Ive been wondering about the nature of Astral Projection/O.B.E.

[Sisyphus]

Ive read a few books (Bruce (havent finished reading his Astral Dynamics), Monroe, Buhlmann, Morse etc) around the subject and i always hear about conversations with evolved, advanced beings and saying things like we are part of a much bigger picture..that this reality is a training ground for consciousness etc.. 
and i hear that by projecting yourself you help your own spiritual advancement.

How?   

I read these stores about many different levels of vibration from the denser matter up to pure thought-responsive realities.

All pretty vague in  though.  Some really interesting stories and wonderful theories built on top.

But i have yet to read or hear anything which is *actual evidence* of information/knowledge from such apparently evolved spiritual beings.  I mean is projecting merely about having your own wild fantastic experiences?  Like going on a drug-induced trip?  For the pleasure?
I do obviously think that projecting is possible because it happened to me once by accident and it certainly wasnt a dream - but i'm pretty sceptical its anything significantly meaningful in a larger sense.  In other words  the Reality of it i'm not sure has any meaning outside of the person having the experience.

If people are actually projecting into these other realities then where is the information of such an exchange?  What are they bringing back?
 

[Venus_Goddess_of_Love]

Curiousity is a good thing.  Reading others experiences is also good.  However, the best thing you can do for yourself is to have the experience yourself.   Remember, it is easier to be a skeptic than an explorer.  My advice to you is to look into yourself rather than wait for others to present you with evidence.

[CFTraveler]

Ive read a few books (Bruce (havent finished reading his Astral Dynamics), Monroe, Buhlmann, Morse etc) around the subject and i always hear about conversations with evolved, advanced beings and saying things like we are part of a much bigger picture..that this reality is a training ground for consciousness etc.. 
and i hear that by projecting yourself you help your own spiritual advancement.

How? 

By showing that your consciousness exists outside of your body.  That you can perceive in ways other than the ones you get in a five sensory way.  This implies connection, does it not?  

I read these stores about many different levels of vibration from the denser matter up to pure thought-responsive realities.

Theories built around experiences.

All pretty vague in  though.  Some really interesting stories and wonderful theories built on top.

Like any other theory about any other thing, right?

But i have yet to read or hear anything which is *actual evidence* of information/knowledge from such apparently evolved spiritual beings.

Here you lost me.  At least in two of the books you mentioned the author does not come to the conclusion that they are dealing with 'evolved, advanced' species.  In one of them the author specifically comes to the opposite conclusion.  So did you actually read those books, or did you read what others said about those books?

I mean is projecting merely about having your own wild fantastic experiences?  Like going on a drug-induced trip?  For the pleasure?

No, it's about exploring realms or experiences that are acquired using your own concentration abilities, naturally.  Once again you are comparing opposites and 'making them the same'.  Why is that?

I do obviously think that projecting is possible because it happened to me once by accident and it certainly wasnt a dream - but i'm pretty sceptical its anything significantly meaningful in a larger sense.  In other words  the Reality of it i'm not sure has any meaning outside of the person having the experience.

And what exactly is wrong with that?

If people are actually projecting into these other realities then where is the information of such an exchange?  What are they bringing back?

Well, without actually meaning to, you kind of demonstrated that it's not what the information is, it's what you get out of it.  But if you really want to know where the info is, you'll have to go see it yourself.  And let us know what you find.

[Sisyphus]

Here you lost me.  At least in two of the books you mentioned the author does not come to the conclusion that they are dealing with 'evolved, advanced' species.  In one of them the author specifically comes to the opposite conclusion.  So did you actually read those books, or did you read what others said about those books?

Which ones?  Ive read Monroes classic Journeys out of the Body, Secret of the Soul (Buhlman) and read different books from NDE ones By Melvin Morse and also a book called "You cannot die" (cant recall the author)  Also have started Cosmic Journeys (Mcknight) & Astral Dynamics i have just started.

Frankly some of the stories and adventures seem hard to believe.  (like inhabiting another life in another dimension in another person's/stranger's body for a while)

That you can perceive in ways other than the ones you get in a five sensory way.  This implies connection, does it not?

