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[MetalSlimeHunt]

It does seem kind of useless, though.

[Meistermoxx]

If everything is just chemicals, then what is conciousness?
How do you know that everyone else arent just philosophical zombies?
If everything is based in a random event, and no god exists, then what is morality?

[G-Flex]

If everything is just chemicals, then what is conciousness?

An entirely physical system can be self-aware. Nothing wrong with that.

How do you know that everyone else arent just philosophical zombies?

Because "philosophical zombies" are an inherently flawed and fairly absurd concept.

If everything is based in a random event, and no god exists, then what is morality?

Why are the only two options "random" and "god"? Also, it's entirely possible to have human morality that isn't allegedly decided by a higher power. There are plenty of philosophical systems of morality with different bases that don't rely on divine judgment.



I have no idea what you're driving at, though. Supercharazad is just saying that sleep paralysis is the result of your brain engaging in normal REM sleep processes while you're in a state that's much more conscious than usual while that's going on. Normally, in REM sleep, you're paralyzed and in dreamland, and sleep paralysis is essentially when you're in that state even though you're either not fully asleep yet (while falling asleep), or while waking up. I really don't think they meant to start some kind of off-the-rails philosophical argument with it.

[Meistermoxx]

I dont want to start an argument! Please, it might have sounded like that, but thats the last thing i want.
A peacefull debate is always preferable.

[Supercharazad]

Though I don't like molding my arguments to religion, I guess I'll do that.



God made you. Because God is amazing, he made you extremely complicated. When God made your conciousness, he used all the things he had already made (chemicles) and built your brain with them. Your "soul" isn't your conciousness, it's different. God also decided when he made dreams that he didn't want you killing yourself, so he made your brain produce a chemicle that paralyzes you while you sleep. Sometimes, you wake up in the middle of the night and this safety chemicle is still in effect, and you're just in a sort of half awake/half asleep state.

There is no devil at the foot of your bed holding you down, it's just you waking up during a nightmare and being kept safe by the same chemicles that stop you from sleepwalking. The black thing is just a nightmare, and you'll wake up fully after a few minutes, and the chemicles will stop being produced. Or you can go back to sleep.

[Shook]

I've had a somewhat similar experience, once. Sleep paralysis always happens at night, it's your brains way of making sure you don't haplessly flail around while sleeping. Occasionally, you may return to consciousness without the paralysis wearing off, and as has been mentioned, it can be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations, since you're essentially still sleeping. My case was much more benign though. I just woke up, found myself unable to move (tried to move my arm off my chest, totally impossible), and more frighteningly, unable to control my breathing. I then saw what appeared to be the door of my room opening slowly, as if someone peeped inside carefully, accompanied by a warm light. I thought that it was my mom checking up on me, so i tried to do my usual "i just woke up" grunt (approximately "ungh"), though the most i could produce was some kind of gargling, if anything (the gargling might have been a hallucination too). It was scary being paralyzed like that, but i soon after regained control of myself.

So basically, sleep paralysis is entirely harmless, it's just scary. I can't really offer any tips, but just try to stay calm, nothing's going to happen to you. I'm probably not able to put myself properly in your position though, because my case was only scary because i was paralyzed, which is pretty surprising when you consider what usually goes on in my head.

[LordBucket]

that OOBE thing Bucket mentioned? That's not your soul leaving,
that's you going into a thing called lucid dreaming

Lucid dreaming and out of body experiences are different phenomenon.

I think ill avoid the whole, chanting hindu/new age, and stick with Christ.

"If it works, don't fix it."

Yeah, I have absolutely no idea what's inherently religious,
new age, or unchristian about meditative chanting.

It's a valid concern. Sounds can have ideas associated with them. If you were a foreigner visiting the US who spoke no english, and somebody told you to say "fuck you" to people...it would be potentially unwise and dangerous to do so regardless of "religious significance" to the words.

Speaking words can have consequences regardless of one's understanding of the words.

[weenog]

Yeah, I have absolutely no idea what's inherently religious, new age, or unchristian about meditative chanting.

The impression I got from my unnervingly religious grandmother who tried to turn me into the same thing is, Christianity is the ultimate "If you're not with us, you're against us" false dichotomy.  There is no room for neutral ideas or activities.  Anything that is the slightest bit interesting, useful, or time-consuming, and not directly tied to praising Jesus, is something sent straight from Satan to distract you from what you should be doing, waste your time, and tempt and corrupt you into destruction.

So, you know, I'm going to Hell for playing Dwarf Fortress and liking to read, among other things.


