Out-of-Body Experiences

by Robert Peterson

  I was in midair floating about two feet above my physical body. I turned to my left (south), and raised myself into a standing position. I looked at the north wall and briefly considered whether to walk through it. I decided against it.

  I took a few steps toward the back of the bedroom, to the west. I felt a bit giddy and off balance. Then I took a few steps east, toward the bedroom door again. I felt unsure of my footing, and I assumed it was because I was too close to my physical body. I decided that I had to get farther away from my body, and the safest way to do that was to crawl on my hands and knees.

  I got down on my hands and knees, and crawled toward the bedroom door, crawled through the bedroom door, and out into the living room. I crawled about six feet more until I was in the middle of the living room, and then stood up again and walked over toward the kitchen.

  I looked into the kitchen, and it looked different. At the time I was standing partially through the microwave oven stand, but I didn't notice it or any of the other nearby objects in the room. I looked toward the countertop right of the sink, and there was no countertop! It appeared as if someone had cut out the countertop at the sink, all the way back to the wall, and the wall looked somewhat dirty. It looked as if whoever cut the counter- top out had done a very sloppy job. I scanned the area up and down, and finally I said to myself, “It's an illusion; I know the kitchen isn't like this, but that's not important.”

  I walked back into the living room, stopped by JH's computer, and suddenly I became very excited. I said aloud (or so it seemed), “This is great! I'm completely lucid! This is entirely real!” I examined my own consciousness, and it was very clear, bright, lucid, and normal in every respect.

  Why are there discrepancies between the physical and nonphysical worlds? Some people claim that astral matter is easily malleable and imitates physical objects, but not completely. Others claim it's because some OBEs occur in the “astral plane,” which is influenced by our beliefs and expectations. Or perhaps the people who find themselves in a thought-influenced, subjective OBE state are really having lucid dreams.

  Another theory is that some people have a kind of “clairvoyance” that allows them to see the physical world during an OBE, much as a clairvoyant can see spirits while in the body. Again, more research is needed to answer these questions.

  EXERCISE 18

  rocking chair visualization

  This is a variation of the previous exercise.

  Before you attempt the exercise, sit in a rocking chair, close your eyes, and rock. Memorize the feeling of rocking with your eyes closed. This is how you should feel when you are doing the exercise.

  You can do this either lying down or sitting. First, close your eyes and relax. As vividly as you can, imagine that you're sitting in a rocking chair, rocking gently forward and backward. Take your time doing this. In this exercise, it's not important to visualize at all. As a matter of fact, you can completely ignore any visual images that come to mind. In previous exercises, I wanted you to vividly pretend you were seeing images, like the yo-yo exercise in chapter 9. This time, I want you to vividly imagine the feeling of rocking back and forth. Keep at it until it seems as if your consciousness is really rocking.

  Once again, this is more than just a silly exercise. I've used this imaginary feeling of rocking to leave my body. Actually, I used a slight variation, which went as follows. Some good movie theaters have seats like rocking chairs, but they have very tight springs. The tight springs make them more “springy” than regular rocking chairs, and they rock very quickly. Anyway, I would imagine I was sitting in one of these springy theater seats and start rocking. Pretty soon the vibrations would come, and I'd use the momentum to catapult away from the body.

  Again, this exercise is very important. For me, it's probably one of the more effective exercises because it deals directly with feelings and bodily sensations instead of visualizations or imaginary sounds.

  CHAPTER 19

  the mind during obes

  Some researchers have theorized that the problems encountered in visual experiments are not problems with vision, but rather problems with the mind and its interpretation of those images. Obviously, we can learn a lot about our reality and ourselves if we examine our own minds and consciousness during OBEs.

