OBE Experiences

[Pradeep1210]

When I was in 8th or 9th standard (I can't recall exactly), during the examination days, I fell asleep reading my course book. In my dreams I saw my self writing the exams. When I woke up , I thought it was just another dream due to excessive pressure due to studies.
But when I sat for the exams the next day, I was amazed to see the exact same question paper I had seen in my dreams, same set & color of question paper, same invigilators moving around, same seating arrangement... everything exactly same as I had seen in my dreams.

What was this? Can it be categorized as OBE?

Also any one of you who has had similar experiences and would like to share?

[Justa Lol]

not exactly similar but one day when i was like 7 years old i had a dream about my uncle running after, literally chasing me, he was yellow, green and blue all over his body and apparently the next morning his wife called my father and told him that his brother has had a heart attack and had passed away, later that day we went to the morgue to say good bye and apparently he looked exactly the same, lying on the hospital bed as i had seen in my dreams...

[honeybee]

not exactly similar but one day when i was like 7 years old i had a dream about my uncle running after, literally chasing me, he was yellow, green and blue all over his body and apparently the next morning his wife called my father and told him that his brother has had a heart attack and had passed away, later that day we went to the morgue to say good bye and apparently he looked exactly the same, lying on the hospital bed as i had seen in my dreams...

But he wasn't running after you, was he? Your dream is wrong! You are just making it up to make fun of Pradeep!


The only OBE I know of is the Order of the British Empire. Pradeep, it's a bad habit to sleep on your study books when preparing for an exam.

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[Justa Lol]

actually he was... he died of an heart attack while he was trying to get all the sheep on a mark together. which would require him to be chasing, and no i did not attempt to make fun of anyone and this is not made up.

[wossname]

Revision by osmosis?

[Hack]

What does OBE mean? Overcome By Events?

[Pradeep1210]

What does OBE mean? Overcome By Events?

When the soul gets out of body and roams around freely

 

[MarMan]

It could be a premonition.
It could also be a false memory that tricks the mind into thinking what it saw is what it now sees and what it really saw is lost.

I do not believe in the latter. Too many people have these "premonitions" and describe them BEFORE they happen. There may be something going on here.

[abhijit]

I have always maintained that if you throw enough stones, one of them is bound to hit the target. So also with premonitions and predictions.

[Shaggy Hiker]

actually he was... he died of an heart attack while he was trying to get all the sheep on a mark together. which would require him to be chasing, and no i did not attempt to make fun of anyone and this is not made up.

But he wasn't chasing YOU....unless....are you a sheep?

I've heard OBOE before.

One thing that you would have a nearly impossible problem overcoming is the fact that memories are incredibly unreliable. Eye witnesses are the least reliable form of testimony in criminal cases simply because there are so many false memories. In fact, some studies have shown that there is a significantly large segment of the population that will form actual memories of fictious events. MRIs show that for these people, the same brain areas are activated for ficticious as for real memories, whereas for the rest of the population there is a distinct difference between real and imaginary memories.

So, if memory is so unreliable, the only way you can really be certain that you did see those things that exact way is if you had written down the description of the dream prior to getting into the exam. The written record is the only proof that the dream is as you remembered it. Of course, anybody who writes down all their dreams is going to be a bit strange, but without that, there is always a chance that the memory itself is faulty. I have some interesting memories associated with a couple accidents (one that I was in, one that I witnessed), which have left me with pretty much complete doubt as to the reliability of memory.

On the other hand, the only real miracle is if no coincidences ever occured. A very rare probability is still possible, and some times it will be hit. Having taken so many tests, it isn't unreasonable that you could dream of a hypothetical situation that turned out to match reality, especially when it is a situation that you had been in many times, with many variations, before.

[Hack]

Too many people have these "premonitions" and describe them BEFORE they happen.

I don't like to toot my own horn, but I've always had something of a knack for describing, in minute detail, all of my premonitions AFTER they happen.

Its a gift.

