Once you have become confident working with a single sphere, try bringing in a second, much as you did when adding a second triangle to the pyramid—only this time see what happens when you overlap them. Does this change the way they feel? Or impact the way the energy acts? The next step is to overlap them until they blend together. What happens as they totally envelop each other? If at any point you notice them vibrating, pulsing, or undulating like a wave, try moving them close to you. Does this impact your body? If this feels comfortable, move the sphere into your body, and move the energy up into your head and out again, if you wish. If you notice the vibrational state beginning to take hold, go with it. Try to focus on it and build the sensations until the line between your physical body and the energy becomes blurred.
As you can see, the sphere or pyramid visualisations can be excellent ways of bringing about the high vibrational sensations that often suggest an out-of-body experience is close. I recommend experimenting with different shapes and approaches to see which works best for you. As I’ve pointed out throughout this book, there is no one approach that will work with everyone. Look at the profile you developed in Chapter 4, and also the fears and strengths that you have identified, and take these into account. All of us have limits and boundaries; it is just part of being human—no one is perfect. The best approach is to find the most powerful ways to work within your limits, so that they become strengths and avenues to success in any particular endeavour.
You may well find with time that you can induce the vibrational state without the need to use processes such as these three-dimensional visualisation techniques. I have learnt to sense when an OBE is close. Sometimes I can sense the vibrational state even before I have relaxed. The particular feeling that comes with the state simply becomes apparent. This has wider implications than just the out-of-body state: it suggests that this energy is available for other purposes.
Geometric Patterns and Consciousness
Around the same time that I began exploring the tattva system within my OBE training, I also began to work with yantras, or geometric patterns believed to have a spiritual meaning. As well as having an inherent power within the Hindu tradition, they are also used as a focus within meditation. This interested me, being an artistic and very visual person, because I had come across virtually no other form of meditation that could explore colour, form, and geometry in this way. I remember the Shri Yantra in particular seemed to have a powerful impact on my consciousness. I would enter a state that felt much like a flowering of awareness was taking place. The longer I focused on the symbol, the more it would reveal itself to me and I would find myself flowing down tunnels of immense beauty. It was like the mathematical structure of life was being revealed. I remember watching an animation of the Mandelbrot Set (a fractal that has some startling similarities to the forms and structures found in nature) and feeling that on some level the Shri Yantra was revealing a similar fractal-like nature to me.
As my meditation practice grew, I began to find that even when I was doing simple meditations, I would often begin to see complex geometric forms. During one meditation session with a partner, I began to see two overlapping triangles at the height of the experience, before they joined to become a unicursal hexagram. At the time, I had never seen a hexagram that was joined in the center, as is the case with a unicursal hexagram, so I was fascinated. I became more fascinated when I eventually came across a diagram by Aleister Crowley that matched what I had seen. I became interested in Crowley’s work for a time, although his rather negative image had put me off of engaging with him until that point. However, I ultimately returned to my original conclusion that, while brilliant and in many ways a revolutionary thinker, Crowley was largely misguided and the product of his puritanical upbringing.
Yet the power of geometric forms still fascinated me. After all, the multi-dimensional approach aligns well with the notion that the nearest levels of reality to the physical level may be geometric in nature, or that consciousness is like an array of information spread out as a kind of network. This also relates well to the idea of cosmic consciousness, but goes further since some writers believe that entities or beings on other levels of reality may be perceived by us as a geometric structure. Much like the other ideas discussed in this chapter, this is a purely subjective possibility and should only be looked at in that context. However, many scientists including Isaac Newton believed in a kind of alchemical nature to the universe, in which symbols and mathematical forms have a greater significance than the purely intellectual. In religions, too, we find the complex geometry present in Islamic temples, the amazing art of the Tibetan Buddhist mandalas, the stained glass of Christian churches, and the ancient structures of Britain such as Stonehenge and Avebury, the largest stone circle in the world and a complex design of circles within circles. We are naturally drawn to the belief that complex shapes and patterns can impact our lives in a direct way.
