It occurs to me that if I’m soon going to be describing some very unusual psychic experiences then perhaps I should provide some background on how I’ve developed my abilities. In a sense I’ve had them all my life, but the David Copperfield “I was born…” lead doesn’t make for very dramatic storytelling. So rather than talking about their gradual emergence let’s jump in where the fun begins.

What would you do if you suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and found yourself floating in midair with your nose pressed against the ceiling?

When it happened to me the first thing I did

was try to determine if I was dreaming. I reached out and felt the rough tongue and groove pine wood ceiling. It felt solid and cool to the touch. Next I gently pushed off of the ceiling like an astronaut floating inside a space capsule. I drifted backwards a foot or two and simply hovered there.

Aside from the increase in distance from the ceiling nothing changed. So I rolled over in midair and looked around. Light filtered in from a lamp outside the window above my bed. In its wan glow I could see my night stand with a clock radio, lamp, and notebook. They looked as real and as finely detailed as they always did. The clock read 2:09.

Up to this point I might have accepted my circumstances as a very vivid dream, but what came next completely wiped that idea from my mind.

Upon my bed lay a body. My body. Eyes closed. Bare arms resting on top of my down quilt.

I knew immediately that this was no dream.

My mind raced to make sense of the moment. The first explanation I reached was that I was dead. That would certainly explain how I could see myself from the outside in. As the thought sunk in my apprehension grew.

But somehow it didn’t seem right.

I moved in for a closer look. When I saw the rise and fall of my chest beneath the quilt I relaxed a bit. My body was still breathing even if I wasn’t in it. But what was going on?

I decided I needed a bit more information so I descended the ladder from my sleeping loft to the college dorm room below.

I walked around the dimly lit room taking in the scene. Everything was comfortably familiar. My computer sat on my desk, along with notes from a half finished midterm paper. The orange electric hot pot on the table held my roommate’s half finished Ramen noodles. The little brown refrigerator hummed quietly in the corner. Light from the hallway peaked in through the quarter inch gap between the bottom edge of the door and traffic worn carpeting.

Every detail was exactly as I expected it to be. Except for the fact that I was walking around my room with no body.

Actually, I did have a body. It looked exactly like the one that was sleeping up in the loft. I held out my right hand and looked at it. My curved pinky finger was obvious even in the half light. So was the rest of my naked form.

I was in two places at once. Again I began to think that perhaps I was dead.

For reassurance I decided to check on my roommate to see if he was still alive. I climbed the ladder to his sleeping loft until I could see his sleeping face. He was curled up on his side facing me. Through the covers I couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest, but I could hear the gentle rhythmic cycling of his breath. I stood there on the ladder and listened for more than a minute just to be sure.

Instead of making me feel more confident my anxiety grew. This was too weird. I wanted my body back. I want to be back in my body, I thought.

Instantly, I was.

Without ever leaving my roommate’s side I found myself back within my body. I bolted upright and gasped for breath. The covers dropped from my chest and I felt the warmth of the sheets fading away in the cool night air.

My heart pounded as I looked around the room. The pale light from the window illuminated my nightstand. I saw my lamp and notebook exactly as before. The clock read 2:14.

I held out my hand and it looked solid. I touched myself and then the tongue and groove ceiling. It too felt solid and cool. Then I climbed down the ladder and surveyed the room. Every detail, right down to the half finished noodles, was exactly as I’d just observed. Finally, I climbed my roommate’s ladder and gazed at him. He lay sleeping in exactly the same position.

I turned and looked back at my loft across the room. There I saw my empty bed. In that moment I knew that while the experience was over, this night was just beginning of more to come.

Blaze
Shine Your Light That Others May See