Potato chips and aliens

[ThePoliteSkeptic]

Didn't think I would be creating a thread so soon, but I do remember a rather peculiar dream I once had.

In the dream I was at the supermarket, near the back, shopping. I looked at a fixture with potato chips on it, and as I was looking at it a black rectangle appeared in the middle of my visual field. It grew twice, and then everything was black. When the blackness faded, I was looking at the face of an alien, like what's on x-files. I was in my parents old bedroom, and there were two of these aliens with me. Now, I have had so-called "lucid dreams" before, and did quite frequently when I was a child. When I saw these aliens, I knew I was dreaming, just because I was so scared I must have been, right?

So, I inflated my body like a balloon, and continued to do so until my body filled up the room, and I was pushing the aliens up against the walls, which seemed to freak them out a bit.

...then I was back at the supermarket, looking at the chip fixture.

What does anyone make of this? Does this fit into the OBE/astral projection cosmology?

[CFTraveler]

I don't think I would, because how I categorize an OBE has to do with an experience of an exit or an experience in a 'realtime' area, and this seems more like a dream in which you became lucid and then manipulated your environment.
This shows great insight (realizing that reality 'shouldn't be like that' and having the ability to change it to suit you). But I personally wouldn't categorize it as such.

[ThePoliteSkeptic]

I see what you're saying. The main thing that strikes me as unusual about the dream was the black rectangle, which almost seemed like a movie screen that popped up to interrupt the dream in progress, and then when that was over I was still in the same place in my original dream. Have you heard of anything like that?

Also, you're remarkably active in these forums.

[CFTraveler]

I'm not sure what the visual would indicate- I haven't seen that visual in any dream reference before, an the only thing I can equate it to is when you are going into trance and hypnagogics fly by your field of vision, sometimes they do look like a square screen- other than that I have no ideas.
I'm 'remarkably' active because as the admin, I have to routinely scan all the posts, and sometimes I have something to offer, being an experiencer myself.

[ButterflyWoman]

The main thing that strikes me as unusual about the dream was the black rectangle, which almost seemed like a movie screen that popped up to interrupt the dream in progress, and then when that was over I was still in the same place in my original dream. Have you heard of anything like that?
Sounds a bit like one of the features of the Star Trek universe's "holodeck". If you've ever watched any episodes of the show where they holodeck is featured, it's probably tucked away in your subconscious. I think the concept has probably appeared in other scifi type settings (films, certainly, maybe books, etc.), so it possible the idea was picked up in any number of places.

[ThePoliteSkeptic]

the only thing I can equate it to is when you are going into trance and hypnagogics fly by your field of vision, sometimes they do look like a square screen- other than that I have no ideas

Well, thanks for your input. I've never experienced trance. It's my understanding that this forum is roughly based around a book by the same name. Would you say Astral Dynamics would be a good book for someone interested in entering a trance?

[CFTraveler]

I prefer Mastering Astral Projection for a how-to guide- it gives you specific instructions on a day-by day basics, for everything you want to learn to have an OBE, and trance induction is a good part of the program.
It starts out with relaxation methods, energy work and breathing exercises (which are in and of themselves trance-inducing), concentration exercises and visualizations to deepen the trance and get you to that theta stage.
It also has methods to induce dream recall and lucidity induction as part of the techniques.

[ThePoliteSkeptic]

I prefer Mastering Astral Projection for a how-to guide

Interesting. Thanks for the pointer.