OBEs, NDEs, Alien Abductions and Visions - Are They Dreams?

On September 10, 1981 at 8:10AM in Boulder City, Nevada, I had a Vision of God. I was 32 at the time (I am now 63) and in the grip of an existential cynicism. To this day, those ten ineffable seconds maintain their rank as my touchstone for transcendence. For years I struggled with the utter inadequacy in words to grant a glimpse of that Deific encounter. Ultimately, my account took the form of verse. I am including it at the end of this posting for anyone who has an interest in reading it. For several years, if anyone had dared to suggest that my Vision may have been “just a dream,” I suspect that my reaction would have been something akin to slander.

Over the years, like most of you, I’ve heard and read personal accounts of near-death-experiences (NDEs), out-of-body-experiences (OBE’s), encounters with angels or devils, bedside visits from the dead, alien abductions and similar events deemed paranormal. During DreamCamp98 at Stanford University, the subject of OBEs was addressed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge. His research in the Stanford dream lab strongly suggested that these experiences occur during REM sleep, or to put it more bluntly, are dreams. I watched from the sidelines with particular interest as some dream camp participants got a bit agitated by that conclusion. I understood their perspective. I would probably defend my Vision just as they were defending their OBEs. To me, it was much more than a dream. Seemingly, Much, much more.

Then Stephen LaBerge made a simple and sapient observation. He said (paraphrased to my best recollection) that there is no need to get so passionately defensive about our cherished paranormal experiences being labeled “a dream.” His scientific perspective, based on results in the lab, should not be construed as diminishing the significance of the experience to the individual.

I pondered that statement for days. Would I be willing to reconsider my Vision if it meant “dethroning it to a dream?” I knew that when I had told my family and closest friends about my “Vision of God,” I had neglected to mention that I was reclined on my bed after being awake for a few hours. Why had I intentionally omitted this fact? The answer is that I did not want anyone to suggest that I may have fallen asleep into an instant dream. I had rationalized that I did not want to mislead anyone to that incorrect conclusion. I believe now that I was misleading myself.

We must face the obvious common element in all of these experiences. I watched a “program special” on network television about UFOs and alien abductions. One of the “experts” being interviewed said, “I was shocked by the similarity in these accounts . . . the abductees are in BED and suddenly they become paralyzed . . .” The same is of course true for OBEs and NDEs which usually occur in bed or on a gurney in an ambulance or emergency room. For those who question this observation, I think honesty in analyzing the verifiable details in such reports will change your mind.

Experienced lucid dreamers are more savvy to the realities of REM sleep than the populace. We know that dreams can be initiated directly from the waking state, and we know that this can happen in surprisingly vivid and dramatic ways. These noteworthy occurrences, by virtue of their relative rarity and strikingly dissimilitude from “normal” dreaming, have earned their own distinctive appelations - OBEs and NDEs being two examples. The result is an unintentional injustice, the word, “dream” is denied credit for some of its most intriguing manifestations. I really don’t think that we have much chance to overcome this cultural prejudice anytime soon. People want to believe in alien abductions and visits by dead loved ones, and they don’t want their OBEs or NDEs to be dreams. Suggesting that the experience transpired in an “altered state of consciousness” is often unacceptable, but suggesting that the experience transpired in a dream usually is not - although dreaming is obviously an altered state of consciousness, and a marvelously varied and prolific one at that.

Thus I submit for your consideration that OBEs, NDEs, visions, alien abductions and nearly all vivid inner experiences not induced by drugs are dreams. I accentuate that this does not in any way subtract from their significance or depreciate their reality as I hope is obvious from my 1981 Dream of God:

Must flesh be the temple for despair, death and doubt
A tomb for all hope, once begotten, snuffed out?
Confront my Creator, confess to Thine art
Whose landscape is pain, and its beholder my heart.

Then, from torment’s grip was wrenched!
From my mooring, ripped and raised
Straight up through passioned-parting clouds
Their rose ringed portal passed
Where I mute, stuttered, stunned
Immortal before Thy Fiery Face.

Smothered by splendor
Such Light whose burst but moments could bear
When my sight from Bliss was severed
By one might stroke of mercy’s sword spared.

Now, having seen and survived my consuming
By that Bright Caress may these words be vested
Not to convey, but to confer.

NOTE: At the time of this “experience,” I was convinced I had attainted the Ultimate. Hell, I could have gone out and started a religion as so many have done!! Subsequent years have demonstrated that these experiences are common and have no specific significance. Non-Dual awareness is a completely “different” encounter or “calamity” (as U.G. Krishnamurti calls it). I make NO CLAIMS of anything. I am only communicating my experience for whatever value it may or may not have to whomever you may or may not be. /Stephen Berlin