Connection to what?  Considering that much of what you perceive depends on your state of mind.  Do you perceive what is actually there? Or what is in your own mind? (or indeed others mind  - something that Jung calls the collective unconscious)
I agree yes consciousness does seem to OR can operate outside of the physical body given certain conditions.

Like any other theory about any other thing, right?

Scientific theories can be tested.  They have a practical application.  The theories that are told of in these books are things like:  reincarnation, soul, karmic order to the universe etc.  It isnt explained how they come to these realizations - the authors just add the concepts in.  Now i understand its based on their experience which is why perhaps they are talking about such concepts.  But they dont unpack the concepts.  They talk about them as if they are already accepted.  But how can they be?  No evidence is presented just their belief.

And what exactly is wrong with that?

Because if its all in the mind - then doesnt it lose its "reality validity" Its accepted that certain drugs when taken can induce bizarre hallucinatory effects but it is not assumed at all that such experiences have a Reality beyond the experience.  By that i mean they are taken to be hallucinations and not real. I'm asking if OBES etc are the same?  I suppose actually that according to what ive read - some projection experiences are shared with another person.  The 2 people wake up and remember the same out of body journeys together.  Hrmm...  that would be good evidence i guess.

Well, without actually meaning to, you kind of demonstrated that it's not what the information is, it's what you get out of it.  But if you really want to know where the info is, you'll have to go see it yourself.  And let us know what you find.

So its about what one Ego gets out of it? the individual?  So its not about knowledge or finding new ways of thinking to try to benefit how we live now?  I would have thought if i were to meet a more evolved entity that they would be able to impart some kind of knowledge to help humanity evolve or change?

Thanks for your time - i am just curious.  I dont mean to cause offense.   I do accept the experiences happen.  I just have scepticism over the interpretation of such experiences.

[Sisyphus]

Curiousity is a good thing.  Reading others experiences is also good.  However, the best thing you can do for yourself is to have the experience yourself.   Remember, it is easier to be a skeptic than an explorer.  My advice to you is to look into yourself rather than wait for others to present you with evidence.

Yes i'm a strong believer in finding things out for yourself certainly.  I have a binaural beat recording i might listen to tonight...hopefully it wont bring out my negative energy/emotion? due to past experience (see previous posts)  I have experienced times when i thought weird stuff was going on.  (very very rapid heart rate body asleep which possibly could have been stimulation of the heart chakra?)  Its interesting though...i would have written off my early obe experience as a dream and totally forgotten about it long ago if it wasnt extremely painful!  I guess thats a tiny worry that it will be that same kind of pain for every exit.

[AndrewTheSinger]

One cannot find gold unless one knows what gold is like. Let me give an example: You have an astral projection to outer space and find an asteroid with incredibly large holes. You go and ask 'Show me what happened there', then you see something totally weird and unbelievable. You wake up and think 'Of course it was just a dream', but if you knew how much they're lying, you would think again.

[fURIX]

Sisyphus asks some very good and clear plain questions that, lets face it, we ALL need answers to, and lets give him the true ones.

WE DONT KNOW!....  we have seen what we saw...  I've had about 15-20 OBE's in my lifetime and the mere fact that they are so hard to remember made me loose count. (I dont record anymore). Point is, I've done it. Read books about ppl do this and that out of body, allthough I suspect most of them were Lucid Dreaming. Oh no a dirty word....  if not then maybe I've had about 50 OBE's then...  wich I doubt seriously.

Most ppl will or have had an OBE during their life. How its induced might differ, but there really is only 3 ways and 1 is getting out from fully awakened state where you MAKE your body generate the conditions by activating all chakras and you will be projected. 2nd way is to be allready paralized by a body-sleep state, were your brain is awake and you can by various tecniques start off the chakra exciting in a hypnogocic state. Or go from an allready excited body, wich would be natural after waking up and go back to sleep and then be awoken by the exiting effect itself (Wich is like I stress again and again DIET based and is an easy way out but, you need either RIGHT diet and/or timing straight and might need other training in enenrgy/awareness wich makes it very unreliable but most likely to succsed)...  or you could just take a drug like LSD/Salvia Divinorum/shrooms or best of all DMT...

But the last latter wont give you much cred does it? drugs.... might work. But would your clean experiences give you more cred?

