Alternate phases of reality can be described by the systematic teachings of Theosophy, a type of philosophy that integrates religious ideologies from all corners of the globe. People who have had paranormal experiences- such as out of body experiences- are adamant that they weren’t hallucinating because they were so conscious that they couldn’t tell where the real world ended and the dream world began. Whenever you’re in a dream, you’re experiencing a different sort of reality than the one you experience on Earth, because you are unaware of the fact there is a real world while you dream. Therefore, how can anyone judge the physical world to be more real than any other which they experience as real? Theosophy uses this logic to construct a paradigm for people who are able to consciously experience the seven spectrums of spiritual existence. We exist in them simultaneously, and I’ll explain how this works. Each spectrum of existence has a corresponding range of vibrations, or spiritual frequencies, that all of our spiritual bodies exist on simultaneously, not unlike the electromagnetic spectrum, which is the source of thousands of frequencies existing simultaneously in physical space. The spectra can be divided up into frequencies themselves, and these are called planes. Sleep paralysis is a phase of consciousness that can either occur on the higher physical planes or the lower astral planes. Astral projection is a phase of consciousness in the higher astral planes (as are lucid dreams), and out of body experiences are experiences explicitly on the higher physical planes.
The four states of matter constitute the lower rungs of the physical spectrum. In the physical world we are influenced by these states in the following progression of density (or wave frequency): solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Higher than plasma are the etheric domains: the planes in which light sleep paralysis and out of body experiences occur. Light sleep paralysis is characterized by an ability to see the room you’re sleeping in around you, and you can hear things like the radio playing in the background. I have personal evidence that sleep paralysis is a real phenomenon, because I’ve woken up and heard a radio program that I’d heard while being paralyzed in an altered state of consciousness. I couldn’t have heard the program if I’d been dreaming. Light episodes of sleep paralysis are normally harmless, and most people are able to levitate their etheric bodies on these planes. I’ve been able to levitate but I’ve never been able to fly around and perceive the physical world around me. However, I have been able to transcend the etheric and fly directly into the higher astral planes (more on that below).
People who are able to meditate very deeply often feel a disorienting state of trance, which can become so intense that it rattles them out of the meditation. People who are able to relax during this intensity are able to enter the higher physical planes and lower astral planes. The frequency in which your brain enters the trance determines which plane you arrive on. If it’s low, then you may find yourself stuck in sleep paralysis on the high etheric. If it’s high, you will shoot right out of your body and straight into the astral. Think of astral projection as a conscious effort to fall asleep, the same way experienced meditators (shamans, gurus, yogis) tap into the spiritual realms during their practices. The reason that sufferers of sleep paralysis never enter the higher astral realms is that falling asleep is more of a downward, unconscious projection which requires a lower trance frequency, while astral projection is usually a controlled, upward conscious projection, which requires a higher trance frequency. It is possible to get stuck in sleep paralysis and retrieve the trance through meditation with your etheric body. I have done this several times; it’s a difficult thing to do, but I have been able to reach the higher astral planes via sleep paralysis.
Astral planes are the planes in which dreaming takes place on, and they are also the homes of transitional spirits. The lower astral planes are the planes you don’t want to get stuck on. These are the planes in which ghosts and demons are able to feed off your fear and make themselves stronger. Many of the worst accounts of sleep paralysis occur on these planes, such as attacks from incubi, succubae, old hag witches, and other shapeshifting demons. These are the spirits that have resonated with low energy throughout their lives, and they live on these planes because they haven’t detached themselves from things they desire on the physical plane. Once they are able to detach themselves, whether it be with the help of a guide or by their own initiative, they are able to rise up into the higher astral planes, where the spirits who resonated with high energy in their lives make home. Dreams are a way of communicating with spirits in all these realms. Whenever you encounter another being inside a dream it’s not a projection of yourself, but a projection of real-world images onto other spiritual beings. These beings can interact with you, whether they be in nightmares or pleasant dreams. Several times while dreaming on the lower astral plane I was having a nightmare and the figure I was battling transformed into an entity in sleep paralysis. Likewise, I have been able to communicate with spiritually complete beings on the higher planes, but I have not been able to bring them with me while getting stuck in between sleep and awake. Unfortunately, this means that Hell is between Earth and Heaven and not Earth in between Heaven and Hell, as the Bible would have you believe.
Lucid dreaming is subtly different from astral projection. In an astral projection you transcend the lower, stagnant planes and fly out of your body into an entirely imaginative realm which is more firmly based on reality than lucid dreams. It’s more difficult to change the environment around you in an astral projection, but you can still do things like fly through walls. With lucid dreaming you are more able to change the environment around you at will, and many astral projectors don’t bother distinguishing between the two. During an astral projection, you don’t see your body on the bed; if you do, that means you’re on the high etheric plane and you’re having an out of body experience (OBE). Most people think that the invisible cord connecting your astral body to your physical body means that you’re having an astral projection, but it’s actually an OBE, and could better be described as your etheric body. The cord is made of super etheric material, which is the frequency of matter that is just higher than plasma. Personally, it's felt like my etheric body was a light orb of electricity on these planes. OBE cords and orbs are, of course, invisible to physical spectators, but plasma is not. Plasma is nearly invisible; the vibration of etheric material is a bit higher, so it just passes the cusp of visibility.
The most experienced meditators are able to reach vibrations higher than the astral planes, and are able to explore the higher spectrums of spiritual frequencies. The way they do this, is that after reaching the astral plane they meditate again, and try to reach the spectrum above the astral- called the mental- and if success is made, then they try to reach the next higher spectrum- called the Buddhic plane- and so forth. People who reach true enlightenment are often able to meditate all the way to the Buddhic plane at least once in their lifetime.
Astral planes are manifestations of emotional frequencies and mental planes are manifestations of thought frequencies. This is why emotions are more pronounced in dreams than in the physical world; they are an enactment of the repressions we make in the daily course of our lives, often involving scenarios that are meant to help us figure out our physical life problems. I have never been to the mental planes, but theosophists describe it as what heaven might look like. After death we exist in the astral spectrum for a certain period of time before we are able to reach the mental spectrum. On the mental spectrum we are able to recognize the mistakes we made in our past life, and if we need to correct them, we are sent back to be reborn on Earth. If no mistakes are needed to correct then souls are either allowed into the higher nirvana spectrums or given the opportunity to come back to Earth as Bodhisattvas, which are guides for other souls on their journeys through life.
The above entry could have just easily gone in the more philosophically flavored “Wisdom Scroll”. But since it involves material theories along with immaterial ones, I placed it here. I am less convinced of these ideas as I get older, however it is interesting to revisit the state I was in as these mystical events were occurring to me. -7/11/2022
