Opinions on Out of Body Experiences?

[manga]

Hello guys, I wanted to thank you so far for answering my questions, all answers are much appreciated and most were very logical and rational, which is what I was looking for.
Today I wanted to ask you guys what you think of OBEs. I am not exactly sure what to make of it. I have read that G Force pilots sometimes have OBEs while they are in flight simulator, as the brain loses blood, oxygen, and is confused. Therefore, from that it would make the most sense to assume that OBEs are a result of a confused brain, struggling to locate exactly where it is in relation to the body. However, I have noticed that some of these OBEs that you read about, from Dr. Jeffrey Long, from Peter Fenwick, sound a bit complicated. For example, people will report floating to another room and obtaining information that they could not have obtained. My aunt had an OBE where she apparently floating outside the hospital, and saw her son with a cigarette in his mouth. Apparently, that was the first time he ever did it, so it was believed that she could not have known that if it wasn't for the OBE. Other people claim to have left hospitals, gone to a friend's house, and confirmed later on that what they saw their friend doing actually occurred. One case was interesting where a guy dreamed that his friend died. She actually got into an accident that day, and he didn't know. Then she apparently had an OBE where she floated to his house and saw him sleeping.

It is experiences like this that make me wonder. They sound too complex for the brain to make up. What are your opinions?

[Recusant]

All evidence presented thus far supporting out-of-body experience (OBE) is either anecdotal or the result of very dubious research. There is no verification of OBE using rigorous scientific methods. That in itself doesn't falsify the hypothesis that OBEs are real events. However, until such a verification is presented it is reasonable to question whether there is any such thing as a genuine instance of a person's consciousness leaving their physical body. The more likely explanation is that OBEs are a form of hallucination.

Scientists have been able to replicate OBEs in laboratory settings. See "Brain scan reveals out-of-body illusion" | Karolinska Institutet

The subject has been investigated scientifically, and all the evidence appears to point to OBEs being a phenomenon that occurs in the brain, rather than a phenomenon in which consciousness goes travelling outside of the physical body. "Out-of-Body Experience? Your Brain Is to Blame" | New York Times

The late Oliver Sacks, an eminent neurologist, wrote a very good piece on the topic: "Seeing God in the Third Millennium: How the brain creates out-of-body experiences and religious epiphanies" | The Atlantic

He sums up:

Hallucinations, whether revelatory or banal, are not of supernatural origin; they are part of the normal range of human consciousness and experience. This is not to say that they cannot play a part in the spiritual life, or have great meaning for an individual. Yet while it is understandable that one might attribute value, ground beliefs, or construct narratives from them, hallucinations cannot provide evidence for the existence of any metaphysical beings or places. They provide evidence only of the brain's power to create them.

One more informative article about this and related phenomena: "The disturbing consequences of seeing your doppelganger" | BBC

[Icarus]

Off subject: that Avatar looks ever so much like Isaac Asimov,one of my favorite characters.

[Recusant]

Off subject: that Avatar looks ever so much like Isaac Asimov,one of my favorite characters.

It is Asimov. It's a memorial homage; he died 25 years ago, on April 6, 1992.

[Pasta Chick]

Recursent sums it all up well.

As far as your aunt specifically, as someone sensitive to cigarette smoke, I smell it on someone 2-3 days after smoking. It's very likely she gained information that way. It's also extremely likely a kid lied to his mom about smoking.

[Dragonia]

Out-of-body-experiences are sort of like fortune telling. There are many wrong guesses, but we really only get the stories of when correct guesses happen. And both can be based on what is already known or suspected.
But even if OBEs were proven to have merit, it wouldn't lead me to believe in a god any more than I do.  I'm ok with saying that I don't know about some things. Though I still hold that there's a scientific explanation for everything.

[Papasito Bruno]

I don’t believe people can have out of body experiences anymore than I believe some people have psychic abilities. I base this on the mere fact that I myself don’t possess or have these same abilities or capabilities.

For example all humans can run, that is short of any physical disabilities or injuries which would prohibited or constrain it, but we all possess the ability.

Some folks like Usain Bolt can do it much better than the rest of us, but again we can all do it. Same as singing, or forming rational, cognitive thoughts.