No... not to other ppl.... not even your closest friends (by experience).
But it sure as hell gives you more cred to yourself...
Truth is my friend, that you are NEVER gonna convince ANYONE of what you have experienced out of this realm except for the times you call it a "dream", sorry but thats the downside of it all... You will feel very alone after having done this... as you might do. Its harsh, ofc you might be lucky to find someone with open ears, but dont count on that.

ONLY thing you get from this is the PROOF FOR YOURSELF....  You can force a horse to water, but you cant make it drink....

I'll be comming back to this topic. Very good questions.

[CFTraveler]

Which ones?  Ive read Monroes classic Journeys out of the Body, Secret of the Soul (Buhlman) and read different books from NDE ones By Melvin Morse and also a book called "You cannot die" (cant recall the author)  Also have started Cosmic Journeys (Mcknight) & Astral Dynamics i have just started.

Well, without spoiling the end, Monroe finds out that his 'evolved' masters were future versions of himself, and Robert doesn't believe we should believe everything we hear in the astral, since we interpret it based on our own worldview.  Kurt Leland offers that who we encounter are aspects of ourselves, etc.  These are the three that came to mind.

Frankly some of the stories and adventures seem hard to believe.  (like inhabiting another life in another dimension in another person's/stranger's body for a while)

Then don't believe it.  If you do this long enough, you will experience this eventually, and realize it wasn't so strange.  Or maybe our idea of 'strange' changes and we're all crazy, who knows.

Connection to what?  Considering that much of what you perceive depends on your state of mind.  Do you perceive what is actually there? Or what is in your own mind? (or indeed others mind  - something that Jung calls the collective unconscious)

If you can experience outside of your body it means the 'you' (call it Ego if you will, why not) is connected to your body even if not in it.  If you can perceive events that are far without leaving your body (as in remote viewing) this implies that some part of you is either nonlocal or supralocal, and/or connected to the 'other thing' you are perceiving.  At least I can see how this can be implied.  The idea of Jung's collective unconscious presupposes cause.  After all, how do archetypes become expressed through individual psyches?  It's like this:  If you believe it's solely in the mind, obviously no connection is implied.  But if you have an experience that is validated, then the connection has to follow.  I don't see how it can't.

I agree yes consciousness does seem to OR can operate outside of the physical body given certain conditions.

I agree with this too-maybe.  Maybe the explanation is so outlandish we can't even begin to imagine what it really is.  I hope we find out some day.

Scientific theories can be tested.  They have a practical application.

These are two separate issues.  I already gave an example of OBE's practical application. (A tool for self discovery without the analyst.  Or, even better, with.)  OBE can be tested, but not falisified.  Sad, but true.  I don't know how we can go around with this.

The theories that are told of in these books are things like:  reincarnation, soul, karmic order to the universe etc.  It isnt explained how they come to these realizations - the authors just add the concepts in.  Now i understand its based on their experience which is why perhaps they are talking about such concepts.  But they dont unpack the concepts.  They talk about them as if they are already accepted.  But how can they be?  No evidence is presented just their belief.

But their interpretation, based on their beliefs, do not (or at least should not) invalidate their experiences.  How can you present evidence when you receive information from the 'Akashic Records', go to a doctor, have it validated, and realize that you were being given the information at the same moment that the doctor in question was making his discovery.  This kind of thing for example, can't be proven in any way- but when it happens to you, you know that at least this time it wasn't a clever hallucination or lucid dream.  But how do you prove that?
The thing is that everyone, I do not know anyone that doesn't, interprets everything according to their own worldview.  If they are really openminded (and most aren't) they will adjust their worldview according to the observation.  But you and I know that no matter who they are, most will not do that.  They will continue to test until their results match what they want to see.  That's why so many dangerous drugs make it to the market, is one example.
The problem is (and I agree with you on this) that too many authors present their theories as given, and their belief systems as fact.  And that is annoying.  But if you can stomach yet another study that 'proves' that em fields in power lines are harmless and the statistics about leukemia are 'coincidental', you can stomach one more author talking about reincarnation and guides as facts?  I think you get my drift.

