Television and OBE

[FreeChile]

When I was young, I remember being glued to the TV while laying on the living room couch or the floor.  After a prolonged period of time, I've noticed my pupils dilate and later experience a sensation similar to an OBE.  If you are familiar with this and have OBE experiences perhaps you can comment.  During this experience, the TV set seems to get smaller and further away from the physical body and some effort to bring it back to actual focus does not help.  I have tried blinking in some cases to no avail.  Getting up has helped sometimes.

This leads me to the conclusion that an OBE may actually be a form of dream and not the reverse.  Grant it that in such cases, I would have probably transitioned into a dream unless the desire to continue watching the show was greater than the inclination to rest.

It is possible that the fact that I was horizontal for a prolonged time signaled my body to sleep plus me not really wanting to due to my focus on the screen, caused the discrepancy, which in turn caused the mild OBE.  

You see the nervous system is very intelligent and it tries its best to adapt to a given situation. There was an apparent contradiction, which the nervous system resolved given some time.

Perhaps those of you who OBE frequently could try that as an experiment to see how long it actually takes to OBE that way.  Keep in mind that this may take some hours of watching TV in a horizontal position; also, try nothing else, not even a snack in the middle.  

Could this be the case also with meditation induced OBEs?

Please note that I have never experienced an OBE otherwise nor have I explored the TV OBE any further.  Also, the experience I expressed does not result in any exit or entry vibrations.

[Joerii]

FreeChilee,   I belive what you have experienced might be a mild hypnotic state. On of the few things you'll notice when you're sinking in to hypnosis is tunnels vision. The object you're staring at will seem further away, and periphiral vision will get blurry.

From that point it's really easy to go deeper into hypnosis,or trance call it what you will.

OBEE or Dream, thats like the chicken or the egg. Until science provides us with an answer, your guess is as good as mine. I've had a couple of OBEE's , but thay might as well have been a dream,since they did not hold any proof of validity.

[FreeChile]

Thanks for your reply Joerii.

I imagine a simple double-blind test can be performed to prove that an OBE is really out of body.  Assuming there is still a connection with the physical world from the OBE Astral world.

For example, maybe putting up some random numbers on a computer screen to see if the subject can come up with them. Naturally, the screen needs to be out of the line of sight of the physical body.

I'm quite sure what I just suggested is a very simplified experiment and this topic could be a lot more complicated than that.

Just thinking.

[Joerii]

I have asked a friend of mine to put a random playing card face-up on his highest closet. I've tried visiting him when out-of-body, and try to see the card so i can check if i had the correct one. So far i haven't remembered going there, whilst projecting.

Another cool experiment is balancing a pencil vertically and try to  push it over ! I've heard it can be done. I've never tried that one yet, but i will tonight.

[FreeChile]

Joerii, don't be disappointed if you can't really read those cards while you OBE.  Here's what most experts believe on the topic of OBE according to Frank, one of the moderators of this site.  This appeared in a forum debate or discussion of OBE.

"The term "Out of Body Experience" is today a blanket term used to describe any situation where you become conscious of being mentally focussed within any other realm but for the physical. So whether you "come awake" within a dream, or whether you find yourself floating on your bedroom ceiling looking down at your sleeping physical, or floating on the ceiling of the operating-theatre looking down at your dying physical, or whatever, whatever. If you find yourself focused within any other realm of reality other than the physical, you are said to be having an Out of Body experience.

But do realise that when we say, "Out" of Body we don't actually mean we have stepped beyond the physical in the sense of being outside of it. When we say "out" we mean out in the sense that we are "not in" or we're "not at home". In other words we are "away" or "absent". Anyone who is anyone in this field realises the physical is an end result. The knowledge of such is so basic, it goes without saying. "

[Joerii]

Dude, off course I'm disappointed. In all the books I've read, they don't speak of the other planes not being " reality", but of just other dimensions, levels of vibrations, if you will.

" reality is an end-result ? "  

please clarify !

[FreeChile]

Note that Frank says "the physical is an end result" not "reality is an end-result?"  What Frank seems to be saying is that the physical body is simply a temporary place for what you know as you.  This you, some call the soul, the self, the spirit, consciousness, awareness, void, etc.  But that is just me interpreting his words.  I would ask him what he meant directly.

You see, Joerii, "reality" is a subjective thing.  What is real to you may not appear real to me.  What people base their arguments more on than anything else is on "consistency".  If you see the cards in your OBE you may interpret this to be quite real at that moment.  And you may, in fact, see these cards.  But when you go to your friend and tell him the value of the card, you may find that it may be different.  This would present an inconsistency.

A similar thing happens in dreams.  You may see the face of a person you may know but the body of someone or something else.  This would be an inconsistency.

One of your senses may perceive one thing, yet another may perceive another thing concerning the same object.

[NickJW]

Interesting, I have been having that sensation while watching TV for a while, even before even hearing about AP. I never knew that was a trance state, I thought it was my retinas detaching lol j/k.