Sleep Paralysis - Facing the terror of death

[TheAlchemist]

So this morning I had some kind of sleep paralysis experience. I woke up very early for some reason and decided to do some body awareness exercises and relaxing my body to maybe fall back asleep.

When I finally started falling asleep again, I suddenly found myself stuck in some state between sleep and wakefulness. I was filled with absolute terror as I heard someone moving around in my room. I was absolutely convinced that some man was in my room and he was just about to kill me. I couldn't really move my body and I felt the man walking behind my back in my room. This felt like absolute true reality, not at all like a dream. 

As I was being filled with this powerful fear of death I remembered some of the advice I had been given in regards to psychedelic trips and Leo's videos on Death. I just said "fuck it" and decided to compeltely let go and dive in to the terror and let the man kill me. I just trusted what I had learned about death and what happened was truly magical..

Immediately after giving up the struggle, I was filled with this powerful sense of bliss. It was similiar to the the deepest peace I have ever experienced through meditation. Everything kind of dissolved into this white light of pure being and all of the fear immediately vanished. In an instant, I was no longer afraid, everything was perfect and at peace. After this I quickly woke up to my everyday consciousness. 

This experience gave me a powerful insight into death and I realized these nondual teachers are right. There's nothing to fear except fear itself. Once we give in to the fear, no matter how terrifying it is, we will be released from all the suffering and it will lose all of its power. 

"This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed." — Terence McKenna

[lain]

Very interesting. I have sleep paralysis at least twice a month but I never had a nightmare during these moments. Most of the time I instantly recognize it as a sleep paralysis. The phenomena are just weird, not terrifyfing at all. Like hearing coughing from all directions, hearing robotic voices speaking in strange languages, seeing "dark-psychedelic" pattern etc. Actually I found out that when I imagine a body movement, like swimming, it becomes a lucid dream of swimming. There is a moment where it feels like I am literally moving. 

There are actually techniques to induce this state between sleep and being mentally awake. 

So this could be a way for spiritual progress, as you already said with your text. 

But I guess the problem is that, once you know these states, you are far less afraid of them. Even if you experience creepy things, you kinda know these are illusions. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by lain