[Pradeep1210]

So, if memory is so unreliable, the only way you can really be certain that you did see those things that exact way is if you had written down the description of the dream prior to getting into the exam. The written record is the only proof that the dream is as you remembered it. Of course, anybody who writes down all their dreams is going to be a bit strange, but without that, there is always a chance that the memory itself is faulty. I have some interesting memories associated with a couple accidents (one that I was in, one that I witnessed), which have left me with pretty much complete doubt as to the reliability of memory.

While I didn't write down what I saw, I did mug up a few questions I could recall from the question paper I had seen in the dream. After 2 - 3 questions I gave up, assuming that dreams are dreams and they are never real; only to be amazed seeing the same question paper in the examination hall.

[NickThissen]

Dreams are strange like that, you can never truly remember a dream and often if you think back on it you think you can remember it but in fact you're thinking something completely different. It is much more likely that during your real exam you thought that you dreamt it already, but that is just a false memory and your actual dream was you chasing a unicorn (but you just can't remember that).
As Shaggy says, the only reliable way to test this is to write down your dreams immediately.

I've had this myself a couple of times, where I witness something and then think "Huh? I've had a dream like this yesterday!", but how can one verify that I actually had that dream? I probably had a completely different dream and just don't remember it, and for some reason my brain makes me think I dreamt something else.

I guess it's similar to deja-vu. I've had deja-vu's in places where I've never been before, and I could 'remember' all kinds of details about the place.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I have had dreams about taking tests. In some of them, the questions were entirely plausible, though I would not say that I had ever taken that particular class, or had ever seen that particular question. Once you have been in school long enough, you get a feel for what the questions will be. I'm not surprised that you were able to dream up reasonable test questions, nor are you suprised. It sounds like what surprised you was to see those questions again. But if the questions were reasonable, perhaps you really shouldn't be surprised.

[NickThissen]

I think the most likely conclusion is that you simply dreamt about taking a test, but (because it's a dream) you can't really remember the details (the room you were in, the other people, seating arrangements, etc). Once you were in your real exam, the actual details replaced the missing bits in the memory of your dream and it seems as though you already dreamt exactly the same scenario (even though the dream may have been completely different).

[honeybee]

I guess it's similar to baja_yu. I've had baja_yu in places where I've never had him before, and I could 'remember' all kinds of details about the place.

Is it really what you have posted, or is it my memory playing tricks with me?



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[Pradeep1210]

I have had dreams about taking tests. In some of them, the questions were entirely plausible, though I would not say that I had ever taken that particular class, or had ever seen that particular question. Once you have been in school long enough, you get a feel for what the questions will be. I'm not surprised that you were able to dream up reasonable test questions, nor are you suprised. It sounds like what surprised you was to see those questions again. But if the questions were reasonable, perhaps you really shouldn't be surprised.

Yes, you're right. I was already well prepared for the exams. So I surprised seeing the same question paper again.

Usually we have 4 sets of question papers for an exam and each set is colored differently to distinguish one from the other. The questions are same, but worded differently and in different sequence. This is to prevent students from cheating and let the invigilators know (visually) that no two students seated on adjacent seats have the same question paper. What surprised me was that I had exactly the same question paper I saw in my dream - same color, same questions in same order. I was seated exactly same as in my dream - same students on my left, right etc. Also the invigilators in that hall were same.

[honeybee]

Maybe you had the dream after you had the exam, but the dates in your memory got jumbled up so you thought you had dreamt it before the exam.

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[NickThissen]

What surprised me was that I had exactly the same question paper I saw in my dream - same color, same questions in same order. I was seated exactly same as in my dream - same students on my left, right etc. Also the invigilators in that hall were same.

Or, you didn't dream that at all but just remember your dream differently. Once the real exam had started, the actual details of your dream were lost (you can't remember a dream that well for such a long time) and your brain simply replaced them with the actual thing. Then you remember it as if it has already happened in your dream, while in reality your dream was different.

