About the Author
Susan Blackmore was born in London in 1951. She
graduated in physiology and psychology from the University
of Oxford in 1973 and gained a PhD in Parapsychology at the
University of Surrey in 1980. Her research interests include
lucid dreams, near-death experiences and consciousness as
well as all aspects of the paranormal.
Author of The Adventures of a Parapsychologist
(Prometheus 1986), she has published numerous articles in
scientific journals and magazines and regularly appears in
radio and television programs about psychology and parapsychology. She is a member of the Council of the Society
for Psychical Research and editor of their newsletter.
At present she lectures at the Universities of Bath and
Bristol and lives in the country outside of Bath with her
husband and two children.
1. Tunnel of Trees.
(From a drawing by Susan Blackmore.)
Susan J. Blackmore
BEYOND THE BODY
With a New Postscript by the Author
Published on behalf of the Society for Psychical Research
ACADEMY CHICAGO PUBLISHERS
To Tom
Published in 1992 by
Academy Chicago Publishers
213 West Institute Place
Chicago, Illinois 60610
Copyright © Susan J. Blackmore 1982
Postscript Copyright © 1992 by Susan J. Blackmore
Published by arrangement with William Heinemann Ltd
Printed and bound in the USA by The Haddon Craftsmen, Inc.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without the express written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blackmore, Susan J., 1951Beyond the body : an investigation of out-of-the-body
experiences / Susan J. Blackmore.
p. cm.
Reprint, with new Postscript. Originally published: London:
Heinemann, 1982.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-89733-344-6
1. Astral projection. I. Title.
[BF1389.A7B53 1992]
133.9 - dc20
90-30960
CIP
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Foreword
viii
ix
xi
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Introduction
Defining the OBE
The Doctrine of Astral Projection
The Astral Travellers
Further Explorers
Cases of Astral Projection
Analysis of Case Collections
The OBE in Other Cultures
Surveys of the OBE
Inducing an OBE
Lucid Dreams
The Physiology of the OBE
Visions of the Dying
Close Encounters with Death
The Double in Psychopathology
Imagery and Hallucinations
Extrasensory Perception in the OBE
Experiments on OB Vision
Apparitions, Spirits, and Visible Souls
Experiments to Detect the Double
Reassessing the Theories
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
1
9
16
23
33
45
56
71
82
94
107
121
133
142
153
164
177
189
200
213
225
240
References
Index
Postscript to the American Edition
Postscri
pt
Referen
ces
253
265
273
282
THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
The Society for Psychical Research is the oldest learned society
in this field. Its aim is to investigate apparently inexplicable
phenomena scientifically. It organizes monthly lectures in London and other activities; it publishes a Journal, Proceedings, and
Newsletter. An extensive library and archives are held at the
Society's London headquarters where all enquiries, including
membership, should be directed to:
The Society for Psychical Research
1 Adam & Eve Mews
Kensington
LONDON W8 6UG
List of Illustrations
1
Tunnel of Trees
Frontispiece
Following page 132:
2
Ba with the mummy
3
The phantom, slightly out of coincidence
4
The phantom, lying in the air
5
The route the phantom takes in projecting
6
The phantom upright
7
How the phantom interiorizes
8
If the phantom is exteriorized violently
9
Examples of Miss Z's EEG
10
Blue Harary preparing for an OBE experiment
11
Blue Harary with Bill Roll
12
Departure of the astral body at death
13
Unusual perspectives in hallucinatory images
14
A lattice-tunnel pattern
15
The light at the center of the tunnel
16
A spiral lattice
17
An astral visitor
18
Projection in an "hypnotic trance"
19
Madame Baraduc a quarter-hour after death
20
Madame Baraduc an hour after death
21
Phantom frog
22
Phantom mouse
23
Phantom grasshopper
24
Mr Hopper with a cloud chamber
25
The astral body of Madame Lambert
26
The swaying of Madame Lambert's astral body
27
The Schroder staircase
Acknowledgements
I hardly know where to begin in thanking all the many people who
have helped me with the research and writing of this book, but
perhaps I should start with those many friends, such as Vicki, Kevin,
John and many more who encouraged and guided me through the
experiences which started my interest in OBEs. I am also grateful
to everyone who gave me helpful advice and criticism, especially
John Beloff, who read an earlier version of the book, and Richard
Hellen, Leslie Price and Eleanor O'Keeffe.
For permission to use copyright material I would like to thank
the American Society for Psychical Research, New York; The
British Museum, London; Dodd, Mead and Company, New York;
Hutchinson Publishing Group Ltd (Rider), London; Mockingbird
Books Inc, St Simons Island, Ga.; and Scientific American Inc.
Thank you also to Bill Roll, Blue Harary, John Harris and the
Society for Psychical Research who kindly supplied me with photographs, and to Tom Troscianko who prepared most of the illustrations. I would also like to thank the Blenner-Hassett Fund and the
Perrott-Warrick Studentship for their financial support during the
time this book was written.
Finally, I would like to say a special thank you to my parents, and
to my husband Tom, who helped in too many ways to mention.
Foreword
Around the year 1873, Frederic Myers was to recall in his Human
Personality, a small group of Cambridge friends came to the conclusion that neither religion nor materialism had provided satisfactory
answers to questions that were puzzling them:
Our attitudes of mind were in some ways different; but to myself at least,
it seemed that no adequate attempt had yet been made even to determine
whether anything could be learnt as to the unseen world or no; for that if
anything were knowable about such a world in such fashion that Science
could adopt and maintain that knowledge, it must be discovered by no
analysis of tradition, and by no manipulation of metaphysics, but simply
by experiment and observation — simply by the application to phenomena
within us and around us of precisely the same methods of deliberate, dispassionate exact inquiry which have built up our actual knowledge of the
world which we can touch and see.
Along with his friends — chief among them Henry Sidgwick and
Edmund Gurney—Myers became one of the founder members of
the Society for Psychical Research, when it was formed in 1882 to put
these ideas into practice, and this series is being published to mark
the Society's centenary.
The phenomena of the 'unseen world' to which Myers referred
were originally for convenience put into five main categories, each of
which a committee was set up to investigate: telepathy, hypnotism,
'sensitives', apparitions and 'the various physical phenomena commonly called Spiritualistic'. Over the years the emphasis has to some
extent shifted — in particular hypnotism, which at that time was dismissed as an occult delusion, was just about to be accepted as a
reality, so it ceased to be on the psychic side of the fence. But broadly
speaking, the phenomena under investigation are the same, and the
ways in which they have been investigated have remained as Myers
planned.
The terminology, however, has changed - and changed rather
often, which has made for some confusion. Myers himself introduced
xii
Foreword
'telepathy', as 'thought reading' was ambiguous; it could refer to the
way in which Sherlock Holmes picked up what was in Watson's mind
by watching his expression. 'Supernormal', however, which Myers
thought preferable to supernatural to describe the class of phenomena
with which the Society would be dealing, has since itself been replaced
by 'paranormal'; and 'parapsychology' has been easing out 'psychical
research' - though some researchers prefer to restrict its use to laboratory-type work, leaving 'psychical' for research into spontaneous
phenomena. 'Psi' has also come in as an all-purpose term to describe
the forces involved, or to identify them - for example, in distinguishing a normal from a paranormal event.
If evidence were lacking for 'parascience' - as it might now more
embracingly be described, because the emphasis of research has been
shifting recently away from psychology to physics - it could be found
in the composition of the Society, from its earliest beginnings. There
can be few organizations which have attracted so distinguished a
membership. Among physicists have been Sir William Crookes, Sir
John Joseph Thomson, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Barrett and
two Lord Rayleighs - the third and fourth barons. Among the
philosophers: Sidgwick himself, Henri Bergson, Ferdinand Schiller,
L. P. Jacks, Hans Driesch, and C. D. Broad; among the psychologists: William James, William McDougall, Sigmund Freud, Walter
Franklin Prince, Carl Jung and Gardner Murphy. And along with
these have been many eminent figures in various fields: Charles
Richet, a Nobel prizewinner in physiology; the Earl of Balfour,
Prime Minister from 1902-6, and his brother Gerald, Chief Secretary
for Ireland in 1895-6; Andrew Lang, polymath; Gilbert Murray,
Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford and drafter of the first Covenant
of the League of Nations; his successor at Oxford, E. R. Dodds;
Mrs Henry Sidgwick, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge;
Marie Curie; the Hon Mrs Alfred Lyttleton, Delegate to the League
of Nations Assembly; Camille Flammarion, the astronomer, and
F. J. M. Stratton, President of the Royal Astronomical Association;
and Sir Alister Hardy, Professor of Zoology at Oxford.
Such a list, as Arthur Koestler pointed out in The Roots of
Coincidence, ought to be sufficient to demonstrate that ESP research
'is not a playground for superstitious cranks'. On the contrary, the
standards of research have in general been rigorous - far more
rigorous, as psychologists have on occasion had to admit, than those
of psychology. The reason that the results have not been accepted
Foreword
xiii
is basically that they have not been acceptable: extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis have remained outside science's domain,
in spite of the evidence. And although the prejudice against parapsychology has been breaking down, so that it is being admitted
as an academic discipline in universities, it is still very far from
securing a firm base in the academic world.
Sceptics have sedulously propagated the notion that psychical
researchers believe in ESP, PK, apparitions, and so on because they
long to believe, or need to believe. Anybody who has studied the
Society's Journals and Proceedings, or attended its meetings, will
testify that this is a ludicrous misconception. Many of the most
assiduous and skilled researchers have originally been prompted by
disbelief-by a desire, say to expose a medium as a fraud. It has to
be remembered, too, that many, probably the great majority, of
the members have been and still are desirous of showing that paranormal manifestations are natural, and can be explained scientifically - though admittedly not in the narrow terms of materialist
science, which in any case the nuclear physicists have shown to be
fallacious.
No: insofar as a Society containing such a diverse collection of
individuals can be said to have a corporate identity, it could almost
be described as sceptical; certainly as rational, as this series will show.
Not, though, rationale. Unluckily rationalists, in their determination to purge society of its religious and occultist accretions, often
failed to draw a distinction between superstitions and the observed
phenomena which gave rise to them — which led them into such traps
as refusing to accept the existence of meteorites, because of the
association with Jove's thunderbolts; and to this day, they are prone
to lapse into support for dogmas as rigid, and as ill-founded, as any
of those of the Churches. If the series does nothing else, it will show
how rationally — using that term in its proper sense - the writers have
examined and presented the evidence.
The experience of leaving our bodies and paying a visit to some
distant place is familiar; we do it endlessly in dreams, and in fantasies. But some people occasionally, and a few people quite often,
have the impression that they really do leave their bodies; and they
may bring back evidence of a kind which appears to confirm that
they realiy have been 'out of the body'.
Belief in this phenomenon is of very long standing. In tribal com-
xiv
Foreword
munities the shaman, witch doctor or medicine man was expected
to be able to travel in this way: his ability to do so, in fact, was one
of the main qualifications required for the job, as the tribe might
need him to survey the locality to look for game (or for enemies), or
to call on the forest gods to find out what they had in store. Explorers
often returned to civilization with accounts of the way in which a
shaman had gone into a trance for a time and then, on coming out
of it, had described what he had seen in some other camp: his
description sometimes tallying with the reality, as the explorer would
later confirm.
In legend and in history, too, there are many reports of a similar
nature. When the King of Syria found that his plans were being
leaked to the Israelites, and suspected that they had planted a spy
in his court, a servant told him that the spy was in fact the Prophet
Elisha, who although he was in Israel was able to listen in to what
was being said in the King's bedchamber, and report it to his masters.
Usually it was assumed that the soul, or spirit, leaves the body to
go to its destination — wherever that may be. But occasionally individuals have been seen in two places at once - 'bilocation'. Perhaps
the most celebrated example is the episode when Alfonso Liguori,
founder of the Redemptorist Order, fell into a trance while celebrating mass at Amalfi; telling the congregation when he recovered
that he had been at Pope Clement XIV's deathbed. His description
was treated with levity, until, a few days later, those who had been
with the Pope reported that Liguori had been there, and had led
the prayers for the dying.
During the nineteenth century the investigators of the mesmeric
trance state occasionally encountered subjects who, while under the
influence, appeared to be able to go to wherever the mesmerist suggested, and describe what they saw there. Many cases of what came
to be described as 'travelling clairvoyance' were reported, some
well-attested. But did such people actually travel? Was simple
clairvoyance the explanation? Or could the accounts be attributed
to overheated imagination? With the spread of scepticism and
materialism, orthodox scientists tended to dismiss the evidence as
based on delusion, sometimes coupled with deception. Even.the
psychical researchers in the SPR in its early days themselves viewed
travelling clairvoyance - indeed, clairvoyance of any kind, as distinct
from telepathy - with suspicion.
Yet individual cases of what have since come to be known as
Foreword
xv
out-of-the-body experiences, or OBEs, continued to be reported; and
recently they have been subjected to more sympathetic, though also
more careful scrutiny. They appear' to be common - more common
than has been generally realized. So numerous are the case histories
that the existence of OBEs can no longer be seriously challenged.
But the questions remain: can they be explained in terms of conventional psychology — put into a category like dreams, say, and
hallucinations? Or must parapsychology be invoked?
There has been a tendency to think of OBEs as paranormal in
themselves; but the fact that some of the people who have experienced them have seen something which has been happening in
another place no more classifies OBEs as paranormal than the fact
that some people have dreamed future events put dreams into the
paranormal category. Susan Blackmore has cast a cool eye over the
now abundant source material, and come to her own conclusions.
Some members of the SPR will disagree with them; but they will, I
am sure, concede that with her emphasis on objective research and
her careful sifting of the evidence, her book is in the tradition started
and fostered by the Society's founders.
Brian Inglis
I
Introduction
An out-of-the-body experience (OBE) can initially be defined as an
experience in which a person seems to perceive the world from a
location outside his physical body. This sounds simple enough until
one gives it a second look. Do we normally seem to perceive the
world from inside our body and is this then an in-the-body experience? If we imagine a distant scene, or dream of flying over far
places does that count as an OBE? Perhaps that would not be
perceiving 'the world' but some imaginary world, but where is the
line to be drawn between imagination and perception? I shall be
raising a host of such questions in this book, and certainly more
questions than answers, but perhaps the best place to begin is with
I had intended to start this book with some fictitious example of
an OBE, perhaps choosing one which would exhibit those characteristics which I wanted to illustrate most clearly. I toyed with
different ideas, wanting the story to be instructive and yet not unbelievable, until I finally decided that it would be better to start, as
I started, with my own experience. After all, it was that which first
forced me to ask myself all those questions which this book will be
about. And so, with an apology for egocentricity, I shall describe my
own first OBE.
It happened over ten years ago, in my first term at university. I
was already interested in psychical research and had tried to join
the Oxford University Society for Psychical Research. However, I
soon learned that there was only one surviving member and so with
him I reinstated it and ran it for the next three years. In this first
term I began to learn about theosophy, spiritualism, tarot cards, and
the cabbala for the first time, and I read a little about the theory of
'astral projection'.
One night a small group of us had a ouija board session in my
room in college. Four or five of us sat around a table with our fingers
2
Beyond the Body
on an upturned glass in the centre of a ring of letters: an activity I
wouldn't recommend to anyone. Three hours of holding out one's
arm, trying to communicate with unintelligent or obstreperous
'entities' and feeling responsible for the others in a tense and highly
charged atmosphere is exhausting. By 10.30 I was feeling more like
going to bed than on to a friend's room for a smoke. But I had
previously promised to go and was looking forward to the hash, and
a pleasant end to the evening. I decided I would just go for half an
hour and so, with Kevin, I went up to Vicki's room.
As far as I can recall there was nothing unusual except that I
was terribly tired. Vicki put some music on and made some coffee
and I sat cross-legged on the floor. I rather dropped out of the conversation, feeling sleepy and wondering whether I could make the
effort to go back to my room to bed. I had a little of the proffered
hash, very much less than I was used to, and not feeling quite right
I refused any more.
As I sat, listening to the music, the voices of my friends seemed a
very long way away. If I thought about my own body it did not
seem to be firmly on the hard floor but rather indistinct, as though
surrounded by cotton wool. In my tiredness my mind seemed to
follow the music into a scene of a tree-lined avenue. I was thundering along this road as though in a carriage drawn by several horses,
only I was very close to the ground. Below and very close to me
were leaves dropped by the autumn trees and strewn by the wheels
and hooves. Above, and indeed all around, were the multicoloured
leaves still on their branches. The whole was like a tree-lined tunnel
and I was hurtling through it.
I might have forgotten this piece of pleasant day dreaming were
it not for the fact that every so often one piece of the scene stood
out in quite indescribable clarity. It seemed as real - no, more real than it would have appeared had I looked at it with my eyes open.
These glimpses were only brief, but quite startling.
Simultaneously with this experience I was aware of Vicki asking
if I would like some coffee. Kevin answered, but I did not; and I
noticed this fact as though it did not concern me. Vicki passed quite
close to me and went out into the kitchen. It is to Kevin's credit
that he both initiated and helped me with the next stage. Quite out
of the blue, and I have no idea why, he asked, 'Sue, where are you?'
This simple question baffled me. I thought; struggled to reply; saw
Introduction
3
the road and leaves; tried to see my own body; and then did see it.
There it was below me. The words came out: 'I'm on the ceiling.'
With some surprise I watched the mouth — my mouth - down below,
opening and closing and I marvelled at its control.
Kevin seemed quite calm at this pronouncement and proceeded to
question me in more detail. What was it like up there? What could
I see? What was 'I'? Trying to answer his questions took all my
energy and concentration. There was no time for being frightened
or even for contemplating what an odd state this was. I suspect that
it was for this reason, and my extreme tiredness, that I did not
immediately get alarmed and 'return'.
Again, as I formulated answers, the mouth below spoke. It seemed
quite capable of saying what I wanted said, and I soon let it be and
concentrated on the experience. From the ceiling I could apparently
see the room quite clearly. I saw the desk, chairs, window, my friends
and myself all from above. Then I saw a string or cord, silvery,
faintly glowing and moving gently, running between the neck of my
body below and the navel, or thereabouts, of a duplicate body above.
I thought it would be fun to try to move it. I reached out a hand
and immediately learned my first lesson. I needed no hand to move
the cord, thinking it moved was sufficient. Also I could have two
hands, any number of hands, or no hands at all, as I chose. And
so I learned a little of how to act in this thought-responsive world.
Much later I learned that I needed neither cord nor duplicate body,
and when I realized this they evaporated.
With encouragement I moved out of the room, myself and my
cord moving through the walls, another floor of rooms and the roof
with ease. I clearly observed the red of the roofs and the row of
chimneys before flying on to more distant places. What is now particularly interesting to me is that my inspection the next morning
showed the roofs not to be red but grey; no chimneys were to be
seen there; and I must have been mistaken about where I was,
because I passed through an extra floor of rooms.
The details of my travels are less interesting. I visited Paris and
New York and flew over South America., All these places were much
as I might have imagined them and neither I nor the others thought
to ask about details which I could not have known or guessed. Some
points of interest do stand out, however. In the Mediterranean I
visited 'a star-shaped island with 100 trees'. It seemed to me then, as
now, that this island was more like somebody's idea of an island, than
4
Beyond the Body
an island as it would appear to a normal observer. I had fun sinking
into the darkness of the trees and rising up like a large flat plate
above them. I floated on the water, rocking with the uncomfortable
motion of the waves, and struggled, unnecessarily, to climb a crumbling cliff. All the while the physical 'I' was describing these events, in
excited and rapid monologue, interrupted by occasional questions
from my two friends.
I returned to the room twice. Once I opened my eyes to see the
time and check that all was well, but this required a great effort and
I preferred to set off on my travels again. A second time I found
myself back in the room without effort, but now all semblance of
normality, which had been so clear at the start, was gone. My own
body sat on the same floor but without a head. Yet this did not
frighten me; I rushed inside the broken-off jagged neck to explore
the hollow body. This was odd, because my knowledge of anatomy
would have led me to expect something other than a hollow shell.
Exploration of the fascinating interior led me to an entirely different
kind of experience. I realized I was rather small to fit inside a part
of my own body, and so I tried to imagine myself larger. This
attempt overshot and I found myself steadily expanding, like something out of Alice in Wonderland. I encompassed, with lesser or
greater difficulty, the building, the earth below and air above, the
whole planet, the solar system and finally what I took to be the
Universe, but even that, it seems to me, was the Universe as my
limited understanding of cosmology would have it - though I may be
wrong there.
I shall not describe this experience in any.detail; I shall only say
that, having achieved that size, I made a supreme effort with the
aid of Kevin's encouragement, and saw that even here, at the limit
of this universe, there was more. I glimpsed another place. This final
stage I would describe rather as a religious than an out-of-the-body
experience. From that place my little struggles were being kindly
and laughingly watched, and I kept repeating to myself, 'however
far you reach there's always something further'.
But I had to return. I had begun tired and now, after some two
hours, I was exhausted. The process of returning took every last bit
of energy I had. Not only did I have to shrink to normal size but I
had to readjust to having a physical body. I had to coerce myself
into remaining in one spot, looking from one angle only, and taking
that heavy body with me wherever I went. This was not only a
Introduction
5
slow but rather a disheartening process. Nevertheless, at length it
was achieved. I felt more or less coincident with my body. I could
again open my eyes and see the world that way without too much
trouble, and I could move my body. By this time it was after 1.0 a.m.
The whole experience had lasted nearly three hours and had been
witnessed - or at least what I said had been - by two people. I had
a sleepless night, but after two days of feeling decidedly unstable I
returned to normal.
Needless to say this experience had a profound effect on me.
Most important of all was that it forced me into asking many questions which received no easy answers. In fact after ten years of
research these questions still do not receive an easy answer. But it
is to them that this book is addressed.
So what are these questions? Those which occurred to me then
are very different from those I would ask now. In common with
many others who experience OBEs, I jumped to many hasty conclusions at the time. Immediately I thought, 'This shows that " I "
can function without my physical body and see without my eyes.
Surely then I can survive the death of that body. I have another
immortal body; there is no death; I am not afraid to die anymore.'
Such statements are common after spontaneous OBEs but they can
be based more on emotion than reasoning.
A few days after my experience, as soon as I felt capable, I sat
down to write an account of what had occurred so that I should
not forget it. Logical thinking began to prevail, and I began to
reassess those hasty conclusions. Firstly, I was not functioning without
my physical body. I seemed to be in a different place from that
body, but there is no doubt that it was functioning quite well. It
may have been tired, but it was not dead. It was sitting up, moving
and talking. It is therefore unjustified to conclude that such an
experience could take place without a functioning body. Later I
shall discuss cases of OBEs in which the physical body was either
close to death or severely incapacitated; whether an OBE can occur
when there is little or no brain activity is an interesting question.
But clearly in my case, as in most others, the body and brain were
quite capable of normal activity. Any conclusions about the independence of 'mind' or the survival of bodily death seem therefore
to be quite unjustified.
The same can be said of the assumption that we have another
body. Early in my experience the duplicate body seemed quite
6
Beyond the Body
substantial, bu( its later changes led me to conclude that it was a
figment of my own imagination. I consider myself very fortunate
to have had such a long and varied experience so that I was able
to find out these things experientially. But in any case, considering
this point objectively, it is clear that however 'real' the body, the
cord, and so on appeared, they could always be imagined, and no
amount of such experience constitutes evidence that we have a
second body.
As for the ability to see without eyes, this raises perhaps the most
interesting and difficult of questions. In what sense was I 'seeing'
during this OBE ? Did I 'see' the chimneys I had imagined were on
the roof? If I had seen something that I did not know to be there,
and had later checked that it was in fact as I saw it, my conclusions
might be different. I shall be discussing such cases at length later
en. But as far as my own experience was concerned I obtained no
evidence whatsoever that I could 'see' anything without the use of
my eyes.
What then was I seeing? What constitutes the OBE world? Some
readers may be becoming impatient with my questioning. They
may urge me to accept the self-evident: that we do have another
body that can travel away from our physical bodies. But for them
this question becomes all the more pressing. Where does it go? I
find no easy answer here. Did I travel in the normal physical
world? If so that world appeared most curiously distorted, and
even incorrect. Was I then travelling in a thought-created world,
as that star-shaped island with 100 trees might suggest; a sort of
group thought-world? Some occult theories include such a concept.
Or could it be that my imagination created the entire experience?
Some psychological theories of the OBE prefer this account; but
then, what of the many claims that during OBEs people have obtained information they could not possibly have acquired normally?
How can these be accounted for?
Another question I would like to answer for my own benefit is
why this happened at all. Was it in some way intended for me, as
it seemed at the time; or was it simply a consequence of the tiredness, dabbling with the ouija board, or the effects of the drug? I
had smoked considerable amounts of marijuana before that experience, and taken many other drugs, without ever experiencing anything remotely comparable. It therefore seems unlikely that the drug
alone could have been responsible, although I think it may have
Introduction
7
helped to maintain the experience, and keep me from becoming
frightened. What then set it off? Indeed, what ordinarily sets off
such experiences? Can one learn to have one at will? Finally, why
did the experience take the form it did? Why the silver cord? Was
it just because I had read a book about astral projection? Or is
there some other reason for these features? I shall be tackling all
these questions as well as I can in the course of this book.
A critical appraisal of my original conclusions led me, as you
can see, to dismiss most of them as unwarranted, and put in their
place a series of questions. One change did remain, however; the
loss of the fear of death. As we shall see there is evidence that this
sort of experience sometimes does precede death. If I had died in
the midst of mine, whether or not death does mean total obliteration,
I don't think I should have minded in the least. Since my own fear
is my own subjective affair, I can say with some confidence that the
experience reduced my fear of death.
Still, hasty conclusions are unwarranted. So what can be learned
from looking at this, or any other example of an OBE? I am
tempted first to ask, 'What happened?' 'What does it all mean?' But
these, I fear, are questions unlikely to lead to satisfying answers. I
shall formulate what I think are clearer questions, to which there
is some prospect of finding answers.
For the sake of clarity, they may be divided into two categories.
The first concerns the facts of the OBE; the second, explanations
and theories. In the first:
1. Have other people had similar experiences; if so what were they like?
2. How common are they?
3. Who has them, and under what circumstances?
4. Can they be induced at will and controlled?
5. Do OBEs resemble other experiences such as dreams or hallucinations?
6. Is there evidence that people can see things they did not know about (i.e.
that they can use ESP) during OBEs?
7. Is there evidence for the existence of a 'double' of any kind?
1. What theories have been put forward to account for the OBE and is any
of them adequate?
2. How is the OBE best explained?
Of course each of these subsumes a host of others; but I am sure
that if we could obtain even partial answers to some of them we
should be in a better position to start asking the second, more
awkward, type of question.
8
Beyond the Body
Although I have divided the questions like this into empirical and
theoretical, the two are of course not clearly distinct. Facts can
only be gathered within the context of theories; the reports of
ordinary people may be heavily biassed by the beliefs of the time
or their own religious or philosophical outlook. And theories can
only be tested and developed in relation to the facts as they are
seen at the time. So each will of necessity have to be discussed in
relation to the other.
Nevertheless there is some value in this distinction. Having
gathered all the information available I can then ask the most
difficult of questions. Is there any satisfactory way to account for
the OBE? Personally, my aim is to be able to understand what
happened in those few hours ten years ago. But I hope that my
findings may be of some use to others. Many people have had
similar experiences. Some may be worried or confused, want to share
their experiences or to find out more. For this purpose many turn
to the Society for Psychical Research for help. The SPR has been
investigating these experiences, among others, for 100 years and
should by now be equipped with some of the answers. In this book
I shall survey what the SPR and others have learned in those 100
years.
2 Defining the OBE
One question is easy to answer. I was not alone in my experience.
Many other people have been through similar experiences and it
seems that OBEs can occur to anyone in almost any circumstances.
Here is a very simple example taken from my own collection.
I crossed the road and went into a well-lit wood. My distant vision began
to blur and within five or ten seconds I could only see a distance of a few
feet, the rest was 'fog'.
Suddenly my sight cleared and I was looking at the back of myself and
the dogs from a position eight or ten feet behind myself and about a foot
higher than my height. My physical self had no sight or other senses and it
was exactly as if I was simply walking along behind some-one, except that
some-one was me . ..
I say this is an OBE because it fits the definition I gave earlier, but
before I delve deeper into this definition and its implications I would
like to consider some other phenomena which I would not call
OBEs. For example there are popular tales of bilocation and traditions of doubles. There are mystical and religious experiences and
drug-induced visions or 'flying'. Are these OBEs? And how can we
be sure? One answer is to define the OBE as an experience; an
experience in which one seems to perceive the world from a location
outside the physical body. Accordingly if this experience does not
occur then the, phenomenon is not an OBE. But is this distinction
appropriate and can it always be applied?
To try to answer some of these questions let us look at some of the
related phenomena. Many of these involve doubles of various kinds.
The idea that we all have a double seems to spring naturally out of
an OBE. If you seem to be leaving your physical body and observing
things from outside it then it seems natural to assume that, at least
temporarily, you had a double. It also seems obvious that this double
could see, hear, think and move.
10
Beyond the Body
This is not necessarily true. As Palmer has so carefully pointed
out (110b) the experience of being out of the body is not equivalent
to the fact of being out. Similarly the experience of having a double
is not equivalent to the fact of there being a seeing, thinking, and
moving double. Nevertheless, the whole idea of the double is intimately bound up with the OBE and one of the most important
questions I shall be trying to answer is whether any kind of double
does leave the body in an OBE.
The notion of the human double has a long and colourful history.
Plato gave us an early version of the idea. Like many before and
after him, he believed that what we see in this life is only a dim
reflection of what the spirit could see if it were released from the
physical. Imprisoned in a gross physical body, the spirit is restricted;
separated from that body, it would be able to converse freely with
the spirits of the departed, and see things more clearly. In the true
earth, in aither rather than air, everything is clearer and brighter,
healthier and happier. In this purer environment those liberated
from their bodies live in bliss and see with true vision. Although this
idea is at variance with all we knew of the psychology of vision,
there are probably many who prefer to think this way today.
Another idea which can be traced to the Greeks is that we have a
second body. Mead, a classical scholar writing in 1919 (90) traced
the 'doctrine of the subtle body' as it runs through western tradition.
Other bodies appear in many forms and there are versions with
anything from one to seven, or even more, other bodies. If it is not
the physical body which sees, but the spirit or some subtle body,
then it seems to follow that the spirit would be able to see better
without its body. Aristotle taught that it could leave the body and
was capable of communication with the spirits and Plotinus held that
all souls must be separable from their physical bodies.
Perhaps the most pervasive idea relating to other bodies is that
on death we leave our physical body and take on some subtler or
higher form. This notion has roots not only in Greek thought and
in much of later philosophy, but also in many religious teachings.
The ancient Egyptians described several other bodies, among them
the ba, or soul, and the Ka, which was like the physical body and
stayed near it at death.
Some Eastern religions include specific doctrine on the forms and
abilities of other bodies and the nature of other worlds; and in
Christianity there are references to a spiritual body. Some religious
Defining the OBE
11
works can be seen as preparing the soul for its transition at death,
for example the Bardo Thodol, or Tibetan Book of the Dead (37)
and the Ars Moriendiy on the art or craft of dying (23). Rogo (124a)
has described relevant teachings in Tibetan Buddhism and others
have considered related ideas in more depth, but I shall have to
restrict myself to the ideas which are more directly relevant to the
OBE.
One of these derives from the teachings of theosophy. Within a
scheme involving several planes and several bodies, the OBE is
interpreted as a projection of the 'astral body' from the physical body.
Because it has been so influential, I shall discuss this in detail in the
next chapter. For the moment I should just point out that, like all
schemes involving doubles, it is just one way of interpreting the OBE.
The idea that we have a double also appears in popular mythology.
The Norwegians tell tales of the vardeger, a duplicate of a person
which may arrive at his destination before him. The Scottish taslach
is also a kind of warning of the approach of the traveller, and may
arrive at a house, knock on the door and be let in, all before the
real version has got there. In Cumberland such apparitions of the
living were called swarths and represented another self which goes
with every person but can only be seen by those with 'second sight'.
Then there are the old English fetch, and German Doppelganger,
both doubles or wraiths of the living. Often these doubles have
sinister overtones, or are associated with the darker side of man;
that side portrayed so vividly in the stories of Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde, or of Dorian Gray. But usually they are supposed to be quite
harmless.
These phenomena seem to be related to the OBE in that they
involve a double, but there the resemblance ends. In the folk tales
of fetches and wraiths the double is usually a kind of unconscious
automaton, and its 'owner' need not know that it has been seen.
For example if my fetch were to arrive at the pub before me I
would not be aware of the fact. I might turn up later to find that
it had already ordered a pint of beer and a packet of crisps and
that the barman was waiting for his money. This is certainly not
an OBE in any sense comparable to those already described. In
OBEs the crucial characteristic is the experience of seeming to leave
the body and it is the double which becomes the more real of the
two. In contrast the wraith or fetch is but an empty shell.
The same contrast is found in the experience of autoscopy.
12
Beyond the Body
Aristotle told the story of a man called Antipheron who was going
for a walk one day when he found himself confronted by a reflection
of himself, coming towards him. Dostoyevsky writes, in 'The Double',
of a man who found his own double sitting at his desk at work one
day. The fact that almost everyone can appreciate the terror of
such an experience indicates the potency of the story. But does it tap
a deep and poorly understood truth, that we have a double, or does
it reflect a very real fear, but one based on no corresponding duality?
Such experiences, of seeing one's own double, have been called
'autoscopy', or autoscopic hallucinations. We shall meet them again
in connection with psychopathology (see Chapter 15), but here
again the double is not the 'real' or conscious person. It is seen as
another self, but the original self still appears the most real. In the
OBE it is the 'other' which seems most alive.
It is said that on Holy Thursday in 1226 Saint Anthony of Padua
knelt to pray in the Church of St. Pierre du Queyrrix at Limoges,
pulled his cowl over his head and at the same moment appeared at
the other end of the town at another service (8a). Another well-known
legend is that of Alphonsus Liguori, who blacked out when preparing
to celebrate mass in 1774. When he arrived he told those present that
he had been at the deathbed of Pope Clement XI V in Rome, four
days journey away. The news later reached them not only that the
Pope had died, but that those at his bedside had seen and talked
to the saint, and joined as he led prayers (97b).
There are also more modern stories of bilocation. In the 1840s, a
32-year-old schoolteacher called Mademoiselle Emile Sagee, was
sacked from her nineteenth post. The girls at the school had seen
two Mile Sagees side by side at the blackboard, two at dinner, and
two carrying on totally distinct activities around the school. When
their parents began to remove their daughters from the school the
directors chose to remove Mile Sagee (135).
More recently still, Osis and Haraldsson (104a) travelled to India
to investigate claims that the swamis Sathya Sai Baba and Dadaji
had appeared in two places at once. In one case Dadaji was alone
in a prayer room while his followers sang in another room. When
he emerged Dadaji told one of the ladies there to ask' her sister-inlaw in Calcutta whether he had been seen there. At that time the
Mukherjee family had all seen Dadaji. He had appeared in their
study, silently indicated that he wanted tea and the daughter of
Defining the OBE
13
the house had brought him tea and a biscuit. Later he had vanished
from the room leaving the half-consumed food and drink, and a
still burning cigarette. Of course the story was told some time after
it happened, and like the earlier legends can be questioned. But a
comparison with OBEs is interesting. It could be that the vision of
the swami was hallucinatory, or brought about by ESP, it could have
been 'staged' by the swami for his own reputation, or it could have
coincided with an OBE on the part of Dadaji. The latter is the
interpretation Osis and Haraldsson prefer. But as we shall see,
physical effects in OBEs are rare, and no other cups of tea have
ever been claimed to be drunk by a person 'out of the body'.
Also related to OBEs are the phenomena of travelling clairvoyance, ESP projection, and the more recent 'remote viewing'. The
older term 'travelling clairvoyance' was used to describe a form of
clairvoyance in which a medium or sensitive seemed to observe a
distant place. Several well-known clairvoyants were tested for this
ability during the last century and a good deal of evidence was
collected for the accuracy of what they saw (e.g. 42). A problem
from our point of view is that 'travelling clairvoyance' seems to have
included both OBEs and experiences in which the clairvoyant
'perceived' the distant scene (or even one in a different time) but
without any experience of leaving the body. In both 'travelling
clairvoyance' and 'ESP projection' the occurrence of ESP is presupposed, but the experience of leaving the body is not. Since I am
concerned with the experience I have avoided using these terms
wherever possible.
Remote viewing is a much more recent, and better defined term.
It describes a technique developed by two scientists, Russell Targ
and Harold Puthoff, at Stanford Research Institute in California
(145). Typically a subject describes or draws his impressions while
an 'outbound experimenter' visits one of several randomly selected
remote locations. Later the descriptions and the locations are matched
up, either by the subject or by an independent judge. It has been
claimed that the descriptions are sometimes extremely accurate and
in many studies most of the locations have been porrectly matched
with the descriptions, although there has been much controversy
about some of the results (87). I mention remote viewing because
it has often been compared with OBEs. Sometimes subjects who
can have OBEs are used. Ingo Swann, about whom we shall hear
a lot in later chapters, was a pioneer remote viewer. But very often
14
Beyond the Body
the subjects have no experience of seeming to be out of the body.
Since I have chosen to define the OBE experientially most remote
viewing would not count as an OBE and so for that reason I shall
not discuss it in further detail.
So far we have been able to decide what constitutes an OBE by
comparison with the definition, but this is harder in the case of other
subjective experiences such as dreams. Many people have argued
that the OBE itself 4s some kind of dream and involves no double
other than an imaginary one. However, an ordinary dream does not
have those important features of seeming to leave the body and
being conscious of perceiving things as they occur. Even if you
dream of being in some distant place you normally only recall this
on waking and then immediately accept it as a dream. But what of
lucid dreams? These are dreams in which the sleeper realizes, at the
time, that he is dreaming. He may become perfectly conscious in
the dream and the experience is then very much like an OBE.
Perhaps it is the same thing. (This question is discussed in Chapter
It has been argued that the OBE is an hallucination, and any
other body or double is likewise hallucinatory. There are in fact
many similarities between some kinds of hallucination and some
OBEs and I shall discuss this relationship later on.
Among other experiences difficult to disentangle from OBEs are
a variety of religious and transcendental experiences. People may
feel that they have grown very large or very small, becoming one
with the Universe or God. Everything is seen in a new perspective,
and may seem Veal' for the very first time. It is difficult to draw a
line between a religious experience'and an OBE and any line may
seem artificial or arbitrary. One experience may grow out of the
other and OBEs are often found in collections of religious experiences
(e.g. 5). But usually, using the definition given, it is possible to
decide whether a person seemed to be out of the body or not. Just
what the relationship between these different experiences is will be
left to a later chapter.
As you can see, the definition of the OBE as an experience allows
one to rule out many phenomena from the start. It may not be a
perfect definition but I have chosen to use it throughout this book.
One of its major advantages, and the main reason why I prefer to
use it, is that it does not imply any particular interpretation of the
OBE. There may or may not be a double, something may or may
Defining the OBE
15
not leave the body; the definition presupposes none of these
possibilities.
The consequences of this are important. First, since the OBE is
an experience, then if someone says he has had an OBE we have
to believe him. No proof that anything left the body is required. If
a person has the experience of being out of the body then, by
definition, he has had an OBE. Conceivably in the future we might
find ways of measuring, or establish external criteria for, the OBE,
but at the moment we can only take a person's word for it.
Another related consequence is that the OBE is not some kind
of psychic phenomenon. As Palmer has explained (using a slightly
different definition), 'the OBE is neither potentially nor actually a
psychic phenomenon' (110b p. 19). This statement of his has often
been misunderstood but what he says is a natural consequence of
any experiential definition. A private experience can take any form
you like. It can be unbelievably bizarre, but it cannot be paranormal
or psychic; it is not that sort of thing. It is only in relation to other
external circumstances that an experience becomes psychic, such as
when a dream 'comes true'. This is very important for research on
the OBE because we are not hampered by dealing with something
defined as 'paranormal' or not explicable in normal terms. We are
dealing with an experience and it may turn out to be one associated
with ESP and paranormal events, but it may not. This is just one of
the questions I hope to tackle in the course of this book, and starting
with the definition given here is starting with a clean slate in this
respect.
I hope I have now made it clear just what I mean by an OBE,
and that this book will be about the many forms of that experience
and the attempts to understand it. I am now going to plunge straight
into one of the most pervasive attempts to explain the OBE: the
doctrine of astral projection. So many experiences have been described within its framework that to understand them we need to
understand 'astral projection'.
3
The Doctrine of Astral Projection
We have seen that the idea of the human double has a long history
and is intimately bound up with the OBE. Superficially it may seem
to explain the OBE to say that we all have a double and sometimes
it can leave the physical body. However, as soon as this idea is
pursued problems become obvious and the system has to get more
complicated to deal with them. One of the most complex, and certainly the most influential, of such systems is the theory of astral
projection, based on the teachings of theosophy. I shall describe
this theory in some detail, not because I think it is either sound or
helpful, but because it has so often been used to interpret OBEs.
In 1875 Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in
New York, to study Eastern religions and science. From her teachings, brought back from her travels in India and elsewhere, a
complex scheme evolved which includes descriptions of other levels
of being and bodies beyond the physical. According to the Theosophists man is not just the product of his physical body, but is a
complex creature consisting of many bodies, each finer and more
subtle than the one 'below' it. As one of the chief exponents of
theosophy, Annie Besant (6), insisted, the self or conscious man
must be distinguished from the bodies which from time to time he
inhabits. The bodies should be thought of as an outer garment which
can be thrown off to reveal the true man within.
Although there are variations in the details, it is commonly
claimed that there are seven great planes and seven corresponding
bodies or vehicles. The grossest of all is the physical body, of flesh,
with which we are all familiar, but there is supposed to be another
body also described as physical and that is the etheric double. In
some writings the astral body and etheric double are confused, but
in the theosophical traditions they are clearly distinct. Etheric substance is seen as an extension of the physical: The lower physical
consists of solids, liquids and gasses; and in addition there are four
The Doctrine of Astral Projection
17
grades of etheric matter. It is these which make up the etheric
double, or vehicle of vitality, which acts as a kind of transmitter
of energy, keeping the lower physical body in contact with the higher
bodies. This etheric body is firmly attached to the physical, being
only slightly larger and interpenetrating it. It is claimed that the
two separate only rarely, for example in illness or when close to
death, and after death the etheric becomes redundant and dissipates
for good. It is sometimes said that the ghostly wraith seen in churchyards is nothing but the etheric double leaving its body.
When theosophy was developing and active, in the later part of
the last century, there seemed to be some 'scientific' basis for this
idea of the etheric world. Annie Besant tells us that wherever there
is electricity there must be the ether. Much later in 1931 a book
called On the Edge of the Etheric became immensely popular (38).
In it Arthur Findlay claimed that the etheric worlds occupied those
parts of the electromagnetic spectrum which were unknown and
undetected by the science of the day. With the abandonment of the
notion of the ether, and the increasing understanding of electromagnetism, these niches for the etheric world were lost. Nevertheless,
Theosophists continue to discuss it, and say that it can be seen with
only a slight extension of normal sight.
Next up the scale is supposed to be the astral world and its
associated astral body. These are finer than their etheric counterparts and correspondingly harder to see. The astral world consists
of astral matter, in seven grades; and all physical atoms have their
astral envelopes, so that all physical objects have a replica in the
astral. There is therefore a complete copy of everything in the astral
world, but in addition there are things in the astral which have no
counterpart in the physical. There are thought forms created by
human thought, of many a colour and shape. There are elementals,
given form by human thought, and animated by various desires or
emotions and there are other such as the lowest of the dead, who
have gone no further since they left the physical world (see e.g. 78).
All these entities, and many others are used in ritual magic (see e.g.
24) and thought forms can be specially created to carry out tasks
such as healing, carrying messages, or gaining information.
•
The astral body is supposed by Theosophists to be the centre of
all these senses, the seat of animal passions and desires, and a vehicle
of consciousness. Current psychology holds that the senses are physical
systems passing information to the brain which processes and makes
18
Beyond the Body
sense of it. No other sensing body is required. But according to
Theosophists, the physical does not do any sensing itself, but only
passes the energy on to higher, conscious levels. They also hold that
the astral reflects any thoughts which impinge on it, either thoughts
of that person or of another, and it is this which makes telepathy
possible in the astral.
On this scheme, those who have the ability are supposed to be
able to see the nature of a person's thoughts by changes in the
colour and form of the astral body. All around the physical can be
seen the bright and shining colours of the larger astral body, making
up the astral aura. In an undeveloped person this aura is small and
with a nebulous outline. In the highly developed or spiritual person
it is larger and more definite. It is said that the aura of the Buddha
or of Christ could fill the whole world. The colours of spirituality
are clear blues; of intellectual development, yellows; while pride
shows as bright red, selfishness and depression as various browns,
and malice as black (67). All these colours are supposed to be visible
in the astral aura, so showing the sensitive what kind of person he
is looking at.
All this is of special relevance here because of the fact that the
astral body is supposed to be able to separate from the physical and
travel without it. Since the astral is the vehicle of consciousness it
is this body which is aware, not the physical, although it does not
always pass the memory of its travels on to the physical brain. It is
said that in sleep the astral body leaves the sleeping body. In the
undeveloped little memory is retained and the astral body is vague
and its travels limited and directionless, but in the trained person
the astral can be controlled, can travel great distances in sleep, and
can even be projected from the physical body at will. It is this which
is called astral projection.
In astral projection the consciousness can travel almost without
limitation, but it travels in the astral world. It therefore sees not the
physical objects, but their astral counterparts, and in addition the
beings that live in the astral realms. Because of the effect of thought
on the astral world it has been known as the 'world of illusion' or
world of thoughts. The unwary traveller can become confused by
the power of his own imaginings. In this state one can appear, as
an apparition, to anyone who has the 'astral sight'. Indeed one can
appear to others too, but to do so requires some involvement of
lower matter, for example of etheric matter, as in ectoplasm.
The Doctrine of Astral Projection
19
An aspect of astral travelling which has become important in
later writings, though it appears little in early theosophy, is the silver
cord. It is held that in life the astral body is connected to its
physical body by an infinitely elastic but strong cord, of a flowing
and delicate silver colour. In spontaneous experiences of astral projection the traveller sometimes sees this cord stretching back to his
body.
Traditionally the cord must remain connected or death will ensue.
In the normal way as one approaches death, the astral gradually
loosens itself, lifts up above the physical, and then the cord breaks
to allow the higher bodies to leave. Death is thus seen as a form of
permanent astral projection, and one in which the essential man
survives and goes on to higher worlds.
Beyond the astral Theosophy distinguishes a further five levels.
These include the mental or devachnic world, the buddhic, the
nirvanic, and two others so far beyond our understanding that they are
rarely described. The task of a true student of theosophy is to progress
through all of these. In fact it is supposed to be the task of every man,
through many incarnations, to do so. But here we are only concerned
with the astral which provides one way of interpreting the OBE, and
one which has been enormously influential.
Some people have seen references to astral projection in the Bible.
For example Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus has been
claimed as evidence that Jesus was able to project at will. Martin
Israel has suggested that Ezekiel had frequent OBEs in which he
was transported from Babylon to Jerusalem (67) and Leonhardt
interpreted the story of Jacob's ladder, in which he saw a ladder to
heaven with angels walking up and down, as an OBE (81). Perhaps
more commonly interpreted in this way are Christ's ascent into heaven
and the story of His resurrection; but most often cited of all are
Paul's reference to a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15. 35-38) and this
short passage from Ecclesiastes (12.6):
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the
pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
It is that reference to the silver cord which has led so many to
conclude that Christianity supports the notion of astral projection,
but they may well be mistaken. Michael Perry, Archdeacon of
Durham (115), argues that the author of Ecclesiastes was simply
20
Beyond the Body
using poetic metaphors. The bowl was the skull and the cord the
spine, or alternatively they could both be parts of the ornamental
lamp, a figure of death. In any case it seems equally likely that it
represented any of these things as that it is an 'astral cable' and
there are no other references to this silver cord in the Bible. In my
opinion none of the biblical stories gains by being stretched to fit
the astral projection framework.
If the doctrine of astral projection is not particularly helpful in
understanding the Bible, it can apparently be useful in interpreting
otherwise strange experiences. Features of some OBEs which seem
odd to the experiencer suddenly seem to make more sense if he
learns about astral projection, and it is this which has contributed
to its success. There are several cases in the SPR archives which fit
well into this pattern.
Since the founding of the Society people have sent in accounts of
experiences which they considered 'psychic' or just related in some
way to psychical research. These include tales of apparitions and
ghosts, telepathy and clairvoyance, premonitions and precognitive
dreams, and, of course, OBEs. All these are carefully categorized,
filed and catalogued, and are available for members to consult. In
the section labelled 'Astral Projection' are many accounts of both
spontaneous, and deliberate OBEs. Here is one which is not couched
in the terms of theosophy, but which sounds like a classical astral
projection. The subject, whom we may call Mr K., stressed that he
had never seen or heard or read of anyone having an 'out-of-body
experience' before he had his own. He only came to report this
because he read, in the SPR Journal, an account of such an experience.
Mr K. was concerned about his wife who was ill. He was sitting
on the side of her bed and says he doesn't recall how he got into
bed, but:
. . . I remembered lying there and looking up. The ceiling seemed to
disappear as also the roof and I clearly saw a star, or what appeared to be
a star. Then, I can only describe this my own way, I was given psychic
vision, for my spirit left my body, which I saw by my wife's in bed. I
seemed to resemble the shape of a flame with a long silver thread attached
to my Earth body. I enjoyed, what I can only liken to, the Peace of God
which passeth all understanding.
Mr K. then goes on to describe how he was reassured that his wife
would be all right and how, eventually, he returned to normal, the
The Doctrine of Astral Projection
21
cord being at one time very long, but finally very short. He felt quite
sure that he must avoid breaking it. The next day his wife was better
and he told her all about it. But it was not until he heard that others
too had these experiences that he was prepared to talk about it.
The astral aura is often described as being like a flame, wider
than the physical body; it can take a variety of shapes, oval,
cylindrical or like a vague copy of the physical. But also, like a
flame, it moves and looks alive, and shines with a soft light. The
flame could then have been Mr K.'s astral body, or aura. The cord,
too, finds its place in the scheme. What Mr K. says about his cord,
the fact that it was silver, and stretched as he moved further away,
all fits. Does this kind of account then confirm the reality of astral
projection?
Many investigators have thought so. Among the best known are
Muldoon and Carrington, and Crookall. Sylvan Muldoon was able
to project at will and,described his experiences in The Projection
of the Astral Body (97a) written in collaboration with the psychical
researcher Hereward Carrington (see Chapter 4). Together these
two collected many cases of spontaneous OBEs which they amassed
as support for the reality of astral projection. Many years later
Robert Crookall, in more systematic fashion, did much the same
thing. But sometimes this approach can cloud the issue more than
illuminate it. The features of the original experience can become
lost in a welter of interpretation. And that interpretation need not
necessarily be the only, or the best one.
It is obviously essential to disentangle the details of actual experiences, from the varied interpretations which can be placed on them.
But it is not only the investigators who make this hard. Many of
the people who report OBEs have found the notion of astral projection helpful, and describe their experiences in these terms. Here
is one from the SPR archives. Ms F., as we shall call her, had many
projections and here she describes one in which she attempted to
visit a friend who was in hospital.
I left my body as soon as I fell asleep (or rather I should say without having
fallen asleep). It must have been between 11.30 and 12. My faculties were
absolutely clear as I left the house, and travelled across London. I travelled
low, as I suppose the journey was so much shorter than those I have usually
had to make, so that instead of rising to the Mental I travelled Astrally
the whole way which is slower, and so low that I went through all the
houses instead of over them . . .
22
Beyond the Body
This narrator has given the level of travelling, and explained the
low flight in these terms. Of course she may well have chosen a
valid interception. Perhaps one does travel this way in the astral
and higher in the mental plane. But it is hard to disentangle the
outline of the experience and the interpretation placed on it in this,
as in many other accounts. This makes it very difficult to find out
just what the experience was like.
There are several serious problems with the theory of astral projection. I shall return to its theoretical difficulties later on but here
I shall mention two more immediate problems. The first is that
many OBEs simply do not fit well into the astral projection framework. Celia Green (49c) has collected many cases in which the person
describes no astral body, indeed no other body at all. Some are a
blob, some a point of light, and some nothing at all but only seem
to be seeing from that position. Also very few people actually report
any cord, let alone the traditional silver cord.
Of course this type of experience can be fitted in by saying that
their astral vision was clouded, or the astral body or cord too fine
to be seen, but this begins to weaken the theory. And this relates
to the second problem, its 'stretchability'. The theory is so complicated and flexible that almost anything can be stretched to fit it. If
you don't see the features you should, your astral vision is not clear
enough, or memory was not passed on from higher levels. If you fail
to make yourself visible to someone else then not enough etheric
matter was involved and so on. In this way the 'theory' is in danger
of explaining everything and nothing.
Bearing these problems in mind, and with some knowledge of
what astral projection is all about, we can now go on to examine
the evidence. There are accounts of habitual 'astral projectors',
spontaneous OBEs, surveys, and experiments. Only when we have
considered all these will it be possible to assess fairly whether the
doctrine of astral projection is a useful and valid way of interpreting
the OBE, or a fiction creating more confusion than clarity.
4 The Astral Travellers
Our first question has been partly answered already: other people
have certainly had similar experiences. So now we may ask what
those experiences are like. Are they all closely similar, or is there
great variation between them ?
Accounts by people who have had them fall, roughly speaking,
into two categories. There are the many ordinary people to whom
an OBE occurs just once, or a few times, and who have given an
account of the experience; and there are a small number of people
who claim to be able to project at will, and who have described a
lifetime of OBEs. Two of them, Oliver Fox and Sylvan Muldoon,
described their experiences mainly in terms of astral projection and
I shall consider their stories first.
OLIVER FOX
Oliver Fox (44c) was born in 1885 and spent his childhood in
northeast London progressing, as he puts it, 'from illness to illness'
and often dreading sleep because of the nightmares it might bring.
He saw apparitions both terrifying and pleasant; and he feared
moments in which, when he was occupied in some normal activity,
things would 'go wrong', leaving him feeling temporarily paralysed
and with everything around him seeming to separate and stretch
him. His early dreams are important because it was through dreaming
that he first learned to project at will. His first control over his
dreams came when as a child he used to see small blue or mauve
vibrating circles, something like a mass of frogspawn. Either grinning
faces would appear, presaging a nightmare, or little inkpots, saving
him from one, and so he learned to call upon the inkpots to avoid
the terror of a bad dream.
One night in the early summer of 1902, when Fox had started
as a science student in Southampton, he dreamed that he was standing on the pavement outside his house. But there was something odd
24
Beyond the Body
about the pavement; the little rectangular stones of which it was
composed all seemed to have changed position in the night, and
were now parallel to the kerb. This mystery was solved when, in a
flash of inspiration, he realized that although the sunny morning
seemed as real as anything, he was dreaming. The moment that he
realized it was a dream, the quality of everything changed: the
house, trees, sea and sky all became vivid and alive, and the dreamer
felt powerful and free; but it lasted only a moment before he awoke.
This type of dream, which Fox was to have many more times, he
called a 'dream of knowledge', because one has the knowledge that
one is dreaming. Others have called them 'lucid dreams'. After this
first exhilarating realization Fox went on to practise, and found
how difficult it is to realize one is dreaming, but eventually he did
learn to achieve this realization fairly frequently.
It was in one of these dreams that Fox found himself both walking
along a beach on a sunny morning, and conscious of himself lying
in bed. He struggled to remain on the beach, lost the 'dual consciousness', but gained a terrible pain in his head. He went on fighting the
pain until he won. Then there was a 'click' in the head, and he was
free. Along the beach he met people but they did not seem to be
aware of him. Then he began to get frightened. What was the
time, how long had he been there, and how was he supposed to
get back? Was he dead? A fear of premature burial gripped him.
He willed himself to wake up, there was the click again, and he was
back. But he was paralysed. This was better than being away from
the body, but it took some time before he managed, after a desperate
struggle, to move one little finger and so break the trance and move
again.
Although this experience was frightening, Fox's curiosity soon
triumphed and he went on to experiment further, learning that the
cataleptic state was more easily dispelled by falling asleep again
and letting it break naturally. He found out that emotional involvement of any kind would terminate the dream of knowledge and
discovered how difficult it is to read in a dream. For all that, he
did apparently succeed in seeing two questions of an exam paper
the day before he took it, although he did not care to repeat this
somewhat immoral activity. Going on with his experiments he soon
experienced a new phenomenon, the 'false awakening'. One night he
awoke to find his room dark, but the atmosphere seemed 'strained'
and a greenish glow was coming from a little cabinet beside his
The Astral Travellers
25
bed. Only then did he 'really' wake up and realize he had only
dreamt that he awoke. It was some time later that he learned that
in the false awakening it is only necessary to try to move to find
oneself projected.
Fox also tried some experiments with others. Two of his college
friends shared his interest in theosophy and astrology and the three
of them decided that they would try to meet on the Common in a
dream. Two of them made it, both dreaming that they met the other,
but that their third friend was absent. This seemed to be a successful
test although it is impossible to be sure whether there was any reason
for expecting that the third friend would not make it.
On another occasion one of these same friends determined to
visit Fox one night. Fox awoke and saw his friend appear in an
egg-shaped cloud of bluish-white light, with lights of other colours
playing within it. This too seemed to be a success except for the
fact that the friend recalled no matching experience. Fox concluded
that he had seen a 'thought form' projected by his friend. This
may or may not be an adequate explanation, but this kind of
experience was often to be repeated. For example, much later in his
life Fox often saw or spoke to his wife when projected but in the
morning she would recall nothing of the meeting.
On one occasion, though, it was different. One of Fox's sweethearts, Elsie, disapproved of his experimentation, but was even more
incensed at his suggestion that she was 'only a narrow-minded little
ignoramus'. So she determined to prove herself by visiting him one
night. He didn't take her boast in the least bit seriously but sure
enough, that night he saw a large egg-shaped cloud and in the middle
of it was Elsie with her hair loose and in a nightdress. He watched
her as she ran her fingers along the edge of his desk but as he called
her name she vanished. The next day she was able to tell him the
layout of his room, and the details of some objects in it, although
she had never been there, down to the gilt ridge running along the
edge of the desk which Fox himself had not realized was there. This
incident was important for Fox because he felt that it was one of the
few occurrences which indicated something which was not purely
subjective in his out-of-body adventures.
