>>355 (OP)
>>356
Dreams as a whole are an extremely easy and vastly underrated gateway to /x/ stuff.
>Why do we have them?
Dreams are the link between conscious and subconscious, they absolutely have a prophetic aspect, but most people don't realize just how prophetic they really are. If you can identify what creatures, things, and events happen in your dreams, they can correspond to how your day in the waking world will unfold.
Dream diaries are nice for remembering dreams, but having a dictionary helps immensely.
If you know how to remember and "view" your old dreams, you can even change the dream you had last night to influence how your day will go today.
>Sleep paralysis
Many say it can be used as a gateway to astral projection, and that kind of thing is a "depending on the person" type of deal. I had a sleep paralysis episode that I thought I was still awake, got out of my bed, and then it turns out I was in a lucid dream which looked like a teal-blue victorian-era hallway that was filled with darkness.
>Shadow figures
There really isn't a definitive answer, but from what I've read they are usually one of the following:
--Thoughtforms projected by the person in paralysis because they're expecting something scary or evil.
--Some form of energy or thought that is passing by the person in paralysis, and interpreted by mental sight.
--Strong amounts of negative energy gathered into a semi-conscious form. If it's this, then it's a result of someone being constantly-miserable for years.
--Negative entities, low-level, vermin-like creatures taking a more imposing form to try and scare you. Imagine beaming love energy into them, it surprisingly-enough is anathema to them.
--Humans, covering themselves in shadows as a form of protection. Unlikely, probably a paranoid assumption, but you never know.