Hallucinations

[Neve]

I've never had any hallucinations, not even on any type of drug/medication. I have seen some paranormal activity, but I don't consider that to fall into the hallucination category since at least two events were corroborated by other people. I have had some crazy dreams after drinking kava tea.

 

[Jesse2014]

Yes, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a giant spider charging at me. I ran out of my apartment and it followed me and then disappeared. It looked so real.

 

[Rhamiel]

as for the assumption that all supernatural experiences are hallucinations, well that seems to be unfairly biased.

 

[TraciDee]

I had a bad reaction to Nyquil and had hallucinations once in college. There was this bald kid following me around everywhere I went and in Chemistry class the teacher picked up a box and started throwing out wigs. I will never take Nyquil again.

Besides that, I've just seen things when I was little. Scary things at night. There was one night when I saw my mom standing in the room with her back to me. I said her name and she turned around and had a skull for a face. Probably a dream, but I later found out my sister had seen the same thing (we had bunk beds at the time) but I don't know if it was the same night. Just weird.

 

[ReesePiece23]

I could write a horror movie with some of these posts. You guys could make me a millionaire!

 

[Lord Of The Forest]

Hey, ReesePiece... Why not write a CF story using CFers and some of these hallucinations? That would be A++.

 

[ReesePiece23]

Hey, ReesePiece... Why not write a CF story using CFers and some of these hallucinations? That would be A++.

I might do actually... I'll see what I can throw together when I get a spare five minutes.

 

[SnowyMacie]

Hey, ReesePiece... Why not write a CF story using CFers and some of these hallucinations? That would be A++.

I might do actually... I'll see what I can throw together when I get a spare five minutes.

Yeah, maybe you can come up with an explanation of the "BRAINWASH" fiasco. Weirdest thing ever, and I wasn't even in the room for it.

 

[Somber]

It was interesting reading through this thread.

The only hallucination that I can really recall was as a small child. I remember seeing a black cat run across our kitchen, which then disappeared under the cupboard. It is a very vague memory, but I remember I was very excited to see a cat in the house and ran over to try finding it (we only had a white calico cat at the time). I was probably only 4 years old at the time, but I still remember that and it had seemed very real.

Other than that, I do not think I have had any hallucinations, other than maybe a few times when I was half awake and in a dream-like state (though I don't know if those count). There was a time that I had stayed up all night working on an assignment and drove to school that morning. I probably should not have attempted to drive without having any sleep, but I survived that day. I kept thinking I saw things though, and I was near positive I saw someone sitting in the back seat when I was driving, but when I looked back, no one was there. I think my brain was trying to fall asleep on me and it was like being awake and dreaming at the same time.

 

[Nanopants]

Aside from a few misperceptions, i.e. shadows playing tricks on me and what not, I've never had a visual hallucination.

I may have had an auditory hallucination once. Not very long after I was converted I was in a fairly distressed state about things like death and hell. One night while I was wrestling with thoughts about that subject, out of nowhere I heard a strange, small voice say "there is no death." I knew it was in my head because I didn't actually hear it with my ears, but it wasn't my inner monologue either. It was like I could hear it, but I know I didn't think it, because it surprised me.

I have another weird story (l just know I'm going to freak some of you all out, but w/e it makes life interesting). I remember being deeply asleep once years ago, and in my dream state or whatever you want to call it, I kept hearing this rhythmic pattern: three beats, pause, three more beats, pause, and so on. At first it was faint, but it grew louder and louder over time, until I woke up, gasping for breath and I realized it was my own hand smacking me on the chest, and I stopped.

0_0

 

[Lord Of The Forest]

Other than that, I do not think I have had any hallucinations, other than maybe a few times when I was half awake and in a dream-like state (though I don't know if those count).

That would be hypnagogia.

Symptoms of hypnagogia include (but are not limited to) hearing distant overlapping voices and fragments of speech, reliving a repetitive activity you practiced before sleep, and sudden bursts of creativity and profound thoughts.

Spoiler: anecdotal

I experience most of the symptoms of hypnagogia, the sounds being the most common. To get an idea of what it's like (for me, anyway), click the link to the song below, and you should be taken to a spot sounding similar to the overlapping voices I experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OMMSAomwNGA#t=296

I think my hypnagogia is one of the reasons I love the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus so much. Their mix of calm music and spoken word/movie/speech samples mimics the hypnagogic state and will almost immediately put me under as it were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG_uUPQHsLM

 

[blackribbon]

Two people can not hallucinate the same thing at the same time...a hallucination involves an internal stimuli, not an external one that the person perceives as an external stimuli. For the person that claims his friends had this experience, the only thing I can think of is that it was a external stimuli that made the two have an experience at the same time and they both just assumed that it was the same hallucination...either that or it was external event and then it wasn't a hallucination by any definition. People who hallucinate without drug involvement seldom have "happy" hallucinations...they are usually told by voices and visions to harm themselves or others. Drug involvement can go either way...so to assume that all the "witnesses" were using the same good "dope" (whatever it was) is really kind of stretching it a bit...and since people respond differently, at least some would have had a "bad trip"...but again, since the stimuli is internal to the person, they wouldn't all have the same hallucination anyway.