  Consciousness

  How is out-of-body consciousness different from normal consciousness? My experiments have led me to believe that out-of-body consciousness is very focused and directed. This single-mindedness makes it easier to induce the experience and usually stays with me during the experience. This focus also makes it easier to remember details of an experience. It can also be a hindrance, because it's tempting to divert your full attention to some small distraction during the experience, rather than doing something that you had planned. For instance, several times I induced an OBE with the hope to astrally visit a friend, but often I would become distracted and forget my goal.

  I have experienced many frames of mind and states of consciousness during OBEs. Usually my consciousness is completely normal in all respects. At times my consciousness is very strong, and I feel more awake and aware than in normal life. But sometimes my consciousness feels very weak. I've often used the analogy between consciousness and a light bulb that is on a dimmer switch. In chapter 10, OBE #52 gave a fairly good idea of how consciousness operates during an OBE. Here are some more examples.

  05/23/82 Sun - OBE #74

  …Then something happened that might be difficult to describe. It seems as if my consciousness dimmed to the point where I couldn't organize memories. The memory I have is of time standing still. I remember tiny flashbacks of things happening, but they all seemed to have happened at once. I remember seeing DB, and I remember him walking back and forth. He came toward me, then walked through me. Later, he opened the cabin door, and the door went partway through my astral body. I also feel I had some interaction with JP and CA. But my consciousness was so dim that I didn't have conscious control, and my memory is so jumbled about that part that I can't say any more [for certain].

  05/02/83 Mon - OBE #94

  …I went to bed around 10:00 P.M. I tried to project for a little while, but I was just too mentally tired. I gave up and rolled over onto my right side to go to sleep, but I kept thinking about projection. I fell asleep almost immediately. The next thing I knew I was semiconscious and out of my body, in my bedroom. I was standing up when I noticed my condition. I examined my consciousness to see how wide awake I really was; I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming or deceiving myself in any other way. I came to the conclusion that I was fully conscious in all respects. With that thought, my consciousness brightened suddenly until I was more conscious and aware than I am in waking life. I felt wonderful, alive, and vibrant, radiating with life and consciousness. I thought, “Wow! Now this is consciousness, better and more real than I've felt before!” And I felt completely free from my body. I could tell it was very dark there in my bedroom, but my eyesight was more astral than physical. I didn't hesitate to jump forward—through physical objects—to attempt flight. I closed my eyes and flew forward through my house, passing through walls and other physical objects as I gained speed. I felt each physical object as I passed through it, yet it didn't disturb me. I traveled so fast that I was out of the house in a few quick seconds. Once outside, I flew up and up, but I blacked out before I had a chance to do anything, or see where I was.

  Logical Thinking

  One of the things I try to examine during my OBEs is how “normal” my thoughts are. In most of my OBEs I seem to have normal, logical thoughts. Here are some examples.

  08/02/81 Sun - OBE #45

  …I woke up once at about 3:30 A.M. or 4:00 A.M. and went back to sleep. I dreamed that I was in a store at the university when I was called to a special counter. I received a phone call to come home immediately because of a death in the family. I asked the woman, “Who has died?” She said she couldn't tell me. All she could tell me was the person's Social Security n
umber. I talked to the woman a long time and finally reasoned that it was my father (he's still alive). I was shocked and terribly sad. I decided to quit the dream.

  So I tried to wake up, opened my eyes, and saw unfamiliar surroundings. I was stiff and felt paralyzed. My vision was weird too. I decided that I wasn't seeing truthfully. I didn't realize that I was astral; a bit of grogginess still hindered my thoughts. So I tried to remember where I should be and what I should be seeing. I decided I should be in bed looking up and seeing my walls with posters and the ceiling. My vision blurred away. When it returned, I saw my posters and all, but there was a strange piece of woodwork that doesn't exist in my room. “This isn't quite right either!” I reasoned that I could probably project easily. (I still didn't know I was nonphysical.)

  Then I thought of the dream. If my father had just died, I wouldn't want to project. I'd be afraid. At the thought of projecting, I started to sway away from my body. But I pulled myself back because I wanted to think this situation through fully before I dared to leave my body's vicinity.