Most of his findings were purely subjective, however, and Fox
felt that his critics dismissed them on those grounds. Later I shall
question the importance of this distinction. It is my belief that most
of what he, and others, have discovered about OBEs is purely
26
Beyond the Body
subjective, in the sense that it is private and involves only one person's
experience, but that does not, to my mind, diminish its interest. But
Fox was acutely conscious of the fact that he was trying to convince
an unwilling audience of the reality of astral projection. For this
reason any evidence that the experience could be shared, or information brought back, was crucial to him.
It was many years later that Fox made his next important discovery. He had assumed that a dream of knowledge was essential
for projection, and that the trance condition came after projection,
but one day as he was lying on a couch in the afternoon, he found
that he could see with his eyes closed. He was in the trance condition
although he had not been to sleep. He left his body, found himself
in some beautiful countryside, and then passed quickly back through
a horse and van in a street. After this Fox realized that he could
project from waking, and proceeded, some time later, to experiment
whenever he had an opportunity to lie down quietly by himself. In
this way he learnt to use what he called the 'Pineal Door' method
of projection (44a).
One interesting feature he points out is that when projected he
could never see his physical body. This seems odd because one of
the most common features of spontaneous OBEs is that the person
sees his body as though from outside. But Fox had a rationale for
this: he argued that if he was seeing the astral world when projected,
then he should see the astral counterparts of physical objects rather
than their physical or etheric aspects. Since his own astral body was
projected he would not expect to see it without using some special
extra power. After all, he was travelling in his astral body.
Thinking about this, it seems odd that other writers have not
used the same argument. Certainly I have not come across any other
projectors who have been unable to see their own physical bodies.
Is there, then, something wrong with the traditional astral projection,
theory? Or can people see both astral and physical at once? I
would guess not, for often things look slightly different, or even
grossly different, when 'out of the body', and this is supposed to be
because one is seeing the astral not the physical. One cannot have it
both ways. It seems to me that this argument presents an interesting
problem for the holders of the traditional view.
One day Fox decided to try the effect of chloroform, but it
proved an unpleasant experiment. He seemed to shoot to the stars
with a shining silver thread connecting his 'celestial self with his
The Astral Travellers
27
body. Throughout he maintained dual consciousness and as he spoke
the words seemed to travel down the thread and were spoken by his
body, but according to his companions all that he said was regrettably
flippant. He did not try this method again. The reference to the
thread, however, was one of the rare times when Fox mentioned
anything which could be compared to the traditional silver cord.
On another occasion he was walking, in his projected body, along a
busy street when his feet began to feel heavy and he felt the tug of
his body 'as though a mighty cord of stretched elastic, connecting
my two bodies, had suddenly come into existence and overpowered
me'. In many of his other projections he could also feel something
like a cord, but he never saw it.
From 1913 to 1915 Fox made more projections. The places he
visited were very varied, from familiar and ordinary street scenes
to countryside of stunning beauty, or buildings unlike any ever built
on earth. At times the conditions seemed to be those prevailing
physically at the time; at others he found himself enjoying warm
sunshine in the middle of the night, or blue skies when it was
physically raining outside. These travels, he concluded, were on the
astral plane, while others were of an earthly location. He forestalls
criticism here with this comment, 'People who cannot forget or forgive poor Raymond's cigar will get very cross with me when I say
that there are electric trams on the astral plane; but there are - unless there is no astral plane, and my trams run only in my brain'
(44c p. 90).
This problem is very familiar. Many a spirit communicator has
had to explain why it is that there are fields of flowers, houses, and
even tax collectors, in the afterlife or 'summerland'. It always seems
awkward. But if the astral is composed of thought forms it is natural
that there should be trams. The question then arises whether the
thought forms are objective - shared entities, as some would claim
them to be - or purely private things. But I shall leave this difficult
question for later.
Often an excursion was cut short because something arrested
Fox's attention and he became too involved in it. Once he stood
behind a beautiful girl watching her brush her auburn hair. As he
reached out to touch her shoulder she started and he rushed back
to his body. Another time he found himself in the trance condition
and then was borne away to a country road where he walked along
until he came to a horse grazing at the roadside: 'I stroked it and
28
Beyond the Body
could distinctly feel its warm, rather rough coat, but it did not seem
aware of my presence. This, however, was a mistake; for it distracted
my attention from the experiment, and my body called me back.'
Fox also notes that there are different ways of moving in the
astral. He describes the difficult flapping of the arms or paddling
with the hands which seems necessary in a dream of knowledge, and
compares it with the movements caused by will alone which are
possible in 'skrying' or 'rising through the planes': the clumsy dream
movements might actually be unnecessary, he suggests, but useful
as an aid to concentration. I think this is important. We shall come
across many idiosyncrasies of the means of travel, methods of movement and ways of inducing experiences among the different experts,
but from my limited experience I learned one important lesson.
That is, it is easy to get trapped into a habit of thought, and to use
familiar props, such as a body, a cord or illuminated world, to make
things seem more reasonable. I think that just as Fox learned that his
movements were unnecessary, so many others have failed to learn that
many of the details they find in their travels are unnecessary.
Fox goes on to tell the novice how he might best learn to project
for himself, but I shall leave these suggestions for Chapter 9. Fox
first wrote articles about his experiences in the early 1920s (44a, b),
just a few years before Sylvan Muldoon began writing.
SYLVAN MULDOON
By the mid 1920s Hereward Carrington had written many books
about psychical research (17a-d) and had mentioned more than once
the phenomenon of astral projection, but he mainly condensed the
work of others and gave little information that would be of interest
to someone who had a spontaneous OBE. Then in November 1927
he received a letter from a young American called Sylvan Muldoon,
telling him in no uncertain terms what he thought of his book.
Muldoon wrote, 'What puzzles me most is that you make the remark
that M. Lancelin has told practically all that is known on the subject.
Why, Mr Carrington, I have never read Lancelin's work, but if you
have given the gist of it in your book, then I can write a book on
the things that Lancelin does not know!' Muldoon went on to
sketch a wealth of details about the astral world, the silver cord,
and the formation and movement of the phantom. Naturally
enough, Carrington's curiosity was aroused. He contacted Muldoon,
and together they wrote two books. The first was The Projection of
The Astral Travellers
29
the Astral Body (97a) and was mainly an account of Muldoon's own
experiences. The second The Phenomena of Astral Projection (97b)
contained a collection of cases to be discussed in Chapter 5.
Muldoon's first conscious projection occurred when he was 12
years old. He awoke in the middle of the night to find himself
conscious, but not knowing where he was, and apparently unable
to move, a condition he later called astral catalepsy. Gradually the
sensation of floating took over, and then a rapid up-and-down
vibration and a tremendous pressure in the back of his head. Out
of this nightmare of sensations the boy's hearing gradually began
to return and then his sight, by which he could see that he was
floating in the room above his bed. Some force took hold of him
and pulled him from horizontal to vertical. He saw his double lying
quietly asleep on the bed, and between the two of them stretched an
elastic-like cable which joined the back of the head of his conscious
self, to a spot between the eyes of the body in bed, six feet or so
away. Swaying and pulling against the cord Muldoon tried to walk
to another room to wake someone, but found that he passed right
through the door, and through the bodies of other sleepers too, when
he tried to shake or clutch them. Frightened, he roamed around the
house for what seemed like fifteen minutes, and then slowly the pull
of the cord increased and he found himself being pulled back to his
body. Everything went in reverse. He tipped back to horizontal,
again became cataleptic, felt the same vibrations and then, with a
jerk, dropped back into the body. He was awake and alive again.
Muldoon went on to experience hundreds more projections but he
was not fully conscious in all of them from beginning to end as
he was in the first one. This one is especially interesting because it
included so many of the features which were to form a part of his
later writings. First, there is the astral catalepsy. Physical catalepsy,
says Muldoon, is a result of astral catalepsy. At the beginning of a
projection the catalepsy lasts until the phantom has assumed a
vertical position, whereupon it becomes free to move again. The
appearance and effect of the cord, or cable, varies greatly according
to Muldoon. When the astral is close to the physical the cord is
about the diameter of a silver dollar, although its surrounding aura
makes it look larger. When it is thick like this it exerts a powerful
'magnetic pull' and one is then in what Muldoon calls 'cord activity
range'. In his experiments in projection he found that this range
varies from about 8 feet to 15 feet, and this depends on physical
30
Beyond the Body
vitality. When the physical body is healthy the cord exerts the most
effect and over the greatest range. Indeed, in many cases it makes
projection impossible. When the body is weakened in some way the
activity of the cord is correspondingly weaker and projection is
easier and the cord activity range less. This is why illness or physical
weakness, as well as fasting, are conducive to projection, leading up
to that final projection - death. It is therefore significant that both
Fox and Muldoon were often ill. When the astral body manages to
pull away from the physical and out of cord activity range it becomes
free to move at will, and the cord is then stretched to its thinnest,
about the thickness of sewing thread. (Muldoon's scheme is illustrated
in Plates 1-5.)
Once away from the physical the astral is supposed to have three
moving speeds. At its slowest it simply walks, or moves as a physical
body would. At the intermediate speed the projector feels still and
everything passes backwards. Streaks of light thrown off by the astral
body trail behind. Finally at supernormal speed the phantom can
cover great distances without being aware of them, faster than the
mind can imagine. Covering such distances one might think that the
astral body could get lost, but Muldoon categorically denies this.
While the cord is intact it can always pull the projector back.
It is Muldoon's contention that projection, at least partial projection, is commoner than most of us think. When we receive a
shock or physical blow the astral may temporarily separate, and
under anaesthesia it projects, although we usually do not recall the
excursion. He even suggests that if the physical body is stopped
suddenly, for example in a car, then the astral may continue for
a moment, so leading to feelings of sickness. All kinds of odd feeling,
fainting, breath-taking sensations, and jerks before falling asleep,
are attributed to partial separation of the double. Most important,
though, is projection during sleep. In natural sleep, claims Muldoon,
the astral separates slightly to be replenished with 'cosmic energy'.
Most of us do not realize this and remain unconscious throughout;
but in falling, flying, and other special dreams we can experience
just part of the astral body's night-time travels.
In his experiments Muldoon discovered many other features. Like
Fox he found that emotional involvement in anything would terminate the projection. Sexual desire he found a negative factor, but
some kinds of stress could help in inducing projection. When the
body is immobilized in sleep, for example, if there is a strong desire
The Astral Travellers
31
for something the astral may try to leave to get it. Similarly the
breaking of a long-established habit can lead to projection. Muldoon
related this to hauntings in which, he claims, the phantom may
continue with accustomed routines.
Some of Muldoon's most interesting experiments are those in which
he tries, in his astral body, to affect material objects. This is not
easy. The reason, he explains, is that the astral body has a higher
rate of vibration when it is far away from the physical, and the
higher the rate of vibration, the less it can interact with objects of a
low vibration rate. This is necessarily so, he claims, because if the
astral body were not at this higher state of vibration it could never
pass through material objects, and if it were always at the highest
rate then other astral entities would not be able to pass through it
on their travels, which clearly they can. This leads to the conclusion
that the astral body gains higher vibrations as it moves further from
the physical, and consequently it becomes less able to affect material
objects.
In addition Muldoon argues that the conscious will cannot move
objects in the astral, but only the subconscious, or crypto-conscious,
mind. On one occasion when he was very ill he tried to call out to
his mother but failed to wake her. Getting out of bed he crawled
across the floor, but fainted, and only his astral body ascended the
stairs. His consciousness then faded; but next he knew, he found
his mother and small brother discussing excitedly how the mattress
had lifted up and nearly thrown them out of bed. Although other
explanations can be suggested, Muldoon attributes the effect to
the crypto-conscious will. On another occasion he produced raps
which were heard by others when he was dreaming of producing
them; but on many occasions he failed to touch or move physical
objects when projected.
One of the facts Muldoon stresses is the importance of thought in
the astral. Thought holds up the astral body, for when it walks upon
an upper floor, it is not the floor which holds it up (it could easily
pass through that); it is habits of thought. In fact thought is everything in the astral world. Critics, he realized, would be worried by
the clothes of the phantom. Why should the astral body wear earthly
suits, pyjamas and dresses, as so many have reported ? The answer, he
explained, is that 'thought creates in the astral, and one appears to
others as he is in mind. In fact, the whole astral world is governed
by thought' (97a p. 46).
32
Beyond the Body
Many readers will find Muldoon's descriptions difficult to understand. He does not give simple descriptive accounts as Fox did.
Instead every account is steeped in the theory which he so laboriously
developed. Some of his findings, such as the power of thought in the
astral world, and the methods of moving, are familiar from other
accounts; but his detailed description of the cord and its activity
range is quite idiosyncratic, as are his method and position of
projecting.
Muldoon constantly adjures readers to try for themselves, perhaps
the only way to learn many things about astral projection. But I
am sure that most people who try it will find that only some of
Muldoon's elaborate details fit their own experience. Above all we
are beginning to see just how variable the OBE can be. Perhaps the
most important discovery so far is that 'thought creates in the astral'.
As one person's thought differs from another's, so we may expect
his OBE to differ. In the next chapter we shall learn that three
habitual travellers have described experiences that are different
again.
5
YRAM
Further Explorers
Yram (159) is the pen name of a French occultist who, like Fox and
Muldoon, learned to project at will. Unlike the others he ' . . . became
sated with ordinary phenomena. To pass through stone walls, to
visit friends, to roam freely in space simply for the sake of enjoying
this extraordinary state, are games of which one soon wearies.' Many
of his descriptions are of experiences on 'higher planes' in which he
met with other beings or powerful forces. These are couched in
terms of his kind of physics: of other levels involving radio-active
essences, ultra-sensitive atoms and differing rates of vibration.
Yram suggests that three things are necessary for astral projection:
good health (the opposite of that suggested by Muldoon); psychological preparation, involving a peaceful life and the ability to relax;
and psychical preparation. He distinguishes three kinds of projection.
First there is projection by means of the sensory faculties. For this
exercise the projector has to imagine passing through some kind of
window, door, or space. Yram describes some unpleasant experiences using this method, a slap in the face, spiralling and being
knocked over; but once you get out of the tight space, he claims, you
are free and projected. This 'tight space' may be similar to the
tunnels which are sometimes reported in spontaneous OBEs.
In the second type, instantaneous projection, the separation is
sudden and uncontrolled. Yram describes an occasion on which he
felt as though a trap door had suddenly opened beneath him and he
was falling. 'My first impulse was automatically to make the same
movements as would occur if this had happened to my physical body,
I stretched out my arms and legs in the hope of gripping something,
and started to cry out.' This resulted in his becoming conscious, and
he found himself projected.
The third type of projection, by whirlwind, Yram describes as
the 'most agreeable'. This is interesting because Muldoon and
34
Beyond the Body
Carrington (97b) suggest that it is the violent exteriorizations, for
example with anaesthetics, which cause a spiral ascension; but perhaps the spiral and the whirlwind are not the same experience. In
any case, Yram describes how he was carried from his body in a
whirlwind, watched over by one of the many dogs which he saw
during his experiences. These, he claimed, were images sent by the
Friends who help with psychic experiments, and intended to inspire
confidence!
Once projected there are many different levels one can inhabit.
In the lowest, one is unable to pass through walls or other objects;
to rise to a higher plane, one must go through some procedure such
as that of imagining the door or passage again. On the higher levels,
objects offer no resistance, and the lighting is brighter too. Even in
the dark a soft phosphorescence illuminates the world and it is easy
to find one's way about. On the different planes, one also inhabits
different bodies. The higher, or less material, doubles are, according
to Yram, far more 'radio-active' than the previous ones, and the
atoms of which they consist are finer, less dense, and more sensitive
(though to what I do not know).
At all levels of projection the physical body and the more subtle
double are joined by the familiar cord. Its ability to stretch is said
to be limitless and Yram says he has seen thousands of very fine
elastic threads where it joins the double. Like Muldoon he found
that the closer he came to the physical, the greater was the pull of
the cord. The same principle, he states, applies to the distance in
terms of levels of vibration; the higher the level of projection, the less
pull is felt back to the body.
In his own room, or when walking about the streets, Yram moved
as he would do in his physical body, but when projected into space
he moved by thought alone. At first he did breast stroke, like swimming, then learned to move on his back pushing with his feet, and
finally he floated horizontally, as some do in spontaneous OBEs. The
position, according to Yram, is important. When threatened one
should adopt a 'defense position', and one should never travel upside
down.
In a final way of travelling Yram discovered that he could
get to a desired place instantaneously, and this produced a consciousness of extreme clarity. He returned from his first trip of this type
retaining the 'impression of the radio-active waves of this superior
Further Explorers
35
state for a whole day', though one hopes that this was not radioactivity in the normal sense of the word.
This excursion had taken him to visit a friend who lived in an
unknown and distant house. On returning he wrote an account of
all he had seen there and, he says, received 'full confirmation' two
months later. On other occasions he also claimed he was able to
bring back information about distant places from his travels. After
he had met a young woman three or four times in the flesh they
became separated by several hundred miles, so he visited her by
self-projection. It was in this state that the two became engaged,
and Yram says that his fiancee was able to confirm the correctness
of all the details he related to her. On another occasion he apparently
obtained some correct details about a friend's room; but the friend
retained no memory of the visit.
In many experiments Yram tried, as had Fox and Muldoon, to
affect material objects while 'out of his body'. He set up light objects
to be moved, flour into which to dip his astral fingers, and other tests.
One night he placed a piece of paper on a chest-of-drawers. When
out of his body he approached it but found to his consternation that
there now seemed to be two pieces of paper. Undaunted he picked
them both up and carried them to his bed, but when he had
returned and written down everything that had happened, he found
that the paper had not moved. Later he tried again, blowing on the
paper, but still it remained firmly unmoved.
Most of Yram's experiments were concerned with things far
removed from that mundane task of moving a piece of paper. He
discusses at great length his discoveries of moral law, cause and effect,
and other general principles. Some of these are very similar to those
found in many branches of occultism. For example, he was once
sitting talking with friends in some sort of astral drawing-room
which they had all created for their use. Without being aware of
it he let slip an 'unfortunate phrase'. Immediately he was tumbling
from a height back to his physical body. In this way he learned that
thoughts of a similar nature attract each other, and contrary thoughts
repel. So to reach the highest planes one must have thoughts which
are suitable to those planes. This idea is a form of that important
principle in magic and occultism, 'Like attracts like'. Yram's means
of dealing with difficult situations or evil powers are also similar to
many found in occult training (see e.g. 24). He describes various
types of thought form and lower entities which one might meet, and
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Beyond the Body
how he dealt with them. Above all, he claims, moral purity is the
safeguard and thought is the tool by which we can travel in the
higher worlds.
Much of Yram's physics must be taken with a large pinch of
salt. His descriptions of electricity and relativity make it clear that
he is not using terms such as 'radioactivity', 'molecules', or 'vibration'
in ways which would be understood by any physicist; and I cannot
help wondering about the source of the drawing-rooms, and the
helpful dogs. However, if his theories are looked on as a description
of the nature of the mental world as he saw it they contain much of
interest. Many of his findings are similar to those of occultists and
of other astral projectors. His three ways of travelling are similar to
Muldoon's although his methods of projection are different. His
description of the cord is similar to many previous descriptions, and
his insistence that it is hard to remember the experiences unless you
record them straight away is also familiar. Gradually we may be
able to piece together a picture of what is stable, and what ephemeral
in these different explorations of self-projection.
J. H. M. WHITEMAN
For Yram out-of-body experiences are just part of a wider experience.
The same is true for Whiteman, a Professor of Mathematics at the
University of Cape Town in South Africa. In his book The Mystical
Life (156b) he describes his vision of God as archetypal light, his
practice of continuous recollection, his discovery of 'The Source' and
higher Obedience, and other revelations leading him, after more
than twenty years, to the 'higher Transformation'. It is within the
context of this mystical development that Whiteman describes his
out-of-body experiences.
In some sense the whole of the mystical experience takes place
'out of the body' - that is, in a non-physical world and using nonphysical senses; but Whiteman distinguishes many different types of
'separation'. These vary in the degree to which consciousness is clear
and rationality maintained, and in the extent of awareness and
activity in the physical body. Of most relevance here are the experiences he calls 'full separation' These occur,when 'the physical body
and its sense organs appear to be asleep or entranced while the
subject himself to singly-conscious in another space and body, or
multiply conscious in spaces other than the physical' (156a p. 240).
Related experiences include dreams, 'fantasy separations' and 'half-
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37
separation'. Crucial to the full separation is that the subject's consciousness is fully located apart from the physical while the power
of rational reflection is maintained.
Whiteman also distinguishes psychological, psychical, and mystical
states. The kind of experience depends on the state of the person
undergoing it. Psychical states of separation appear far more 'real'
than physical states, almost like being awake for the first time. The
difference between psychical and mystical states is hard to explain,
he admits, but easy to recognize when it happens.
Most of Whiteman's work concerns the different processes involved in separation and return. First there are experiences in which
separation is induced by shock, drugs, or illness. Whiteman describes
one that occurred when he was a boy of about 12. He was experimenting in his laboratory when he burnt himself with a piece of
yellow phosperous. He felt no pain but walked downstairs for his
mother to dress the burn. As he watched her the room seemed to
take on a glowing, dream-like quality; objects seemed to be more
distant, and then first his hearing and then his sight disappeared.
Feeling in his body then disappeared, from his feet upwards, and
only when all feeling had gone did he realize he was standing and
aware of the sound of some heavy object falling. Before realizing
what was happening he found himself lying on the floor, ashamed
at having fainted.
The second type of separation is that which begins from a dream.
This was the most common method for Whiteman, as it had been for
Oliver Fox. In the first experience of this type he became lucid in
a dream and suddenly his perception seemed free and pinpointed.
He thought, 'I have never been awake before.' The parallel with
Fox's experience can be seen in content as well. In another separation
he saw a wonderful building, a glowing palace or temple with
stained glass windows and people moving up and down the steps.
He was led to understand that this came from a joint memory of
many human beings worked out over a long period of time. From
this vision he was gradually brought back to the physical world,
refreshed in both body and spirit.
Other separations were effected by passing through some sort of
opening. On one occasion Whiteman saw a circular opening, within
which was a vivid park scene. On others he could see his bedroom
'through the eyelids', seeing it clearly although his eyes were closed;
then, he would pass through an opening in the ceiling or a wall.
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Beyond the Body
Whiteman relates this method of passing through an opening to the
phenomenon of tunnels.
A fourth type of separation can occur from a balanced state of
dissociation. Under this heading Whiteman includes those occurring
spontaneously when he was in a state of voluntary detachment, those
induced by a wish on his part, or by calling forth Obedience. The
latter, he claims, leads to a better quality experience. In one experience he left his physical body sleeping in bed and examined his
bedroom, which bore only a superficial resemblance to the actual
room. He avoided the mirror, in case it should lead him into fantasies,
and approached the door, finding it had no handle. He then turned
to the windows, trying to escape from the stuffy air, and passed out
into the silence of the night. But there the experience ended and
he returned to the body because, he thought, he had lacked higher
reflection and obedience throughout the experience.
Whiteman describes states in yet further experiences in which he
was conscious of more than one space at once. Although he does not
say so this seems to be similar to the state of dual consciousness
already described. In other experiences he seemed to participate in
another person's personality and memory, finding himself aware of
some scene simultaneously as though it were unknown and familiar.
Finally in his last type he achieved separation through recognition
of 'The Waters'. By this he means that there is a transitional stage
in which everything appears shapeless and fluid. Often this state
lapsed into a dream of flying or floating.
Whiteman also describes a variety of experiences with different
processes of return. In some the two bodies gradually come into
coincidence. Whiteman gives as an example an experience in which
he was in a park or wood when he felt the physical world's call. The
inner space began to melt away and in its place there formed a
parallel world, like the physical but not identical. From there the
other body was lowered into the physical and consciousness returned
to the body.
An alternative kind of return involved dual consciousness of an
inner world and of the physical world, one gradually supplanting the
other. Many other authors have described both these methods of
return to the physical. Whiteman also mentions false awakenings
of two kinds. In the first he would return from a separation and
seem to be back in the physical, only to find that he was still
separated. In the other kind he seemed to return to a dissociated
Further Explorers
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state, but the bedroom turned out to be a strange one. Some of
Whiteman's experiences ended because they lapsed into other sorts
of experience, such as a dream or half-separation. Others ended
symbolically with him seeming to return through sinking into earth
or water; and in a final type he ended by being absorbed into some
other entity.
Whiteman also describes the different forms taken in separation
experiences. For example, in psychical separation the other body is
like the physical but in mystical states higher forms of greater and
greater beauty are manifested. Similarly the worlds seen and the
light which illuminates them vary as the experience becomes more
mystical. Whiteman does not describe many of the features which
have so preoccupied other writers such as the silver cord, the different
modes of travelling, or the physical objects and places apparently
seen. Nor did he experiment with trying to move physical objects
or travelling to unknown places to check whether the details seen
were correct. In fact he specifically argues that the veridicality of
the experiences, in physical terms, is far less important than their
'reality' in terms of that other world in which they take place.
The similarities between Whiteman's and others' findings imply
that the same experiences are being described. Separation through
shock, from dreaming, or through symbolic openings are all familiar,
as is dual consciousness, and return through gradual merging. The
clarity and vividness of the experience is a common feature, but the
great difference lies in Whiteman's emphasis. For him every state is
seen as a reflection of the nature of the inner mind or stage of
mystical progress. It may be because of my own lack of mystical
awareness, but I cannot help wondering whether the mystical life is
really a necessary prelude to these experiences.
Many spontaneous OBEs in otherwise untrained people have
mystical qualities about them. In my own OBE I experienced a
state of unity with the world and a wonderful sense of joy, energy,
and clarity. But I had had no mystical training or prior experience
whatever. Whiteman emphasises the need for Obedience, arguing
that it was Yram's use of effort which led to his unpleasant experiences, but Yram also describes joy and well-being in his experiences.
Whiteman describes the distaste and shame which followed his
attempts at induction by effort, but I wonder whether that shame
stemmed from a sensitivity to a higher nature, or his own precon-
40
Beyond the Body
ceptions about how he ought to behave. I do not know, and can
only express some doubts.
Perhaps we can only answer certain questions by experiencing
these states for ourselves. And one thing is becoming clearer. If we
did experience them they would certainly not be identical to any
we have yet read about. No two people have described identical
experiences, or identical progression through their experiences out
of the body.
ROBERT MONROE
Robert Monroe was no mystic or magician, but an American businessman with a wife and children living in Virginia (93). Working in the
field of communications, he had been experimenting with learning
during sleep. One Sunday afternoon he was lying down while the
family had gone to church. Suddenly a beam of light seemed to
come out of the sky to the north, at about 30° to the horizontal.
His body began to vibrate and he seemed powerless to move, as
though held in a vice. These sensations lasted only a moment and
stopped when he forced himself to move, but over the following six
weeks the same thing happened altogether nine times. He always
felt the shaking but could not see any actual movement, and it
always stopped when he moved.
Very worried, he went to his doctor, but was told there was
nothing wrong. Soon he decided to face up to the sensations instead
of fighting them and found that he could stay calm and come to
no harm. Then one night, when he had lain down to sleep they
started again, but this time it happened that his arm was out of the
bed, his fingers brushing the rug on the floor. As he began idly
moving his fingers he found that they seemed to pass through the
rug. Then they passed the floor and Monroe felt the rough surface
of the ceiling below, with a triangular chip of wood, a bent nail, and
some sawdust. Through the ceiling his arm emerged and then touched
water. Only as he splashed his fingers in it did he become aware of
what was happening. He yanked his arm back and the vibrations
faded away.
Another time when the vibrations returned Monroe was thinking
about going gliding when he found himself brushing against what
seemed to be a familiar but strangely blank wall. With shock he
realized he was bouncing against the ceiling, and there was 'he',
down below in bed with his wife. Thinking he had died he dived
Further Explorers
41
back into his body and opened his eyes. Mostly the experience was
frightening, but with encouragement to try it again from a psychologist friend Monroe eventually plucked up courage, and began his
long adventure in OBEs.
As Monroe progressed he learned how to induce the experience at
will and how to move when out of his body. On several occasions,
he claimed, he succeeded in visiting friends and was able to describe
what they were doing, the place they were in, and even their clothes.
He learned to differentiate among three different 'locales' to which
he travelled. The first of these, Locale 1, corresponds more or less
to the normal physical world. In it are people and places that
correspond to people and places in the physical. It is in this locale
that all the veridical information was gained. For instance on one
occasion he attempted to visit a friend, Dr Bradshaw, and his wife.
He knew that Bradshaw was ill in bed and intended to visit him in
his bedroom, a room he had not seen before. He managed to get out
of his body and set off over trees and up a hill. This uphill travel
was hard until it seemed that someone lifted him under each arm
and helped him on his way. Then he came upon Dr and Mrs
Bradshaw, but was puzzled to find them outside their house. He
floated around them and tried in vain to get their attention, and
succeeded only to the extent that the husband said something to
him. Later on that evening he rang the Bradshaws and learned that
his friend had decided that a little fresh air might help and so had
gone outside, at about the correct time, with his wife who was
going out to the post office. He had also described their clothes fairly
well, but most important was that the experience was not what
Monroe had expected. This experience was important in proving to
Monroe, if not to anyone else, that there was more than just hallucination in what was happening to him.
Of course not everything he saw on his trips was correct. In this
particular incident Dr Bradshaw had not in fact spoken the words
Monroe heard him say. On other occasions too he got details wrong,
although he got many right. As with so many other OBEs, the
details seen tended to be a mixture of right and wrong; enough right
to make one feel that more than chance is involved, and enough
wrong to be sure that the OBEer is not seeing a complete duplicate
of the physical world at that time. An excellent example of this kind
of mixture is provided by Charles Tart in his introduction to
Monroe's book (146d). After completing a series of laboratory experi-
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Beyond the Body
ments with Monroe (these are described in Chapter 18), Tart moved
to California, and decided he would try an informal experiment.
He telephoned Monroe one afternoon and told him that he and his
wife would try to help him to have an OBE and come to their home,
which he had never seen, some time that night. They gave him no
further details. That evening Tart randomly selected a time which
he thought would be well after Monroe had gone to sleep. This
turned out to be 11.0 p.m. California time or 2.0 a.m. where Monroe
lived. At 11.0 p.m. Tart and his wife began concentrating. They
continued for half an hour, ignoring the phone which rang at
11.05 p.m. Next day Tart rang Monroe and asked for his independent
account of what had happened.
One detail was an excellent match. It was Monroe who had rung
at 11.05 p.m. He had taken an OB trip, assisted by someone who
took him by the wrist and guided him. He then drifted down into
a room and on returning he rang Tart to tell him. The time match
had been good but Tart adds, 'on the other hand, his continuing
description of what our home looked like and what my wife and I
were doing was not good at all: he "perceived" too many people in
the room, he "perceived" me doing things I didn't do, and his
description of the room itself was quite vague' (146d p. 21).
This is a clear example of something we shall meet again and
again: the frustrating mixture of right and wrong information. It is
always tempting to feel that everything must either be right or not;
that the person must either be 'out of his body' and therefore seeing
things correctly, or not 'out' and seeing them wrongly. It is also
tempting to think that if the details are correct this 'proves' he was
'out'. In fact, of course, there are many other reasons why the
information might be correct without the person being 'out of the
body'. These include chance, rational inference, and knowledge
acquired both normally and paranormally. So producing the right
information is no proof that the person was 'out'. On the other hand
it is clear from the evidence so far (and much more will be adduced
in the course of this book) that information gained in an OBE is
rarely all correct. So what sort of theory of the OBE is needed. This
is the sort of evidence we need to collect before we can start on the
job of theorizing.
Monroe's next 'area' is Locale 2, another step away from ordinary
reality. Here are heaven and hell, and all sorts of strange entities.
Monroe explains that in Locale 2 '"thought is the well-spring of
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existence" . . . As you think, so you are'. His explanation that movement in this state is brought about by thought, not by any sort of
physical effort, begins to sound familiar. Also familiar is the dictum
'like attracts like'. This, according to Monroe, accounts for much
about the nature of travel in Locale 2. Your destination there
depends on your innermost desires, not your conscious plans.
Locale 2 is supposed to be a world of thought, and quite separate
from the physical, but it has many of the features of the physical.
Entities living there, who were once in the physical world, recreate
some of their familiar environment, or create for themselves things
they liked before. In addition, Monroe speculates, higher entities
may create a more familiar environment for the benefit of 'newcomers' arriving after death. He describes some areas as 'closer' to
the physical and unpleasant to pass through, while the 'further'
places are better. In traditional occult lore these would be referred
to as the lower and higher astral planes. By long experimentation
Monroe learned how to navigate them, and on the way he fought
hostile creatures, willingly and unwillingly indulged in sexual adventures, and was guided by the 'Helpers'. It is to this Locale that
Monroe believes all people may go sometimes during sleep.
Locale 3 Monroe discovered when he once turned over 180° (not
physically of course) and found himself looking into a hole in an
apparently limitless wall. In successive experiences he finally got
through the hole and found a wofld in many respects like the normal
physical world, but with strange differences. There were trees and
houses, people and cities, but everything was a little different. There
was no electricity, and although cars and machines existed they were
quite different from any seen on earth. Monroe found that people
there were unaware of him until he merged with another self living
in that world. This swap seemed to be less than fair to the other 'him'
for he disrupted his life on several crucial occasions by suddenly
taking 'him' over, as it were, without warning.
Monroe gives a detailed description of the 'second body'. It has
weight, is visible under certain conditions, produces a sensation of
touch just like the physical touch, and yet it is very plastic and may
adopt any form required of it. Possibly, suggests Monroe, the second
body is a reversal of the physical. He even relates this to his ideas
that it may consist of antimatter, although what he means is
obscure. As for a cord, he tried feeling it on some of his excursions,
but it was not an important part of his experience. Finally he
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Beyond the Body
suggests that the second body is related in some important way to
electricity and magnetism. In experiments in a Faraday cage he
found that he could not pass through the walls when a current was
passed through them, but when it was turned off he could (though
sufficient details are not given to assess the explanation fairly). He
suggests a 'third force' to add to electricity and magnetism which
is used by the second body and fundamental to thought.
What can we make of Monroe's descriptions? As always it is hard
to disentangle what he has discovered about locations others might
visit, from the product of his own bias or preoccupations. Some of
his descriptions sound familiar, but many seem only odd. In Locale 2
he describes how everyone lies down, abdomen arched upwards as
some great being passes by, and there are strange vehicles running
on principles unlike those on earth. Are these details part of an
objective 'other world' or all a result of Monroe's own thoughts?
There is no obvious answer to this question. We can only take note
of what all these adepts have to say and try to keep an open mind
until we have put together more pieces of this intricate jig-saw
puzzle. I have discussed here the accounts of just five habitual
OBEers. Of course there are many more (e.g. 56, 80, 141, 151). Some
never tell their stories publicly. Others have taken part in recent
experiments and we shall meet these later on. But now we shall
return to the experiences of more ordinary folk, to whom the OBE
comes spontaneously, without their bidding. Over the years many
collections of such cases have been made.
6 Cases of Astral Projection
One of the easiest ways to find out what the OBE is like is to collect
a large number of accounts of cases and compare them. In this way
any common features can be extricated and variations noted. A
great deal can be learned about the conditions under which the
experiences occurred, how long they lasted, and what they were like.
But before going any further we should note the limitations of this
method.
First, there are many important questions which cannot be
answered by collecting cases. Since the people voluntarily report their
experiences the sample necessarily ends up with a bias; only the most
articulate and those who are willing to share their experiences are
represented. Some types of people will be more prepared to give an
account and some types of experience are more readily shared than
others. Because of this biased sample it is not possible to determine,
for example, how common the experience is amongst different groups
or what circumstances most often precipitate it. To answer these
questions a survey is required. Also it is impossible to be sure how
much of the description is a simple account of the experience and
how much has been modified to fit in with a particular interpretation
or with what the writer thinks is expected. And memory is far from
perfect. Many accounts are given many years or even decades after
the event and it is then impossible to determine how much of the
story has altered in memory with the passage of time. However, these
are problems which just have to be faced.
Second, many OBEers claim that they were able to see rooms into
which they had never been, describe accurately people they had
never met, or move physical objects during their experience. Such
claims are of great interest to parapsychology but cannot be tested
by collecting cases. In some cases other participants involved can
be interviewed and facts checked, but all of this can only add a little
more certainty to what is essentially an indirect way of assessing an
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Beyond the Body
event long past. The only direct way to test these claims is by
experiment, as we shall see.
Third, there are some aspects of the OBE which can only be
learned by experiencing it for oneself. No quantity of descriptions by
others is sufficient to convey what it feels like, how free and real it
seems, or what effect it has. Likewise, of course, no book is sufficient
for that purpose, although in Chapter 10 I shall detail some of the
many methods used to induce an OBE, which the adventurous reader
With these limitations noted, however, let me not diminish the
value of case collections, for in some ways they are the mainstay of
research on OBEs. If there were not these frequent and persistent
accounts of the spontaneous occurrence of OBEs, probably the other
types of research would never have begun. It is these accounts which
tell us what it is we are supposed to be investigating.
Accounts of OBEs have been collected since the beginning of
psychical research, although they were not initially distinguished as
a category. Soon after the founding of the SPR a collection of cases
of spontaneous apparitions, telepathy, and clairvoyance was begun,
and published in 1886 as Phantasms of the Living by Gurney, Myers,
and Podmore, founder members of the Society (55). Among the
many cases, 350 of them altogether, are some in which the likeness
of a person is seen by others as an hallucination, a dream vision, or
is mistaken for the real thing. Fetches are seen to arrive before the
physical person, and sometimes wearing the right clothes, carrying
the right odd-shaped parcel or being in other ways complete with
details unknown to those who saw the vision. This kind of case
would be relevant here if the 'agent' - the person who was seen at
that time - seemed to be 'out of the body', but this was rarely the
case. Most of the phantasms were seen when the 'agents' were unaware of anything untoward, and were carrying on with their everyday activities. Some occurred when they were asleep — occasionally
when dreaming of the person who saw them. In yet other cases the
'agent' was apparently thinking at that moment of the person who
saw his phantasm, but even this is not an OBE as we would define
it here. Among the most interesting cases are those in which the
'agent' was dying at the time; these will be discussed in Chapter 13.
Frederic Myers also collected similar cases. In 1903 his great work
'Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death' (99b) was
published. In this massive two-volume masterpiece Myers discusses
Cases of Astral Projection
47
at length the effects of hypnotism, the appearance of hallucinations
and apparitions, the phenomena of mediumship and trance, telepathy and clairvoyance, and a vast range of psychological and
psychical phenomena. Included here are some cases similar to those
in the Phantasms, including those in which the vision of someone
close to death was seen. Myers also includes examples of what he
calls 'self projection' under hypnosis.
Collections specifically of OBEs were not made for many years.
Although some OBEs were reported it tended to be those offering
evidence of a paranormal nature, such as telepathy or clairvoyance,
which were noted. Only more recently has the experience itself been
considered of sufficient interest to collect the cases together.
The first major collection was made by Muldoon and Carrington
and published in 1951 (97b). Muldoon's own experiences had
already been published along with several other cases to illustrate
his discussion of astral projection. Then in collaboration with
Hereward Carrington he collected many more accounts of OBEs
from the literature and from letters written in response to that
earlier book. Nearly a hundred were categorized according to
whether they were produced by drugs or anaesthetics, occurred at the
time of accident, death or illness, or were set off by suppressed
desire. Finally they gave cases in which spirits seemed to be involved,
some occurring during sleep or without any apparent cause, and
those induced experimentally or by hypnosis. By categorizing the
cases in this way, Muldoon and Carrington were able to compare
and interpret them in the light of their theories of astral projection,
but they did not go beyond this rather simple analysis.
If hundreds of people report that they left their bodies and were
able to travel around in what seemed to be a second body, and if
the descriptions of these travels are all very consistent, does this
indicate that we do have another body? This is the kind of argument
Muldoon and Carrington used; and they added evidence that
people in their astral travels could bring back information from
distant places. All this implied to them that we do have a double,
and that it is capable of perceiving at a distance and even of surviving without the physical body. I cannot agree with their conclusions about what the evidence implies; there are all sorts of
possibilities which they do not even consider. But first, let us look
at some of their evidence.
In several cases an anaesthetic was supposedly responsible for
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Beyond the Body
driving the astral body out. In one example a school janitor, a Mr
Landa, had to have an operation following an accident. He describes how nervous he was prior to the operation and how he became unconscious when given the anaesthetic. But total unconsciousness did not last long. He felt as though he were being torn
apart in a sudden violent reaction; and then, just as suddenly,
calmness followed. The rest of the story is best told in his own
words:
I saw myself — my physical self — lying there. I saw a sharply outlined view
of the operating table. I myself, freely hovering and looking downward
from above, saw my physical body, lying on the operating table. I could see
the wound of the operation on the right side of my body, see the doctor
with an instrument in his hand, which I cannot more closely describe.
All this I observed very clearly. I tried to hinder it all. It was so real. I
can still hear the words I kept calling out: 'Stop it—what are you doing
there?'
Mr Landa adds, as do so many, that he will never forget his experience (97b pp. 56-7).
Muldoon and Carnngton go on to give many more complex
cases, but the essential features are the same : that under anaesthetic
a person who would be expected to be unconscious finds he can see
and hear, and feels more alive and well, rather than less. How can
we interpret such experiences? Muldoon and Carrington of course
describe them in terms of astral projection. The astral, or some
higher body, is the seat of consciousness and an anaesthetic drives it
out of the physical body. The reason why one usually forgets the
experience is that for most people the astral body is not well formed
and has not learned how to convey memories to the physical brain.
Since astral projection in this way is unnatural or forced, the astral
body leaves rapidly and often uncomfortably. Sometimes it seems to
spiral up from the body with the shock as Muldoon and Carrington
illustrate with a diagram (see Plate 6).
Obviously this interpretation is not the only one possible. The
reason why so many anaesthetized patients describe this spiralling
experience (if indeed they do) may reflect more the similarities in
the action of the drugs upon the nervous system, than the fact that
an astral body is forced out. It is interesting to note, in this context, that with the improved techniques of anaesthesia available
today conscious experiences during an operation seem to be ex-
Cases of Astral Projection
49
tremely rare. Within the theory of astral projection there will always
be some sort of 'explanation' to account for such facts. Perhaps the
astral body is now further away from the physical and so less able to
transmit the memory back. I think a physiological explanation is far
preferable. Still, let us return to Muldoon and Carrington.
Their next category of case is those occurring at the time of
accident or illness. A Mr Johnson recounts how he got out of bed
one night with severe cramps in his legs, and in pain fell to the
floor. The next thing he knew was that he was watching his wife
and daughters trying to lift him up, and there seemed to be two of
him, the conscious part watching the corporeal body on the floor.
Mr Johnson states that he knew nothing whatever of these things
until he read an account by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and then he
'realized what the explanation was'. And what was the explanation?
I do not know. But this statement of Mr Johnson's is not surprising.
Many people who have had an experience like this, of seeming to
leave the body, find the notion of astral projection a satisfying explanation; but the fact that it seems satisfactory to many people
says little for or against its validity.
Muldoon and Carrington go on to describe many more cases.
Among the most interesting are those provoked by suppressed desire,
and many in which 'spirits' seem to play a part. After her husband's
death Lady Doyle, wife of the famous creator of Sherlock Holmes,
experienced a separation of etheric and corporeal bodies when
dangerously ill. She seemed to travel to a region of 'light and calm,
the portals of a marvellous other world'. There she saw her beloved
husband with another figure, both of them happy and loving, and
showing her a wonderful life awaiting her there; but she remembered her three children and decided to go back to help them
instead.
In other cases projectors met people they did not know, were
assisted out of their bodies by unseen helpers, and were taught something about the afterlife or psychic matters by loving beings, or
heard voices addressing them. All these Muldoon and Carrington
interpret as meetings with spirits of some sort, made possible by the
fact that the person who sees them is temporarily on a higher plane.
Not infrequently the person himself interprets the experience as
given to him to comfort or lighten his mourning, or to teach him
some necessary lesson.
Muldoon and Carrington also include several cases which were
50
Beyond the Body
not spontaneous but induced either by the desire to travel to a
particular person or place, or by a deliberate attempt to experience
astral projection. In their first book (97a) Muldoon had given many
instructions for inducing the experience, and some of his readers
tried and wrote to tell him of their success. Not surprisingly the
accounts tend to be couched in the same terms as the book and it
is impossible to know how much the expectation of 'astral projection' helped to make the experiences conform.
Many of Muldoon and Carrington's accounts described experiences starting from sleep or from the hypnagogic or hypnopompic
state (just before or after sleep respectively). In some the projection
was preceded by a falling or flying dream and in some by the unpleasant experience of waking up and finding oneself apparently
paralysed. It was from this cataleptic state, as Fpx had already
found, that projection was said to be very easy. One only needed
to try to move to find oneself 'out'.
Other people felt as though they were being dragged from their
bodies or pushed out of bed. For example a Mrs Haldey recounted
how she got out of bed on one occasion to check that there was no
one under the bed trying to push up. She found nothing but soon
the odd sensation began again, only this time she found herself
floating up and out of the body. Off she went to London where
she entered a strange room in an unknown house. Some months
afterwards she went to London and, ' . . . Imagine my amazement
when they opened the door and I walked into the very room I had
been in while out in my spirit that night. Everything was just as I
had seen it while out of my body!' (97b pp. 160-1).
In this case precognition, or seeing into the future, was not necessarily involved as the house was presumably there at the time of
Mrs Haldey's experience, but there are many other cases in which
it appears that the future events were 'seen' during an OBE. For
these one has the choice of believing, among many possibilities, that
the astral body can visit the future, that an hallucination may be
combined with precognition (both of which involve difficult problems) or that the person who recounted the story was mistaken, had
a very poor memory or was lying. But we should not prejudge these
questions. The case collections can only tell us what people report
about their experiences. Later on we shall consider ways of finding
out whether the claims for paranormal vision in OBEs are justified.
Cases of Astral Projection
51
For now let us note, with Muldoon and Carrington, that many
people make these claims.
Muldoon and Carrington performed no further analyses of their
cases, but they were able to comedo some conclusions. They selected
the following as points of similarity between the cases. There are
sensations of floating or soaring, looking down on the physical body
from above, seeing an astral cord uniting the two bodies, cracking
or snapping sensations in the head, catalepsy of the physical body, a
momentary blanking out of consciousness when entering and leaving
the body. Sometimes there is a feeling of depression before projection
and of 'repercussion' on returning, and often the projector thinks he
must be dead. As they conclude, these characteristics are repeatedly
found and surely require some explanation. Their explanation is
that there is an astral world, that we all have astral bodies and can
travel in them. We shall meet many other types of explanation in
the course of this book.
The largest collections of accounts of astral projection have been
amassed by Robert Crookall, a British geologist who devoted the
last years of his life to the study of astral projection and mystical
experiences. In his many books (26a-I) he has presented hundreds
of cases which show the same kinds of consistencies as Muldoon and
Carrington found. Crookall also divided the cases according to how
they were brought about (26a, c). First there were the 'natural'
ones which included those of people who nearly died or were very
ill or exhausted, as well as those who were quite well. Contrasted
with these were the 'enforced' cases, being induced by anaesthetics,
suffocation and falling, or deliberately by hypnosis. Crookall
argued that there were essential differences between the natural and
enforced types.
He also claimed that descriptions of temporary OBEs in the
living are essentially similar to descriptions obtained, through
mediumship or other means, from the dead. This led him to conclude that both sets of accounts are 'substantially true'. He asked the
reader 'to compare the accounts given in this book, to note the
comments made and to consider whether the concordances and coherences that occur can be explained except on the assumption that the
narratives are, in fact, descriptive of genuine experiences.' (26a p. 1).
The implication of his argument, made more explicit in later books,
is that the interpretation is also true, that there is an astral body, a
52
Beyond the Body
vehicle of vitality and a silver cord, and that we survive death to
live on a higher plane.
Before I criticize this logic, let me follow Crookall's example by
giving a few cases to illustrate, for certainly his painstaking collection has contributed a great deal to our understanding of the
variety and consistency of the types of OBE.
Among Crookall's 'natural' cases is one previously recounted in
more detail by Ralph Shirley in The Mystery of the Human Double
(135). An engraver returned home one evening and although he felt
an extraordinary lassitude he determined not to go to bed but lit a
lamp and lay on the sofa to smoke a cigar. Resting his head on the
cushion he felt giddy and the next thing he knew was that he was
in the middle of the room and could see his body, still breathing,
lying there. He was worried that the lamp would set fire to the
curtains, but try as he would he could not turn it out even though
he could feel it quite clearly. He noted that he could see through
walls to the back of the pictures in his neighbour's room, As soon as
he thought of doing so he found himself passing through the wall
and inspected the next room, noting pictures, furniture and the
titles of books, none of which he had seen before. Although the
room was in darkness it seemed to be illuminated by a light emitted
from his own 'physical body', which was clothed in white. Finding
that he could 'will' himself wherever he wished he travelled as far
as Italy, but the memory of that part of his journey was not very
clear. Eventually he awoke at five in the morning, stiff and cold, and
found the lamp had gone out. Later he took the caretaker into his
confidence and was let into the next door rooms where he found
everything, including the titles of the books, as he had seen it (26a
pp. 38-9, 135 pp. 71-4).
Typical features of this account are the mysterious light illuminating the darkness, the white double, the ability to travel at will and
the inability to affect material objects; Other features which
Crookall claimed typified the natural projection were the cord joining the two bodies, the extraordinary feeling of peace and happiness
which accompanies many experiences and the clarity of mind and
'realness' of everything seen. However, he included here 'natural'
cases in which the person was in fact very tired, under extreme
stress, or even close to death.
By contrast, when the experience is brought about by anaesthetics,
suffocation or falling, Crookall argued, the person typically finds
Cases of Astral Projection
53
himself not in happy and bright surroundings but in dream or
'Hades' conditions. Alternatively the victim of an enforced projection finds himself still on earth. In one example (26a p, 133) a
soldier was blown up in an explosion and found himself up in the
air, looking down at his own body lying some distance from him on
the ground. He seemed connected to it by a slender cord of clear
silvery appearance. He watched as two surgeons came by and remarked that he was dead. Stretcher bearers came and carried him
to the rear whereupon he 'came down that silvery cord and returned
to the old body'. Crookall concludes that an 'objective double' is
'clearly indicated'.
The reason for this difference in the types of experience is clear
on Crookall's scheme. In projection two aspects can be exteriorized,
the soul or psychical body, which is the same as the astral; and the
'body-veil' or 'vehicle of vitality', equivalent to the etheric double.
In natural OBEs the soul body is ejected free of the vehicle of
vitality and vision is clear. But when the OBE is enforced some of
the lower vehicle is shed at the same time and clouds the vision,
trapping the soul in earth or Hades conditions. According to
Crookall the same principles apply in death. Natural deaths lead to
paradise conditions but the victim of an enforced death is likely to
find himself in Hades with clouded vision and consciousness.
Crookall also described many details of the process of separation.
Sometimes clickings and other sounds are heard and as the double
leaves, usually through the head, consciousness is momentarily lost
or blanked out. In other cases there is the phenomenon of the tunnel.
One woman who nearly died 'seemed to float in a long tunnel' (26a
p. 8), and another described 'an opening, like a tunnel, and at the far
end a light' (p. 13). There are many similarities here to my own
tunnel of leaves. In more complex cases the two vehicles may be
shed separately in two 'deaths'. They should then rejoin in reverse
order.
Once 'out' the double is usually horizontal for some time before
righting itself and being able to move. This movement is by the power
of thought or will alone. The initial movement is often in spiral
fashion, especially in enforced cases, and sometimes in moving the
double leaves a trail of light behind.
One of the most important details of the OBE is the silver cord
which Crookall likened (though as we have seen without much
justification) to that of Ecclesiastes. It is luminous and, elastic, ex-
54
Beyond the Body
tending to great distances as the double travels away from the
physical. It is not always seen but may be felt as a pulling to the
body. At death the cord is severed and the astral body released to
begin its new life.
Crookall was at pains to emphasize his contention that all these
facts, and many more, point to an objective double and not a mental
image (26b). He discussed psychological theories which suggest that
the double may be a purely subjective phenomenon, created by the
imagination, and argued that this could not possibly account for all
the similarities found between experiences in people who previously
knew nothing about the subject. He believed that in so far as it
could be proved, the many cases of astral projection he had collected
proved the existence of our other bodies.
Later I shall discuss this argument in more detail, and point out
some of the psychological reasons why we might expect the experiences to be similar even if there is no double leaving the body.
For the present it is sufficient to note some of the weaknesses of the
'astral projection' interpretation in general and of Muldoon and
Carrington's and Crookall's arguments in particular.
The first problem arises from the methods used by these authors.
They collected a great deal of evidence for certain types of experience and showed clearly how well they fit into the framework
of astral projection; but what they did not do was to ask whether
they could equally well fit into any other theory. Crookall briefly
considered a psychological theory, but gave no details of what would
be expected of the OBE within it. One may ask why any other
theory is necessary, when astral projection seems to account so well
for the phenomena. I have already mentioned some of the reasons;
among them the flexibility and the complexity of the theory of astral
projection.
The fact that the theory can be stretched to cover almost any
kind of experience may be satisfying to some of its proponents but it
is frustrating for any investigator. It makes it hard to draw definite
predictions from the theory, and so to devise ways of testing it. And
any theory which is untestable is useless in scientific terms. It would
certainly be going too far to say that the theory of astral projection
is useless. Its very powerful influence on research shows that it is
not. But it has severe limitations.
The second of them is its complexity, which seems to have increased over the years. In general a simpler theory will be preferred
Cases of Astral Projection
55
over one which becomes successively more complex as it tries to
account for new facts; any theory which is neater and simpler,
which is more easily testable, or which fits better with accepted
psychology or physics is likely to be preferred to the notion of astral
projection if it fits, the facts equally well. What we need to determine
more clearly is just what those facts are before we start trying to
decide how to interpret them or which theory they fit the best.
Later collectors of cases have tried to find out those facts with less
commitment to one particular interpretation, and it is to those that
I shall turn next.
7 Analysis of Case Collections
The previous case collections were made by researchers who believed
implicitly in the astral projection interpretation of the OBE; they
did little more than put together large numbers of cases. However,
such collections can be used in more constructive ways if appropriate
analyses are applied.
Although limitations of the biased sample, possible errors of
memory and so on still apply, a properly analysed case collection
can provide a rich source of information about what the OBE is like.
The case collections which have used further analysis include those
by Hart, Green and Poynton, and my own analysis of SPR cases.
Hart's is rather different from the others and so I shall consider it
first.
HART
In 1954 Hornell Hart was a professor of sociology at Duke University in North Carolina; the place where Rhine began his famous
research on ESP and where, to this day, parapsychological research
continues in several independent laboratories. Hart collected
together cases of what he called 'ESP projection' (60a). He defined
this according to several conditions:
1. that an observer acquired extrasensory information such as he
might have done if his sense organs had been located, at that time,
at a position (L);
2. that L, at the time of acquiring this information, was outside
the observer's physical body; and
3. that during the period of observation the observer experienced
consistent orientation to the out-of-the-body location.
It should be noted that my definition treated the OBE just as an
experience whereas Hart required that the person not only have an
Analysis of Case Collections
57
OBE, but also acquire veridical information, as though from the OB
location. This excludes many OBEs in which the information gained
was wrong, or in which no information that could be checked was
obtained.
Hart questioned students about their experiences and collected
288 cases from the literature. These included Muldoon and Carrington's, but Crookall's work had not been published then. Of these
288, only 99 fitted the definition and passed the Veridicality test'.
These 99 were then categorized according to whether they occurred
spontaneously or experimentally. Among the experimental projections, 20 had been induced by hypnosis, 15 by deliberate concentration and, 12 by more complex methods of induction. These included
techniques used by mediums, medicine men, and Rosicrucians, and
the use of drugs such as peyote.
Hart obtained some of his cases from members of the American
Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) who attended a lecture given
by Dr Gardner Murphy. One of these concerned a Mr Apsey who
reported that one night he decided to try to project physically to his
mother, without having told her of his plan beforehand. He focused
his mind on her for five minutes and then at 12.30 A.M. seemed to see
her. He says:
I then saw my mother in a flesh-colored nightdress sitting on the edge of
her bed. A peculiar fact which I particularly noticed was that the nightdress
was either torn or cut so exceptionally low in the back that my mother's skin
showed almost down to her waist.
Mr Apsey then wrote down what had occurred, and in the morning
told his wife all about it. Later that day his mother told his wife that
she had indeed been wearing such a nightdress, which had been a
present and did not fit well, being low at the back. Also she said she
had been awakened by someone who did not look like her son: She
screamed and opened her eyes, whereupon the figure faded away.
Hart developed a rating scale by which cases could be scored for
evidentiality. The best possible case would gain a score of 1.0, but in
fact the highest score given was .90. Cases offering no evidence of
this sort had of course already been excluded. The Apsey case was
given a score of .72. This is a fairly high score, but even here we see
that many details were wrong. The son saw his mother sitting on the
side of her bed, but when she recounted her side of the story she says
she was awakened by a figure and opened her eyes. Unless she slept
58
Beyond the Body
sitting up we must assume that he saw her position wrongly. Also the
figure she saw did not look like her son. These errors in no way
detract from the evidence about the nightdress and the coincidence
in time between the apparition and the projection; I point them out
because they show a curious mixture of correct and incorrect vision
which seems to be common in the OBE.
Hart goes on to list spontaneous cases. A first category included
30 cases in which an apparition of the living was seen at the time
that the projectionist was concentrating, dreaming or having a
vision corresponding to the appearance. These cases are similar to
many given in the Phantasms of the Living, and include three from
that source. The other 22 cases include those in which the projector
obtained information about some event which he could not otherwise have known about.
Hart proceeded to compare the types of cases according to a list
of characteristics. He considered eight features to be part of a 'fullfledged ESP projection'. These included such details as that the
subject made careful observations of people or objects or events;
that his apparition was seen by others and he was aware of being
seen; that he saw his own body from outside; occupied a 'projected
body' which was able to float and pass through physical matter
without hindrance; and that he was aware of travelling swiftly
through the air.
From the cases we have looked at so far it is clear that not every
OBE includes all, or even most of, these features. Some people do
not think to look at their bodies; many do not appear to others as
an apparition or see any correct details of places and people, and
many have no other body. Hart found that these features varied
with the way the experience was induced. Hypnotically induced
experiences tended to include the first but lacked the others. But
this is not surprising when we consider that in many cases the subject
was hypnotised with the expressed object of travelling to observe
distant objects or events. The cases induced by concentration mostly
included the second feature and lacked others, but again this is not
surprising since many concentrated on appearing as an apparition.