Because if its all in the mind - then doesnt it lose its "reality validity" Its accepted that certain drugs when taken can induce bizarre hallucinatory effects but it is not assumed at all that such experiences have a Reality beyond the experience.  By that i mean they are taken to be hallucinations and not real. I'm asking if OBES etc are the same?  I suppose actually that according to what ive read - some projection experiences are shared with another person.  The 2 people wake up and remember the same out of body journeys together.  Hrmm...  that would be good evidence i guess.  So its about what one Ego gets out of it? the individual?  So its not about knowledge or finding new ways of thinking to try to benefit how we live now?  I would have thought if i were to meet a more evolved entity that they would be able to impart some kind of knowledge to help humanity evolve or change?

I guess you'd have to define 'more evolved entity'.  That's an interpretation.  Anyway, I keep saying- if you have enough of them you then can determine what you want to get out of them.  For example- take all the metaphysical assumptions aside, and tell me- why do you think we're here? (I mean, humans.)  To experience? To learn?  To be happy (no fair, I answered with my opinion) let's just say that's true.  Isn't OBE another form of exploration?  experience?  learning?  So why does it have to be grander than that?
I noticed that at some times you say Ego as a bad thing and others as a good thing (Or so it seems to me, I could be wrong).  Regardless of either- the fact is, you perceive with it, you experience with it.  So what's so bad about experiencing 'a greater reality' with it?

Thanks for your time - i am just curious.  I dont mean to cause offense.   I do accept the experiences happen.  I just have scepticism over the interpretation of such experiences.

I didn't take offense- I have nothing against skepticism- I think it's healthy to question.
I realize that people have experiences, and then come to conclusions.  Then they talk about their conclusions.  I am no different, and I do have the types of experiences you disbelieve.  Sometimes the conclusions are wrong, and sometimes they appear to be right.  But really, I see nothing wrong with operating under certain assumptions as long as they serve you.  But when they don't, then they should be discarded.  It's the same whether anyone's gullible, and believes everything they read, or whether they are closed-minded and take the position that anything different than their preconceived notions has to be wrong and there is no other option.
But don't prejudge the notion before you explore it- you would do yourself a disservice if you do, because you'll miss out.  Check it out, try it, and see what you find out.  Heck, you may just be the person who discover some mind-blowing theory that shakes the foundation of everything we think we know about reality.  Or you'll just have some cool experiences and just think they're mind tricks.  Either way, you gain something.
Gosh, I'm long-winded.   

[Venus_Goddess_of_Love]

CFTraveller, I admire your perseverance.

[Sisyphus]

Well, without spoiling the end, Monroe finds out that his 'evolved' masters were future versions of himself

ahh this is in Cosmic Journeys then? In Journeys out of the Body he has some experiences which indicate to him the possibility that "we are 'leftover laboratory animals' or perhaps the experiment is still in progress"

One experience which was very curious -  is where he is trying to get somewhere but before getting there he is stopped by someone asking him "why do you want to see the president".  I think Monroe had to make up a convincing excuse very very quickly to be allowed to pass.  Bizarre!  Astral covert agents?

Such stories aside: do you think along the lines that the physical apparatus of the brain acts as a conduit or 'conducting device' for movement/travel in consciousness across different levels/dimensions of reality? 

take all the metaphysical assumptions aside, and tell me- why do you think we're here? (I mean, humans.)  To experience? To learn?  To be happy (no fair, I answered with my opinion) let's just say that's true.  Isn't OBE another form of exploration?  experience?  learning?  So why does it have to be grander than that?
I noticed that at some times you say Ego as a bad thing and others as a good thing (Or so it seems to me, I could be wrong).  Regardless of either- the fact is, you perceive with it, you experience with it.  So what's so bad about experiencing 'a greater reality' with it?

No idea why we are here.  Maybe thats taking it too far though - there may not be a why (but we can endlessly speculate on it).  But we can look at "whats going on" and draw from that our conclusions.  I cant think of a valid biological reason why consciousness would "leave" the brain/body and act as if independent of it.  But the fact that it does should (imo) shake conventional science to its foundations.  Its a revolution of a sorts

-  but yeah i agree OBE as a form of truly extra-ordinary inner exploration.  It may be in the years to come that there will be a new "science"  The science of astral travel. 

