I used to not speak to my family and friends about OBEs. I was so worried that if I told them I was spontaneously having these awesome experiences, they would think I was nuts. I have been having OBEs since I was about 14 (fully lucidly) but I suspect they go back much further, based on my recollection of early sleep paralysis incidents.
In recent years, I have begun to be more open with my family and friends. To my amazement, my Mother believed me. Though she had not had any conscious OBEs, she did have a spontaneous remote viewing experience (which I have also had). My aunt (my Mother's sister) does have OBEs though and by my being open about the subject, I have helped her learn much more about it.
OBEs have shaped my spirituality deeply. I have been given proof of life after death! My spirituality is now a big part of who I am. I am always leery of telling a prospective guy friend about these experiences though because I do not know how they would react. Case in point was my most recent dating experience... which has consequently recently ended, and I will explain why.
This guy is a doctor... but that shouldnt affect his outlook on life and life after death should it? After all there are many spiritual Doctors. Anyway when I did try to broach the subject carefully, he claimed outright that all paranormal events are either made up, or hallucinations. He is studying to be a neurologist, and proceeded to point out the areas of the brain likely responsible. He then started to mock my beliefs every chance he got. I was feeling sorry for myself for attempting to stay in a relationship that was this damaging. I now feel sorry for him. I ended it... we are no longer dating and he knows why.
I now feel sorry for him because he demands empiracle evidence for anything that he is to believe. I think we are niave to think that our current understanding of science can explain everything. Ultimately, I do think that these things can be proven by science, but we have a long way to go before we get there. "Absense of proof is not proof of absense" afterall. But this man just did not budge in what he would even consider as a possibility. I realized that his world must seem so small compared to what ours is. For him life is very mechanical, and ends with everything going black as the brain is starved of oxygen at death. Won't he (and others like him be surprised!?)
So why are there people like us who have been given this gift? This glimpse of what is coming after this life, when others like him have not been? And even then, why are some people so close minded in what they will believe? I don't think I am any better a person than anyone else... so why have I been able to OBE all my life? I consider it a gift even greater than to be a famous artist or singer, or to win the nobel peace prize.
One possible suggestion was given to me by someone I never met in person... someone I met online only and told me one night thet he 'knew' I was an 'old soul' - he was the second person to tell me this, and they did not know each other. Could those of us who can OBE, (or have other psychic abilities) be reincarnates who have just been around longer than the skeptics, and therefore have more experience and retained knowledge??
I just wish I could somehow pull just one skeptic out-of-body and show them reality, to give even one person the gift I have been given. Anyway this past dating experience has made me really 'feel' for the skeptics.
Great post Synergy!
I can empathise with much of what you say. I also recall sleep paralysis incidents as a child and I recall that I saw a shadowy black figure in my room upon waking from a dream when I was about 6. Could this have been 'a dweller on the threshold' type experience?
I started spontaneously OBE'ing about May this year, and I had to tell people, because it was the most profound thing that had ever happened to me. To my surprise, my mum described a phenomena that she experiences which sounded a lot like what Robert Bruce describes as the 'remote eye'.
Luckily for me, my fiance is quite understanding, and she believes me when I recount my experiences. She's even helping me with validation tests!
I think all humans have this ability, although sadly, I think that most have closed off belief systems. In my case, I've always been interested in parapsychology and the paranormal, but my OBE's have helped steer my life towards a destination that I feel comfortable about. Perhaps that is why they started - to give me the change in direction I needed to make the most of my life journey.
Anyway, great post... I'll have a look at your e-book.
Take care
Matt
Hey Synergy,
Sorry to hear about your relationship ending under such circumstances. I've been there in the past; my last partner wouldn't even listen to OBE experiences and was very much centred on the physical. So I had to keep that side of myself hidden. Luckily my current partner knows all about my experiences, and I can talk openly about them. My family sort of know too. They know I'm into pretty 'out-there' stuff anyway, so I can talk to them about these things anyway.
I sort of agree with you about skeptics but I also feel the same way about total believers in these matters. While skeptics stick to the material – some people who do or have experienced OBEs believe anything at all regardless of proof outside of self. Blind belief is as bad as no belief, walking a middle path seems wisest.
