Are nightmares maybe a glimpse of Hell?

I took a nap at around 6:00pm today.

I fell asleep on my back. Drifted off a little. I say "little" because I didn't feel totally asleep. I guess I was in that twilight phase. And all of a sudden I felt something grab my legs. I looked down at my feet (not really, I was in twilight) and it was like all the sheets at the foot of the bed were all shredded up and blowing up in the air like crazy. Through this mass of blowing shredded cloth I could see a figure. But it was invisible. I could only see it's shape through the flowing tattered sheets at the foot of my bed. It looked kinda like it was moaning. I could see parts of it's facial features when cloth would hit it. The sheets were tattered and flailing about 3 feet off the bottom of the bed. It was grabbing me and trying to pull me toward it. I could feel this current of energy vibrating through me like a wild vibrating rippling effect. It was going through every part of me. My extremities felt numb. I couldn't talk. I was struggling so hard to wake up and kept thinking am I awake yet? Am I awake? Then I could actually feel it making my stomach and guts vibrate. It felt so weird. Really scary, creepy. I just kept focusing on waking up, like I was trapped. Finally I awoke. Relief.

Then I contemplated? Are nightmares a glimpse of Hell?
In other words, you can never come back to your body, your trapped in the nightmare eternally.

That would be Hell wouldn't it?

[edit on 11-2-2007 by rocknroll]

I do realize that I was experiencing a form of sleep paralysis.
My question is more about nightmares being a preview of what Hell might be like.
Imagine never being able to wake up from your worst nightmare........

Firstly, I don't believe in hell, so obviously I disagree, but thats my opinion.

If you sleep on your back you are more likely to have nightmares and sleep paralysis, I avoid it as much as possible. It might have something to do with that position being one of submission and thus fear in social animals, like wolves and apes and humans, in the more primitive parts of our brain that are accessed when we nod off. Either way, if you don't want nightmares, stay off of your back.

Originally posted by BallOfPopulation
If you sleep on your back you are more likely to have nightmares and sleep paralysis,

I never knew this.
Thanks for the tip.

I am not sure I believe in the Christian idea of Hell in the literal sense, but I do believe in Karma and it's result in the afterlife. I think Hell would be different for everyone, simply because everyone is different; for instance I love snakes but I am extremely claustrophobic, thus my Hell would involve something like a small box where as many others are terrified of snakes; just a thought.

This is just me thinking out loud but perhaps nightmares are the sub-conscious' way of dealing with negative emotions and energy. I know that when I am extremely stressed out or having personal problems it is often echoed in my dreams. I do not think nightmares are a glimpse of Hell, God willing, but it is a very fascinating subject.

I think that's one way of describing it.

Nightmares and dreams are manifestations of observed and imagined events, created by the mind, ostensibly for the purpose of understanding problems and coming to realizations.

If you believe the world is Hell/Heaven in shades, as I do, then technically speaking, nightmares are visions of Hell/Heaven (and so are our waking perceptions).

From what I know about dreams, they don't keep time the way our waking experiences do. One second asleep can feel like hours, if your brain is really humming.

So, in that last instant before death, when your brain basically pisses itself with adrenaline, there's a lot to be seen. What you see, and how it affects you, would depend largely on the life you've led - or so I would imagine. Hence, concepts of Heaven and Hell may have some grounding in reality, and could even be considered separately from notions of God and the Devil.

Honestly though, assuming for a moment that there is a God-created Hell, made to punish us in the afterlife (out of love, of course ), and also assuming that nightmares are visions of that realm - I'm looking forward to it. My nightmares are nothing if not interesting.

Sure, they're scary sometimes, but so what? Small price to pay for entertainment that lasts an eternity, costs nothing, and offers more variety than cable.