In the mid-2000s, a couple of decades into this exploration, I set the intention to see if consciousness (the consciousness I am) could be conscious through deep sleep and throughout the night.
CONSCIOUS THROUGH SLEEP
After a few nights, it worked.
Consciousness – the consciousness I am – observed this human self fall asleep. There was consciousness through the night, including through deep sleep. It was not aware of anything in particular – apart from perhaps a very faint (subtle) content of experience. There was an absence of a sense of time. (Or perhaps a very faint sense of time as if it was away in the distance? I don’t remember if there was.) Nothing much happening. Then some dreams, and then the waking world.
Is this important? I am not sure. Of course, it’s one of many things that points to and highlights my more fundamental nature. Beyond that, I didn’t find it obviously useful or interesting. Also, this human self prefers awareness to be “gone” during deep sleep, so I didn’t pursue it further.
RELATED TO…
This reminds me of a few other things.
LUCID DREAMING
When I was little, maybe five or six years old, and set the intention to be aware that I am dreaming while dreaming. That too worked. I dreamt I was in a big barn (US style for some reason), and a large group of people with pitchforks were chasing me. I ran out towards a steep drop. I also knew I was dreaming, so it didn’t matter so much that I had no escape. Knowing it was a dream was escape enough.
AWARE OF THE DREAMING PROCESS WHILE AWAKE
I sometimes am consciously aware of the dreaming process while awake, which I wrote about some days ago.
MEMORY FROM BETWEEN LIVES
And it’s similar to my apparent memory from between lives. Here too, there wasn’t too much content of experience. (Apart from the oneness and golden light and some occasional communication with other disembodied entities.) There was very little awareness of time – it seemed very far away. (This memory came as occasional flashbacks when I was very little, before school age.)
DON’T TALK ABOUT IT MUCH
I’ll happily talk about this with others who have similar experiences. It’s fun to explore and compare notes. But I hardly ever mention it otherwise. It seems a distraction from what’s more direct, easy, and essential (noticing our nature here and now) and most people just find it weird.
Image by me and Midjourney
Update: It’s a few days after I wrote this, and something similar happened, likely because this topic and curiosity was in my system from writing the article. I was channeling (Vortex Healing) and lying down on the bed, and consciousness watched as this body was falling asleep. The channeling continued to some extent, although not quite as strongly. And then this body woke up again, likely because a part wanted to stay awake to continue channeling. Watching this body fall asleep is not quite the same as consciousness continuing through deep sleep, but a taste of the same.
INITIAL NOTES
CONSCIOUS THROUGH DEEP SLEEP
In the mid-2000s, I set the intention to see if consciousness (the consciousness I am) could be conscious through deep sleep and throughout the night.
It worked. Consciousness – the consciousness I am – observed this human self fall asleep. There was consciousness through the night, including through the deep sleep. It was not aware of anything in particular – apart from perhaps a very faint (subtle) content of experience. There wasn’t much time. Nothing much happening. Then some dreams, and then the waking world.
It was fun but I didn’t see much use for it, and this human self prefers awareness to be “gone” during the deep sleep, so I didn’t pursue it further.
This is similar to a few other things.
When I was little, maybe five or six years old, and set the intention to be aware that I am dreaming while dreaming. That too worked. I dreamt I was in a big barn (US style for some reason), and a large group of people with pitchforks were chasing me. I ran out towards a steep drop. I also knew I was dreaming, so it didn’t matter so much that I had no escape. Knowing it was a dream was escape enough.
I sometimes am consciously aware of the dreaming process while awake, which I wrote about some days ago.
And it’s similar to my apparent memory from between lives. Here too, there wasn’t too much content of experience. (Apart from the golden light and some occasional communication with other disembodied entities.) There was very little awareness of time – it seemed very far away. (This memory came as occasional flashbacks when I was very little, before school age.)
I hardly ever talk about these things since it’s not much to talk about, and people tend to see it as weird. But I do talk about it if I meet someone else who has similar experiences. It’s fun to explore and compare notes.