Claiming to have special powers or abilities which science has never been able to verify is simply that; stating claims without verifiable facts or proven evidence, especially abilities the rest of us don't possess…I claim to have seen Bigfoot this morning riding a unicorn while I was shifting between the outer world and ours,…and what surprised me most out of this whole thing was Bigfoot was smoking (After all the health advisories, you think it would know better)

[manga]

Out-of-body-experiences are sort of like fortune telling. There are many wrong guesses, but we really only get the stories of when correct guesses happen. And both can be based on what is already known or suspected.
But even if OBEs were proven to have merit, it wouldn't lead me to believe in a god any more than I do.  I'm ok with saying that I don't know about some things. Though I still hold that there's a scientific explanation for everything.

but wouldn't the proof of OBE's verify NDE's?

[Pasta Chick]

Out-of-body-experiences are sort of like fortune telling. There are many wrong guesses, but we really only get the stories of when correct guesses happen. And both can be based on what is already known or suspected.
But even if OBEs were proven to have merit, it wouldn't lead me to believe in a god any more than I do.  I'm ok with saying that I don't know about some things. Though I still hold that there's a scientific explanation for everything.

but wouldn't the proof of OBE's verify NDE's?

No. They may be entirely separate phenomena.

And even if OBEs are real, we also know that there is brain activity that can cause the same type of experience without being a real OBE. So one would have to both confirm OBEs and also how to distinguish them from known hallucinatory brain activity in order to accurately log and research them.

[xSilverPhinx]

All evidence presented thus far supporting out-of-body experience (OBE) is either anecdotal or the result of very dubious research. There is no verification of OBE using rigorous scientific methods. That in itself doesn't falsify the hypothesis that OBEs are real events. However, until such a verification is presented it is reasonable to question whether there is any such thing as a genuine instance of a person's consciousness leaving their physical body. The more likely explanation is that OBEs are a form of hallucination.

Scientists have been able to replicate OBEs in laboratory settings. See "Brain scan reveals out-of-body illusion" | Karolinska Institutet

The subject has been investigated scientifically, and all the evidence appears to point to OBEs being a phenomenon that occurs in the brain, rather than a phenomenon in which consciousness goes travelling outside of the physical body. "Out-of-Body Experience? Your Brain Is to Blame" | New York Times

The late Oliver Sacks, an eminent neurologist, wrote a very good piece on the topic: "Seeing God in the Third Millennium: How the brain creates out-of-body experiences and religious epiphanies" | The Atlantic

He sums up:

Hallucinations, whether revelatory or banal, are not of supernatural origin; they are part of the normal range of human consciousness and experience. This is not to say that they cannot play a part in the spiritual life, or have great meaning for an individual. Yet while it is understandable that one might attribute value, ground beliefs, or construct narratives from them, hallucinations cannot provide evidence for the existence of any metaphysical beings or places. They provide evidence only of the brain's power to create them.

One more informative article about this and related phenomena: "The disturbing consequences of seeing your doppelganger" | BBC

[Papasito Bruno]

For those who weren't aware there is also "Astral Sex -The Ecstasy of Out of Body Pleasure".

Link is here.

Astral/Corporeal Sex
There is also a way to engage in sex where one person is astral (out of body) and one person is still in the body. If you are astral, you can go visit someone and attempt to merge your energy with theirs while they are sleeping (it won’t work if they are awake as your frequencies will be totally off). This should always and only be done with consent of the person you’re visiting, otherwise we’re talking astral rape and that’s not cool.

Once you are out of body, fly to the person’s body. You will likely see both their physical body on the bed and their astral body floating inside it, like a peanut rattling in a shell. With great love, tenderness and respect you can overlay your energy onto theirs and cast loving sexual thoughts their way. What’s going to happen is that you will experience a sexual bliss that is not localized to a body part, and your partner will either dream that they are having sex, or simply become sexually aroused without consciously realizing what’s happening.

If your friend is accomplished at lucid dreaming, this act will likely trigger lucidity. If not, they may phone you in the morning and tell you about the hot dream they had about you.

This particular method is not terribly fulfilling because usually only one of you is conscious of what’s going on.