Some were not even aware of any travelling and would not have
counted as an OBE at all on other definitions. Experiences induced
by the more complex methods seemed to be more like the 'fullfledged ESP projection', as were the spontaneous cases, but in some
of the spontaneous ones the projector seemed to go to strange regions
Analysis of Case Collections
59
where he might meet people who had died, or other unworldly
entities.
By comparing these different types of case Hart came to the conclusion that the most promising method for inducing ESP projection
was hypnosis, and he outlined a programme for the further investigation of the phenomenon. Up to that time there had been many
experiments with hypnosis in which subjects were asked to leave
their bodies, but Hart's programme was never carried out and the
use of hypnosis seems to have declined rather than increasing since
he made his suggestions. Next to hypnosis, he argued, the method of
simple concentration might be most useful for experimental work,
for some of the other methods were far too complicated.
Through all of this research one assumption is crucial, that ESP
projection is a single phenomenon which might have any or all of
Hart's eight features. But what if it were not so? Rogo (124d) and
Tart (146g) have both suggested that several different types of
experience may have been lumped together under the label 'OBE'.
It could be that astral projection, travelling clairvoyance, and
apparitions, are quite different and need different interpretations, or
other distinctions might be more relevant. And what about the nonevidential cases which Hart rules out, why should they be excluded?
The reason Hart gave is far from satisfactory: if there was no
evidence of ESP they did not count. But can we be so sure when
ESP has occurred? The whole history of parapsychology indicates
that we cannot, and that Hart was ruling out the majority of cases
on the basis of a very shaky criterion. I think we have to accept that
whatever definition we use we may or may not be studying one
clearly distinct type of experience which requires just one type of
explanation.
OTHER CASE COLLECTIONS
Three case collections besides Hart's have provided further information. Perhaps the most thorough, and certainly the best-known, was
carried out by Celia Green of the Institute of Psychophysical
Research (49c). The Institute, which is in Oxford (although not connected with the University), sent out an appeal in the press and on
the radio for people to send in their accounts of experiences in which
they seemed to be observing things from a point located outside their
physical body. About 400 replies were received and two question-
60
Beyond the Body
naires were sent out to the subjects. 326 replied to the first and 251
to the second.
Note that Green's definition of an OBE was as an experience. In
fact she referred usually to the 'ecsomatic experience', defined as
follows, '. . . one in which the objects of perception are apparently
organised in such a way that the observer seems to himself to be
observing them from a point of view which is not coincident with his
physical body.' Green analysed the answers to the questionnaires so
that she was able to assess what different forms the experience can
take, how much it can vary, and whether any features stay constant.
In 1975 J. C. Poynton, a lecturer in Biological Sciences at the
University of Natal, reported the results of a survey of 'separative
experiences' (117). Although Poynton called it a survey I include it
here because he made no attempt to question a random sample of
people. Like Green, he advertised in the press, and circulated a
questionnaire privately, in both English and Zulu. However, the
response was rather poor. Although he received 200 replies from
readers of the Johannesburg Sunday Times many of them described
experiences which were clearly not OBEs. From the Zulu newspaper
only one usable reply was obtained. Questionnaires were also given
to 222 black medical students at the University of Natal, but no
usable replies were received. Finally Poynton obtained useful
accounts from 100 people, reporting a total of 122 experiences. On
the whole Poynton's results, although less detailed, are similar to
Green's.
Finally there are the cases collected by the SPR and by myself. As
I have already mentioned the SPR has collected cases of all sorts for
many years. In the files on astral projection are 44 cases available
for analysis. For most of these little information is available because
the people sent in their accounts, often decades ago, and they cannot
now be contacted. If they failed to mention whether they had
another body, then we shall never know whether they did or not. My
own cases were collected from a survey of students and from letters,
but they are few in number. I have therefore analysed all these
cases for only a few features which I think are most important. The
results of all these collections can be compared.
RESULTS OF ANALYSIS
Apparently most people have had only one OBE, the figures ranging
from 47% to 69% as shown in Table 1. It seems that most OBEs
Analysis of Case Collections
61
Table 1 Some Results of Case Collections
Greed71)
PoyntonVW
SPR cases
Blackmore
Proportion of
'single' cases
Some features of
'single' cases:
Saw own body
Had second body
—
Definite sensation
on separation 'majority' none
Had connecting
cord
—
9%
8%
___
occur as one-off events, never to be repeated, but the frequency of
subjects claiming many OBEs is high enough to conclude that: if a
person has had one OBE he is more likely to have another, a point
to which I shall return. Also many people learn to control their
OBEs to some extent, even if they never learn to induce them
reliably at will. Few of Green's subjects could induce an OBE at
will, but some said that they could get into a relaxed but alert state
in which one was more likely. 18% of Poynton's subjects said they
could induce an OBE 'more or less at will' and several of the SPR
accounts appear to be from people who have had many OBEs and
have some control over them; but I have found only one subject who
claimed to be able to initiate the experience at will.
The circumstances of the OBE
We have already heard about OBEs occurring in a variety of situations. Green found that 12% of single cases occurred during sleep,
32% when unconscious, and 25% were associated with some kind
of psychological stress, such as fear, worry, or overwork. These
figures are given for single cases only, as they are in many of the
following analyses, because it is impossible to obtain detailed
information about every OBE if a person has had very many. It is
simpler only to include the single cases in the statistical analyses,
even though information from the multiple cases is used in discussion. In these a few of Green's subjects seemed to leave their bodies
62
Beyond the Body
while engrossed in some philosophical speculation. O n e subject
achieved an OBE by repeating the question ' Wh o am I ? ' an d
another concentrated on ' Wha t about m e ? '
Some subjects continued with their normal activities. On e saw
himself going on talking in a crowded room and another continued
with her driving test. She says :
. . . as I settled myself, switched on the engine, let in the gear, I seemed to
fill with horror because I simply wasn't in the car at all, I was settled firmly
on the roof watching myself and despite a fearsome mental struggle to get
back into myself. I was unable to do so and carried out the whole test, (30
mins.?) watching the body part of me making every sort of fool of myself
that one could possibly manage in a limited time (49c p. 64).
T h e tale does not relate whether or not she passed !
In another case the subject described how, as he was delivering
his sermon, he suddenly found himself watching from the west en d
of the church a n d listening to his own voice. After the service was
over he asked some of the congregation, without explaining why,
whether they had noticed anything amiss, but he was told tha t everything ha d been all right.
These cases show that it is possible to have an OBE while the
body continues with complex and co-ordinated activity. Poynton
mentions cases in which the subject was standing by a filing cabinet,
putting on make-up and walking. T h e SPR cases include some in
which the subject was sitting, walking, or even running, and app arently some OBEs occur during the stress of competitive sport (98).
Arth ur Koestler describes how he benefited from 'split consciousness'
when he was afraid he was about to be executed (73 p. 350).
Among the SPR cases is an account by a Sapper Officer who was
instructing a Compan y of Infantry in Hyde Park in 1939. He says :
Quite suddenly my spirit came right out of my body and rose some forty or
so feet into the air above and to one side of the instruction area. I was with
my spirit. I watched my body from above, which went on uninterrupted
with the commentary. I could see the top of my head or rather hat just as
though it was another person: in fact it was a simple bird's eye view, but I
could not hear what was being said. After hovering like this for a very short
time, I felt my spirit starting to return to my body; and as I got nearer, the
words I (my body) was speaking became audible gradually until my spirit
returned into my body and I picked up the thread of commentary and
continued with it without a pause.
Analysis of Case Collections
63
In this case it seems that the experience did not in any way affect
the actions or speech of this officer. However, OBEs are far more
common when the physical body is relaxed and inactive.
Most of Green's cases occurred to people whose physical body
was lying down at the time (75%). A further 18% were sitting and
the rest were walking, standing or were 'indeterminate'. In fact it
seemed that muscular relaxation was an essential part of many
people's experience, and some who had several OBEs claimed that
they had to be relaxed before it would occur. Just a few found that
their body was paralysed. Oliver Fox notes this as an essential part
of his learning to have OBEs and Sylvan Muldoon talks about both
physical and astral catalepsy, but it seems that this sort of paralysis,
though it does sometimes occur, is only rarely a prelude to an OBE.
In Poynton's study, too, most OBEs were found to occur when
the subjects were physically relaxed and either lying down or sitting,
of the SPR cases the great majority (nearly 90%) occurred when
the subject was in bed or ill, and of my own cases 5 out of 7 single
cases were of this type. This raises another important question; the
extent to which pathological aspects are implicated in the OBE.
This is important in considering theories of the OBE because if most
OBEs occur in severe illness then it seems more likely that a physiological factor is involved.
Here there is disagreement between the different studies. Green
does not make it clear how many of her subjects were ill at the time
of their OBE, although the relevance of stress has already teen
noted. Poynton says that 76% of his OBEs occurred when the subject was in a good state of health, but of the SPR single cases 64%
mentioned illness, often severe illness. It is therefore hard to come
to any firm conclusions about the number of cases which are set off
by illness of some kind. Really all that can be concluded here is that
although the OBE can occur in a wide variety of circumstances,
musclar relaxation and a relaxed posture are the most conducive.
Age and Sex
Several of Green's subjects claimed that they had had OBEs when
very young. One even recalled one from when he was only 18
months old. But most occurred later in life. Here a difference was
found between the 'single' cases - i.e. those people who had had only
one experience — and the multiple cases. The latter tended to have
had experiences in childhood, and learned to repeat them. The
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Beyond the Body
single cases tended to occur mostly between the ages of 15 and 35
years. But here we must note that Green's method was not really
adequate to finding out about something like the age distribution of
OBEs. After all, she only advertised for cases, and heard about
them from people who were willing to respond. It could be that
those under 15 and over 35 were less likely to read the paper which
contained the advertisement, listen to the radio at the relevant time,
or even if they did hear of the request, to write in. To find out at
what ages these experiences do occur, it is preferable to conduct a
survey, asking a properly selected sample of people about their
experiences. The other studies did not analyse according to age, but
Poynton did find that many more of his cases came from females
than males. Among SPR cases there are more males than females,
but in any case this sort of difference is most likely to be due to
sample differences.
The Nature of the Experiences
Floating and soaring sensations are certainly common. Many of
Green's subjects described the way that they were able to fly about
and view scenes from above. Most also looked down on their own
body. Some subjects described the fascination of seeing that body
in a new way, not at all like looking in the mirror, and some were
startled. Green compares it to the surprise of suddenly seeing yourself on television 'Oh, there's me !'
Poynton also found that most of his OBEers saw or felt their
physical body; and among the 25 SPR single cases 18 saw their own
physical body. Only one tried to see it and could not. One man was
disgusted at his unshaven appearance and another ' . . . thought how
funny I looked with a sheet pulled up over my clothes and my arms
on top of the sheet with my navy blue dress . . . ' One woman even
thought, 'Just fancy having dragged that heavy body about all this
time! How awful!'
Muldoon and Crookall made a point of the definite sensations on
leaving and re-entering the body, including sounds heard in the
head, catalepsy, a momentary blanking of consciousness, and the
sensation of travelling down a tunnel. According to these writers we
should expect that, if most OBEs involve the separation of the astral
body, then they should also involve some of these sensations on
separation.
This was not found in Green's study. Catalepsy rarely occurred.
Analysis of Case Collections
65
Some subjects mentioned noises at the beginning or end of the experience and one or two noticed a momentary blacking out, but this
did not seem to be the rule. The majority of subjects just 'found
themselves' in the ecsomatic state. Typical accounts are given
' . . . suddenly I found myself in mid-air, looking down at myself
(49c p. 125) j or 'I was laying on my side in bed. Then I was standing
by the side of the bed looking down at myself in bed.' If the OBE
started from sleep or unconsciousness the subjects described themselves as waking or 'coming to' in the ecsomatic state. As for the
return, for most it was as sudden as the departure.
Poynton's findings were similar. Catalepsy was present in just
nine cases (out of 122). Altogether a quarter of the accounts included
some 'peculiar sensation', the others being strange noises, tingling
feelings and shivering or shaking, To check whether these odd sensations might have been part of any illness from which the subject
was suffering at the time Poynton compared the frequency of
occurrence in ill and well people. He found that 'peculiar sensations'
were less common in ill people, indicating that they have little to do
with previous ill health.
Among the SPR cases very few mentioned any strange sensations
either on separation or return. Only 1 out of 25 mentioned catalepsy, one felt 'thrills of sensation' and another 'rushing winds', one
describes dropping endlessly, and one passed through something
like a TV screen, but most just found themselves 'out'. On the whole
I think there is little evidence that strange feelings do accompany
the processes of separation and return, at least in single spontaneous
cases.
An interesting finding by Green was that more of the subjects
who had had many OBEs went through complex processes on separation and return. Muldoon, Fox and Whiteman all describe complicated procedures. Perhaps it is only in the deliberate OBE that
they are especially important. As for the tunnels which feature so
prominently in the writings on astral projection, Green mentions
none. Poynton mentions none, and there is none among my survey
cases. In the SPR cases is one mentioning 'funnels of darkness'
through which the subject 'dived' back into his body.
So far there seems to be little evidence from the case collections
to support the usual details of astral projection. But what about the
most characteristic of them, the astral body and the silver cord?
Green separated her cases into those she called 'parasomatic', inr
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volving another body, and those she termed 'asomatic' in which
there was no other body. Her surprising finding was that 80% of
cases were asomatic-they had no other body. It seems that many
were something like a disembodied consciousness. One woman who
had an OBE whilst in bed recalled, 'I wondered if I could wake my
husband and tell him but I seemed to have no hands to shake him
or touch him, there was nothing of me, all I could do is see.'
(49c p. 24)
80% seems a large majority, but in fact it is not quite clear that
all these cases were asomatic. Some subjects claimed to have no
other body, but then recounted how they stretched their feet, or
reached out a hand to touch something. One had 'astral' hands but
when she tried to touch her other head she found she hadn't one!
So it must be accepted that some cases are neither clearly parasomatic nor asomatic, and Green's figure of 80% may be only a
rough estimate. Poynton found that 75% did have another body of
some sort and for most of these the other body was similar to the
physical. Rogo (124b) collected 28 cases of which 12 (or 43%) reported seeing an 'ecsomatic form' while several more implied there
was one. Others denied having any other body while some seemed
to have experiences in between, and in one case two bodies were
seen from a third position. From these findings Rogo argued that
there are three distinct types of OBE but he did not analyse his
cases further. Among my survey cases 4 had another body and 3
did not. The SPR cases only mentioned what the subjects thought
important and in the 25 single cases only 2 mentioned another body,
both like the physical. This indicates that for many OBEers the
question of whether there is another body is so uninteresting that
they say nothing about it, even in accounts several pages long. Perhaps this is part of the reason for the varied results. Even if you
force people to answer the question they may not really know
whether they had another body or not.
What does this tell us about astral projection? One could argue
that in the 'asomatic' cases the astral body was, for various reasons,
invisible. The defender of the theory can always find ways to justify
it but I would only suggest that these cases tend to weaken the case
for astral projection, or at least put difficulties in its way which can
only be resolved by complicating the theory yet further.
Even bigger problems confront the theory in connection with the
silver cord. Green asked her subjects whether they had felt any
Analysis of Case Collections
67
connection between themselves and their physical bodies. Under a
third said they had, and only 3.5% reported a visible or substantial
connection such as a cord while most felt no connection at all.
Poynton's results tell a similar story. He asked about a 'perceptible
link between you and your physical body'. In response one described 'an elastic cord with [sic] tightened and slacked off as I
moved up and down'; another, 'an invisible, but tangible, cord'; and
a third 'a thin silvery cord. .. shiny like quicksilver and quite
opaque', but only 9% reported any connection at all. Among the
25 SPR cases only 2 seemed to have a cord, 1 a 'rubber cord' and the
other a 'long silver thread attached to my earth body'.
The details of the cord provide evidence both for and against the
traditional astral projection theory. First, when cords are mentioned
at all they do seem to be very similar to the 'silver cord'. It has often
been suggested that people who have read about astral projection
would be more likely to see an astral body and a silver cord. Poynton
asked his subjects whether they had read anything about the OBE
before their own experience and found that prior reading made no
difference to the kinds of experience they reported, which is evidence
that this criticism does not hold. Of course it could be argued that
these subjects had read something and forgotten about it, or heard
something about the cord from a friend or on the radio, but if we
accept Poynton's findings at face value they indicate that the origin
of the silver cord lies in something other than the books describing
it.
Against this is the fact that cords are so very rare. On this point
all the studies agree. Can we say that everyone did actually have a
cord, but most of them failed to perceive it? We could, but I think
this is just another difficulty in the way of the theory of astral projection.
OB Perception
One of the most interesting questions, to me, concerns the nature
of the world seen in the OBE. Is it just like the physical world? Is it
more like the 'thought created' world described by Muldoon, or is it
like some dream world or an imagined world?
Green found that on the whole perceptual realism was preserved.
Subjects saw their own bodies and the rooms they travelled in as
realistic and solid. In many SPR cases, too, the surroundings were a
familiar room, but in some 'heavenly scenes' were glimpsed, or 'other
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realms of existence'. One travelled in another world complete with
fields, trees and gates, and one of the people she saw remarked 'Oh,
she's from the earth'. Are these strange environments parts of the
astral world, and accessible to us all, or are they products of the
imagination of one person alone? Certainly many are not parts of
the normal physical environment.
Even when the scene appears to be perfectly normal there may be
slight differences. Some of Green's subjects said that everything
looked and felt exaggerated. Others noticed a strange quality about
objects. One said, 'I am tempted to say just as normal, but there is
a qualitative difference, there is something about the colour that is
too vivid and sparkly...'
I experienced this extra vividness in my own OBE, and many
of Green's subjects tried to put it into words: 'objects and places
showed brilliant colours', or 'Colour very clear and bright and very
stereoscopic'. One asked himself, 'is my hearing acute, without ears?'
Some of the SPR accounts describe seeing things in very small
detail, and with a vividness never to be forgotten.
The experience is typically in only one or two modalities: vision
and hearing. Green found that 93% of single cases included vision,
a third also had hearing, but the other senses, touch, temperature,
taste and smell were rarely noted. There are many possible reasons
why. Green pointed out that the same is found for apparitions. It is
also true of dreams, and much of the experience of the imagination.
Does this then indicate that the OBE world is a world of images?
This is the sort of information which will be useful when we try to
piece together just what it is for which a theory of the OBE needs
to account.
Another interesting feature of the OBE world is its lighting. In
some mysterious way the surroundings become lit up with no
obvious source of light visible, or else objects seem to glow with a
light of their own, as in the descriptions by Fox and Monroe. One
of Poynton's subjects described her feelings, 'I could see the garden
with all its normal surroundings. The thing that surprised me was
the fact that the garden was so clearly visible, even though my
mind told me it was nearly midnight and there was no moon'
(117 p. 121).
Paranormality
Perhaps the most important question about the OBE is whether
Analysis of Case Collections
69
people can see things they did not know about; in other words use
ESP in an OBE ? Among Green's subjects, some felt as though they
could have seen anything, but lacked the motivation to test this out.
However some did claim to see things they could not have seen in
the physical. One woman in hospital described another patient
fairly accurately, down to the colour of the wool she was knitting
with, and that patient was round the corner in the L-shaped ward.
These cases were not common in Green's collection, but she claimed,
'In no case of an involuntary nature has it been yet observed that
the information obtained was incorrect.' The emphasis on those of
an involuntary nature is because in some of the deliberate OBEs
mistakes were made. For example one man rose through the roof
of his house and saw a chimney stack; when he looked the next day
he found that it was not there. This kind of mistake is similar to
those I made in my own experience, and to many we shall find later
in other OBEs.
Is there then a difference between the spontaneous cases and the
deliberate ones in this most crucial aspect? This could be important
because it is almost impossible to test claims of ESP by collecting
cases, and most of the available evidence comes from experiments.
But if the experimental OBEs are different from the natural ones in
this respect then the experiments are not likely to be very fruitful.
This is a problem to which I shall return.
Another related question is whether subjects in an OBE can affect
objects, or have the power of psychokinesis. On the whole the
evidence is against it. Some of Green's subjects tried to move things
and failed, just as Muldoon and Fox had done. One thought that
she had moved an anemone from a vase but Green is careful to
point out that she might, consciously or unconsciously, have seen
the flower beforehand and been under the illusion that she had
placed it there. Claims of this sort are very hard to test, as are claims
that the OBEer appeared as an apparition to someone else. Hart's
collection included many apparition cases, but Green mentions none
and Poynton found only 4 cases out of 122.
One last feature needs comment. That is that a spontaneous OBE
can have a profound effect on the person who experiences it. Sometimes OBEs can be very frightening, sometimes exciting and sometimes they provide a sense of adventure. Interestingly, Green found
that fear was more common in later, not initial experiences.
Pleasant emotions are common too. Poynton found that just over
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half of his subjects found the experience pleasant. Many of the SPR
accounts include descriptions of ecstatic states, most beautiful
places, and heavenly sounds. One woman described a 'delightful
light feeling' another a 'happy, no joyous sense of well-being, light,
freedom'. Very typical is the insistence that the experience was
immensely real and will never be forgotten.
The analysis of these case collections has provided some useful
information. We now know that common features of the OBE
include sensations of flying or floating, seeing things unusually
vividly, and observing one's own body as though from outside.
Other features are more variable. Usually the transition is sudden,
but some subjects have odd sensations on separation or return. Some
have another body, but many do not. A very small proportion have
a cord of some sort joining the two bodies, but the majority do not.
The world seen when OB can vary from a very realistic version of
the actual situation at the time, through a slightly odd or distorted
version, to all kinds of strange other worlds. Similarly the reaction
of the subject can vary from pleasure to terror, and from joy to
indifference. Claims for psychic ability, or paranormal events in the
OBE are made, but they are rare. For most OBEers this does not
seem to be a crucial part of the experience.
Some of these details seem to fit the traditional astral projection
interpretation quite well, while others seem at variance with it.
Some seem to indicate an imaginary component to the OB world,
and most show up the extreme variability of the experience. It is
facts like these which we shall need to take into account when
assessing the theories and trying to explain the OBE.
8 The OBE in Other Cultures
So far most of our cases have come from people living in the
western world, in complex and highly educated societies. But OBEs
are certainly not confined to these. Tales of the double come from
so many different cultures that it would be impossible to look at
them all. We have already heard of the Doppelganger and 'fetch'
and it is clear that many people who believe they have a soul or
spirit would not be too surprised to hear that it could separate from
their physical body. But among different cultures the belief in this
possibility takes different forms. The Aranda, a tribe in central
Australia, believe that men have a double, or ngancha, which is
like the physical man but is the source of life itself. I say they believe
that men have a double, and indeed the women are excluded here,
and have none.
In his study of shamanism, the eminent anthropologist Mircea
Eliade (35) has described how the Siberian and North American
shamans prepared for their 'flights'. The Yenisei Ostjak shaman
apparently begins by fasting and carrying out a series of rituals,
leaping into the air and crying, 'I am high in the air; I see the
Yenisei a hundred versts away' (p. 223). The Kazak Kirgis shaman
undergoes most unpleasant rituals in the preparation, including
walking on fire, touching red hot coals and slashing his face with
sharp knives. The use of the ancient Yoga tradition of Kundalini
can lead to states of ecstasy, Ehrenwald (34) quotes one such experience: 'I experienced a rocking sensation and felt myself slipping
out of my body. I felt the point of my consciousness that was myself
growing wider and wider . . . while my body . . . appeared to have
receded into the distance.'
Lukianowicz (85) describes the role of the shaman in the circumpolar area, in 'sending the soul'. The shaman becomes 'possessed' in
a self-induced trance and is then able to send his soul to distant places
to perform such useful acts as bringing back the soul of another
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member of his tribe. This unfortunate person who has lost his soul
remains in an hysterical stupor until his soul is returned. Alternatively, the shaman can send his soul to another place, far or near,
even to the moon, to find out what is going on there.
Clearly the members of these tribes find some value in this activity.
To Lukianowicz, writing in a psychiatric journal in 1958, 'It seems
to be quite obvious that this form of clairvoyance has only a pretending character, resembling the make-believe nature of the
imaginary companions in children.' But is this quite obvious? Need
we be convinced that the experiences described are entirely 'makebelieve' ? A more detailed study of some beliefs may help us to find
out.
In 1978 Dean Sheils (134) compared the beliefs of over 60 different
cultures by referring to special files kept for anthropological research.
These Human Relations Area Files contain information on many
cultures organized into topics, coded sentence by sentence and kept
on microfilm. For each culture he extracted any information relating
to the ability of a double or soul to travel without the physical body.
Of 54 cultures for which some information was reported, 25 (or 46%)
claimed that most or all people could travel in this way under
certain conditions. A further 23 or (43%) claimed that a few of
their number were able to do so, and only three cultures expressed
no belief in anything of this nature. In a further three cultures the
possibility of OBEs was admitted but the proportion of people
who could experience it was not given. From this superficial analysis
alone it can be seen that the belief, of some sort, is very common.
The Azande, in Africa, believe that the mbisimo, one of two
souls, can leave the body when it is asleep and travel, have adventures and meet other mbisimo. This is thought to be a common
occurrence and one that can occur to anyone, but it will not be
remembered on awakening. The Azande need to be woken carefully
to avoid the unpleasant experience of having the mbisimo return
too quickly to the body.
Another culture in which travelling is said to occur during sleep
is the Bacairi from South America. The andadura, or shadow, 'takes
off its shirt' during sleep. That is, it throws off the body. But there
is an important difference between the beliefs of the Azande and
the Bacairi. The African tribe do not equate dreams with the travels
of the soul, those travels are forgotten and dreams may be remembered. But for the Bacairi dreams are of great importance and are
The OBE in Other Cultures
73
interpreted as the real events experienced by the shadow. It is said
that on one occasion a whole village was thrown into panic when
one man dreamed that enemies were creeping upon the village.
Again, danger can result from too quick an awakening. Even death
may be caused because the shadow cannot return to its body in
time to sustain it. An echo of this kind of belief can even be seen
in our own culture. Falling and bumping sensations on awakening
are sometimes attributed to the 'astral body' or the soul returning too
quickly. There is also a superstition that if you reach the bottom
of the cliff in a 'falling dream' you will die.
Sheils reports several other cultures who believe that a soul or
double travels in sleep. These include the Andamanese from a little
island in West Asia, who believe that the ot-jumulo, or double, leaves
the body in sleep; the Cuna from South America whose purba, or
soul, leaves the body, and the Burmese who call their travelling
counterpart the butterfly, a name which suits it well since they
believe it to be fragile and easily hurt.
It seems that as many cultures interpret dreams as OBEs as those
who do not. And there are some, like the Burmese with their
'butterfly', who distinguish two types of dream. For them the dreams
in the early part of the night, on first falling asleep, are called 'false
dreams'. Later there may be mixed dreams, and it is only those
which occur in the early hours of the morning that are called 'true
dreams' and interpreted as memories of the journeys of the butterfly.
But in addition to sleep other conditions may lead to an OBE
type, of experience. The bush Negroes of South America believe
that a slip or fall may occasionally result in projection. In Indonesia
it is believed that extreme anger, especially in children, can cause
the soul to become separated from the body. The North American
Maya believe that the soul travels to the afterworld shortly before
death and the African Mossi hold that illness or intense sorrow can
also be a cause. But beliefs such as these are relatively rare in
comparison with the occurrence during sleep. This is most interesting
when compared with the cases from our own culture which we have
considered so far, many of which seemed to have been brought about
by a variety of types of trauma, shock or illness, or by deliberate
effort.
The notion that one may induce an OBE deliberately is not
entirely absent from the cultures included by Sheils, though it is
usually confined to certain types of people. Often only shamans
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can do it, sometimes by using special drugs or methods for inducing
a trance. But as well as the shaman other categories of people may
be regarded as more prone to OBEs. In several cultures the very old
are mentioned; and more commonly, children or the very young.
Where does the soul or double go during these expeditions?
According to the theory of astral projection the astral body travels
in the astral world. According to other theories it does not travel
at all. We can compare this with the reports from other cultures.
Of those described by Sheils there were several who believed that the
soul could only travel in earthly places, others who believed it could
move in the world of the dead or spirits, and others who could
include both. Sometimes ordinary people may only travel in earthly
locations while the shaman, the specially trained or the dying may
commune with the afterworld.
For example, the Tikopia believe that the double can visit far-off
lands because it moves about so quickly that it effectively annihilates
distance; and in addition to travelling on earth the double can visit
heaven and meet the spirits of people long dead. The Maltese have
a rather nasty tradition according to which only people who are
born on Christmas Eve are gaugau; on Christmas Eve they may
travel the countryside moaning and frightening people and then
return with no memory of having done so. Among those to whom
projection is only to 'higher' levels are the Apache whose souls are
said to travel to the 'camps of the dead'. Finally, among the
Pukapukans most people are confined to earthly levels except for
shamans who can visit the underworld.
I have referred to the soul, spirit, and double as though all these
terms meant the same thing, but of course different concepts are
used in different cultures and there is also variation in the forms
which the travelling portion of man is believed to take. We have
seen that in some cases from our culture there is a complete replica
of the physical body, while in others the OBEers seem to be a vague
shape or no more than a point in space. The Lepcha, from Western
Asia, describe the soul as the mirror image of the physical body and
the Marquesans believe that it has the same appearance as the
physical, but other descriptions include a 'whirlwind', of malicious
and vicious temperament or the forms of animals or insects.
The connection between the soul and body may vary too. In
many cultures it is thought that any damage inflicted upon the soul
may be felt in the physical body too. But there was only one culture
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75
in Sheils's sample, the Kol, from India, in which mention was made
of a 'thin cord' joining the projected soul to the body.
It should be remembered that all this information was drawn
from cards collected together by a large number of investigators
who were not necessarily especially interested in OBEs and who
could not therefore be expected to make great efforts to establish
exactly what the beliefs were. One might expect to obtain more
detailed information from a traveller with a particular interest in
OBEers.
Alastair Mcintosh worked for two years as a volunteer teacher
and then deputy headmaster at a school near Kerema in the Gulf
Province of Papua New Guinea. While he was there he worked on
a small hydro-electric project and of course he got to know the
schoolboys and other workers who were building new classrooms. In
the evenings they would all sit together telling stories and Alastair
took the opportunity to ask them about their beliefs. He asked, "Do
your people believe it is possible for a person's spirit to leave his
body for a short time while he is alive?', and also 'What happens to
a person's spirit when his body dies?' (89b).
He was able to ask these questions of members of three groups,
the Elema, the Gulf Kamea and the Rigo peoples. The Elema were
happy to talk about their beliefs and described how the spirit leaves
the body at death to stay close to the village for about a week or
until the main funeral rites are over, before leaving for the spirit
world. (Some believed this spirit world to be a foreign country somewhere to the west!) It was also thought that sorcerers were able to
induce OBEs and to travel anywhere, communicate with spirits and
work magic while their body remained cataleptic. Interestingly,
when Mcintosh was lucky enough to spend some time talking to a
sorcerer, the grandfather of one of his students, he found that the
man was no OBE adept, though he told him a good deal about
magic and ritual; quite frequently, it seems, the claims of the sorcerer
are far more modest than the abilities their fellow men attribute to
them and fear of them. Like many of the cultures we have already
considered, this sorcerer said that the spirit leaves the body in sleep
but that the traveller always forgets this on waking, and dreams are
not the product of such wanderings but are given by spirit ancestors.
Asked about OBEs under other conditions, one boy said, 'If you
are walking through the bush and suddenly somebody steps out
from behind a tree and puts a hand on you, your body will jump.
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The spirit also jumps, but it jumps higher than the body and so
for a short time the two separate.' A particularly interesting suggestion was that 'the spirit may leave the body in search of drinking
water if a person is so ill that he cannot walk to water and has
nobody attending him' (89b p. 463)- particularly interesting because,
as we shall see later, one of the ways suggested for inducing an OBE
is to go without water in the hope that the 'astral body' will leave
the sleeping and thirsty physical in search of some.
The people of the Gulf Kamea told a very different story. In fact
it was almost impossible to get them to tell any story at all. But once
they had all conferred together and tried to understand what was
being asked of them they said, with some embarrassment, that as
far as they were concerned the spirit dies along with the body. For
them death is the end of all existence.
Finally, of these three groups, the Rigo from the Central Province
described well-developed beliefs in OBEs. They distinguished two
types, the dreaming and sleeping OBE and the magic type. Only
the magic type were said to be 'real' and were induced by sorceresses.
Many tales of the exploits of the Samarai sorceresses, or 'flying
witches', from the Milne Bay Province in the southeast were told.
One doubting Rigo boy was invited to sleep with his girlfriend's
mother, a sorceress, so that she could show him that it was possible.
In his sleep she took him back to Rigo, some 250 miles and as proof
carried back a bunch of bananas from his father's garden. He said
that his father thought they had been stolen until he was told the
story.
Of course we have no corroboration for this story; but it is
interesting in many aspects, not least for the tale of the 'magic
cotton'. The 'magic cotton' keeps the body and spirit connected
during the flight and acts 'like a fishing line', remaining taut but
extending indefinitely as the spirit travels. The Rigos believe that
if it is broken when the spirit is far away the body will die, but on
returning to the body, in an interesting analogy with birth, the
sorceress herself must break the cotton in order to re-enter the
body. The boy who travelled to his father's garden apparently had
great trouble when the cotton became entangled, but eventually he
succeeded in breaking it and returning to his body.
This belief is all the more interesting because it is so rare. It bears
many resemblances, apart from the necessity for breaking it, to the
'silver cord', but it seems that the Rigo are one of the few peoples
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77
to have any such belief. Muldoon and Carrington (97b) cited the
Tahitians as believing in a vapoury cord and Crookall (26h) describes
the 'magic cords' of the Australian aborigine 'clever men', but as we
have seen Sheils found only one culture in his sample, with any
related belief. The Rigo also have well-developed beliefs about the
nature of the travelling spirit. Apparently it can take the exact same
form as the physical body, or with further magic it can take on the
form of a bird or flying fox (fruit bat), or of a light. This light can
be small to football-sized, shaped like a shooting star with a tail, and
the faster it moves the more it twinkles brightly in colours of yellow,
red or blue. This sounds a fanciful description but remember that
Muldoon claimed that at the intermediate moving speed light was
thrown off behind the moving astral body, and Crookall mentions
something similar.
There are many other accounts from different cultures which
may or may not have some bearing on the OBE. Carlos Castaneda
was a student in California who travelled to Mexico in search of
information on the use of hallucinogenic drugs. He subsequently
wrote several books on his supposed apprenticeship to the sorcerer
Don Juan (19), I say 'supposed' because doubt has been cast on
the veracity of the stories (28) but whether or not there is such a
man as his Don Juan, Castaneda has described some fascinating
experiences. Among them are 'flights' of many kinds, some from
which he returned to find his body as he left it, and others from
which he had a long walk home. Such drug-induced adventures can
be found in many cultures. Rogan Taylor (147) has suggested that
the whole tradition of flying Father Christmas and his reindeer may
have evolved from the intoxication by fly agaric mushrooms in
northeastern Siberia. The tribes there depend on reindeer for food
and clothing and their one intoxicant is the mushrooms which send
them 'flying'. Even the colour of Father Christmas's cloak suggests
the red and white mushroom.
This brief exploration into the beliefs of other cultures has necessarily been selective, but it is enough to answer one of the questions
posed. Yes, beliefs in OBEs are widespread and come from cultures
as different as the most developed western nations and some which
have barely changed in thousands of years. What is more difficult to
answer is why. Is it because we all have a travelling double, or is
there some other reason? There are four main contenders, as follows:
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Beyond the Body
1. The theory of astral projection (or other theories involving the
separation of a double from the physical body).
2. 'Social control' and 'crisis' theories.
3. Dream theory.
4. Psychological theories of the OBE.
Many authors have come to the conclusion that only the first of
these can account for the similarities between the beliefs of such
widely separated cultures. These include Sheils and Mcintosh as
well as Muldoon and Carrington and Crookall. I believe that the
last theory is preferable, but let me consider the arguments used.
On the basis of the evidence he collected Sheils rejected the
second type of theory. This suggests, for example, that many
cultures may hold beliefs of this kind in order to use the occurrence
of the experience as a form of social control, in reward or punishment to maintain the norms of the society. Many cultures certainly
use the threat of the wrath of the gods, to keep behaviour in line.
Angry ancestral spirits may visit a misbehaver and so frighten him
into submission. If this kind of social control were the reason for
belief in OBEs we should expect to see many instances in which the
occurrence of an OBE was used in this way. Mcintosh (99b) tells
a story of a boy called Daniel in the Trobriand Islands who had hurt
a friend in a fight over a cricket bat. That night he had a terrible
nightmare. The friend's grandmother, whom he described as a
'champion flying witch', was flying around his bed and trying to
swallow him up in her enormous mouth. His screams brought help
from his friends but even then when awake he saw a fiery square
moving towards him and knew that the witch was still there. Two
days later the grandmother arrived from the island on which she
lived and told the boy that she had come to frighten him to ensure
that he would not hurt her grandson again. Now she made the two
share food together to reform their friendship. As Mcintosh points
out there could be a number of 'normal' explanations for this story,
but it does show a possible use of OBEs as a means of social control.
Sheils describes two societies in which OBEs are treated in this kind
of way. For the Mundurucu projection is very dangerous and may
occur if any important social norm is violated. The Vietnamese
believe that if the khi or soul Leaves the body it will become ill and
this is a way of punishing the body for 'bad deeds'.
However, Sheils describes two, and only two, such societies. The
The OBE in Other Cultures
79
use of OBEs as a means of social control is rare and does not seem
to contribute significantly to overall occurrence of the phenomenon.
Another possibility that Sheils considered was the 'crisis' theory:
that is, that OBEs might be used as a means of providing people
with a sense of control over situations which they could not in fact
control. Many magical methods are used to provide a semblance
of control over the weather, the failure of crops or illness, but as
Sheils found no evidence that OBEs were ever used in this way he
dismissed the theory.
The third type of theory maintains that OBEs are so widely
believed in because they are a way by which people try to account
for the universal experiences of dreaming. Sheils specifically refers
to Tylor's dream theory of the soul and calls it the Goliath of alternative explanations. Roughly speaking, this theory holds that primitive man, when confronted with his own dreams, tried to explain
such occurrences as meeting with friends or enemies in a dream, or
even speaking with the dead, or travelling to distant places. In an
attempt to explain these otherwise impossible feats he came to the
conclusion that something, the spirit, of the dead person had survived his physical death. In a similar way he might conclude that
when he dreamed of travelling to distant places it was actually his
soul or spirit which had done the travelling.
If this theory were correct we should expect to find that most
cultures interpreted dreams as OBEs, or that those which did held
different beliefs about OBEs from those who did not. In addition
we should not expect specific and common OBE beliefs to be based
on experiences claimed to occur during waking states. The evidence
shows quite the opposite. As Sheils demonstrates, only 14 of the
cultures he studied (that is 32% of the total) equated dreams with
OBEs. As we have already seen many do not, and some specifically
distinguish between dreams and OBEs. In addition there are many
stories of OBEs occurring when the person was awake, and the stories
and beliefs surrounding dreaming OBEs and waking OBEs show
remarkable similarities, so that one is tempted to think that they
stem from a common basis. All this indicates weaknesses in the
dream theory. Attempts to interpret dreaming may be an important
stimulus to belief in OBEs, but they cannot explain why such beliefs
are so common or why specific details are similar in cultures separated
by continents, oceans, and vastly different life-styles.
The argument for the first theory seems to depend a good deal
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Beyond the Body
on the similarities between the experiences, but these are arguable.
Crookall (26h) gives an impressive-sounding list of cultures in which
a cord, tape, or ribbon is mentioned, but he also includes bridges,
sticks and posts, and in any case he has taken them all from Eliade's
list of symbols used by shamans for the ascent into 'Paradise'.
Crookall argues that Eliade did not know about the 'objective' cords,
but we could equally well argue that Eliade was correct in calling
them symbols. Also we have seen that belief in a connecting cord
is not common, and the appearance of a cord is not even common
in OBEs in our own culture. As with many of these details it is hard
to know just how similar the beliefs are. Crookall's argument is
certainly not as convincing as it may initially appear.
Having considered the evidence and alternative theories Mcintosh
and Sheils come to similar conclusions. Mcintosh concludes that
the cross-cultural similarities lend support to the classical astral
projection theory (or 'CAP', as he calls it). However he argues that
we should need to find very close and detailed correspondences on
such matters as the silver cord and the appearance of the double
for CAP theory to be justified, and he concludes that CAP is not the
only viable theory. Sheils rejects the three 'social science' explanations
he considered and prefers the possibility that, in his own words, 'the
specificity and generality of OBE beliefs is simply a response to a
genuine event; i.e., the actual occurrence of an OBE'.
Crookall argues that the widespread similarity of experiences is
evidence of an objective double, and Carrington (97b) asks his reader
compare the experiences of the Tahitians with those of Muldoon:
How could S.M. . . . living in a small town in Wisconsin (and having read
nothing of the subject) have made these identical observations in his early
'teens - noting the form and method of egress of the body, the cord
attaching the astral to the physical, the mode of travel and his reception on
the other side, when projected, and all the rest — if he had not undergone
identical projection experiences? It is preposterous to assume that these
were mere coincidences, or hallucinations, or that they had dream experiences which were so exactly similar. What had he in common with a Zulu
witch doctor which would make them think or dream alike in all these
respects? No! It is only logical to assume that they had similar experiences,
which they each noted in their own way; and these experiences were the
phenomena of astral projection . . . [97b pp. 23-4].
Ultimately all these authors are using the same basic argument. I
agree with them this far: that the widespread belief in OBEs and
The OBE in Other Cultures
81
the consistency in its description, suggests that OBEs do occur not
just in our own society but in many others. This is only reasonable.
If large numbers of people describe an experience and we have no
good reason to believe that they were lying or making it up we
should be perverse if we did not start by believing that they did
experience it. When a child wakes from a terrible nightmare we do
not try to tell him that he did not dream, or when a friend tells us
of beautiful visions when taking an hallucinogenic drug we do not
try to convince him that he did not see them. No, we usually accept
the experience as genuine. However, what we need not accept, at
least without further confirmation, is the proferred interpretation.
Having ruled out the 'social control', 'crisis' and dream theories
two of the original suggestions remain: the 'astral projection theory'
favoured by many previous writers, and what I have referred to as
a psychological theory of the OBE. This would involve no necessity
for anything to travel anywhere and would explain the experience
in terms of imagery, hallucination, and memory. According to such
a theory the similarity between the experiences would be a result of
the similar nervous systems and psychological processes in different
people. Clearly this would not be satisfactory to Crookall or to
Carrington. Indeed as it stands it says little, but certainly a theory
along these lines could potentially account for the similarities. Later
on I shall consider such a theory in more detail and only then will
it be possible to make a fair comparison between that and the 'astral
projection' interpretation.
For the moment it is sufficient to note that OBEs and related
experiences have been reported from widely different cultures, as
have beliefs in other bodies beyond the physical. And this is just one
of the interesting facts which we shall have to take into consideration
when trying to decide just what does happen in an OBE.
9
Surveys of the OBE
One of the first questions my own OBE prompted me to ask Was,
'how common are these experiences?' A case collection cannot
answer this question, but a survey can. I have distinguished case
collections from surveys on the basis that in the former cases may
come from any source, but in the latter an attempt is made to
sample a specific population and to ask the same questions of a
number of people. When this is done questions can be answered
about the frequency with which the experiences are reported, the
types of people most prone to them, and their characteristics. There
have been several surveys of the OBE, but before discussing their
results it is as well to consider some of the problems they have to face.
To find out, for example, how common the OBE is we may ask
a number of people whether or not they have had one. Ideally we
might want to ask every individual in a given population a question
such as 'Have you ever had an OBE ?' In practice, of course, we can
only ask a sample of those people and the sample chosen may not
be representative of the whole in terms of age, sex, occupation and,
naturally, the incidence of OBEs, among the people asked. Not
all these factors need be relevant, but in any case there are the
problems of choosing a sample and avoiding a sampling bias. In
particular, if the sample chosen is very small any results obtained are
less likely to be dependable.
Having chosen the sample one asks the question. But which
question? Is it to be in written form, or asked personally by an
interviewer? How should it be worded? Asked simply, 'Have you ever
had an OBE?' many people would not understand, and so be incapable of answering honestly. How they answer may then depend
on the 'demand characteristics' of the situation: that is, what they
think is expected of them, and so on. At the extreme, the question
'You haven't had one of those weird OBEs have you?' is likely to
produce different answers from 'OBEs are very common experiences
Surveys of the OBE
83
among all normal people, have you had one?' The situation, the
time of day, the place or even the weather may affect people's replies
or convey an expected or 'preferred' answer.
Finally, if the question is asked personally the interviewer may
convey something of his expectations or biases by his tone of voice,
and manner, and the type of person he is seen to be may be relevant.
A young and attractive interviewer may have a different effect on
respondents of the opposite sex than those of the same sex. An older
person may feel more comfortable answering such 'personal' questions
in the presence of another his own age or sex. So the interviewer's
age, sex, clothing, perceived status and so on, may all affect the ease
with which he receives an honest reply.
With all these complications to consider we cannot accept at face
value the truth or generalizability of the answers given by a group
of people to even one question. We must acknowledge possible
sources of bias due to the sample of people asked, the question used,
the situation in which it was asked and the person (if any) who asked
it. However, all this should not lead us to despair of ever drawing any
conclusions from the results of surveys; only to treat any conclusions
with care. Bearing these problems in mind we can examine the few
surveys there have been and the questions they have attempted to
answer.
1. Incidence: how common is the OBE ?
We may read such phrases as 'the OBE seems to be a rather common
phenomenon' (124f p. 17) or 'it is a common psychical experience'
(139 p. 1); but only a survey can tell us just how common it is. The
first survey was carried out by Hornell Hart, at Duke University (60a).
In a pilot study a 'representative sample' of sociology students was
asked a number of questions on psychic matters embedded among
other questions. One hundred and thirteen students were asked 'Have
you ever dreamed of standing outside of your body, or floating in the
air near your body?', to which 25% replied 'yes'. A further 42
students were asked another question 'Have you ever actually seen
your physical body from a viewpoint completely outside that body,
like standing beside the bed and looking at yourself lying in the bed,
or like floating in the air near your body?' This time 33% answered'
'yes'. Hart combined the two groups and concluded that 27%
reported having had an OBE.
But had they? Hart's first question asked whether the students
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Beyond the Body
had dreamed of being out of their body. According to the definition
used here we might choose either to include or exclude dreamed
OBEs, but if we include them we may have to include all sorts of
very common dreams in which the dream observer is not the same
as the dream actor, but these may only be recalled on waking and
have none of the qualities of 'realness' so often associated with waking
OBEs, or with lucid dreams. Hart's question, might also exclude
many OBEs. For example I would answer 'no', as in my OBEs I was
not dreaming, as far as I could tell. On the other hand I would answer
'yes' to his second question. So we can see that the two questions are
not equivalent. The wording was crucial. Hart's sample was small and
very restricted. We cannot assume that the answer would be the
same if a different group of people was asked. We can only say
that the results give a rough estimate of the incidence of OBEs.
Hart also surveyed another group. One hundred and eight people
in the audience at a lecture filled out a questionnaire and gave
percentages 'fairly similar' to those before. Unfortunately Hart does
not say which question was asked and nor does he elaborate on
'fairly similar'. Since the audience was at a lecture on psychical
research it probably consisted of people interested in this field, and
with more than an average number who had had OBEs. In other
words it was probably a biased sample, so no firm conclusions are
possible. Vague statements about the OBE being 'common' were
given some backing, but clearly better evidence is needed.
Green attempted to find out how common are OBEs among
students in England. She asked 115 undergraduates at the University
of Southampton the question, 'Have you ever had an experience in
which you felt you were "out of your body"?' 22 of these, or 19%,
said 'yes' (49a). In a second survey she asked 380 Oxford undergraduates a similar question 'Have you ever had an experience in
which you felt you were out of your body?' (the only difference
being in the inverted commas). Of this group 131, or 34% said
'yes' (49b).
How likely are these estimates to be accurate, and why are they
different? In my opinion the question asked was fair. Unlike Hart's
questions it does not specify whether 'dreaming' or not, nor does it
stress 'actually' out of the body. The respondent only has to say he
'felt' that he was. It may be rather a loose question, but so is the
definition of the OBE; I think it is a good one. The samples, however, were not so satisfactory. In the Southampton study the ques-
Surveys of the OBE
85
tionnaire was given to those who attended a previously advertised
talk on 'extra-sensory perception'; they would probably be biased in
the direction of an interest in the paranormal and would probably
include more than a representative number who had had OBEs.
Green argues that: the bias may be in either direction. ' . . . It might
equally have been the case that the notices attracted those who were
inimical to the idea of ESP and that these came to criticise the
speaker. There would seem to be no way of deciding what was the
bias, if any' (49b p. 361). This may be so for attitudes to ESP but
I would argue that any bias would be far more likely to lead to an
overestimate of the number of OBEs.
The same can be said of Green's second sample. As the students
were volunteers for ESP experiments, we might expect them to have
had more than their fair share of OBEs. As for why the percentages
differ so much, I can offer no plausible explanation. As the samples
appear to be biased it is quite possible that one is more biased than
the other, but any such speculation can be only post hoc. Green
herself does not offer any explanation. I think we can only accept
these as estimates - and probably overestimates, by an unknown
amount - of the incidence of OBEs among students.
Two surveys have used properly balanced samples drawn from
specified populations. The first was conducted by Palmer and Dennis
(111, 1 lOd). They chose the inhabitants of Charlottesville, Virginia, a
town of some 35,000 people, as their test population and selected 1,000
of these as their sample. The University of Virginia at Charlottesville accounts for a large part of the population and so students and
townspeople were sampled in the appropriate ratio. Seven hundred
townspeople were selected from the city directory and 300 students
from the University directory, using computer-generated random
numbers. A questionnaire on 'psychic experiences' was sent, by mail,
to each person and of these 534 of the townspeople (51%) and 268
of the students (89%) returned usable replies. The question on OBEs
was worded as follows: 'Have you ever had an experience in which
you felt that "you" were located "outside of" or "away from" your
physical body; that is, the feeling that your consciousness, mind, or
center of awareness was at a different place than your physical body?
(If in doubt, please answer "no".)' To this.25% of the students and
14% of the townspeople said 'yes'.
As before we must ask how reliable these estimates are likely to
be. The sample was well selected, and although not all questionnaires
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Beyond the Body
were returned this is unlikely to have biased the results. In the case
of the students the return rate was 89% which is very high for a
survey of this kind. And although for the townspeople it was less
satisfactory (51%), Palmer sent the questionnaire altogether three
times to people who did not respond at first. As subsidiary analysis
showed no progressive changes in the pattern of responses across
the three sets of returns, he concluded that those who never returned
them at all would not give markedly different answers.
We may then wonder why the students gave the much higher
figure. Since they were probably younger, on average, they could
have been expected to report fewer experiences, having had less
time in which to have them. But there are other possibilities. Perhaps
they could more clearly recall childhood experiences than older
people. Perhaps they had taken more psychoactive drugs than the
townspeople, and these had occasioned the experiences. Perhaps there
are differences in social pressures between the groups. Reporting an
OBE may be seen as desirable within 1970s student society but be
considered with less approval by the townspeople. If this were the
reason for the difference it would imply that it was largely artificial
rather than due to genuine differences in incidence.
Further data from this survey allow us to pursue these possibilities - a benefit of this kind of survey. The students were younger
(almost all were under 30) but no relationship between age and
reported OBEs was found. Although the question of social pressure
cannot be answered, there is evidence that drug-taking was important. One question asked whether respondents had ever used
' "mind-expanding" drugs or medicines', and if so whether they had
had any psi-related experiences while under their influence. Seven
per cent of the townspeople and 32% of the students said they had.
This is likely to be a considerable underestimate, as the respondents
might have feared legal complications if they said 'yes'.
Palmer found that drug use was a poor predictor of most psirelated experiences; but in the student sample he found a significant
positive relationship between drug use and OBEs and concluded
that this could account for the higher prevalence of OBEs in students.
Of course the OBEs did not necessarily occur while under the influence of the drugs but they may have facilitated such experiences.
In fact 13% of the townspeople and 2 1 % of the students who
reported OBEs said they had had at least one when taking drugs.
That there is a relationship between drug use and OBEs receives
Surveys of the OBE
87
confirmation from work by Tart (146c). In a survey of 150 marijuana
users he found that 44% claimed to have OBEs. Since this is well
above the percentage claimed so far for any other group it seems
possible that the use of this drug facilitates OBEs. Of course there
may be other reasons for the high figure. The people who are most
likely to have OBEs may be just the same kind of people as those
who are likely to take marijuana. Since the survey was specifically
of drug users the results cannot be directly compared with those
of other surveys. Nevertheless, taken together with Palmer's findings
it seems at least possible that certain drugs encourage OBEs and that
is why his students claimed more of them.
The second survey using a properly constructed sample was carried
out by Erlendur Haraldsson, an Icelandic researcher, and his colleagues at the University of Iceland in Reyjkavic (58). Iceland is a
small country with a population of only about 210,000 people.
For the survey a questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 1157
persons between the ages of 30 and 70 years, selected from the
National Registry. When those residing abroad, the deceased and
so on were excluded there were 1132 persons in the survey. After
three mailings and a follow-up by phone calls and even visits, a
return rate of 80% was achieved. There were 53 questions on various
psychic and psi-related experiences including a translation of
Palmer's question. To this, only 8% of the Icelanders replied yes.
Does this low figure reflect a feature of the Icelandic people? If
so, it is an odd one because in the same survey it was found that the
Icelanders reported more of all sorts of other experiences than the
Americans had done. Could they have understood something
different by the question? This is very difficult to assess, and leads
us to another problem which may apply to all the surveys: the
possibility of a bias arising because people who have had an OBE
understand the question better than those who have not, regardless
of how carefully worded is the question.
Let me explain this in more detail. If a person who has had an
OBE is asked a question about it, for example Palmer's question, he
will know immediately what is being talked about, will recognize
his own experience, and reply 'yes'. He is very unlikely to say 'no'
and there will be few false negatives. On the other hand the person
who has not had an OBE is less likely to understand the question
because he has nothing in his own experience to help him. Many
will say 'no'; perhaps most will, but some may be unable to imagine
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Beyond the Body
an OBE and answer 'y es ' on t u e basis of dreams or daydreams.
There will therefore be some false positives and overall this effect
will tend to produce an overestimate of the incidence of OBEs. The
effect will be greatest where there is most ambiguity in the question,
or least knowledge about OBEs in the group being asked; or when
for any reason the respondents are most likely to misunderstand the
question. It was presumably for this reason that Palmer added 'If
in doubt, please answer "no"', but this cannot be expected to
exclude the effect entirely.
Table 2 Surveys of the OBE
It should be possible to find out whether this effect is important.
Two surveys are relevant here. In a parapsychology course at the
Surveys of the OBE
89
University of Surrey I gave students a questionnaire each year from
1976 to 1979. This included the question, 'Have you ever had an
out-of-the-body experience?' All the students knew about OBEs, had
attended a lecture on the subject, and had heard cases discussed. I
doubt that any could have misunderstood the question. It is therefore interesting that overall only 13% claimed to have had an OBE
(see Table 2). In a pilot study with students who did not know
about parapsychology 11 out of 33, or 33% claimed to have had an
OBE (9d). This seemed to indicate a difference, but was probably
spurious because in a second, larger, study, 115 students at the
University of Bristol were asked the same question, with only a
definition of the OBE given. Of these 14% had had an OBE. So it
seems that it makes little difference whether the students know a lot
about OBEs beforehand. This was further confirmed in a study
carried out to compare two groups, one given some detailed information about the OBE, and one told nothing. In this study both groups,
students at the University of Amsterdam, included 18% who said
they had had an OBE.
Individually the studies of these different groups all suffer from
problems. The parapsychology students might be expected to have
a special interest in OBEs and possibly to report more of them.
Also none of the groups was very large, but overall we get a picture
showing that 13% of the British students, and 18% of the Dutch
ones claim to have had an OBE regardless of how much they were
told about the phenomenon beforehand.
Another survey was carried out on the other side of the earth,
with Australian students. Irwin (65a) gave a simplified version of
Palmer's questionnaire on psychic experiences to students on a
psychology course at the University of New England. The OBE
question was the same as Palmer's and to this 36 out of 177 students,
that is 20%, said yes. But Irwin did not accept this as the true
incidence of OBEs. He also asked for descriptions of the putative
OBEs which allowed him to exclude some. Of the 36, five gave
descriptions which Irwin considered were not OBEs; another nine
gave descriptions too vague to allow definite categorization; and
one gave no description. Using the more stringent criterion only
21, or 12%, were counted as having had an OBE. Like Palmer,
Irwin had included the 'If in doubt, please answer "no"', but
clearly this is no safe way of excluding all errors. So it seems that
with a stricter criterion for what counts as an OBE the incidence
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Beyond the Body
falls considerably. Finally, Kohr (74) gave Palmer's questionnaire
to members of the Association for Research and Enlightenment.
Over 400 responded and 50% claimed to have had an OBE, but
this very high figure is not surprising given the fact that these people
were especially interested in the subject.
So what is the incidence of OBEs? The exact figure obtained will
depend on who is asked, what question is asked,and when and where.
But we can draw some conclusions. The results of eleven surveys have
been discussed and are all presented for comparison in Table 2. The
percentages range from 8% to 50%.
In general the earlier surveys suffered from more problems in
terms of the samples used and the questions asked, but none is
perfect, and we are left with several estimates. Since there are reasons
to believe that many of the figures may be overestimates, I would
guess that the lower figures are more accurate. Also we know that
students tend to give higher figures, and most surveys have used
students, so the percentage for other people may be lower. But how
accurate do we want our answer to be? There comes a point when
increasing accuracy is not worth the effort expended. If we try for
ever better surveys we may get more accurate estimates of incidence
but we shall have to specify ever more closely the criterion of an
OBE and finally the definition. For ultimately, if we ask a person
X. has or has not had an OBE we need a very well-specified definition
of an OBE in order to answer, and this raises all the problems of
definition already discussed. I would conclude that these surveys,
with all their problems and inadequacies, have enabled us to answer
the first question fairly well. Those vague statements about OBEs
being 'common' are now backed up by a variety of figures. If I had
to give a personal estimate of the incidence of OBEs, based on all
the available evidence, I would put it at around 10%. Others
would undoubtedly place it higher, but all in all I think we can
now say with more conviction that the OBE is a fairly common
experience!
