Lucid Dreams, Out—of—Body Experiences and Near—Death Experiences

 

Over the last several months several items have come to my attention regarding the rela­tionship between lucid dreams, out—of—body experiences (OBE) and near—death experience. One of the major reasons that I got involved in lucid dreaming research was their apparent similarity to OBE’s and the role of OBE’s in near—death experiences. My recent interest in this relationships was sparked by a letter I received in response to materials on dream lucidity I had sent the International Association for Near—Death Studies, Inc., Kenneth Ring, the director, wrote:

 

I know a little about lucid dreams (having read about them for several years and having had a few myself) and I’ve met and talked to Steve LeBerge. I still don’t know what an OBE is, but I’m not convinced it is a lucid dream (though I’m not closed to the possibility either). From what I’ve read (I’m referring to some stuff —— and it may not yet be pub­lished- by Glen Gabbard, Stu Twemlow and Fowler Jones), I thought the EEG patterns asso­ciated with OBEs and lucid dreams are quite different. Am I wrong? I also know that near—death survivors usually not only deny but deny emphatically that what they experience while out—of—body is anything like a dream, even a lucid dream, I daresay. But who knows-the question is still an intriguing one and perhaps your research and that others will shed some clarifying light into a murky corner of our consciousness. Concerning the impor­tance of lucidity at the moment of death, who could disagree? In my own case, though, I find it very hard to be fully lucid even in the moments of my everyday life.”

                                                     Kenneth Ring, Ph.D.

                                                     Department of Psychology

                                                     University of Connecticut

                                                     Storrs, Connecticut

 

A few months later these two items came to my attention. First a letter from S. J. Black-more restating an often found relationship between lucidty and OBE’s.

 

“I have done several surveys on OBEs but usually included questions on lucid dreams as well. Generally the same people tend to have both experiences and also, when I have asked about them, flying dreams. However, this may he an artifact of more frequent dream recall. The table shows some of these results.

 

 

Study

N

% lucid dreams

X2 with OBEs

X2 with flying dreams

1. Surrey University

157

79%

6.7 (p < .01)

-

2. Bristol University

114

73%

3.7 n.s.

6.6 (p < .01)

3. Amersterdam University

189

73%

8.9 (p < .05)

11.8 (p < .001)

 

                                                      Dr. S. J. Blackmore                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                        Department of Anatomy

                                                                                                The Medical School

                                                                                                            University of Bristol

                                                                        England

 

Second, an item from Perspective, a monthly research service published by the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), Virginia Beach, Virginia. Dr. Richard Kohr, director of the A.R.E. Workbook Questionnaire Research Project, identified three groups of respondents, who differed in whether or not they had had a near—death experience. The experiencing group indicated they had come close to death; had a deep, moving personal experience, and had one or more of the pix types of experiences described in the research of Raymond Moody and Kenneth Ring. A second group indicated that they had come close to death and may or may not have had a moving personal experience. The third group was referred to as the Non—Experiencing group, composed of persons who had never come close to death. In terms of dream states the Experiencing group reported a greater frequency of dreaming in color, greater frequency of unusual dream states such as LUDICITY and vibra­tions and a greater range of types of sense modalities in dreams.

                                                     “Perspective’

                                                     Association for Research

                                                       and Enlightenment

                                                     Virginia Beach, Virginia

 

Lucidity Letter Back Issues, Vol. 1, No. 2, March, 1982, page 8.