[Sisyphus]

You have an astral projection to outer space and find an asteroid with incredibly large holes. You go and ask 'Show me what happened there', then you see something totally weird and unbelievable. You wake up and think 'Of course it was just a dream', but if you knew how much they're lying, you would think again.

Lying?  not sure i understand what you meant.  Do you mean when asked "what happened" they intentionally show something false?

[AndrewTheSinger]

That could happen, here as well as there we can receive informations from many different sources, and it's not always easy to identify which one can be trusted. But what I mean is be open to experience, put it to the test. Science has only a limited perception of the reality, don't shackle your mind, and you'll see what they can't see.

[Sisyphus]

*small update*

read a lot more of cosmic consciousness.  *ahem*  not exactly a great fan of it but there is the odd occasion where i can relate/agree with an idea being discussed (ie it will really intrigue me)

Of much much more value and interest to me was Robert Peterson's book online.  Nearly finished - very inspiring and down to earth! This is the first guy who talks about things like "do you have your eyes open during OBE and different kinds of sight etc"

but the reall update....  had interesting experience early early this morning (4am - 6 am ish)

3 incidents.  1st one was me in a dream Projecting!  it was a dream definitely but it was about projection (i was out of the body flying around and i think helping some people??? not sure)
2nd incident i cant remember. (not sure if there was a 2nd hrmm)

now i should add that at times i am kindoff waking up and moving about in bed and such.

3rd one  i think i must have woken up again because i wake up and i have hazy consciousness (like you have when you feel yourself waking up in the morning)  and i have sleep paralysis i cant move!  My heart is beating extremely fast so fast im not sure its my actual heart doing it (this has happened before and it freaked me out big time)  I also can sense a presence above me, a figure of some kind.  Unfortunately Fear kicks in so i struggle to move my head to to see this person and im out of the paralysis and awaken. 

Good news is: a) i wasnt afraid as much.  (what i mean by this is usually for me its Instinctual pure Fear and nothing else i can do)
b) i was aware of my fear.

Whats curious about these things happening is that HOURs before going to bed i would be thinking a lot about projecting........ 

More specifically......... Anyone seen the film Dune?

But a person needs new experiences that jars something deep inside....allowing them to grow....without change.....something sleeps inside us.....and seldom awakens...the sleeper must awaken...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYKzIMyXzpU

quite bizarre hehehe... i was strongly identifying it with projecting i guess!!!

[NickJW]

But i have yet to read or hear anything which is *actual evidence* of information/knowledge from such apparently evolved spiritual beings.  I mean is projecting merely about having your own wild fantastic experiences?  Like going on a drug-induced trip?  For the pleasure?
I do obviously think that projecting is possible because it happened to me once by accident and it certainly wasnt a dream - but i'm pretty sceptical its anything significantly meaningful in a larger sense.  In other words  the Reality of it i'm not sure has any meaning outside of the person having the experience.

Does physical reality have any meaning outside of the person experiencing it? Is there any real evidence of this reality having any significant meaning? If not, then does that not mean this reality and the astral are on par with each other, at least?

[sstonevenuss]

 was asleep in the early am, I remember hearing my host getting ready for work then leaving and locking the front door. Somewhere between wanting to go back to sleep and actually being asleep, I became suddenly aware that I was no longer alone in the house. I opened my eyes just in time to see a dark figure pull back into the hall from the view of my door. I panicked and sat up. As i sat up, It felt as if I had passed through a tight film. I looked down at the pillow and saw my body lying there asleep. I realized that when I had opened my eyes and saw the entity, I had actually opened my astral body's eyes, not my real eyes.

I wanted to wake myself up, so I layed back down and started to rock back and forth, passing in and out of my body throught that thick, tight film. The instant I layed back down, I was struck with fear and panicked again when the entity came back into the room.  I sat up again, noticing that when I separated from my body, the fear vanished and I felt completely at peace and in control, then the entity would retreated back into the hall. I layed back down again and tried to shake myself awake, This process repeated itself 3 or 4 times until the entity got so close I jumped right up out of the bed and my body.

I expanded to about 3 times my normal size, same shape.  My view was from closer to the cieling, my arms and legs were longer, hands larger, over all, bigger. My vision was a sight so perfect, It cannot be described, I could hear the steps of insects, and the sound of the breeze on individual blades of grass.

