I think I can contribute to this thread in a meaningful way.
I believe there are 2 causes of sleep paralysis.
Physical(biological/mental, internal factors)
and
Spiritual(external factors)
I will first start by saying two things.
1. I have not experienced sleep paralysis often, or really ever in recent years.
2. I am confident that I have only experienced the internal, physical/biological experience of sleep paralysis.
When I was a kid, I would have nightmares in which it was essentially jurassic park in my neighborhood. Almost always ended with me hiding from t-rex, and in the end getting eaten. This would enduce a very temporary sleep paralysis, coupled usually with momentary disorientation.
A similar experience would happen if I just fell off a cliff in a dream, and the dream ended right as I hit bottom.
This I would not consider true sleep paralysis though.
My true experience occurred a few years ago, maybe just a couple of times.
Quite simply I woke up, and was unable to move at all, and I had a pressure on my whole body. I was able to look around my room, and as this was the first time I had ever experienced it, I was confused.
Thankfully I was alone and never felt any presence or saw any shadowy figure or anything like that. Thus I believe it is a physical/internal/biological episode. I cannot remember if I went back to sleep or slowly regained movement.
It really was a one time experience, but it is possible I had it a few other times, that I cannot recall. I probably have had minor, very short episodes time from time (such as when I was a kid) as I wake up from a deep sleep. However nothing like the one time I described.
Also just a disclaimer, I really do not sleep on my back. I rarely am even capable of falling asleep on my back. I do however roll over into various positions while I sleep.
So I just described my personal experiences that I believe so far to have been just biological.
Now I will describe the experience of my brother which I believe to be spiritual.
Essentially my brother has episodes like have been described here on this thread, and the older thread.
He would wake up in the middle of the night, and be pinned down while seeing various shadowy figures. He likes to sleep with our dog, and when these experiences happen, the dog is barking, whining, or whimpering(and this is a 60 pound dog)
My brother additionally finds it hard to sleep on his back, and often moves around in his sleep as well(changing positions).
My brother has these experiences frequently.
However this all comes with a catch. He has perfect undisturbed sleep, and has a 0% rate of "attack" whenever he does not pray, or go to church. However when he does pray and go to church, he has a 100% rate of "attack".
The single and only determining factor as to whether he has a "attack" is whether or not he prays to or worships God.
At first when he described these incidents I was very skeptical, and just thought it was biological sleep paralysis. However I am now convinced it is a demonic related due to the conditions above, and other events that have happened in my family recently.
I believe that these demons do what they love to do. Separate people from having a healthy loving relationship with God. I cannot speak for anyone else, but in the case of my brother, it has often worked. The fear of "attack" leads him to not go to church or pray.
To those who are skeptical of spiritual things, I have one rheatorical question for you. What would it take to convince you there is a supernatural world out there? Would it take someone moving items from a distance without touching them in any way? Would it be someone levitating on a bed? Would it be someone who has supernatural knowledge of somethings that are literally impossible for ANYONE other than yourself to know?
Im not saying that you shouldnt be skeptical. It is always good to pursue a more natural explanation. But there are just somethings that science truly cannot explain, because it is beyond science.
Also consider scientifically speaking how just here on the base, how there are more than 30 people(probably more than that) who have almost the exact same experiences, and "halucenations", with some minor variants, such as the number of figures, whether they have pets with them, etc. Consider the probability of people having the same experiences, yet in completely different circumstances.
Again I am not saying that there is always a supernatural explanation for all these experiences. I truly believe that while there are supernatural experiences, there are many natural experiences(with biological roots) as well.(as evidenced by my personal experiences)
