a notebook near my bed and if i were to awake from a dream i would write it down. I actually did this to practice dreaming. I wanted to be able to control my dreams, but i got lazy and i was like **** it this is going to take forever and stopped doing it.

But there are people that practice and over time are able to control their own dreams. It's not recommended because your time in REM Sleep is cut down significantly and you do not regain as much energy as you are supposed to. But it's like a natural high where you can do anything you ever wished.

Sorry is i strayed off the subject slightly, but hey i hope everything is ok with you. I would recommend writing the dream down just incase it happens over.

I think what you're referring to is what's known to "specialists"/experts as Lucid Dreaming. My friend has actually accomplished this on several occasions. It takes a lot of work, but with practice, it is attainable. He was telling me that in a dream, once you get good enough at it, you look for signals that you are dreaming. Some examples may be looking at a clock and seeing the face of the clock or the time all warped or something; or flicking a light switch on and off in a dream since there's always light in your dreams (like if you're in a building or something) - those aren't always the case, but they're a few examples. Once you realize that you are dreaming, you can then go on to control your dream and do as you wish...He didn't have it down to an art per say, but he kind of gave up for a while afterwards. Nevertheless, he did lots of research online, and there's oodles of info out there on Lucid Dreaming. It's quite fascinating how we are able to control our subconscious thinking...

As for paralysis during sleep, it is actually common among everybody. I should note that there are 4 or 5 basic stages of sleep:

Stage 1 (Non-Rapid Eye Movement - NREM sleep) : here relaxation starts to begin, vital signs are normal. When looking at an EEG (Electroencephalogram), one would see Alpha waves.

Stage 2: The EEG pattern becomes more irregular (amplitude and wavelength somewhat sporadic)

Stage 3: Sleep deepens, theta and delta waves appear on EEG, vital signs begin to decline, skeletal muscles are very relaxed, dreaming is common. This stage is usually reached about 20mins after the onset of Stage 1

Stage 4: This is called slow-wave sleep because the EEG pattern is dominated by delta waves (1-4Hz). Vital signs reach their lowest normal levels, and digestive system motility increases; skeletal muscles are relaxed, arousal is very difficult.

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM) : As Dmitry said, this is the stage of most dreaming. Vital signs increase (body temp, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure) and digestive system activity declines.

In REM sleep, most of the body's skeletal muscles are inhibited (temporarily paralyzed) by the brain (ie. nerve connections are temporarily taken "offline") so that we do not act out our dreams. Although when this doesn't happen, this is known as sleep walking. It should also be noted that most nightmares and night terrors occur during NREM stages 3 and 4....

I guess you can all call me Bill Nye the Science Guy now :P
....actually, I learned most of that in my physiology class last semester (some of this post was in thanks to my textbook...). Just some interesting facts for ya'll.

[svosen]

Very interesting, Sabbas; thanks for the lesson.

Any explanation or theories on why the digestive system slows down or speeds up opposite to the rest of the vital signs? That's not something I would have expected...

[sabbas]

Well, the parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for all of the "rest and digest" functions of our body - gastrointestinal (GI) tract, heart rate, etc.... When we're sleeping our stomach and intestines (if I remember correctly) do most of the digesting and gathering of nutrients then, while everything else is in a resting state. I don't remember how it goes 100% (as it was like 7-8 months ago that I learned this), but I think it's something along those lines...

[Gabriel013]

So that's why I wake up starving, especially after eating just before bed.

[svosen]

Me too - if I eat late in the evening, I wake up famished. Always thought that was odd...