2. The distribution of OBEs
In the case collections we saw that while some people had only one
OBE in a lifetime, others had many and could even learn to induce
them at will. By conducting a survey it is possible to find out what
proportion of people report different numbers of OBEs. In my own
student surveys exactly half of those who reported an OBE had had
Surveys of the OBE
91
more than one. But of well over 300 students only two claimed to
be able to induce one at will. In Palmer's survey over 80% of his
OBEers, both students and townspeople, had had more than one
experience and 20% claimed to have induced one at will, which is
a rather different finding. Of Kohr's OBEers 72% had had multiple
OBEs. Then in comparison Green, in her case collection, found
that only 39% had had more than one OBE; different again. So
there is no clear picture to emerge here. One thing can be said
though. If a person has had one OBE he or she is more likely to
have another. All these figures are far higher than you would
expect if OBEs were distributed at random in the population. So
we can conclude either that certain people are more likely to have
OBEs, and so to have more than one as well, or that once a person
has had an OBE he has learnt something which enables him to have
another more easily. It could be that people who have had them are
keen to have another and so try harder than other people, although
of course some OBEers do not want any more - one is quite enough !
If there are certain types of people who are more prone to OBEs this
too should be detectable from the results of surveys, and indeed some
surveys have been conducted with this in mind.
3. The people who have OBEs
Having found a 34% 'yes' response to her initial question Green
went on to compare different groups to see whether they had had
different numbers of OBEs. In both Southampton and Oxford
students she found no difference according to whether they were
'arts' or 'science' students, male or female, or had been to different
types of school. Her only finding was that OBEers were more likely
to report experiences which they thought could only be attributed
to ESP. This same effect was found by both Palmer and Kohr. Of
course Green's subjects were a biased sample in the first place, but
Palmer's group can be considered as more representative both of
OBEs and of the population he used.
Palmer and Kohr found that subjects who reported one type of
'psychic' or 'psi-related' experience also tended to report others. Of
course this could be due either to a genuine occurrence of all types
of psi-related experiences in the same people, or to some non-specific
tendency for certain people either to report more of all sorts of
experiences or to interpret everyday occurrences more frequently
as 'psychic'. Very little is known about the way in which such
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experiences come to be labelled as 'psychic' or 'paranormal'. Clearly
some people, wanting strongly to believe in their own psychic ability,
will interpret almost any tiny coincidence as 'psychic'. Others, extremely sceptical, will put the most extraordinary events down to
chance. The first of these is sometimes seen as pathological, but HttL
is known about the variations between the extremes. And these
variations could certainly be responsible for large differences in the
answers given to questions in the survey.
This may lead us to wonder whether the same effect might be
responsible for the large numbers of people reporting multiple and
varying OBEs. Could it be that they just have a tendency to
'overinterpret' their experience, or to want to claim more? If this
were so we should expect that less multiple OBEs would be reported
in surveys in which the criterion was more strict. Potentially this
could be investigated, but Irwin does not report multiple OBEs, and
in my surveys there seems to be little difference according to whether
the students knew a lot about OBEs or not. So we cannot be definite
about this point.
Palmer also, like Green, found that many simple variables were
irrelevant. Sex, age, race, birth order, political views, religion,
religiosity, education, occupation and income were all unrelated to
OBEs. There was one exception in marital status but given the very
large numbers of analyses this was probably spurious. Haraldsson
does not report these details for OBEs alone, but I think it is fair to
say that these simple subject variables do not allow us to decide
who is more likely to have an OBE.
4. Other questions
Potentially, many other questions could be answered by using a
survey. I gave some of my subjects an ESP test and showed that
their results were not related to whether they had had an OBE or
not. Palmer found significant relationships between OBEs and practising meditation, mystical experiences and, as we have already seen,
drug experiences. He then went on to find out more details about
the OBEs reported. This was possible because he had used a much
larger sample than most surveys. Palmer had over 100 people reporting one or more OBEs, and asked them various questions about
the experience. They were asked whether they had seen their
physical body from 'outside' and this was reported for 44% of the
experiences and by nearly 60%, of the OBEers. It therefore seems
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93
that this feature, though common, is certainly not universal. Far
fewer OBEers than this reported travelling to a distant place to 'hear'
or 'see' what was going on there. Fewer than 20% of experiences
involved 'travelling' and fewer than 30% of OBEers reported it. Still
fewer, as might be expected, reported that they had acquired information by ESP while 'out-of-the-body' (about 14% of people and
5% of experiences) or had appeared as an apparition to someone
else (less than 10% of OBEers). These results confirm the findings
of the case collections: that few OBEs include all the features of
a classical astral projection.
Osis (103f) gave a questionnaire to groups of parapsychology
teachers and other interested people. Any figures on incidence would,
of course, be heavily biased, but he was able to find out a lot about
the nature of the experience. For example, the subjects typically
reported rich visual experience with details sharply accentuated.
Most saw things in normal perspective but for many (40%) this
occasionally broke down producing 360° vision, seeing round corners
and so on, and half the subjects saw objects glowing or transparent,
or they saw auras around them. All these details may sound rather
bizarre and dream-like, but only 4% of this group claimed that their
experience was similar to dream imagery.
As for another body, 36% had one. 22% had something like a
'spaceless body', 14% were a ball or point and others varied. Overall
the OBE seemed to have had a highly beneficial effect on its
experiencers. Many claimed their fear of death was reduced, and
their mental health and social relationships improved. Ninety-five
per cent said they would like to have another OBE.
I have not mentioned two other important aspects of some surveys. Several have investigated the relationships between reporting
an OBE and the respondents' imagery ability, and several have asked
questions about lucid dreams and their relationship to the OBE.
Since these are important questions I shall return to them soon, but
first I would like to pursue some of the methods which have been
used to induce an OBE.
10 Inducing an OBE
I have mentioned several adepts who could induce an OBE at will,
and judging from the case collections and surveys many other people
can do the same. You may now be wondering what methods they
used and whether it is possible for anyone to learn to have an OBE.
In this chapter I shall discuss several of the methods which have
been recommended.
As we shall see, many of these use as a starting point techniques
designed to improve the novice's powers of relaxation, imagery, and
concentration. Many occultists have noted the importance of physical
relaxation in OBEs. It has even been suggested that relaxation is
essential to ensure a 'good' experience (12). The ideal state appears
to be one of physical relaxation, or even catalepsy, combined with
mental alertness. Meditators will find this state familiar and indeed
OBEs have occasionally been reported during meditation and yoga.
If you don't know how to relax, one of the easiest ways is to use
progressive muscular relaxation. In outline this consists of starting
with the muscles of the feet and ankles and alternately tensing and
relaxing them, then going on up the muscles of the calves and thighs,
the torso, arms, neck and face, until all the muscles have been contracted and relaxed. Done carefully this procedure leads to fairly
deep relaxation within a few minutes, and with practice it becomes
easier.
Many astral travellers have stressed the importance of clear
imagery or visualization for inducing OBEs and of course imagery
training forms an important part of magical development. Most
people have some ability to imagine, and later on I shall discuss
ways of measuring this ability, but for the moment just try this
simple task to see how effective your own imagery is. Read the
description slowly and then try to imagine each stage as you go along.
Imagine an orange. It is resting on a blue plate and you want to
eat it. You dig your nail into the peel and tear some of it away. You
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95
keep pulling off the peel until all of it, and most of the pith, is lying
in a heap on the plate. Now separate the orange into segments;, lay
them on the plate as well, and then eat one.
If this task does not make your mouth water, and if you cannot
feel the juice which inadvertently squirts from the orange, and
smell its tang then you do not have vivid or trained imagery. Try
it again with your eyes open and then with them closed to determine
which you find easier. The colours should be bright and vivid and
the shapes and forms clear and stable. With practice at this and
similar tasks your imagery will improve until you may wonder how
it could ever have been so poor.
Progressive methods of imagery training are often described in
magical and occult books, and helpful guidance can be found in
Conway's occuk primer (24), and in Brennan's Astral Doorways
(14). Most involve starting with regular practice at visualizing simple
geometrical shapes and then progressing to harder tasks such as
imagining complex three-dimensional forms, whole rooms and open
scenery. Imagining your body growing very large or very small,
changing shape or flitting in and out of solid objects, are also
popular feats. Here is a rather harder one.
Visualize a disc, half white and half black. Next imagine it spinning about its centre, speeding up and then slowing down, and
stopping. Next imagine the same disc in red, but as it spins it changes
through orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Finally you may care
to try two discs side by side spinning in opposite directions and
changing colour in opposition too. In my own training I found
that many of these tests, which seemed so very difficult to begin
with, soon became easier and easier. Of course no one but yourself
will know how well you are doing, but the change should be obvious
to you.
Other useful skills are concentration and control. Not only do you
need to be able to produce vivid imagery, but to abolish all imagery
from your mind, to hold images as long as you want and to change
them as you want, both quickly and slowly. Brennan (14) suggests
trying to count, and only to count. The instant another thought
comes to mind you must stop and go back to the beginning. If you
get to about four or five you are doing well, but you are almost
certain to be stopped by such thoughts as 'this is easy, I've got to
three already', or 'I wonder how long I have to go on'. Peopletrained
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in certain types of meditation will find this sort of thing easy, but for
others some practice is useful.
All these skills, relaxation, imagery and concentration, are suggested again and again as necessary for inducing an OBE at will.
Other aids include posture. If you lie down you might fall asleep,
although Muldoon (97a) advocates this position. On the other hand
discomfort will undoubtedly interfere with the attempt. Therefore
an alert, but comfortable posture is best. Some have suggested that
it is best not to eat for some hours before and to avoid any stress,
irritation or negative emotions. Alcohol is not helpful. Others suggest
long contemplation of the desire projection, but probably different
conditions suit each person and these can only be discovered by
practice. Bearing all of these things in mind, we may now turn to
some methods used for inducing an OBE.
1. Imagery techniques
It is possible to use imagery alone but it requires considerable skill.
There are two basic methods.
(a) Lie on your back in a comfortable position and relax. Imagine
that you are floating up off the bed. Hold that position, slightly
lifted, for some time until you lose all sensation of touching the bed
or floor. Once this is achieved move slowly upwards, floating
gradually higher above the body. Move slowly into an upright position and begin to travel away from your body and around the room.
Pay attention to the objects and details of the room. Only when you
have gained some proficiency should you try to turn round and
look at your own body.
Although I have often heard this method suggested, each stage
may take months of practice and it seems to me to be too difficult
for any but a practised OBEer. However, it can be useful in conjunction with other methods.
(b) In any comfortable position close your eyes and imagine that
there is a duplicate of yourself standing in front of you. You will
find that it is very hard to imagine your own face, so it is easier to
imagine this double with its back to you. You should try to observe
all the details of its posture, dress (if any) and so on. As this imaginary
double becomes more and more solid and realistic you may experience
some uncertainty about your physical position. You can encourage
this feeling by contemplating the question 'Where am I ?', or even
other similar questions 'Who am I? ' and so on. Once the double is
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97
clear and stable and you are relaxed, transfer your consciousness into
it. You should then be able to 'project' in this phantom created by
your own imagination. Again, each stage may take long practice.
If you try these exercises a question of theoretical importance takes
on practical significance. That is, what is the difference between
imagining you are having an OBE, and really having one? If you
imagine a double does this process bring about the separation of
the astral body in some way, as astral projection theory suggests, or
are all OBEs entirely imagination anyway? As far as the definition
of the OBE is concerned you are having one if you 'seem to be' out
of your physical body. Accordingly it is up to you to decide whether
you are or not. If you are strongly aware of your physical position
then you are not 'out of the body', but there are many stages in
between. Some adepts have claimed that it is obvious when you
have achieved the desired state, and that there is a clear difference
between imagination and the unimaginable clarity of the OBE state.
Others have found that in time they experienced states which could
be placed on a continuum from clearly imaginary and rather dim,
to brightly conscious and realistic. Are there then two types of
experience, 'imagination' and the true OBE? Or are there a wide
range of experiences with no dividing line being possible? We shall
keep returning to this question as we try to understand the OBE.
These are just two methods using imagination only, but there are
several more which extend and develop these in different ways. The
next five methods also involve visualization but as part of a more
specialized technique.
2. Inducing a special motivation to leave the body
You can trick yourself into leaving your body according to Muldoon
and Carrington (97a). They suggested that if the subconscious desires
something strongly enough it will try to provoke the body into moving
to get it, but if the physical body is immobilized, for example in
sleep, then the astral body may move instead. Many motivations
might be used but Muldoon advised against using the desire for
sexual activity which is distracting, or the harmful wish for revenge
or hurt to anyone. Instead he advocated using the simple and
natural desire for water - thirst. This has the advantages that it is
quick to induce, and it must be appeased.
What you have to do is to refrain from drinking for some hours
before going to bed. During the day increase your thirst by every
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means you can. Have a glass of water by you and stare into it,
imagining drinking, but not allowing yourself to do so. Then before
you retire to bed eat 'about an eighth of a teaspoonful 'of salt. Place
the glass of water at some convenient place away from your bed and
rehearse in your mind all the actions necessary to getting it, getting
up, crossing the room, reaching out for it, and so on. You must then
go to bed, still thinking about your thirst and the means of satisfying
it. The body must become incapacitated and so you should relax,
with slow breathing and heart rate and then try to sleep. With any
luck the suggestions you have made to yourself will bring about the
desired OBE.
Muldoon has described his results with this method (97a p. 129):
I dreamed that I was walking along a dusty road. It was a sweltering hot
day. I was thirsty, but could find no place to get a drink. I pulled off my
shirt and tried to moisten my mouth with the perspiration which it contained.
My thirst was increasing. I was becoming weak and blinded by the sun,
when finally I reached a farm-house. There was a windmill! I hurried as
fast as I could to the tank below it — but it was dry! I looked up at the
wheel above me and saw that it was not turning, and, knowing that it would
pump water if the wheel turned, I began to climb the structure, intending
to stand upon the platform at the top and turn the wheel by hand, and thus
pump some water into the tank, and then descend and drink it.
I began to climb up the ladder of the windmill. Just as I reached the
top, the wheel began to turn rapidly and, catching my clothing, threw me
outward through the air. I was glad (in the dream) that I was flying through
the air, for I could see that I was speeding toward a river near my home,
and that I should probably get a drink there. Soon I was by the river and
on my knees drinking. It was at this moment that I became clearly conscious, and I found myself in the astral body on the bank of the river.
In this way, through inducing the desire for drink, dreaming of
trying to get water, going upwards and outwards in the dream, and
finally becoming lucid or aware that it was a dream, Muldoon
achieved projection. However, I do not know of anyone else who has
succeeded with this technique and in my opinion it is not one of the
most pleasant or effective methods.
3. Ophiel's 'little system'
Ophiel (102) suggests that you pick a familiar route, perhaps between two rooms in your house, and memorize every detail of it.
Choose at least six points along it and spend several minutes each
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anOBE
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day looking at each one and memorizing it. Symbols, scents and
sounds associated with the points can reinforce the image. Once you
have committed the route and all the points to memory you should
lie down and relax while you attempt to 'project' to the first point.
If the preliminary work has been done well you should be able to
move from point to point and back again. Later you can start the
imaginary journey from the chair or bed where your body is, and
you can then either observe yourself doing the movements, or transfer
your consciousness to the one that is doing the moving. Ophiel describes further possibilities, but essentially if you have mastered the
route fully in your imagination you will be able to project along it
and with practice to extend the projection.
4. The Christos technique
This technique was originally developed as a means of contacting
'past lives'. G. M. Glaskin, an Australian journalist, tried it out with
his friends and popularized it in several books, starting with Windows
of the Mind (48). Subsequently the technique was adapted for inducing OBEs. The basic method is as follows.
Three people are needed: one as subject, and two to prepare him.
The subject lies down comfortably on his back in a warm and
darkened room. Soft lights and music can be used to produce a relaxing atmosphere. One helper then massages the subject's feet and
ankles, quite firmly, even roughly, while the other takes his head.
Placing the soft part of his clenched fist on the subject's forehead
he rubs it vigorously for several minutes. This should make the subject's head buzz and hum, and soon he should begin to feel slightly
disorientated. His feet tingle and his body may feel light or floaty,
or changing shape. The massage seems to produce something like
the effect of that childhood game in which you stand in a doorway
and try to push your arms up hard against the door frame.
When this stage is reached, the imagery exercises begin. The
subject is asked to imagine his feet stretching out and becoming
longer by just an inch or so. When he says he can do this he has to
let them go back to normal and do the same with his head, stretching it out beyond its normal position. Then, alternating all the time
between head and feet, the distance is gradually increased until he
can stretch both out to two feet or more. At this stage it should be
possible for him to imagine stretching out both at once, making him
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very long indeed, and then to swell up, filling the room like a huge
balloon. I have often found that subjects who thought they 'could
never do this sort of thing' suddenly found the sensations of swelling
and growing immensely amusing, or fascinating, and from this point
in the procedure felt less self-conscious. All this will, of course, be
easier for some people than others. It should be taken at whatever
pace is needed until each stage is successful. I have known people
complete this part in five minutes, or take more than fifteen minutes,
the essential thing though is to take it at the subject's preferred pace.
Next he is asked to imagine he is outside his own front door. He
should describe everything he can see in detail, with the colours,
materials of the door and walls, the ground, and the surrounding
scenery. He has then to rise above the house until he can see across
the surrounding countryside or city. To show him that the scene is all
under his control he should be asked to change it from day to night
and back again, watching the sun set and rise, and the lights go on
or off. Finally he is asked to fly off, and land wherever he wishes. For
most subjects their imagery has become so vivid by this stage that
they land somewhere totally convincing and are easily able to describe
all that they see.
When Glaskin used this technique the subjects supposedly landed
in a past life, but one can equally well land in a different place in
the present. Alistair Mcintosh (89a) describes several experiments
in which he used the Christos technique to induce lucid dreams or
OBEs, and his subjects seemed to travel to a variety of places. One
reportedly visited a friend's room and was able to describe someone
there whom she had never met.
You may wonder how the experience comes to an end, but usually
no prompting is required; the subject will suddenly announce 'I'm
here', or 'Oh, I'm back', and he will usually retain quite a clear recollection of all he said and experienced. But it is a good idea to take
a few minutes relaxing and getting back to normal.
I think it is interesting that this technique seems to be very effective in disrupting the subject's normal image of his body; of its
shape, size and position. It then guides and strengthens his own
imagery while keeping his body calm and relaxed. I think it is a
very useful method, but of course all the same old questions apply.
What is the role of imagination; does anything leave the body; and
is the Christos experience identical to, or similar to, other OBEs?
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5. Robert Monroe's method
In his book Journeys Out of the Body (93) Monroe describes a
complicated-sounding technique for inducing OBEs. In part it is
similar to other imagination methods, but it starts with induction
of the Vibrational state'. We have already heard that many spontaneous OBEs start with a feeling of shaking or vibrating. Monroe
deliberately induces this first. He suggests you do the following. First
lie down in a darkened room in any comfortable position, but with
your head pointing to magnetic north. Loosen clothing and remove
any jewellery or metal objects, but be sure to stay warm. Ensure that
you will not be disturbed and are not under any limitation of time.
Begin by relaxing and then repeat to yourself five times, 'I will
consciously perceive and remember all that I encounter during this
relaxation procedure. I will recall in detail when I am completely
awake only those matters which will be beneficial to my physical and
mental being.' Then begin breathing through half-open mouth.
With eyes closed look into the blackness at a spot about a foot
from your forehead, concentrating your consciousness on that point.
Move it gradually to three feet away, then six, and then turn it
90° upward, reaching above your head. Monroe orders you to
reach for the vibrations at that spot and then mentally pull them
into your head. These directions sound obscure but Monroe explains
in several different ways how to get the vibrations and then to
recognize them when they occur. 'It is as if a surging, hissing,
rythmically pulsating wave of fiery sparks comes roaring into your
head. From there it seems to sweep throughout your body, making
it rigid and immobile' (93 p. 205). In my experience this method
is easier than it sounds. I have found myself simultaneously aware
that my body was quite still and relaxed, and yet feeling that it was
flipping backwards and forwards between two spots. Sometimes the
vibrations seem to be related to eye movements, but I think this is
not always the case.
Once you have achieved the vibrational state you have to learn
to control it, to smooth out the vibrations by 'pulsing' them. At this
point, Monroe warns, it is impossible to turn back. He suggests reaching out an arm to grasp some object which you know is out of
normal reach. Feel the object and then let your hand pass through
it, before bringing it back, stopping the vibrations and checking: the
details and location of the object.
To leave the body Monroe advocates the 'lift-out' method. To
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do this you think of getting lighter and of how nice it would be to
float upwards. An alternative is the 'rotation' technique in which you
turn over in bed, twisting first the top of the body, head and
shoulders until you turn right over and float upwards. After this you
can explore further and with sufficient practice Monroe claims that
a wide variety of experiences are yours for the taking.
Since 1972, when his book was published, Monroe has set up the
'Mind Research Institute' near the Blue Ridge mountains in
Virginia. There he apparently uses a variety of techniques for inducing OBEs, using vibrating waterbeds, special sound effects, and
isolation to help his students along. With these methods he hopes
to be able to train a number of people to make the journeys together
so that they can report on and compare what they see.
6. Ritual magic methods
Most magical methods are also based on imagery or visualization
and use concentration and relaxation. In many cases these abilities
are the necessary prerequisites, and once mastered the student can
use them as a basis for learning the special techniques for ritual and
inducing altered states of consciousness. Among these altered states
is the OBE, but I think few magicians would differentiate an OBE
from many other experiences of 'working in the astral'. Since much
magical work is performed in this state it is essential to know how
to get there and back, and there are many methods.
All these methods require good mental control and a sound knowledge of the system being used, with its tools and symbols. As a
technology, the magicians have probably progressed further than
anyone else in this direction. Charles Tart, in introducing the concept of 'state specific sciences' (146e) also considered state specific
technologies, that is, means of achieving, controlling and using
altered states of consciousness. Many magical rituals are just this.
In a typical exercise the magician will perform an opening ritual,
a cleansing or purifying ritual and then one to pass from one state
to another. Once in the state required he operates using the rules of
that state and then returns, closes the door that was opened and
ends the ritual. Even in this barest outline one can see the aims of
keeping separate the 'astral' and everyday life, ensuring the right
intention and state of mind, and carefully structuring the task.
So what is the 'astral' according to the magicians? Probably there
are as many answers as magicians and these range from one extreme
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in which all the higher realms are thought of as aspects of the
magician's mind, to the other in which they are given objective
existence and are thought to interact with the material world. Then
there are those who would reject this dichotomy as irrelevant. I
shall return to these views later on, but here I just want to point out
that the methods of magic can be seen as a technology of altered
states of consciousness.
This technology varies almost as much as the theory, for there
are a multitude of ways of reaching the astral. One can use elemental
doorways, treat the cards of the tarot as stepping stones, perform
cabbalistic path-workings or use mantras (14, 102). I shall not discuss
these in any detail. Some are supposed to be secret, and possibly
with good reason, although some can be found in books such as
Brennan's Astral Doorways (14). Ophiel's book on astral projection
(102), SSOTBME (148) or Conway's occult primer (24). But all are
probably best learned as part of a magical training, and that is not
for everyone.
However, I should point out that for all the esoteric paraphernalia
of ritual magic, the techniques are very similar to all the others we
have been considering. The initial state required is similar. The
process of stepping through an 'astral doorway' is reminiscent of
Fox's and Monroe's experiences of passing through symbolic doorways, or even the fairly common tunnel experience, and the ways
of dealing with trouble advocated by Fox are very similar to those
taught in magic by people such as Dion Fortune (43). So we can
see the complexities of ritual magic as just another related way of
achieving the same ends.
7. Hypnosis
External aids to achieving the OBE include hypnosis and the use of
certain drugs. In the early days of psychical research hypnosis was
used a great deal more than now to bring about "travelling clairvoyance'. But it can still be used now. All that is required is a skilled
hypnotist, with some understanding of the state into which he wants
to put the subject, and a willing subject. But the method is not that
easy. All the natural reactions of fear are still there, and the subject
must have confidence both in himself and the hypnotist before he
will be able to have an OBE.
The subject must be put into a fairly deep hypnotic state and then
the hypnotist can suggest to him that he leaves his body. Any of the
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imagery techniques already described can be used. The subject can
be asked to lift up out of his body, to create a double and step into
it, to roll off his bed or chair, or to leave through the top of his head.
He can then be asked to travel to any place desired, but the
hypnotist must be sure to specify very clearly, and in terms the
subject understands, where he is to go, and to bring him safely back
to his body when the expedition is over. If this is not done the subject
may have difficulty reorientating himself afterwards.
Hart considered hypnosis the most promising method for artificially
inducing the OBE, and, as we have seen, he provided evidence that
the state reached is more like that of the spontaneous OBE than it
is using some other methods. Later on I shall describe in detail some
of the fascinating experiments carried out using hypnosis in the early
part of this century.
8. Drugs
There are some drugs which can undoubtedly help initiate an OBE.
Hallucinogens have long been used in various cultures to induce
states like OBEs, and in our own culture OBEs are sometimes an
accidental product of a drug experience. In the absence of any
further information we might already be able to guess which are
the sorts of drugs likely to have this effect. They might be those
which physically relax the subject while leaving his consciousness
clear and alert. Drugs which distort sensory input and disrupt the
subject's sense of where and what shape his body is ought to help,
and so may anything which induces a sense of shaking or vibration.
Imagery must be intensified without control being lost and finally
there must be some reason, or wish, for leaving the body.
Considering these points hallucinogens might be expected to be
more effective than stimulants, tranquillizers or sedatives. The latter
may aid relaxation but help with none of the other features. Few
other types of drug have any relevant effect. This fits with what is
known about the effectiveness of drugs for inducing OBEs. Monroe
(93) states that barbiturates and alcohol are harmful to the ability,
and this makes sense since they would tend to reduce control over
imagery even though they are relaxing. Eastman (33) states that
barbiturates do not lead to OBEs whereas morphine, ether, chloroform, major hallucinogens and hashish can.
Relatively little research has been carried out in this area, partly
because most of the relevant drugs are illegal in the countries where
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that research might be carried out. However, Masters and Houston
(88) and Grof (52) found that subjects taking LSD experienced
separation from their body on occasions. In studies with LSD therapy
for the dying, Grof and Halifax (53) describe experiences which
seem clearly related to OBEs, and Tart (146c) describes OBEs occurring in people smoking marijuana. (Hashish, grass, and marijuana
are all names for, or products from, the cannabis plant or Indian
hemp, of which the main active ingredient is tetrahydrocannabinol,
THC.) Tart also showed that the proportion of smokers who had
experienced an OBE was much higher than expected.
So it seems that certain drugs can facilitate an OBE but what is
not clear is why the drug experience should take that form rather
than any other. Part of the answer is that usually it does not. There
is no specific OBE-creating drug, and OBEs are relatively rarely a
part of a psychedelic drug experience. Probably many psychological
factors are involved. It is known that the setting in which these
drugs are taken is crucial in influencing the nature of the experience
and clearly if the person has some reason, conscious or unconscious,
for wanting to 'leave his body', the drug experience may be more
likely to take this form. But there is very little research on drugs and
OBEs which can help us here.
Hallucinogenic drugs may help in inducing the OBE but I would
not recommend them as a route to the instant projection. For
successful use the set, setting and preparation must be just right, and
among the dangers is that the flood of perceptual, emotional and
cognitive changes may be totally overwhelming and frightening.
Drugs may be a useful adjunct to other methods but they are no
alternative to learning the skills of relaxation, concentration, and
imagery control.
9. Dream development
Many OBEs start from dreams and since, by definition, one has to
be conscious to have an OBE, they tend to start from lucid dreams.
The dreamer may become aware that he is dreaming and then find
himself in some place other than his bed and able to move about
at will. He may have another body and may even attempt to see
his physical body lying asleep. A good example is the dream
Muldoon induced by thirst. There are many ways of learning to
have lucid dreams, and projecting from dreams. Both Fox (44c) and
Ophiel (102) describe techniques, but consideration of them can be
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left until the next chapter when I shall discuss the whole topic of
lucid dreams and their relationship to OBEs.
10. Palmer's experimental method
Obviously if there were a simple and effective method of inducing
an OBE in a volunteer in an experimental setting this would be an
enormous aid to research. In the search for such a technique
Palmer and his colleagues (112a, b, c, 113a, b) used relaxation and
audio-visual stimulation. Subjects went through a progressive muscular relaxation session and then heard oscillating tones and watched
a rotating spiral. This method and the results obtained are all described later on, but one of the interesting findings was that many
of the subjects claimed that they had been 'literally out of their
bodies, and there were indications that their experiences were very
different in some ways from other OBEs. This raises yet again the
question of whether all these methods of inducing an OBE are inducing the same thing or whether we have a whole variety of experiences on our hands.
In conclusion, there are numerous ways of inducing OBE-like experiences. Common features tend to be relaxation, concentration, and
control of imagery, but all pose a major question. Do they all induce
the same experience ? Do ritual magic and Monroe's method produce
the same effect? Do the imagery techniques evoke a similar experience to that with drugs or hypnosis, and how can we tell ?
The problem seems to amount to the impossibility of comparing
private experiences. But perhaps impossibility is too strong a word.
If several people were together to learn to explore these techniques,
and if they could develop methods for describing their experiences,
then the venture might not seem impossible at all. For this, if for no
other reason, I think there is a need for experimenters who can
themselves have OBEs. I shall return to such exciting possibilities, but
first it is time to turn to that other related experience, the lucid dream.
11 Lucid Dreams
I was trying to get on a bus which I was chasing along the road, dodging
in and out of traffic and holding a ribbon which connected me to the bus.
This ribbon seemed to be elastic and I noticed with annoyance that it was
elongating and I was falling behind. Then I realized I was dreaming and
did not need to chase the bus or even to dodge the traffic. So I stopped
running and stood still in the road —the traffic vanishing as I did so [49d
This is how Green's subject B. described one of his many lucid
dreams; that is, those dreams in which one knows it is a dream.
There are two reasons for associating lucid dreams with OBEs.
First, as we have seen, many practised astral travellers also have
lucid dreams. Second, as Green pointed out (49d) it is hard to know
where to draw the line between an OBE and a lucid dream. In both
the person seems to be perceiving a consistent world, but it is not
seen through the physical eyes and may vary from an accurate representation of the physical world to something very bizarre. Also the
subject, unlike in an ordinary dream, is well aware that he is in some
altered state and able to comment on and even control it. Of course
you could say that lucid dreams start from sleep and OBEs from
waking, and perhaps the term lucid dream should be reserved for
sleep, excluding the waking 'lucid dreams' described by Green and
others. But even excluding these there are some lucid dreams in which
the person seems to observe his own body lying in bed asleep, and
this is like a typical OBE. It would certainly be possible to draw a
line between the two experiences, but the important point to realize
is that that line is not clear, and the two have much in common. So
perhaps a brief study of lucid dreams may help us to understand the
OBE.
Several authors have described their own study of their dreams.
Among them are Mrs Arnold-Forster (3) Yves Delage (31) and P. D.
Ouspensky (108). Ouspensky developed a technique of entering some-
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thing like a dream when first falling asleep and maintaining consciousness as he did so. In this way he was able to observe the process.
Dr Van Eeden (153) classified his own dreams into nine types including the lucid dream and as we have seen both Fox and Whiteman
studied their own dreams. More recently Tart has described a type
of dream he called the 'high dream' in which one dreams of being
in an altered state of consciousness, although without necessarily
realizing that it is a dream (146f).
Some writers have described the lucid dream as though it were
in some way 'lower' than an OBE, and perhaps some kind of rough
ordering can be established here. First there are certain kinds of
'ordinary dream' in which one only realizes it is dream on waking
up, but which are said to be precursors of, or related to, lucid dreams.
These include all sorts of falling, flying, and floating dreams. Then
there are the 'false awakenings' including dreams of telling someone
about the dream as though awake, and those in which one dreams
of waking up. Third, between ordinary and lucid dreams, are those
in which the dreamer considers that he might be dreaming, but for
one reason or another does not conclude that he is. Then finally
there are the fully lucid dreams, although it seems that many degrees
of lucidity are possible.
Lucid dreams and flying dreams have often been associated. For
Van Eeden, 'Flying or floating . . . is generally an indication that
lucid dreams are coming.' In a book entitled Studies in Dreams Mrs
Arnold-Forster described many flying dreams. She used to fly around
the British Museum, or other public galleries, noticing the great
distance between the ceiling and the tops of the doors, and having
to descend when she wanted to pass into another room. When she
glided about the streets she was worried that people would notice
the odd way in which she moved and so she developed a special
'flying dress' which hid her feet from view. However, she was not
usually aware, at the time, that she was dreaming.
Many people have thought that flying dreams represent actual
flights of the astral body. In 1906 there was much discussion about
the topic in the Annals of Psychical Science. Colonel Albert de
Rochas (see 30), who had experienced this kind of dream for more
than half a century, had written an article in a French magazine and
obtained numerous accounts from his readers in response. A popular 'explanation' of the time appeared to be that the flying resulted
from the sleeper's inability, while lying down, to place his feet
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firmly on the ground. But de Rochas argued that on the contrary
it resulted from astral flights.
De Vesme (30) took up the argument and suggested that if astral
flights were really accomplished in these dreams then consistencies
should be observed between them. Studying many reports he found
that some people flew diagonally, and some vertically while others
dropped from planet to planet. Some flapped their arms to move along
while others floated on their backs, hopped, slid or swam as though in
water. One learned to do without any such aids and moved by will
power alone. De Vesme concluded that these dreams varied just as
much as any other dreams and pointed out how much they differed
from other psychic phenomena. He argued that they were not
accompanied by any supernormal feats and concluded that they provided no evidence for the existence of the soul, or the flight of the
astral body.
As well as flying dreams Muldoon and Carrington (97a) listed
other 'projection dreams', the 'body and head-flapping dream', the
'head thumping dream' and the dream of moving towards a phantasmal object. They explained that within 'cord-activity range' the
astral body can be thrown about by the action of the cord and this
produces the odd sensations in the dream. The phantasmal object,
they add, is one's own physical body towards which the cord inexorably draws the astral body.
Within the flying dreams they distinguished gliding, swimming,
and bouncing as movements of the astral body, but I think one might
just as well attribute them all to the freedom of the dream imagination. Perhaps their most interesting account is of the falling dream.
As the astral returns to the body at the end of any dream (and they
taught that all dreams involved projection) it drops as it nears the
body and it is this which gives rise to the sensation of falling. This is
why, they add, one always wakes before hitting the bottom of the
cliff, tall building or whatever.
Actually, as some readers will know, this is not true. Nor is the
'old wives tale' that if you hit the bottom you are dead. I once
dreamed that I was standing on the top of a cliff in a strong wind
watching the waves crashing on the jagged rocks below. For some
reason I fell and went spinning down and down, the rocks coming
nearer and nearer. As I hit the rocks I bounced several times and
my body broke apart into large chunks. When someone went for an
ambulance somehow several arrived and each took away one of the
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chunks, an arm going into one, a leg or two into another. I didn't
seem to mind in the least.
Another kind of dream in which lucidity may or may not be present
is the false awakening. Fox woke one night, or thought he woke, but
everything seemed to be oddly strained, peculiarly lit, and he felt disinclined to move; only when he did try to move did the light
disappear, and he woke up. It was during this state that he saw Elsie
appearing to him, but when he called her name she vanished (44c).
One of Van Eeden's nine types of dream was the 'wrong waking
up' which he described as 'demoniacal, uncanny, and very vivid and
bright, with a sort of ominous sharpness and clearness,, a strong
diabolical light [153]. Moreover the mind of the sleeper is aware that
it is a dream, and a bad one, and he struggles to wake up.' Van
Eeden thought that demons were responsible and found the terror
of this sort of dream ended when the demons were seen and the state
realized. But others who experience the false awakening do not
describe it as terrifying and are not aware at the time that it is a
dream.
Delage, for example, describes a series of repeated dreams in which
he heard a knock at the door. Someone had come to ask him to
attend to a friend who was ill. He got up and dressed and went to
wash, whereupon the feeling of cold water on his face woke him up
and he realized that he had dreamt it all. A little later he dreamt
he heard the voice again, calling more urgently. Thinking he must
have fallen asleep again he hurriedly got dressed and once more
began to wash with the cold water which woke him. Altogether he
dreamt and woke four times without ever actually leaving his bed.
Green gives an example of someone who dreamed of waking up
and then on realizing it was a dream actually woke up (49d); but
the realization that it is a dream need not end it. Fox believed that it
was possible to step out of the body in this state and so begin an
OBE. In fact he made use of any false awakening to do this..
We can see that false awakenings vary a great deal. They may
be pleasant or terrifying, lucid or not, and can end in waking up,
going on sleeping or a transition to an OBE. Common features,
though, seem to be the tension or expectancy in the air and the
scenery, which can be nearly normal but is often just that little bit
wrong so that the dreamer notices something odd. In other words
he may take the first step towards lucidity.
We may now ask just what it is which brings about lucidity. Why
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reams
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do people sometimes realize they are dreaming? And why, indeed,
do most of us, most nights, have the most strange and dream-like
dreams, without ever recognizing them for what they are?
It has often been suggested that it is recognition of the oddness
in a dream which leads to this realization. In one of my own lucid
dreams I was about to drive away from a tall building when I
realized I had forgotten something and rushed back to get it. As I
ran up the stairs I had descended only a moment before I noticed
that they were crumbling away from the wall and broken completely only a little way ahead of me. I wondered how they could
have decayed so quickly and it was then that the answer came 'because it is a dream'.
Others have realized because they recognized a familiar dream
motif. Hearne's (62a) subject A.W. realized he was dreaming once
when he saw some old pieces of metal in the sea and tried to dig
them up. He recognized the familiar wish-fulfilment situation which
he often experienced in dreams and so realized he was dreaming
and was able to examine his surroundings, the beach, sand and sea
and to notice that the perspective did not seem to be quite accurate.
Not everyone dreams of finding money, but the familiar event which
is recognized can be anything at all, and in fact quite often it is
flying which serves this purpose.
Green (49d) listed four dream events which can coincide with the
onset of lucidity: emotional stress within the dream, recognition of
incongruity, the initiation of analytical thought, and a recognition
of the dream-like quality of the experience. She correctly pointed
out that a cause and effect relationship is not established by the fact
that lucidity coincides with these features, although I think the evidence for such a relationship is good.
According to Fox it is all a question of the different degrees of
activity of the critical faculty (44c pp. 35-6). He asks us to imagine
that he dreams of seeing a girl with four eyes. With little critical
awareness he might merely notice that there was something odd
about the lady, only realizing, as though it were a great revelation . . .
'Suddenly I get i t - " W h y , of course, she had four eyes!".' With a
little more critical ability he might go so far as to wonder why she
had four eyes, and with more still, might conclude that there was a
freak show or circus in town. Finally he might argue to himself that
surely there never was such a freak, it is impossible. So . . . 'I am
dreaming'.
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Many people get part of the way along this scale of critical awareness and it can be infuriating to wake up, remember a really crazy
dream and wonder why on earth you did not realize it was a dream.
Surely, you may ask, I cannot have been so stupid as to have believed
all that was really happening, can I? The answer is that you could.
For example, one night I dreamt I was showing an estate agent
round my house with its forty bedrooms and palatial drawing rooms.
I swept him down a vast landing and exclaimed 'here you see the
blue room with four-poster bed, ensuite bathroom and views of the
grounds . . .' Something in the back of my mind told me there was
something wrong. Didn't my house usually have only two bedrooms?
Had it changed overnight, or was it not my house at all? But why
then should I be selling someone else's house? In spite of all this
questioning I never arrived at the answer 'because it is a dream'.
Another aspect of this difficulty is that many people consider in
their dreams that it might be a dream, but wrongly come to the conclusion that it is not. Green (49d) called this a pre-lucid dream. She
gives another example from Delage, who was losing his sight but
began to dream that he could see perfectly again. In a dream he
would remember that he had been disappointed before by waking
up and finding that he had only dreamt he could see again, and so
he asked himself whether he might now be dreaming. In one such
dream he asked his daughter-in-law to pinch him. He never considered that this too could be dreamed, and so when he felt the
pinch he was convinced and very happy.
Not only can the dream mimic reality very closely, but the dreamer
is very bad at recognizing the difference. In normal waking life we
are constantly testing reality. In every act of perception we check
everything we see or hear; if it does not seem to make sense we look
again, or ask 'I beg your pardon? What did you say?' In dreaming, this reality testing is all but lost and we accept the most bizarre
events without question. However, in the lucid dream some vestige
of this function is restored, and some people have even learned to
carry out quite complex tests in their dreams.
Ouspensky (see 49d) described a dream in which he was in a room
with a small black kitten. He decided he would test whether he was
asleep or not by commanding the .kitten to change into a large white
dog. Sure enough the kitten became a large white dog, but simultaneously the wall opposite disappeared and a landscape appeared
instead. Ouspensky then had to struggle to remember the most im-
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113
portant thing '. . . that I am asleep and am conscious of myself, but
he found himself being dragged backwards and finally awoke. So
even here, when a test of lucidity had been successfully made, it was
hard to maintain the state.
Others have made rather dangerous sounding tests in their
dreams, as Fox did :
I dreamed that my wife and I awoke, got up, and dressed. On pulling up
the blind, we made the amazing discovery that the row of houses opposite
had vanished and in their place were bare fields. I said to my wife, 'This
means I am dreaming, though everything seems so real and I feel perfectly
awake. Those houses could not disappear in the night, and look at all that
grass!' But though my wife was greatly puzzled, I could not convince her
it was a dream. 'Well,' I continued, 'I am prepared to stand by my reason
and put it to the test. I will jump out of the window, and I shall take no
harm.'
Ruthlessly ignoring her pleading and objecting, I opened the window
and climbed onto the sill. I then jumped, and floated gently down into the
street. When my feet touched the pavement, I awoke. My wife had no
memory of dreaming [44c p. 69].
In 1904 Van Eeden dreamed that he was standing in front of a table
with various objects on it. Knowing it was a drea m he considered
what experiments he could make.
I began by trying to break glass, by beating it with a stone. I put a small
tablet of glass on two stones and struck it with another stone. Yet it would
not break. Then I took a fine claret-glass from the table and struck it with
my fist, with all my might, at the same time reflecting how dangerous it
would be to do this in waking life; yet the glass remained whole. But lo!
when I looked at it again after some time, it "was broken.
It broke all right, but a little too late, like an actor who misses his cue.
This gave me a very curious impression of being in a fake-world, cleverly
imitated, but with small failures. I took the broken glass and threw it out
of the window, in order to observe whether I could hear the tinkling. I heard
the noise all right and I even saw two dogs run away from it quite naturally
(153 p. 448).
Van Eeden then went on to taste some claret, finding it tasted quite
like wine, and he thought what a good imitation this world of his
dreams was.
Frederic Myers was also interested in comparing the dream world
with the waking world and tried to find ou t all he could in his few
lucid dreams. When he found himself in his study he noticed that
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everything seemed blurred and evaded his direct gaze. Looking at
the stair carpet he tried to determine whether he could visualize
better than in normal life and found that it was not so 'the dreamcarpet was not like what I knew it in truth to be; rather it was a thin,
ragged carpet, apparently generalized from memories of seaside
lodgings' (99a pp. 241-2). It is these observations of lucid dreamers
which provide almost all we know about the scenery of the lucid
dream.
I have explained how hard it is to become lucid in a dream and
you may now be wondering how it can be done. The answer 'with
difficulty' is not very helpful, although certainly true. Myers exclaimed that he had spent a lifetime of painstaking effort trying and
only ever managed three lucid dreams in nearly 3,000 nights (99a).
However some of us can expect to learn more easily than did Myers.
" The first thing is to learn to remember dreams. Some people can do
this easily, and usually do recall their dreams on waking. For those
who do not it takes time, but it is only necessary to have a pen and
paper by the bed and very conscientiously to write down even the
slightest scraps recalled. A trick suggested by Brennan is to visualize
the rising sun on waking (14), and another is to try to reconstruct in
your memory the very first moments of waking, assuming the same
position and relaxation. After some days recall should improve and
for most people it takes only a few weeks before there is so much to
write down that it becomes a chore. By this stage the writing can be
dispensed with.
Once recall is good there are many techniques for achieving
lucidity. Since many lucid dreams are initiated when the dreamer
observes some incongruity in the dream it is possible to pay special
attention to just those details, and to note in the morning that you
were flying, speaking foreign languages or travelling incredibly fast.
When other methods had failed I began to do this and after a while
began to have dreams in which I seemed to be nearly there. I once
dreamed I shot several of my colleagues and when they did not die
I began to wonder why. I seemed on the verge of realizing, but I
never did and the dream carried on.
About two years after that I had my first lucid dream. I was going
up a ski-lift at dawn. All around I could see beautiful mountain
scenery, lit by an orange glow. As the sun came up I could see the
colours reflected in the snow. At the top of the lift I was about to
get off onto the snow when I realized I had no skis on. I wouldn't be
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115
able to get off the lift. Just then I thought, This is daft, what am I
doing on a ski-lift without skis, and anyway lifts don't run at this
time of the morning, in the dark.' All at once I realized the only
solution, it must be a dream. For an instant everything was wonderfully clear; the mountains all around, the crisp clean air. I felt as
though I could fly off the mountain. But in fact I ran across the snow
and the lucidity passed as quickly as it had come and I went on with
the dream.
I think it is interesting to note that in one dream I was on a skilift, and in another climbing a staircase. There seems to be some
flying element in both of them, as there has been in many other
people's lucid dreams. But I should point out that having one lucid
dream is no sign that suddenly they are easy. It was many months
before I had another one that was only slightly longer.
Muldoon (97a) suggested the 'dream control' method of inducing
astral projection. He advocated that before going to sleep every night
you should practice holding onto consciousness until you are able
to get well into the hypnagogic state before losing consciousness.
Then, he suggested, you should concoct a dream plot for yourself
which will mimic the actions of the astral body in projection. Muldoon himself used the image of rising in an elevator, lying on his
back. When it reached the top storey he got up and walked out.
Alternatively, he said, you can make yourself dream of floating or
rising in water or climbing a ladder. The difficulty is obtaining and
maintaining consciousness, but if this can be achieved projection in
the dream can be conscious.
This information on lucid dreams can be supplemented through
surveys. Hearne (62a) gave a questionnaire to 48 students who reported lucid dreams and found that a typical lucid dream occurs
after 5.0 A.M., seems to last a few minutes only, and is more vivid
and with brighter colours than an ordinary dream. Thinking was
reported to be clearer than in ordinary dreams and as clear as in
waking. Most of Hearne's respondents had not flown in their lucid
dreams, nor experimented in them, but he thought this might be
because they were all rather young. Obviously more studies of this
kind would be very useful.
Just as in the case of OBEs, surveys can tell us how common lucid
dreams are and who has them. In fact there is even less evidence
here than for OBEs but the major surveys of 'psychic experiences'
have usually asked about lucid dreams too.
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Green (49a) found that 73% of a student sample answered 'yes'
to the question, 'Have you ever had a dream in which you were
aware that you were dreaming?', although some of these seem not
to have been genuine lucid dreams. Palmer found that 56% of the
townspeople and 7 1% of the students in his sample reported that
they had had lucid dreams and many of these claimed to have them
regularly (HOd). Similarly, 70% of Kohr's respondents claimed lucid
dreams (74).
In my own surveys 79% of the Surrey students said that they had
them, and most claimed to have had more than one. A similar
result was obtained from the Bristol students. Seventy-two per cent
reported lucid dreams, with most claiming multiple experiences, and
three even said that they could induce one at will. All these surveys
seem to agree quite closely, showing that the lucid dream is a rather
common experience - far more common than the OBE.
If there-really is a close similarity between OBEs and lucid dreams
then we might expect the same people to report both. Surveys can
answer this, and the answer seems to be 'yes'. Palmer (HOd) found
significant relationships between OBEs and reporting 'vivid dreams',
carrying out some sort of dream analysis, and lucid dreams, but he
found no relationship between OBEs and frequency of dream recall.
Kohr (74) found almost exactly the same except that in his survey
frequency of dream recall was correlated with OBEs.
In my surveys I found very similar relationships. Amongst the
Surrey students, lucid dreams and OBEs were reported by the same
people. In fact every OBEer had also had lucid dreams. But here I
found no relationship to dream recall or vividness. Among the
Bristol students similar results were obtained, but I also asked them
about flying dreams. This was most interesting because 50% reported
having had at least one flying dream and it was the same people who
reported flying dreams and lucid dreams. All this seems to confirm
ideas which were previously just part of astral projection lore, that
there is a strong relationship between special kinds of dream and the
OBE.
There are other questions which can only be answered by experiment. One concerns whether the lucid dream is in fact a dream at
all. Some have suggested that it is a form of hypnagogic or hypnopompic imagery rather than a true dream, that is, that it occurs
before sleep or when just waking up, rather than during a dream
itself. For a long time it was thought impossible to test this question;
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117
but recently a way has been found by Keith Hearne at Liverpool
University. To understand it, we need to learn a little about the
physiology of sleep.
In the 1950s, when electroencephalograph (EEO) records were taken
of subjects sleeping in the laboratory, it was shown that nearly
everyone shows similar physiological changes during sleep (see e.g.
79, 84). In the drowsy state before falling asleep the EEG is characterized by many alpha waves (brain waves are labelled alpha, beta,
etc., according to frequency. Alpha is between 8 and 13 cp.sec) and
the muscles start to relax. Gradually this state gives way to Stage 1
sleep and three more stages follow, each having different EEG patterns and deeper relaxation. By Stage 4 the sleeper is very relaxed,
his breathing is slower, and skin resistance high. He is very hard to
wake up. If he is woken up, then he may say that he was thinking
about something, he may describe some vague imagery, but he will
rarely recount anything which sounds like a typical dream.
But this is not all there is to sleep - increasing oblivion. In a normal night's sleep a distinct change takes place an hour or two after
first falling asleep. Although the muscles are still relaxed, the sleeper
may move and from the EEG it appears that he is going to wake
up and is back in something resembling Stage I sleep. Yet he will
still be very hard to wake up, and in this sense is fast asleep for this
reason this stage is sometimes called paradoxical sleep. The most
distinctive feature, however, is the rapid eye movements, or REMs
and the stage is also called REM-slee'p. In earlier stages the eyes may
roll about slowly, now, however, they dart about as though watching
something. If woken up now the sleeper will usually report that he
was dreaming.
In a typical night's sleep there are four or five complete cycles
through the different stages of sleep, with four or five REM periods.
When the sleeper finally wakes up he may remember just the last
of his dreams, or none at all; but as almost everyone shows a similar
pattern it is assumed that everyone dreams, even if he never remembers doing so. Since many animals show REM sleep, it can be assumed that they, too, dream. Dreams seem to take time; and there
is evidence that estimates of the time passed in dreaming can be
reasonably accurate.
All this is relevant here because it makes it possible to determine
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whether lucid dreams take place in the same state as ordinary dreams,
and whether they are preceded or accompanied by any physiological
changes. There is no known way to determine whether a subject is
lucid by looking at the EEG record, but it might be possible to find
out if he could signal in any way during the dream. The problem
with this is that most of the muscles are relaxed, to the point of
paralysis, during dreaming sleep; even if a person in a lucid dream
tried to wave his arm or shout he probably could not. To get round
this problem Hearne had the ingenious idea that since the eyes
move (in REMs), the subject might be able to move them voluntarily,
as well (62a).
Hearne was lucky enough to have a subject who had lucid dreams
fairly often and who was willing to experiment, and to spend many
nights in a sleep laboratory. He was therefore asked to move his eyes
left and right eight times in succession if ever he found himself having
a lucid dream. This worked: Hearne was able to detect extreme eye
movements on his sleep laboratory polygraph, and to determine in
which stage of sleep they occurred. The answer was unambiguous.
All the lucid dreams occurred in definite REM sleep. In other words
they were, in this sense, true dreams.
With this method Hearne was able to learn other things about
this subject's lucid dreams. A typical one lasted between two and five
minutes, occurred at about 6.30 A.M., about 24 minutes into a
REM period and towards the end of a 22-second REM burst. It was
also associated with higher than normal heart rate, although the
reason for this was not clear. The nights on which lucid dreams
occurred did not show a different sleep pattern from other nights,
although they did tend to follow days of above average stimulation.
Hearne also tried using other methods of communication. The
subject was given a button, taped to his hand, to press, was asked to
shout out when he became lucid, and later was asked to alter his
breathing rate. The first two of these were failures. The subject felt
something in his hand during the dream, thought he had pressed
the button, and even heard the click as he pressed it; but to the
experimenter there was no movement and no button-press. The
subject also thought he had shouted so loud that he would bring
the experimenter running, but Hearne heard nothing. This confirmed what was expected: that the paralysed muscles could not be
used; and it also bears an interesting parallel to those many failed
attempts to move physical objects reported in OBEs. Could it be
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119
that they arise from the same cause? The change of respiration
fate, however, did prove successful; and Hearne concluded that
this would be a useful way of communicating from lucid dreams.
His attempts at communication did not stop there. He hoped to
establish a two-way communication between the dreamer and the
experimenter. To this end he presented smells to the dreaming
subject, and whispered numbers in his ears; but the results were
inconclusive.
All these results depended on a single subject. Although Hearne
found many subjects who claimed to have lucid dreams regularly,,
when he brought them into the lab for a night the number of lucid
dreams was far less than expected from their claims. Nonetheless he
did manage to 'catch' one other lucid dream in another subject, and
she was also able to signal using eye movements. So it appeared that
this technique could be useful if only more lucid dreamers were
available for experiments.
To obtain more subjects, Hearne hoped to be,able to induce
lucidity. He tried squirting water at their faces during dreams, a
method which had been used earlier as a stimulus for incorporation
into dreaming, and this happened here too. The subjects dreamed
of peeing cats and spitting friends, of sea spray and splashes from a
baby's bath. But they did not become aware that they were dreaming. Stimulating the wrist with a mild electric shock proved no more
successful. So it seems that it is rather difficult to induce lucidity
in this way.
One last experiment deserves mention. There have been a few
claims of ESP in lucid dreams. Green gives some examples, and we
have already heard about Fox's dream in which he 'read' exam
papers he was to take. Van Eeden also claimed that in some lucid
dreams he was able to see precognitively. Hearne tried to test for
ESP by telling his subject that he would look at a number during
the dream (62a, b). When a lucid dream was signalled he picked a
number from random number tables. Sure enough the subject saw
numbers, on houses or gates, or in some way incorporated into his
dream, but they were never the right numbers. Still, these and other
experiments could be greatly extended using the method that Hearne
developed, and it is to be hoped that it will lead to much better
understanding of the lucid dream.
We may now ask just what all this information about,the lucid
dream can tell us about OBEs. First of all, I think it is most import-
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ant that the similarities are noted. In both, the person seems to have
his waking consciousness, or something close to it. He is able to see
clearly, but what he sees is not quite like the physical and appears to
have many of the properties of a dream world or imaginary world.
He may carry out actions, such as shouting or moving objects, in
which he seems to succeed, but in which, in physical terms, he has not.
In the case of the lucid dream the most obvious interpretation is
that the person is dreaming and the dream world is created entirely
by his own imagination; its contents are the contents of his own
memory and he has made the dream world for himself. The only
difference between the lucid dream and ordinary dream may lie in
the state of consciousness and not in its contents. If this is an obvious
model, it also has exciting possibilities; for we know little about
changes of states of consciousness, and here is one readily available
to all which requires no drugs, hypnotists, or special paraphernalia.
All it needs is a good deal of patience and practice. The study of this
particular state of consciousness, I believe, could teach us useful
things about states of consciousness in general.
But what about the OBE? The important question is whether the
OBEer is observing the same world as the lucid dreamer. Are the two
experiences essentially aspects of the same phenomenon ? Ts the world
seen in both a product of the imagination ? Or is the OBE something
entirely different and an experience in which the physical world, or
some shared 'astral world', is seen? Or perhaps the model outlined
above is quite wrong, and both are experiences in which an astral
body is projected ?
Although I am trying to retain an open mind, I must say that the
former explanation has some advantages. An account of the lucid
dream in terms of imagination and normal dream processes is both
attractive and simple; and the two experiences, lucid dreams and
OBEs, do seem to have much in common. It would be hard to draw
a firm line between them. However, one crucial piece of information
we do not yet have is what physiological state is associated with the
OBE. If we knew that we should have a better idea of its relationship
to the lucid dream. I shall therefore turn next to studies of the
physiology of the OBE.
12 The Physiology of the OBE
In a letter to the SPR Journal in 1976 the distinguished Cambridge
physiologist, William Rushton, expressed his astonishment that the
OBE should be taken so seriously. 'We are simply given the unsupported memory of an "experience" of rather a strange kind', he
declared. 'This seems to stand on exactly the same footing as a
remembered dream . . . What I do not know is why that dream
should be thought of more interest than any other' (127). Rushton
was posing an important question: is the OBE a kind of dream?
Can we now answer him ? Clearly there are similarities between
OBEs and dreams. In both we experience a world in which imagination plays a great part and we can perform feats not possible in
everyday life. But the OBE differs in many important and obvious
ways from what we have called an ordinary dream. For a start, it
usually occurs when the subject is awake, or at least if drowsy or
drugged, not sleeping. Second, the imagery and activities of an OBE
are usually much less bizarre and more coherent than those of an
ordinary dream, and most often the scenery is something from the
normal environment rather than the peculiar settings of dreams.
Third, OBEers are often adamant that their experience was nothing
like a dream. 'It was so real, so vivid,' they explain; and as we rely
on most people to differentiate dreams from waking life most of the
time, this emphatic claim must count for something. Finally, there
is the great difference in the staie of consciousness. Ordinary dreams
are characterized by very cloudy consciousness at best, and are only
recognized as dreams on waking up.
But these differences are not enough. You may argue that in a
lucid dream both the imagery and the state of consciousness are much
more like those in an OBE. So perhaps the OBE is a kind of lucid
dream occurring in the midst of waking life. Those who have had an
OBE may still protest that it does not feel that way, but perhaps
they are mistaken. It could be that a dream supervening suddenly
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in the midst of waking would seem terribly real; many adepts, after
all, have found the OBE and lucid dream similar, as we have already
seen. So how can we tell whether the OBE is a kind of dream?
