Daydream or OoBE?

I have posted this experience on another thread. But I decided that I wanted to get some answers specifically to my own situation. What I am aiming at is getting some insight. I feel that I can fully spell out my experience instead of the basic paraphrasing I did on the other thread. Without further ado, here goes:

I was sitting at home one day trying to meditate. I'm a real beginner, my mind wanders way too much and I was trying to rid myself of that habit. Suddenly I found myself standing on a barren, rocky terrain. I can remember the wind blowing through my hair, feeling it on my face. I can remember the rough, earthy smell of the dust on the wind. Don't think me crazy, but I FEEL that I was standing on the surface on Mars. I know this sounds crazy but I just felt it when I came out of it. I've always felt a connection with Mars.

I looked down and noticed I was standing on a cliff and thenI looked up at a blue sky (contrary to NASA photos of Mars) and then I snapped out of it. There was a lingering smell of the dust that was on the wind and my face felt cool from what might have been the wind.

I've admitted that it's really hard for me to meditate because of my turbulent flow of thoughts. So I was wondering, was this more than likely a daydream that I just wished to be something more? Or was this something else others might have experienced (or something similar) that shows me that I am capable of going further than I thought?

I thank everyone for their responses ^_^.

Harlie

[EDITED] to fix part of the story I left out.

[edit on 4/20/2009 by HarlieQuinn]

I think I remember your post, and IIRC I mentioned that I had an almost identical experience (in how realistic the perception of sight/smell/touch/etc. was of the experience) only I "felt" like I was on Venus for some reason rather than Mars, and that it occurred at night after being awoken and then going back to sleep.

In regard to whether it was a "daydream" or not, I would say trust your memory of how "real" it seemed, not to determine whether what you saw/etc. was real or not, but whether it was something special, whether lucid dream, OBE, AP, or whatever. If your experience was anywhere near as vivid as my "Venus planetscape" dream, then try not to forget this, because (for me, anyway) direct memory of most dream-like experiences fade over time until you completely forget the experience itself, and remember only your conscious thoughts after waking. For example I still remember my thoughts as to how vivid the chilling breeze felt, how strange the air smelled, and how bizarre yet beautiful the strange forest around me and ground growth looked as it blew in the wind - yet I don't remember the sensations themselves, just my reflection of them after waking when the memory was fresh (hard to describe). If I hadn't made such an effort to burn into my memory how unnaturally vivid this dream was, I think a day later I would be doubting it ever happened.

Now if you've established that what you saw/smelled/felt/etc. was more than an ordinary daydream, the only remaining question is whether it was an OBE/AP or just a lucid dream / hallucination (which is all dreams are really). I can't really answer this one, because I myself don't yet fully believe that OBEs/APs are anything more than alternate forms of lucid dreams (until I prove to myself by finding information in this state that I would otherwise not be able to know, or some other method of personal proof).

P.S. My theory on the dream memory fade thing is this: it's like you have two memories, separate from each other. A conscious memory and an unconscious. The only time when information can be shared between these memories is when your brain is in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness (hypnogogic/hypnopompic states), which occurs when entering/waking from sleep of meditative states.

But even when the unconscious memory is made available to the conscious mind during a certain mental state, it will fade again when you return to full consciousness unless you "clone" the memory into your conscious memory. This is why writing a dream log is so helpful - by reciting your dreams as you write it down on paper, the writing process itself helps the memory to be processed and "copied" into your conscious memory, as well as the hard copy you're writing. I think with practice this also helps strengthen the ability to recall dreams by increasing the link between conscious/unconscious memories.

[edit on 20-4-2009 by ac500]

Thanks for your input ^_^. I remember you posting as well. I just felt at home in that experience. Hopefully I'll get a few more opinions to go along with your good ones ^_^.