The Jesus sightings as "mass hallucinations" goes against anything we know about hallucinations in psychiatric medicine today.

 

[Nanopants]

^Yeah I was wanting to hear the OP's viewpoint on that. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[radhead]

The Jesus sightings as "mass hallucinations" goes against anything we know about hallucinations in psychiatric medicine today.

But what about the Virgin Mary sightings? If one believer sees it he will convince others of the same.

 

[radhead]

Not very long after I was converted I was in a fairly distressed state about things like death and hell. One night while I was wrestling with thoughts about that subject, out of nowhere I heard a strange, small voice say "there is no death."
0_0

I find it interesting that you started having those thoughts after your conversion, or what should have been a positive experience. It's the type of thing that makes me question traditional Christianity as we know it today.

 

[blackribbon]

But what about the Virgin Mary sightings? If one believer sees it he will convince others of the same.

They won't all see her at the same time...and if you interviewed them, the experiences will be different. What you are describing is psycho-suggestive situations anyway, not hallucinations. I assume you are taking about things like seeing Jesus' image in the toast...which what they are looking at is real and external to the mind...but how they chose to process it is done by suggesting an idea. Or maybe like the "purple horse" that we had living wild at my childhood summer camp...a lot of us claimed to have seen it but nobody really did or believed they did. I know I convinced a few girls to believe me...yes, I wanted to see it...and yes, I knew it didn't exist...and yes, a few times I almost convinced my self i could see it...but that was not a hallucination but rather wishful thinking and if my life depended on it, I'd have admitted that it was probably only wishful thinking. But the people who saw Jesus were willing to die (and some did) rather than recant their stories of seeing him. Even people who have "real" hallucinations won't defend them to the death because they have some awareness that it isn't quite real even when it feels very real to them.

It is your option to not believe it because you think God doesn't seem real enough to you. However, I choose to believe that they saw something external to them because it was real enough to change their lives in a very dramatic way. I say the evidence points to a real and tangible resurrected Jesus and nothing that even remotely points to some mass hallucination...that does not make scientific sense any more than you trying to make sense of a resurrected Son. So you are left with no science...only blind faith no matter which way you choose to believe.

 

[Somber]

That would be hypnagogia.

Symptoms of hypnagogia include (but are not limited to) hearing distant overlapping voices and fragments of speech, reliving a repetitive activity you practiced before sleep, and sudden bursts of creativity and profound thoughts.

Spoiler: anecdotal

I experience most of the symptoms of hypnagogia, the sounds being the most common. To get an idea of what it's like (for me, anyway), click the link to the song below, and you should be taken to a spot sounding similar to the overlapping voices I experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OMMSAomwNGA#t=296

I think my hypnagogia is one of the reasons I love the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus so much. Their mix of calm music and spoken word/movie/speech samples mimics the hypnagogic state and will almost immediately put me under as it were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG_uUPQHsLM

That is quite interesting. I do think I experience that at times, especially creativity and profound thoughts (best time for writing, lol). I usually know when what I hear or see is just relating to dreams, since it usually only happens when I am laying in bed before dozing off.

I have very realistic dreams, so sometimes when I awake I am trying to figure out what just happened, then I realize I was only sleeping. Sometimes when I dream while waking up, my thoughts literally become like a movie when it is like this, I can think of anything I want to and it seems like it is real, though I subconsciously know I am dreaming, so I am partially in control of the dream.

I find those songs soothing with the voices and music together. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kittysbecute]

As close as I've ever gotten to having hallucination that I can remember is I had a terrible cold. I was unable to sleep at all for several days. I was exhausted, and miserable. (At that time I wasn't taking any drugs because I'm a rebel.. but then I think I gave in and took some cold medication to actually get some sleep.)

I don't really consider hypnagogia as hallucinations. I have lucid dreams, and you could say I also have a vivid imagination. But I don't see or hear things that aren't there while I'm fully awake. It is natural to see or hear things in dreams, even when you are half awake. I have seen colors while listening to a song with my eyes closed though.

Like someone said I can't really think of any positive examples of hallucinations. They are usually disturbing.

As far as religious dreams go. When I was a kid I once dreamed I was riding around on my go-kart and Jesus was standing there watching me, and I was happy he was there.

 

[Nanopants]

I find it interesting that you started having those thoughts after your conversion, or what should have been a positive experience. It's the type of thing that makes me question traditional Christianity as we know it today.

I started having those thoughts because I was terrified of God, for a while. Two days after praying my first serious prayer, I was hit by something like a hemorrhagic stroke, not a hallucination. Having gone through that level of pain of course I was going to struggle with that sort of thought.

I didn't start questioning "traditional" Christianity's stance on hell and torture until well after my recovery.

 

[William67]

Many years ago I was on some serious meds and saw shadows creeping along the walls. Other than that, no.

Edit: I do have frequent visits by deceased relatives during dreams. Theyre actually quite helpful working out problems.