ThePhanastasio

I don't think of the "astral plane" as being a completely separate place at all. Although I do feel that its presence, via OBEs, psychosomatic or no, probably contributes strongly to solidifying faith in there being something "more".

The way I feel about it, whether it be from psychedelic experimentation, meditation, traumatic events, etc. is that it's the consciousness retreating fully into the subconscious, bringing that instead to the forefront of ones' awareness. I think it's an occurrence that externalizes internal thoughts, making them appear to be solid and tangible in some sense, which is a truly intense and often humbling experience.

Via psychedelic experimentation, I myself have experienced what can be best described as out of body experiences, often resulting in complete dissolution of ego, an understanding of the significance of things on a grander scale, myself being completely minute and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. During these times, I have felt completely removed from my body, but I believe that I had simply retreated deep within my own mind - so that consciousness of what signifies "awake" and what signifies "asleep" became blurred.

It really is kind of difficult to articulate without it seeming to be full of contradictions, but that's really the best way I can explain my opinion as a result of experiences.

Let it be known also that this is quite possible the most subjective of opinions - it's simply the sense that I gathered from my own personal experience, without all-encompassing knowledge of what it all really meant.

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someonecompletelyrandom

Yes, I agree. Thanks for clearing that up as I didn't mean to say that science seeks to devalue OBE experiences, but rather that some are of the belief that the hallucinations are random and the personal value is entirely dependent upon later assumptions and bias, as opposed to truly retreating into the mind as ThePhantastasio describes below.

I have never tried any sort of substance induced OBE experimentation, but just today I did feel something quite unlike anything I've yet to experience through plain and simple meditation.

I was actually playing a binaural beat (theta) while laying down and meditating. As much as I'd like to believe binaural beats do anything significant to brain waves, the jury is still out - and I was really only playing it as a way to drown out ambiance. Anyway, after about 45 minutes of relaxation I became partially paralyzed, perhaps not physically but psychologically I couldn't quite signal my hands to move anywhere beyond a slight nudge. It was as if they were being held in place. After about 15 more minutes of this sensation on again, off again, something really frightening happened. My entire body felt as if started vibrating. This startled me so much that I tore my blindfold off and stopped the music (so apparently with enough of a want to I could indeed move).

I was quite disappointed with myself for not sticking with it and seeing where it went. Especially after reading that the "Vibrating stage" occurs right before an OBE.

I'm still in awe of it all. With absolutely no religious pretext whatsoever I was still able to experience something so.. different. And without the use of a substance.. it's all just concentration. The mind is an incredibly powerful thing. My personal theory is that those who can "astral project" at will have trained their body to fall asleep while their mind stays awake. It's really an amazing concept to me.

blastingas10

Wow. Very interesting story.

I once had a dream, if that's what it was. I don't know what to call it, a "waking dream" perhaps. But in this experience, I found myself awake and looking around my room. It was dark when I went to bed and When I awoke (in this OBE as it seemed) I did not turn my light on, yet it was bright in my room. I just remember walking and looking around for a little bit. The next thing I remember is trying to move my hands and open my eyes, but I couldn't. I remember thinking to myself: "am I blind? Am I dead?" it was quite scary. Finally, somehow, I was able to open my eyes and wake my body. It was so strange.

O ya, during this experience i could not see my arms or legs or any other part of my body. Almost as if my body wasn't there.

What do you make out of this? I'd like to get someones opinion on it. I'm not very knowledgable about this kind of thing. Although I'm very interested in this subject.

someonecompletelyrandom

The problematic thing I think about when reading OBE stories like this is the possibility of it simply being a full out lucid dream. It's difficult to determine how many of these experiences are true, mind asleep body asleep dreams or mind awake, body asleep astral projections/OBEs. I guess it's entirely dependent on how you feel about it, and how real it was to you. Did it feel like a dream or something more?

Note: it's worth noting that some, less skeptical practitioners than me might assert that since our consciousness partially disconnects from us every night when we sleep, sometimes your consciousness will be vibrated completely out of your body while you sleep, sometimes without you even realizing its happening.