Have you ever left your body?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Like it says: Have you ever left your body?

I did. I was in an est meeting, addressing the group, when I briefly had the awareness of looking down on myself and the group. I noticed a female face looking up at me (at the ceiling), and when I talked to her later, she said that she had seen “me” up there.

So:

  1. Have you ever left your body?

  2. What happened?

  3. Did anyone else participate in your experience?

  4. Have you explored this phenomenon further, and, if so, how?

  5. Do you know of any relevant links, especially re the pursuit and enhancement of this “ability”?

  6. Were you dreading that I would list “Hi, Opal”?

I’m not really interested in chemically-induced phenomena. unless you bring something pretty damn good to the table, and it has the independent verification.

2

Oops! I meant to include the term familiar to me: Out of Body Experience.

3

I did that in college. It appeared to me to be a meditative technique. (Or maybe an hypnotic technique, as it used "guided imagery).

I believe that people are capable of visualizing themselves from the vantage point of the ceiling. Or any variety of places.

Nice parlor game.

4

This is weird. Two OPs in GQ on this topic in the one day by two separate posters.

I’m with flodnak on this one - a meditative/self-hypnotic technique.

5

Maybe not what I am looking for. You “did it in college”? Details, please.

I didn’t visualize myself there. I was there when I had the experience, and a person I did not know beforehand confirmed it. My question is not about parlor games, unless they result in experiences as real as my own.

Anyone else? (Oh Jeez, I hope so. I didn’t think this was unusual when I asked.)

6

This should really be in MPSIMS or IMHO, as it’s about something subjective and not scientifically measurable.

Subjectively, you were there. Clearly, no-one can prove or disprove your subjective experience of your “soul”, “astral body” or whatever being on the ceiling.

The technique isn’t confined to est, it’s one which other “technologies” which use meditative and hypnotic techniques also use. I learned it in the Church of Scientology.

7

A further note - and I do recall this being posted before, although I can’t remember in which thread - there have been experiments done in emergency rooms to test the OBE phenomenon. IIRC, not once has anyone been able to report the presence of things on top of lockers or similar which they didn’t objectively know were there.

If the experience was anything other than subjective, then sooner or later someone should be able to describe the presence of such items - AFAIK, there are no credible reports of this having happened.

8

I am completely open as to where this thread may belong - I just wanted to start a discussion about something in which I am interested.

Actually, someone can, if I knew now how to reach her. And I would call it “objective”, since someone whom I had never met before described to me, without prompting, what seemed to me to have happened.

Actually, est had nothing directly to do with it - it just happened when I was there.

So, please tell me what you learned, and what you experienced as a result of such learning, at the Church of Scientology.

9

No, someone confirming that they met you on the astral plane is not objective evidence. Describing objects you could not possibly have known about could be objective evidence.

There’s plenty of information about the various TR routines practised by the Co$ on the net. If you want to read about them, I’d suggest Operation Clambake as a starting point. You’ll also find critical analysis of those techniques on that site.

10

I haven’t been to the sites, but wth are “TR” and “Co$”?

11

TR is a training routine, Co$ is a somewhat derisive abbreviation for the Church of Scientology.

12

General Questions is for factual questions. IMHO is for polls and opinions.

Since I don’t see a question searching for a factual answer, but rather a poll, I’ll move this to IMHO for you.

DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator

13

Well, that’s my story down the drain, unless the ghost of Arthur Guinness counts as “independent verification”. :smiley:

14

I did, early in our relationship, but my body apologized so I took it back.

15

Actually, I
did it a lot when I was a very young child. I even planned these “trips” each night, going further and further away.
I gradually got braver and braver.
Then something very bad happened.
I don’t really want to go into the story here, but one night my parents came running into the room about 2:00 AM, along with my brothers, due to my screaming.
I never tried it again and made a conscious effort not to do it ever again. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time of the last adventure.
Skeptics go ahead and scoff.
I know it is very real.
It was fun for awhile…and I know these were not just dreams. I tried little experiments to “find” things that were very successful.

16

Would you be willing to reconsider and share your story? I’m very intrigued. If not, no problem. :slight_smile:

17

I’ve had an experience once where I “came loose” inside my body. I was driving at the time and am very glad that I didn’t go anywhere. It was really amazing, all my body issues (I’m over-weight and have a couple physical aliments) were gone as if they never exsisted. I remember being excited and happy and then as suddenly as it came, it was gone.

18

People I know and have no reason to disbelieve have told me they do astrally project during meditation. I have no objective proof they are telling me the truth, only what I know about their character. I believe them.

Personally, I would be scared shitless to try it. I would be afraid I would not be able to return to my body.

19

Testing this sounds easy.

Have somebody place a target object someplace locked or far away. Have the subject “take a walk” and come back and identify it. See if they’re right.

So - has somebody tested it and does it work?

20

It’s been tested many times.
Hasn’t worked yet.