Tigerlilly - Lobsang Rampa

following morning; so it was fortunate we knew someone who
had spare accommodation, and we made our way to Earl's
Court where we gratefully tumbled into bed. Many times have
I remarked that one of the best breakfasts I ever had was the
following morning, when we returned to our flat and had a
meal of bacon, eggs and sausages. Apparently there had been
danger of escaping gas and it was not considered safe to leave
anyone in the building overnight.
People have often asked how we ever managed to get any
sleep in the wake of those noisy and dangerous air raids, and
they found it hard to believe that I was able to sleep through it
all. I never worried whether I would see another day or not;
and I will always remember once, in the early days before we
had become used to it all, Carl woke me when there was a
particularly noisy attack to tell me I was too deeply asleep. He
said, ‘If you died suddenly due to the bombing, you would not
know what had happened to you for a long time, so it is better
to be awake and conscious of what is happening.’ I rubbed my
eyes and pondered upon it, and the more I thought about it the
more sense it seemed to make . . . so much so that it has stayed
in my mind ever since. If I am without discomfort, or actual
pain, wild horses will not awaken me; so obviously I must
reach a very deep ‘level’ of the sleep state, which benefits me
enormously. To me the sleep state sets the tune for my mood
and efficiency, or otherwise, on the following day.
Just last month there were two or three fire engines outside
my window at some unearthly hour, and I have to confess that
I didn't hear a thing; and I only knew about it when I was told
later. To sleep soundly does not mean that one sleeps the
whole night through . . . in my case it is simply for a short
time, at most three hours, which I understand is more bene-
ficial than say an eight-hour stretch.
The late Sir Winston Churchill apparently found this a
satisfactory method, together with his daytime ‘catnaps’, and
he seemed to function remarkably well.
I was interested to read in Dr. James Paupst's Sleep Book
(Macmillan of Canada, 1975) that ‘something seems to be
lacking in sleep research so far’. He writes:
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