What's scientists views on OBE's?

[Clarky]

What are scientists views on OBE's/astral related stuff..?

What's been proved/disproved..?

Do they think were all just a bunch of looneys and are just dreaming and wishful thinking or making it up..?

[bewarevileye]

The only thing that has been proved is quantum mechanics or at least theorized I should say based on mathematical theories.  Some scientists are aware that reality isn't what it appears to be.  Most scientists suspect that other dimensions are a part of nature.  What hasn't been proven is where consciousness originates and how we are conscious. 

Most people don't believe in OBE's etc. and even if one claims to be muslim or christian etc.  they doubt there is more to reality than what meets the eye.  In other words they don't care where they go when they die, they just live this life.  As for me, I look forward to the afterlife and I study consciousness and sleep paralysis.

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who tried to get ideas from the dream world because he somehow knew bright ideas came from the dream world.  What he did was tie his arm to something and as soon as he fell asleep it would fall and wake him up.  He repeated this so he can catch himself in a lucid dream state.  It was a long long time ago I read about this and if anyone knows what I am talking about feel free to refresh my memory.

I can say for 100% certainty that one dream I had in which I was in Owatonna High School came true and I know it is not dejavu.  I remember a lot of dreams clearly.

[Nailrabbit]

Does anyone know what the hell this guy is talking about? 

[guitarhero419]

Albert Taylor wrote a book called soul traveler. he was a NASA scientist. he quit his job just to study OBE

[Synergy]

Physiological Theories For OBEs: I have a friend who is currently studying for his specialty in neurology (a self proclaimed skeptic), and he was able to explain to me some of the medical theories behind OBEs. (this was taken directly from my free ebook so its my own copyright lol)

The OBE Is A Result Of Dissociation / Dislocation -
Dissociative phenomena are experienced as a disruption of the normally integrated functions of memory, identity perception and consciousness. This results in a feeling of separateness and in some cases people reported seeing their physical body from a different perspective. Dissociation and/or dislocation usually happen as a result of a traumatic event, stress, or sleep deprivation. It is also linked to Multiple Personality Disorder. Dissociation may account for some OBE-like phenomena that happen from an awake state, but do not explain those instances where an OBE happened to patients during general anesthesia, or NDEs (Near Death Experiences) where the person is clinically dead, for all intents and purposes unconscious and unable to consciously experience the dissociative phenomena. Some neurologists would argue that the act of the brain dying, can stimulate certain parts of the brain, and this may account for the imagery.

The OBE Is Just A Dream -
The majority of OBEs happen spontaneously from within a sleep state. This suggests that OBEs could really be vivid dreams or dreams where one has become aware, called Lucid Dreaming, which will be covered later in this book. Evidence from experiments by Charles Tart in the 1960's, have shown that OBEs do not occur within a discrete measurable state, and instead can happen in a variety of different states. Subjects that successfully projected out-of-body while hooked up to an EEG (electroencephalogram, where electrodes placed on the head can measure brainwave activity) in Tart's laboratory were shown to have had their experience during periods of deep relaxation, heightened awareness, but not exclusively during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which is when most dreams occur. Also of note, are the OBEs that people have reported while being under general anesthesia, and seeing the surgeon working on them as they floated above the operating table. General anesthesia is known to suppress REM sleep. Dreams are commonly believed to be Astral Projections, where we are not aware that we are projecting. Tart's experiments only conclude that an OBE can occur in many states. That does not mean that REM can not be one of those states. It does however suggest that not all OBEs occur during a state where we are dreaming.

The OBE Is A Hypnapompic/Hypnagogic Hallucination -
Some people with a sleep disorder such as narcolepsy, sometimes experience vivid imagery just as they are falling asleep or upon waking. Another symptom of narcolepsy is sleep paralysis, where the person wakes up unable to move for a brief period. These symptoms are caused by elements of REM sleep intruding on the waking state. However, people who do not have narcolepsy can also experience both sleep paralysis and hypnagogic or hypnapompic hallucinations. It has been suggested that OBEs could just be vivid imagery from these hallucinations. This theory could explain some of the OBE experiences, but since Tart found that REM sleep does not necessarily have anything to do with OBEs, and the fact that OBEs have occurred while people have been under general anesthesia when they are most definitely not waking up and experiencing hallucinations, it can not account for all of the OBE type phenomena. Also of note, is that with hypnapomic and hypnagogic hallucinations, the imagery can be very different from person to person and very dream-like in quality. Common images are vague shapes and shadows that may already be in the room but are changed in the mind of person having the hallucination to resemble something else.

The Angular Gyrus, and Epilepsy –
As described by CNN news on 19 September 2002, Neurology researchers in Switzerland reported that during a procedure for epilepsy, a patient told them she had floated above her own body and was watching herself. This happened when a particular part of the brain called the angular gyrus, in the right cortex, was stimulated by an electrode... and it happened every time the angular gyrus was stimulated. The explanation is that OBEs could be caused by a misfiring of certain parts of the brain while under stress. The angular gyrus is thought to have a role in how the brain analyzes sensory information.

[The Present Moment]

We have to know what consciousness is before we try to understand its many states, otherwise it's like trying to define a word in a foreign language.