The division of the human being into a triad is more or less consistent across the board irrespective of tradition, where a dyad division is spoken of it is usually a result of degradation of knowledge.
The Hebrew terms mentioned are a Kabalistic division
Neshamah, Ruach, and Nefesh
Nefesh is not flesh, it is derived from the word relating to breath. Nefesh is the same as the Aramaic Naphsha
The three corresponding terms in Arabic terms, in Islamic thought are
Nafs - Soul (from breath)
Ruh - Spirit (from wind)
Jism - Body / Flesh
Ruach in modern Hebrew is the same as Ruah which is a direct Hebrew cognate of the Arabic Ruh Nefesh is obviously the Arabic Nafs.
The Nafs / Nefesh is the animal soul, the Latin "Animus" which is the set of modalities composed of the vital energies of the being, its most sublime prolongations touch the Ruh which includes the "heart" or "qalb" the heart being the subtle center in one's being that is the seat of the soul, and the spiritual organ by which one knows God. It is roughly equivalent to the Heart Chakra though in middle eastern traditions the Heart is a "latifa" - or subtlety that encompasses larger aspects of one's being than the Heart chakra.
Basically the heart chakra is a portion of the "heart" par excellence. The Heart is the seat of the intellect or 'aql which is NOT the source of reason, as modern Western thought surmises, rather it is the reflection of the spirit itself.
The Nafs is also equivalent to the psyche, thus it is an intermediate zone of one’s reality and being between pure spirit and corporeal incarnated flesh.
That which “astral projects” is a specific modality of the Nafs, of the soul, depending on whether it is a “real time zone” projection, and etheric projection or a “higher astral” projection, different modalities of our being are involved, the discussions on this board on Astral projection versus “phasing” reflects this matter, the psyche is a continuum, the soul is a continuum, even the body is, all are modalities of the same being and can experience consciousness in different modes.
Regarding Christian fears of “demons” and “demonic realities” relating to astral projection – I am not Christian. However these fears are not without grounding, the very nature of the world in which the energies of the psyche, the nafs, are most at home is what the ancient Greeks called “Daemonic” and the world of the Daemons is NOT evil, however it is ambiguous, highly so, in flux, subject to change depending on one’s thoughts and the thoughts of other beings with which one interacts, and the intelligences that are at home in the Daemonic world can be, like human beings in the flesh, benevolent and kind, as well as capricious and cruel, and above all highly misleading.
The Ancient Celt’s legends of the Fairy world related to this level of reality.
Magic deals with this level of reality.
There is a “glamour’ a sort of entrapping beauty that characterizes this world, which is why in some spiritual traditions like certain schools of Yoga, Buddhism, as well as Islamic Sufism, the practitioner is generally steered away from this world and “projecting” into it as a cultivated skill due to their tendency to “become stuck there”
Such people are tended to be called “space cadets” in modern parlance, and every New Age scene has its few.
And there are highly spiritual entities in this world, but there are also highly dangerous, and malevolent ones as well and then general pleasant received wisdom that such beings are only in the “lower astral” and not the “higher” one is a partial truth, at best, and in all of this it demands a clarity of will, vision, and intent that is apart from “psychic joyriding”
So your Fundie Christian isn’t completely off the mark, he is expressing a partial truth poorly understood.
Certain types of meditation and techniques produce a partial dislocation of modalities of our psyche, almost as a side effect, they can be isolated and cultivated into the point that this side effect is made into a primary effect and certain aspects of the world may be explored and experienced in this state in a more profound degree than in ordinary waking consciousness.
But one must always keep one’s wits about one, no matter in what neighborhoods one wanders
And idle wandering isn’t spiritual seeking, it is sightseeing.
And it is best to walk on some streets in the light of day, and best to avoid certain alleyways in the dark.
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