One way to find out might be to determine the physiological
state in which the OBE takes place. As we have seen, the lucid
dream appears to be a true dream, occurring in REM sleep. If the
OBE also took place in REM sleep then we should have some justification for calling it a dream and declaring that those who argue
otherwise are mistaken. On the other hand, if it takes place in
waking or some other state, then it would be stretching the term
'dream' unduly far to say that the OBE is a dream, even though it
has important differences and occurs in a different state.
This is not the only reason for wanting to know what physiological
state accompanies the OBE. As we have seen, there are many who
believe that it is the astral body and not the brain which is responsible for consciousness and even thought. If this were so, and the
astral body were separated from the physical, we might expect to
find obvious changes in brain activity during an OBE. At the extreme
we might expect all cortical activity to cease on the departure of the
astral body. Other measures are of interest too. Is the OfiEer relaxed
or tense during the experience? Is he responsive to things going on
around him, and is his body quite passive? We might look for signs
of fear or excitement, and all these could help us understand the
OBE better.
More generally we may wish to know whether the OBE occurs in
a discrete and clearly identifiable state, or whether it can occur, as
for example can daydreams, in a normal drowsy, or waking state.
If there were a special OBE state we would then have a better
means of defining the phenomenon, and a means of testing whether
a given person was in fact having an OBE. In other words we could
check claims of OBEs. We would also be able to tell when an OBE
started and stopped, how long it lasted, and so on. In fact we could
do for the OBE what has been made possible for dreaming by the
identification of REM sleep. The usefulness of all this is obvious.
On the other hand there might be no discrete OBE state. This can
only be found out by laboratory experiment; but first we need to
catch an OBE in the laboratory.
This is not so easy. As we have seen, most people who have an
OBE have only one, or at most a few, in a lifetime. And these are
unexpected, uncalled for, and seem to occur in a bewildering variety
The Physiology of the OBE
123
of situations. To capture an OBE in the laboratory needs a special
kind of subject; one who is both able to induce an OBE at will, and
willing to be subjected to the stress of being tested under these
conditions. He will be required to produce the experience on demand,
and to indicate when it starts and stops; and he will need to be fixed
up with electrodes on the scalp, hands and face, and connected to a
battery of instruments.
Fortunately there are such subjects. One of the first to be tested
was a young girl called Miss- Z., by Charles Tart who studied her
OBEs (146b). Miss Z. was in her early twenties and had had two
years of college education. According to Tart she had had a difficult
childhood, had suffered from numerous psychological problems, and
had been in a psychiatric hospital for a few weeks about a year
before the experiments began. Her OBEls all occurred at night. She
used to wake up in the night and find herself floating near the ceiling,
where she would remain for a few seconds or sometimes as much as
half a minute. She only rarely experienced anything further, or tried
to travel away from the bed and her room. Apparently she thought
these kind of experiences were quite ordinary until she mentioned
them to some teenage friends; as they ridiculed her, she stopped
talking about them.
With Miss Z. as subject Tart initially wanted to test two aspects
of the OBE; first, whether ESP could occur during an OBE, and
second what was the physiological state associated with the experience.
Since Miss Z.'s OBEs all occurred at night she was invited to come
to Tart's sleep laboratory, and to spend several nights there under
observation. Two rooms were used. In one Miss Z. slept, on a comfortable bed, and in the other Tart spent the night watching the output of the recording instruments, and listening, via an intercom, to
anything the subject said. She was asked to try to have OBEs, and
if she succeeded to tell Tart so that he could mark the time on the
charts monitoring her physiological activity. Miss Z. spent altogether
four non-consecutive nights sleeping at the lab.
The charts recorded a variety of features. First there was the
electroencephalogram, Silver disk electrodes were attached to the
girl's scalp and the EEG recorded continuously through the night on
a polygraph. This is an instrument for recording several variables
at once, the output from the scalp electrodes being amplified and
fed to pens which move up and down across a moving sheet of paper,
producing a wavy tracing of the changes in potential. As,, well .as.
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EEG, the polygraph recorded eye movements from miniature strain
gauges taped over the right eyelid, and basal skin resistance from
an electrode on the palm of the right hand. From this same electrode
the GSR, or galvanic skin response, was also measured. (When somebody attends to any startling stimulus, such as a loud noise or something emotionally important, a change takes place in the skin of the
hand. Slight sweating changes the resistance briefly, and this can
be recorded as the GSR - the principle used in the 'lie detector'.)
Heart rate and digital blood volume were also measured, with a
finger photoplethysmograph. Obviously it is interesting to know
about the heart rate since it tends to fall during sleep and rise whenever the subject is more aroused or alert. But as there were problems
with this apparatus it was only used on two of the four nights.
On her first night in the laboratory Miss Z. fell asleep. Within
half an hour she had reached Stage 4 sleep and during the night she
had three REM periods. An odd feature of the record was that she
had rapid eye movements (REMs) during the Stage 1 period on
first falling asleep. This is very rare indeed, but Tart suggested that
it might be associated with the very vivid imagery which Miss Z.
reported having before falling asleep. During this first night she had
no OBEs.
During the second night Miss Z. woke twice in the night and
reported that she had been floating above her body, and on one
occasion she had floated in and out four or five times in the preceding five minutes. During the first one Miss Z. had not yet fallen
asleep and the EEG showed a drowsy waking pattern followed by
waking when she told Tart about the experience. All the time the
heart rate had been steady and there were no REMs. Then at
3.15 a.m. Miss Z. woke up and called out 'write down 3.13'. Apparently she had left her body and lifted up high enough to see the
clock on the wall. At that time the EEG showed various patterns
but predominantly theta and alphoid activity (a pattern similar to
but slower than waking alpha). There were few sleep spindles (a
feature of the EEG pattern in certain stages of sleep), no REMs, no
GSRs and a steady heartbeat. On the final occasion, when several
brief OBEs were reported the EEG could not be classified as either
a sleep or waking pattern. (Examples of these patterns are shown
on Plate 7.)
On the third night Miss Z. had a dramatic OBE. She seemed to be
flying and found herself at her home in Southern California, with
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125
her sister. Her sister got up from the rocking chair where she had
been sitting and the two of them communicated without speaking.
After a while they both walked into the bedroom and saw the
sister's body lying in bed asleep. Almost as soon as she realized that
it was time to go, the OBE was over and Miss Z. found herself back
in the laboratory.
Tart was not able to contact the sister to check whether she had
been aware of the visit, but the physiological record showed that
there was mostly alphoid activity with no REMs and only a couple
of minutes of Stage 1, dreaming sleep, with REMs.
The last night was in some ways the most exciting, for on that
occasion the subject was able to see an ESP target provided (more
of this in Chapter 18); but the EEG record was obscured by a lot of
interference. Tart described it as somewhat like Stage 1 with REMs,
but he added that he could not be sure whether it was a Stage 1 or
a waking pattern.
Amongst all these confusing and changeable patterns, some certainty does emerge. In general the EEG showed a pattern most like
poorly developed Stage 1 mixed with brief periods of wakefulness.
This makes sense since Miss Z. always woke up to report the OBEs.
This EEG activity was flattened, was associated with a steady heart
rate, no REMs and no obvious changes in GSR or basal skin resistance. All this amounts to saying that Miss Z. was not dreaming when
she had her OBEs, or, more accurately, she was not in Stage REM
sleep. For this subject at least OBEs do not occur in the same state
as. dreaming. Tart would have liked to continue working with Miss
Z. but this proved impossible as she had to return to Southern
California.
However, Tart (146a) was able to work with another subject,
Robert Monroe, well known from his book Journeys Out of the
Body. Monroe was monitored for nine sessions with EEG and other
devices, but as his OBEs do not occur during sleep it was not necessary for him to spend whole nights in the lab, except on one occasion
to test his sleep patterns. Normally he would arrive in the evening
and stay for a few hours, reclining on a cot in the experimental room
while observed by Tart, or an assistant, through a window in the
observation room.
In this environment Monroe had difficulty inducing an OBE.
Electrodes were clipped to his ear, and he found them very uncomfortable. During all the time that he was trying to have an OBE his
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EEG showed a strange mixture of patterns. There was unusually
varied alpha rhythm, variable sleep spindles, and high voltage theta
waves. Since there was no delta at all no Stage 3 or 4 could be identified. On the whole Tart concluded that Monroe was in Stages 1 and
2 and was relaxed and drowsy, falling in and out of sleep. For comparison Monroe spent a night in the laboratory and Tart found that
his sleep pattern was quite normal, with the exception of the
features already noted; that is, he showed no delta waves and his
sleep spindles varied in frequency. He had normal dream periods
and sleep cycle.
During the penultimate session Monroe managed to have an OBE.
He had been relaxing and trying to numb his painful ear when he
seemed to be observing a woman seated on a couch talking to two
men. He tried to draw their attention, pinching the woman gently,
but got no response and so returned. Very soon he 'rolled out' again
and this time stayed in the vicinity of the room and went to find the
technician who was in charge of the apparatus. After returning to
his body he awoke and called the technician to tell her all about the
man he had seen her with, who turned out to have been her husband.
It was rather difficult to match up this long, two-part OBE to the
EEG record. But as far as he could tell Tart concluded that there
was a long period of alpha and Stage 1 sleep, then some Stage 2
sleep, Stage 1 with REMs, a brief awakening for 40 seconds and then
three more minutes of Stage 1 with REMs before the final waking
up. It seemed that the two OBEs coincided with the Stage 1 periods.
Tart concluded that Monroe's OBEs occurred in the-dreaming
state; but this presented him with a problem. Monroe claims that
for him, dreaming and OBEs are entirely different; he had had
dreams in his night session, too, yet reported no OBEs. Tart finally
concluded that perhaps the OBEs were a mixture of dreams and
'something else'. This 'something else' might, he thought, be ESP.
Does this evidence suggest that the OBE is, after all, a kind of
dream? I think not, for it is quite possible that Monroe was in Stage
1 sleep rather than Stage REM when he had his OBEs. The differences between these two lie in a very slightly different EEG pattern,
in the fact that Stage 1 occurs on first falling asleep and REM usually after a period of deeper sleep, and, of course, in the presence of
REMs. Monroe entered this OBE state'on one occasion from Stage
2 sleep and on the other from a brief period of waking. This is just
what we should expect if he were drowsy or lightly asleep and the
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127
OBEs occurred in Stage 1. If it were Stage REM we might'expect
some deeper sleep to have occurred first. The fact that Monroe does
not show normal Stages 3 and 4 complicates the issue. So essentially
it seems that the only feature on which we can decide is the REMs,
and Tart gives no details of these. So we cannot be sure whether
Monroe was in light sleep and showing the slower eye movements of
this stage, or in the (unlikely) REM sleep with true REMs.
It may have been true REM sleep, but if we assume for the moment
that my arguments are valid and that he was in Stage 1 sleep, then
Monroe would be right that his dreams and OBEs are very different.
The OBEs would be occurring in that borderline state between sleeping and waking in which many of us experience vivid hypnagogic
images, visions and sounds, and in which the imagination seems to
be let loose. If it is in this stage that the OBE occurs, we can say
that it is not a dream, and this would confirm the findings with Miss
Z. But obviously, in view of all these arguments and problems, more
information is needed from other subjects and other laboratories.
One of the next subjects to be tested in this way was Ingo Swann.
Swann, who added his second 'n' on the advice of a numerologist,
is a painter living in New York City. He paints vast starscapes inspired by his OB trips through the galaxy. His first OBE occurred
when he was only three and was given an anaesthetic for a tonsillectomy. After that the experiences occurred spontaneously but it was
only much later, after college, three years in the army and starting
to paint, that Swann taught himself to control his OBEs and to have
them at will (8a, 144).
One day Swann turned up at the American SPR and told Janet
Mitchell that he could ' "exteriorise" from his body anywhere, anytime, although he couldn't always "see" perfectly' (92). Quite what
Swann means by 'exteriorise' is not obvious. He has, for example,
denied that he can have OBEs (8a) but on the other hand does agree
that his consciousness separates from his physical body. In any case
he has taken part in experiments similar to those with other OBEers.
In several experiments at the ASPR (106) Swann was attached to
the EEG while he sat in a darkened room and tried to exteriorise, in
his own time, and travel to a distant room where ESP targets were
set up. He did not fall asleep, unlike the previous subjects, and was
able to make comments about how he was getting on, through an
intercom. He also had a button which he pressed on his return and
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this marked the EEG record so that the precise time of the OBE
was recorded.
After some months of this type of experiment Swann suggested
that he might be able to leave his body on command and so Mitchell
arranged to give him an audible signal to tell him when to go, and
when to return. Apparently he succeeded; and this meant that OBE
and other times could easily be determined and compared. During
the OBE periods the EEG was markedly flattened and there were
frequency changes, with a decrease in alpha and increase in beta
activity. While these changes took place the heart rate stayed normal.
These findings are rather different from those with the previous
subjects in that Swann seemed to be more alert during his OBEs, while
the other subjects were in a drowsy or sleeping state; but perhaps
this just confirms what was learned from case studies, that the OBE
can occur in a variety of states. In addition to this difference, there
were similarities. Both Swann and Miss Z. showed flattened EEGs,
and neither showed change in heart rate. But perhaps most important is that in no case so far did there seem to be a discrete state in
which the OBE took place. There were no sudden changes in either
EEG or autonomic functions to mark the beginning or end of the
OBE. Any changes were gradual; unlike dreaming, the OBE does
not seem to be associated with a discrete physiological state.
There is one other subject who has taken part in a large number
of OBE experiments, including those measuring physiological variables, and that is Blue Harary. Stuart Blue Harary, once introduced
to me as 'Mr Astral Projection', was born in New York in 1953 and
had psychic experiences from an early age. When he was six he
claims to have discovered discarnate friends, who not only showed
him how to see things in a different way, but gave him information
about family affairs which he could not have known about (8d). His
first OBE occurred when he was fourteen, and was not pleasant.
Lying in bed one night he found himself floating above his body, but
he was not alone. Hovering beside him was a dark and menacing
shape; just a silhouette. Terrified he grabbed the light and with a
jolt was back in his body, but although he could no longer see the
creature, he felt it was still there and the experience scared him for
some time. Later he began to have more OBEs. These were less
frightening, but he kept them a secret from his family and friends,
as do so many OBEers.
In 1971, when he was an undergraduate Harary decided to visit
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129
the American Society for Psychical Research in New York City.
There he met Janet Mitchell who was involved in OBE work at the
time. When he returned some months later he also met Karlis Osis,
research fellow at the Society, who had begun a project for testing
people who claimed to be able to 'go OB' at will (103e). Osis invited
him to take part in these tests and he seemed to do well, travelling
to a distant room and reporting with some accuracy what he saw
there.
Since then Blue Harary has taken part in numerous OBE experiments, not only as subject, but as experimenter as well. He transferred to Duke University so that he could become more involved
in the parapsychological work going on in Durham and since then
has been that rare kind of researcher, one who experiences for himself the phenomena on which he is working.
Harary has described his own experiences as very varied (59).
Sometimes everything seems close to normal 'consensus reality', at
other times it is utterly different, and his experiences can range along
the continuum through everything in between. His 'other body'
varies, too. He may feel himself to be a 'ball of light floating in
space, a body-shaped form, or simply a point of awareness that either
focuses on a particular area or merges, to varying degrees, with the
surrounding environment' (59 p. 261). Sometimes he is aware of
experiencing two locations at once. Some experiences are easy to
recall and others forgotten, and sometimes the experience seems so
real that he is not immediately aware of the fact that it is an OBE.
One interesting detail is that Harary states that the ball of light
varies in hue, intensity and colour. It sounds very much like the
descriptions given by the Rigo people of Papua New Guinea.
Harary's ball of light has apparently even been seen by a friend whom
he tried to visit in an OBE. It is no wonder that with this variety of
experiences his control over them and his articulate descriptions of
them, Blue Harary has proved an excellent subject for OBE research.
The experiments in which his physiological state was measured
were carried out at the Psychical Research Foundation. The PRF was
founded expressly to study those phenomena which seem to indicate
survival of some part of a person after the death of his physical body,
and was research assistant at the PRF, where he took part in many
OBE. In 1973-1974 Harary studied psychology at Duke University
and was research assistant at the PRF, where he took part in many
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experiments (61, 68, 95, 96). These took place usually at night.
Harary prepared himself by carefully relaxing all day and avoiding
anything which might produce distracting thoughts in the evening's
session. An hour before the session he sometimes meditated for a few
minutes and so came to the experiment calm and relaxed. While
the electrodes were attached he would 'cool down' further using progressive relaxation and imagining the target room in preparation for
his visit there. In this way he would reach a state in which it was
sometimes hard for him to avoid having an OBE. When all was
ready he was left in a completely dark, soundproofed room, with
white noise in the background to cut out any distracting noises (see
Plate 8).
Physiological measurements were made for 13 sessions, including
EEG, eye movements, muscle activity (with electrodes on the chin),
skin potential, heart rate and blood pulse amplitude, and finally
respiration rate. All were recorded on a 12-channel polygraph along
with timing and event markers and the whole period was divided
into 30-second epochs for analysis. In each session Harary was asked
to go OB twice. Before each of these OBEs he would 'cool down'
for some time and then when he was ready would indicate that he
was going, by voice. At the end of the OBE, usually after 2-3
minutes, he would say that he was back. Later the same procedure
was repeated and so there were four periods altogether, two 'cool
down' and two OBE. By this comparison it was possible to see
whether the OBE occurred in a state markedly different from that
of the 'cool down' period.
The findings were different again from those of previous studies.
Here there were no changes in EEG. The amount and frequency of
alpha were the same in OBE and 'cool down' periods and there were
only slightly fewer eye movements in the OBE phases. These
measurements alone show that Harary was awake and that his OBEs
did not occur in a sleeping, dreaming or borderline state.
Other measures did show a change. Skin potential fell, indicating
greater relaxation, and it was this measure which provided the best
indicator that an OBE had begun. Both heart rate and respiration
rate increased. This is surprising because it implies a greater degree
of arousal; the opposite of the finding from skin potential. So in some
ways Harary was more relaxed, but he was also more alert. However,
this may not seem so surprising when we consider the relaxed but
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131
alert state which is often advocated for learning to have OBEs.
Finally the other measures, from the plethysmograph and electromyograph, showed no change.
What do all these findings mean? What they seem to show is that
Harary's OBEs occur when he is in a state only slightly different
from the previous 'cool down' state. He is more relaxed, and his
breathing and heartbeat are faster; but although these changes are
consistent across the different OBE periods, they are all gradual.
There is no sudden change at the beginning or end of an OBE. This
state does not appear much like dreaming, as was confirmed when
an all-night session showed that Harary had a normal sleep cycle
with REM periods. So Harary's OBE does not take place in the
same physiological state as do his dreams, any more than do the
other subject's OBEs.
We had two main objectives in considering these physiological
studies: to find out whether there is a discrete OBE state, differentiable
from other states, and if so what it is like; and to determine whether
the OBE can be considered as a kind of dream. Both can now be
answered. As for the first, great differences between subjects tend
to obscure any clear pattern in the states, but in all this confusion it
is clear that the start of an OBE does not coincide with any abrupt
physiological change. There is no discrete OBE state. When we consider all the variety of everyday situations in which OBEs have been
reported this should perhaps come as no surprise.
As for the second question, the answer is unequivocal. The OBE
does not, at least for these subjects, and under these conditions, occur
in a state resembling dreaming. In one case, with Monroe, there
was something like a dreaming sleep state, but this was far from
certain. In all other subjects their states, as measured by EEG, EOG
and autonomic activity, were not that of dreaming. They were relaxed, and even drowsy or lightly asleep, but they were not dreaming
when they had their OBEs.
There remains one final, but awkward, question. How far can
these results be generalized to other subjects, or more especially to
other kinds of OBE? We have already come across hints that the
induced OBE may be different, in some respects, from the spontaneous experience. Another problem is that some OBEs take place
in extreme conditions. The experience!: may be ill, under stress,
undergoing an operation or accident or even close to death. Perhaps
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all we can safely conclude is that the induced experimental OBEs
are not like dreams, not even like lucid dreams. The two experiences
are similar in many ways, but the physiological states in which they
occur can be quite different.
2. Ba with the mummy. A detail from the Papyrus of Ani.
Nineteenth Century, c. 1250 B.C.
(From the British Museum)
3. The phantom, slightly out of coincidence.
(From Muldoon and Carrington, 97a*)
4. The phantom lying in the air above the physical body.
(From Muldoon and Carrington, 97a)
*Numbers refer to books in the References section.
5. The route the phantom takes in projecting.
(From Muldoon and Carrington, 97a)
6. The phantom upright and projected within cord-activity range.
(From Muldoon and Carrington, 97a)
7. How the phantom interiorizes.
(From Muldoon and Carrington, 97a)
8. According to Muldoon and Carrington, if the phantom is
exteriorized violently, e.g. with anaesthetics, it ascends spirally,
STAGE 1 DREAMING
FIG. I. A typical example of Miss Z's waking EEG pattern and an
example of Stage I dreaming with REMs.
STAGE 2 SLEEP
9. Examples of Miss Z's EEG.
(From Tart, 146b)
10. Blue Harary preparing for an OBE experiment. With Bob
Morris at the Psychical Research Foundation. (Photograph: Bill
Roll and Blue Harary)
11. Blue Harary with Bill Roll. (Photograph: Bill Roll)
12. The departure of the astral body at death.
(From Muldoon and Carrington, 97a)
13. Unusual perspectives reported in hallucinatory images include
this scene as though viewed from underwater, as well as aerial
perspectives with sensations of flying.
(FromR.K. Siegel: "Hallucinations", Scientific American, 1977)
14. A lattice-tunnel pattern with complex memory images at the
periphery.
(FromR.K. Siegel: "Hallucinations", Scientific American, 1977)
15. The light at the center of the tunnel.
16. A spiral lattice.
17. An astral visitor.
(From Carrington, 17b)
18. Projection in an "hypnotic trance."
(From Carrington, 17b)
19. Photograph of Madame Baraduc, a quarter of an hour after
death.
(From Carrington and Meader, 18)
20. Photograph of Madame Baraduc, a bare hour after death.
(From Carrington and Meader, 18)
21. Phantom frog enlarged.
Photograph taken in
experiments with a
cloud chamber.
(From the SPR archives)
22. Phantom mouse
enlarged.
(From the SPR
archives)
23. Phantom grasshopper
enlarged. (From the SPR
archives)
24. Mr Hopper trying to obtain phantoms with a cloud chamber.
(From the SPR archives)
25. Photograph of the astral
body of Madame Lambert.
(From Carrington, 17b)
27. The Schroder staircase.
An ambiguous figure which
can be seen in either of two
ways, as though from above,
or from below. It is
impossible to see both
at once.
(Photograph: John Harris)
26. Photograph of the
swaying of Madame Lambert's
body, from early experiments.
(From Carrington, 17b)
13
Visions of the Dying
What happens when you die? Of course I don't really expect to
answer such a question, but I ask it because of the implications some
have thought the OBE holds for the question of survival. To be more
precise; it has been suggested that if an astral body, or some sort of
double, can leave the physical body in life, then perhaps it can do
the same at death. On this view death is no more than a permanent
astral projection, and astral projection a rehearsal for death.
This kind of view has been strongly defended by Muldoon and
Carrington (97a) and Crookall (26a). Some people have thought that
visions seen by the dying and the evidence on 'near-death experiences' (NDEs), gathered by such people as Moody (94) and KüblerRoss, supports it. Opposing it are two main types of alternative.
First, there is a wide variety of religious teachings having too many
different views to discuss in detail here; and second there are several
psychological approaches based on a materialist view that 'death is
the end'.
According to traditional astral projection theory, death involves
a process of evolution. As the physical body dies, the astral is gradually freed from it and rises above it as it would do in projection.
Having hovered there for some time, during which the dying person
can see his own body and what is going on around him, it leaves, for
other worlds. The etheric body is now no longer needed, since its
job was one of communication between astral and physical, and so
it begins to dissipate, sometimes being visible as a whitish form
around or above the dead physical body. It takes some days to disappear. This theory gives a clear outline of what is expected at death.
Any clairvoyant person at the deathbed should be able to see the
departure of the astral body and later the dissipation of the etheric
body. The dying person himself should experience all the phenomena
of astral projection, with the sensations of separation, and entry into
the astral world. There he may be able to glimpse the spirits of the
dead coming to greet him and help him on his way. The state in
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Beyond the Body
which he begins his afterlife will depend on his life on earth and his
state of evolution there. But in any case he will have ample opportunity to develop after death and so to rise to higher planes in ever
more subtle bodies.
Some religious teachings are compatible with this description of
death. Others suggest that in death consciousness will be transformed with the loss of ego or individuality, and the absorption of
the individual in some general or cosmic consciousness. Others have
regions of heaven and hell, purgatory and such 'places' where the
dead go. The idea of crossing a symbolic divide, such as the river
Styx, to the other world is also common. But I would get too far
diverted from the subject of OBEs if I were to consider all these
different ideas, or to discuss the question of survival in general. I
must therefore confine myself to considering the two main views.
The simple materialist viewpoint is that if consciousness is a product of brain activity and the person and his unique personality are
products of his body, brain and behaviour, then of course when the
brain dies, behaviour ceases and the body is buried then the person
will also cease to exist. His personality will be lost to the world,
except insofar as it remains in his creations, works, children or whatever, and his consciousness will just stop. This view is usually associated with the belief that deathbed visions, OBEs and NDEs are
all products of the imagination or hallucinations of a dying brain;
there are no angels and spirits to be seen and nothing leaves the body
in an OBE. Since this view as it stands does not in any way explain
all the phenomena, additional explanations are required; and, as we
shall see, many psychological accounts of near-death phenomena
have been put forward. The two main alternatives are therefore
either that something does survive-the same something as is projected in the OBE; or that nothing is projected in an OBE and nothing survives.
There is plenty of evidence to bring to bear on these alternatives.
Ever since the founding of the SPR in 1882, and in fact long before,
psychical researchers have studied the question of man's survival of
physical death. Their techniques have been numerous, involving
communications from the dead through mediumship in various forms
and the study of deathbed and near-death phenomena, but I shall
consider here only four types of evidence. These are: first, the study
of apparitions occurring at the moment of death; second, visions of
an astral body or other form by those attending a deathbed; third,
Visions of the Dying
135
the experiences of the dying; and finally the experiences of those
who come close to death but recover to tell the tale.
APPARITIONS AT DEATH
Crisis apparitions formed an important part of the early evidence
for survival. Typically someone sees or hears an apparition, only to
find that that person's death or some other trauma, coincided exactly
with the experience. Phantasms of the Living (55) is packed with such
examples; which the authors attributed to the living, rather than to
the dead, because of the strong resemblance between the phenomena
in the living and the dying. Myers also included many examples of
this type in his Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death
(99b); and in later years cases were collected by Bozzano (13), by
Carrington and Meader (18), and by Camille Flammarion, in his
study of Death and its Mystery (40). Of course cases were also published in the Journal and Proceedings of the SPR. Such cases have a
bearing on OBEs to the extent that the apparition seen or felt might
be interpreted as the departing double of the dying, but of course
this is not the only possible interpretation.
First, the evidentiality of many cases can be questioned. Usually
it depends on a coincidence in time between the apparition and the
death, and that is always hard to prove after the case. I can no more
argue that all the cases ever presented can be 'explained away' than
I can be sure they were all genuine, but I can point to some possible
sources of error. Memory is highly fallible and few people have been
sure about the time or even the day on which the apparition was
seen. Also one is more likely to remember experiences which did
coincide with a death or other important event, and to 'remember' it
as though the two occurred exactly together. Only in the best cases
are there independent checks of the times of both apparition and
death.
There is also the problem of knowing how often people see apparitions which do not coincide with any death. It is precisely this which
the 'Census of Hallucinations' was intended to discover (136). Between the years of 1889 and 1894 a simple questionnaire was given
out to members of the SPR which asked the question :
Have you ever, when believing yourself to be completely awake, had a
vivid impression of seeing or being touched by a living being or inanimate
object, or of hearing a voice; which impression, so far as you could discover,
was not due to any external physical cause?
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Beyond the Body
Further questions were then asked about the person seen, his state
at the time and so on. Members of the Society were asked to collect
as many replies as they could and in the end 17,000 replies were
received, of which 1,300 answers were positive. The investigators
analysed the replies, made an estimate of the probability of various
coincidences and found that an unexpectedly large number of the
hallucinations occurred within twelve hours either way of the death
of the person seen. This they took as evidence for survival.
For its time, this was a very advanced study and the statistical
methods used were new, but in retrospect little reliance can be placed
on the conclusions. Most important is that the sample was heavily
biased. The questionnaires were given to anyone who was prepared
to fill them in, and no attempt at random sampling was made. It is
obvious that someone who had an interesting story to tell would be
more likely to want to reply than someone who had nothing to report.
Many cases were investigated very thoroughly, but even so errors of
memory, slight exaggerations, conscious or unconscious, and other
such errors could not be ruled out entirely.
Another problem is more serious for the question of survival. Even
if the most careful study showed highly evidential cases of apparitions at the moment of death, this proves neither the existence of a
double nor survival. It could always be argued that telepathy or clairvoyance combined with an hallucination was responsible for the
vision. This argument has become known as the 'super-ESP hypothesis'; 'super' because the powers of ESP have to be stretched to
such an extent to account for some of the phenomena claimed (47a).
The problem is that for any evidence which is put forward in support of survival, an alternative account can always be found which
involves only ESP or PK by the living, even if that account seems
more far-fetched than does the idea of survival. This problem appears
in many guises and results from the fact that ESP is defined negatively and can never be ruled out. This means that proof of survival
is not strictly possible, but in fact this is not half as serious as it
sounds because 'proof is not really required. If it could be shown
that the evidence was such that the survival interpretation fitted it
far better, and made it far more comprehensible than did any alternative, it would come to be accepted, whether or not the dubious
alternative of ESP had been directly excluded. Certainly there are
many people who believe that the evidence is of that quality.
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137
VISIONS OF ATTENDANTS AT DEATHS
The second type of evidence, which is more closely related to OBEs,
used to be more frequently reported than it is now. This consists of
the visions seen, or sounds heard, by those attending a deathbed.
Sometimes beautiful music could be heard by those at the bedside,
which faded away as their patient 'passed on'. Sometimes 'angels' or
'spirits of the dead' were seen coming to take the dying one away,
but of most interest here are the cases in which something like an
astral body was seen leaving the physical body at the moment of
death. Sir William Barrett made a collection of cases (4) and Greenhouse (50), Hyslop (150) and Crookall (26i) all give examples.
One which was published in the SPR Journal in 1908 (4 pp. 105-8)
concerned a Mr G. whose wife died in May 1902. Some five hours
before his wife's death, Mr G. happened to look towards the door and
there he saw 'three separate and distinct clouds in strata. Each cloud
appeared to be about four feet in length, from six to eight inches in
width, the lower one about two feet from the ground, the others at
intervals of about six inches . . .' These forms approached the bed,
and Mr G., gazing through the mist, saw & vision of a woman, transparent but shining like gold, dressed in a long and flowing Grecian
costume with a brilliant crown upon heir head. Two more figures
knelt by the bedside and others hovered about. Above the body of
his wife floated a nude white figure, connected by a cord from the
forehead. Mr G. watched this vision continuously until the end came.
His wife gasped, breathed again, and with her last breath the cord
was suddenly severed and the 'astral ifig;ure' vanished. The other
forms departed as well, and a feeling of oppression that had weighed
upon Mr G. left him and he was able to set about the business of
directing what was to be done with the body. He concludes, 'I leave
my readers to determine whether I was labouring under a mental
delusion caused by anxiety, sorrow and fatigue, or if a glimpse of a
spirit world of beauty, happiness, calmness, and peace was granted
to my mortal eyes.'
Although cases like this seem to be far more rare in recent years
and so we cannot bring modern methods to bear on them, the man's
question is still as pertinent as ever, and applies to all the phenomena
we are considering here. Can they be explained by psychological
phenomena, hallucinations and so on? Or do we need to invoke the
theory of a double and of survival in some form? It is with respect
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Beyond the Body
to the last two types of evidence that this question has received the
most detailed study. This is the experiences of those close to death.
EXPERIENCES OF THE DYING
Experiences of this kind fall into two groups : deathbed experiences,
occurring to those who actually do die, which are usually related
afterwards by someone who was present at the death; and the neardeath experiences (NDEs) recounted by people who have nearly
died, but have recovered to tell their own tales. Both of these provide descriptions of what it is like in the last stages of life, but it
must be borne in mind that in every near-death experience the person did not die, and so he cannot be said to have been dead at the
time of his conscious experience, even though physiologically he may
have showed all the signs of death. The same applies to deathbed
experiences. If the person was capable of recounting his vision or
other experience then he cannot have been dead at the time. Therefore we shall not hear accounts from the dead, but only accounts
from those who have stared death in the face.
The study of deathbed experiences has a long history. In 1926 Sir
William Barrett put together a little collection of cases entitled
Death-bed Visions (4). As well as visions of the spirit leaving the body
and music heard at the time of death, this book included many types
of vision seen by the dying person himself. Many of these seemed to
point towards death as a passing from one state to another: a beautiful world may be glimpsed beyond this world, 'spirits' of the dead
may be seen around the bedside, and 'angels' or other spiritual beings
may be seen coming to take the dying person away. A type of case of
particular interest to Barrett was that in which the dying person saw
someone there who was in fact dead, but this fact was not known to
him at the time. Similar cases had previously been collected by Miss
Cobbe in her 'Peak in Darien' (20). Both these authors believed that
this kind of evidence supported the theory of survival and Rogo, who
reviewed some of this research (124c), concluded that all the investigators were drawn to the 'survival hypothesis'.
One such case was reported by Lady Barrett (4 pp. 10-15). In her
work as an obstetric surgeon she had one day delivered a baby but
the mother lay dying and begging for it not to get dark. Then suddenly she looked up eagerly towards one part of the room with a
radiant smile and said, 'Oh, lovely, lovely.' When asked what was
lovely she replied that she could see 'Lovely brightness - wonderful
Visions of the Dying
139
beings'. Then she exclaimed that she saw her father, who was so
glad that she was coming. When she was shown her baby the woman
asked whether she ought to stay, for the baby's sake, but added, 'I
c a n ' t - I can't stay; if you could see what I do you would know I
can't stay.' Later she spoke to her husband and asked him not to hide
the beautiful vision, and then she said she saw Vida, her sister.
Then after apparently seeing both the visions and the room together
for about an hour she died. It was added that the woman had not
been told of the death of her sister some three weeks before, because
of her own ill health.
This case includes most of the features thought to be evidence for
survival by many psychical researchers, but it could still be argued
quite cogently that the visions were the product of a dying brain and
the sister's death was known subconsciously or perceived by ESP.
Obviously if we are to decide which interpretation is most valid
something more than just endless cases is required; and recently
different approaches have been taken.
Large-scale surveys of doctors' and nurses' death-bed observations
have been carried out by Karlis Osis, the American parapsychologist,
and Erlendur Haraldsson (104b, c). Together they tried to find out
whether deathbed visions are evidence of an afterlife, or are the result
of malfunctioning of the dying brain. They predicted that if the
latter were the case then the visions seen would reflect largely the
expectations of the patient and his religious background; they would
depend to a great extent on the cause of death and the drugs being
administered and there would be more visions seen by patients who
might be expected to be hallucinating. To investigate these predictions, Osis and Haraldsson distributed questionnaires to doctors and
nurses both in America and in India.
In the USA questionnaires were sent to 2,500 physicians and the
same number of nurses, and 1,004 replies were received. In India a
postal survey was not thought practicable and so 704 medical personnel were interviewed. The questions they were asked included
some about their own background and beliefs and then some about
the patients who had died in their care. They were asked how many
patients they had attended and who had died, how many had seen
visions, or experienced extreme changes of mood, and what those
were like. In addition they were asked for details about those
patients' religious beliefs, their illness or cause of death, and any
drugs they were taking prior to death. Altogether 877 cases were ob-
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Beyond the Body
tained. From all this information Osis and Haraldsson attempted to
find out how the deathbed experiences varied.
First of all they found out that the majority of visions (80%) were
of dead people or religious figures. This far exceeds the proportion
among visions in the general population. In India there were more
religious visions and in America more visions of the dead. Of all the
dead people seen, over 90% were relatives of the dying person, and
65% seemed to have come to take the person away. Here an interesting difference emerged between the two cultures. Most of the
Americans were willing to 'go' with those who came to fetch them,
but there were many Indians who were not. In fact almost all those
who refused to 'go' were Indians. Osis and Haraldsson related this
to the different beliefs about the roles of these messengers. Interestingly this was the only major difference between the cultures. More
'serenity' was observed in Christians than Hindus, but in most other
ways the visions were comparable with only small differences in
interpretation.
Other interesting findings concerned the effect of drugs and different causes of death. Or perhaps I should say non-effect, for on the
whole it was found that the visions and mood changes were not
influenced by these factors. From information on drugs, temperature, illness and so on the investigators developed a 'Hallucinogenic
index' as a measure of how likely the patient was to have been
hallucinating. They found that 43 % of the visions were experienced
by people in what they described as a normal state of consciousness,
and this index did not seem to predict whether visions were seen or
not. Finally the visions were not related to factors such as sex, age, or
other demographic variables. It seemed to Osis and Haraldsson that
the source of the visions seen did not lie in the state of malfunction of
the brain, or the prior beliefs and expectations of the patient, but
that they appeared independently of these things. All this led them
to conclude they had collected evidence favouring the survival rather
than the destruction hypothesis.
These conclusions must be questioned, however, as must the data
collected by Osis and Haraldsson. Their survey suffered from a number of serious drawbacks. First of all there was the sampling. Out of
5,000 questionnaires sent out only 20% were returned, and there are
reasons for supposing that the people who replied would have differed
from those who did not. For example they may have been more
favourably disposed towards the idea of survival; or have happened
Visions of the Dying
141
to be just those people who had seen the most in the way of deathbed
visions.
Even if one supposed that these could be taken as representative
of the whole population, there are other problems. All the answers
rely on the memory and the honesty of the people replying. They
may all honestly have described their patients' experiences as well as
they could, but they could surely not be expected to remember accurately every dying patient they had ever attended in perhaps a long
career in medicine. Finally they were, of course, giving secondhand
accounts of the experiences. Even though the doctors and nurses may
have tried to exclude their own biases and interpretations from their
accounts, they could never hope to give an account equivalent to one
that might be given by the dying patient himself. For all these reasons
the results obtained by Osis and Haraldsson have to be treated with
care. I do not think we can conclude with certainty that the visions
were the result of glimpsing an afterlife, rather than that they were
a psychological phenomenon.
I have mentioned the problem that all these descriptions were
obtained secondhand, and this is common to most accounts of deathbed experiences; but there are exceptions. For example, some people
have had visions some time before their death. John Oxenham is one
example. He became ill with bronchitis and in the midst of his
suffering heard a screaming row outside, and a great crash, whereupon he found himself in another world and able to see clearly. He
saw beautiful scenery, buildings and gardens, and met and talked
to many people. All his adventures 'out of the body' are described
in a little book by himself and his daughter who nursed him (109).
Of course such accounts by the dying are rare, but another way
to approach this problem is to gather the accounts of those who
recover from their encounter with death. That is, accounts of neardeath experiences. These are of such interest that they deserve a
chapter to themselves.
14 Close Encounters with Death
Much publicity has recently been given to research on near-death
experiences (NDEs), experiences of those who survive a close encounter with death, but such research is not new. Towards the end
of the last century a Swiss geologist, Albert Heim, collected many
accounts from climbers who had survived near-fatal falls in the Alps
(101a). He was a keen mountain climber and it was his own
mountaineering accidents which had aroused his interest. Accounts
of near-death experiences have come from many other sources.
Sometimes people have written about their own. For example, Carl
Jung described how he saw the earth from high up in space while
he 'hung on the edge of death' (94 p. 320). And accounts can be
found in many collections of cases.
However, there is a good reason for the recent upsurge of interest
in NDEs; and that is that more people now survive close brushes
with death. In the time of Myers, Barrett or Flammarion, deathbed
accounts were more common as people lingered on with consumption
and often died at home. But today they are rushed to hospital and
resuscitated from states which, not so long ago, would have been
called death. One can suffer a cardiac arrest and the cessation of
breathing and even most brain activity, and still be 'brought back to
life'. This has necessitated changes in the definition of death and the
laws surrounding it, but of most importance here, it has provided
a large number of people who have been very close to death but have
survived to tell the tale.
MOODY
Most popular of these tales have been those told by Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross who has long worked with the dying, and those collected by Raymond Moody (94) an American doctor who tried to
overcome people's fear of talking about death in 1970s America.
Moody interviewed many people who had had accidents or been
Close Encounters with
Death
143
resuscitated, and put together an idealized version of a typical neardeath experience. He emphasized that no one person described the
whole of this experience, but each feature was found in many of the
stories. Since Moody describes the experience so well I can do no
better than use his wo r d s :
A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he
hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to hear an
uncomfortable noise, a loud ringing or buzzing, and at the same time feels
himself moving very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this, he
suddenly finds himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the
immediate physical environment, and he sees his own body from a distance,
as though he is a spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from this
unusual vantage point and is in a state of emotional upheaval.
After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his
odd condition. He notices that he still has a 'body', but one of a very
different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he
has left behind. Soon other things begin to happen. Others come to meet
and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and friends who have
already died, and a loving, warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered
before — a being of light — appears before him. This being asks him a
question, non-verbally, to make him evaluate his life and helps him along
by showing him a panoramic, instantaneous playback of the major events
of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching some sort of barrier
or border, apparently representing the limit between earthly life and the
next life. Yet, he finds that he must go back to the earth, that the time for
his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by now he is taken
up with his experiences in the afterlife and does not want to return. He is
overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love, and peace. Despite his
attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and lives.
Later he tries to tell others, but he has trouble doing so. In the first place,
he can find no human words adequate to desciribe these unearthly episodes.
He also finds that others scoff, so he stops telling other people. Still, the
experience affects his life profoundly especially his views about death and
its relationship to life [94 pp. 21-3].
T h e parallel between this and many OBEs should be clear. There
is the tunnel travelled through as well as the experience of seeing
one's own body from outside and seeming to have some other kind
of body, and the ineffability is familiar. On e is tempted to conclude
that in death a typical OBE, or astral projection occurs, and is followed by a transition to another world, with the aid of people who
have already made the crossing, and higher beings in whose plane
one is going to lead the next phase of existence. Certainly this is the
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Beyond the Body
sort of conclusion which many have drawn. Moody himself believes
that his findings are indicative of survival, as does Kubler-Ross.
But before hastily taking Moody's research at face value, we
should be aware of its many shortcomings, as Moody himself
was (122b). Most obvious is that his cases were collected more or less
as they came along and without any attempt at organized sampling.
In presenting them in his books he selected those he wanted, and he
made no attempt at any statistical analysis of the material. Therefore although his work gave a good idea of what dying could be
like for some people, it did not begin to answer questions such as how
common this type of experience is, how often the different features
of the experience occur, and whether any come in clusters, are
mutually exclusive, or happen in a specific order. Nor did he determine whether the nature of the experience varies with the dying
person's state of mind, drug intake, prior beliefs or whatever. His
impression that their religion did not affect the experience was based
more on casual observation than on careful analysis.
More detailed research inspired by Moody's work is now under
way, especially in the U.S.A. (see e.g. 51, 122b, 129). A society has
been formed to bring together those interested in this research; the
International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and the
Association produces a magazine, Anabiosis, in which some of this
research has been published. So we may now ask whether Moody's
findings have been confirmed ?
In general the answer is yes, but with some reservations and differences. First of all an idea of the incidence of NDEs has been obtained. Fred Schoonmaker, a cardiologist, has interviewed over 2,300
survivors of acute life-threatening situations since 1961 (132). Most
of these had been treated in the cardiovascular unit where he worked
and he was able to talk to them, informally, soon after their crises.
He found that 60% reported experiences similar to Moody's and of
those who did not a further fifth or so were prepared to discuss this
sort of experience after repeated invitations and reassurances. This
was not a properly selected sample, but Schoonmaker has argued that
it can be considered representative; certainly he has gained by being
able to interview the people soon after their experience, and regardless of whether they had anything to report. Sabom (see 122b) also
interviewed patients among whom many had had cardiac arrests.
Seventy-eight were interviewed prospectively, that is, they were
Close Encounters with Death
145
chosen only because they were known to have been close to death.
Of these 42% reported an experience something like Moody's.
RING
The most detailed research has been carried out by Kenneth Ring,
a psychologist from Connecticut (122a, b). From hospitals there he
obtained the names of people (over the age of 18) who had come close
to death or been resuscitated from clinical death, as a result of illness, accident or suicide attempt, and who were sufficiently recovered
to talk about their experiences. Many suitable people were referred
by the hospitals but there were few accident and suicide cases. Therefore advertisements were put out in the hope of attracting more.
These asked for people who had come close to death, not mentioning whether they had had any 'experience' of any kind, but of course
this is not an ideal sampling method. From all these sources Ring
obtained 102 interviews. The respondents were asked for demographic information and for a free account of the near-death
episode. Further questions were then asked about details such as
those described by Moody, and followed by questions about any aftereffects or changes in religious belief or attitudes.
Ring divided Moody's description into eleven recurrent components of what he called the 'core experience'. He then constructed
an index, a weighted measure of the depth of the experience, and
divided his respondents into three groups, non-experiencers, deep
experiencers, and those between. Almost half of his sample (48%)
reported experiences which were, at leaist in part, similar to Moody's
description. This is probably an overestimate of the true incidence
because the hospital referrals produced less (39%) than the selfreferred cases, but this difference was not significant.
One of Ring's most interesting findings concerned the stages of the
experience. He showed that the earlier stages also tended to be
reported more frequently. The first stage, peace, was experienced by
60% of his sample, some of whom did not reach any further stages.
One woman who had nearly died of a ruptured appendix said, 'I'
had a feeling of total peace . . . I wasn't frightened any more.'
Another had tried to commit suicide by throwing herself into the
ocean and had been badly smashed on the rocks. Although she had
been cold and shivering she said, 'I felt warm, safe, happy, relaxed,
just every wonderful adjective you could use . . . This was perfection, this is everything anyone could possibly want. . .' It seems that
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many could not find the words to describe their positive, relaxed,
passive and happy state.
The next stage, of most interest to us here, was that of 'body
separation', in others words the OBE. Thirty-seven per cent of Ring's
sample reached this stage and what they reported sounds very similar
to the many OBEs we have considered already. One young man who
nearly died of a high fever said :
I experienced this type of feeling where I felt I had left my body and I
had viewed it from the other side of the room. I can sort of remember
looking back at myself — it was scary of course . . . I can remember seeing
myself lying there with a sheet and a hypothermia blanket on me. My eyes
were closed, my face was very cold-looking . . . It was like I was perched
right up on a little level over near the side of the room . . . [122b p. 46].
A woman who had a very deep core experience described the OBE
phase saying, 'I was up in the left-hand corner of the room, looking
down at what was going on.' Another, who had had a severe car
crash, was apparently able to watch and hear anything that was going
on in the operating theatre. Later she told the surgeon what she had
heard and he confirmed it. Of course, whether normal or paranormal hearing was involved is another matter.
Not all the 'body separations' were so distinct. Many of Ring's
respondents simply described a feeling of being separate or detached
from everything that was happening. Some seemed to be observing
things as though from a distance, but didn't actually see their
own bodies from the outside. Ring tried to find out about two specific
aspects of these OBEs. First he asked whether they had another
body. The answer seemed to be 'no': most were unaware of any
other body and answered that they were something like 'mind only'.
Only two described anything like another body and even then the
body was incomplete. There was a similar lack of descriptions of the
'silver cord'. Not all the people were systematically asked about a connection between themselves and their body, but of those who were,
none described anything like the traditional cord.
So we can see that an OBE of sorts forms an important stage in
the near-death experience; but it does not seem to be much like the
traditional astral projection. The experience consists of feelings of
detachment and viewing the scene as though from above; but it is
not combined with any sense of having an astral body, or being
connected by a silver cord. Nor were distinct feelings of separation
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147
and return described by Ring's subjects. Nonetheless Ring equates
these experiences with other OBEs and is of the opinion that these
first two phases of the near-death encounter are best explained by
supposing that consciousness does separate from the physical body.
After the OBE stage comes 'entering the darkness' experienced by
nearly a quarter of Ring's subjects. This is equivalent to Moody's
travelling down a dark tunnel, but in Ring's research only nine
people described anything like a tunnel. More frequent were descriptions of 'a journey into a black vastness without shape or dimension'.
It was described as 'a void, a nothing', as 'very peaceful blackness'
and as 'soft velvet blackness'. One cardiac arrest victim said, 'Well,
it was like night. It was dark. It was dark. But it was like, like
[pause] like in the dark sky. Space. Dark. And it was - there weren't
any things around. No stars or objects around.'
There were, however, some descriptions of tunnels, funnel, pipe,
culvert, and drum. One young woman who had a near-fatal asthma
attack said:
I do remember thinking to myself that I was dying. And I felt I was floating
through a tunnel . . . When I say tunnel, the only thing I can think of is —
you know, those sewer pipes, those big pipes they put in? It was round like
that, but it was enormous. I couldn't really see the edges of it; I got the
feeling that it was round. It was like a whitish color . . . I was lying on my
back. I was just floating. And smoke or white lines or something were
coming this way [toward her] and I was going the opposite way [122b p. 54].
In the literature on astral projection, it is usually claimed that the
tunnel represents the separation from the body; that the astral body
leaving the physical creates the tunnel sensation. By contrast, in
Ring's scheme the tunnel, when it occurs, is in the stage after the
OBE. He does not state whether in most cases the tunnel came before
or after the OBE, but he does give one account in which an old
lady had an OBE before walking through a 'big water culvert' to
'see what's on the other side'. This evidence does seem to conflict
with the traditional interpretation of the tunnel, but fits with Ring's
interpretation of the tunnel as representing a shift of consciousness
from one level to another.
Many people saw nothing but blackness and no light at the end,
but for sixteen the next stage was reached, 'seeing the light'. The
light was sometimes at the end of the tunnel, sometimes glimpsed
in the distance but usually it was golden and bright without hurting
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the eyes. Sometimes the light was associated with a presence of some
kind, or a voice telling the person to go back. The same woman
who had walked through a culvert had another experience in which
she saw Jesus Christ in the centre of a golden, yellow light. He spoke
to her and then disappeared. She did not want to tell anyone but her
husband about her vision in case she was thought mad.
Finally there were a few experiencers, ten in all, who seemed to
'enter the light' and pass into or just glimpse another world. This
was described as a world of great beauty, with glorious colours, with
meadows of golden grass, birds singing, or beautiful music. It was at
this stage that people were greeted by deceased relatives, and it was
from this world that they did not want to come back. Some, like
this man who nearly died after a tooth extraction, described it as
heaven.
I took a trip to heaven. I saw the most beautiful lakes. Angels —they were
floating around like you see seagulls. Everything was white. The most
beautiful flowers. Nobody on this earth ever saw the beautiful flowers that
I saw there . . . The lakes were blue, light blue. Everything about the angels
was pure white [122b p. 61].
One overwhelming impression which comes from all these descriptions is that the experiences described were pleasant. None of Ring's
respondents went to anywhere which could be called 'hell' and many
struggled to find words strong enough to convey their positive
emotions. Sabom and Kreutziger also emphasize that their patients
experienced calm and peace during-the NDEs, regardless of the type
or intensity of the physical crisis (129).
The major difference between Ring's and Moody's descriptions
concerned the 'being of light'. None of Ring's subjects described this
being although many experienced elements of it. Nor did they recount both sensing a presence and meeting with spirits. In Ring's
opinion the two might serve the same purpose, indicating the choice
of staying or going back, and so both are not necessary.
In addition, Ring tried to find out whether it makes a difference
how one (nearly) dies. There were some sex differences here; but in
general it seemed that illness victims were most likely to have neardeath experiences, accident victims next, and the suicide cases least
likely. The suicide cases were the most difficult to interpret but Ring
concluded that their experiences tended to be aborted or damped
down and the later stages were reached less often. He also looked
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149
at various demographic variables and summed up that effect as
'negative'. As far as religious belief is concerned he came to the conclusion that a person's prior religiosity might determine the interpretation placed on the experience but it would not alter the likelihood
or depth of that experience.
Finally Ring looked at the changes which occurred to people who
had near-death experiences. Typically they felt reborn into a life
with more meaning and purpose, and the values of love and service
to others became more important than material comforts. Religion
often seemed more meaningful and death was no longer to be feared.
NOYES AND KLETTI
A completely different kind of analysis was applied by Noyes and
Kletti (100, 101b) to accounts collected from victims of falls, drownings, accidents, serious illnesses, and other life-threatening situations.
They emphasized such features as altered time perception and attention, feeling of unreality and loss of emotions, and the sense of detachment. They found that these features occurred more often in people
who thought they were about to die than in those who did not. This
fitted their interpretation of the experiences as a form of depersonalization in the face of a threat to life; that is as a way of escaping
or becoming dissociated from the imminent death of the physical
body.
Interestingly, their cases seem rather different from those we have
heard about so far. One racing driver who had a serious crash
described how he seemed to leave reality and move into another
world where he could see things '. . . more clearly and distinctly than
at any time in my life.' But he also added, 'The whole experience
was like a dream.' whereas a dream is just what it has not been like
for so many other people. Others described how time slowed down,
emotions became flat, and they observed things from a distance, but
none of the descriptions sound much like Moody's or Ring's. OBEs
are mentioned too, but for Noyes and Kletti these are just another
way of dissociating the self from the threat of annihilation of the
body. 'Accounts in which this out-of-the-body experience is a very
prominent feature,' they add, 'usually do not contain the other phases
described, suggesting that it may by itself represent an adequate
defense against the threat of death.'
Is the OBE, then, nothing more than the dying person's last ditch
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attempt to deny that it is he who is about to die? The idea is not
new. The psychiatrist Jan Ehrenwald (34) had previously suggested
that the OBE derives from the age-old quest for immortality and the
need to deny death. Actually there is little evidence that this is
right. It seems too far-fetched to extend that explanation to all
OBEs of healthy people; and to say that it involves denial of death
is far from a satisfactory explanation of a complex and many-sided
experience.
Two other aspects have yet to be dealt with. First, there is the
absence of any trips to 'hell'. Neither Moody nor Ring obtained
any accounts of hellish experiences. Sabom found none; Osis and
Haraldsson, only one. However, another cardiologist, Maurice
Rawlings (121) has suggested that the reason is that although patients
may recall such hellish experiences immediately afterwards, they tend
to forget them with time. In other words, their memories protect
them from recalling the unpleasant aspects. According to Rawlings
it is only because they have been interviewed too long after the
brush with death that all the experiences are reported as pleasant.
It does seem to be the 'good' side of experiences which makes the
greater impact. For example George Ritchie, an American psychiatrist who nearly died of pneumonia in his youth, describes how he
left his body, already covered by a sheet, and travelled across
the USA. He was guided by a bright being whom he recognized as
Jesus, and was shown scenes of human misery and hell. But it was
his vision of a heavenly city and the presence of Jesus which he
carried with him through his life (123).
So is this forgetting important? Other researchers have interviewed patients immediately after their experiences and found no
hellish ones, and Rawlings does not provide the comparison of interview delays that is required, so his contentions cannot be fairly
evaluated (see 122b, 128). However, at least it can be said that a
hell-like experience near death is very rare.
Another feature which needs mention is the 'life review'. It has
often been found that a person close to death may seem to see scenes
of his past life pass before him as though on a screen, or in pictures.
In some of Moody's cases the 'being of light' was apparently responsible for the review. Heim (101a) found that many victims of
falls saw their lives flash before them and similiar experiences have
been reported by Grof and Halifax (53) in their work giving LSD
to dying patients. Ring found that about a quarter of his core-
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151
experiences reported a life review, and that it was more common in
accident victims than others. He suggested that the suddenness of the
crisis may be important in setting oflf the memories. Noyes and
Kletti (101b) also report that 29% of a sample of 205 people faced
with life-threatening situations, claimed to have experienced a life
review. For example one young boy who accidentally shot himself
described how:
. . . my attention became riveted on memories of my early life. They began
when I was about three and continued up to the present. I saw myself in
a high chair at age three. I was with my father under a bridge when we
caught a prize paddlefish. I saw myself with friends. The memories were
pleasant but made me sad, realizing that this was the life I was leaving [101b
Theories about the origin of the life review have probably been more
varied than about any other aspect of the near-death experience.
Ring uses an overstretched analogy with the hologram to interpret
the life reviews as initiated by the 'higher self operating at a level
where information is stored holographically, and experienced holographically - all at once. To some the life review represents the day
of judgement or of self-judgement and to others a reorientation to
the past in recognition of the absence of any future. To Siegel the
panorama is most like the sort of hallucination produced by central
nervous system arousal (137b, c).
Just as many different interpretations have been presented for all
aspects of the near-death experience. The most important of them
have been usefully summarised by Grosso (54b). Most people seem
to agree that the near-death experience presents remarkable consistency varying little across differences in culture, religion, and cause
of the crisis; what is in dispute is why. Rawlings steeps all his findings in the language of Christianity, involving heaven and hell and
the possibility of being saved. Noyes interprets near-death experiences in terms of depersonalization; Siegel, in terms of hallucinations and Ring, within a parapsychological-holographic model.
But broadly speaking there are two camps. On the one side are
those who see the near-death experience as a sure signpost towards
another world and a life after death; on the other, those who have,
in various different ways, interpreted the experience as a part of life,
not death, and as telling us nothing whatsoever about a 'life after
life'.
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One thing I can say with certainty is that neither side is demonstrably and unambiguously correct. Those who argue that the neardeath experience tells us what death is like have taken a jump into
the unknown, for they have assumed that near-death experience is
continued into death experience, and in this they may or may not
be justified. But those who say that the near-death experience is an
experience of this life are also taking a leap from known facts. They
are claiming that the NDE and the OBE can be accounted for in
terms of psychological or physiological processes, but they have not
yet proven their case. It is to explore this approach in more detail
that I shall now turn to some related experiences found in psychiatry
and psychology to see just how much they can further our understanding.
15 The Double in Psychopathology
If the OBE is to be seen as involving psychological processes, rather
than paranormal ones, we need to look at what those processes
could be. There are essentially two ways of doing this : to liken the
OBE to pathological states found in mental illness, or to see it as a
natural extension of normal psychological processes. I shall begin
with a psychiatric approach and ask whether the OBE, or anything
like it, is found as a symptom in any mental illness.