Please don't mistake my meaning, I don't intend to accuse or even suggest that all religious folk, or even all Christians, are like this.  But I can see how the idea can grow from a basic fallacy planted deep.

[DJ]

If Hindu chants are against your religious, surely Gregorian chants would be fine

[LordBucket]

If Hindu chants are against your religious, surely Gregorian chants would be fine

Except that Supercharazad is the one suggesting that the purpose of the chanting was merely as a meditative aid...and he's also the same one insisting that there are no third party entities involved, and that the phenomenon being described in the OP is a dreamstate hallucination. Which would tend to suggest that according to his view, no particular solution is required in the first place.

I was suggesting a very specific manta as remedy for a specific sort of problem. Substituting a specific mantra with generic vocal melody is unlikely to be helpful. One may as well prescribe "chemicals" instead of aspirin for a headache.

[RedKing]

Just to toss a late few cents in, yeah what you're describing is sleep paralysis. Had it plenty of times myself. A bit unnerving in the moment, but once you know what it is it's easy to shrug off once you're awake.

My daughter is prone to night terrors, which are an altogether different animal. It's like a nightmare, except that you:
A. Have no memory of it later.
B. Are so deeply locked into that you cannot be woken up and are completely oblivious to your surroundings.

It's honestly more traumatic for the awake people around you than it is for you. It has certain similarities to an epileptic seizure and also to sleepwalking, especially in that the most you can do is make sure the person isn't going to injure themselves thrashing around. Attempts to talk to or console the person having the night terror just evoke more frenzied responses. And then, usually after about 5-10 minutes...poof, it's over and the subject goes right back to sleeping normally.

It's kinda freaky to see your kid sitting bolt upright, clawing at the air and screaming out for you...and oblivious to the fact that you're right there trying to wake them. Was hell to go through the first couple of times. Now that we know what it's all about, we just sigh and go keep her from banging into the wall or something. 

[DeKaFu]

The closest I ever had to sleep paralysis... I already posted this once before, but:

I'd been studying hard for a Parasitology exam and had tapeworms heavily on my mind. One night, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sensation of a tapeworm crawling out of my mouth and down my front under the covers. I was like "Shit, I gotta catch it, it's getting away" and struggled to grab it, but was unable to move my hands or arms.

It wasn't accompanied by any sense of terror and was more of an urgent "I gotta catch it, I don't want a tapeworm in my bed". After a few minutes I rationalized that it had to have been a tactile hallucination because it had a lot of features that tapeworms don't (such as a hard exterior and the fact it crawled out of my mouth, which are nematode features, not tapeworm ) and went back to sleep.

I've never experienced the "wake up terrified and surrounded by monsters" style of sleep paralysis, but I've read accounts of people saying that once they're used to it (and know what's happening to them) the experiences tend to be much less stressful. I'm almost curious how it would work out for me, since I have a lot of experience with lucid dreaming and the whole "my will makes it so" mindset that you need for those.

[Cheesoburgor]

I remember once having one ''surrounded by mosters'' sort of sleep paralysis when i in bed and trying to sleep and suddenly my closet opens (closet monster ololololo) and i see girl walking to me eyes sorta like holes and chanting and shit and i tried to open my eyes (usually wake up doing that) and nothing happened so i tried to move and again nothing happened then suddenly my vision starts to go similar to when you stare something without blinking for long and i couldn't see and about a minute later i wake up sweaty as hell

[G-Flex]

Except that Supercharazad is the one suggesting that the purpose of the chanting was merely as a meditative aid...and he's also the same one insisting that there are no third party entities involved, and that the phenomenon being described in the OP is a dreamstate hallucination. Which would tend to suggest that according to his view, no particular solution is required in the first place.

I was suggesting a very specific manta as remedy for a specific sort of problem. Substituting a specific mantra with generic vocal melody is unlikely to be helpful. One may as well prescribe "chemicals" instead of aspirin for a headache.

I really don't buy that one specific set of three syllables has any kind of extremely specific effect that some other set of three syllables won't, especially when you consider that most hindu/buddhist meditative mantras actually, you know, mean things to them, in their language, as opposed to the syllables/words having some sort of weird objective effect on the human mind.

[Svarte Troner]

I was reading about some ancient Slavic pagan mythology, which tells of the night-hag (DF anyone?), who comes into your room at night and sits on your chest.. Only when you lie on your back with your hands on your chest. That would explain not being able to move. I just love the way ancient people describe these phenomena. Apparently the way to get rid of the night hag is to chisel a hole in a rock and sleep with it, or you could circle your bed with an iron knife. So there you go op.

I think I'm going to try to sleep in this position tonight, for science.