I followed the entity down the hall, while saying things like, I am of the light, If you are not, you must leave, there is no darkness here, there is no negativity here, we have no drains for positive energy, light and love to leak out, You can choose to be of the light or you must not be here. My voice did not generate from my throat and come out of my mouth, It came forth from all around me, as far as infinity can reach and manifested through me.

I followed the entity around the living room and we ended up at the front door. I actually unlocked and opened the door. The knob felt small in my huge hand. As I openned the door, the entity passed through and I closed the door behind it.

I stood there and contemplated the fact that I had just opened a door without my body.  Then, I remembered my body.

I went back into the room and stood beside the bed. I looked down at this little defensless creature and thought "what an incredible machine" What a gift...then I thought, no, the gift is the life I live in that little biological computer.  Then I thought, no..

THE GIFT IS HAVING HAD THE CHOICE

The choice to choose this life, the free will to BE. anything anywhere anytime!!!!

I thought about all the options I could choose at that moment, to be someone else, something else, somewhere else, to create something altogether new and go there and experience it in anyway I chose!

I thought about the pain I would cause when my family discovered I had died in my sleep at 28. I thought about the family I had always wanted and had not had yet, I thought about that one spaecial person I would find someday to have all of that with...

I chose again. I chose to finish what I had started. i knew there was infinite time to choose again later, when I was done here.

I chose to remember everything about that experience, as it changed me forever. I chose to know the instant I laid eyes on my soul mate that I would Know it was him. I chose to live the ultimate life I came here to have, with every breath, Live.

As I sat on the bed and started to lay back down, I thought about how uncomfortable it was to be crammed into such a small place, but I knew I would not be aware of that when it happened.

I layed down, passed throught the film and I was completely awake and aware in real time.

* there was no differentiation whatsoever from my obe sight to my physical body's sight. no blink, no instant between one and the other. they were one and the same, there was no interuption of sight at all.

[Sisyphus]

Does physical reality have any meaning outside of the person experiencing it? Is there any real evidence of this reality having any significant meaning? If not, then does that not mean this reality and the astral are on par with each other, at least?

Yes of course physical reality has meaning it can be explored and new things found to help benefit people you can work to help benefit others,  It can be verified by other people.    Whereas the verifyablility of a sole projecter's experience cant atm.  So basically when you talk about it to just about anyone...they think you are mad.  So yeah a big difference.  Basically physical reality = community that can work together.  Projecting = interesting individual experiences and thats it.


edit:  i'm uncomfortable with the forum format because by habit i treat it like a real face to face conversation with other people (which it isnt its quite isolating imo).  Normally in a real conversation people answer questions, there is a connection that goes beyond words, the flow of information is dynamic and...dare i say it...alive and possesses an energy all its own.

[Drift]

Im lucky enough never to have had to wonder whether the phenomenon is real. My early experiences were all spontaneous and once you've had one you really are left with fascination for it. You see all these Virtual Reality giggs in sci-fi? Well imagine how exciting it is to have your own built in one.


Ive seen a lot of stuff and read a lot of stuff and to be honest its all unsustainable and you shouldnt read to much into it. People have a way of trying to rationalise this, make it real, but in the end we dont yet have the knowledge of the phenomenon to actually know what is really going on. in the end for you, it doesnt matter. The experience and the pleasure of exploring it is all thats important.

You could say to me "You never really stood on that barren planet". Ok, well maybe I didnt but I can tell you this, for me I felt like it was real enough, it looked real, it was awesome and its a sight and experience I consider myself lucky to have had. Maybe I was in my imagination the whole time, who knows, I dont and i dont worry about it. Sometimes you just need to learn to enjoy something first and foremost.

After that you can try keep an open mind and see what you can learn but ill warn you its a truth that is elusive. Doesnt matter what theory you put before me, ive probably experienced a contradiction to it. Im not going to conern myself with reaching the higher planes and talking with green men, I just enjoy and learn what I can from it.

Its beautiful, bizarre and sometimes pretty scary, if thats your cup of tea then patience and practice will get you there in the end. For people who never had them naturally its harder than ever because you have to break your cynicism. Have you ever had that moment when you jump awake just before you sleep (you know the wives tale, if didnt wake up you would die). Well that is the bounce point for OOBE.