  I reasoned further: “This prospect of Dad being dead was only in a dream. Yet, if he is dead, it is very possible that I would be informed of it in a dream. And if so, he may take the form of a ghost or leave a nasty astral shell about.” I started to pull away from my body again on my own. I pulled myself back. I decided not to try to project further, just in case. I lost consciousness and woke up in my body after a few seconds of what seemed like nonexistence. I opened my eyes and saw how my room really looks and felt my body again. Then I changed my mind, but it was already too late. I noticed my entranced state of mind, though, and tried to project again with one near success.

  I gained at least one good thing from this experience, and that is the knowledge of the proper state of mind conducive to astral projection. I wonder what causes this state of mind and body, and plan to read some books on sleep and the causes and effects of certain types of sleep. I slept very deeply. My body was stiff, and I couldn't feel it until I moved it and stretched. My mind was almost entranced. I was in a staring mood and found concentrating very easy. It was very easy to focus my mind on one thought. It was semi-easy to visualize. I probably ruined my chance to project again when I moved my body and broke its stiffness.

  11/08/81 Sun - OBE #55

  …[During the experience] my consciousness was again very clear and concise, but I was still very sleepy. I thought about doing some experimenting. Then I decided to follow my original plan of action: walk out of my house normally but as fast as I could, and then try to fly to LD's house. I thought of some parts of a song, and then I realized it was typical in-the-body thinking and made a mental note to myself to remember that my thought patterns are the same there as they are on earth.

  Here is another example of logical thinking during an OBE. Notice the use of logical deduction during this OBE.

  06/09/82 Wed - OBE #75

  …This morning at 6:00 A.M. I was dreaming happily. In one dream, I was outside my bedroom, and I looked in through the window. I saw something that frightened me and put me in a state of awe. I don't remember what I saw, but I also thought I saw a blinding white light shining through my window. It seemed to be alive. The brightness didn't hurt my eyes. The white rays of light coming into my bedroom were like beautiful little fingers reaching out. At the sight of this (in a dream still), I let myself fall backward until I was on my back. The falling was very gentle, and I landed softly, weightlessly. I floated there for a few seconds and the dream changed. I had a deep level of awareness that told me that the dreams were all very important lessons, and I must watch them all. I don't remember any of the dreams now. This dream of projecting happened in the middle of the series of dreams I had to witness.

  When the dreams were through, a certain part of me expressed an interest in the projection part. I wanted to do that dream over. So I saw myself outside my room again. I turned and looked again. Then I saw the sight in the window again. I fell over backward once more. But this time, when I landed on my back, I woke up. I was still in a weird state of consciousness, but I wasn't exactly dreaming. I had conscious control, so I levitated myself until I was lying at a slant outside my bedroom. My body was rigid. I was looking west, and my torso was parallel to my bedroom. I thought about how easy it was to levitate. I also noticed that the state I was in seemed somehow different from normal projection. I thought, “Wow! This is neat! I wonder if it is really a projection; it feels so different.” To test my theory, I bent my right arm and put my right hand in front of my face. My logic was this: if I could see through my hand it was probably a normal projection, but if I couldn't see through it, it was probably different. I fully expected to be able to see through my hand. But when I reached my hand out in front of me, I could not see through it. It seemed (looked) solid. I thought, “Boy, that's strange! What else could it be then? I suppose that really isn't a good test. I could still be projecting.” Then I started thinking about something else. Then I was frightened half to death when I heard my alarm clock go off. I was violently pulled back inside my body, and I came to with a jolt. My heart was pounding wildly from the fright.

