Out-of-Body
The Guardian
One interesting phenomenon that I’ve experienced while having out of body experiences is something trying to trick me into waking up.
I just experienced it again this morning, though it is very rare for me at this point. I experienced it a lot more when I was first starting.
This morning I was waking up calmly, laying in bed. My wife had already woken up and was in the living room. We’re planning on going on a trip later today, and our dog sitter would be here in a couple hours, so I decided to try and leave my body.
I was able to get my arms out, and my vision was distorted, and nonsensical. Still, I was just having fun with it. In and out, flipping around, sliding off the bed, hearing myself snore – the normal routine.
Suddenly I heard the dog sitter arriving and talking to my wife in the living room!
“Holy crap, she’s here already? I better get dressed!”
I quickly returned to my body, and started to wake up. But then it dawned on me: our dog sitter isn’t here. That doesn’t make any sense.
I easily got out again, but the dog sitter was back, and she was about to come into our bedroom!
I needed to get up, ASAP… or, no. This is silly. Of course she isn’t there. My wife would have woken me up.
By now I know the experience: a false sense of urgency to wake up, trying to convince me to return to my body… this is The Guardian.
I never had a name for it until I read this post by Bob Peterson.
To be clear, I have experienced this phenomenon many times in my life, prior to reading that article. For example, when I was younger, as I was leaving my body, I saw my sister’s friend get on my computer in my bedroom. Being a computer nerd, someone else getting on my computer made me wake up to intervene. Only to realize that I was fooled.
Sometimes it manifests as a scary voice, or a spooky presence in the room, but for me, it is usually more sophisticated than that. It’s a family member, or a friend, or a knock on the door. Something plausible.
Once I recognized that the dog sitter wasn’t real, The Guardian stepped it up a notch. Now there was a crowd of people outside the bedroom. I heard them talking and scuffling around. Surely this would motivate me to wake up!
But alas, the jig was up. I called out The Guardian.
“That’s cool but I know it isn’t real. Who are you?”
It responded in a spooky voice, some long name, that meant nothing to me.
It started a spooky rant, similar to the ominous monologue experience, but I was completely disinterested, and it faded out.
I exited my body and walked around. Eventually my vision faded in, but it was disorienting, and I returned.
What is The Guardian?
Bob believes it is the subconscious trying to test you, to make sure you are ready to handle leaving your body.
I think there’s some truth to that. It definitely feels like a test of some sort.
I’m not convinced it comes from my own mind, though.
If it was my subconscious, then why did it feel the need to test me today, after decades of out of body experiences? I have zero doubt I can handle an out of body experience. No part of my mind thinks I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
One interesting piece of data might be that this is the first OBE I’ve had after moving to our new house. Maybe guardians have jurisdictions, and the guardian at my old house was used to me leaving my body, but the new guy who patrols this area didn’t know.
Of course I have no clue what is true, maybe it’s all chaotic hallucination too.
Still, it’s interesting that people experience the same phenomenon. Something is trying to convince us to stay in our bodies, and it uses trickster tactics.
Another mystery!