[Pradeep1210]

Nah... nothing is jumbled up or replaced. The exact contents of the dream are *now* blurred. I don't remember the questions in the question paper - neither the ones in my dreams or the real one.

I had been trying to share it with others since then for quite long, but unfortunately I didn't had access to internet and forums like this one at that time. Told some of my friends though; some were amazed and others laughed away.

[NickThissen]

Nah... nothing is jumbled up or replaced.

But that's the point: you can't know that. If something has been jumbled or replaced, it would still seem as a real memory to you (even though it's not), so even you cannot know whether this really happened or not.

[Siddharth Rout]

OBE: Out of Body Experience? Yeah I have heard about it. Where your soul exits your body and floats above you. But I guess you meant premonition or ESP.

Sid

[Pradeep1210]

But that's the point: you can't know that. If something has been jumbled or replaced, it would still seem as a real memory to you (even though it's not), so even you cannot know whether this really happened or not.

Why did this happen only once in my lifetime till now and never repeated? If it was my brain confusing between reality and dreams and replacing them interchangebly, then I would have expected to have it happen more frequently.

[Nightwalker83]

What does OBE mean? Overcome By Events?

Oh I didn't think he was talking about Order of the British Empire.

[honeybee]

Why did this happen only once in my lifetime till now and never repeated? If it was my brain confusing between reality and dreams and replacing them interchangebly, then I would have expected to have it happen more frequently.

Maybe it learnt its lesson and isn't making the same mistakes again? Ain't that an improvement? You should be happy your brain has learnt from the past and has modified its behaviour! It's exactly what an AI would do! You have successfully shown you are an AI programmed bot!!






Oh, umm....

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[honeybee]

What does OBE mean? Overcome By Events?

Oh I didn't think he was talking about Order of the British Empire.

Did you quote the wrong quote, NW?

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[Siddharth Rout]

You guys need to get a life...

[visualAd]

Memories it is assumed are laid down in sequence, in chronological order. But if that goes wrong, you can get the feeling that what you are experiencing in the present, is actually a memory from the past. They call that déjà vu.

[honeybee]

You guys need to get a life...

Oh come on, this is so much fun than work!

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[dee-u]

Isn't that called DEJA VU? From elementary to high school I've experienced it often, things that looks like it has happened to me already, I did not know what it is called then until I stumbled on the word DEJA VU. After telling my older brother about it then it has seldom happened to me again, perhaps just once or twice this past 15 years or so. I did not know if I was seeing the future or that the moment was just registering late on my brain.

[FunkyDexter]

Isn't that called DEJA VU?

Sort of but not really. Deja Vu is a non-specific feeling that you've experienced something before. You don't 'remember' any details about it. It's just a general feeling.

What Pradeep is descrbing would be closer to a premonition. He can remember details about it and can remember where he remembers it from.

I get Deja Vu all the time but I've never experienced anything that I could describe as a premonition.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I get Deja Vu all the time but I've never experienced anything that I could describe as a premonition.

You've said that before.

I'm sure of it.

I just can't remember when....

[FunkyDexter]

I get Deja Vu all the time but I've never experienced anything that I could describe as a premonition.

[MarMan]

Deja Vu

[dee-u]

I get Deja Vu all the time but I've never experienced anything that I could describe as a premonition.

You've said that before.

I'm sure of it.

I just can't remember when....

[honeybee]

http://xkcd.com/718/

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[visualAd]

The consent form I signed for my OP had on it that one of the side effects of the aesthetic are:

"Visions that may include watching the operation from above, hearing voices or feeling things"

[Nightwalker83]

Did you quote the wrong quote, NW?

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No!

[NeedSomeAnswers]

"Visions that may include watching the operation from above, hearing voices or feeling things"

They sound far to positive for a side effects, most side effects say things like "could cause your left arm to drop off"

of course that depends what "Feeling things" means exactly.

[visualAd]

They had all the normal sounding ones like nausea, vomiting and death above that.