Astral Playmates
If you can find a partner who is also accomplished at astral projection, then the two of you can meet on the astral plane and engage in astral sex together and consciously. It’s difficult to accomplish as you have to be out at the same time, on the same plane, and at the same astral frequency. The closer you are to each other emotionally, the more accomplished you are at astral projection, and the more you practice meeting up, the more success you will have.

Pick a location ahead of time and a time when you will attempt to meet. If one of you is better at astral projection, fly to the other person’s house and wake them up astrally, and then fly to your romantic destination together. Once you’re ready, you will simply hug or merge your energy together. Cast loving and sexual thoughts at your partner and you will trigger a release of pleasure that will reverberate through your entire energetic self and probably also to your body back on your bed. It’s a combination of bliss and the sensation of physical pleasure. Great stuff!

When I was in high school I was lucky enough to have 3 friends who were accomplished enough at astral projection for the four of us to engage in this behavior at will. Good times

And my favorite.

Sex with Demons or Lower Vibrational Entities
And now for the dark side of astral sex. Sometimes an entity that normally resides on the astral plane can come to you and stimulate you sexually for the purposes of swiping your energy. Look up incubi and succubi for more info on that.

Here’s the thing, though. These entities can come to you against your will and essentially rape you. If you’ve ever been stuck in a sleep paralysis state and felt someone touching you in your special areas, and got aroused even though you were terrified, you’re basically being astrally raped. This is no bueno! You must immediately call in your angels or spirit guides or whatever deity you pray to, to come and remove the interloper pronto. Your energy is being violently taken from you. You will wake up feeling lethargic and it can take hours to replace that energy.

Unfortunately sometimes people end up in a parasitic relationship with such entities. The entity gives you a ton of pleasure (and we’re talking about more pleasure than any human being can generate while corporeal), and you feel like it’s worth losing a little of your energy to obtain such bliss, so you don’t resist or push them away. In fact, you invite them to come back for another “session.” Over time, this leads to you losing a ton of energy which can manifest as apathy towards the real world or real love, and depression, anxiety, and sometimes shame, fear and suicidal thoughts. Not to mention leaking little parts of your soul to an entity who doesn’t have good intentions.

If you’re a woman, having sex with a demon or astral entity will feel like someone stimulating the g-spot of every single one of your chakras at the same time. It’s ridiculously pleasurable, and something no human can accomplish, so it can turn enticing very quickly. But I urge and caution you to avoid this slippery slope of parasitic sex. It’s not worth losing your soul.

If you do find yourself in an unwanted sexual relationship with a non-corporeal entity, you’ve got to ask the archangels to sever your connection and protect you from being visited by them anymore. A clean break. Just end it, and find a playmate in real life to satisfy you.

This bolded part is bothersome of course, and can someone explain to me how I contact the archangels? Do they have a number, email, Skype?

[xSilverPhinx]

I wonder how people can come up with stuff like that. 

[Recusant]

For those who weren't aware there is also "Astral Sex -The Ecstasy of Out of Body Pleasure".

Oh boy! "Come with questions. Leave with peace of mind." Indeed.

[Dragonia]

Whoa, Father Bruno just took this in a new direction!

For those who weren't aware there is also "Astral Sex -The Ecstasy of Out of Body Pleasure".

Link is here.
.......

Ummmm, yeahhhhhh, it all sounds pretty good to me. And can't even be considered cheating on one's partner!
Where can I find my own astral friend or a demon lover? No no! I won't complain about feeling violated or fatigued. Every pleasure has its price. 

[Magdalena]

Whoa, Father Bruno just took this in a new direction!

For those who weren't aware there is also "Astral Sex -The Ecstasy of Out of Body Pleasure".

Link is here.
.......

Ummmm, yeahhhhhh, it all sounds pretty good to me. And can't even be considered cheating on one's partner!
Where can I find my own astral friend or a demon lover? No no! I won't complain about feeling violated or fatigued. Every pleasure has its price. 

You know what...I'm seriously considering leaving all my chakras open tonight. Who knows what Lower Vibrational Entities might come from another realm through the ecstasy portal. I have a feeling the archangels will want to intervene, however, I will place an "out of order" sign on that particular chakra so that they will not be able to rescue me from my new Astral Playmates.

Here I go.....