the timboucher experience

I was reminded of this excellent article on Fortean Times about hypnagogia - the state you’re in just before you fall asleep. Sometimes people have mini-dreams or visions, or even auditory hallucinations during this stage. The state when you’re just between sleep and waking is the hypnopompic, and it has it’s own similar phenomena. Both are examined here and they give lots of excellent references for further research into how various people and cultures have dealt with these states.

One of the most interesting bits in this article, to me, is this idea which they credit to Rudolf Steiner:

Rudolf Steiner, whose visions of the Akashic Record seem very much like hypnagogic experiences, advised that the best time for communicating with the dead was in the period between waking and sleep. Steiner claimed that if you asked the dead a question as you fell asleep, they would answer you the next morning as you woke up.

In case you don’t know, Rudolf Steiner is sort of an odd character. I don’t know much about him, but I do know that he is the founder of the Waldorf School system. Again, I don’t know a ton about that system of education, but you can start learning over at Wikipedia. One of the guiding principles of it seems to be that all education should take place on three levels:

The intellect (as in lectures), the heart (as in the artistic and feeling aspects of the subject), and the hands (the practical application). The attempt is made to integrate art into all aspects of the curriculum, including the teaching of science.

Steiner also based the principles of the Waldorf system on anthroposophy, which is a “spiritual science” he developed, somewhat similar to theosophy. Again, I’m gonna have to look around for more info.

Oh, almost forgot. That original quote from the Fortean Times article (before we got into this other nonsense) mentions the Akashic Record. This is supposed to be a library containing all information on all things that have ever or will ever happen in the entire universe. It’s claimed that some mystics and psychics can read from the records stored there. (I’ve also read of grey-robed guardians or librarians who are thought to operate or maintain the records - I’ll try and do a separate post on this stuff).

Anyway, going back to the original topic of this post - the hypnagogic state… I guess the idea is that since the hypnagogic state is between waking and sleep, then it’s somehow analogous to the hazy realm between death and life. If you’re able to articulate a question to ask the dead during this time period, maybe Steiner believed that they would be able to access the Akashic Records, or otherwise obtain information for you. Creepily enough, the one time I really tried this technique of “formulating a question for the dead,” I had a dream that night about my deceased grandfather, and my grandmother who I never met. I don’t remember what the question was, and it seems unimportant compared to what I got out of the dream.

• The Living and the Dead
• Let the Dead Bury the Dead!
• If The Dead Remembered…
• Dead man walking
• Question for BlogExplosioneers