I have been experiencing OBEs since earliest childhood, and although I would love to see them as proof of survival after death – I really can't (yet). Everything I've experienced in the astral has utilised a living brain. For all I know, perhaps there is an 'information' survival after death, our electromagnetic brainwaves imprinted on the strong magnetic field of the earth, information accessible by other electromagnetic organisms (brains). I have no proof of this theory either, but it ranks as high as any astral theory – i.e. they both require belief.
I also have a lot of problems with established occult philosophies on these areas, because at best they are totally inconsistent. Take for example the old soul idea. It sounds nice and romantic, but, according to such philosophies the AP and afterlife exists outside of time. So the term 'old' only has meaning in the physical. Also, taking time away, we are each as young, or old, as each other (in any plane), and this is totally disregarding we are point points of awareness of a greater consciousness.
Skepticism works both ways too. It's easy for us to call 'non-believers' skpetics, but unless we familiarise ourselves with the latest scientific developments – especially in the area of neurology, we are simply being as blind as those we consider to be blind. We are taking our own reality, holding onto it, and ignoring all else.
I have read fairly widely into the brain and latest findings, and at the least, if we do exist outside of the brain – it will not be in the coherent, critical form we do now. Perhaps that's what the brain is, a structure which gives blind consciousness a focus until it dissolves away. I really don't know. But I'm willing to be open to other possibilities, rather than potentially stagnate in ideas which stretch back to a time when man lived in a very different world (and so interpreted it so).
This isn't meant at you :). After I started consciously projecting, I read every piece of material I could find. And I bought into the traditional astral views. I took on their philosophies, and chakras, and energy bodies, and karmas, and reincarnations. Years later, during a period of soul searching, I dropped all these ideas. They weren't mine. They were memes carried through the ages, taking the road of least resistance. Even a long established belief is just that. If I had remained a firm believer, my experiences would have been filtered through these beliefs and they would have become a stronger and stronger reality to me (the way of the astral). I really want to remove as much baggage as possible and try and see the astral experience in the purest light. If we do survive death, I don't want to spend a long time dropping ingrained beliefs and limitations based on energy bodies and levels etc. I want to see past all this to the fabric of the astral/reality itself.
I still hold survival after death as simply a possibility right now – perhaps some day I will experience something which will give me undeniable proof :).
The moral of this meandering post is know your self, and question everything, even question the questioning – and that too. Beliefs are comfortable things, but unless we challenge them, we don't grow.
Synergy-
As I read in Richard Websters book "Beginners guide to Astral Projection" while you may be anxious to share your experiences with others, you must be wary with whom you share. Alot of people in this world look at things in a skeptical nature and if science can't explain something they won't believe it. I agree with what you said about people interested in OBE's might have a little more past life experience in it. I have yet to OBE but have been very close and have been very interested in the UFO/OBE/Paranormal subjects since I was a kid.
What I just didnt understand though is that I am totally willing and interested in the neuro aspects of what might trigger an OBE. I do believe that the brain has an important role. So while I sat and listened to all of his explanations as to what an OBE could be caused by (dissociation, dislocation, hypnagogic/hypnapompic hallucinations, narcolepsy, etc etc etc) he would not even listen to the possibility that the consciousness might.... even just a small possibility may exist outside the brain and that the brain might be just an 'interface' to the physical. This even with the fact that in all the years of neuroscience study, they have yet to be able to pin poin the exact point of consciousness in a physical sense in the brain, and that quantum physics allows for multiple dimensions....
I do consider myself on the middle of the road... I do agree with much of the occult thought on OBEs... but I base my beliefs on my own experiences... In one OBE I was able to contct my Father. He appeared alot younger than when he died. Anyway I was able to verify how he looked with an old photo that my Mother later showed me. SO for me, that is proof of life after death in a fully conscious form. I also believe in a body that has some definate substance... as I have seen it in a mirror while in real time (etheric) projection.
Some things I still remain skeptical about (but do not discount the possibility of) are negative entities, attacks by entities, and astral 'rape' that has been mentioned on Astral Society by some. I have not encountered these things myself, so I can not say for one way or another... but I do not say that because I have not seen them myself they certainly do not exist... they might!
Anyway.... I do need to find someone who will at least respect my beliefs and not mock them.
