# Screen Memory > A screen memory is a projected symbol overlaying an encounter so the perceiver recalls something familiar, used to test fear response or cover contact until readiness allows direct remembering. - Canonical: https://sassani.app/topic/screen-memory # Screen Memory A screen memory, in Bashar's usage, is a deliberately projected image overlaid on an encounter so the person recalls something familiar rather than the actual being or event. It can be projected by certain extraterrestrial consciousnesses to cover a contact, generated by one's own consciousness to clothe an experience in a symbol it can handle, or used by a guide as a test — a false front presented to see whether the perceiver will react in fear or look through it. The instant the perceiver recognizes "this cannot be real," the screen has also taught that the fear it stirred is not real either — only a definition made solid by believing in it. ## The screen as a projected symbol The clearest description comes from an out-of-body exchange. A person describes meeting, out of body, a non-human being with rows of chainsaw-like teeth that frightened them so much they said, "this can't be real." Bashar replies that the being does not appear that way in its own reality; it appeared that way in the person's reality for a particular purpose of reflection. The form was, in a sense, a screen memory — a false front — presented to see how perceptive the person could be about what was really behind it; to see whether the person would react in fear or look through it, cross the bridge, and know what it really is. The instinctive "this can't be real" was the clue: in that one moment the person understood completely that the fear was also not real, just a story one tells oneself to scare oneself. It is only empty air until one decides it is solid by believing in it. The interaction, Bashar adds, was done by a very fun entity that acts as a guide from time to time. ## Screen memories covering contact The same mechanism appears in contact accounts. A person in Above Sedona describes waking in a hotel to bright lights and assuming dune buggies were shining their headlights in; in the morning it became clear the room was on a cliff where no dune buggies could have been. Bashar names this directly: "That's called a screen memory." A screen memory is something one's own consciousness does, or a suggestion given to it, so that it will have a symbol it can deal with, that it can relate to — different from what is actually happening, so that one will not be afraid. As one allows oneself to remember more of the actual encounters and lose the fear of remembering, the degree to which one remembers is itself a barometer by which assisting civilizations gauge readiness for conscious contact rather than unconscious contact. ## Deliberate "mistakes" that leave a thread to follow Closely related is Bashar's account of the strange "mistakes" people report in what is called alien abduction — being put back on the bed backwards, having clothes on inside out, being left outside on a country road miles from home. These are not mistakes. The beings understand that certain things need to awaken within the person, and so they leave a clue wrapped in mystery: a thread that will follow the person through life and, when they are ready, must be answered, leading them down a path of awakening exactly as it needs to occur. What looks like a screen memory's incoherence may be precisely the thread left on purpose. ## The mechanism and what it tests Two functions of the screen memory emerge across these transcripts, and they are not mutually exclusive: Clothing. A screen memory clothes an encounter in a symbol the perceiver's consciousness can handle, sparing them an appearance or event that would otherwise generate fear. This can be self-generated or suggested by the beings involved. Test. A screen memory can be presented as a false front to see whether the perceiver will react in fear or look through it. When the perceiver recognizes the form as unreal, they simultaneously learn that the fear it produced is unreal — a definition they had made solid by believing it. In both functions, the form on the surface is a symbol, not the thing itself. The work of the perceiver is to notice the symbol as a symbol — "this can't be real" — and to let that recognition dissolve the fear that the symbol's appearance was generating. ## Practical implications A frightening face, anomalous detail, or incongruous image (dune buggies on a cliff, chainsaw teeth on a guide) encountered in an altered state or a contact memory is not necessarily the thing itself. Treat it as a possible screen memory — a symbol — rather than as proof of the form's reality. The recognition "this cannot be real" is not a dismissal of the experience; in Bashar's framing it is the doorway through it. It signals that the fear the form stirred is also not real — only a definition one is believing. The forgetting barometer works both ways. Asking for more consciousness during sleep, and allowing more of the actual encounter to return as fear relaxes, is the path Bashar names by which the screen dissolves and the genuine contact or out-of-body event becomes consciously available. This material is an attributed account of perception and contact. It is not medical, psychiatric, or law-enforcement guidance; anyone in distress after an anomalous experience should seek appropriate professional support. ## Representative passages That's because it doesn't really appear that way in its own reality, but it appeared that way in your reality for a particular purpose of reflection. ... You saw that it was giving you, in a sense, a screen memory, a false front, to see how perceptive you could be about what was really behind it, to see if you would react in fear or look through that, look past that, cross the bridge, all the way to the other side and know what it really is.— Bashar, Out Of Body Experiences (out-of-body-experiences#qa-1) That's called a screen memory. ... A screen memory is something that either your own consciousness does or something that is a suggestion given to your consciousness so that it will have a certain symbol that is different than what is actually happening, a symbol that it can deal with, that it can relate to, different from what is actually happening so that you will not be afraid.— Bashar, Above Sedona (above-sedona#text) All of those things that people have described in what you call alien abduction phenomenonology, when they seem to get things wrong — put you back backwards, put your clothes on inside out, leave you outside on a country road, miles from your house — it's not because they're forgetful. It's because they understand that certain things need to awaken within you, and that if you have a clue that you must follow, a mystery will follow you through your life.— Bashar, Alien Abduction Experience As A Child (alien-abduction-experience-as-a-child#qa-1) ## Related - [Out-of-Body Experience](https://sassani.app/topic/out-of-body) - [Fear](https://sassani.app/topic/fear) - [Extraterrestrial Connections](https://sassani.app/topic/extraterrestrial-connections) - [Definitions & Beliefs](https://sassani.app/topic/definitions-and-beliefs) Markdown twin of https://sassani.app/topic/screen-memory. The HTML page is the source of truth.