Certainly many people who have had OBEs, Muldoon among
them (97a), have thought that their experiences signified incipient
madness. Is there any justification for this fear? If so one might expect to find a voluminous literature in medicine and psychiatry which
could help us to understand the experience. A statement by
Lhermitte, made in 1951, sounds encouraging. He says, 'the apparition of the double should make one seriously suspect the incidence
of a disease' (82). However, one only has to look a little further to
find that many of the experiences reported as hallucinations of the
self, doubles or 'autoscopy', bear little relationship to the OBE as we
have been considering it so far. Nevertheless, in their very differences
these may help to put the OBE into perspective and so I shall say a
little more about them.
DEPERSONALIZATION AND DEREALIZATION
In the last chapter we saw that Noyes and Kletti (101b) likened neardeath experiences to the phenomenon of depersonalization. Related
to depersonalization is derealization, in which the surroundings and
environment begin to seem unreal and the sufferer seems to be cut off
from reality. Depersonalization is the more common of the two, and
involves feelings that the person's own body is foreign or does not
belong. He may complain that he does not feel emotions even though
he appears to express them, and he may suffer anxiety, distortions
of time and place, and changes in his body image. It is even said
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that 'doubling' may occur and the subject seem to observe things
from a few feet ahead of his body (41). His conscious !I-ness' is said
to be outside his body but although this sounds very much like an
OBE, the other symptoms do not.
Noyes and Kletti quote an early description of depersonalization
from Schilder (101b).
To the depersonalised individual the world appears strange, peculiar,
foreign, dreamlike. Objects appear at times strangely diminished in size,
at times flat. Sounds appear to come from a distance. The tactile characteristics of objects likewise seem strangely altered. But the patients complain
not only of the changes in their perceptivity but their imagery appears to be
altered. The patients characterise their imagery as pale, colorless, and some
complain that they have altogether lost the power of imagination. The
emotions likewise undergo marked alterations. The patients complain that
they are capable of experiencing neither pain nor pleasure, love and hate
have perished within them. They experience a fundamental change in their
personality, and the climax is reached with their complaints that they have
become strangers to themselves. It is as though they were dead, lifeless,
mere automatons [p. 25].
Does this sound like a description of someone who has an OBE or
a near-death experience? In spite of what Noyes and Kletti say, I
think not. Yes, there are distortions of the environment and alterations in imagery; but from all we have learned so far it seems that
imagery becomes more bright and vivid, colourful and detailed,
rather than pale and colourless. There are changes in the emotions but rather than a perishing of love and hate, many OBEers report
deep love and joy and positive emotions more profound than they
ever experienced before. Finally I do not think that many people
who have had an OBE or NDE would say they felt 'dead, lifeless,
mere automatons'. Rather, they say, 'I had never felt so alive before
in all my life'. All this leads me to conclude that the phenomena of
derealization and depersonalization do not in the least help us to
understand the OBE. Any small similarities are outweighed by overwhelming differences.
DOUBLES
One syndrome specifically involving doubles is the unusual 'Capgras
syndrome' (36). Originally described by two Frenchmen, Capgras
and Reboul-Lachaux in 1923, it was called 'L'illusion des sosies' or
the illusion of doubles. A person suffering from this illusion may
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155
believe that a friend or relative has been replaced by an exact
double. Since this double is like the real person in every discernible
way, nothing that the 'real person' says or does will convince the
patient otherwise. It has been suggested that the illusion may represent an extreme solution to a problem of ambivalent feelings. In this
way the patient can avoid the guilt he feels at any malicious or negative feelings towards a loved one. But from even this very brief
description, I think it is obvious that this illusion bears no resemblance to the OBE.
More relevant may be the kinds of double seen in autoscopy,
literally 'seeing oneself. As an example Lukianowicz (85) reports
the case of an architect who experienced his first autoscopic hallucination five years after he began to have epileptic fits. While discussing some plans with his builder he suddenly stopped talking,
looked up towards the door and ignored the builder's questioning.
He had apparently seen a tall man, dressed in a replica of his own
suit, come through the closed door and towards his desk. He was
semi-transparent, but otherwise the only difference between him and
the architect himself was that he did not have the man's limp. The
phantom approached and then seemed to melt into the man. He
said, 'I felt as if all my life left my body and went into him'. Finally
the two separated again and the double disappeared the way he had
come, through the closed door, but this time he too was limping.
At the double's departure the architect leapt to his feet to check
that the door was really closed. He tried to continue his work, but
had to have a rest before he felt fit to carry on.
The first thing to note about this case is that the subject did not
describe any sense of leaving his physical body. Instead he saw a
copy of himself, or double, while 'he' remained where he was. Here
is the distinction between an OBE and autoscopy, or seeing one's
double. In the sense that I shall use the terms an OBE involves the
feeling of being outside the body while autoscopy usually consists of
seeing a double which is outside the body. Colvin (22) has treated
the two as distinct and suggested that autoscopy more often occurs
when the person is standing while OBEs occur when reclining. The
form seen in autoscopy is incomplete while in the OBE it is complete and vision is clearer. So can we confidently reject autoscopy
as separate from OBE ?
The term 'autoscopy' has been defined many ways. Towards the
end of the last century Fere referred to a physician who saw his
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image as though reflected, and used the term specular, or autoscopic,
hallucination. In 1935 Menninger-Lerchental criticized previous
terms and preferred to see the phenomenon as a false perception of
one own form and suggested the term 'heautoscopy', a term preferred
by Damas Mora and his colleagues on the grounds that the autoscope
is an instrument for observing one's own eye and so is likely to lead to
confusion (27). However, the term 'autoscopy' is widely used and easy
to understand, so I shall use it here. As for definitions, Critchley
defined autoscopy as 'delusional dislocation of the body image into
the visual sphere' (25). To include a wider range of experiences
Lukianowicz suggested 'a complex psychosensorial hallucinatory
perception of one's own body image projected into the external
visual space' (85).
It is clear that all of these definitions are describing something
other than an OBE; but others include the possibility of either seeing a double or an OBE. For example Damas Mora defined heautoscopy as 'the experience of seeing one's own body at a distance' or as
'the experience of duplication of one's real self, and Lippman as
'hallucinations of physical duality' (83). All these could encompass
both types of experience. So are OBEs included or not? This is
actually hard to say, for the OBE is rarely discussed at all. We may
have to look deeper into the phenomenon of autoscopy to find out
whether they and the OBE are both aspects of the same underlying
pathological problem, or whether they are entirely different, but first
I should say that I am going to use the term autoscopy as though
it did not include the OBE, so as to keep the two distinct.
Although the OBE is rarely distinguished from autoscopy in the
psychiatric literature, other distinctions are made instead. If the
double is different in appearance from the person, the experience
may be called deuteroscopy. There are other forms of heautoscopy:
some people see the whole of their body as a double; some see only
parts, perhaps only the face. There is an internal form in which the
subject can see his internal organs; and a cenesthetic form in which
he does not see, but only feels the presence of, his double. There is
even a negative form in which the subject cannot see himself even
when he tries to look in a mirror.
Damas Mora and his colleagues have distinguished heautoscopic
depersonalization and heautoscopic delusion. They give an example
of the delusional form suffered by a schizophrenic subject who felt
he also existed outside himself. He was quite sure his double went
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157
with him everywherej but he never saw him or heard him. They
also present a case of the more common form, concerning a man
who was admitted to hospital after the police had found him one
night in his pyjamas in the river. He had seen his double dressed in
a long German military trenchcoat. This double spoke to the man
in German, a language he did not know, and called him to follow.
The man then followed his own double into the river to save him
from drowning, whereupon the double disappeared.
These experiences have been labelled as hallucinations, but there
is even dispute about this. Does an inability to see something
which is there count as an hallucination ? And is it necessary that the
person be convinced that the vision is real, or only that he sees it?
If an hallucination is defined as 'perception without a corresponding
object' then someone who sees a double can be said to be hallucinating-unless an astral or etheric body is really there! But other
definitions specify that the subject must be convinced that what he
sees or hears is really there, and is not imagined, for the experience
to count as an hallucination. On this definition many forms of autoscopy would be called pseudo-hallucination since the subject is quite
capable of questioning the reality of the vision and even concluding
that it is an hallucination.
So we can see that there is much confusion about how to describe
many of these phenomena. But there is a little more certainty about
some of the conditions associated with them. These include epilepsy
and migraine, toxic confusional states in typhus and influenza, certain cerebral lesions, alcoholic and other drug intoxications, schizophrenia and depression, to name but a few. Of course some of these
are well-defined physical problems while others are themselves only
names covering a variety of symptoms - syndromes. Autoscopic
phenomena have themselves been considered as both a symptom in
other syndromes and as a syndrome in their own right.
Roughly speaking the phenomena can be divided into those
secondary to psychiatric disorders; those associated with brain pathology; and those of idiopathic origin, i.e. not associated with any
organic disorder. Theories about them have fallen into these three
categories, and I shall consider each of them; but they are not mutually exclusive, and there is a great deal of overlap. We must remember, too, that the OBE has rarely been mentioned and so it is hard
to find out how much these theories can help us. Nevertheless I think
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they will have some value in our search for ways of understanding
the OBE.
Psychoanalytic Theories of the Double
Psychoanalytic theories began with Otto Rank's analysis of the double
as a kind of scapegoat for the guilt which a person could not accept
(119). Following Rank, psychoanalytic accounts of the double became
popular and Black (8b) has reviewed some of their applications to the
OBE, but they were most used in accounting for the appearance of
doubles in poetry and literature. In the work of Maupassant and de
Musset, Poe and Kafka, Dostoevsky and Wilde, one comes across the
phenomenon of the double. The self has another self who follows
him around, taunts or jeers at him, or takes on his sins or his mistakes. In 1934 another psychoanalyst, Coleman, (21) suggested that
like shadows or familiars the double was of essentially libidinous
origin, that it expressed deep sexual desires, and was in fact ultimately
a personification of the phallus. In the case of Dostoevsky he suggested
that the double expressed his own disharmony and resulted from his
schizoid personality. Whether one finds such an 'explanation' satisfactory is largely a matter of opinion. Perhaps the fact that one rarely
finds this kind of explanation in recent years indicates that others
beside myself have found it less than convincing, but perhaps it
should not be dismissed altogether. What of that very different
kind of split found in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; the charming and
sincere, and the cruel and devious, sides of the same man? Why
should Stevenson have chosen this tale? Was it just a powerful way
to illustrate our dual nature, or did he have some particular experience which led him to write about a double?
The stories of Guy de Maupassant provide more fertile ground for
speculations since Maupassant himself suffered from hallucinations,
though whether they were because of some hereditary conditions or
were a symptom of syphilis is uncertain. Todd and Dewhurst (149)
claim that his hallucinations cannot be dissociated from the dementia
paralytica from which he eventually died. Of his friend Bourget he
apparently asked, 'How would you feel if you had to go through,
what I experience? Every other time when I return home I see rriy
double. I open the door and see myself sitting in the armchair. I know
it is an hallucination the moment I see it. But isn't it remarkable?
If you hadn't a cool head wouldn't you be afraid?' It seems that his
realization that it was an hallucination had no effect upon it.
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In 1887 Dr Sollier reported, 'As he was sitting at his table in the
study, he thought he heard the door open . . . Maupassant turned
round, and was not a little astonished to see himself enter, sit down
in front of him, with his face in his hands, and begin to dictate
exactly what he was writing' (21). Ultimately Maupassant's health
deteriorated and along with it his writing; in 1892 he went into an
asylum at Passy where, in 1893, he died.
If it is clear that Maupassant's own visions gave rise to his writing
about doubles, it is not so clear why he saw doubles in the first place.
Coleman suggested that the double was a convenient device for giving
vent to his intrapsychic conflicts, and concluded that Maupassant's
double was 'a projection of the sex-libido as enemy and destroyer'.
On the other hand Todd and Dewhurst have pointed out the significance of Maupassant's narcissism - his excessive concern with himself.
Narcissism may take the form of fascination with one's appearance,
or vanity about it, or hypochondriacal fears about one's health;
Maupassant reputedly exhibited a morbid horror of dying and a
pride in his sexual exploits and mastery of women and perhaps all
this was a factor in his seeing doubles. If the illness from which he
suffered was sufficient for him to see hallucinations, his fascination
with himself may have been enough for his hallucinations to be of
Other narcissistic writers have used the symbolism of the double.
The poet D'Annunzio described his own dramatic autoscopic hallucination in his poem 'Notturno'. It is said that he used to gaze on
his reflection with fascination and dressed and perfumed himself
with great vanity : in this form he had a disturbing vision of himself
many years older, alternating with one of himself at sixteen with
thick black hair, a smooth forehead and an expression of 'indescribable purity'.
Was a similar inspiration behind Oscar Wilde's The Picture of
Dorian Gray in which the portrait painted in the hero's youth
showed him as he was, a handsome, and well-dressed young man?
While leading a life of ever greater sin and depravity, he retained
his youthful expression and innocent face; it was the portrait which
took on the horrible appearance of an aged man racked by years
of evil.
Physical Disorders and the Double
An entirely different way of looking at autoscopy is through the
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physical problems with which it is sometimes associated. One of these
is migraine, the most obvious symptom of which is the debilitating
headache. This is sometimes associated with nausea and vomiting,
and preceded by sensory disturbances or the so-called 'aura'. Tunnel
vision or partial blindness may occur and a common effect is the
'fortification illusion', consisting of patterns of zigzag lines. During,
before or after the pain some migraine sufferers apparently experience autoscopy.
Lippman (83) gives several case histories of 'hallucinations of the
self in migraine sufferers, some of which seem to have involved
OBEs. As he asked them to describe their experiences in their own
words it is rather easier to discern what actually happened to them.
One example was described by a 37-year-old housewife with three
children. Like all Lippman's patients she was intelligent, busy and
adequate to the world around her, normally sexed, and with no
signs of neuropathic or psychopathic inheritance. She had suffered
from a one-sided headache with nausea and vomiting since childhood.
Until... five years ago, I felt the queer sensation of being two persons. This
sensation came just before a violent headache attack and at no other time.
Very often it came as I was serving breakfast. There would be my husband
and children, just as usual, and in a flash they didn't seem to be quite the
same . . . I felt as if I were standing on an inclined plane, looking down on
them from the height of a few feet, watching myself serve breakfast. It was
as if I were in another dimension, looking at myself and them. I was not
afraid, just amazed. I always knew that I was really with them. Yet, there
was 'I', and there was 'me' — and in a moment I was one again! (83 p. 346).
Another of Lippman's patients, a housewife aged 44, married and
with one child, described this fascinating experience :
Sometimes during a severe headache I have had the impression that my
body was vibrating and moving like a very fast pendulum from myself on
the left to a supposedly 'other self on the right, although I knew my own
body was not moving. It was like watching Disney's 'Pluto The Pup' running
at full speed toward an open gate, having it close, and he would collide with
a solid object. His body would 'z-z-z-ing-g-g-' and vibrate from side to side
until the force of the blow was over. I seemed to look at the 'other self on
the right as though it were not part of me, and when the 'zing' motion
stopped, I think we were still apart (83 p. 347).
This case is especially interesting because it sounds so very much like
The
Double
in
Psycho
pathology
161
all those shaking and vibrating feelings which so many OBEers have
described. Yet this woman did not have a typical OBE. The other
part of herself did not seem part of her. So this seems to indicate
a similarity, in the vibration feeling, between autoscopy and OBEs.
Another interesting feature of this case was that this woman, like
so many who have OBEs kept the experience to herself in case she
was thought 'queer'.
For all these similarities, however, most of Lippman's other cases
described experiences very unlike OBEs. In any case, a number of
examples of people who have suffered both migraine, and autoscopy
or OBEs, does not prove any particular kind of connection between
the two. In many of Lippman's cases the experiences occurred in
close proximity to the headaches, but on the other hand there is no
evidence that migraine sufferers are more likely to have OBEs. After
all, both migraine and OBEs are quite common and so a large
number of people who have both would be expected. What we need
to know is whether this number is larger than would be predicted
by a chance association. The only evidence on this comes from a
small survey carried out by Irwin among Australian students (65c).
He found no relationship between OBEs and migraine.
Perhaps the most helpful theoretical approach has been to look
firstly to the conditions facilitating hallucinations in general, and
then to the specific factors which might tend to make those hallucinations be of the self rather than anything else. We have already seen
that a large number of factors facilitating hallucinations have been
implicated in autoscopy. Todd and Dewhurst (149) have noted that
autoscopy often occurs in those with 'supernormal powers of visual
imagery', but since the whole topic of imagery is so important I
shall discuss it in much greater detail in the next chapter.
Given there is a predisposition towards hallucination why should
it take the form of oneself? One possibility, as we have already seen,
is undue narcissism. From a psychoanalytic point of view Rank interpreted autoscopy as a projection of the narcissistic libido: that is, a
sexual desire towards oneself projected outside one's own body (119).
Archetypal thinking has also been implicated. The idea is that
under certain conditions some individuals revert to a kind of primitive thought, and among the ideas they may be prone to accepting is
the idea that we all have two selves, or even more than two. Implicit
in this view is that the idea is not only primitive but also wrong;
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but we have not yet ruled out the possibility that it is essentially
correct.
Finally, one of the most interesting aspects here is the relationship of autoscopy to the development and maintainance of the body
image. We each of us have an image of our own body. We learn to
put this together from all our experience of perceiving things, touching them, seeing them and so on, and from all our interactions with
the objects around us. We learn where our hands are, what they
look like and how far they can reach. This image is essential for all
activities because in order to grasp or throw something, to put the
foot unerringly on the brake rather than on the accelerator, we need
to know where our hands and feet are, and all this information is
integrated into the body image. It is easy to see that if the body
image is distorted it will lead to a change in the perception of self,
and in combination with other factors could lead to there seeming
to be two selves.
There are many types of distortion, and many causes of them.
Pain can cause apparent growing of the affected area, and even
hunger or thirst can affect it. In skilled activities a paintbrush,
chisel, or even a car, can seem to be an extension of one's own body.
A familiar distortion is the phenomenon of the phantom limb. After
the amputation of an arm or leg the image of that limb seems to
persist and can even seem to be in pain or to suffer from cramp.
Some have interpreted this in terms of the persisting astral arm or
leg but there are far, more convincing explanations in terms of the
effects on the peripheral nerves, and on the body image. Certain
areas of the brain are known to be associated with the integration
of the body image and if these are damaged permanently, or temporarily as when there are epileptic discharges, then distortions of the
body image result (15, 25).
Todd and Dewhurst described a woman who suffered from epilepsy and migraine and was troubled by all sorts of disturbances in
her body image. Her legs might become shorter, or not seem to be
there at all, and she would have to look in a mirror to reassure herself. Then she seemed to have an extra arm. She could feel it lying
along the top of her real arm, and could see it wearing any sleeves
the real arm wore. It seemed so real that she would try to hide it
away behind her back in case someone saw it, and yet she knew it was
a product of her own fancy. These strange experiences were associ-
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163
ated with a disturbance affecting part of the right parietal lobe of
the cortex.
As well as representing the position and form of the body, the body
image is associated with that sense of belonging, or being 'my' arm or
head. In some cases of autoscopy the double does not seem to belong
at all even though the person knows he is seeing another copy of
himself. This happens too in OBEs, although not so commonly.
Sometimes the OBEer looks on the physical body below as somehow
distant and not important or related to himself, the real self.
These are just some of the factors which have been implicated
in the study of autoscopy. But does this help us to understand the
OBE? Not, it seems, directly. The differences between autoscopy
and the OBE are at least as significant as the similarities. However,
we are perhaps left with some pointers. We should try to find out
whether OBEs occur to people who are prone to hallucinations or
who have especially good imagery. Then, if the OBE is to be seen
as a form of hallucination, we should try to see whether it shows any
resemblance to the products of imagination or hallucination; finally
we could ask why any hallucination should take this form rather
than any other. We might find that this line of enquiry will lead
to our understanding the OBE better, or that it is a dead-end.
Accordingly I shall turn next to the phenomena of imagination and
hallucination, to see how they are related to the OBE.
16
Imagery and Hallucinations
IMAGERY
In the 1880s Galton asked some of his friends to imagine their own
breakfast tables, complete with food, utensils and so on (45). He was
surprised to find that while some described vivid 'mental pictures'
complete with the colour of the table cloth and the smell of bacon
and coffee, others could only tell him they were thinking about it.
Since some of his scientist friends were in the latter group he concluded that vivid imagery was not a necessity for scientific work.
In 1906 Betts developed a questionnaire to assess the vividness of
people's imagery. He asked them to imagine sights, sounds and
familiar tastes and smells, and for each item the respondent had to
rate the image that came to mind on a scale from 1 to 7. This questionnaire has since been modernized and shortened and is still used
today (133a, b). Although there is great variation between people in
this respect, Galton's conclusion seems to be confirmed; there are few,
if any skills which correlate closely with the vividness of imagery.
Some have recently been developed, but on the whole if we want to
find out how vivid is a person's imagery we have to ask him. We may
wonder whether vivid imagery has any function. Children seem to
have more vivid imagery and lose it as they grow older; is it a useless
skill which can be dispensed with ?
Part of the answer is that we must not confuse the vividness of
imagery with its use. It appears that we can use a mental image
as a means of organizing material in memory, and in thinking
without necessarily having a vivid representation come to mind.
Along with verbal coding, imagery is one of the most important ways
in which we organize and categorize information. Using verbal coding everything is labelled in words and relationships between things
are expressed in terms of language. Using images, different kinds
of information are employed. The form, colour, taste, feeling or
scent of objects and events are represented in complex images which
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are often related to each other in spatial terms. It seems that everyone uses both to some extent but that extent varies, both between
tasks and between people.
Different tasks lend themselves more to one mode than the other.
At the extreme, learning lists of words is far easier if they are verbally coded, and remembering squiggles and coloured blobs is only
interfered with by too much verbalizing. Then people vary in the
extent to which they use either mode. Those who use words more
are called verbalizers, while those who rely predominantly on images
are called 'imagers'. There are simple tests to assess where a person
lies on this verbalizer-visualizer continuum, although presumably
everyone uses both modes to some extent, as well as mathematical,
abstract, and emotional ways of thinking.
Without going into great detail about imagery, there are two ways
in which we can assess the relationship between it and the OBE.
One is to ask what mental images are like and whether they are
similar to what is 'seen' in an OBE. The other is to ask whether
people who have greater imagery skills are more likely to have
OBEs.
Mental Images
So, first, what are mental images like? This might be very hard to
answer in the abstract, but we can confine ourselves to two types of
image which are especially important in the OBE: the images we
have of ourselves, and those of the environment around us.
We have already met the concept of the body image, and seen
that its distortions are implicated in autoscopy. Two aspects are
especially relevant to the OBE : what our body looks like, and where
'we' seem to be in relation to it. Most of the time we are quite certain about where our body is, how big it is, what it is doing and that
'we' are in some sense situated inside it. In fact it is most interesting
to ask people where they think they are. Most say the seem to be
behind the eyes, but some say the middle of the forehead, the back
of the head or even the throat or heart. The blind are presumably
less likely to be behind the eyes, and in any case the perceived
position varies with what one is doing. We take this for granted but
actually there is no good reason why we should seem to be anywhere
in particular. Presumably the reason we organize our perception in
this way is because it makes it simplest to integrate the different
sensory inputs in relation to the body image. However, we should
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note that it is to some extent arbitrary and there is no real reason
why we shouldn't decide to be 'in' our hands and feet or indeed
'out of the body' altogether.
If we recall certain OBE induction techniques, we can see that
many aim to disrupt that firm sense of being 'in' the head, or
wherever. In meditation'one may learn exercises which shift the
apparent centre of consciousness around the body. The Christos
technique deliberately confuses the sense of body position and makes
one feel all head and feet. The imagery exercises are all designed
to move the point of consciousness out of the body, and some nonspecific aids, such as certain drugs and hypnosis, can facilitate this.
It is not surprising that rather devious techniques are required to
disrupt this sense of position. As we are likely to function far more
effectively in normal life if we have a stable sense of being in some
place relative to our body, we would expect there to be strong
pressures operating to maintain that sense of position. Some are
external, inputs from the senses themselves helping to confirm the
sense of position, which may be why shutting off sensory inputs can
help induce an OBE. Others are internal, and we have to overcome
our own long years of practice at associating ourselves with our
bodies in order to achieve the feeling of being outside the body. This
relates to the fear often associated with leaving the body, and to the
fact that it is usually much easier to return than to get 'out' in the
first place. All those tendencies which help to maintain the sense of
where 'I am' are trying to get us back to where they think we should
be ! If we look at the OBE as involving a change in the usual sense
of where 'I' am, then it seems to me that a lot of aspects start to
fall into place.
Body Images
Turning now to what the image of the body looks like, one point
appears particularly important. People often claim something like
'I saw myself as I should look from above even though I have never
seen myself from above'; or they may say the same about their back,
the top of their head or whatever. However, no paranormal powers
are needed to imagine the top of your own head. The body image
is not incomplete, with gaps for the parts one has never seen. This is
only the same as for any other kind of image, or for what is seen in
perception. If parts of an object are obscured by other objects you
do not see a gap, but imagine the object carrying on behind the
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obstructions. This is an essential part of organizing perception and
it is the same with the body image. We imagine it with a back and
top of the head which we have generalized from the feel of those
parts of the body and from our knowledge of other people's backs
and heads which we have seen.
If you shut your eyes and imagine yourself sitting down reading
this book, you are likely to imagine the whole body and be able to
'see' it from unfamiliar angles. Of course you will know it is an
image only, and it does not have the same immediacy as it would
in an OBE; but it is all there. Or try another exercise. Try to remember the last time you were on a beach or by the sea. Remember what
you were doing there. As Siegel has pointed out (137a) it is quite
likely that you will 'see' yourself running along the sand, jumping
into the water, or whatever, as though from above or from a distance, or you may see things from unusual perspectives. So you are used
to seeing yourself in this way.
This too makes a lot of psychological sense. If we always remembered events in terms of the sensory input we experienced at the
time, what we saw as we dived into the water or ran about, our
memory would be unnecessarily complex. It is simplified by representing events as though from a distance, as the actions of diving, walking or jumping as seen by an observer. All this shows that we are
quite familiar with thinking about our own bodies as though from
outside even though we are normally quite sure that we are 'inside'.
So I believe it makes sense to say that the physical body we see during an OBE is based on our own mental image of that body.
Images of the Environment
The other important part of the world of the OBE is the environment around us. We all have a very complex image of the world
we know called a 'cognitive ma p': this is similar to a map in some
respects because everything seems to be laid out in position. If I
asked you to imagine the route you would take in going to the shops
you would probably see the roads or paths laid out as though below
you, but the cognitive map is very different from any physical map.
For a start it is three dimensional. It includes representations of stairs,
hills and bridges, and buildings, walls and living things have more or
less solid forms. This three dimensionality is also associated with a
kind of transparency. It is possible to look* in your imagination,
through the walls of your house or the buildings along a street. Try
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to imagine you are seeing into the next room to see what I mean. Of
course nothing is actually seeing through the wall; you are just using
your cognitive map to construct a picture of what you know, or
think, to be there. But it does give the impression of a world with
transparent objects.
The cognitive map is also very complex. Hundreds of details of
shape, colour and position are represented and associated with feelings, emotions and memories of people and events. Yet it is also
simplified. There is a tendency to straighten curves, turn odd angles
into right angles and to flatten out unnecessary contours. Those
parts which are important to you, or which you use in finding the
right street or turning, will be included in more detail and others
simplified down to their bare bones. All this is known from studies
in which people are asked to draw maps, to trace routes on existing
maps or to guide people about and so on. This leads to some odd
features. For example you may be able to 'see' the windows of a
building but not to count them, or know there is writing but not be
able to read it.
You can use your cognitive map in many different ways. It is
flexible and grows with experience. You can imagine new things in it,
change parts of it or try out new routes in your imagination. You
can also move through it in different ways. For example you can
'move' as though really walking down the street, seeing all the buildings from street level as you pass by but this is slow and entails a lot
of detail. Alternatively you can imagine 'flying' past at any height
and speed you like. Doing this you can see the buildings pass by
below, changing in perspective as they go; you can see the streets
laid out in patterns; you can even add cars and people moving about.
If you don't recognize these two methods then try imagining you are
going to work (or any place you choose). You should be able to
imagine each step of the way, or to 'fly' the route more quickly.
You can also pass through walls. Try to imagine you are moving
through your own house, to see what I mean. Of course nothing is
actually moving. You are just shifting an imaginary viewing point
around your cognitive map of your house. Finally, of course, you can
leap from place to place. Routes you know well you may pass along
in stages, but you can equally well cut out the intermediary stages
and jump from imagining the surroundings of your own home to
those of the last place you visited on holiday.
Does all this sound like the OB world? It seems very much like it
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to me, in almost every detail. Of course imagining you are in some
place, using your cognitive map, is not like having an OBE. There
is not the same sense of immediacy and 'reality'. On the other hand
the nature of that map, and the nature of the world of the OBE,
seem quite remarkably similar. In my opinion - though many will
undoubtedly disagree with me - it makes most sense to see the world
of the OBE as a world of the imagination, or cognitive map. And
so to my mind this makes sense of all that has been said about the
astral world. For it is a 'thought-created world', a 'world of images',
a 'world of illusion'.
The second question concerning imagery and its relationship to the
OBE is whether people who have better imagery are more likely to
have an OBE. Todd and Dewhurst (149) suggested that autoscopy
was especially likely to occur in people with super-normal powers of
imagery. They cite the case of a man on a lone walking tour who not
only saw nonexistent fruit hanging on the barren trees but also
'. . . saw his own image moving towards him as though it was slowly
unfolding itself from the ground.' The image was said to be like that
seen in a mirror, and Todd and Dewhurst add that the man was
only mildly surprised because he was such a strong visualizer anyway.
Is the OBE also more likely to occur in those with good imagery?
This might be expected if the experience is one constructed entirely
from the imagination. However, it is not obvious just which aspects
of imagery ability should be most important for the OBE, nor
whether different skills would be required for deliberately inducing
an OBE or for having one spontaneously. As we have already seen
there are many different tests of imagery ability. Some test vividness, others control of imagery and others habitual cognitive modes.
Although research on imagery and OBEs is only just beginning, all
of these types of test have been used.
Irwin (65a, c) was interested in whether OBEers differ from other
people in terms of certain cognitive skills or ways of thinking, including imagery. From his survey of Australian students he found 21
whom he categorized as OBEers and to these he gave the 'Ways
of thinking questionnaire' (WOT), the 'Differential personality
questionnaire' (DPQ) and the 'Vividness of visual imagery questionnaire' ( W I Q ) . For each he compared the scores of the OBEers with
those expected from studies of larger groups of the population. Although this is a perfectly adequate comparison to make, note that
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it is different from comparing the scores of OBEers and non-OBEers
from the same sample.
The imagery questionnaire is a self-rated measure of vividness of
just visual imagery. If the subjects knew what was expected of them
they might answer accordingly; so Irwin made sure that there was
no stated connection between this and the OBE questionnaire, and
gave it some months after the other tests. The scores of these few
OBEers were unexpectedly found to be lower than normal, and
significantly so. It seems that they had less, not more, vivid imagery
than the average.
Irwin concluded that these results were inconsistent with the
theory that the OBE is a form of hallucination and weakened the
psychological theories of the OBE. Palmer (HOe) subsequently
pointed out that no psychological theory specifically predicted a
relationship between vividness of imagery and a predisposition to
OBEs, arguing that intentionally generated imagery may not be
relevant for a spontaneous OBE. Irwin replied (65b) that spontaneous and intentionally generated imagery are closely related and
cannot be separated, so Irwin concludes that the psychological
theories are weakened, while Palmer believes the findings have little
bearing on them.
The next test, the WOT, aims to test the verbalizer-visualizer
dimension of cognitive style. Twenty of Irwin's OBEers filled this in
and they obtained scores no different from the average known to be
gained by students at that University. So there was no evidence that
OBEers are either specially likely to use visualization or verbalization.
Although not directly relevant to imagery the results of the DPQ
were interesting. One of the various dimensions of cognitive style
which it measures is 'Absorption'. This relates to a person's capacity
to become absorbed in his experience. For example, someone who
easily becomes immersed in nature, art or a good book or film, to the
exclusion of the outside world, would be one who scored highly on
the scale of 'Absorption'. Irwin expected OBEers to be higher on this
measure and that is what he found. His OBEers seemed to be better
than average at becoming involved in their experiences. Irwin confirmed this when he found higher absorption scores in a group of
OBEers as compared with non-OBEers, and showed that high absorption subjects were more susceptible to a procedure for inducing
OBEs (65c). This makes sense from a psychological point of view
because in an OBE one needs to become involved in the new per-
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spective to the exclusion of the usual view, from 'inside' the body,
and needs to be able to ignore all those sensory inputs which tell
you just where your body is, and are trying to re-establish the normal
sense of where one is.
I was also interested in imagery and gave some of my students a
shortened form of the Bett's QMI 'Vividness of imagery scale'. In
this self-report questionnaire subjects rate the vividness of images
in all sensory modalities, not just visual images. I compared the total
score for the OBEers and non-OBEers and found that both were
roughly the same. However, with the Bristol students I used a
different test, a slightly modified and extended version of Gordon's
'Control of imagery' questionnaire. This asks the respondent to
imagine a car standing outside his house, then to imagine it changing colour, driving along, going up a hill, lying upside down and
finally all old and dismantled in a car-cemetery. At each stage the
subject has to say whether or not he can imagine the scene described.
Students who had had an OBE did no better on this test than the
others. So neither control of imagery, nor its vividness, seems to be
important for an OBE.
Obviously we cannot draw any firm conclusions on the basis of
such a small amount of research. Certainly OBEers do not seem to
have more vivid or more controlled imagery, nor do they tend to be
habitual visualizers rather than verbalizers, but there is some evidence
that they score higher in 'absorption'. More research is needed on
these aspects.
Before leaving the topic of imagery I would like to mention a
fascinating example of the experiences of a good visualizer. 'The
story of Ruth' is told by Morton Schatzman, an American psychiatrist living in London, to whom Ruth went when she was seriously
troubled by apparitions of her father (130a). Schatzman had never
met a case like Ruth before, for she seemed to have extraordinary
powers of imagery. At first she was plagued by the apparitions, complete with her father's looks, voice and smell. If he sat on her bed
she would feel the movement and see the indentation in the bed. He
seemed to appear when he, not she, chose; and he terrified her with
recollections of the time he had tried to rape her as a child. Eventually he appeared in her husband's place in bed, with obviously
alarming consequences.
Schatzman tackled Ruth's problem not by asking her to abolish
the apparition when it appeared, but to make it appear for herself.
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At first this terrified her, but she was later able to make the apparition
appear on command and finally to create and control apparitions of
friends, relatives and other people. But of most interest here is that
she was able to produce an apparition of herself.
On her first attempt it took Ruth two hours to produce a brief
vision but on later attempts she could see herself sitting in an empty
chair opposite, wearing the same clothes, and with the same ring on
her left hand. Since Ruth was also wearing the ring on her left hand
the apparition was not a mirror image and in this sense was more
like the doubles seen in OBEs than the mirror images common in
autoscopy. Ruth's double told her to 'Go inside me' and doing this
she found she could go back to any time in her past, but of most
interest here is that she could have OBEs. She was able to 'go into'
the apparition and see things as though from that position (130b).
However, Schatzman found no evidence of any paranormal abilities
in Ruth and a photograph of an apparition showed nothing.
What Ruth was able to do is very much like what is advocated in
some methods for inducing the OBE: that is, creating an image of
oneself and when that is as clear as possible transferring consciouness
into it. This is just what Ruth seems to have done.
This case provokes many questions. Should we see her experience
as throwing light on the whole mechanism of OBEs, or was she
having an hallucinatory experience with little in common with
spontaneous OBEs? It might even be argued that what she saw
before her was her astral body. The questions which arise are similar
to those considered in the case of lucid dreams. Here, too, I am
tempted to conclude that the simplest and most appealing conclusion is that both Ruth's experiences and other OBEs are based
on the same processes, those of imagination and hallucination.
HALLUCINATIONS
So what about hallucinations? What are they, and are they related
to the OBE? We have already come across some of the problems
which arise in discussing hallucinations. There is no single accepted
definition and it is not clear just how hallucinations relate to sensory
perception, illusion, dreams and imagination. However, let us define
an hallucination as an apparent perception of something not physically present, and add that it is not necessary for the hallucination
to be thought 'real' to count. Into this category come a wide range
of experiences occurring in normal people, not suffering from any
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mental or psychiatric disturbance. Hallucinations may occur just
before going to sleep (hypnagogic), on first waking up (hypnopompic) or they may be induced by drugs, sensory deprivation, sleeplessness, or severe stress. They may take many forms, from simple shapes
to complex scenes. Any general discussion of hallucinations would
be out of place here; but I would like to mention those features
which are relevant to the OBE.
Although it is possible to have an hallucination of almost anything, it has long been known that there are remarkable similarities
between the hallucinations of different people, under different circumstances. Hallucinations were first classified during the last
century during a period when many artists and writers experimented
with hashish and opium as an aid to experiencing them. In 1926
Klüver began a series of investigations into the effects of mescaline
(derived from the peyote cactus) and described four constant types.
These were first the grating, lattice or chessboard, second the cobweb type, third the tunnel, cone or vessel, and fourth the spiral. As
well as being constant features of mescaline intoxication in different
people Klüver found that these forms appeared in hallucinations
induced by a wide variety of conditions.
In the 1960s, when many psychedelic drugs began to be extensively
used for recreational purposes, research into their effects proliferated.
Leary and others tried to develop methods by which intoxicated (subjects could describe what was happening to them, but since the
visions changed very rapidly and were hard to put into words, this
was not easy. Eventually Leary and Lindsley developed the 'experiential typewriter* with twenty keys representing different subjective
states. Subjects were trained to use it but the relatively high doses of
drugs used interfered with their ability to press the keys and so a
better method was needed.
A decade later Siegel gave subjects marijuana, or THC, and
asked diem simply to report on what they saw. Even with untrained
subjects he found remarkable consistencies in the hallucinations. In
the early stages simple geometric forms predominated. There was
often a bright light in the centre of the field of vision which obscured central details but allowed images at the edges to be seen
more clearly and the location of this light created a tunnel-like
perspective. Often the images seemed to pulsate and moved towards
or away from the light in the centre of the tunnel. At a later
stage the geometric forms were replaced by complex imagery
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including recognizable scenes with people and objects, sometimes
with small animals or caricature people. Even in this stage there
was much consistency, with images from memory playing a large
part.
On the basis of this work Siegel constructed a list of eight forms,
eight colours, and eight patterns of movement, and trained subjects
to use them when given a variety of drugs (or a placebo) in a controlled environment. With amphetamines and barbiturates the forms
reported were mostly black and white forms moving aimlessly about,
but with THC, psilocybin, LSD and mescaline the forms became
more organized as the experience progressed. After 30 minutes
there were more lattice and tunnel forms and the colours shifted
from blue to red, orange and yellow. Movement became more
organized with explosive and rotational patterns. After 90-120
minutes most forms were lattice-tunnels; after that complex imagery
began to appear with childhood memories and scenes, emotional memories and some fantastic scenes. But even these scenes often appeared in
a lattice-tunnel framework. At the peak of the hallucinatory experience
subjects sometimes said that they had become part of the imagery. They
stopped using similes and spoke of the images as real. Highly creative
images were reported and the changes were very rapid. According to
Siegel (137a) at this stage 'The subjects reported feeling dissociated from
their bodies'.
These remarkable consistencies are not confined to the experimental situation. Siegel showed that the Huichol Indians, who use
peyote, experience similar hallucinations, and anthropological
research has long revealed an apparent consistency in the form of
hallucinations, along with a diversity of interpretation. Intoxicated
and hyper-excited states are variously described as entering a different reality, visiting heaven and hell, communicating with the Gods
and leaving the body; but many anthropologists, among them
Weston la Barre (75), have argued that all these 'supernatural' or
'psychic' states are best understood in terms of the hallucinatory
activity of the brain. The similarities are due to similarities in the
brains and nervous systems of different people.
The parallels between the drug-induced hallucinations and the
typical spontaneous OBE should be obvious. Not only did some of the
subjects in Siegel's experiments actually report OBEs, but there were
the familiar tunnels and the bright lights so often associated with
near-death experiences. There was also the 'realness' of everything
Imagery and Hallucinations
175
seen; and the same drugs which elicited the hallucinations are those
which are supposed to be conducive to OBEs.
There have been many suggestions as to why the tunnel form
should be so common. It has sometimes been compared to the
phenomenon of 'tunnel vision' in which the visual field is greatly
narrowed, but usually in OBEs and hallucinations the apparent visual
field is very wide; it is just formed like a tunnel. A more plausible
alternative depends on the way in which retinal space is mapped onto
cortical space. If a straight line in the visual cortex of the brain
represents a circular pattern on the retina then stimulation in
straight lines occurring in states of cortical excitation could produce
a sensation of concentric rings, or a tunnel form. This type of argument is important in understanding the visual illusions of migraine,
in which excitation spreads across parts of the cortex; and it also
leads to the interesting research in which the forms of hallucinations
can be used as an indication of the structural organization of the
visual system.
Another speculation could be that the tunnel has something to do
with constancy mechanisms. As objects move about, or we move
relative to them, their projection on the retina changes shape and
size and we have constancy mechanisms which compensate for this.
For very large objects distortions are necessarily a result of perspective and yet we see buildings as having straight walls and roofs. If
this mechanism acted inappropriately on internally generated spontaneous signals it might produce a tunnel-like perspective, and any
hallucinatory forms would also be seen against this distorted background.
Whether or not these speculations turn out to be correct, it still
remains likely that the tunnel will be accounted for in purely
physiological terms which require no psychoanalytic analogies with
the birth canal, nor any mention of astral bodies, silver cords, or
separation from the body. And those would be applicable to OBEs
just as much as to drug-induced hallucinations and near-death
experiences.
I mentioned that in drug-induced hallucinations there may come
a point at which the subject becomes part of the imagery and it
seems quite real to him, even though it comes from his memory.
The comparison with OBEs is interesting because one of the most
consistent features of spontaneous OBEs is that the experiencers
claim 'it all seemed so real'. If it were a kind of hallucination similar
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to these drug-induced ones then it would seem real. Put together the
information from the subject's cognitive map in memory, and an
hallucinatory state in which information from memory is experienced
as though it were perceived, and you have a good many of the
ingredients for a classical OBE.
But what of the differences between hallucinations and OBEs?
You may point to the state of consciousness associated with the two
and argue that OBEs often occur when the person claims to be
wide awake, and thinking perfectly normally. But so can hallucinations. With certain drugs consciousness and thinking seem to be
clearer than ever before, just as they often do in an OBE.
You may argue that an important difference is that in the OBE
the objects of perception are organized consistently as though they
do constitute a stable, physical world. But this is not always the case.
Amongst the SPR's collection of cases and in my own there are
many which involve experiences beyond anything to be seen in the
physical world. One described friendly little animals and people,
another a mountain caf6 where she met deceased friends and another
a strangely coloured lake. Some OBEs, like my own, develop into
experiences in which extreme distortions and bizarre imagery predominate, or they turn into some sort of mystical experience. So it
is wrong to think of the OBE as always discrete and separate from
any obviously hallucinatory aspects.
So where does all this lead us? Consideration of imagery and hallucinations might provide some sort of framework for understanding
the OBE. It would be seen as just one form of a range of hallucinatory experiences. But, and this is a big but, if the OBE is basically
an hallucination and nothing leaves the body, then paranormal events
ought not necessarily to be associated with it. People ought not to
be able to see distant unknown places or influence objects while 'out
of the body*; yet there are many claims to that effect. Are these
claims justified? I shall devote the next few chapters to finding out.
17 Extrasensory Perception in the OBE
In April 1916, during World War I, a certain Dr X. was flying out
of Clair Marais aerodrome to help an injured pilot when his own
plane crashed and he was thrown clear of the cockpit. He landed
on his back, ending up with spinal concussion, but was not unconscious. He says, 'Suddenly I was looking down on my body on the
ground from some 200 feet vertically above it.' He describes how
he lost all fear at finding himself obviously about to crash, and instead wondered, in a detached sort of way, how the plane would
touch the ground. When he saw the pilot and two others rushing
towards his body he wondered why they were bothering with it and
even wished they would leave it alone!
Dr X.'s body was lying on the ground in a hollow from which it
was impossible to see the hangars and other buildings. But from
the vantage point of 'himself far above, he watched the Crossley
tender, used as an ambulance, come out of the hangar in which it
was kept, and then stop; apparently its engine stalled. The chauffeur
ran out, started it again with the handle and then jumped back in
and carried on. Again it stopped, this time for the Medical Orderly
to run to a hut to bring something. All the while Dr X. wondered
why they were going to so much trouble, and he began on a journey
to further places. He was only brought back, and with a 'pop', to
find neat sal volatile being poured down his throat. He told the
orderly not to do this, but to wait until a Medical Officer came to
take him to hospital. Only when he reached the hospital did Dr X.
realize that it would have been quite impossible for him to have
seen all the events described. So he told the whole story to the C O .
who verified that everything had taken place as he had seen.
This story was published in the Journal of the SPR in 1957, by
F. J. M. Stratton who includes the account written by Dr X. in 1956,
and a statement by Dr G. Abrahams, the doctor who moved him to
hospital (142). It is just one of many stories in the literature which
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tell of a person, out of his body, being able to see or hear things that
his body could not possibly have perceived. In other words it seems
that the double extrasensory perception; ESP.
If this is true it is of enormous significance. Theories of the OBE
would have to account for it, theories of ESP would need to incorporate this version of the phenomenon, and our usual models of man
would be found to be limited and deficient. Just how important this
is we shall see when considering the theories in more detail in
Chapter 21. But is it true? Can people when having an OBE really
see at a distance? In this chapter and the next I shall consider the
evidence.
This comes from several sources. Most important are the anecdotal material, surveys, and experiments. Starting with the anecdotal reports and case histories it is obvious that there are many claims
for ESP during OBEs. There are tales in which the story depends
for its interest on the veridicality of the vision and many books
on OBEs stress these cases. But they are not always adequately
researched, as we shall see.
ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE
Much of the early material on OBEs concentrated on apparition
cases, which I shall consider later, but there are also some including
ESP. Muldoon and Carrington (97b) probably give the largest selection of OBE accounts claiming perception at a distance, but many
of these were collected long after the event and the authors made
no attempt whatever to check up on them.
Rather better evidence is provided by Hart (60a). Since he was
particularly concerned with evidential cases he took pains to include
those which had been investigated at least to some extent. I have
already described the rating scale he used and I gave then an
account of one of his high scoring cases, the Apsey case. Here we
saw the curious mixture of correct and incorrect infortnation which
seems to characterize so many OBEs.
Green also gives some examples and makes the important claim
that 'in no case of an involuntary nature has it been yet observed
that the information obtained was incorrect' (49c p. 142). This is
interesting, if true, and might indicate a difference between involuntary and induced OBEs, but it does not seem to stand up to the
evidence. I have already discussed spontaneous cases producing a
mixture of correct and incorrect information and I shall shortly
Extrasensory Perception in the OBE
179
describe one in which all the information was apparently wrong.
Even Green's own evidence is less than convincing. She made no
attempt to check up on "the claims and her respondents may well
have failed to mention it if they 'saw' anything wrong. She concedes
that in certain cases the information might have been gained normally and in some this would include the possibility that an 'unconscious' person heard what was going on.
Perhaps her most impressive case concerns a woman in hospital
who apparently saw, while out of the body, 'a big woman sitting up
in bed with her head wrapped in bandages; and she is knitting
something with blue wool' (49c p. 143). This other patient was as
described and was in bed round the corner of the L-shaped ward.
Neither woman had been allowed out of bed. But in this case we
are not told whether the first woman had to pass by the other bed
on her way into the ward when she first arrived, nor whether she
could have overheard discussions about the other patient. Nor are
we given any kind of corroboration of the story from others present.
All this raises the question of what sort of evidence would be
acceptable. How far should we go in criticizing any cases and just
how good does the evidence need to be ? To make this clearer I shall
consider some of the confounding problems of investigating spontaneous OBEs.
There are several such problems. First, the events often occurred
a long time before the story is told and this makes it hard for an
investigator to check the facts. Second, memory is fallible and there
are many reasons why any 'correct' information would be remembered and recounted in preference to the 'incorrect'. Third, we are
often told that everything was confirmed., or found to be 'just so',
but it is hard to find out just what this means. And fourth, it can
be hard to disentangle all the normal ways in which the information
may have been gained.
Taking the first problem, the difficulties facing the investigator
depend both on how long ago the events occurred and how long was
the gap between them and their telling. In the case of Dr X., the gap
was just over forty years. This is a long time for the memory to become
distorted or embellished. This would not be such a problem if we
had the testimonies of all the other people involved, but we do not.
Stratton tried to trace them but unfortunately the pilot (the CO.)
and adjutant were killed a few weeks later and of the others involved
only the doctor who transported him to hospital could be traced
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and gave a brief account. To add to the confusion this Dr Abrahams
states that the accident occurred on the morning of April 16th, 1916,
while in Dr X.'s own account the date is given as April 21st, 1916.
This in itself may be quite unimportant but it indicates the nature
of the problem.
The second major difficulty is the fallibility of memory. Not only
is memory often inaccurate, but it tends to bias things in particular
directions. With time a remembered story will often become simpler
and shorter, make more sense and fit in better with expectations or
desires. In many ways you remember what you want to remember.
All this may mean that the ESP aspect gets exaggerated. It makes
more sense of the experience and it makes a better story.
Dr X. tells us that soon after his experience he was asked to tell it to
at least six different people, including Sir Oliver Lodge, Lord Balfour
and others. These people would have been especially interested in the
ESP side of the story and one could not blame Dr X. if he emphasized it in the telling. Repeated telling can bias any story and it is a
short step from telling a slightly biased tale to believing it oneself.
Although everyone's memory is fallible it is tempting to forget
this. Stratton prefaces the story of Dr X. with this encouragement to
the reader to believe it.
To give an idea of his. [i.e. Dr X.'s] reliability and trustworthiness as an
observer I should say that he is a "retired consultant physician, a Doctor of
Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and that he was
created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire as a recognition
of his consultative services to the Royal Air Force (142 p. 92).
If this makes you more inclined to believe the ESP side to the story
it should not. One may have confidence in the man's education, his
knowledge of medicine and so on, but none of these achievements
qualifies him to be a reliable observer, nor to have an especially good
memory for the relevant details.
Of course some of these problems do not apply if the OBEer
records his impressions or visions before they are checked against
the facts (as is the case, of course, in most experiments). The early
investigators realized this and Myers was careful to try to get
independent records of this kind, but since most of these cases involved apparitions rather than ESP I shall discuss them later. The
ideal would be that the OBEer recorded all he saw immediately after
the experience and gave this record to someone else before it was
Extrasensory Perception in the ODE
181
checked. Checks could then be made and the details compared. But
even today there are few cases in which this is done, and fewer still
in which the other conditions are fulfilled and the details do prove
to be correct. More often the details are partially correct or mixed
and the conditions frustratingly fall short of the ideal. But do note
that I am not trying to say that there is no sound evidence, only to
point out how difficult it is to establish it.
Finally on this topic, there is one more confounding psychological
factor. The OBE is usually such a vivid experience and everything
looks so very real that it is hard for the experiencer not to be convinced that what he saw was really there, even if he didn't check
the facts. Green (49c) gives examples of people who were convinced
they could have seen anything they wanted although they did not
check on this ability. In my own surveys I found that very few people
actually bothered to check what they saw. Palmer (HOd) found that
only 14% of OBEers (in 5% of experiences) claimed ESP during
their OBEs but he does not say whether any of them were checked.
The third problem concerns the confirmation of details. In an
ideal case specific details would be recalled and recorded before being
checked with the facts, and would subsequently be found to be correct, or mostly correct. But this is rarely the case. More often a few
correct details are given and we have no idea how many others were
excluded. Alternatively the story takes the form, 'I visited my
friend's house where I had never been, and when I went there to
check I found everything just as I had seen it.' In Dr X.'s case he
said that the C O . verified everything he had seen. But what exactly
does this mean?
I helped to investigate a case which led me to be very wary of
such statements. A Canadian architect (we may call him Mr C.)
seemed to leave his body and travel across the Atlantic, to London.
His flight and visions were dramatically vivid. Judging from the
clothing and environment, he seemed to be in the London of 18401860 and he described in great detail a shop window with leaded
panes and wares outside, and the curve of the cobbled street along
which people were hurrying to a near-by square. Across the street
were three-storey houses with narrow windows and tidy front yards.
From his clear recollection of the bends in the river Mr C. was able
to pinpoint the spot on a map; he was sure it was a certain street in
Fulham. He had never been to London but he asked an English
colleague to describe this area. Apparently this colleague 'proceeded
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to describe the character of the street, the buildings, the style, the
building setbacks and entrance yards-all exactly as I had seen
them!'
I was able to investigate this area of Fulham (and other possible
candidates) in some detail. In 1840-1860 there were only scattered
houses in this area and a map of 1862 shows green fields where Mr C.
thought he saw his street. When the extension of the railways brought
development to Fulham it was of two-storey workmen's houses.
These are there to this day and look nothing like the houses Mr C.
saw. From slides I sent him he matched his visions with eighteenth
century townhouses of a type which never existed in that area. My
disappointing conclusion was that wherever Mr C.'s vivid images
of London came from it was not from any actual London scene. His
claim that his colleague described everything just as he had seen it
proved to have been worthless. Only a proper investigation of the
details claimed can provide the sort of evidence that is needed.
Finally we come to the thorny question of normal means of gaining information. Memory is again important here. It is perfectly
possible to see or hear something, forget about it entirely and then
dredge the information up again many years later. This phenomenon,
known as cryptomnesia, has often been discussed in relation to
mediumship and clairvoyance. Most recently the historian Ian Wilson
(157) has demonstrated how powerfully people may use forgotten
information and unsuspected dramatic skills to construct convincing,
but bogus, 'past lives' when regressed under hypnosis. The same processes may well be at work in OBEs.
Another possibility often overlooked is that a person may be
behaviourally unconscious but capable of hearing, and our ability
to construct a vivid mental picture from what we hear is extraordinarily effective — as we know from listening to the radio. As an
example take the case of Dr X. again. We do not know whether he
could hear the engine of the ambulance starting up, stalling and
starting again. But if he could he could easily have imagined the
scene as though from above. This is just another of the possibilities
which have to be taken into consideration.
So how good is the anecdotal evidence? I can only leave you, the
reader, to make up your own mind. You may protest that I have
unfairly stacked my evidence with weak cases but in my experience
they are in the vast majority. My own opinion is that the evidence
Extrasensory Perception in the OBE
183
is inconclusive and that there are very few cases which stand up
to detailed scrutiny, but beyond that I cannot say.
Of course the anecdotal evidence does not stand alone, but is
backed up by other types. The evidence from surveys, limited as it
is, suggests one interesting fact; that the ESP aspect of OBEs is not
important to the average experiencer. Very few claim to have seen
things at a distance, and fewer still bother to check up on the details.
It seems that it is not one of the most striking aspects of the experience for most people. There is little more to add about surveys except
that the cases gathered in this way have to be subjected to the same
kind of tests as all case histories. Rather different, and far more
extensive, is the evidence from experiments.
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE
Experiments on ESP in OBEs are not just a recent venture. Towards
the end of the last century experiments were carried out on the
'exteriorization of sensibility'. It was thought that under certain
circumstances a person could feel a touch, prick or other stimulus,
at a point outside the body rather than at its surface. Most commonly the special circumstances were that a medium was put into
a hypnotic or mesmeric trance.
Nowadays hypnotism is an accepted piart of medicine and psychology. It is investigated, as are the mechanisms of suggestion and
conformance, in psychological experiments, and is used in medicine
and as an aid to such tasks as losing weight or giving up smoking.
Although the processes involved are not entirely understood and
there is much argument as to whether any special state is involved,
few people associate hypnosis itself with anything mysterious or occult. But a hundred years ago hypnosis had not freed itself from its
ancestors, mesmerism and animal magnetism, and many still believed that the 'sleep' was induced by the passing of some fluid or
magnetic substance from hypnotist to subject. The process itself
therefore seemed to involve invisible and strange substances. So it
seemed no great jump to suppose that a sensitive substance could
be drawn from the medium in trance, or that a double could be
exteriorized and asked to travel about the room or elsewhere.
Subjects in hypnosis were encouraged to 'see' distant scenes, pick
up other people's thoughts and influence distant objects (see 47b).
Two types of experiment carried out with hypnosis are relevant
here: The 'exteriorization of motivity', which involves the double
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affecting objects at a distance, will be considered later. The 'exteriorization of sensitivity' involved a kind of ESP, for the subject was supposed to sense things that his or her body could not, apparently,
detect.
Two French psychical researchers, Dr Paul Joire (69) and Colonel
Albert de Rochas (29a, b), studied the exteriorization of sensibility.
De Rochas hypnotized several mediums, taking them to a state in
which they could no longer feel a touch on the skin, and then found
that apparently they were sensitive to a touch a little away from the
skin. Sensitivity appeared to have been displaced by a few centimetres and pricking or burning the air at that point hurt the subject.
If he then continued the 'magnetism' he found that a new sensitive
layer appeared at double the distance from the skin of the first, and
then another, and so on. These layers, he said, extended to two
metres, but each was less sensitive than the one inside it. The subjects themselves could apparently see the layers as luminous strata
(143).
This led de Rochas to even more curious experiments. He believed
that under magnetism a fluid was drawn out of the medium's body
in two different rhythms which set up stationary layers of greatest
vibrations. He tried distorting the layers with a plaster prism and
placed glasses of water near the subject's body so they could become
charged with the fluid. He was deeply interested in occultism and
magic, and thought that he had discovered a mechanism for sympathetic magic.
If the subjects really were sensitive to distant stimuli then this
would be ESP, but there are many reasons for doubting de Rochas's
conclusions. Most important is that the pricking and heating of the
air took place only a few inches from the subjects. They could therefore hardly fail to know what was going on and may have responded
to the stimuli because de Rochas suggested it and either unconsciously or consciously they wanted to be helpful or to be a 'good'
subject. Even at the time of the experiments, when experimental
controls were nothing like they are now, many other researchers suggested that these results were all due to suggestion.
Muldoon (97a) tried to test this effect with his own 'pricker'. He
fixed a board with several needles sticking out of it above his bed
and when he projected found that he passed through without feeling. He concluded that the hypnotic state was responsible for the
previous results.
Extrasensory Perception in the OBE
185
De Rochas was not alone in these studies. Dr Lancelin also wrote
, on astral projection and believed that in certain sensitive people,
especially those of a nervous temperament, there was a greater outflowing of the nervous force, or, as he called it 'externalization of
neuricity'. He used specially constructed instruments such as the biometer and Sthenometer to measure these forces (17b) and even
wrote on the structure of the astral body detected in this way.
Hector Durville was a French hypnotist and psychical researcher,
and at one time general secretary of the Magnetic Society of France
(32a, b). He worked both with de Rochas, and on his own, using
several different mediums. Among them were Mesdemoiselles
Marthe and Nenette and Mesdames Francoise, Edmee and Leontine.
These ladies came to his study, sometimes with their husbands or
other gentlemen, and sat in armchairs among the bookcases, desk
and heavy tables, to be put into the 'magnetic sleep'. They were all
able, when submitted to a 'vigorous and prolonged magnetic action'
to externalize the self. According to Durville this took place in the
form of emanations from various parts of the body, causing a disagreeable sensation, and sometimes even pain to the subject. Then
a double condensed to one side taking on the subject's form. The
subject herself could see it as slightly luminous while others could
only see it according to their degree of sensitivity, some seeing just
a faint white light, while others saw different colours in different
parts. This double was connected to the medium's body by a cord,
as thick as a little finger and usually running from navel to navel.
The subjects even described little swellings along the cord which
were thought to nourish it when the double was projected, and they
could apparently watch the circulation of a luminous fluid to and
fro along the cord.
Of course these are just the descriptions made by mediums when
hypnotized. Regardless of the fascinating details, and the correspondences one can see with other descriptions, they must be taken as no
more than that. Durville all the time asked them what they saw, and
may well have suggested certain details to them. For example he
need only have asked, 'Does anything connect your body and the
double?' to elicit descriptions of cords. We cannot know just what he
did say to them and so cannot judge the origin of the descriptions.
Once the double was well consolidated the medium's normal
senses appeared to become totally inhibited and the double seemed
to be the more real of the two. Durville says 'In all subjects the
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double is the complete individual, and the physical body as nothing.
"The double is myself", said Lcontine, 'the body is only an empty
bag" ' (32a p. 337). This can be compared with the many spontaneous cases in which the experiencer views his body with detachment,
and it seems very unimportant, hardly a part of him, or of concern
to him at all. Indeed, Dr X., whose story was told at the start of this
chapter, said 'Why are these people bothering about my body? I am
entirely content where I am.' Like so many other OBEers he apparently found that only his double seemed real, not the body.
It is certainly the case that during an OBE the double feels the
more real, but the important question is whether it can actually
feel things, or whether this is just an illusion. Durville tested this in
many ingenious ways; He repeated experiments like those of de
Rochas and found that every subject tested seemed not to feel pinches
or pricks on the body, but only those where the double apparently
was. To test vision he took a paper with large letters printed on it
and placed it first before the subject's eyes, and then her neck, head
and so on. The subject said she could see nothing. He then placed
it in front of the eyes of the double; again nothing. But when heplaced it before the nape of the neck it could* read 'without hesitation'. Do we conclude then that the double could read through the
neck? I think jiot, for as far as one can tell the same paper was
placed first in front of the half open eyes of the subject. She could
then have seen, either consciously or unconsciously, what was written
thereon, and so 'read' it later when the paper was held before the
double. If Durville had suggested to his hypnotized subject that she
could not read and the double could, this is just what we should
expect! And the same can be said of his experiments with hearing
in which Edmee could hear a watch placed by her ear, but only
by the double's ear.
Durville also concluded, 'The projected double can see, but rather
confusedly, from one room into another.' He described experiments
in which other people were asked to go into a different room and
there to perform some simple and easily described movements. The
double then went to watch and reported on what it saw. In the four
cases reported the medium described reasonably accurately what was
happening, Mme Fournier was sitting on the table, the three people
were gesticulating with their hands and so on. But before accepting
that this was ESP we should have to know whether only the best
Extrasensory Perception in the OBE
187
examples were reported, and how the people chose what actions to
perform.
If we were to carry out this experiment today we should probably
write down a limited number of actions, seal them in numbered
envelopes, ask an independent person to select one envelope by some
random means and give that to the people who were to do the acting.
They would be locked into the other room before they opened the
envelope, so that no one in the room with the medium would know
what it contained. In this way simple errors would be ruled out. But
Durville did not take any such precautions and we cannot rely on
his results.
These poor subjects, in addition to having watches held by their
ears, and even put between their teeth, were given horrible substances to taste and smell. Bitter aloes chewed by the subject was
found to have no taste, but when placed in the invisible mouth of
the double the subject declared it was bitter. The same was done
for quassia, sugar, quinine, salt, and even a piece of orange. With
the odours of Bergamot and Ammonia, the subject declared she
could smell nothing; only the double could smell them.
Durville was aware of the problem of suggestion but declared that
it was not involved because when he suggested to the subject that
she must be able to smell the ammonia he was holding in front of her
nose she still said she could not. However, this does not rule out
suggestion. The subject might have been well aware that the required
result was that only the double should be sensitive, and so she would
stick to this whatever Durville said. As far as one can tell from the
report of the experiments the subject could always see what was
going on and this would be the first thing to rule out if we did similar
experiments today.
These are just some of the experiments carried out three
quarters of a century ago, on the exteriorization of sensibility. It
would be nice to be able to explore how the methods developed and
progressed and to describe experiments since. But this is not possible
since studies of this kind just seemed to stop. Many scientists of the
time thought that the results were all due to suggestion, and most
were not sufficiently interested to want to take them any further.
The study of hypnotism gradually developed and became part of
psychology, and psychical research turned towards the more statistically based methods introduced by the Rhines in the 1930s. There
were some isolated studies of exteriorization, but there was no real
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progress until just over ten years ago when work began again on
out-of-the-body experiences. When this happened the emphasis was
different and quite different techniques were used, as we shall see in
the next chapter.
18 Experiments on OB Vision
In the late 1960s Charles Tart began the first laboratory tests with
subjects who could have OBEs voluntarily (146a, b). We have already considered his findings on the physiological states of these subjects, but he also tested their ability to see a target hidden from their
normal sight.
Before the formal tests began his first subject, Miss Z., was asked
to try a simple exercise at home. She wrote the numbers one to ten
on slips of paper and put them into a box beside her bed. Each
night she took one out without looking and placed it where it could
be seen from above. Then when she was out of her body she tried
to see which number it was. She reported back to Tart that she had
succeeded on every occasion.
This encouraged Tart to try proper experiments in which the subject slept in the laboratory and he placed a target on a shelf about
five and a half feet above the bed where she lay. Miss Z. could not
sit up or leave the bed because of electrodes connecting her to the
EEG apparatus, and she could not see over the shelf, of course.
The target was a five-digit number prepared in advance by Tart and
placed on the shelf in Miss Z.'s presence but without her being able
to see it.
Miss Z. slept in the laboratory on four occasions. On the first she
had no OBE; on the second, she managed to get high enough to see
the clock, but not the shelf top, and on the third night she had an
OBE but travelled elsewhere and did not try to see the number. However, on her fourth and last night she awoke and reported that she
had seen the number and it was 25132. It was 25132. She was right
on all five digits which has a probability of only one in 100,000 of
being right by chance. So we can reasonably rule out the idea that
it was just luck. So what was it? Had some part of Miss Z. left her
body and seen the number? Or could it have been ESP ?
Tart himself seemed reluctant to conclude that it was paranormal.
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He pointed out that Miss Z. could, although he personally thought
it was very unlikely, have cheated using mirrors or some sort of
periscope contraption concealed in her pyjamas. Alternatively it was
thought possible, although extremely difficult, for her to have read
the number reflected in the black plastic surface of the clock above.
All this may sound far-fetched, but when one is testing for the
occurrence of the paranormal one has to be very sure that other
possibilities are completely ruled out. Also, on this occasion the EEG
record was obscured by a great deal of 60-cycle interference. Parker
(114 p. 103) has suggested that this would be expected if Miss Z. had
tried to move so as to see the target. More research would have
helped, but Miss Z. had to return to her home some distance away
and so no further experiments with her were possible.
Tart's second subject was Robert Monroe who came to the laboratory for nine sessions, but, as we have heard, he was only able to
induce an OBE in the penultimate session, and then he had two.
During the first OBE he seemed to see a man and a woman but did
not know who or where they were. In the second, as stated in Chapter 12, he made a great effort to stay 'local' and managed to see the
technician, who was supposed to be monitoring the apparatus. With
her he saw a man whom he did not know was there and whom he
later described. It turned out that this was the husband, of the
technician, who had come to keep her company. This appears at
first sight to be evidential but in fact is of little value since Monroe
might have heard the man arrive or learned about his presence in
some other normal way, and he only gave a description of what he
had seen after he had asked to meet him. Since Monroe did not
manage to see the target number no real test of ESP was possible.
In 1971 Karlis Osis began to plan OBE research at the American
SPR(92). One of the first subjects to be tested there was Ingo Swann
who went to the laboratory two or three times a week where Janet
Mitchell tested him to see whether he could identify targets placed
out of sight. Swann has described his own experiences of being a
subject in these experiments (144).
A platform was suspended from the ceiling about 10 feet above
the ground and divided into two. On either side of a partition
various objects were placed and Swann was asked to try to travel
up and see them. The reason for the partition was to see whether
Swann would identify the correct target for the position in which
he claimed to be. Many changes had to be made in the lighting and
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the kind of objects used. Bright colours and clear familiar shapes
seemed most successful and glossy pictures or glass were not liked.
The targets used eventually included a black leather holder for a
letter opener, some scissors on a red heart, and a paper bull's eye.
After his OBE Swann usually made drawings of what he had 'seen'.
Although these drawings were far from perfect renderings of the
original objects, they were similar enough that when eight sets of
targets and responses were given to an independent judge she correctly matched every pair; a result which is likely to happen by
chance only once in about 40,000 times (92).
The results of all these experiments were most encouraging. From
Tart's results especially it seemed that although it was very hard for
the subject to get to see the number, if it was seen it was seen correctly.
If OB vision were reliable, however difficult it was to achieve it,
then this would be a great advance. One of the major findings of
parapsychology, if it can be called a finding, has been that ESP is
extremely erratic and inaccurate if it occurs at all, and it is more or
less impossible to distinguish a genuine ESP 'hit' from a chance hit.
If OB vision were found to be accurate, even if very rare, it would
be far easier to investigate than the elusive ESP.
But this earlier hope has been dashed. Further research showed
that OB vision could be just as confused and erratic as ESP has always seemed to be. For example Osis (103c) advertised for people
who could have OBEs to come to the ASPR for testing. About one
hundred came forward and were asked to try to travel to a distant
room and to report on what objects they could see there. Osis found
that most of them thought they could see the target but most were
wrong. They were deceiving themselves.
Osis concluded that the vast majority of the experiences had nothing to do with bone fide OBEs. But this conclusion means that Osis
was using the ability to see correctly as a criterion for the occurrence
of a genuine OBE. This raises a difficult problem. Questioning the
subjects did not lead to two clearly distinct types of experience, one
of which could be called an OBE and the other something else. It
did seem that 'vision' was more successful when the subject claimed
to have left his body suddenly, arrived instantly at the target room
and reported clear vision, but these were only informal observations
and could not serve as firm criteria for distinguishing two types of
experience. The only obvious difference was that some got the target
right and others did not. But this is useless as a criterion because
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some may have got it right by chance; indeed with a large number of
subjects, this is only to be expected.
Parapsychology has long faced the apparently insoluble problem
of trying to separate out the chance hits from the true ESP hits and
it has not found a reliable way. Similarly it does not seem realistic
to think one could separate a genuine 'seeing' OBE from a chance
hit combined with some other sort of experience. Hart faced this
problem in his case collections (60a) and now we meet it again in
connection with the experiments. I think we can only conclude that
if there are two types of experience, the genuine OBE, and something else, then no one knows how to distinguish them. For this reason
I prefer to stick to the definition of the OBE as an experience and
then we have to accept that in some OBEs vision seems to be accurate,
but in most it is not.
Much of the recent research on OBEs has been directed towards
that important question; does anything leave the body in an OBE?
On the one hand are the 'ecsomatic' or 'extrasomatic' theories which
claim that something does leave. This something might be the astral
body of traditional theory or some other kind of entity. Morris (95)
has referred to the 'theta aspect' of man which may leave the body
temporarily in an OBE, and permanently at death. On the other
hand, as we have seen, there are theories which claim that nothing
leaves. Some of these predict that no paranormal events should
occur during OBEs, but the major alternative to consider here is
that nothing leaves, but the subject uses ESP to detect the target.
This has been referred to as the 'imagination plus ESP' theory.
This theory is problematic. The term ESP is a catch-all, negatively defined, and capable of subsuming almost any result one cares
to mention. How then can it be ruled out? And given these two
theories how can we find out which, if either, is correct? In spite of
the difficulties several parapsychologists have set about this task.
Osis, for example, suggested that if the subject in an OBE has
another body and is located at the distant position then he should
see things as though looking from that position, whereas if he
were using ESP he should see things as though with ESP. This
general idea led him to suggest placing a letter 'd' in such a way that
if seen directly (or presumably by ESP) a 'd' would be seen, but if
looked at from a designated position a 'p' would appear, reflected
in a mirror (103). Following this idea further Osis developed his
'optical image device' which displays various different pictures in
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several colours and four quadrants. The final picture is put together
using black and white outlines, a colour wheel, and a series of mirrors. By, as it were, looking into the box by ESP one would not find
the complete picture. This can only be seen by looking in through
the viewing window (103d, 107).
Experiments with this device were carried out with Alex Tanous,
a psychic from Maine who claimed to have had OBEs since he was
five years old and who showed signs of promise in Osis's tests with
the one hundred volunteers. Tanous lay down in a soundproofed
room and was asked to leave his body and go to the box containing
the device, look in through the observation window and return to
relate what he had seen. Osis recounts that at first Tanous did not
succeed, but eventually he seemed to improve (103d).
On each trial Tanous was told whether he was right or wrong and
so was able to look for criteria which might help to identify when he
was succeeding. On those trials which he indicated he was most confident about his results 'approached significance' on the colour aspect of the target. Osis claimed that this aspect was most important
for testing his theory because some of the colours were modified by
the apparatus and would be very hard to get right by ESP. The next
tests therefore used only a colour wheel with three pictures and six
colours. This time overall scores were not significant but highconfidence scores for the whole target were significant and in the
second half of the experiment Tanous scored significantly on several
target aspects, especially the one which Osis claimed required
'localised sensing'.
All this sounds encouraging to the ecsomatic theory until you
remember several important facts. First, the scores were divided into
first and second halves. Osis expected that Tanous's scores would
decline, as they had done in previous experiments. If the first half
scores had been better this would have been evidence of a decline;
but if the second was better, of learning, as was the case. Either way
there is a 'finding'. Also it is not clear how many analyses were
carried out, but it must have been a large number. The whole target
was scored and then each individual aspect; each of these was scored
for first and second half and divided into low and high confidence
trials. The more analyses one carries out the more likely one is to
get a 'significant' result by chance. Finally there were not only very
many analyses but the results were said to 'approach significance'.
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All in all this is not convincing evidence that Tanous was scoring
any better than chance would predict.
Even if Tanous had scored better would this have confirmed the
ccsomatic theory of OBEs? I think not, because I do not think it is
possible to rule out the operation of ESP. Osis certainly tried very
hard to do so. First he excluded the possibility of telepathy by ensuring that no one knew what the target was, it was selected on each
trial by machine. He tried to rule out clairvoyance by the design of
the box, by making it so that to get the answer right the subject
would have to detect the right colour, the right picture and the
position of all the mirrors and so work out the final effect. This is
difficult all right, but is it impossible? I would say that we know
so little about ESP that we cannot be sure. In fact the little evidence
we do have suggests that psi may be independent of task complexity
(see 71, 131, 140). If so then this task might be performed by clairvoyance just as well as any other, and so any subject who succeeded
could be said to have used imagination plus ESP.
Finally, there is the possibility that the subject could use precognition to see into the future to the time when the target was looked
at and scored. Osis tried to rule this out using a method based on
Ehrenwald's tracer effects. He showed that mood scales completed
by the subject were more closely related to the ESP scores than were
those of the scorer. This is indirect evidence that the ESP did not
operate at the time of scoring.
All this great effort went into designing an experiment which
would rule out ESP. But when it comes down to it this is simply impossible. It is impossible because of the way ESP is defined - that is,
negatively. We only know what ESP is not, not what it is In fact I
do not think we know anything about it which would allow us to rule
out the possibility of its acting in any experiment.
This is a serious problem for research, not only on OBEs. So however ingenious Osis's experiments were, they could not succeed in
ruling out the possibility of ESP. The same arguments apply to
psychokinesis (PK). If a person during an OBE affects some object
then we could say that this was done by PK, and not by an exteriorized aspect of the person. It is not possible to rule out either ESP or
PK. However, it might be possible to test whether OB vision is more
like ESP or like localized sensing. What is needed is a comparison
between two conditions. In one the person could try to use ESP (or
PK for that matter) and in the other he could have an OBE. If
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differences were obtained this might indicate that more than just
psi was involved in the OBE, but so far such comparisons have not
been made.
Osis went on to further experiments with Alex Tanous. In many
of these Tanous was asked to try to influence sensors placed at the
remote location. These results will be considered later, but in these
same experiments Tanous was led to believe that his main task
was to see the target as before. This time there were four possible
colours, four quadrants in which the picture could appear, and five
different line drawings. A hit was scored if any one of the aspects was
correctly perceived (105a, b, c). Osis says that in 197 trials there were
114 hits. This sounds rather good although Osis does not state anywhere whether this result was significant or not. If you work it out for
yourself you will see that with so many target aspects there is .55
probability of a hit on each trial and so 108 hits would be expected
by chance. Now 114 does not sound so good and so again the results
provide no evidence for accurate perception in the OBE.
Blue Harary, who has provided so much interesting information
about the physiology of the OBE, was tested for perception during
his OBEs, but according to Rogo (124e) he was only 'sporadically
successful' on target studies and so research with him concentrated
on other aspects of his experience.
Apart from all these experiments there is really only one more
approach which is relevant to the question of ESP in OBEs and that
is work done by Palmer and his associates at the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville. They tried to develop methods for inducing an OBE in volunteer subjects in the laboratory and then to test
their ESP.
One can understand the potential advantages of such a programme. If it were possible to take a volunteer and give him an
OBE under controlled conditions, when and where you wanted it,
half the problems of OBE research would be solved. It would be
possible to test hypotheses about the OBE so much more quickly and
easily, but alas, this approach turned out to be fraught with various
problems.
First Palmer and Vassar (113a, b) developed an induction technique based on traditional ideas of what conditions are conducive
to the OBE. Using four different groups of subjects in three stages,
the method was modified to incorporate different techniques for
muscular relaxation and disorientation. Each subject was brought
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into the laboratory and the experiment was explained to him. He
was then taken into an inner room to lie on a comfortable reclining
chair and told that a target picture would be placed on a table in
the outer room which he had already seen.
The first stage of the induction consisted of nearly fifteen minutes
of progressive muscular relaxation with the subject being asked to
tense and relax in turn groups of muscles all over his body. Next, he
heard a pulsating tone both through headphones and speakers
which served to eliminate extraneous noises and produce a disorientating effect. At the same time he looked into a rotating red
and green spiral lit by a flashing light; this lasted a little under ten
minutes. In the final stage he was asked to imagine leaving the
chair and floating into the outer room to look at the target, but here
several variations were introduced. Some subjects were guided
through the whole process by taped instructions while others were
simply allowed to keep watching the spiral while they imagined it for
themselves. For some the spiral was also only imagined and for some
there was an extra stage of imagining the target.
When all this was over the subject filled in a questionnaire about
his experiences in the experiment and completed an imaginary test
(a shortened form of the Betts QMI). Then five pictures were placed
before him. One was the target but neither he nor the experimenter
with him knew which it was. When he had rated each of the pictures
on a 1 to 30 scale the other experimenter was called in to say which
was the target.
One of the questions asked was, 'Did you at any time during the
experiment have the feeling that you were literally outside of your
physical body?' Of 50 subjects asked this question 21, or 42%,
answered 'yes'. As for the scores on the targets, overall scores were
not significantly different from chance expectation. Of course it
might be expected that those who had OBEs would do better at
seeing the target, but when the scores were compared for the 21
OBEers and the others there was no significant difference between
them. The OBEers did get significantly fewer hits than expected by
chance but this is difficult to interpret. Could it be that those subjects who claimed to have been out of their bodies were sensing the
correct target by ESP and then choosing a different picture? However one interprets this result I think it is clear that those subjects
who claimed to have had an OBE were not better able to see the
target.
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Why was this so? The first problem is to decide whether the
subjects were really having an OBE. I ask this question but actually
it means nothing, for we cannot distinguish two kinds of OBE, the
real and not-real, as I have already explained. Since we define the
OBE as an experience, if a subject says he felt 'literally outside' his
physical body then we have to say he was having an OBE regardless
of any doubts we may entertain about the nature of his experience.
Palmer and Vassar added in the word 'literally' to try to exclude
some purely imaginary experiences but although this may reduce
the numbers a little it cannot get round the basic fact that the
OBE is an experience which we cannot objectively record. So we
cannot ask whether they were really having an OBE.
Could we ask something else? For instance we might ask whether
these OBEs are anything like the spontaneous OBEs reported by
ordinary people, or like those achieved in the laboratory by such
adepts as Blue Harary or Ingo Swann. But even this we cannot
answer. If a subject had both had a spontaneous OBE and taken
part in this procedure then he could be asked to compare the two
experiences, or the experimenter himself could do this. But this
would not help much because it could be that people who have
had previous OBEs react differently to the procedure. In the same
way adepts might find that an OBE was induced more easily by
the procedure than might other people. Essentially these studies
lead one face to face with the biggest problem in OBE research:
that the experience is private and an experimenter can never be
sure when it is happening. This is not an insuperable problem. After
all dreams are private in the same way and yet dream research has
progressed in leaps and bounds in the past few decades. But it is a
real problem, and we shall confront it again and again.
Palmer and Lieberman (112a, b) took the techniques a stage
further. Forty subjects were tested but this time they had a visual
ganzfeld : that is, half ping-pong balls were fixed over their eyes
and a light shone at them so as to produce a homogeneous visual
field. Half the subjects were given an 'active set' by being asked to
leave their bodies and travel to the other room to see the target,
while the other half were given a 'passive set' being asked only to
allow imagery to flow freely into their mind.
As expected more of the 'active' subjects reported having felt out
of their bodies: 13 out of 20 as opposed to only 4 in the passive
condition. The active subjects also reported more vivid imagery
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and more effort expended in trying to see the target but when it
came to the ESP scores both groups were found to have scores close
to chance expectation and there were no differences between them.
However, those subjects who reported OBEs did do better than the
others and significantly so. This result is quite different from the
previous ones and is the opposite of what Palmer and Lieberman
predicted, but it is what one would expect on the hypothesis that
having an OBE facilitates ESP.
Palmer and Lieberman put forward an interesting suggestion as
to why more subjects in the active condition should report OBEs.
It is related to Schachter's theory of emotions, which has been very
influential in psychology. Basically this suggests that a person experiencing any emotion first feels the physiological effects of arousal,
including such things as slight sweating, increased heart rate, tingling feelings and so on, and then labels this feeling according to the
situation as either 'anger', 'passionate love', 'fear' or whatever. In
the case of these experiments the analogy is that the subject feels
unusual sensations arising from the induction and then labels them
according to his instructions. If he was told to imagine leaving his
body and travelling to another room he might interpret his feelings
as those of leaving the body. Of course this suggestion has far wider
implications for understanding the OBE than just these experiments.
In the next experiment Palmer and Lieberman tested 40 more
subjects, incorporating suggestions from Robert Monroe's methods
for inducing OBEs. There was no ganzfeld and instead of sitting in
a chair the subjects lay on beds, sometimes with a vibrator attached
to the springs. This time 21 subjects reported OBEs; and, interestingly, these scored higher on the Barber suggestibility scale, but
they did not gain better ESP scores.
Why then did the subjects in the previous experiment get significant scores? One factor which Palmer noted was that he spoke very
briefly to the subjects after he already knew what the target was.
As he explains (112c) it was extremely unlikely that this affected
the scores, and I can agree since all my attempts to produce spurious
ESP scores (including having slight sensory contact between subject
and agent) have met with little success. However, this is a slight
flaw which marred the only experiment in which significant scores
were obtained by the OBEers.
In the final experiment in this series 40 more subjects were tested,
20 with ganzfeld and 20 just told to close their eyes (110c). This
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time 13 in each group claimed to have had an OBE, but whether
they did or not was not related to their ESP scores. This time EEG
recording was also used but it showed no differences related to the
reported OBEs. All in all it seems that these experiments were
successful in helping subjects to have an experience which they
labelled as out of the body, but not in getting improved ESP scores
or in finding an OBE state identifiable by EEG.
These studies raise the difficult question of the relationship between experimentally induced and spontaneous OBEs. Are they entirely different, or do they fall along some sort of continuum? In
an experiment designed to look at the effect of religious belief on
susceptibility to OBEs, Smith and Irwin (138) tried to induce OBEs
in two groups of students differing in their concern with religious
affairs and human immortality. The induction was similar to that
already described, but in addition the subjects were given an
'OBE-ness' questionnaire and were asked to try to 'see' two targets
in an adjacent room. Later their impressions were given a Veridicality score for resemblance to the targets.
No differences between the groups were found for either OBEness or veridicality, but there was a highly significant correlation between OBE-ness and veridicality. This implies that the more OBElike is the experience, the better the ESP. As we have seen, this
would be important if true. In this case the results are marred by
the fact that the same two targets were used on each occasion. However, this question of OBE-ness deserves further study if we are to
sort out the relationship between the different kinds of OBE.
All these experiments were aimed at finding out whether subjects
could see a distant target during an OBE. At best there are a very
few properly controlled experiments (some critics would say, none)
which have provided unequivocal evidence that a subject could
detect anything by other than normal means. Although the experimental OBE may differ from the spontaneous kind, a simple conclusion is possible from the experimental studies. That is, OBE vision,
if it occurs, is extremely poor.
19 Apparitions, Spirits, and Visible Souls
There is a long and fascinating history of attempts to record apparitions and detect the soul, spirit, or double of man. Instruments have
been devised to record their effects; photographs have been taken
of apparitions and astral bodies; machines have been made to weigh
the double; and thousands of animals have been killed in the search
for the soul. The importance of all this for OBEs lies in the question
of whether anything leaves the body in an OBE. If it does then
surely, it has been argued, we should be able to see and detect it. Not
only that, but this might be the same thing which leaves the body
at death and goes on to survive without it. Success in detecting a
double would then be relevant to the evidence for survival.
Perhaps the simplest and most obvious way in which doubles are
detected is when they are seen as apparitions. The study of apparitions
formed an important part of early psychical research, and many
different types of apparition have been recorded, but the ones which
interest us here are those in which either spontaneously or voluntarily, a person having an OBE simultaneously appeared to someone
else as an apparition.
There are many cases of this kind in the early literature. Phantasms of the Living, Myers's Human Personality and the Survival
of Bodily Death, and the SPR publications all include cases. Some of
them are rather spectacular and they include the best-known of all
cases of this kind, the Wilmot case. By 1967 Hart (60b) reported
that it had been quoted no less than five times, and this was certainly
an underestimate, which is reason enough for not quoting it again;
but other cases are equally interesting. Hart includes several in his
analysis (60a). His highest 'evidentially rating' for all cases goes to
that of Miss Danvers, and because he considered it the best case I
shall use it as an example. Myers (99b) asked Miss Danvers to appear
to her friend Mrs Fleetwood without forewarning her and to send
him a note of her intention before she knew whether it had succeeded. He describes several such 'experiments'. In the first, on June
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17th 1894 at 12.0 A.M., Miss Danvers lay down with her eyes closed
and hair down and tried to appear to her friend nine miles distant,
and before she did so she made a note of the fact. Mrs Fleetwood
apparently awoke at precisely the same moment to see Miss Danvers
kneeling on the bedside chair, with her hair down and eyes closed or
looking down. She too made a note of this and sent it to Miss
Danvers.
The older cases, like this one, have been quoted again and again
and a relatively small number of them really form the mainstay of
the anecdotal evidence on OBE apparitions. Crookall (26a) and
Smith (139) give some recent cases but they too concentrate on the
older ones. Green (49c) discusses the similarities between apparitions
in general and the asomatic body perceived by OBEers, but she does
not give any examples from her own case collection in which another
person saw the exteriorized double. By contrast, about 10% of
Palmer's OBEers claimed to have been seen as an apparition (llOd)
and Osis claims that from his survey OBEers 'frequently' said they
were noticed by others and in 16 cases (6% of the total) he was able
to obtain some verification through witnesses, although he does not
expand on this. Obviously it would be very helpful if much more
evidence of this sort could be collected, and recent cases thoroughly
checked.
Of course the problems with assessing this type of evidence are
the same as apply to any case histories. We can use the Danvers case
as an example. I assume that Hart rated it so highly because Myers
obtained letters from both participants written at the time of the
event rather than later. However, even in this case there is room for
doubt. Miss Danvers seems to have misunderstood Myers's instructions for in a later experiment she actually told Mrs Fleetwood to
expect her visit, and even in the one described here she did not send
her own account straight to Myers as requested, but sent it on later
with the confirmatory note she received from Mrs Fleetwood-so
thwarting Myers's good intentions.
Also note that the details of what was seen were not detailed or
precise and correct details were mixed with incorrect. Miss Danvers's
hair was correctly seen as down (although that would be expected
at 12.0 A.M.) and her eyes 'closed, or looking quite down', but she
was seen kneeling rather than lying. We have come to expect this
odd mixture, but it indicates that there is no sharp dividing line
between a perfect apparition and none at all-r ather there seems
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to be every graduation in between. One interpretation is that there
are different types of OBE. Another is that imagination and memory
have been at work in creating the apparition. It is not something
objective projected by the OBEer, but a product of the imagination
of projector, percipient, or both, and that is why it varies.
As for other problems; they are all familiar. Many of the events
happened so long ago that they cannot now be adequately checked.
The coincidence in time on which many depend is often not well
established and in few cases can the vagaries of memory be ruled
out. The perfect evidence is always elusive. Again we can only accept
what evidence there is and make a reasoned judgement based on that.
Of course the evidence from case histories is backed up by a
variety of types of experimental evidence. For example, de Rochas
sometimes asked one of his special subjects to retire early to bed one
night and to send her phantom to the place where his hypnotic
experiments were carried out. There another medium was waiting
and she was usually frightened to see an unexpected phantom appear.
But it must be noted that although the mediums were not told that
a phantom was expected, the observers present all knew.
This kind of experiment became quite a popular pastime for
people interested in astral projection, and in different forms was
tried many times. Haemmerle (57) describes experiments in which
she apparently managed to visit her twin sister and saw the phantoms of two friends who had previously arranged to visit, but again
there was no control over who knew what about the expected visits
and we cannot accept the results as anything more than an interesting anecdote by today's standards.
In more of de Rochas's hypnotic experiments (29b) two doubles
were simultaneously exteriorized in different rooms and one asked
to go and appear to the other and to stamp on its feet, pull its hair,
or some such. In most cases it is said that the medium of the affected
double recoiled as though hurt, although sometimes the pain was
felt in a different spot, or not at all. This effect might be something
similar to 'repercussion'.
I shall discuss the related modern experiments in the next chapter,
but first I want to consider some of the numerous attempts to
prove the objectivity of the human double. Although not directly
involving OBEs these all have a bearing on the important question
of whether there is something which might leave the physical body
during the experience, or at death.
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203
WEIGHING THE SOUL
In 1906 Elmer Gates suggested a new test of death (46). He denied
the newspaper reports that he had seen 'the shadow of the soul of a
rat', but perhaps this was not so far from what he had hoped for.
Having measured the opacity of the human body to 'electric waves'
of various wavelengths, he showed that some passed more easily
through a dead than a living body. This constituted his test of death.
He thought this was probably due to the cessation of electric currents in the dead body, but perhaps it was not the whole explanation.
There might be some entity which survived physical death and was
opaque to certain rays. To detect this it would be necessary to catch
the change in transparency and to observe the shadow that was there
in life, leave at death. If the shadow could be seen passing away
this would show that something survived. Further still Gates hoped
to catch the shadow and to prove that it still had 'mind' even though
it had left the physical body.
Not surprisingly, Gates never achieved all this, but his suggestions
were followed by similar attempts. In 1907 Duncan MacDougall
reported his notorious weighing experiments (86). He argued that
if a person and his consciousness were to survive they must consist
of a space-occupying substance which he thought was likely to be
gravitative and detectable by weighing. He therefore weighed six
people as they died, with their prior permission of course. He chose
those who were dying of some wasting disease, mostly tuberculosis,
to ensure that the approach of their deaths could be seen some time
in advance, and that they would be too weak to struggle violently
and upset his apparatus. When death seemed to be close a patient
was moved to a special bed resting on a light framework on delicately balanced platform scales, and the weight was watched
throughout.
The first man was observed for about four hours during which he
gradually lost about one ounce per hour, presumably through the
loss of water in breathing and sweating. But as he died MacDougall
reported that 3/4 oz. was suddenly lost and the beam end of the scales
dropped with an audible stroke. What was the cause of this weight
loss? MacDougall argued in great detail that neither bowel movements, urination nor breathing could account for such an effect and
concluded that the loss had to be due to the departure of the soul
substance.
A second patient lost a little more than 11/2 oz. and another lost 1/2 oz.,
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but with the three others various problems made it impossible to
measure any weight loss. MacDougall was not able to carry on his
work, but instead he made a comparison with animals. After all,
he argued, if it is the soul which is being weighed, there should be
no loss of weight when an animal dies.
Weighing 15 dogs as they died, he found no corresponding weight
loss. However, the dogs were not dying of a wasting disease but
were killed with drugs and MacDougall concluded that this vitiated
the results. In any case why should he be so sure that a dog has no
soul? Many later experiments used animals and it seems that MacDougall could have argued either way. If the dogs lost weight then
this would add to the evidence from humans. If not, he could say
that dogs did not have souls.
In any case much of this argument is unnecessary for there was
too much wrong with his methods. He did not control or measure
the loss of water vapour at death and he had no way of timing death.
In one case he says that a man, dying of consumption, stopped
breathing eighteen minutes before death was confirmed and weight
lost. How could he then conclude that the weight was lost 'at the
moment of death' ?
If we were to conduct such an experiment today we should have
to decide in advance what criterion of death we would use. And
what would that be ? Would we expect the soul to leave at the cessation of breathing, when the heart stopped beating or when the last
sign of activity in the brain had ceased? Arguments could be made
out for any of these and more. Of course no one conducts such
experiments any more, presumably because MacDougall was mistaken, and no weight loss can be recorded at death which is not
attributable to the loss of water vapour.
Some of the experiments which made this clear were carried out
in the 1930s by H. L. Twining in California (17e, 152). He carefully
controlled for the loss of water in several ways. First he arranged a
balance with a glass beaker on either side. In one beaker was a live
animal and beside each beaker a piece of potassium cyanide. The
cyanide next to the animal was carefully removed from the outside
to the inside of the beaker so killing the unfortunate creature, but
without disturbing the balance. The animals died almost instantly
and a loss of weight was observed.
Next the animal (a mouse) was sealed in a tube by heating it over
a flame; the poor thing smothered and died without loss of weight.
Apparitions, Spirits, and Visible Souls
205
Twining concluded that whatever the mouse lost at death could not
get out of the tube, 'the suspicion is aroused that it is some kind of
coarse matter with which we are acquainted that is lost, and not a
soul.' When the mouse was drowned in a flask of water or some
calcium chloride, which absorbs water vapour, was placed in the
flask; no weight loss occurred. Twining concluded that the loss was
of moisture, and that he had not weighed the soul.
These seems to be the only experiments of the kind reported, and
you may wonder how I can be so sure that Twining was right and
MacDougall wrong. The answer is, I think, that if there were such
a thing as a weighty soul this would have become apparent in many
ways and would be well accepted by now, even though threequarters of a century ago it seemed highly unorthodox. One may
speculate that it was a crucial discovery hushed up because it was
unacceptable, but my guess would be that others tried to duplicate
MacDougall's findings and failed; and that their failures were never
publicized as their successes might have been. Whatever the correct
interpretation, experiments on weighing the soul were never pursued further. The idea which once seemed so hopeful was abandoned, like so many others in parapsychology and in the study of
OBEs.
PHOTOGRAPHING THE SPIRIT
A similar fascinating tale of failure can be seen in the quest for a
photograph of the astral body, double or soul. In the early days of
photography it seemed that the camera could never lie. If something were captured on film then surely it must exist. The temptation
to try to capture the soul in this way therefore flowered.
The same process can be seen at work in the proliferation of spirit
photography towards the end of the last century. 'Spirit extras'
mysteriously appeared in pictures taken by mediums. Faces would
surround the sitter's face, clouds, presumably of ectoplasm, might
float around his head or a little child appear in his arms. Among
the best-known were the photographs of Mrs Deane, William
Mumler, who began the technique in the 1860s, and William Hope.
But tampering with the plates, and double exposure were often
' uncovered (see 17b, e, 154). Gradually spirit photography became
less and less popular; arguments against it abounded and today only
a vestige remains in the claims of 'thoughtography', or the ability
to produce pictures without exposing the film.
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I do not wish to get sidetracked too far into the realms of these
dubious though fascinating spiritualistic practices. I only mention
this one because it is so closely associated with the attempts to photograph not the spirits of the dead, but the doubles of living. The
same desire for 'proof motivated both, and the same dangers and
fraudulent possibilities lurked in both. Photography was used in two
main ways which are relevant to the OBE. First there were many
attempts to capture on film the 'soul' or double leaving at the
moment of death. And second there are photographs of exteriorized
doubles of normal healthy people.
As we have seen, there have been claims that a shadowy form can
sometimes be seen leaving the body shortly before or after death.
Obviously if photography could capture this vision at the moment
of death this would add considerably to the evidence from the weighing experiments, and would be suggestive of survival. The first photographs of this type were taken by the French psychical researcher Dr
Hippolyte Baraduc. As well as trying to photograph the thoughts and
emotions of living people, Baraduc took pictures of his wife and son
after they had died (18). His son, Andre, died of consumption at the
age of 19 in 1907. The father and son had apparently been very
close and according to Carrington and Meader telepathic communication had been frequent between them. After Andrews death an
apparition of the boy appeared to his father and the two conversed
together. Of course we have only Baraduc's word for this, but he
endeavoured to gain more concrete evidence of Andrews continued
presence using the camera. A photograph taken some nine hours
after his death shows, emanating from the coffin, a 'formless, misty,
wave-like mass, radiating in all directions with considerable
force...'
The photograph itself though is very hard to make out. However, Baraduc went on to apply the same method, with
more forethought, when his wife Nadine died six months later. As
she died she sighed gently three times. At this moment Baraduc took
a photograph, and when he developed the plate found that it showed
three luminous globes hovering above the body (see Plates 9 and
10). He took another about a quarter of an hour later and one after
an hour. By this time the globes had condensed into one. Finally
three and a half hours after Madame Baraduc's death her husband
saw a well-formed globe above the body become separated from the
body and float into his bedroom. There he talked to it and it ap-
Apparitions, Spirits and Visible Souls
207
proached him, causing him to feel an icy draught. In the next few
days Baraduc apparently saw similar globes in various places around
the house and was able to communicate by means of automatic
writing, to learn that it was the encasement of his wife's soul, which
was still alive.
We have only Baraduc's photographs as a record of these events,
and they are not wholly convincing, for many reasons. As far as I
know, no one else exerted any control over the procedure used. Baraduc himself took the photographs and prepared the camera. He was in
a stressed state; after recent deaths of both his son and his wife
this would be expected. We also know that he was conversing with
globes of light and with his son's apparition. Of course this can be
taken in at least two ways; either as an indication of his unusual
mental state, or as evidence that his son was actually present in
astral form, as he claimed. But whichever way we interpret it, he
was perhaps not in the best possible state for carefully taking photographs; and of course that was not the simple procedure it is today.
Finally we have to note that there are few pictures of this type.
Where something as controversial as this is at stake, and when it is
the only evidence of its kind, we have to be more than usually sure
that we can rely on the methods used.
Fascinating as these pictures are, I prefer to reserve judgement as
to what they represent: certainly they are not one set in a long
history of such pictures. If anything does leave the body at death
it is not easily revealed on film. Of course this fact comes as no
surprise to many psychical researchers, spiritualists, or occultists.
After all it is only certain people who are reputed to be able to see
the astral or etheric matter out of which these forms were presumably made. There were numerous theories about what that
matter might be, but one thing was agreed: that it might take special
techniques to reveal the double, the 'soul' or the astral body. One
of the many techniques suggested for amplifying any image was the
use of the cloud chamber.
Early in this century the use of cloud chambers for photographing
the paths of particles was common in physics. The technique,
pioneered by Wilson, is based on a simple principle. A chamber is
filled with water vapour and then a partial vacuum is created using
a pump, so reducing the temperature in the chamber very quickly.
If a particle then passes through the space, water droplets form along
its path and the 'cloud' formed in this way can be photographed.
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The particle itself may be very small but the water vapour, somewhat like the trail from a high-flying aeroplane, is easy to see.
The first to apply this technique to the search for the double,
was R. A. Watters, working at the Dr William Johnston Foundation
for Psychological Research in Reno, Nevada. Hereward Carrington
had suggested something similar, and outlined a possible experiment,
at the First International Congress of Psychical Research in Copenhagen in 1921, and the argument between these two as to who
originated the idea can be read in their caustic correspondence now
in the SPR archives. But in fact long before that, in 1908, E. W.
Bobbett had described an experiment using a cloud chamber. In his
article in the Annals of Psychical Science (11) he outlined the idea
and made a plea for anyone who had the means of carrying out the
experiment to contact him, for he was not able to do so himself.
Whether anyone did I have no idea; but the experiment, as he
described it, was never, to my knowledge, carried out.
Bobbett argued that the double was radioactive. This may seem a
very odd, even an impossible idea now, but then it made some sort
of sense. Radioactivity was known from the effect of radiation on
photographic plates and its detection in cloud chambers but it was
not well understood; and simple methods of detecting it, such as the
Geiger counter, were not readily available. The double had been
seen as cloud-like which led by analogy to the idea that it could
consist of radioactive matter becoming visible much as radiation did
in a cloud chamber. The fact that cool breezes were traditionally
associated with ghosts and the appearance of ectoplasm and
doubles further strengthened the analogy. Bobbett also cited the
evidence that Eusapia Palladino, the famous Italian medium of the
time, was able to discharge an electroscope without contact. He suggested that rays emanating from her ionized the surrounding air
which became a conductor and so discharged the electroscope.
Nowadays we can simply point a Geiger counter at a medium to
show that no radioactivity is involved, but this was not then possible,
and in the light of the evidence above, it was perhaps understandable that many psychical researchers of the time thought of the
double as radioactive. Similar ideas can be found in the writings of
Findlay (38) and Yram (159), about whom I shall have more to say
in later chapters.
Bobbett suggested that an animal should be placed in a cage. The
cage should be placed in an aluminium box with a window in it;
Apparitions, Spirits, and Visible Souls
209
and the box put inside a larger box, also with a window. The inner
box was to be fitted with pipes for the admission of anaesthetizing
gases, and air for the animal to breathe. These pipes should pass out
into the open, not into the outer box. Finally the outer box was to
be fitted with a pump to remove air from it and filled with perfectly
dust-free air and water vapour.
Anaesthetics were thought to drive the double from the physical
body; although OBEs are less common with modern anaesthetics,
they were often reported with the use of nitrous oxide, ether, and
other such gases used early this century, so the idea that the gases
forced out the double then seemed natural. In this experiment the
gases would be admitted to the central box, the animal would become unconscious and its double would be driven into the outer
box. The air would then be removed by the pump, the temperature
would fall, and the outer box would become a cloud chamber. The
various types of radiation emitted by the radioactive double would
be seen as clouds outlining the form of the double. Through the
window photographs could be taken, and the double would be
captured on film. As Bobbett himself said, 'We shall have proved
the existence of this body by thoroughly reliable objective means.'
If this were successful the method could be extended to testing
humans anaesthetized with chloroform. However, as it appears not
to have been tried with animals, we do not know whether it would
have been successful. Of course we may guess, and my guess would
naturally be that it would not. I look on this venture as another one
of those fascinating ideas which litter the history of psychical
research but which are based on reasoning which turned out, much
later, to be misplaced. But it is premature to jump to such conclusions
without first considering the experiments which were carried out
using a cloud chamber, those of Watters, who used a cloud chamber
not because he argued that the double was radioactive, but because
he thought that it might reveal the tiny particles of the double just
as it revealed other particles (155a, b).
Once the idea had taken hold that matter consists of very small
particles with large spaces in between, it was open to the psychical
researchers and occultists to suggest that the double or astral body
occupies those spaces. This seemed to solve the problem of understanding how the double could take the same form as the physical
body, yet fit in with it under normal conditions. Watters suggested
that the double consisted of this 'intra-atomic quantity' and that
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these finer astral particles of which it was made could leave the body
at death and be revealed in a cloud chamber.
In the early 1930s Watters developed a modified Wilson cloud
chamber into which he placed animals which had been given sufficient anaesthetic to kill them, or at least to kill most of them. Air was
withdrawn from the chamber and a photograph taken of the body
of the animal. When developed these photographs showed cloudy
shapes hovering above the body, and Watters claimed that they
were shaped just like the frog or mouse or insect whose body was
lying inert. This, he claimed, was the intra-atomic quantity, departing from the physical body at death. He also claimed that on the
occasions when the animals recovered no such form was seen, proving that the entity left only at death. This is, of course, an entirely
different view from that so commonly found that the double can
separate from the body in life, and is only permanently separated
in death. Apparently Watters did not believe that his apparatus was
capable of photographing the double projected from a living being.
That Watters had photographed anything like a 'soul' is open to
great doubt. First consider the pictures he produced (three are
reproduced in Plates 11-13). These are pictures that Watters sent
to members of the SPR, and they are now kept in the Society's
archives. They may not be the best of those taken, but Watters clearly
thought them adequate, and they are the best available. It would be
hard to know whether they were the forms of frogs, mice or indeed
men, if one had not been told.
Apart from the poor quality of the pictures there were problems
with Watters's technique. He never described the apparatus in such
clear detail that it would be possible for someone else to build it and
duplicate the experiments. Even when requested by Carrington and
Hopper, in letters now at the SPR, he was not willing to give additional details. It was suggested that he had not removed all the dust
from the air he used and this could produce spurious clouds. Note
that Bobbett had stressed the need for dust-free air, and in his
experiment two separate boxes were to be used, so separating the
animal from the clean air. Watters did nothing to assure others that
he had controlled for this type of interference. Also he could give
no account of why he chose to have a cellophane window in the
chamber. Cellophane is not strong and it was then hard to affix to
metal without modern glue. This window could have let dust in.
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211
Finally he appears not to have ensured uniform temperature in the
chamber.
Even if Watters's technique was adequate, the fact remains that
it did not prove possible to replicate his ifindings. His claims were
potentially of such importance that as soon as they became known
in England others set about trying to replicate the experiments. Most
important among them was B. J. Hopper, who was a schoolteacher
and physicist with an interest in psychical research and who worked
for the International Institute of Psychical Research in London.
With the help and advice of Nandor Fodor and a Mr Lauwerys,
Hopper designed and built a cloud chamber and tried to photograph clouds (see Plate 14). He failed. No clouds resembling those
of Watters were obtained. Hopper reported his negative findings in
1935 (64). In the following years he corresponded at length with
Watters. One of Watters's letters to Hopper was studied by Lauwerys
who concluded this about Watters: 'His language is too loose, his
technique too inexact, his knowledge too incomplete, his claims too
fantastic to inspire respect or confidence' (77). As had happened so
many times before and since, it seems that Watters had found no
more than a figment of his own imagination.
One last attempt deserves mention. In 1906 (2) there was a report
of the death of Mrs Erich Muenter, whose husband, Professor of
German at Harvard University, had disappeared and was wanted
by the police for murder. He had supposedly perfected a means of
proving the existence of a soul. The only problem was that it required
the death of someone he loved in order to produce the vapour which
should cling to him! I suppose we shall never know whether his
method would have told us anything!
The weighing of bodies at the moment of death seemed to produce
only spurious findings and the attempts to photograph the soul at
death, or during anaesthesia, did not provide the solid and objective
evidence hoped for. A few pictures are claimed to be those of a soul
leaving the body at death but they were taken many years ago and
since then the phenomenon seems to have ceased. Does all this tell
us anything?
I mentioned earlier the work of Elmer Gates. He had an openminded approach to this research and said, 'Even the failure to find
evidence of man's duality by these systematic researches would
have a value because it would lessen the probability that there is
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such a soul-organism and would give additional probability either to
some other hypothesis regarding immortality or to the belief that
man does not live after death. We care not what the truth may be
so we may know what the truth is' (46).
It is now clear that research has failed to find the kind of evidence
Gates had hoped for and that he would have had to conclude that
the probability was reduced. Following his principles, I would say
that it is very unlikely that there is any substantial material and
photographable 'soul' which leaves the body during anaesthesia and
at death. If anything does leave it must be something far more
elusive.
20 Experiments to Detect the Double
In the previous chapter we saw what attempts have been made to
capture the soul at the moment of death, but what of the double
leaving the body in life? There have also been many attempts to
photograph that. For example in 1875 William Stainton Moses, a
renowned medium of the time, had himself photographed at
Buguet's studio in Paris, at a time when his body was at home in
London. As in the tradition of spirit photography there was a sitter,
Mr Gledstanes, and a faint image of Stainton Moses appeared on
the plate when it was developed. Two photographs were reported
and the second was supposed to have been a perfect likeness of the
medium. The sequel sounds strange, but was in fact a fairly common
occurrence in spiritualism; that is, Buguet confessed that his photographs had been faked, by using double exposure, but later he retracted this confession. (1, 42)
Among other researchers, Dr Ochorowicz, once Professor of
Psychology at the Universities of Warsaw and Lemberg, worked on
'thought photography'. Like Baraduc, Ochorowicz was interested in
recording on film the thoughts, emotions, and emanations from the
human body. He used no camera, only held a plate wrapped in paper
to the body of a medium (17b). In some of these experiments the
entranced medium was asked to project her hand, or some other
astral form and place it upon the plate, held at some distance in
front of her. She then apparently saw, by the dim red light, a
shadowy hand stretch out on a long thin arm to touch the plate.
When these plates were developed the outline of the hand was distinctly visible. Ochorowicz found that the hands were sometimes
much larger than those of the medium, but they seemed to get smaller
as they moved further away from her body. A left hand could sometimes come from the right hand of the medium, and in doing so
would, according to Ochorowicz, produce a chilly feeling in the
extremities.
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Colonel Albert de Rochas, whose work on the exteriorization of
sensation has already been considered, also took photographs of
exteriorized doubles in the late 1890s (1, 29c). He used several special
subjects who were both mediums and good hypnotic subjects and
among them was Madame Lambert, a French psychic, who took
part in many experiments. Colonel de Rochas and Jacques de
Narkiewicz-Jodko tried to photograph her 'etheric body' exteriorized
under hypnosis. Two photographs of the double of Madame Lambert
appear in Carrington's Modern Psychical Phenomena and are reproduced here (Plates 15 and 16). They show an indistinct shadowy
body swaying about. At the time these pictures may have seemed
like substantial progress towards the proof of the existence of the
double, but if this was progress it did not continue. De Rochas
changed his opinion about the validity of his own photographs when
he came to doubt the integrity of his collaborator.
Opinions differed as to the validity of the earlier pictures. Henry
Blackwell defended Jodko and in 1908 reported several apparently
successful attempts to photograph the human double (10). But apart
from the occasional isolated report this phenomenon, like so many
others in psychical research, quietly disappeared.
A rather different approach was to see whether an exteriorized
double could influence material subjects. As we have seen, the evidence on this from case studies is mixed. Most of the adepts claimed
that if they tried to touch anything while projected their hand would
pass straight through it. Muldoon tried many times to move things
and failed. He exclaimed, 'This failure (to move physical objects) is
one of the most aggravating things I know of (97a). However he did
on rare occasions succeed both in moving objects and producing
raps. Among spontaneous cases I have already mentioned (in
Chapter 6) the man who struggled and failed to turn off a lamp and
Green concluded that failure to interact with the environment is the
rule (49c).
However, spontaneous OBEers have occasionally reported moving
things. One of the best-known of such cases is that told by Lucian
Landau in 1963 (76). His friend, Eileen, who was later to become his
wife, was staying at his house while he was ill, and occupied a room
opposite his. She claimed to have visited him one night 'out of the
body'. So as an experiment he gave her his small diary and suggested that if she came again she should try to carry it with her. To
make the task easier they left the doors to their rooms open. When
Experiments to Detect the Double
215
she tried she found she could not pick up the diary, but instead she
carried a toy rubber dog of her own. Mr Landau awoke in the night
to see Eileen standing there in his room, looking deathly pale. He
jumped out of bed and followed the figure, which moved backwards
into her room. There he saw Eileen asleep in bed, and the figure
which suddenly disappeared. Going back into his room he found the
toy dog on the floor.
Not too much reliance can be placed on this story. Both the doors
had been left open for the experiment, and we have only the word
of the two of them as to what happened, but it does suggest that it is
worth trying to find out whether an exteriorized double can affect
material objects.
Early experiments of this kind studied what was called 'exteriorization of mobility'. Typically, a hypnotized subject would be asked
to extend some part of himself beyond the confines of his body and
to affect some distant object, person or recording apparatus. Hector
Durville worked with such subjects as Madame Lambert, Leontine,
and Monsieur Rousseau, a commercial agent from Versailles who
could project his double at will. Many of these experiments, as we
have seen, were concerned with the sensitivity of the double but
Durville also recorded the double's physical effects (32a, b).
This double was said to assume the form of the subject once it was
sufficiently 'condensed' but it was rarely seen by others; Durville
believed that only the most sensitive of people could see it. Spectators
occasionally saw lights, but never the full duplicate body. However,
when the 'phantom' approached them, Durville reported that 9 out
of 10 could feel its presence as a coolness, or something like a breath.
He allied this to the sensation received from an electrostatic machine
in operation, which of course fitted in with the popular 'electric'
view of the phenomenon. Others felt a moisture on the approach of
the phantom or a disagreeable shivering or trembling. It was said that
if a hand had been held in the phantom for some time it would, when
taken out, appear slightly luminous !
What Durville does not explain is exactly how these experiments
were carried out. We can imagine that something like this happened.
Durville put the subject into an hypnotic sleep and asked him to
project the double to, let us say, an armchair next to him. Then
when he judged that the double was sufficiently solid he asked the
subject to move the double around the room to different places, close
to different persons, and ask those persons to touch or feel it. If this
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is how it was done all the spectators would know where the double
was supposed to be and it would not be surprising if they felt corresponding sensations. Possibly it was not done this way, but it seems
a reasonable guess that suggestion played some part in the production of these sensations.
In further experiments Durville asked his subjects to make raps,
which they did, to make impressions in flour, and to move pieces of
paper suspended by threads, which they were unable to do. He even
records a case in which a phantom moved the door of a bookcase
and he hoped to provide more solid evidence for the double by
weighing it (32b). He arranged on a table a weighing scale which
was connected to an electric bell. The subject was asked to send the
phantom into the pan of the scales and if any weight of as little as
2 grammes was recorded the bell would be set ringing. Madame
Leontine's double was projected and asked to get onto the table.
Durville reports that creakings were heard as though someone really
were climbing onto it, as well as raps and .'peculiar vibrations'. Cold
air currents were felt, and finally the bell began to ring.
In similar experiments with Madame Lambert her phantom
could not mount the table until she was allowed to rest her hands on
it. Then the scales moved but something was found to be at fault
with the bell. Finally the double did succeed in ringing the bell
several times, but here again Madame Lambert was allowed to touch
the table. It is essential to point out, as did the editor of the Annals
of Psychical Science, in which Durville's work was published, that
the experiments with scales prove nothing since they were conducted
in total darkness and the subjects were allowed to touch the table on
which the scales stood.
Durville's research depends less on the weighing experiments than
on those with screens. He claimed that calcium sulphide screens
became illuminated when placed in the phantom. More than this,
he demonstrated that when a screen was placed on the body of
Madame Francois, when she was not hypnotized, it glowed; but
when her double was exteriorized a screen on the body did not glow,
and one placed in the phantom did. Durville claimed to have
repeated these experiments with seven or eight different subjects
with the same results and concluded that the double is the source of
radioactivity; of N-rays, and not the physical body.
To understand how Durville might have believed he had stumbled
upon a great discovery, and why it now appears that he was entirely
Experiments to Detect the Double
217
misguided, it is necessary to know a little about the story of the Nray. The 1900s was a decade of discovery in the physics of radioactivity. X-rays had been described and were being investigated, and
physicists were prepared to hear of more and newer rays. In this
atmosphere, in 1903, the French physicist, Rene Blondlot, announced
the discovery of the N-ray. During work on X-rays he had discovered
an effect he could not explain and which he attributed to the new
ray; called the 'N-ray' after his university at Nancy in France. Nrays had some extraordinary properties. They were transmitted by
many things which are opaque to visible light, such as cardboard,
wood and paper, iron, tin, and silver. In fact Blondlot made lenses
and prisms out of aluminium for focusing them. Water and rock salt
blocked the rays and so could be used to exclude them. They were
emitted by many sources, including various types of lamp, the
electric-discharge tube, the sun, and, of most relevance here, the
human body. Another physicist at Nancy, Augustin Charpentier,
reported particularly strong emission of N-rays from the nerves and
muscles and suggested that this could be used as an aid in clinical
exploration of the body.
Soon others claimed that they had been first to discover the ray
and its properties. Among them were Gustave le Bon, who was also
interested in thought photography, and Carl Huter, a spiritualist;
but most were respected scientists who vied for recognition in this
new area. In 1904 the Academy of Sciences awarded the Prix
Leconte to Blondlot, at least partly for his 'new ray', and with such
encouragement research increased and spread throughout the world
of physics. This might have happened after the discovery of any
new phenomenon; the difference here was that the N-ray was to be
very short-lived.
In 1904 an American physicist, R. W. Wood, paid a visit to
Blondlot's laboratory. He was one of many scientists all over the
world who had tried to reproduce Blondlot's findings and failed.
Now he wanted to visit Nancy to find out for himself why these
peculiar rays seemed to manifest themselves there and nowhere else.
