The article claimed that scientists triggered an obe in the volunteers not that they were able to trigger sensations of an obe. I think there is a distinct difference. As I've admitted and said earlier I have created some sensations in which I felt I was out but wasnt really.
As you state, the article said:
"Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers."This is the article writers (mis)interpretation of the research; the researchers have not actually claimed this.
The research itself (not a reports poor interpretation) states:
Two teams used virtual reality goggles to con the brain into thinking the body was located elsewhere
The visual illusion plus the feel of their real bodies being touched made volunteers sense that they had moved outside of their physical bodies.
Operative word here is ‘sense’.
The volunteers reported that the sensation seemed to be caused by the pen on their virtual back, rather than their real back, making them feel as if the virtual body was their own rather than a hologram.
Even when the camera was switched to film the back of a mannequin being stroked rather than their own back, the volunteers still reported feeling as if the virtual mannequin body was their own.
And when the researchers switched off the goggles, guided the volunteers back a few paces, and then asked them to walk back to where they had been standing, the volunteers overshot the target, returning nearer to the position of their "virtual self".
Dr Ehrsson said: "This experiment suggests that the first-person visual perspective is critically important for the in-body experience. In other words, we feel that our self is located where the eyes are."
"Scientists have long suspected that the clue to these extraordinary, and sometimes life-changing, experiences lies in disrupting our normal illusion of being a self behind our eyes, and replacing it with a new viewpoint from above or behind."
The above talks about sensations of being out of body, no claims that they actually reproduced an OBE. To back this up further, the report also states:
the two teams, from University College London, UK, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, believe there is a neurological explanation.
Their work suggests a disconnection between the brain circuits that process visual and touch sensory information may thus be responsible for some OBEs.
I’ve made bold the important words above. The research itself simply reproduced sensations of being out of body, the researchers themselves make no claims that this proves anything about OBEs, although the reporter himself does. That’s a huge difference: Scientists in the article make no claims or predictions, it simply states the results of the experiment. It doesn’t dismiss, or even claim to have proven anything about OBEs other than the sensation of being out of body could have its cause in this visual disconnection between body and perspective. Is this different from OBE techniques which ask people to visualise various things, or stare into the darkness (until the body is asleep and visual sensation would be disconnected from body sensation)?
It was an observation that people who have had what most on this forum would consider a real full blown obe, does change most peoples opinions on the matters of life and death. Im sure perhaps there have been a couple who perhaps it didnt or a few that it scared more than actually helped. Lets say a group of 10 people have obes. Normally around 7 would walk away changed in a huge way (this is assuming that all ten werent too freaked out by it)
I agree it is usually a changing experience. What I personally would love to see is that people didn’t immediately draw conclusions on the meaning of the experience (i.e. survival after death simply because they perceived themselves separate from their body), and that they research all angles and kept an open mind. For many, having an OBE or feeling vibrations somehow justifies an entirely new world view consisting of energy bodies, chakras, astral planes, reincarnation, and life after death. This does not follow from the experience, however exciting and mind opening it might be.
The article is assuming the reason in which people in their experiment felt as if they were out of body is the same reason those that do actually get out feel as though they are out.
The researchers suggest there might be a connection; it was the article writer who assumed. A suggestion is not a decision either way, it simply opens possible avenues of future research.
Each and everytime my body itself has been asleep. According to sleep professionals while the body is asleep you can not consciously feel physical sensations. At least that is what they used to claim. To be a purely physical illusion such as you suggest my physical body would have to be awake, would it not? In the experiement the volunteers were completely awake and capable of feeling physical stimulis. In my obes my physical body is asleep, paralyzed, and Im not capable of consciously feeling anything physical.
When one is asleep, one can still feel physical stimuli, generally though internal stimuli (dreams) are more dominant than the physical stimuli which gets filtered by the subconscious. Some of this can make it to dreams, such as an alarm clock integrating itself into a dream, or even things like nova-dreamer. This is a device which detects rem movement and then flashes a light into the eyes, through reality checking, one will notice the incorporated flashing and use it as a cue to become lucid.
Its not my intention on arguing though. If you dont agree with anything I have to say thats fine. I know a lot of what I have to say usually seems abstract. There are times I admit though the way I word things is wrong, sorry about that. I dont have anything against science, without it the world would still be in the dark ages.
As my previous post, I am not arguing as such, I just saw everyone misreading the article and then attacking science as a bad thing. Most spiritual forums I belong to are very anti-science, and yet, I see the people most rabid are usually those without a true understanding of scientific principles. So scientists in their eyes become closed minded sceptics who seem to go out of their way to disprove the occult and similar areas, when in truth, scientists would happily research these areas given sufficient cause. Science never dismisses anything as it doesn’t deal in absolutes.
As a matter of fact in school it was my favorite subject and there was a year or two where I went without making one single mistake on any of the tests,quizzes or homework. I also dont think people should take what others say as fact until they experience it for theirselves. All I ask is to let the possibility intrigue you, and a willingness to give it a try. I had some friends who have thought of me as being crazy, gave what I suggested a few tries and then admit to me they were succeeding and it scared the sh*t out of them. To me its fine if science never acknowledges obe's as a real thing, that is okay. It's also part of why it is so special. A good majority thinks it does not exist yet it still does, to me that's a special thing and why I feel so honored to have been able to do it as much as I have. I still remember when sleep professionals said that what some termed lucid dreaming was impossible because in sleep the conscious mind could not possibly become active.
Keep on learning in all areas and keep an open mind to all possibilities (which you seem to be doing), and really, that’s all we can ever do
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