My question is what exactly we see while we're in that state, and I have three possible theories about it:
a) we see the real world; this means our eyes are open
b) we see the projection of the real world through our astral body; our real life eyes are probably closed
c) we see a dreamworld, a mental model based on our expectations
Thing is, I've been getting this more and more, and it's always the same pattern. I go to sleep, my mind wanders (I don't make an effort to keep aware), I regain conscious awareness somewhere in the middle of sleep paralysis, I feel paralyzed for a while, I get electric shivers, and then I'm in a dreamworld.
As of late, the sleep paralysis period has become increasingly longer, and various questions have been arising in my mind. I've had an experience earlier today where I was paralyzed for about a minute before it finally moved on.
One thing I've realized as I woke up today was the very fact that I had visuals during sleep paralysis, and I started wondering just how it was possible. Were my real life eyes open during this time? It didn't feel like they were. I didn't feel them become open, and I didn't feel them blink. If they were open, surely they should've felt tired, but there was no such thing.
But if they were closed, then what and how was I seeing? Could it be that I was seeing with my astral body, and that what I was seeing was the projection of reality in the astral realm?
As I look back over all of my previous sleep paralysis experiences, short as they were, I realize they always had vision, and that vision was always consistent with what was true in real life.
Hmm, the next time I try inducing this consciously, I think I'll try taping myself and see whether my eyes open up or not. I hope I don't catch any ghosts on tape.
