Out of Body Experiences

© G.M. Woerlee

 

Out of body experiences have been reported for at least five millennia of human history. The picture on the right is an ancient Egyptian painting showing the soul of a person in the form of a bird hovering above the deceased physical body. Many people think that such separation of soul and body only occurs at death, yet most out of body experiences occur in situations where people are very much alive: usually in people who suffer no diseases, or physical disorders whatsoever.

 

Out of body experiences occur during many different states of mind!

An excellent survey performed by Twemlow in 1982 revealed the surprising information that most out of body experiences occur during a state of relaxation, and that only a relative few occur during near death experiences (10%). Even more surprisingly, out of body experiences sometimes also occur in states of extreme arousal such as: during severe pain, sexual orgasm, or fever. This means that out of body experiences occur during states of relaxation or excitement, which is a real surprise. Here is an extract of the table in the article of Twemlow showing the relative frequencies of the situations during which out of body experiences occur.

 

Situation	frequency
Feeling physically relaxed	78%
Unusually tired	15%
Near death	10%
Cardiac arrest	5%
General anesthesia	6%
Severe pain / childbirth	6%
During an accident	4%
High fever	3%
Sexual orgasm	3%

 

What actually happens during out of body experiences?

Traditionally, peoples of all times and all cultures believed that the out of body experience truly was the separation of an immaterial and immortal soul, from the physical body. Even now, most people believe that the out of body experience is proof that the conscious mind can somehow separate from the physical body, and that this experience is proof of the reality of the ancient belief in the human soul. Indeed, such experiences are wondrous. During the out of body experience, the separated soul is able to pass through windows, through brick walls, is able to fly, can see and hear things occurring in the physical world, and has thoughts and mental activity which are clearer than those of the physical body. All these things are illustrated in the short video below.

 

 

Properties of the separated consciousness

But is this ages-old idea of the out of body experience true? Does the immaterial consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience truly leave the physical body? Or is the out of body experience a wonderful hallucination induced by the functioning of the body?

One way to answer these questions is to first carefully define the properties of the consciousness that apparently, and so wondrously separates from the body during the out of body experience. An extensive analysis of this the properties of the separated consciousness during an out of body experience can be found in chapter 10 of the book "Mortal Minds". Here we read that the properties of the separated consciousness during an out of body experience are:

• The out of body experience is a conscious experience, because the person undergoing this experience is conscious, even though they appear unconscious to an external observer.
• The disembodied mind is displaced outside the body. That is why it is called an out of body experience.
• The disembodied mind is invisible. No one can see or photograph the disembodied mind of a person undergoing an out of body experience. The opportunity to see and photograph is often present, because many people describe themselves as floating above, or to one side of their physical body during an out of body experience.
• The disembodied mind is immaterial. The disembodied consciousness can fly, can pass though solid walls, and is unable to be seen, heard, touched, or detected.
• The disembodied mind is the same as the conscious mind of the person undergoing the out of body experience. This is proven by the many accounts of out of body experiences where it is very evident that the mental processes and intelligence of people undergoing these experiences is identical to that of the mind of the person within the physical body.
• The disembodied mind is unable to control the body. There are many accounts of people telling of trying to speak and move during out of body experiences, but they all report being unable to arouse movements in their bodies, nor can they generate speech. In other words, the will of the disembodied consciousness cannot activate the physical body to move or speak.
• the disembodied mind is capable of detailed, but very selective perceptions. For example, the disembodied mind can see with light, as well as hear spoken words as well as other sounds;
• The out of body experience is a remembered experience, because no one tells of undergoing an out of body experience during the experience itself. They only tell of undergoing an out of body experience after their consciousness has returned to the body.

This list of properties of the makes it possible to determine whether the out of body experience truly is caused by separation of the consciousness from the body, or whether it is simply a wondrous hallucination. And indeed, these basic properties of the disembodied consciousness of people undergoing out of body experiences provides the evidence needed to decide between these two choices.

 

Proof of disembodiment?

