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of hold on my astral counterpart. This time I had no problem: I turned over so that I was
face down (my body was face up). Then I pushed myself up until I was on my hands and
knees. My hands, knees, and legs were still in coincidence with the physical body. Then I
just withdrew my limbs one by one, and climbed off the bed. I was free from the body.
Most OBE books agree that out-of-body "reality" is mostly governed by thoughts, fears and expectations.
In one OBE, I used my fear of falling off the bed to counteract my expectation of being stuck, thus
freeing myself.
Despite my limited success I still haven't found a satisfactory solution to the problem of getting stuck to
my body, but I do have a word of consolation: This happened to me more often when I was first learning
how to consciously get out of my body. As time went on I had fewer experiences of being stuck.
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II. Getting in the Body Backwards.
This has only happened a few times, but it's an interesting experience when it happens. The first time this
happened I was at my parents' lake cabin in northern Minnesota. I was feeling a bit under the weather and
I was tired. I went into my bedroom to lie down for a bit. I was lying flat on my back with my head to the
West and my feet to the East. I induced the vibrations and floated about three feet above the body. My
astral body seemed completely paralyzed and I had no control at all:
09/21/80 Sun - OBE #23
...I tried to go up, but I couldn't. I wanted to go forward, but couldn't. Finally I wanted to
turn around, and I rotated, so that my astral head was above my physical feet and vice versa.
I started going down into my body the wrong way! Try as I may, I couldn't stop it. Finally I
went into my body and blacked out for a second. When I came to again, I was disoriented; I
thought I should be facing East like my astral body was, but woke up facing West in my
physical [body]. In one instant I was in my astral body, looking at the West wall of the
room. The next instant I opened my eyes and saw the East wall. I felt intensely disoriented,
which was like a dizziness, but it seemed more physical than mental. In other words, it
seemed as if I were still physically feeling the spinning or reorientation my astral body.
About one minute later, the dizziness went away and I felt normal.
Since no harm ever came from these incidents, "getting in" the wrong way was never a problem.
III. The Blackout on Exit and Reentry.
Many books on the out-of-body experience claim that when a person leaves his or her body, there is
usually a split-second blackout. The same blackout happens when the person reenters the body. What is
this blackout, why does it happen, and what can we learn from it?
The split-second blackout that usually precedes and follows OBEs is a great concern because it may
make the experiences seem more subjective and less objective, less "real."
Skeptics may say that the blackout suggests a loss of consciousness during which the person might
actually start dreaming. They would say that the blackout is some kind of shortcut to the Delta brain
wave state that accompanies our everyday dreams. Therefore, they would say the OBE is just a dream,
with only subjective reality.
Some theories claim that the blackout is necessary. Crookall believed the blackout is caused because
neither the physical nor astral bodies are available as a vehicle of consciousness during the transference
of consciousness. Some people believe the blackout happens because only the subconscious self can
separate the soul from the body; therefore, the consciousness of the individual must give up all control to
the subconscious during the transference. Others maintain that the blackout occurs because during the
actual separation process, the physical brain is unable to interpret the experience. Or, perhaps the brain
can interpret the experience, but for some reason or another, the portion of the brain that is responsible
for memory in unable to function.
Despite the theories, I have experienced OBEs in which there was no lapse of consciousness during the
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separation process and OBEs in which there was no blackout during reentry. The first time this happened
was on my fifth OBE:
01/01/80 Tue - OBE #5
...I looked at my astral hands. They were gently waving back and forth....I thought my
waving must be interfering with my travels. I slowed myself down. It felt like I was drawn
closer to the physical body. I felt more physical. Then I dropped into my body and
immediately opened my eyes (no blackout). [There was] no split-second of
unconsciousness. I was fully conscious the whole time. I gently floated down [into the
body]. I felt myself become more solid. I immediately took charge of the physical body and
opened my eyes, wide awake....
In my 54th OBE, I was fully conscious for the entire exit and reentry:
10/31/81 Sat - OBE #54
...I got really comfortable, and started to "mind-sway" myself gently. I was extremely
relaxed, and my mode of thought was perfect: PASSIVE.
I went deeper toward the unconscious state, but I never got there. I felt a strange
electrical-type of sensation one third of the way up my spinal column. I also became alert,
and at the same time I became restless. I was on my back but [my back was] curved around
my pillow, and I felt uncomfortable with that position. I turned over so that I was on my
stomach, but I felt that my body didn't move with me! Only my astral body turned! I didn't
let this bother or excite me, because I knew that the separation process was not finished. I
knew I was half in and half out of my body.
I also knew what I had to do next [to finish the process]. I gently and carefully pushed
myself down a little bit, away from my body; About one inch of me was out. I instinctively
knew that the vibrations would come to me then. Sure enough, the vibrations came filtering
down into my head from above. When the vibrations were at their peak, I took [that as] my
cue, and lifted out of my body, twisting at the same time so that I was heading for my
bedroom door. I mentally noted how clear my consciousness was again. When I got to the
bedroom door, I looked and realized that my astral self was curved around an astral pillow,
just like my physical body was curved around its pillow. I reached over with my astral right [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]