The work of Masaru Emoto suggests that there may be some relationship between consciousness and harmonious or geometric forms. Emoto has conducted experiments on water to see whether prayer, intention, or meditational focus would change the form of crystals in water once it was frozen. The photographs that he has produced seem to clearly show that an effect is produced. At present, this is a controversial idea, and I remain neutral as to whether this is the case. However, in 2006 Dean Radin achieved positive results in his first replication of Emoto’s work, stating, “Results indicated that crystals from the treated water were given higher scores for aesthetic appeal than those from the control water (p=0.001, one-tailed), lending support to the hypothesis.”1 In 2009, Radin again gained positive results in a triple-blind experiment using some 2,500 independent judges.2
The relationships between geometric and three-dimensional forms and consciousness, healing, and even the very structure of water molecules have yet to be fully unraveled, but are full of fascinating possibilities. While these areas remain conjecture at this point in time, the connection between consciousness and matter becomes stronger with each new area of enquiry. Take the now-famous “observer effect,” which says that the more we look into the basis of reality, the more we find that what we understand as “real” only assumes a particular form when we observe or measure it. While this is a somewhat controversial area (and I don’t for a moment claim to have any advanced understanding of physics), it is clear that this has huge implications for anyone interested in consciousness and whether we can transcend the limitations of our body and even gain some fundamental understanding of the universal questions.
When I had my first out-of-body experiences, the concept of matter being fluid and intimately linked to our conscious awareness was natural to me. I had no need of science to convince me; I could look deep into matter with nonphysical eyes and see complex patterns of life swirling back at me. While I understood little of what I saw, I sense looking back that—like the religious visionaries, shamans, and mystics before me—I had an intuitive understanding of what was happening. That in the end I would reach a point where I would understand that everything is one, and I would essentially come full circle. And that is what I think has happened on a fundamental level. I now fully embrace the limitations of what I can know and experience, because that also teaches me what I can experience and reminds me how important the journey really is.
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healing and
the out-of-body experience
The ability of the mind to heal the body through the power of one’s belief has long been a topic of study. Doctors and researchers are in a constant battle, when developing new medicines and approaches, to overcome the mysterious placebo effect. When someone is given a placebo drug, or a placebo treatment they believe to be effective, the result can sometimes be as effective as the real drug or the real treatment, even though in reality the pills are little more than sugar pills. What does this mean? In simple te
rms, it means that the consciousness or mind of the individual has directly shaped the healing processes within his or her body. This further implies that consciousness can change the potential outcome of that person’s reality. Some consider this a radical notion, but when we introduce the ideas that consciousness is not limited to the body, and that even the nature of our world may be much more fluid and far less objective than it appears on the surface, the possibility becomes more intriguing.
In mainstream medicine, the placebo effect is the reason that much of complementary or alternative medicine is dismissed. Although many alternative healing approaches seem to perform little better than would be expected as a result of strong belief in the treatment, there are also many documented instances of a radical turnaround in the health of some individuals undergoing therapies such as acupuncture or energy healing. It seems to me that, much like premonitions and other psi phenomena as discussed earlier, these states of enhanced healing take place at peak moments. They are not, and indeed cannot be, everyday occurrences any more than an athlete could match his or her personal best at each performance.
Once we begin to look at things in this way, the issue then becomes: how can we reach a state of heightened or peak healing? Could experiences of altered consciousness, such as the out-of-body state, help us do it more effectively? It is still early to say whether the vibrational state or the out-of-body experience could be utilised as effective healing methods, but there are many reasons to suppose they could be.
Healing Energies
The type of energy experienced both in the vibrational state and in the
full OBE has a lot in common with healing energies. Of course, we don’t really know what these so-called energies are, or even if they are actual energies at all, but out-of-body experiences seem to have a beneficial impact on the body and that energy is often a part of that process (at least in an experiential sense).
The well-known healing system, Reiki, gives us a clue as to the nature of this energy. The word “Reiki” derives from Japanese but uses kanji, which are characters of Chinese origin. If we break the word into its two parts, rei essentially means “spirit,” while ki means “energy.” When we fully understand Reiki as spiritual energy, it’s easier to see how leaving the physical body for healing purposes is a direct way of experiencing spiritual or nonphysical energy.
Robert A. Monroe, for example, believed that leaving the body was a part of the body’s natural process of maintaining health and well-being. He believed that we go through some kind of out-of-body shift as we sleep. In a 1979 interview, he explained the process as he saw it: “During what we call delta sleep at night, which everyone goes through, is quite probably, according to our researches, a time when everybody goes into this out-of-body state. You don’t remember it, but it does take place … It is somewhat the recharging mechanism that you get during sleep.”1
Monroe was not alone in the belief that the OBE is a part of the natural process of recharging during sleep. Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington, authors of Projection of the Astral Body, believed that the purpose of sleep was connected to the subtle body or a vital energy. Carrington wrote: “We shall never arrive at a satisfactory theory of sleep, doubtless, until we admit the presence of a vital force and the existence of an individual human spirit, which withdraws more or less completely from the body during the hours of sleep, and derives spiritual invigoration and nourishment during its sojourn in the spiritual world.”2 While none of these statements go very far to explain how this process might work, there is a consensus that the out-of-body experience contains a revitalizing aspect.