In my experience its very very rarely a smooth "float off" exit, its almost always a surge or a yank and the most natural reaction is to panic and sit up, which is why so many people jump alert, but if you can rationalise that fear and realise you arent about to drop dead (have you ever know anyone to die like that?) then you are almost where you need to be.

The first nights will be frustrating and boring, but thats how it goes. Laying still for an hour and letting your body go to sleep and not really doing much its easy for someone who has never had one to laugh and give up. If it interests you, stick at it.

Read some techniques and try them, the most vital thing is knowing your body and mind and the sensations which let you know you are in a different state. Numbness, disconected sensations, tingling, sounds, "seeing" the room with your eyes closed, some weird things happen when your body shuts down and you are still awake and theres a tendancy to either panic or think too much about what to do next. Thats where readin techniques will help you learn. Stay away from karmic chanting, seeking the seventh astral plane of jumbawumba because that kind of stuff really doesnt help. be as cynical as you want, cynicism is healthy, treat it like simply trying out a new thing and appraoch it methodically, learn, experience and eventually you will achieve the elusive experience.

Personally I sympathise with people who believe the phenomenon is bovine excrement. Its not and they miss out on some truly amazing moments. it might not give you the answers to the universe or let you speak to god, but what it will do is fascinate you and give you a very pleasurable experience to explore and learn.

If you try I wish you lukc and im sure the first time it happens for you, you will smile broadly and never look back. once you have one the patience comes easy because you know what you are aiming for is real. (or not real as the case may be:D)

[CFTraveler]

CFTraveller, I admire your perseverance.

  Some people call it stubbornness.

[CFTraveler]

Such stories aside: do you think along the lines that the physical apparatus of the brain acts as a conduit or 'conducting device' for movement/travel in consciousness across different levels/dimensions of reality? 

I would say that atm. I think that the brain is the transducer that brings  all aspects of perception- for lack of a better term- to conscious awareness.  Not so much a conduit, because that implies direct transference, and lots of processing is done-as much with physical perception as with extraphysical perception (if there is such thing; I'm not too sure about that- I see the astral as a degree of physicality-but that's another post - but I'd say that it brings the  information to the temporal-awareness part of the brain where it is compartmentalized, processed, and consciously experienced.
What I mean to say, because I'm not articulating this adequately, is that the individual is experiencing an expanded state at all times, but not consciously.  Some of it is stored in unconsciousness (wherever that is) and altered states are ways of processing the information so that the conscious parts of the brain can experience it.  Or rather become aware of the experience.
Words fail me.  And I've had my second cup already.

[awaken]

Ive read a few books (Bruce (havent finished reading his Astral Dynamics), Monroe, Buhlmann, Morse etc) around the subject and i always hear about conversations with evolved, advanced beings and saying things like we are part of a much bigger picture..that this reality is a training ground for consciousness etc.. 
and i hear that by projecting yourself you help your own spiritual advancement.

How?   

I read these stores about many different levels of vibration from the denser matter up to pure thought-responsive realities.

All pretty vague in  though.  Some really interesting stories and wonderful theories built on top.

But i have yet to read or hear anything which is *actual evidence* of information/knowledge from such apparently evolved spiritual beings.  I mean is projecting merely about having your own wild fantastic experiences?  Like going on a drug-induced trip?  For the pleasure?
I do obviously think that projecting is possible because it happened to me once by accident and it certainly wasnt a dream - but i'm pretty sceptical its anything significantly meaningful in a larger sense.  In other words  the Reality of it i'm not sure has any meaning outside of the person having the experience.

If people are actually projecting into these other realities then where is the information of such an exchange?  What are they bringing back?
 
[/Thats because the experience is subjective, which for me is certainly not like 'drug induced'. I've never had a clearer head then when projecting. Evidence can also be subjective, I once projected to a parking lot which I noticed was empty but had a few grocery carts about, as I moved closer I perceived the sign on the store was of a large pigs face. I thought it was strange for a grocery store. 8 years later I moved to a small town, they had one grocery store and it was called the piggly wiggly and that same pig's face on the front of the store. And no, I've never seen it before until then so for me this was a verification on my former OOBE 8 years previous.]