Astral Projection (out of body experience)
Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of out-of-body
experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from
the physical body and capable of traveling outside it. Astral projection or
travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the astral
plane.
The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of
the afterlife in which the consciousness' or soul's journey or "ascent" is
described in such terms as "an... out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual
traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or
dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms." It is therefore associated
with near death experiences and is also frequently reported as spontaneously
experienced in association with sleep and dreams, illness, surgical
operations, drug experiences, sleep paralysis and forms of meditation.
It is sometimes attempted out of curiosity, or may be believed to be
necessary to, or the result of, some forms of spiritual practice. It may
involve "travel to higher realms" called astral planes but is commonly used to
describe any sensation of being "out of the body" in the everyday world, even
seeing one's body from outside or above. It may be reported in the form of an
apparitional experience, a supposed encounter with a doppelgänger, some living
person also seen somewhere else at the same time.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, surveys reported percentages ranging from 8
percent to as many as 50 percent (in certain groups) of respondents who state
they had such an experience. The subjective nature of the experience permits
explanations that do not rely on the existence of an "astral" body and
plane.
The theme is treated in anthropological or ethnographic literature on
witchcraft and shamanism, in classical philosophy and in various myths and
religious scriptures.
experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from
the physical body and capable of traveling outside it. Astral projection or
travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the astral
plane.
The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of
the afterlife in which the consciousness' or soul's journey or "ascent" is
described in such terms as "an... out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual
traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or
dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms." It is therefore associated
with near death experiences and is also frequently reported as spontaneously
experienced in association with sleep and dreams, illness, surgical
operations, drug experiences, sleep paralysis and forms of meditation.
It is sometimes attempted out of curiosity, or may be believed to be
necessary to, or the result of, some forms of spiritual practice. It may
involve "travel to higher realms" called astral planes but is commonly used to
describe any sensation of being "out of the body" in the everyday world, even
seeing one's body from outside or above. It may be reported in the form of an
apparitional experience, a supposed encounter with a doppelgänger, some living
person also seen somewhere else at the same time.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, surveys reported percentages ranging from 8
percent to as many as 50 percent (in certain groups) of respondents who state
they had such an experience. The subjective nature of the experience permits
explanations that do not rely on the existence of an "astral" body and
plane.
The theme is treated in anthropological or ethnographic literature on
witchcraft and shamanism, in classical philosophy and in various myths and
religious scriptures.
