The border of sleep and reality, a frightening state in which a person is already aware of himself, but cannot move a single muscle. Fortunately, few people experience such horror. To be precise, only 7% experience this condition once or twice in a lifetime. But why do completely different people see almost the same visions in sleep paralysis?
If we take as a basis the medical term – awakening cataplexy, then everything should be purely individual. But the reality is quite different.
Night time can be a frightening experience for some people. It is at night that supposedly paranormal experiences such as ghosts or aliens are often reported. Previous research has found a significant association between a small number of sleep variables and supposedly paranormal experiences and beliefs.
Official medicine claims that in such a state a person cannot physically open his eyes, but survivors of this horror say the opposite. They not only peered into the darkness with wide eyes, but also saw very strange and frightening things.
Most often it is a kind of shadow, a silhouette of a tall man with a blurred face. This frightening figure appears to be woven from the shadows and usually stands right next to the bed of a paralyzed victim.
In different cultures, this entity is called “black man”, “shadow man”, “old witch” and so on.
However, official science considers folklore, supported by popular cinema, to be the reason for the appearance of all these names, and does not seriously recognize it. It is believed that sleep paralysis occurs most often in adolescents and in people with various mental illnesses. At least a third of those surveyed in this category claim to have experienced sleep paralysis at least once.
Most doctors are sure that visions in the state of sleep paralysis are nothing more than hallucinations caused by a state of drowsiness.
“But why do so many different people from different countries and different cultures see such similar “hallucinations”? Why, in general, on the border of sleep and wakefulness, do they suddenly see a human figure near their bed or on the bed?
It seems that our ancestors were much wiser than us. In ancient times, this state was considered a bridge leading the human soul to the world of spirits. The ancestors were convinced that the soul can travel separately from the body, for some time directly interact with the spirits of departed relatives or even with the gods. In such a state, a person could receive a prophecy about the future or other revelation.
Judging by the latest data, there is quite a rational grain in this approach. Some researchers admit that visions with sleep paralysis are completely real. There is an opinion that it is at this moment that the door to a different, more subtle plane opens before us.
But it seems that the inhabitants of a different reality do not particularly welcome outsiders into their possessions. This is quite natural, few people will like uninvited guests from another world. Maybe that’s why we are so scared in this state? Maybe they are just trying to scare us away in this way?
It would be great if this hypothesis turned out to be true. Indeed, in this case, nothing threatens people, and such conditions should not be feared at all.
A completely different alignment comes out if the inhabitants of the subtle world are in no way the embodiment of horror in themselves. No one can guarantee that they are not capable of harming a person temporarily in their power. Indeed, in a subtle way, we are like blind kittens, completely unadapted to those conditions.
Many people with sleep paralysis do not see a black person, but they see some unimaginable monsters, strange animals, huge insects. Others do not see anything, but hear someone’s eerie laughter or even smell unusual smells.
Some experienced a growing hum in the ears combined with a gray-black amorphous approaching figure who basically forces the body to strain in order to get out of paralysis.
These observations lead to the conclusion that there is no question of any identical work of the brain, of any hallucinations. Most likely, in this state, a person actually looks beyond the edge of our world and reveals another reality.
Quite another question, but do we need to go there? Judging by what people who have experienced sleep paralysis say, we don’t need to go to that world at all.
