Two words: Sleep Paralysis.
Look it up.
I suffer from the recurrent version, usually when my body is under duress (too much work, not enough sleep, too much stress, etc.)
My first experience I was 9 years old, my brother had been shot int he eye with a BB gun. My mother, a normally strong lady, was nearly hysterical. The docs said my little bro had a very small chance of keeping his sight. Being a very devout little Catholic girl, I prayed my bottom off that night. I couldn't sleep, I was so upset, I just lay in bed and prayed. I prayed
Then God took my soul out through my toes. Well, that's what my impressionable 9 year old mind thought. I flew around the house, thought I was dead, that God had traded my life for my brothers soul.
When I woke up in the morning, I was very happy to be alive. It took me some time, but eventually I told my mom about this whole experience. She then told me about sleep paralysis and how it runs in our family (especially in the women).
Imagine, I might have gone my whole life thinking I was having regular religious experiences, just like the superstitious people of the past must have. Not their fault, they didn't have neuroscience after all. Yet there is a perfectly rational scientific explanation.
I'm so glad I live in the information age.
Look it up.
I suffer from the recurrent version, usually when my body is under duress (too much work, not enough sleep, too much stress, etc.)
My first experience I was 9 years old, my brother had been shot int he eye with a BB gun. My mother, a normally strong lady, was nearly hysterical. The docs said my little bro had a very small chance of keeping his sight. Being a very devout little Catholic girl, I prayed my bottom off that night. I couldn't sleep, I was so upset, I just lay in bed and prayed. I prayed
Then God took my soul out through my toes. Well, that's what my impressionable 9 year old mind thought. I flew around the house, thought I was dead, that God had traded my life for my brothers soul.
When I woke up in the morning, I was very happy to be alive. It took me some time, but eventually I told my mom about this whole experience. She then told me about sleep paralysis and how it runs in our family (especially in the women).
Imagine, I might have gone my whole life thinking I was having regular religious experiences, just like the superstitious people of the past must have. Not their fault, they didn't have neuroscience after all. Yet there is a perfectly rational scientific explanation.
I'm so glad I live in the information age.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead