The black guy

[Antiochian]

I need an Orthodox interpretation/advice on a dream/semi-dream I had.

A few years back I was asleep in my bed in a dream. I was positioned as I was (asleep in my bed) and I saw a man dressed in black (couldn't see his face) at the foot of my bed.

He then approached me, so I turned around and laid on my stomach to avoid him (all in my dream, so I presumed).

I then felt something press on me and hold me down, and obviously when something bad happens to you in a dream you try to wake up. I did wake up, and I could swear I opened my eyes, but I still couldn't move, I was still pinned down, my voice was completely gone and I couldn't scream.

Then suddenly, he just disappeared and I was let free.

He has never returned since, and many friends I have spoken to have told me of similar incidents involving the "black guy".

I was once speaking to an Orthodox guy about it who told me it was some collector of spirits who works on behalf of God, but it didn't make sense to me then.

Does anyone know of "the black guy" I speak of?

[ania]

I've heard people have similar incidents, of not being able to move and someone holding them down.  I've never heard about some collector of spirits working for God though.  That sounds a bit weird.

[djrak]

I've had the exact same experience but never saw him
i wanted to move but just couldnt and i swear i could hear him laugh sinically as i was tyring to break free and couldnt.
I don't know what/who he is but he is definitely evil, a demon probably.
this happenned to me not long after i came to Christ.

[ozgeorge]

This is known as a "Hypnagogic"  or "Hypnopompic" Experience.

It is also commonly called "Sleep Paralysis".

"Hypnagogic" refers to having the experience while drifting into sleep, whereas "Hypnopompic" refers to having the experience as you wake from sleep.

The experience of an "Intruder" is an hallucination in Sleep Paralysis, and often is experienced as a malevolent presence and the cause of the paralysis- eg as "demon holding me down".

What is most likely happening in "Sleep Paralysis" is that we are in a state between sleep and wakefulness- and in sleep, we are naturally "paralysed", however, if we have not fully entered sleep, we become aware of this paralysis and begin to panic. Our mind attempts to understand what it is experiencing, and creates a dreamlike hallucination to explain the paralysis.

[ozgeorge]

Here are some resources on Sleep Paralysis you may find helpful.

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html

http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html

http://sleepparalysis.dnswh.com/what_is_sleep_paralysis.htm

[PhosZoe]

This is known as a "Hypnagogic"  or "Hypnopompic" Experience.

It is also commonly called "Sleep Paralysis".

"Hypnagogic" refers to having the experience while drifting into sleep, whereas "Hypnopompic" refers to having the experience as you wake from sleep.

The experience of an "Intruder" is an hallucination in Sleep Paralysis, and often is experienced as a malevolent presence and the cause of the paralysis- eg as "demon holding me down".

What is most likely happening in "Sleep Paralysis" is that we are in a state between sleep and wakefulness- and in sleep, we are naturally "paralysed", however, if we have not fully entered sleep, we become aware of this paralysis and begin to panic. Our mind attempts to understand what it is experiencing, and creates a dreamlike hallucination to explain the paralysis.

Listen to Ozgeorge.

Besides your dreams are exactly that... dreams.

[Anastasios]

There may be physicological reasons but then again there may be darker spiritual reasons too.  Your spiritual father should be consulted on this issue.  When I was a practionioner of occultic things, such things happened to me, only they were occasionally confirmed to be true by other people who witnessed the events.  That's all I'll say.  Thank God for Orthodoxy.

Anastasios

[Timos]

I've had a dream just like it when I was really young but then again I had just finished watching a scary Chinese movie based on the chinese legend "the nightingale" or somethin like that.

Besides that, a couple of years ago I also had a dream in which I was sitting in a monastery somewhere in the wilderness and these monks were serving me tea on a small couch they had. They also were showing me a photo album of all the monks who were living and who were once living at the monastery there. So I turned to the next page and I was shockd and afraid. In the centre, on of the photos had the garb of a monk with the hat/hood thingy (sry...bad terminol.) but there was no body there and his name was unknown (kind of like "Scream" but no weird face) and it really freaked me out for some reason...so I asked the monks who is that monk and why his face is not showing. They replied rhetorically that I will one day know who this mystery person is and that this spot in the monastery is reserved for someone I know or care about....I don't know of anyone wanting to become a monk. In any case it is just a dream after all. Then again I had this dream consecutively for many nights of the year for 3 years in a row (along with another dream) until I prayed that God stop these strange dreams for recurring.

My other dream is quite simple but abstract. I am sitting on a balcony in Europe looking down on the plains below me which is in Africa (really weird) and I see a whole bunch of monastics coming from Europe, Asia, and meeting a whole bunch of Ethiopian/African looking monastics and they're all chanting in different languages. And then this woman who she says I supposedly know very well says something nice to me, introduces the monastics to me and after the clamor she leads them away in the opposite direction.

Two strange recurring dreams I had. Like your dreams maybe this is all "sleep paralysis" too.

[TomS]

This what y'all get for not pinning an "evil eye" medallion to your pillow before going nighty-night!ÂÂ  

[eleni]

Real life stories are interesting....

I too had a many similar experiences,not only in dreams but real life.......I was into seances,U.f.o's ,astrology,liked reading about the occult(not demon stuff....although NOW i know all magic and occult is Demonic.

When one prays and truly repents(confession is a must)at home,the devil tries to scare you away from the truth .
The only way he can do this is in your dreams(Spiritual warfare)sometimes things like this happen in real life that you can see but others can not...
I was just reading in a greek web site about an elder who saw real live demons appear to him in the open.....
for anyone that reads greek.....
http://users.forthnet.gr/pat/glg/Pages/aporiesA.htm
Under the heading of UFO'S.....

There are so many people with these experiences, but the advice they get are demonic deceptions again...... and the people that give the advice are being fooled themselves because they vainly assume that they know what they are doing....and the demons rejoice..
Lord Jesus Christ Son of God
Have mercy on me a sinner
IX
helen

[FrChris]

There may be physicological reasons but then again there may be darker spiritual reasons too. Your spiritual father should be consulted on this issue. When I was a practionioner of occultic things, such things happened to me, only they were occasionally confirmed to be true by other people who witnessed the events. That's all I'll say. Thank God for Orthodoxy.

Do some reading that ozgeorge suggests, but above all, please do what Anastasios recommends. I really, really mean it!

[djrak]

God talks to me thru dreams. Not all the dreams i have only a few. I have 2 major ones and a third recent one which i havent decyphered completely yet but got the main message.
I know they are from him and not mine because they are about very deep things presented in ways beyond my imagination and knowledge and stay always true to His word.

[jayjay]

I've had a few weird ones too. The most recent was I was in a room, and someone started choking me, and i couldn't move (It woke up my wife who said i was choking out loud). I remember this sense of evil crushing me, and then in my dream I started reciting the Jesus Prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner". It then stopped, and I slept like a baby for the rest of the night.

[Ebor]

This is known as a "Hypnagogic"ÂÂ  or "Hypnopompic" Experience.

It is also commonly called "Sleep Paralysis".

"Hypnagogic" refers to having the experience while drifting into sleep, whereas "Hypnopompic" refers to having the experience as you wake from sleep.
...........

Thank you for the interesting materiel and the calm sense, OzGeorge. Is any of this related to the sudden "jerk" that sometimes happens as one is drifting off to sleep?  I' sorry, I've forgotten the term for it.

Ebor

[Anastasios]

Thank you for the interesting materiel and the calm sense, OzGeorge. Is any of this related to the sudden "jerk" that sometimes happens as one is drifting off to sleep?ÂÂ  I' sorry, I've forgotten the term for it.

Ebor

Ugh I hate it when that happens.

[Ebor]

Ugh I hate it when that happens.

It doesn't happen often, but it rather feels like one is starting to fall and then "catches" hold.  I know there is a medical term for it.

Ebor

[Fr. David]

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, it's called "Restless Leg Syndrome."  A sudden urge to move right as you're drifting off to sleep.

[Ebor]

No, for me it's as I'm drifting off to sleep and there is a sudden full body twitch or jerk not just the legs. It feels like I'm suddenly starting to fall, like off a cliff, while lying down, then the jerk in effect is like catching myself from falling.  Of course, then i'm awake, but usually only briefly.

I'm going to have to look it up. 

Ebor

[Antiochian]

Yes I know what you mean, Ebor.

I get them too.

I heard it occurs when your in a real deep sleep. The theory is, is that when you're asleep you're essentially paralysed. When the "electric shock" occurs in your body, it's your body trying to wake itself up from a real deep sleep, thus to remind itself that it's not dead.

What I heard might be wrong, OzGeorge should have a better explanation.

[ozgeorge]

No, for me it's as I'm drifting off to sleep and there is a sudden full body twitch or jerk not just the legs..........I'm going to have to look it up.ÂÂ  

These are "Myoclonic Jerks" (sounds like an insult, doesn't it?).
Yes, there is a name for everything!

[Kosmas]

I had the exact same experience, but i didn't see if he was black. This guy was in my room and pressed on my eyes and on my injured back. I thought it was a theif, but I could hear mum cooking bacon and eggs in the kitchen so I knew I was not asleep. My back was not completely cured but I felt much better.

My bedroom door was locked by the way and I didn't see anyone go in or out of my room after I got up to grab "him".

[Girl]

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, it's called "Restless Leg Syndrome."ÂÂ  A sudden urge to move right as you're drifting off to sleep.

Oh my gosh thank you for putting that, i thought it was just me I did not know that it was an actual condition my mom has allways yelled at me for constantly moving my legs, I can't help it! It is so annoying though, when I am trying to sleep at night and I have this uncontrollable urge to move my legs, it did not used to be that bad until about a year ago when I tried taking these horrible diet pills.... made it ten times worse.

Concerning this paralysis, I never have seen any black guy or heard any voices, but this one day I fell asleep on my couch, the front door was open but the screen was locked, I woke up but I could not move at all, I couldn't even open my eyes, suddenly I started freaking out cuz I thought that someone had broke in and drugged me so that I could not move (sounds stupid uh?) I was so scared, but then I just calmed down for a second and gathered my emotions and made myself get up

[eleni]

here are more people that have had similar experiences...

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread163840/pg1

IX
helen
Lord have mercy on me a sinner

[cizinec]

Well, consult your priest.

If this is just an issue of sleep paralysis, I wish I had that problem.  I'm a sleep walker/talker.  For instance, when I was living in Dallas I fell asleep in my nice jammies in my bed.  I woke up in the morning in my underwear laying on the couch with my front door open.  I've actually gone out before, although not lately.  It's weird because I'll talk about people I don't remember meeting and then find out months later that I met that person (sometimes I've never met them but heard their names).  I love the morning question:  Who is so and so?

It's leveled out as I've aged.  I know it's nothing supernatural, I just act out my dreams because I don't get enough of that paralysis thing.  It can be rather dangerous because I say things in my sleep I don't think.  Well, bad sleeping cizinec thinks them but good has to go to confession cizinec doesn't.

I haven't posted on here while sleeping . . . yet.

[coptic orthodox boy]

IC XC NIKA
Cizinec,
The Lord give you His peace.
I almost fell on the floor from laughing so hard .ÂÂ  That post was crazy, espically the underwear part.ÂÂ  I wish I could have seen your facial expression when you woke up; "what the ..."-cizinec.
in XC,
shawn

[ania]

I talk in my sleep all the time, fortunately it's usually just bits of nonsense, and my family ignores it, though sometimes my sisters make fun of me. 
I've also been known to sleep walk.  Though no one in my family has ever witnessed it, several guests who have spent the night at our house throughout the years reported seeing me wandering around the house, and even talking to them.  Usually they say I'd  just go into the kitchen and make myself a bowl of cereal, though sometimes I just walk around and then head back upstairs as if looking for something. 
I don't know if I still sleepwalk, hopefully not, since if I ever end up outside, the neighborhood is a lot less safe than the one I grew up in. 

[Arystarcus]

For instance, when I was living in Dallas I fell asleep in my nice jammies in my bed.ÂÂ  I woke up in the morning in my underwear laying on the couch with my front door open.

Did you ever solve the mystery of what happened to your jammie-jams?

I hope that you found them eventually, or least found a suitable replacement! 

[prodromos]

cizenec, a friend of mine used to go jogging in his sleep! He related how his parents arrived home lin the wee hours of the morning and thought they saw someone like him running up the street in boxer shorts, but they decided it could not have been him, locked the door and went to bed, only to be woken by him banging on the door half an hour later. He also told us how he woke up standing in his neighbor's garage yelling something (it was his yelling that woke him up)

[Ebor]

These are "Myoclonic Jerks" (sounds like an insult, doesn't it?).
Yes, there is a name for everything!

Thank you.  That was the term.  I also recall that word from a particular kind of seizure  "Tonic-Clonic"

Ebor

[Ebor]

My word, Czinec!  That is definitely something one would prefer not to happen.

But how do we tell if someone is "Sleep posting" I wonder.


Ebor

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