For some time, I've been reading about Near Death Experiences (NDE) and more specifically, the Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) that happens with an NDE. Most people have heard of OBEs associated with people rescusitated from traumatic near death situations, but I suspect most people aren't aware that many people report having OBEs totally separate from NDEs. Of course, there is no scientific basis for believing that OBE are anything but creations of the subconscious mind, but, I think it's something that rational people should seriously consider researching because it seems it me that it may explain many things about why people believe what they do and help us understand ourselves in the same way studying dreams may do so.
For a quick explanation of OBEs, as I can best explain them, they occur during a special state of the mind similar to that of a hypnotic state or intense meditation, sometimes at that point before we fall asleep or wake up. In the experience, the person has the sensation of leaving the body, though they may not be aware of that aspect of it. Many times the experience occurs accidentally and in these cases the experiencer is usually totally unaware they are having an OBE. Other times, it can be induced through a number of ways: meditational techniqes, drug use, trauma or lack of oxygen to the brain, using electromagnetic pulses or certain types of sounds; or a combination of things. When a person starts to have an OBE, they often report electrical sounds, popping noises, and other bizarre things as they move into the state. From all the books and articles I've read, people who have an OBE experience a situation that seems like real life. The person observes things just as they would in waking life and often it seems as though they have an even higher state of awareness (naturally, since I imagine the brain knows the details of what it's creating). It's not like a regular dream where you are much less cognitive and more unnatural things occur. Since accidental OBEs usually happen in bed in a near-sleeping state, people often dismiss it as a dream, so it's possible that this occurs more often than we are aware of. Most people don't always have many bizarre things occur, but sometimes people can have experiences of flying, travelling through space, meeting other beings (such as orbs, demons, living or deceased humans, or mythical beings). A person who intentionally has an OBE can sometimes manipulate the OBEs intentionally with their thoughts.
Once thing that I find interesting, is that since the experience is often accidental and it seems so real to the person, it seems it to me it can possibly explain so many paranorma phenomena that humans have come up with in the past. For example, a person who believes they have been abducted by aliens may actually have had an OBE without knowing it. To them it is just like real life and thus when they experience beings abducting them and taking them to a spaceship they think it is real. They come back fully believing they were abducted though it was really all a creation of the imagination. It may also explain why so many cultures report religious visions. Imagine the writer of the book of Revelation (supposedly someone named John), imprisoned, tortured, and nearly starved to the point where he is vulnerable to alternate mental states. His state causes him to have an OBE and since he was probably totally engrossed in the prophetic imagery of the Hebrew texts he has similar visions and records them into what we can now read in Revelation. You can use this to explain any religious literature. Many of them, of course, are obvious fabrications but many of them may actually be believed by the writers. You can expand this to explain all types of visions: ghosts, fairies, unicorns, demons, orbs, etc, etc, or any other fantastic things people come up with.
Now, some people can induce OBEs intentionally. It is possible anyone can learn to induce them. Of course, given the nature of what you see in OBEs, most people put a mystical spin on their experiences but the reality is that it comes from their subconscious mind. So, I think another interesting thing about OBE is that we can analyse what we observe, much like in dream analysis, to help us understand more about ourselves. I've read about people who claim to converse with beings of light they call their higher selves or who others believe are angels or even God. Obviously those things don't exist so they are really conversing with creations of their subcious mind and thus, if they knew the truth of the situation, they use could use it to analyse their themselves.
Another aspect is that one could use OBE recreationally. OBEs can enable you to have quite amazing experiences similar to a wonderful dream, except more similar in sensations to reality than a dream would be. People have testified about visiting other planets, solar systems,seeing the future/past, deceased loved ones, being able to fly, being unaffected by time, meeting other beings, and, believe it or not, even having intercourse. It is limited only by the imagination. I don't find these things hard to believe since our brains are able create many of the same things in our nightly dreams.
I believe most rational people have dismissed OBEs as mystical nonesense given the spiritual bent people tend associate it with, however, I believe it is a legitimate psychological phenomenon, much like dreaming, and is worthy of research and exploration, in the same way that we research dreaming as a psychological phenomenon.
I'm curious if anyone has studied this phenomenon, or has had experiences that may have been an OBE? Is this discussed or referred to in any of the podcasts?
I'm interested in any thoughts on the topic.