Like these authors, I also believe that something important related to our health and well-being is taking place. When I lift out of my body, I often feel an enormous release, like tensions and blocks are being cleared away. It feels in some ways like going for a run on a brisk day—the pressures of everyday life are quickly swept away by the wind in your face, leaving you feeling alive and clear when you return home. Many spiritual experiences have this kind of effect on us; they leave us feeling peaceful, vital, and connected.
In a conversation with Dr. Peter Fenwick, a physician and expert on the impact of transcendent states, I asked about his views on consciousness and spiritual healing. He said, “There is no doubt there is such a thing as spiritual healing. There are processes there that are entanglement processes, that are different from straight immune system function.” He also explained that he thought sometimes the catalyst of a physical action, such as laying hands on the body, or holding them over it, is useful and that spiritual healing is far more than simply a placebo. He continued that he believes the process may be linked to a transcendent reality or a kind of conscious universe.3
At present, though, the scientific evidence for spiritual healing is still thin. This does not mean that healing in this form is untrue; it simply means that little research has been done, or what research that does exist is inconsistent. This is why supporting alternative areas of research in science is so important. If there is a benefit to energetic healing, and the ability to heal is latent in human beings, not investigating the possibility fully would be a disaster to our spirit of inquiry, as well as our humanity.
My Experiences with Healing Others
In the early days of my OBEs, I attempted healing via the OBE state, not because I particularly associated this state with healing at the time, but because I wondered if there was a relationship. I believe that those around me may have also wondered if this special experience could have some benefit to those in need of healing. I remember at school a friend requesting my help. I recall the way I could directly feel the vibrations of the other person and, if required, lift their energy in such a way that, to my perception, their vibration would begin to match mine. This seems to have the effect over time of helping to heal the person involved.
In the specific experience with a sick teenager from my school, whom my friend asked me to help, I wasn’t sure what the result would be. I lay down on my bed at the other side of the city and began to focus in on the person. Almost as soon as I did, I felt my intention to help bringing on the vibrational state. My body pulsed with yellowish-golden light. I held the experience of connecting deeply with the energy and the feelings flowing through me, before releasing myself to the experience and lifting out of my body. I found myself up above some unknown part of London before I focused in on the teenager again. Within moments I was next to her bed, sensing her illness and her lack of energy. She appeared quite gray and without any real sign of the energy of life. I drew upon all of my willpower in an attempt to raise her energy and bring her closer to the vital state that I was in. She responded by moving and seeming to take on the energy I was cultivating within her body. When I left her that night, she had a steady flow of energy much like the vibrational state.
It is hard to know how objective these perceptions were, but I was told by her friend that her health improved markedly, so much so that her doctor had made a note of it and remarked that this was very unusual. I also learnt that she had no awareness of any of this. To avoid what we would now call the placebo effect, her friend had not told her about the healing attempt beforehand or visited her on the night in question.
This was in fact my first experiment with healing in any form. It was some years later before I would explore the possibility again, during a trip to a sacred site called Avebury in southern England. A friend called Euca asked me to do some healing work on him. It was close to the harvest festival of Lammas and there was quite a gathering of people all around the area, despite the fact that it was already dark. It was hard to find a place away from people where we could concentrate. We decided to stand next to the two largest of the standing stones that surround the small village, as most people had gathered on the bank to watch the large full moon rising. We stood in front of the stone and I began turning my awareness inward and specifically began to focus on the
vibrational state. I soon perceived a darkened area near Euca’s shoulder. I asked if he had any issues with his shoulder, to which he answered that he was slightly shocked at me picking this up, but yes, he had been experiencing problems with it for some time.
I seemed to sense the subtler energies running through him; whether this was really the case or not, I don’t know, but it seemed at the very least a psychological representation of what was taking place on a psychic level. I began to notice what seemed like fibers or strings of energy becoming disentangled and the darkened area began to change and harmonise with the rest of his energy.
When I returned home afterward, I noticed that the heightened energy I had experienced felt closely aligned to the vibrational state that I would often experience shortly before an OBE. I think that night, and the thoughts that came to me after, formed the early stages of a new understanding of healing.
Somehow, the connection between OBEs and healing has been all but overlooked, probably because it is actually so obvious that it’s hard to grasp. I wonder if healing might actually be a form of psi phenomena, much like psychokinesis acting on an illness. Or maybe it’s not so much about energy fields or the way we view energy, but more about consciousness interacting with others, or maybe the world. This combination of subtle physiological and psychical awareness may well be how healing actually works.
Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience Page 14