What is Astral Projection?

Astral Projection

The Out of Body Experience is important. Lives are fundamentally changed by it. Belief systems are shaken. 10% of people questioned state that they have experienced it. So what is the nature of the experience?

  Floating, spinning, drifting, flying, are all descriptions which people have given, however, the key message is the same: people claim that for a short time, they experienced being outside of their own body. Sometimes they say they were looking straight at it, other times they say they were more involved in watching the actions of those around them, only from a different, sometimes seemly impossible viewpoint.

  People write that they were peacefully calm, or dreadfully worried, (not least about the fact that they thought that they were dead). How the subject feels at the time seems not to be a common linking factor.

  Likewise it can happen at any time. People report slowly drifting out of their bodies while in their beds at night, or in the midst of a car crash, operation, or other life threatening situation.

  The label 'Out of Body' is self explanatory, however, the name, Astral Projection, is not. It is certainly an older description of the same experience, however it is one which is based on a whole system of belief created to try to explain, order and classify the experience. It is important to note that 'OBEs' have not just been reported for the last hundred years, but in every part of the world and at every time.

  The experience is commonly linked with the NDE, or Near Death Experience, in which a subject might suddenly float above his corporeal self in an operating theatre, and then experience floating down a tunnel to a light. This is very interesting, however, it should be noted, that most Out of the Body Experiences happen under less dramatic conditions.

  The question of course is, is the Out of Body Experience what it seems to be? And, at this point I think it is important to realise that the question is not cut and dried, there is plenty of evidence for and against the experience being considered to be somehow 'physically' real.

  However there is no question as to whether the experience is real in terms of actually being an experience which people can undergo. There are just too many similar reports now. The other reason to prove that the OBE is not an outright fabrication, is that anyone can go try it for themselves.

  It's not very often, that a supposedly 'paranormal' experience comes with it's own proof of authenticity. Astral Projection can be experienced by anyone who puts in the time and effort to learn how to provoke the experience. It's not easy to control, but it is possible to investigate for yourself.

  The literature on the subject is therefore surprisingly full of techniques to produce 'projection', with the authors uninterested in answering disbelievers since those that doubt can just go find out for themselves. However, while there are major similarities between projection instructions, there is no one single set.

Clearly the search for a reliable and easy to follow set of instructions for the production of the experience is a major search. A search which is sometimes, but definitely not always, obscured with pseudo-religious waffle. (And yet, how can you blame people for trying to understand what has happened to them? Just sitting back and shouting "Rubbish!" does not help someone, who knows that they have existed without their body).

It is my opinion that the experience underpins all of the paranormal phenomena and as such, the answer to the question of whether the experience is hallucinatory, in some sense 'real', or, in every sense REAL, should be investigated everyone with an interest in the unexplained.

What is AP? Astral Library Techniques If you're 'out' Book OOBE Links

A page from James David Chapman's website. Located at: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jchap/ Site mirrored here at: http://www.j.chap.btinternet.co.uk
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