kiwibonga
5th January 2008, 09:57 PM
In the context of 3D modeling and programming, texturing is when you have a 3D model and you apply an image to the polygons that make up its shape, as if you painted on them. Here's an example:
This is a cube with no texture:
http://www.kiwibonga.com/cube1.png
And here's the exact same cube with a texture of random red scribbles over a white background:
http://www.kiwibonga.com/cube2.png
In the context of dreams and OBEs, texturing is very simple to understand, it's when you subconsciously apply textures to your dream environment.
One of the most common forms of texturing is when you block out certain things. You've probably read accounts of people seeing their guides wearing robes, but being told that the only reason they saw a robe was because they were not ready to either see the real nature of the entity in front of them, or to see them naked. It's a form of reality fluctuation that compensates for your expectations and fears.
Something I experience often, and I'm sure others do too, is dream texturing on the entirety of the dream landscape. Have you ever been in a building that had a structure you've never seen before, yet somehow, the floor tiles, the wallpaper, the objects in there looked exactly like your childhood home's?
I think one of the few things that is often left out in OBE "tutorials" is lucidity training, taming this aspect of our minds that has a tendency to cover up unknowns to put us at ease.
And so I'm thinking that there's something particularly interesting about these experiences... That is, I have a few theories about them...
1. Simple scientific explanation
Perhaps we're not actually seeing anything new, just that the dream scenario expects a certain structure, and the only thing the brain can come up with is things you've already seen before, so it just "paints" the landscape with pieces of your house. This doesn't really explain why I'm able to find myself in environments that are 100% alien to me and that I couldn't possibly have "created" on my own, though...
2. Somewhat less scientific explanation
Perhaps we're out there in the astral, in some other environment we've never seen before, and a part of us deems that we are not ready to see this environment in full, that we need to mask it with knowns until we're ready, or we consciously ask to see the "real" it.
3. Somewhat totally unscientific explanation
I'm thinking, perhaps when we have these experiences, we are actually being put in the shoes of another being... Call it a past life if you will. When you find yourself out there, you don't have the other being's brain, you only have their short-term, present-moment awareness of their surroundings. I think I explained this somewhere else, but this is directly related to how our visual/spatial memory works -- your brain only records things that are new... When you're in your house, you know that what's on the left is a bookcase, and what's on your right is a window, you don't reevaluate it. You've probably had one time where you frantically looked all over the place for your keys or your glasses, only to realize they were in plain sight the whole time. This is an example of how this works. And so, when you're in this other being's shoes, what you receive is not direct input from the senses, but rather, just pattern-matching of your surroundings. So when the other being sees his usual hardwood floor, you may see your usual rug carpet instead. When the other being gets into his car, you may see your car instead... And so on.
I'm not sure how to test this theory... But next time it happens, I'll be sure to try everything in my power to see through the illusion, assuming that there indeed is one... And I encourage others to try the same!
This is a cube with no texture:
http://www.kiwibonga.com/cube1.png
And here's the exact same cube with a texture of random red scribbles over a white background:
http://www.kiwibonga.com/cube2.png
In the context of dreams and OBEs, texturing is very simple to understand, it's when you subconsciously apply textures to your dream environment.
One of the most common forms of texturing is when you block out certain things. You've probably read accounts of people seeing their guides wearing robes, but being told that the only reason they saw a robe was because they were not ready to either see the real nature of the entity in front of them, or to see them naked. It's a form of reality fluctuation that compensates for your expectations and fears.
Something I experience often, and I'm sure others do too, is dream texturing on the entirety of the dream landscape. Have you ever been in a building that had a structure you've never seen before, yet somehow, the floor tiles, the wallpaper, the objects in there looked exactly like your childhood home's?
I think one of the few things that is often left out in OBE "tutorials" is lucidity training, taming this aspect of our minds that has a tendency to cover up unknowns to put us at ease.
And so I'm thinking that there's something particularly interesting about these experiences... That is, I have a few theories about them...
1. Simple scientific explanation
Perhaps we're not actually seeing anything new, just that the dream scenario expects a certain structure, and the only thing the brain can come up with is things you've already seen before, so it just "paints" the landscape with pieces of your house. This doesn't really explain why I'm able to find myself in environments that are 100% alien to me and that I couldn't possibly have "created" on my own, though...
2. Somewhat less scientific explanation
Perhaps we're out there in the astral, in some other environment we've never seen before, and a part of us deems that we are not ready to see this environment in full, that we need to mask it with knowns until we're ready, or we consciously ask to see the "real" it.
3. Somewhat totally unscientific explanation
I'm thinking, perhaps when we have these experiences, we are actually being put in the shoes of another being... Call it a past life if you will. When you find yourself out there, you don't have the other being's brain, you only have their short-term, present-moment awareness of their surroundings. I think I explained this somewhere else, but this is directly related to how our visual/spatial memory works -- your brain only records things that are new... When you're in your house, you know that what's on the left is a bookcase, and what's on your right is a window, you don't reevaluate it. You've probably had one time where you frantically looked all over the place for your keys or your glasses, only to realize they were in plain sight the whole time. This is an example of how this works. And so, when you're in this other being's shoes, what you receive is not direct input from the senses, but rather, just pattern-matching of your surroundings. So when the other being sees his usual hardwood floor, you may see your usual rug carpet instead. When the other being gets into his car, you may see your car instead... And so on.
I'm not sure how to test this theory... But next time it happens, I'll be sure to try everything in my power to see through the illusion, assuming that there indeed is one... And I encourage others to try the same!