I have not read any books about this subject myself, but I thought I’d write a quick post about my actual experience trying this experiment.

In general, after a 2 - 6 week initial adjustment to the diet, my dreams become more vivid and they are easier to remember in the morning. When I’m eating meat, they are generally darker (they contain less light) and are much harder to recall.  On a vegetarian diet, my dreams are more often peaceful, serene, or even uplifting.  When eating meat, it’s more common for me to experience dreams relating to anxiety and fear (nightmares).  I also require less sleep when vegetarian -6.5 hours on average- and I wake up refreshed and full of energy; when eating meat, I need 8 - 8.5 hours and get up very slowly and feel heavy and tired.

These are observations, but I don’t have a theory for why this happens the way it does.  I’ll write some conjecture, but please leave comments down below if you have any other ideas.

My first idea is that the emanations of terror, panic, and suffering animals undergo when slaughtered is somehow “lodged” into the tissues and fibers of the meat that I then later eat. Those emanations are then absorbed into my own body and I feel them as fear and anxiety of my own.  Fear and anxiety are antithetical to a free-flowing, peaceful, and joyful life –the very things that are conducive to an active and productive waking and dreaming life.  

My second idea is that decay in general, but decaying meat in particular, attract unwelcome guests from the subtle world.  Guests who resonate with the emanations of death and decay, as opposed to life, love, and joy.  It’s a possibility, but I need more time and research to flesh out the details of this conjecture.

I was reading Adventures Beyond the Body (click here for my review of it) a few months ago, at a very busy time in my life.  I did not have any significantly large enough blocks of time to sit down and just read without interruption –you may know what life is like with small children in the house.  However, this didn’t stop me from reminding myself constantly that “I have to read that book!” and picturing in my mind the physical location of the book, wherever it was at the time.

In the three weeks that I was repeating this to myself, I  noticed something very interesting: twice in my dreams, I noticed that in the middle of it, whatever the environment or situation was, I’d suddenly recall that “I have to read that book!” and I’d quickly follow up by asking, “where is it?!” The first time, in my dream, I “remembered” that I had left it on the table that was located about 10 paces behind me.  I turned around, walked over to the table, and sure enough, there it was!  The second time, I was outdoors and I recall thinking very intently, “I need that book now!”, and it materialized right into my left hand.

I described these occurrences to Michael (another member of the SubtleRealm.org team) one day, and in the course of the conversation, an idea arose for a thought-experiment: for the next two weeks, instead of thinking “I need to read that book” repeatedly, I’m actually going to do some of the techniques suggested in that book; I’m going to think intently: “I am now out of my body!”, I'm going to demand “full awareness now!” and “clarity now!”.  I repeated these affirmations several times a day, as often as I could remember, with as much conviction as I could muster.

I kid you not, on the night marking exactly 2 weeks from that conversation, I had the most lucid dream I’ve ever experienced in my life.  And, even though I’m not 100% sure about this (more research and experience required), I may have even had my first out-of-body experience. I remember suddenly realizing that I was 100% present.  I called out for “full awareness now!” and so it was.  “I’m here! I’m here! I'm in the subtle world!” I called out in excitement.  “Hmm… what should I do?”

I posted a description of my experience here.

Hi there. My name is Michael. What if I were to tell you that there is something that if you knew about it, would change your life in all kinds of different ways for the better? 

We are not selling anything, so please read on without prejudice or hesitation. Weigh what you read on this site honestly, in your head and heart. 

We here at subtlerealm.org want to share an important part of the human experience with you. We want to confirm what you may have felt all your life but never knew how to put into words. Maybe you have had certain experiences you were afraid to talk about for fear of ridicule or being thought of as stupid or even crazy. We are here to point out that 'unusual experiences' are far more usual than we think for the simple fact that people seldom talk about them for the above reasons. We want you to be a wiser, happier human being than before you found this web site, we have no other motive than this. There will be no dogma, judgement, or belittlement - only an effort to educate people and help them understand a large part of their lives that most know almost nothing about. And, our approach is a scientific one, meaning that wherever we can point to scientific facts to support our claims, we will do so and cite our references.

The place where we go when we dream is a real place. It exists outside of our minds, and yet our experiences there are very much based upon our thoughts. It has been written about in countless books and has been symbolized and portrayed in many movies we are all familiar with. In fact, if one were to cognize the fact that the subtle world is a reality, then lots of historical legends would then become very logical, understandable lessons passed down to future generations (rather than seem like delusional fantasies for the masses of human kind).

It is hard for people to understand that knowledge acquired during daily life is essential to being able to function well in the subtle realm. Not only knowledge, but tolerance and perceptiveness. If you have ever had a lucid dream or an out-of-body experience, then you know the sheer joy that comes from such an experience! Few, if any, would ever forget something like that. What if you could educate yourself and thus have those kinds of experiences all the time? Most people would find their lives incredibly enriched by something such as this. 

Welcome to subtlerealm.org! We are here to help people understand all they can about the subtle world. We are motivated by a shared vision of helping people understand the reality of their surroundings, and thus making the world a better place.