The Energy Of the Storm

We had been baking in extreme heat for days. Fortunately, a wave of rain came last night and cooled the air. But let’s leave the cooling aspect aside. Because I noticed something much more unusual in that incoming airflow.

The storm clouds arrived around 2 AM. I know this very well because I had gone to bed early and woke up to the sound of thunder. I was in a liminal state between sleep and wakefulness. But behind my closed eyes, I perceived a very different condition.

The continuous sound of the rain was such that if I paid even a slight amount of attention to it, it felt like a carrier tone immediately lifting me onto its back and rapidly beginning to alter my state of consciousness. Those who practice lucid dreaming know that when you wake up in the middle of the night and try to go back to sleep, it does not always flow smoothly. You still need to maintain the balance between wakefulness and sleep in your mind. But with the sound of the storm and raindrops outside, a very different situation was at play. It seemed that paying just a little attention to it allowed that balance to be maintained automatically. Moreover, I distinctly felt myself being pulled toward something. And all of this was happening within seconds.

Normally, encountering hypnagogia after waking up in the middle of the night and lying down is natural. And these can consist of smoky visuals, dynamic/moving lights, small dream scenes, and visions. But with this rain, something different occurred. I detected a sudden shift that I could only describe as psychedelic. It carried the effects of a reality distortion akin to psychedelia rather than normal hypnagogia, and the darkness behind my eyelids felt alive.

The most interesting part is that I stopped this process instantly several times. Because I was startled by the suddenness and uniqueness of the effect, I had to open my eyes and ask, "What is actually happening?" I even got up to go to the bathroom. But every time I gave myself over to listening to that sound again, I could achieve this distinct boosting effect in the same way.

Well... Of course, I am aware that I cannot convey much to you from my subjective experience. Perhaps some of you reading this might think this is something that happens to you every evening. What interested me, however, was how certain objects or events can bring energy.

As I mentioned in "Overconsumption of Power-ups," when dealing with substances, everything provides a pushing force to change your state of consciousness in varying degrees. But this is not limited to substances alone. A solid meditation session or staying hungry and sleepless can also provide a pushing force. Or perhaps a specific frequency you listen to, or even a specific image or emotion you imagine! The example from last night reminded me of how much of a pushing force effect certain natural phenomena can create. You may have heard that psychedelics are often recommended to be used in nature. This is related not only to the importance of set and setting but also to the energy carried by nature. And it is such that it is not just the natural environment; sometimes rain, sometimes wind, sometimes sea waves, or whatever else comes to mind, can all carry energy under certain conditions. This is linked to the structure of our consciousness and how our perception patterns assimilate the event. Some things can indeed have different effects on us. And these reactions may belong more to species-wide traits than to personal ones. A very simple example is our body's reaction to sunlight.

I do not equate yesterday's storm with other storms. Although I usually fall asleep while listening to storms, I rarely experienced this effect. We can probably say that not every storm carries the same energy. And especially yesterday's storm had a very strong energy. So much so that it was as intense as the energy provided by a psychedelic.

To add another sign to the energy carried by the storm: a specific precognitive detail regarding my private life that I saw in my dreams the next day was confirmed within the same day.