  Emotions

  Are emotions any different while out of the body? Usually my emotions are normal during OBEs. Even my sense of humor isn't lost during my OBEs. However, I had the following experience during which I was very emotional. I even became hysterical, for no apparent reason:

  01/30/82 Sat - OBE #62

  Last night I stayed up until 12:30 A.M. watching a late movie, and then did some stretching until 1:00 or 1:30 A.M. I woke up early this morning and went back to sleep. After a while I seemed to feel a tingling sensation, and I came to full consciousness. I knew I was about to project, and I was aware of the vibrations at a certain level of consciousness. So I made a quick movement, and I sat up (astrally) wondering what I should do. Then I suddenly was overcome with thoughts of my father who had physically died 17 days ago. I cried, “Daddy!” hoping to see him on the astral plane. I was about two feet above my body, and I was mostly not seeing but mind sensing. I relaxed to a semi-reclined position in midair. I looked up in the corner of my bedroom where I thought I had seen some movements. I was very emotional for some reason, and it was almost a panic state. I became hysterical soon, and I reached my arms out in front of me, hoping that my father or someone would take my hands and help me away from my body. But I couldn't stand it. It was less than one second of time later that I became completely hysterical and screamed, “Daddy!” as loudly as I possibly could, and with as much emotion as I have ever known in my life.

  The last thing I remember was that I looked hopelessly into the astral fog. Then I blacked out very completely and very deeply. The next thing I knew I was dreaming, two or more hours later. I have absolutely no memory of what happened between the time I blacked out and when I started dreaming.

  It completely baffles me as to why I was so emotional, so hysterical during this experience. And I was impatient. Usually when I project I stay calm. But this time was just the opposite. I just don't understand. All I can do is to explain my actual emotions during the experience. I somehow wanted frantically for him to come to me, take my hands, help me away from my body, cradle me, and make me his child. I somehow couldn't wait, even a few seconds, for my dad to arrive. My final shriek was a frantic plea to him, to my guides, or to anyone to come and just be with me in a world where they are tangible and real and can be hugged—a place where they have solidity.

  I really don't understand it. I feel completely different now, but those were my feelings at the time.

  In comparison, the following OBE happened about a month later, in which I met and talked with my deceased father. This time I was completely calm, rational, and logical during the experience.

  03/02/82 Tue - OBE #65

  …I astrally projected last night and talked to my dad who died less than two months ago. I had been flying and woke up out of my body as I landed. My dad was coming into view, and I la
nded next to him. I couldn't see anything but him: there wasn't anything around for miles except blackness. He had a T-shirt on, and he looked very good. Here's what we said:

  Bob: Dad!

  Dad: Hi, Bob. You guys are a little preoccupied with my death, aren't you?

  Bob: Yeah, I guess so. What should I tell them?

  Dad: Tell ‘em I love them. Tell Mom she shouldn't be so sad. It had to be this way.

  Bob: What about the direction of my life?

  Dad: Don't worry. Everything will turn out all right.

  We exchanged one more line (which I don't remember) . Then I remember (vaguely) flying for many miles downward and over until I was next to my body. I woke up right away. I thought about it for awhile, but I was overcome by sleep. I have dreamed about him before, and this was not a dream. First, there is always scenery in a dream, and there wasn't any there. Second, in a dream I am watching myself do things against my conscious will. But there I was conscious. I didn't see myself because I was myself. And everything I did was my own conscious choice.

  The only thing I noticed about this projection was that I was strangely intellectual. I wasn't emotional but had the feeling of a thinking mind. I didn't think to ask him any of a million questions I'd like to ask him. The lack of scenery makes me believe this incident took place on the astral plane, if there is such a place.

  Right Brain/Left Brain

  During an out-of-body experience, is there some separation between the right and left hemispheres of the brain? Which part of the brain interprets nonphysical experiences? Scientists have shown that one side of the brain (usually the left side) is more logical and mathematical, and tends to put labels on the objects it sees. The other side of the brain is mainly used for aesthetics, emotions, and things of an artistic nature. If the OBE was strictly devoted to the right hemisphere, it would explain why Ingo Swann could see and draw the American flag “target,” but did not label it as a flag. It would also explain some difficulty people have identifying targets in OBE experiments.