Explorations in Consciousness
I woke up in the middle of the night. My mind was awake and aware, but I was unable to move. I was literally trapped inside of my own paralyzed body. A loud buzzing sound rumbled inside of my head. Fierce vibrations rattled through my body. It felt as though every neuron inside my brain was suddenly firing at the same time. The intensity grew to a point where I thought that I might literally explode. Suddenly, it all stopped and was replaced by a peaceful and still silence. At that moment, I had the clear sensation of separating from my body. I began floating above my Navy bunk and through the various pipes and ducts that ran along the ceiling. I was completely stunned by what was happening. After rising for some time, I began shooting through a tunnel made of wispy, white strands of tangible light. It was absolutely exhilarating. I was stunned and at the same time elated at how real and crisp the experience felt. The tunnel faded and I gently slowed to a stop. Around me, in every direction, was a vast, thick, three dimensional void of absolute nothingness. I waited with anticipation of what would occur next. Before I could fully ponder what was happening to me, I was shot at rocket speed back to my body. After some effort, I was able to begin moving my fingers and sit up in my bunk. The only thought that I could muster was, “What the hell was that!” This event occurred in 1995 and was the first of hundreds of lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences that would follow.
My current body of work is a pictorial account of my experiences and related realizations that have occurred since that first experience described above. The works are essentially illustrations depicting my adventures and findings related to out-of-body experiences, astral projection, lucid dreams, meditative states, and sleep paralysis. Many of these events have forever changed my life and how I view reality. Having started down this path, it is impossible to turn back. The findings and experiences are simply too amazing to bypass or disregard.
MFA thesis (PDF): http://snodart.com/snodpublic/SNODGRASS_Thesis.pdf
I woke up in the middle of the night. My mind was awake and aware, but I was unable to move. I was literally trapped inside of my own paralyzed body. A loud buzzing sound rumbled inside of my head. Fierce vibrations rattled through my body. It felt as though every neuron inside my brain was suddenly firing at the same time. The intensity grew to a point where I thought that I might literally explode. Suddenly, it all stopped and was replaced by a peaceful and still silence. At that moment, I had the clear sensation of separating from my body. I began floating above my Navy bunk and through the various pipes and ducts that ran along the ceiling. I was completely stunned by what was happening. After rising for some time, I began shooting through a tunnel made of wispy, white strands of tangible light. It was absolutely exhilarating. I was stunned and at the same time elated at how real and crisp the experience felt. The tunnel faded and I gently slowed to a stop. Around me, in every direction, was a vast, thick, three dimensional void of absolute nothingness. I waited with anticipation of what would occur next. Before I could fully ponder what was happening to me, I was shot at rocket speed back to my body. After some effort, I was able to begin moving my fingers and sit up in my bunk. The only thought that I could muster was, “What the hell was that!” This event occurred in 1995 and was the first of hundreds of lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences that would follow.
My current body of work is a pictorial account of my experiences and related realizations that have occurred since that first experience described above. The works are essentially illustrations depicting my adventures and findings related to out-of-body experiences, astral projection, lucid dreams, meditative states, and sleep paralysis. Many of these events have forever changed my life and how I view reality. Having started down this path, it is impossible to turn back. The findings and experiences are simply too amazing to bypass or disregard.
MFA thesis (PDF): http://snodart.com/snodpublic/SNODGRASS_Thesis.pdf