Topics

"What are the similarities of afterlife recollection between people reporting on their out-of-body experiences as a result of a temporary physical trauma and a subject in hypnosis recalling death in a past life? Both find themselves floating around their bodies in a strange way, trying to touch solid objects which dematerialize in front of them. Both kinds of reporters say they are frustrated in their attempts to talk to living people who don't respond. Both state they feel a pulling sensation away from the place where they died and experience relaxation and curiosity rather than fear.

All these people report a euphoric sense of freedom and brightness around them.
Some of my subjects see brilliant whiteness totally surrounding them at the moment of death, while others observe the brightness is farther away from an area of darker space through which they are being pulled. This is often referred to as the tunnel effect, and has become well known with the public."

From "Journey of Souls" by Michael Newton. Free ebook:

http://meahuasca.com/resources/MIchael-Newton-Journey-of-Souls.pdf

Have any of you had a NDE? And if so, how did it compare to your regular OBEs, if you've also had those.

Below is an explanation for OBEs in the book "Consciousness Beyond the Body Evidence and Reflections".

"Researchers have been able to pin-point the areas of the brain that are associated with OBEs by clinically studying the brain activity of people who have spontaneous OBEs, those who have suffered damage to the brain, as well as creating a variety of in-lab situations that can result in OBEs.
 
Taken together, studies along those lines suggest that OBEs are mediated by a part of brain known as the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). The TPJ is part of the brain stem, which maintains the body's sense of balance. This part of the brain is part of the vestibular system, or the inner ear. It integrates the information from our senses, and creates a model that determines the position of the body in relationship to the environment. When a brain structure in the TPJ area known as the right angular gyrus is stimulated, the brain temporarily loses its ability to integrate all the information of the senses, resulting in feelings of floating, spinning and shifting gravity (Blanke et al., 2004).

Other studies have shown that people who are prone to spontaneous OBEs also have brain interference in between the TPJ and the prefrontal cortex, the part of the higher brain that is largely associated with self-awareness and higher ordered thought (Blanke et al., 2005). It appears, therefore, that the TPJ has an important role in creating and maintaining a stable sense of self, and its disruption can lead to shifts in how the self is constructed.

Again, let me reiterate once more what has been stated in Chapter 1 and 2 on the point
that neurological information neither confirms nor denies the actual, or ontological, status of an OBE as an experience that occurs outside of the physical body. Rather, neuroscience studies show us exactly how the brain mediates the expression, and constraints, of perception as it relates to consciousness. What consciousness is, how it comes to be and where it goes are questions that neurology, in its present form, cannot answer.

The relevance to the neurological correlates of OBEs for the present discussion is that the strong correlation of OBEs to the parts of the brain that are known to construct the self – as well as the mechanisms that are related to lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis suggests that OBEs, like all conscious experiences, are constructed and not to be taken as stark 'reality'. Of course, the same could be said for waking, rational consciousness. We do not perceive the world, but rather we perceive constructed models of the world and ourselves, and these models are associated with physiological constraints."

The book can be downloaded free here:

https://trans4mind.com/download-pdfs/Consciousness%20Beyond%20the%20Body-Alexander%20De%20Foe.pdf

Many people who have had NDEs have been profoundly changed by the experience. Whereas before, they were self-centred and materialistic, afterwards they became more "spiritual" and "loving". Has any of this happened with anyone here in relation to astral projection, OBE or even lucid dreaming.

I just came across this free ebook, "Consciousness Beyond the Body Evidence and Reflections", which is a collection of essays on NDEs and OBEs.

Free PDF download:

https://trans4mind.com/download-pdfs/Consciousness%20Beyond%20the%20Body-Alexander%20De%20Foe.pdf

Reviews of it:

"This remarkable book serves as a metaphor for the current status of this enigmatic field – the efforts of psi researchers to transcend and expand mainstream understandings of living systems. 'Consciousness Beyond the Body' is unlike anything I have read in the parapsychological literature and it is especially needed in order to understand the 'how' and 'why' of OBEs."

– Professor Alejandro Parra, Ph.D., Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Abierta Interamericana

"It is a rare pleasure to read a book on the out-of-body state from a variety of different perspectives by experts in the field.'Consciousness Beyond the Body' not only shows how collaboration between renowned authors is possible, it also provides an exciting glimpse at what such a collaboration can accomplish. From theory to practice and controversies, 'Consciousness Beyond the Body' provides a rich and up-to-date account of out-of-body states. Anyone with an interest in these mystifying, yet universal experiences, will find this book of great value. I highly recommend it!"

– Frederick Aardema, Ph.D., Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal

"Having spent a considerable amount of my time personally researching the OBE studies of Karlis Osis and Alex Tanous, I can thoroughly appreciate the depths and complexities of studying such phenomena. The evidence on the whole suggests that perhaps these experiences are not purely internal processes. While in an OBE, in some cases, it appears that information is obtained by some aspect of consciousness leaving the body – information of which the percipient would not have otherwise known about by using conventional sensory means. 'Consciousness Beyond the Body' is a welcomed anthology of varying contemporary research on the out-of-body state and first hand experiences, which I believe will be great use to scholars and students of today."

– Callum E. Cooper, Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, University of Northampton

What is the difference between a lucid dream and visiting somewhere in Focus 3?

My understanding is that Focus 3 comprises of various "places, levels, planes" that we can change the look of by thought, or create objects in them by thought. I might be wrong, but that is the impression I get from reading some stuff Frank Kepple wrote.

Given this, if correct, how does a person who is experiencing a place in Focus 2, know that they are not just having a lucid dream - or indeed visa versa: how does a person having a lucid dream know they are not just experiencing a place in Focus 2?

I was reading about the science behind the various lights and shapes we see when Noticing, and the science says they are caused by Phosphenes, which are visual perceptions caused by various stimuli, such as pressure, electrical stimulation, or mechanical stimulation of the retina or visual system. Essentially, they are perceived visual patterns or flashes that occur when there is some form of mechanical or electrical activity affecting the visual system, even in the absence of external light.

Given this, would a blind person be able to Notice, given the necessity for a functioning retina to Notice?

Frank writes:

"At some point we got together, from a Focus 4 perspective, and decided to create [focus 1] a common pool of subjective energy that would manifest itself objectively in the form that we recognise as the physical universe"

Doe anyone here agree with him?

Hi, I'm new here.

According to all the accounts I've read of people who have experienced NDEs, they all mention being met by someone after death and experiencing a tremendous feeling of love emanating from this person and the surrounding environment. As if "love" is the energy that fuels the "after life". 

Yet in Frank Kepple's writings he never mentions love at all, or rather he mentions Monroe's description of it as an experience, but dismisses it, saying it is just a figment of Monroe's imagination.

This makes me a bit sceptical about Frank's experiences in Focuses 3 and 4.

As I said, all the NDE accounts (from every culture) mention this love, but Frank doesn't.