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What I just didnt understand though is that I am totally willing and interested in the neuro aspects of what might trigger an OBE. I do believe that the brain has an important role. So while I sat and listened to all of his explanations as to what an OBE could be caused by (dissociation, dislocation, hypnagogic/hypnapompic hallucinations, narcolepsy, etc etc etc) he would not even listen to the possibility that the consciousness might.... even just a small possibility may exist outside the brain and that the brain might be just an 'interface' to the physical. This even with the fact that in all the years of neuroscience study, they have yet to be able to pin poin the exact point of consciousness in a physical sense in the brain, and that quantum physics allows for multiple dimensions....
I've met my fair share of people who are totally focused on the physical, and anything outside of it is ignored. I'm quite lucky that most people I know are pretty open minded. Just a few weeks back I was telling a work college at my new place of work about my interests, and he was fascinated – although it wasn't always so easy in the past.
I'm not sure what drives people to be so disbelieving. I'm pretty open about my beliefs, but I won't preach to people. If someone asks questions or my opinions on such matters, then I'll answer. But I always let them know this is my experience and doesn't necessarily negate theirs.
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I do consider myself on the middle of the road... I do agree with much of the occult thought on OBEs... but I base my beliefs on my own experiences... In one OBE I was able to contct my Father. He appeared alot younger than when he died. Anyway I was able to verify how he looked with an old photo that my Mother later showed me. SO for me, that is proof of life after death in a fully conscious form. I also believe in a body that has some definate substance... as I have seen it in a mirror while in real time (etheric) projection.
Some things I still remain skeptical about (but do not discount the possibility of) are negative entities, attacks by entities, and astral 'rape' that has been mentioned on Astral Society by some. I have not encountered these things myself, so I can not say for one way or another... but I do not say that because I have not seen them myself they certainly do not exist... they might!
I guess my experiences regarding energy bodies and such have led me to believe they are belief constructs – as above, this doesn't negate either of our beliefs – it's simply the path we are walking now :).
I'm pretty middle of the road too, but I find myself flipping erratically from one side to the other. I can be pretty logical and 'grounded' but I can also be very creative and find myself floating quite far out from baseline realities shores. I usually come to these forums during my logical phases :).
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Anyway.... I do need to find someone who will at least respect my beliefs and not mock them.
Definitely. Having someone you can be totally open about these things with helps a lot. Just recently I was telling my partner I'm giving some serious though of visiting the Monroe institute next year to do a course. She thought it was a great idea, and she could fly over after it finishes and we can holiday in America for a few weeks :).
My life has shown me that being true to yourself, being open and positive draws the things to you which you need. So you will meet someone who will be open to these things :).
Hi Synergy
Reading your post made my "hackles rise" so to speak at the dogged stupidity of this so-called "educated" doctor. He is beginning to become something of a dinosaur. Over the years I have worked with well educated people as part of my job and amongst this circle I can definitely say there is a great deal of open-mindedness towards all possibilities. To hold a position of rigid disbelief is a sign of a very small and stupid mind, a mind which revolves in very small circles. This is not skepticism, this is not balanced-thinking, it is bigotry. It actually isn't even good science.
Neurologists measure electrical signals in the brain and map certain mental processes to vague areas of the brain. Yet in the nearly one hundred years that they have been doing this, no one has ever identified the region of the brain which is responsible for memory. It can not be found. Could it be that memory is not held in any physical organ? What does your doctor friend think about this? The science of mapping the brain has come along a little way, but is still a very imprecise science and as far as providing any sort of "proof" about the nature of the mind, well it falls very short.
I'm sorry about your experience with this doctor, and please excuse me for saying this... but he's as dumb as the dodo....!
It could be considered a gift, or a curse. It was only after 18 years of dreadful nights that I finally found information on what was happening to me. There were nice experiences too, but the bad ones made me loathe the time that I had to go to sleep.
It also caused me to be a more introverted kid, because I learned that the other kids were not familiar with the things that I was saying, and some would mock me.
Not everyone would know how to deal with this, specially because the good information is kinda hard to find. There will be a lot of people saying that it's dangerous, that the devil is after you, but few or none would come and say that you can use it to find out many things about yourself, and explore unimaginable worlds.
Skepticism is just a phase, just like there's a phase when we are more rebellious, more religious or alienated. It's a very convenient attitude.
Regarding the proof of the afterlife, well, I like to be very rational and sensible, but if I said that I don't have enough proof I wouldn't doubt the dead coming back to life to kick my a**. Many things that I didn't believe were simply thrown into my face in such a manner that I couldn't deny them, and this has been happening pretty much for as long as I can remember.