Most people reporting out of body experiences, and nearly all those hearing of these experiences seemingly accept all the elements of these experiences at face value. They say that in the absence of other proof, that out of body experiences truly are evidence of a separation of the immaterial consciousness. As proof, they say that the physical body of a person undergoing an out of body experience is unconscious, and therefore unable to observe anything, while the disembodied consciousness is able to make two types of verifiable observations.

• The disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience can see what is happening around the body. They can describe people, describe their clothing, and the colors of their clothing. Subsequent descriptions of verifiable elements of all these things is considered proof of the reality of disembodiment.
• The disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience can hear spoken words and sounds of people and events in the vicinity of the physical body. Subsequent verification of these spoken words and sounds is considered proof of the reality of disembodiment.

People who believe that the consciousness separates from the physical body during the out of body experience, claim these verifiable observations are solid proof of the reality of this belief. However, the fact that the disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience can hear and see is actually solid proof of the error of this belief.

 

No disembodiment….

How can this be? It is very curious, but no believers ever seem to ask themselves how an invisible and immaterial conscious, able to fly and pass through solid walls, can possibly hear and see. Just examine the reality of the world in which we live.

• The immaterial disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience does not interact with physical matter at all, because it can depart from the body, actually passing through the solid matter of the body, and even pass through solid walls. Accordingly, the disembodied consciousness cannot possibly hear, because it would also have no interaction with sound waves in air (see pages 264-266 in The Unholy Legacy of Abraham).
• The disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience is invisible and has no interaction with physical matter. These things mean it cannot be seen, and cannot be photographed or imaged at any wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum. Accordingly, the disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience does not interact with light at all, which means it cannot possibly see anything (see pages 120-123 in The Unholy Legacy of Abraham).

Yet people reporting their out of body experiences say they actually saw the persons in their surroundings, saw the colors of their clothing, saw the type of clothing, saw the hair colors, and their make-up, whether there were men and women present, etc. Moreover, people reporting their out of body experiences can sometimes accurately report what was said by people in their vicinity, as well as accurately describing other sounds during these experiences. These things are verifiable, and are often confirmed to be true and to have occurred by other people present in the surroundings of these people at the time of their out of body experiences. This is a crucial observation. Observers see with physical light waves, and hear with physical sound waves. So the very fact that people do report observing verifiable things during out of body experiences, means that the apparently disembodied consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience sees with physical light waves, and hears with physical sound waves. After all, if this were not the case, observations made during out of body experiences could not be confirmed by observers present near the person at the time of the out of body experience.

So how can de consciousness of a person undergoing an out of body experience hear and see? Let us go to the basic properties of the out of body experience. An out of body experience is indisputably a conscious experience. After all, an unconscious person has no experiences. An unconscious person hears nothing, sees nothing, and experiences nothing. There is only a gap in the continuity of consciousness. So even though the physical body of a person undergoing an out of body experience is seemingly unconscious, they are nonetheless very conscious, and only appear unconscious (see the extensive discussion of this phenomenon of apparent unconsciousness on pages 132-139 in Chapter 6, "Return flight to Paris", in the book The Unholy Legacy of Abraham. And a conscious, although seemingly unconscious person, can hear and can see. Accordingly, veridical perceptions of seeing things, people and events, as well as hearing sounds and speech during out of body experiences are due to the apparently unconscious person actually seeing and hearing these things. This is the true nature of these veridical observations made during out of body experiences.

 

How does the body generate the out of body hallucination?

The mechanisms by which the body generates the hallucination of the out of body experience is extensively discussed in Chapter 6, "Return flight to Paris", in the book The Unholy Legacy of Abraham. You can download the text of the whole book for free by clicking here, or on the "FREE BOOK" item in the top menu above. Reading this chapter teaches you to appreciate the wonder of consciousness, as well as to appreciate the amazing mechanisms of the human body. After all, as this article clearly demonstrates, the conscious mind remains firmly within the body during the out of body experience, which means this experience is a wonderful hallucination generated by the functioning of the human body.

 

 

 

 

Copyright G.M. Woerlee, 19 February 2010