Some people with a sceptical ‘scientific outlook’ maintain that astral projection and out of body experiences are just lucid dreams in which we are dreaming that we are out of our body. It’s an interesing point of view to have in that it really doesn’t fit as a plausible explanation given the ‘data set’ of people’s experience. For example, the massive amount of data gathered on out of bodies through Near Death Experiences cannot be written off that easily.
What makes these experiences ‘proof’ of actual being out of body is the reports of those having had them that give accurate information that could not otherwise be known. It is this ‘extraneous data’ that cannot be explained away as enlivened imagination or hallucination. Conscious projectors have produced similar information that can be verified by witness reports. Some of the more famous examples are Eileen Garrett, Edgar Cayce, Robert Monroe and Jane Roberts.
What we are seeing is really a kind of belief blindness. If you already believe something, there is no way you’ll accept the validity of information that contradicts that belief, regardless of the volume and quality of data. With obstinacy, straight out the window goes open-minded scientific investigation. It is simply not enough to call these subjectively observed experiences and thus dimiss them as unobjective phenomena when all objective phenomena are observed subjectively! But I should say, it’s not my intent here to descry anyone for their beliefs, only to point out that they are just that, beliefs.
on May 17, 2015 at 4:11 pm
I actually think that looking at Astral Projection scientifically is not a bad idea. However, I think science currently has it all wrong. I belive in astral projection and i look at it scientifically.
I believe that astral projection has connections to many theories in science, including Quantum Non-location, Quantum Entanglement, the Many-Worlds theory, Parallel universes, and more. But like most science today, all of those theories have their specialists and most are so involved in defending their theories that they refuse to see the connections between their own disciplines and others.
I haven’t yet consciously Astral Projected yet, but this idea of Astral Projection being connected to and provable by science is something I hope to shed light on when I get there. After all, a lighter would seem like magic to a caveman. And just because science hasn’t gotten it right yet, doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.
I agree that Science has developed a kind of belief blindness, and for all the data that is slammed in their face, their is an awful lot of resistance, but i think that has more to do with human nature and the fear of the unknown, coupled with the fear of having to redefine what they think they know about the universe, and a little bit of pride mixed in.
I don’t think the issue is necessarily that there is a problem with looking at Astral projection scientifically, but more with Scientists refusing to objectively examine the evidence that is all around them, and not working together to attempt to uncover what is behind the data.