Sleep Paralysis

Once upon a time, when LittleMaster was still a magic apprentice at the Magic Academy, he experienced two episodes of sleep paralysis.

The first one happened four years ago, and at that time, LittleMaster didn’t even know it was called “sleep paralysis.” He was completely puzzled and defined it as a “supernatural event.”

Let’s go back to four years ago (the analysis in parentheses is based on the theory of “Interpretation of Dreams”):

At that time, LittleMaster came back from shopping at noon and took a nap.

Plus, he had a cold and was feeling very uncomfortable, so he continued to use hypnotherapy.

As mentioned before, after using this method, LittleMaster no longer had the annoyance of dreaming, and he hadn’t encountered any problems for almost two years.

But this time, it was going to be a big challenge for him.

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LittleMaster gradually relaxed, and suddenly he found that he had the ability to see inside himself (according to Taoist cultivation, one can see the internal organs). When he scanned his stomach, he saw a large tumor.

Oh no, thought LittleMaster, this is already a terminal illness. Then the scene shrunk, and the previous one was an enlarged picture of cells (tumor cells from a high school biology textbook).

…

When he regained consciousness again, LittleMaster found himself on a bridge over a lake (a reflection of a local lake).

Suddenly, there was a flash of a hand reaching out from the water (like in the game “Plants vs. Zombies”).

As he crossed over half of the lake from the bridge, there was a commotion on the right side, as if someone fell into the water (news about a person jumping into the lake for a double suicide).

Then he saw a child in the water (when LittleMaster was a child, his friend said that there was a ghost in a certain house they passed by, and they should never look inside (or imagine a pink elephant), otherwise they would be possessed by a ghost. But then LittleMaster looked inside and caught a glimpse of an unforgettable scene).

LittleMaster followed a curved path and went downstream toward a ship, and again, there was a flash of a hand reaching out from the water. Then he either flew up or fell into the water? The scene tilted about 90 degrees (like falling from a building in Counter-Strike or the line “I died by drowning last time” from Angel Beats).

After that, LittleMaster mixed with that thing. He didn’t know how long it lasted; it could have been just an instant.

Then he felt his whole body numb and heard buzzing in his head (like the sound of a UFO appearing in a movie, actually his brain waves).

LittleMaster was terrified, feeling the horror of being possessed by a ghost and about to be taken over.

He kept trying to drive it away and even attempted to let the sunlight shine on it, but it only worked on the last attempt when a red flame emerged, revealing a little demon face inside (like the lava creature in Warcraft).

At this point, the buzzing sound became louder and his whole body became more numb.

He didn’t know if he thought of it himself or if the person rescuing him reminded him, but all he needed to do was to keep his eyes open.

This was undoubtedly a lifeline. LittleMaster desperately followed the advice, but he seemed to lose control of his body. He was paralyzed throughout his body, unable to even open his eyes.

At that time, LittleMaster had only one feeling: “If I don’t open my eyes, I’ll become a vegetable.”

He tried several times, and finally his right eye opened a little and he saw the ceiling of his dormitory, but it was dim. The illusions and hallucinations disappeared immediately. Only then did he realize that he was taking a nap.

Although there were arguments from “Interpretation of Dreams,” there were still some things that LittleMaster couldn’t explain, which led to a series of questions:
If they were all illusions, why did his whole body become paralyzed?
After waiting for a while, he regained the ability to control his arm and took off his headphones, which he normally didn’t have to think about how his limbs should move, as they would move according to his consciousness.

Can mental activity cause physical damage?
Also, it was after 3 o’clock in the afternoon, which is considered the yin period of the day, but it’s not like a ghost would come out.

And what would happen if he didn’t open his eyes? Would his consciousness disappear? LittleMaster didn’t feel any emotion from that thing, and it didn’t have any mental impact on him.

Is it still in his mind now, or has it already left? Or was it originally a part of him?

In conclusion, the experience of sleep paralysis is eerie and unique, especially the first time. Without scientific guidance, it is difficult not to associate it with ghosts and monsters.

For some time afterward, LittleMaster couldn’t figure it out, and a few weeks later, he experienced it again.

With the experience from the first time, LittleMaster quickly opened his eyes and believed he had it under control.

After some time passed, LittleMaster was browsing his Q-zone (popular social media platform in China) and suddenly found that the public account where he had blocked a daily guide had posted an article:

“Teach You How to Control Dreams [Super Technique]”

LittleMaster was completely dumbfounded.

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PS:

The answer that truly convinced LittleMaster was actually in the book “Out of Control: The Final Fate and Outcome of All Humanity” (this book is unrelated to dreams at all). In the chapter “Crowd into Wisdom,” it says:

“Human beings have brains, but they are neither centralized nor have a so-called center… Consciousness emerges from a distributed network made up of countless unconscious neural circuits.”

It also quotes a passage from “The Society of Mind,” a philosophical and humanistic book published by Marvin Minsky in 1988:

“Human mental activity and any natural perception system are composed of countless individual and simple agents, which form a big society. Various mental phenomena emerge from highly correlated interactions in the brain.”

To make an inaccurate analogy, the human brain is probably like a GPU with numerous processing units, each doing its own thing. Only when everything is combined can “you” exist.

When sleeping, if the part of the brain responsible for consciousness is active while the part controlling the body is in a state of rest, it might create the terrifying phenomenon of feeling awake but unable to control the body (like stroke patients?).

Translated by gpt-3.5-turbo