He was shown experiments in which N-rays increased the brightness
of a spark, but when he failed to see the: effect he was told that his
eyes were not sensitive enough, just as many psychical researchers
have been told that they were not sensitive enough, or their attitudes
were not positive enough, to detect some psychic phenomenon. But
Wood convinced himself that this was just an excuse. A hand placed
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in the path of the rays should block them, and a change in brightness
be seen. Wood moved his hand in and out or kept it still and asked
the physicists to announce the changes in brightness. What they said,
he found, bore no relationship to the movements of his hands.
Photographs were taken of the spark, and to make the difference
as great as possible, several exposures were made of each by moving
a wet cardboard screen back and forth. Wood showed that the
experimenters knew which picture was expected to be brighter and
so could have, quite unconsciously, given one slightly longer exposures. But even more devastating was that in one experiment Wood
secretly removed the essential aluminium prism. This, it seemed,
made no difference and the changes in brightness continued as
before.
After Wood's findings were published in Nature (158) the study of
N-rays effectively stopped everywhere but France, but there especially around Na n c y- i t continued for some time. Finally the
French journal Revue Scientifique suggested that two identical boxes
be prepared, one of which contained tempered steel, supposedly a
source of N-rays, and the other a piece of lead. Blondlot would then
be asked to determine which was which, but he did not rise to this
challenge. In 1906 he wrote 'Permit me to decline totally your proposition to co-operate in this simplistic experiment; the phenomena
are much too delicate for that. Let each one form his personal
opinion about N-rays, either from his own experiments or from those
of others in whom he has confidence.' As Klotz (72) pointed out, that
is in fact what happened. The opinion of science was that N-rays did
not exist, and N-rays were fast forgotten.
This story may hold lessons for parapsychology. Like N-rays, ESP
is found in some laboratories but cannot be produced in others.
Certain qualities are required of the experimenter; and some people
are supposed to be incapable of seeing the effect. On the other hand,
unlike N-rays, ESP has not died in a few years and the quality and
quantity of evidence are far greater for ESP than they ever were for
N-rays. Fifty years after Rhine first used the term, and 100 years
since the SPR began its researches, the phenomena are still investigated. Why? Is this because, unlike N-rays, they do exist? Is it that
excuses and post hoc justifications have become more devious? Is it
that people have immense motivation for believing it exists? Or
could it be that N-rays were easier to disprove than ESP? These are
important questions, but they are taking us away from the reason
Experiments to Detect the Double
219
for discussing N-rays - that is, that in the few years of their popularity, psychical researchers took them up.
As I have described, Durville tried to detect the double using
calcium sulphide screens which, he claimed, became strongly illuminated, as could be seen by all the observers, when passed through
the phantom. It may seem odd to want to conclude that he and all
his observers were totally mistaken but remember that the exact position of the phantom was not obvious. Any slight change in the
brightness of the screen, or apparent brightness to any observer, could
be thought to mark the position of the phantom. If different people
saw changes at different times they could nonetheless all think they
had seen the same thing. Durville also stated that screens which had
been previously exposed to the sun glowed the brightest, but did he
decide this beforehand or could he use 'insufficient exposure' as an
excuse if the experiment failed ? Also the room was totally dark and
the observers' eyes were adapted to the darkness. They were straining to see the events, and some premium was placed on 'sensitiveness'.
We may also imagine that Durville suggested quite strongly to his
observers that changes in brightness were taking place.
Durville himself thought that the experiments with screens were
his most important work, but many doubted the phenomena. In
response he argued that if a photograph were taken of the screen
illuminated in the presence of the phantom, and one used for comparison, a great difference would be obvious, but in 1908 this had not
been do n e - or if it was, it was not published. We shall probably
never know exactly what happened at these sessions, but it is fair to
conclude that when Durville claimed that the phantom was an
'extraordinarily powerful source' of N-rays, he was mistaken.
Detecting the double with a screen in this way was, after all, a
delightful idea. Carrington used it in a psychical photoplay serial
called The Mysteries of Myra. The heroine slept with a calcium
sulphide screen by her bed, connected to a bell. When the astral body
of her psychic assailant came to strangle her, the bell rang in a
nearby room and the psychic detective rushed in to rescue her just
in time. It made a good story, but sadly Durville's effects were not
replicated and the screens disappeared from the repertoire of
psychical research just as N-rays disappeared from physics.
Gradually interest in detecting the double died. After the 1930s
there was a proliferation of experiments on ESP using cards and
ESP symbols, and relatively less research on the question of survival,
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the soul and the double. It was only revived when interest in astral
projection, or OBEs as they then became known, began again in the
1960s and 1970s.
In 1972 Karlis Osis, at the ASPR, suggested that in addition to
studying target detection during OBEs, the attempt should be made
to detect the OBEer's presence with various instruments (103b).
Most of the experiments of this type have been carried out by Robert
Morris and his associates at the Psychical Research Foundation,
where Blue Harary acted as subject. As in their experiments on ESP,
the intention was to determine whether a 'theta aspect', or TA, was
separated from the body and, in this case, whether it could be
detected there by humans, by animals or by physical instruments
Human detectors might be thought to be the easiest. In many
spontaneous cases apparitions of OBEers have been reported, and in
the early experiments already described it was believed that the
phantom could be felt as cold or damp by others. It therefore seems
possible that another person could detect an OBEer. Blue Harary
was seated in a room in a different building from the detectors and
asked to have an OBE and to try to visit the people in the other
building. In some tests he was to visit them twice, at times chosen
by the experimenters during a 40-minute period. In others he still
visited them twice but this time they were given four detection
periods, two OBE and two non-OBE. In all cases the detectors had
a clock synchronized with one in Harary's room, and connected to a
tape recorder. They could speak any impressions into the recorder,
or note them down on paper. For example they might feel something
odd, note a flash of light or other perception which they could think
of no reason for. These were called detection responses.
Afterwards the number of detection responses made when Blue
Harary was having an OBE was added up and compared with the
number made when he was not. For the first procedure, using one
long detection period, significantly more responses were made during
OBEs, but using the second procedure there was no difference
between the number made when Blue was supposedly in the room
with them, and when he wasn't. The results were therefore encouraging, but hardly conclusive.
Animal detectors were also used. It is often thought that dogs and
cats can see ghosts invisible to their owners, or that pets can warn of
impending danger or illness. If in some way they are especially sensi-
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221
tive then they may make the best detectors of the 'astral body'. In
these experiments Blue was asked to visit some gerbils and a hamster
in small cages, a snake, and two male kittens. The rodents spent most
of their time chewing on the bars of their cages or resting quietly,
and the snake showed little sign of activity, but the kittens were more
promising. The experimenters got the two kittens for Blue from a
neighbourhood litter when they were seven weeks old and appropriately they were named Spirit and Soul. About two weeks later,
experiments were begun and Blue tried to visit the kittens while out
of his body. Spirit seemed especially responsive to Blue's presence
and so formal experiments used him alone. He was placed in an
'open field', a large wooden box with its floor divided into numbered
squares so that his activity could be measured. The number of squares
the kitten entered in a given time was counted, and the number of
meows made in the same time recorded too. Blue's task was to travel
to where the poor kitten was in its box, comfort it and play with it,
and so, if possible, to reduce its activity and meowing.
As before the session was divided into short periods, two OBE
periods and two control periods, during which Blue was chatting
and not thinking about the kitten. Each of these periods was preceded by a baseline period in which the kitten's activity was measured to find out what his normal behaviour was. The results seemed
to show some success. In the baseline periods the cat was active and
meowing. When this was followed by a control period the activity
increased, but when Blue was OB it decreased, and not a single meow
was heard during all the OBE periods. It seemed that Blue had
actually succeeded in calming his kittens by, as it were, astral stroking.
Blue had been asked to locate himself in the rear of the kitten's
box, but there seemed to be no sign that the kitten was orienting
itself towards that direction especially. That is, its activity had
decreased during the OBEs, but it had not behaved as though Blue
were actually there, in a specific spot in the box. If the kitten were
able to orient in this way it would be better confirmation that it was
able to detect Blue's presence. To test this the kitten was placed in a
round box, the floor of which was divided into eight segments. The
time it spent in each was recorded while Blue tried to visit a spot
outside the box. In four sessions the kitten was quite active and
overall spent more time in the segments close to where Blue was, but
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in three others it stayed wherever it was put. When the results from
all the sessions are considered, they were not significant (126).
In a final series an attempt was made to relate the behaviour of
the cat (now fully grown) to both the location and distance of the
OBEer. For various reasons the experiment had to be abandoned,
but in the meantime an interesting observation was made. One of the
experimenters, John Hartwell, was in charge of the TV monitor in
the cat's room. On four occasions he had a strong impression that
Blue was there, and once saw an image of him on the TV screen in
one corner. On all four occasions Blue was having an OBE, and he
was in fact in the appropriate corner when John Hartwell thought
he saw him. He could not have known this since the OBE periods
were, of course, only chosen by the experimenter in the other room
and with no communication between the rooms. It seemed that this
human detector did better when he was not specifically trying to act
as a detector. But of course these were only informal observations
and would need to be backed by further experimental work.
Finally, physical detectors were used. These included a device
which measured low frequency electromagnetic fields occurring over
an area of several square feet, one measuring changes in the magnetic
permeability and electrical conductivity in a volume of about a cubic
inch and one monitoring electromagnetic activity between 10 and
500 MHz. Photomultiplier tubes detected near infrared, visible, and
far ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and thermistors
measured the temperature. Although some responses were obtained
from the instruments they were erratic and bore no relationship to
whether Blue Harary was in or out of his body. In other words none
of the instruments was able to detect the OBE.
Generally this has been the case. Physical detectors do not respond.
In preliminary tests Ingo Swann once apparently influenced a magnetometer (8a). He was working at Stanford Research Institute in
California, and various instruments had been set up for him to try
to affect. The magnetometer in question responded oddly. It
appeared that a change in magnetic field had occurred and the
output of the instrument was like nothing ever seen before. However,
it must be added that this was not a properly organized experiment.
There was no baseline measurement with which to compare the
effect. An OBE had not been planned for that moment, and the
particular effect was not predicted. It is far from certain that Ingo
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223
Swann actually influenced it while out of his body, and no further
results were ever reported.
One last experiment is relevant here. Karlis Osis and Donna McCormick have recently carried out some further studies with Alex
Tanous as subject (105a, b, c). Tanous was asked to travel out of his
body to a shielded chamber which contained, apart from an optical
viewing device for testing ESP, strain gauges which would detect
any unintentional mechanical effects at the OB location. Activation
levels of this apparatus were sampled both before and after the
generation of the target. The hypothesis was that after the target was
generated and was visible in the box, Tanous would be present and
trying to see it and so would be more likely to affect the strain
gauges. In addition Osis predicted that there should be more effect
when the guess was a hit, i.e. when Tanous guessed the cprrect
target, since that was already evidence that he was, as it were, at the
location.
The results actually confirmed this. More strain gauge activity
was recorded for the period after target generation, and more still
on those trials when the subject made a hit. Osis and McCormick
concluded that the extrasomatic hypothesis was confirmed; that is,
that the results supported the suggestion that Tanous was actually
out of his body and some part of him was present at the target
location.
But there are problems which render this conclusion doubtful.
First, as Isaacs has pointed out (66), the baseline activity of the device
was not measured or taken into consideration. Secondly the overall
hit rate was not reported. The argument depends on the notion that
if a hit is obtained a 'genuine' (i.e. with ESP) OBE has taken place.
However, when I calculated the hit rate: from Osis's data I found
that overall the subject had made no more hits than would be
expected by chance. This implies that any hits made were likely to
have been due to chance and not to an OBE. Osis's conclusion therefore seems quite unjustified and the results do not unambiguously
support the idea that Alex Tanous was able to influence the strain
gauges with his OB presence.
One final point is important. This has been realized often enough,
but is difficult to do anything about, and that is that even if a strong
detection response were obtained it could have been produced by
psychokinesis (PK) rather than by some externalized double. There
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seems to be no simple way to exclude the operation of PK for sure
and so this alternative has always to be borne in mind.
It is difficult to sum up the results of the more modern experiments.
There have been few of them. Most have been conducted in one
place with one subject, and the effects reported have not been
followed up by replications or further extensions of the original
work. At face value they seem to show that physical or mechanical
devices provide the worst detectors and humans are not much better.
The designated human detectors have never succeeded, even though
other people apparently responded to Blue Harary's OB presence.
Animals seem to be the best detectors, but really this conclusion
depends on the behaviour of one kitten and its response to its owner.
This makes some sort of sense. It could be that among the special
conditions necessary for detection are that the detector should be an
animal with a special relationship to the OBEer. But if this is so, it
makes for difficult research. We should have to find animals with
and without this special relationship and test them. One thing does
seem clear though, and that is that it is not easy to detect the presence
of an OBEer when you do not know that he is there. In the early
experiments with hypnotized mediums it was usual for the observers
to know where the' phantom was supposed to be. In modern experiments where this is not allowed the cold breezes and clammy hands
are not so easily obtained.
The conclusion Morris drew from work at the PRF probably
stands just as well for all this research : 'Overall, no detectors were
able to maintain a consistent responsiveness of the sort that would
indicate any true detection of an extended aspect of the self (96).
So does anything leave the body in an OBE? If it does the results
of all this research show that it is extremely difficult to detect. Perhaps it is there. Perhaps we only need to develop that ultra-sensitive
device, or find that special human or animal sensitive and maybe this
will happen in the future. But in my opinion the simplest conclusion
is that nothing detectable does leave the body in an OBE.
21 Reassessing the Theories
I have now considered the evidence concerning what the OBE is like,
to whom it occurs, under what circumstances and whether claims of
paranormal abilities can be substantiated in the laboratory. Some of
the easier questions have now been answered, but we can no longer
avoid the harder ones. What happens during an OBE and why? How
can we explain these experiences? Is there just one phenomenon
requiring one type of explanation or do we need several theories to
account for different types of OBE ?
So far I have mentioned various theories involving astral projection, theta aspects, ESP, and imagination. It is now time to reevaluate these theories in the light of all the evidence.
Most theories of the OBE either claim that something leaves the
physical body, or that it does not. Then within these two major categories there are several different types of explanation, and there is
perhaps a last possibility; that any such distinction is meaningless
and artificial. For convenience I shall divide them up as follows:
A. Something leaves the body.
1. Physical theories
2. Physical astral world theory
3. Mental astral world theory
B. Nothing leaves the body
4. Parapsychological theory
5. Psychological theories
C. Other
I shall consider each type of theory in turn and try to assess first of
all whether it makes sense; for there is no point in delving into the
evidence bearing on a theory if the theory itself is inconsistent or
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incomprehensible. Inevitably I shall be expressing some of my own
confusions and facing my own assumptions, but I hope that in the
process I shall be able to show just how great are the problems facing
some of these theories of the OBE.
SOMETHING LEAVES THE BODY
1. Physical Theories (a physical double travels in the physical world)
First there is the kind of explanation which suggests that we each
have a second physical body which can separate from the usual one.
You may immediately dismiss this, saying that the double is nonphysical; but I shall come to that soon. First it is instructive to see
why a 'physical' theory of the OBE makes little sense, for the same
arguments must be raised if anything labelled 'non-physical' should
turn out to be this kind of model in disguise.
There are two aspects to consider, one being the status and nature
of the double which travels, and the other being the status and
nature of the world in which it travels. In this first theory both are
material and interact with the normal physical world. To make this
theory even worth considering it is necessary to assume that this
double is composed of some 'finer' or more subtle material that is
invisible to the untrained eye.
This kind of idea is sometimes expressed in occult writings. For
example the etheric body of the Theosophists described by Besant
(6) or Powell (116a, b) is like this and a similar idea appears in that
once so popular book On the Edge of the Etheric by Arthur Findlay
(38). He states 'We must first of all clearly understand that the
etheric world is part of this world. That it is all about us. That it is
material, though of a substance too fine for our senses normally to
appreciate . . . ' and he goes on to describe how the etheric body parts
from the physical at death, to continue living without it. Yram also
expresses something similar when he talks of the 'radio-active essence'
or the 'ultra-sensitive atoms' of the higher worlds (159).
Objections to this type of theory are numerous, both logical and
empirical. First, what could the double be made of? The possibilities
seem to range between a complete solid duplicate of the familiar
body, and a kind of misty and insubstantial version. Looking at each
in turn we can see that neither is acceptable, though for different
reasons.
The idea of a complete duplicate of the body could, at least, be
Reassessing the Theories
227
made to make sense. We could imagine a world in which each person
had not one body, but two, and the two could separate and travel
independently. Of course the second body would need to have a
mechanism for moving it about and a perceptual system and a brain
for controlling its behaviour. It would need to be strong, flexible, and
complex. Indeed it would need to be much like our usual body and
it would certainly be clearly visible and detectable. I say we could
imagine such a world, but clearly the world is not like this.
So couldn't the double consist of some sort of gas, fog or mist of
particles filling, as it were, the spaces between the grosser parts and
being invisible to the untrained eye? I would say no, for several
reasons. First of all many ideas which seemed quite plausible 50 or
100 years ago no longer seem so attractive. In 1931 Findlay placed
his etheric world in portions of the electromagnetic spectrum not
then detectable, but such portions have long since become understood and measurable. Likewise ideas about 'finer atoms' filling the
'spaces' between the normal ones do not have the same appeal in the
light of modern physics. Perhaps it is possible that there is a whole
realm of undiscovered and undetected material, but this is unlikely.
It is not much of a theory to argue that the double is material, and
can do all the things required of it, yet is invisible, undetectable, and
consists of some kind of matter we know nothing whatever about.
This is just evasion, not theory.
Perhaps more important is the difficulty of seeing how any misty
shape, or nebulous entity could perform all that was required of it
in an OBE. Would it have muscles, nerves, and a brain? If not, how
would it move and think? Would it have eyes, ears or a nose? If
not, how could it perceive the physical world? If it obtained information from the world then it would surely be easily detectable; we
know that it is not. This problem wais pointed out by William
Rushton in his letter to the SPR Journal in 1976 : Rushton, famed
for his research on human colour vision, was eminently qualified to
state the problem of vision by the double.
We know that all information coming to us normally from the outside is
caught by the sense organs and encoded by their nerves. And that a tiny
damage to the retina (for instance) or its nerves to the brain, produces such
characteristic deficiences in the visual sensation that the site of the damage
may usually be correctly inferred. What is this OOB eye that can encode
the visual scene exactly as does the real eye, with its hundred million
photoreceptors and its million signalling optic nerves? Can you imagine
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anything but a replica of the real eye that could manage to do this? But if
this floating replica is to see, it must catch light, and hence cannot be
transparent, and so must be visible to people in the vicinity.
In fact floating eyes are not observed, nor would this be expected, for
they only exist in fantasy [127 p. 412].
Is his argument as damning as it appears? I think it is. Of course
there are counter-arguments. Since OB vision is not that good it
might use a simpler eye, or one relying on something other than light.
Nevertheless, if it is to perceive the physical world in any way at all
it must pick up information from it and that would render it
detectable. So the problem only reverts to a more complex kind of
detection and most possibilities have been tried and failed. I am
also tempted to ask why, if there is such a useful, mobile, light and
invisible perceiving double, we should bother with all the paraphernalia of eyes, muscles and nerves? The answer, I would say, is
that perception is not possible without some such mechanism.
One last problem with this kind of double is its appearance. If we
all have a second body why does it appear to some as a blob or
globe, to others as a flare, or light, and to yet others as a duplicate
of the physical body? And what about its clothes and carriages,
handbags and walking sticks all made of this same strange substance? Muldoon and Carrington (97a) wrestled with this problem
and more recently so has Tart (146h).
If the notion of a physical double is problematic, the notion that
it travels in the physical world is just as much so. I have discussed
the problem of obtaining information from the physical world
around, but in addition there is plenty of evidence which suggests
that what is seen in an OBE is not the physical world at all.
First there are the types of errors made in OB perception. These
tend not to be the sort of errors which might arise from a poor
perceptual system, but seem often to be fabricated errors, or additions, as well as omissions. People see chimney pots where there are
none, or they see places as they expect them rather than as they are
at that time. Then sometimes the OB world is responsive to thought,
just as in a dream the scenery can change if the person imagines it
changing; and lastly, there is the fact that many OBEs merge into
other kinds of experience. The OBEer may find himself seeing places
such as never were on earth, or he may meet strange monsters,
religious figures or caricature animals. All these features of the OBE
make it harder to see the OB world as the physical world at all, and
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229
lead one to the conclusion that the OB world is more like a world of
thoughts.
Given the nature of the OB world, and the problems presented by
seeing how a double could interact with the physical world without
being detectable, I can only conclude that this theory must be
rejected. The only form in which it could survive would go something like this. There is a second physical body which we all possess
but which only some people can see. It can leave the body and travel
on its own seeing the world around it, but it cannot be detected
because it is made of some kind of matter which is as yet unknown
and it travels by some unknown energy and it sees rather poorly
using a mechanism about which nothing is known except that it
does not use light, or any other readily detectable form of energy.
I would suggest that this theory is of no predictive value whatever
and should be dismissed.
Physical Astral World Theory (a non-physical double travels
in the physical world)
I have been using the terms 'physical' and 'non-physical' as though
their meanings were self-evident. In some ways they can be, for it is
easy enough, in many contexts, to distinguish the terms 'physical' and
'mental'. Thoughts, feelings, and ideas may still be referred to as
'mental' events by a materialist who believes that they are ultimately
totally dependent upon physical events in the body and brain. The
dualist, however, believes that mind can exist independently of
matter; and when he speaks of mental events or non-physical events
he may be referring to some mental world or substance in which the
events take place. Many occultists believe there to be a whole range
of non-physical worlds of differing qualities and they refer not only
to physical and mental events, but to spiritual, casual, and astral
ones as well.
Many theories have suggested that the double is not physical but
non-physical, even though it travels in the physical world. I have
called this a 'physical astral world theory' because one form of it is
that the astral body is non-physical, and the astral world includes all
the objects of the physical world. So in what sense are these theories
using the term non-physical? If what is meant is 'mental' in the sense
that thoughts are described as mental, then this sort of theory would
make no sense. Thoughts do not travel. If I imagine or dream of
going to Peru or plan what to do next weekend, we may say that my
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thoughts travelled there; but we do not mean that anything is
literally in Peru or in the future. So non-physical must mean more
than this.
On the other hand it must not mean physical in disguise otherwise
all the problems previously raised will apply. Let us look at some
examples of this sort of theory to try to find out what is meant. Tart
(146h, k) refers to it as the 'natural' explanation. He describes this
theory of the OBE as follows ' . . . in effect there is no need to explain
it; it is just what it seems to be. Man has a non-physical soul of some
sort that is capable, under certain conditions, of leaving the physical
body. This soul, as manifested in what we call the second body, is the
seat of consciousness. While it is like an ordinary physical body in
some ways, it is not subject to most of the physical laws of space and
time and so is able to travel about at will.'
We have already met the 'theta aspect' in connection with detection experiments. Morris et al (96) explain t h a t ' . . . the OBE may be
more than a special psi-conducive state; that it may in fact be evidence of an aspect of the self which is capable of surviving bodily
death. For convenience, such a hypothetical aspect of the self will
hereafter be referred to as a Theta Aspect (T.A.).' According to Osis
and Mitchell (106) it is possible that'. .. some part of the personality
is temporarily out of the body', and many occult theories involve a
non-physical astral double rather than a physical one.
Do any of these accounts make sense of what could be meant by
non-physical? Osis talks about 'some part of personality' separating,
but what is personality? The most productive view of it seems to be
that it is a way of describing how a person behaves. People react
differently to different situations, they hold various opinions, have
different ways of expressing themselves, different hopes and fears and
interests. All these go to make up personality. Questionnaires have
been developed which try to assess such variables and so categorize
people in terms of some theory of personality. Although the theories
differ they agree on one point. The personality is an aspect of a
physical person. It is the body which behaves; the brain which thinks
and controls actions and without a body one cannot fill in questionnaires or choose to go to a party instead of staying at home and
reading a book. It therefore makes no sense to talk about a 'part of
personality' separating from the body unless one redefines personality.
Another popular view holds that consciousness separates from
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231
the physical body, or becomes located outside of it. But in what sense
can consciousness be located anywhere? When I wake up in the
morning and become aware of the birds singing outside, the rain
dripping from the roof, or the time, is my consciousness 'in' any of
these ? Is it in my head, my ears, or where ? I would say that consciousness is not the kind of thing which has a location at all. Without
wishing to discuss theories of consciousness, I would argue that if we
are going to say that consciousness leaves the body in an OBE then
we need to define consciousness in such a. way that it has a location
and is normally to be found 'in the body'. In doing this I think we
might find that we were not talking about what we usually mean by
consciousness at all.
More generally it has been said that an aspect of the self leaves,
but what is the self? Is it a conglomeration of one's personality, one's
self-image, one's opinions, ideas, and memories? If so then most, if
not all, of it is totally dependent on having a body and therefore
cannot, in any meaningful way, be said to leave the body. You may
say there is more to the self than this. There is some divine spark,
some unchanging inner being or soul. In Tart's terms there may be
a 'non-physical soul of some sort'. But what sort?
The problem seems to me to be this. If the 'soul' is to interact with
the objects of the physical world so as to perceive them then it
should not only be detectable but all the other problems of the
previous theory arise. On the other hand, if it does not interact with
the physical, then it cannot possibly do what is expected of it on
this theory, namely travel in the physical world. I do not think there
is any escape from this dilemma. If we do have souls I don't think
they are what travels in an OBE. Moreover, there is already the
evidence that what is seen in an OBE is not, in any case, the physical
world. So we have ample reason to reject this type of theory and
turn to the next.
Mental Astral World Theory (a non-physical double travels in
a non-physical, but 'objective', astral world)
The evidence considered so far points to the conclusion that OBEs
do not take place in the physical world at all, but in a thoughtcreated or mental world. Each of the next three types of theory
starts from this premise, but they are very different and lead to
totally different conceptions of the experience.
A 'mental world' could mean several things. It could mean the
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purely private world created by each of us in our thinking. If we
mean this then the OBE is essentially an experience of the imagination and this I shall consider in the next chapter. But what else
could it mean? One possibility is that there is another world (or
worlds) which is mental but is in some sense shared, or objective and
in which we can all travel if we attain certain states of consciousness.
The important question now becomes whether the OB world is private to each individual, or shared and accessible to all.
Occultists have suggested that there is a shared thought world
and there are many other versions of this kind of theory. The pertinent features are that there is a non-physical OB world which is
accessible by thought, manipulable by thought, and is the product
of more than just one individual's mind.
Tart (146h, k), as one of his five theories of the OBE, suggests what
he calls the 'mentally-manipulatable-state explanation'. He raises
here the familiar problem of, as he puts it 'where the pajamas come
from'. That is, that if the OBE involves the separation of a 'spirit' or
'soul' we have to include the possibility of spiritual dinner jackets
and tie pins. Of course any theory which postulates a 'thought
created' world solves this problem. Tart therefore suggested that a
non-physical second body travels in a non-physical world which is
capable of being manipulated or changed by 'the conscious and nonconscious thoughts and desires of the person whose second body is
in that space'.
In 1951 Muldoon and Carrington had come to a similar conclusion (97b). Muldoon states ' . . . o n e thing is clear to m e - t h e
clothing of the phantom is created, and is not a counterpart of the
physical clothing' (97b p. 46). Not through logical argument, but
through his observations he came to the conclusion that 'Thought
creates in the astra l,.. . In fact the whole astral world is governed
by thought.' But he did not mean it was a private world of thoughts.
Also relevant here is the occult notion of thought forms. Theosophists Besant and Leadbeater describe the creation of thought
forms by the mental and desire bodies, and their manifestation as
floating forms in the mental and astral planes. All physical objects
are supposed to have their astral counterparts and so when travelling
in the astral one sees a mixture of the astral forms of physical things
and thought created, or purely astral, entities.
There are other versions of a similar idea. For example Whiteman
questions the 'one-space theory' of OBEs (156c), and Poynton
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follows him suggesting ' . . . what is described is not the physical
world as actualized by the senses of the physical body, but a copy,
more or less exact, of the physical world' (117). Rogo (124d) suggests
that the OBE takes place in a non-physical duplicate world which
is just as 'real' to the OBEer as our world is to us. He adds that the
OBEer might even be able to manipulate 'our' world by manipulating his. This is just the kind of principle which underlies some
forms of magical operation. By creating solid enough thought forms
one can influence the physical plane and so work magic.
So we can see that there are many versions of this type of theory,
but does it make sense? Is it the kind of explanation which allows us
to relax and conclude that the problems of the OBE are solved? I
think not, and for several reasons.
Fox (44c) mentions one, that we should not be able to see our
own physical bodies if we are seeing 'astral counterparts'. Rogo
(124d) gets round this by saying that we might be seeing both the
physical and astral together, but of course this reintroduces all the
problems of how we could possibly see the; physical world at all.
Tart (146k) mentions another. He points out that there is little
independent evidence for this manipulable world, psychic ether or
whatever; that we are explaining one unknown by invoking another. Perhaps this is admissible. After all science often proceeds by
inventing new 'unknowns'. However, those unknowns must be
preferable for some reason to the previous ones and must make
sense. I would suggest that the idea of a shared thought world,
attractive as it is, and as much as I would like to believe in it, makes
no sense.
To see why it makes no sense we must first consider just what it
entails, and to do this we must see through the various versions to
the key features. First, the thought world contains the thoughts of
many individuals which join together to form a public, or at least
partially objective, world. Second, the thoughts in this world have
to persist for some time. It is no good if they disappear when the
person who created them stops thinking; about them. And third,
these thoughts must be accessible to other people who have OBEs.
In other words there has to be interaction between the stored
thoughts and new ones. The problems therefore seem to be how the
different thoughts are combined in the first place, how they are
stored, and how they interact with new thoughts.
First how could the thoughts be combined together to create an
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astral world? None of the theories specifies this but we may explore
some possibilities. Let us suppose that there is, on the astral - so to
speak —a version of my house and that anyone who has an OBE
may see it if he travels to the right 'place'. We know that this house
will appear much like the real thing but it may have some differences such as having one chimney instead of two, square walls instead of slightly wonky ones, or face due south instead of slightly
east of south. This astral version is supposed to have arisen from
many thought forms, but how? Why do all the thoughts about my
house get combined and not get muddled up with those about my
neighbour's house? Do my own thoughts have more effect on the
astral form because I live here and know my house better than anyone else does? Do more frequent thoughts have a greater effect and
does something like clarity of thought help? If I tried very hard to
imagine my house with a pink rose growing over it instead of a
wistaria would people who saw it on the astral see one, the other or
both? And finally, does the physical house itself have any effect,
independent of people's thoughts about it?
I am not suggesting that such questions are unanswerable, only
that they are a genuine problem. Partial answers can be found in
the occult literature. The principle 'like attracts like' is central.
Similar thoughts, emotions and ideas attract each other and so come
together in the astral. But what determines similarity? Is my image
of my house more similar to my husband's image of it or to my
neighbour's? Hundreds of dimensions of similarity could be involved but how do some come to be more important ? I would suggest that the very arbitrariness of any decision of this kind shows up
the shaky foundations of the whole notion.
The second problem concerns storage. How can thoughts once
created persist independently of the brain? The idea that thoughts
can do this has been a cornerstone of many occult theories, but also
parapsychologists have used a similar idea to try to explain ESP. If
one person's thoughts or ideas persist in some way after that person
has stopped thinking about them, and if other people can tap this
store of ideas then clearly one person can tap another person's
thoughts. Telepathy is not only possible but is then seen as the more
general form of memory.
When I first became interested in parapsychology this was the
idea which attracted me. It seemed to explain so much so simply. I
even believed it was new, but I soon learned otherwise. It appeared
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in one form in 1939 when H. H. Price, an Oxford philosopher and
member of the SPR, described his 'Psychic Ether Hypothesis'. He
suggested that thoughts, images, or ideas are created by mental acts,
but then tend to persist independently of the person who initiated
them. These images can affect the contents of any mind and so telepathy can occur and an 'ether of images' or 'psychic ether' is
created. By association with places or buildings the ether can also be
responsible for hauntings (118).
In the 1940s Whateley Carington carried out numerous experiments which led him to his 'association theory of telepathy' (16). If
two ideas or images are associated in the mind of one person that
association is not private to that individual but persists and can be
used by others. A related idea is W. G. Roll's notion of the 'psi
field' (125a). Every physical object has an associated psi field to
which people may respond. In his more recent theory of 'psi structures', Roll has extended this idea (125c).
These are just some of the theories which have related ESP and
memory and since then the relationship between the two has been
extensively studied (see 9c, 120, 125b). But this idea has exciting
implications for memory as well as for ESP. No one knows for sure
how memory is stored. There have been electrical, chemical,
structural, and holographic models of memory storage but none is
universally accepted. Could it be that none of these is right and
that memory is stored psychically? I used to think so but my confidence has been forcibly diminished by several years of research
into ESP and memory and a good deal of thinking about the problems involved (9b).
As far as storage is concerned, the major question is the substrate
on which the information is coded. Information to be stored has to
be coded into the form of variations in some physical system.
We store music in the form of the structure on the surface of
records, or magnetic patterns on tape. In computers memory is
coded into binary digits and stored on tape, magnetic discs or even
punched cards. Because the disc, tape or record is stable for fairly
long periods of time the information is retained. But what is to take
on this role in the astral? Do we imagine the information being
stored as variations in some non-physical substance? If so we have
to remember what this substance must do. It has to interact with
the brain so that information processed there can be stored. It must
be capable of being altered by the incoming information, and must
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retain the information essentially without loss until required. It must
retain it in such a way that the right bits of information can be
retrieved by the right people (and occasionally by the wrong people).
This is surely a tall order for a non-physical substance which is
invisible, apparently everywhere, and yet quite undetected as yet.
All this might, with some stretching of the imagination, be
possible, but the final problem is one which, I think, provides the
worst hurdle for any theory of this kind. That is, how is the information retrieved when wanted? Or if we are talking about the
OBE, how do people manage to observe the astral world of
thoughts?
Again the occult dictum 'like attracts like' has been held responsible. Taking again the example of 'my house' the theory is that if
a person thinks about 'my house', the thought will draw him to
other thoughts which are similar. But how? Is the 'thought' of me
enough or must he say 'Take me to her house'? Does he perhaps
need the address, or the post code? Is a very good image of the
house necessary before he is likely to succeed ? Apparently not, since
people claim to have seen places on the astral which they have never
physically seen. Is clarity important, or vividness of the image and
can any of these be measured? Again these questions might be
answerable but any answers seem largely arbitrary.
The problem is essentially one of coding. We know that when a
person remembers something he has first processed the incoming
information, thought about it, structured it, and turned it into a
manageable form using some sort of code. We presume that it persists in this form until needed when he can use the same coding
system to retrieve it and use it. Even if we don't understand the
details of how this works, there is in principle no problem for one
person because he uses the same system both in storing the material
and retrieving it. But if thoughts are stored in the astral world then
we have to say that one person can store them there and another get
them out. And that other person may have entirely different ways
of coding information. So how can these thoughts in the astral
possibly make sense to him? I personally can find no reasonable way
of tackling this problem and it is largely this which forces me to
conclude that such theories do not make sense.
I have now considered all the types of theory which suggest that
something leaves the body in an OBE, and found none satisfactory.
So let us turn to the three remaining theories.
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NOTHING LEAVES THE BODY
4. Parapsychological Theory (imagination plus ESP)
If we reject the idea of a shared thought world we are left with a
private one; the store of images, memories, or ideas which we each
hold but which we cannot directly share with anyone else. The OBE
might involve only imaginary travelling in a private imaginary
world. According to this type of theory nothing leaves the body in
an OBE and so there is nothing to survive the death of that body.
The advantage of such a theory is that it avoids all the problems of
the previous ones since it involves no astral worlds and other bodies.
However, what about the evidence that ESP occurs during OBEs,
that people can obtain information from a distance in OBEs?
As we have seen, certain parapsychologists have tried to incorporate this possibility by suggesting that the OBE is 'imagination
plus ESP' or PK. For example one of Tart's five theories is the
'hallucination-plus-psi explanation'. According to this 'For those
cases of OBEs in which veridical information about distant events is
obtained, it is postulated that ESP, whiclvis well proved, works on
a nonconscious level, and this information is used by the subconscious
mind to arrange the hallucinatory or dream scene so that it corresponds to the reality scene' (146k p. 339). Osis (103d) contrasts his
'ecsomatic hypothesis' with 'travelling fantasy plus ESP' and Morris
(96) compares the theory that 'some tangible aspect of self can
expand beyond the body' with what he calls the 'psi-favourable
state' theory. In parapsychology many states have been thought to
be conducive to ESP. They include relaxation, the use of ganzfeld
or unpatterned stimulation, and dreaming (63). There are many
reasons why an OBE might be thought of as a psi-conducive state.
Palmer suggested that it might induce attitudes and expectations
consistent with psi, so facilitating its occurrence (110a).
So is this sort of theory satisfactory? I don't think so. It appears to
avoid all the previous problems and yet to be able to cope with the
paranormal aspects of the experience. But note that I say 'appears
to'. Calling the OBE imagination or hallucination tells us very little,
and adding the words 'plus ESP' adds nothing. We know little
enough about ESP. It is defined negatively, and we cannot stop and
start it or control it in any way. Really all we know about it is that
if it exists it is very weak.
This brings us back to the 'super-ESP hypothesis'. Some have
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argued that the imagination plus ESP theory should be rejected
precisely because of the weakness of ESP; because the effects we find
in laboratory ESP experiments are so very small compared to what
is expected of them outside the lab. under the super-ESP hypothesis.
Osis calls it 'that strange invention which shies like a mouse from
being tested in the laboratory but, in rampant speculation, acts like
a ferocious lion devouring survival evidence' [103g p. 31]. His
language is persuasive but in the case of OBEs I do not think the
argument is valid. The paranormal effects found during OBEs are
terribly small, as I have tried to show. And I think they are little, if
any, stronger than typical laboratory ESP.
So we could argue that the OBE is imagination plus ESP, but this
is only putting together two catch-all terms, 'imagination' and 'ESP'.
It explains nothing. For this reason, and this reason alone, I reject
this theory. If we ever came to understand ESP better, we could then
test its role in the OBE; and then this theory would be worth consideration. In the meantime, if we say that the OBE involves imagination then we need a psychological theory of the OBE, with or
without ESP, and this is what I shall consider in the final chapter.
Other approaches
But before I do so I want to mention briefly that last possibility:
that all the distinctions and problems I have been raising are artificial. Should we just admit that mind is neither 'in' nor 'out' of the
body? Grosso argues (54b) that perhaps one is always 'out' and in an
OBE just becomes conscious of that fact. I have been asking how
the information in an OBE is acquired, but should the distinction
between normal and paranormal be dropped?
During an OBE one may have what seems a clearer perception of
such questions. Dichotomies are transcended intuitively and the
experience is felt as natural and comprehensible. I think this direct
perception has a value; and the more researchers are able to step
into that way of thinking, the richer will be their understanding.
However, this intuition does not answer the kinds of question I want
to answer and it cannot relate a theory of the OBE to other physical,
psychological or parapsychological theories. I am sure I am not alone
in that aim. I would argue that the mystical, intuitive or direct perception of the experience is a valuable, and even necessary, approach,
but not an alternative theory.
Finally I would like to make one small point. Many theorists have
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tried to get round some of the problems by saying that different
OBEs require different explanations or fit different models, or that
there are gradations of the OBE. However, we should remember that
if a theory does not make sense, then nothing is changed by saying
that it applies only to some OBEs. I would not for a moment suggest
that there can be only one type of OBE, and only one theory; but
for me none of the preceding theories works and they work no better
for some OBEs than for all. Accordingly I shall now turn to the
psychological theories of the OBE.
22 A Psychological Approach to the OBE
Our last alternative theory is that all the details of the OBE are to be
accounted for in psychological terms. Nothing leaves the body in an
OBE. The astral body and astral world are products of the imagination and the OBE itself provides no hope for survival. Osis has
called the followers of such theories 'nothing but-ers', reducing the
OBE to 'nothing but a psychopathological oddity' (103h); but to me
such theories provide the most hopeful, challenging and exciting
approach to the OBE.
Among psychological approaches to the OBE there have been
psychoanalytic interpretations, analogies between the 'tunnel' and
the birth experience; the creation of the double has been seen as an
act of narcissism or as a way of denying the inevitable mortality of
the human body. Eastman suggested that the cord may symbolize
the pull back to the body and the astral body itself may be a symbol
of the self to the self (33). Then there have been theories which treat
the near-death experience as a form of depersonalization or regression to primitive modes of thinking, and those which treat it as
involving an archetype. I have already discussed some of them and
shall not criticize them further except to say that none provides a
complete account of the OBE. Some may well have a place in a
psychological theory of the OBE. For instance an underlying physiological event may be responsible for a change in state of consciousness, and some factor such as narcissism be implicated in the form
the experience takes. Therefore I would not dismiss a theory just
because its scope is limited. However, if a psychological theory of the
OBE is to provide a genuine alternative to the previous types of
theory, then it needs to do more than just tackle small parts of the
experience.
PALMER'S THEORY
The most complete psychological theory of the OBE so far proposed
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
241
is that of John Palmer who used a mixture of psychological and
psychoanalytical concepts in his account (110b). Palmer made the
crucial point that the OBE is neither potentially nor actually a
psychic phenomenon. An OBE may be associated with psychic events
but the experience itself, just like any other experience, is not the
kind of thing which can be either psychic or not.
He went on to suggest that the OBE almost always occurs in a
hypnagogic state. Within this state it is triggered by a change in the
person's body concept which results from a reduction or other change
in proprioceptive stimulation. This change then threatens the self
concept and the threat activates deep unconscious processes. These
processes try to re-establish the person's sense of individual identity
as quickly and economically as possible and the way in which they
do this follows the laws of the Freudian primary process. According
to Palmer it is this attempt to regain identity which constitutes the
OBE.
This makes sense of why the experience seems so real at the time,
since the unconscious mind has to convince the ego of* the new
identity so as to alleviate the threat. On Palmer's theory, the OBE
is seen as only one of the ways in which this end can be accomplished.
Another might be tp escape altogether by fainting. Which course is
taken will depend upon the situation and set. A person who is dying
is likely to have a different experience from one who is in a laboratory
undergoing an OBE induction procedure.
Since the whole purpose of the OBE is to avoid a threat the
person will usually remain unaware of that threat and of the change
in body image which precipitated it. However, Palmer adds that it is
possible, with practice, to gain ego-control over the primary process
activity. Of course the OBE is, at best, only a partial solution to the
threat and both ego and primary process strive to regain the normal
body concept. As soon as they succeed the OBE ends.
For Palmer any psychic abilities which manifest themselves during
an OBE do so more because of the occurrence of the OBE in a
hypnagogic state than because anything actually leaves the body.
He emphasizes that the theory is neutral as regards the relationship
between brain and mind, but an important implication is that the
OBE provides no evidence for mind-body separation.
This theory has much in its favour. It has no need of astral bodies
or other worlds and so avoids all the problems of the earlier theories.
It makes sense of the situations in which the OBE occurs, and-the
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way it varies with the situation, and it relates the OBE to other
experiences. However, it is not without its own problems. It depends
heavily on the idea that the OBE is a means of avoiding a threat to
the integrity of the individual and the anxiety which that would
arouse. But it is not clear to me that the OBE would not provide an
even greater threat than the original change in body concept. In
itself, it presents an apparent split between self and body and many
people find this acutely threatening and anxiety-provoking. Sometimes they are terrified that they will not be able to 'get back in' and
this is surely a threat too. Of course one may argue that the conscious threat of the OBE is quite different to the unconscious threat
which provoked it, and that in an OBE the 'self remains in some
sense whole even though separated from the body. But I would want
to ask just what Freudian psychoanalytic concepts would predict
here. Which types of threat are most to be avoided and which solutions most effective? It seems to me that these are just the kinds of
predictions which psychoanalysis is characteristically unable to
make.
The theory also seems to imply that both primary processes and
the ego are goal-directed and strive towards a specific objective.
Palmer specifically denies any commitment to teleological thinking
and so it would be helpful to know in what sense the primary process
strives and the unconscious convinces. Finally Palmer's theory is far
from complete. It says nothing about tunnels and sensations of
separation, the appearance of the OB world or the physical body or
the experiences of flying and floating, although presumably it could
be elaborated to account for these in terms of primary process thinking. Since Palmer is intending to present a more detailed version I
should not criticize it prematurely, and only add that it has provided a valuable new way of looking at the OBE which should
provide much scope for research.
So far I have tried to present the evidence as objectively and
fairly as I can, but now I am going to indulge my prejudices, expose
my hunches and present my own interpretation of the OBE.
A PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY
First I should say that I find the evidence for paranormal events
during the OBE limited and unconvincing. Others will certainly
disagree with me but I think it is possible that all the claims for
ESP and PK in OBEs are groundless. You may object and cite the
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
243
famous Wilmot case (99b), the Landau case (76) or many others.
And it is true, I would have to argue that the witnesses or investigators were lying or mistaken; but I do not think this is impossible,
nor do I think there is actually very much evidence which has to be
'explained away' in this fashion.
Could we put this to the test? Could we ever be sure that there
was or was not any paranormal aspect to the OBE? We have seen
how difficult this seems to be. However, and perhaps paradoxically,
I think we may never have to answer the question even though it is
theoretically a most important one. It is important because a purely
psychological theory of the OBE cannot directly account for paranormal phenomena and if they occur they demand explanation. But
I don't think that in the end we shall need to answer it. What I
expect to happen is that one theory (or perhaps 'approach' or 'programme of research' would be better words) will begin to seem more
productive than others. It will stimulate research which develops
rather than going round in circles as some research to date has done.
It will lead to new ideas and new relationships with other areas or
experiences and people will begin to use it more often in their thinking, discussion, and research. If this happens one approach will become more accepted than others and in this sense will have won, at
least for the time being.
This hypothetical approach may have as a crucial part of it the
occurrence of paranormal phenomena and it may solve some of the
problems thereby presented. Alternatively, it may ignore psi
altogether. Whichever is the case we shall no longer ask whether
there is ESP in the OBE or not because it will seem obvious. My
guess is that it will be the psychological theories which will take on
this role and that the question of paranormal phenomena will
quietly be dropped. But of course some new discovery may at any
time prove me quite wrong.
So what sort of psychological theory have I in mind? I would
like to suggest this; that the OBE is best seen as an altered state of
consciousness (ASC) and is best understood in relation to other
ASCs. Everything perceived in an OBE is a. product of memory and
imagination, and during the OBE one's own imagination is more
vividly experienced than it is in everyday life. In other words the
experience is a kind of privileged peek into the contents of one's own
mind.
In any ASG ways of thinking and perceiving change. .In some,
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Beyond the Body
such as dreams, imagination is vivid but there is no appreciation at
the time of what is happening. In this respect dreams differ from
OBEs, but other ASCs may be closer and I think many involve this
kind of direct experience of one's own imagination. The conditions
necessary for such a state to occur may vary, but I would suggest
that in the case of the OBE the following are necessary:
1. Vivid and detailed imagery;
2. Low reality testing so that memories and images may seem 'real';
3. Sensory input from the body reduced or not attended to;
4. Awareness and logical thinking maintained. (This is like Tart's
dimension of 'rationality' (146i, 1).)
However, I should add that other experiences besides the OBE can
occur under these conditions.
I shall try to illustrate how these conditions are important for the
OBE by taking as an example one way of reaching the OBE:
through the use of a hallucinogenic drug. From research with such
drugs (e.g. 137a) it is known that in the early stages of intoxication
certain types of imagery increase. Tunnels, spirals, and lattices are
common; and although they are initially seen as separate from the
subject, they gradually start to become more 'real'. Complex images
constructed from memory follow, at first seen in a tunnel perspective, but later becoming more realistic and merging with the person.
These memory images may take many forms according to the setting
and expectations of the subject. Sometimes childhood scenes are reconstructed .and, because of the state of consciousness, are experienced as though relived. (This might be most likely when death is
thought to be close and looking back is preferred to looking forward.)
At other times and in other situations the subject may enjoy
bizarre scenes and dreamlike images, taking a role in fantasy action
or observing as though from outside. But in the latter case habits
of thought and the vividness of his imagery may prevent him from
seeing himself as a disembodied observer. Instead he may take on
the fantasy body of a flying bird, or reconstruct his normal body
from memory and his body image. As the experience progresses
reality testing is almost totally suspended. The images hold the
attention completely and any awareness of the physical body is lost.
All this can happen as a result of taking hallucinogenic drugs, but
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
245
the question then almost becomes how the subject is to avoid having
an OBE. I think the answer is that wliether the experience is
labelled 'OBE' or as 'tripping' or 'stoned' or whatever, depends not
only on the physiological state the person is in but also on the content of his imagery and the role of his body image. It is only when
the imagery is predominantly of ordinary scenes from the everyday
world, observed as though from somewhere other than where the
physical body is, that the experience takes on the form of an OBE.
An important question now becomes why this particular kind of
hallucinatory experience is reasonably stable and discrete. If it is
just one form that hallucinations can take; why does it not become
inextricably mixed up with other forms, the different experiences
drifting into one another? This is important because we know that
the OBE does have some stability. It is reported as similar when
induced in a variety of ways, and although; it is sometimes associated
with other hallucinatory experiences, it is more often separate. It is
also discrete in the sense that it can start one moment, go on for
some time and then suddenly end. It is these sorts of features which
have led to its being given a name and considered something other
than an hallucination.
I think the answer is twofold. First, there are cognitive processes
constantly operating to maintain the stable body image necessary
for co-ordinating skilled behaviour. Not only is the body image
strong and complete-that is one imagines accurately and vividly
the form of one's own body - but it is also coincident with the actual
physical body location. All the sensory stimulation from the body
keeps it that way. However, in the situation we are imagining the
person seems to be looking at the room in one of the ways it is
represented in memory, from a point near the ceiling. Stimulation
from the body is absent or ignored and so the body image need not
be coincident with the position of the physical body. The person may
or may not make himself a new 'body' from the body image, where
he is, up on the ceiling. Since that is where he seems to be looking
from, this one will naturally seem the more real. Looking down he
will 'see' the chair in which he knows he is sitting and so may see
himself there too, constructing this picture from the image he has
of how other people see him.
Now in this situation I am suggesting, the sight of 'himself may
prove too much for the 'new perspective'. Indeed in'training to
induce the OBE, this is a major hurdle. Bodily sensations may re-
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Beyond the Body
assert their hold on the body image and suddenly our astral projector will be 'back in his body' again. However, if imagery is still
vivid, reality testing low and so on, the person's identification with
the 'new view' will prevail. He will be able to observe an image of
himself sitting in the chair and at the same time seem to be himself
up on the ceiling. So long as the original inducing conditions prevail,
this situation can be maintained.
This gives one reason why the experience is relatively discrete.
The transition back to 'normal' requires a cognitive leap. One could
compare this jump to the kind of perceptual jumps which are made
when an ambiguous figure is seen in first one way and then another
(see 9a and Plate 17). It is not possible to see both forms of the figure
at once. The same may be so for the OBE. If the two views were
experienced together the subject would have to be seeing the room
simultaneously from his point on the ceiling and from his body.
Apart from the fact that this would be too confusing to be maintained, the 'old' view would always win. Any sensory input attended
to, however slight, is on the side of the 'old' position, as are habit
and familiarity. Therefore if the two should ever coexist the old
always wins and the OBE is terminated. The subject will seem to
have shot back into his body. So we can see that the 'new' view is
only stable so long as there is no attention given to the 'old' view
and it is discrete because any half-way view is extremely short-lived.
To this extent it is what Tart would call a 'discrete state of consciousness' (146i, j, 1).
The second reason for discreteness is one of expectation and habit.
If our subject's hallucinatory imagery is of his own room then he
will expect that outside the room is the corridor and the stairs, and
outside the front door is the path and garden. He may be led by his
expectations and using his cognitive map, through many 'places' as
though he were 'really there' and of course these will have all the
characteristics of the cognitive map, as we have seen. If, as I have
specified, logical thinking is reasonably intact our subject will not be
led off into fantastic scenes or other types of hallucination. And
since everything seems so real he will be fascinated with what he sees.
Often he will not have the time or inclination to think, 'I could go
anywhere, I could change this into another sort of experience*. In
the typical spontaneous OBE time is short and something will end
the experience before this happens. It is only the longer or repeated
experiences which are likely to change or broaden in this way.
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
247
So according to my scheme the OBE is a state bounded on one
side by the restoration of normal coincidence of body image and
sensory input, and on another by the habits of thinking which keep
the imagery, at least for a while, associated with the physical scene.
Beyond this boundary of habit lie many other types of experience,
mystical, religious, fantastic and psychedelic but to reach any of
these either the initial conditions must change or a jump in thinking
is required and for most people this is difficult. So, once the OBE
is established it is, at least temporarily, stable and discrete.
Having outlined the scheme it is now important to see whether
it leads to any testable predictions, because it will only be useful if it
does. First, simple predictions can be drawn about the induction of
an OBE. If essential prerequisites are vivid imagery, suspension of
reality testing, logical thinking and a lack of (or lack of attention to)
sensory stimulation, then there are many ways of achieving this.
All these terms are little more than labels for modes of thinking and
anyone who is capable of moving from one to another can free himself from the need for such external aids as drugs, but for most
people this is not possible.
For them certain drugs, sensory deprivation or ganzfeld conditions
can aid imagery and decrease sensory awareness, but they must be
kept alert or the experience will lapse into sleep or day-dream. Also
an alternative body image must be built up, whether this is a complete 'double' or just a point elsewhere. A disruption or distortion of
the normal body image may help, but is not sufficient. What is
needed is a split between the imagined position of the self and the
input from the senses. An OBE should not be possible where imagery
is poor or vague and especially when co-ordinated input from the
different senses confirms the sense of body position.
All this may only confirm what has been learned from induction
attempts, but more specific predictions axe possible about the types
of people who should be likely to have OBEs and in whom they
would be easier to induce.
As we have seen there has been much argument about whether
psychological theories predict a relationship between imagery skills
and OBEs. Usually general tests of vividness of imagery have been
used but I would predict rather specific relationships reflecting the
role of imagery in different kinds of OBE, under different circum_ stances. First of all, the vividness of a person's normal imagery heed
not be relevant when the OBE is induced primarily by some hallu-
2-18
Beyond the Body
cinogenic factor such as a drug, illness, or accident. It should only
be important in deliberately induced OBEs, or those in which there
is no other strong inducement to vivid imagery. In those same types
of OBE control of imagery should be important. This could easily
be tested by comparing the imagery skills of those who have had
spontaneous and induced OBEs. Alternatively, one could try to
induce OBEs in high and low imagers with and without techniques
designed to induce powerful images.
Second, I see-no reason why being a habitual imager or verbalizer
should be important; but capacity for absorption should, as Irwin
found. But third, I would also suggest that certain specific imagery
and cognitive skills would predispose someone to having an OBE
more than vividness of imagery. These are the kinds of skill required
to visualize a room from above, or an object from an unfamiliar
angle, in other words spatial manipulative skills. This could be tested
by comparing the skills of OBEers and non-OBEers, or by trying to
induce OBEs in those with good or poor spatial skills. I would predict that these specific skills would relate more closely to OBEs than
general vividness of imagery.
Other predictions concern the variability of the experience. If it
only requires the time and ability to think to change and control an
OBE, then the longer experiences or the multiple cases of adepts and
frequent OBEs should be more varied than single short ones. The
practised OBEer should be able to jump about in his cognitive map,
moving in every way his imagination allows. He may choose to
leave this 'physical world' altogether and take off into different
'spaces', mystical experiences, profoundly different views of the
world, or anywhere his imagination may lead him. It only needs a
jump in thinking to achieve this.
This seems to be just what we find. Oliver Fox and Sylvan
Muldoon travelled at the 'speed of thought' from place to place in
their OBEs, and Whiteman as well as Fox had frequent experiences
which were not in this ordinary world. Rogo (124d) analysed Fox's
experiences chronologically and showed that as time went on he had
more and more in which he left 'physical reality'. In my own long
OBE I learned that all the props of the initial experience were unnecessary; the duplicate body, the comforting connecting cord and
the familiar room. After that my experience went on into many
different forms and 'places'. All this leads to predictions about the
relationship between the length and frequency of OBEs and their
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
249
nature. They could be tested against data from surveys or in OBE
training programmes and experimental sessions with practised
OBEers.
We can also predict from this psychological approach how the
OBE should end. If the original conditions continue the experience
can change towards mystical or religious experience. If any of them
changes it will end rather abruptly. For example, if imagery becomes less vivid the new view will lose its; temporary advantage and
the old one reassert itself. If reality testing suddenly reappears the
person may think 'this is daft - I am really sitting in my chair'..
Attention switches back to the body and the experience ends that
way. If sensory input itself becomes assertive then again the old view
will predominate and in all of these cases the change is sudden.
There may be a moment between the two views when neither is
established and there is nothing in between. This might produce
what Crookall refers to as the momentary blanking of consciousness
and I think this effect is better explained in cognitive terms than as
a sensation produced by the drawing out or return of the astral body.
Finally if logical and clear thinking is lost the experience may
lapse into dreaming. According to this way of looking at the OBE,
its relationship to lucid dreaming is very close (though we must bear
in mind the physiological differences between the two). In ordinary
dreaming three of the conditions for the OBE are fulfilled: there
are vivid imagery, suspension of reality testing and a near total
obliteration of sensory input. What is missing is the clarity of thinking and deliberate control which need to accompany them. So we
can see that if a person becomes lucid in a dream, if in Fox's terms
the critical faculty is aroused, then all the conditions for an OBE
are fulfilled. Of course he may choose to go on experiencing the
dream imagery he already had. If this is bizarre in nature he is
likely to call the experience a dream. But if it is of the normal
environment he may call it an OBE. More specifically if he thinks
'Oh, I am dreaming, I wonder if I could see my own body in bed
asleep,' then the experience becomes a typical OBE, bounded again
by other experiences and kept in check by habits of thought.
In the case of a lucid dream the person is not likely to drop back
into the normal viewpoint because he is asleep and unresponsive to
sensory input. This only occurs if he wakes, as sometimes happens
from lucid dreams. More likely is that he will lapse back into
ordinary dreaming or to a different kind of lucid dream. All this fits
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Beyond the Body
with what we know about lucid dreams and makes sense of their
apparently close relationship to the OBE.
I have treated the OBE as though it occupied a 'place' in a multidimensional world of imaginary experience, bounded on its different
sides by this or that other experience, and having a niche of temporary stability. Although the spatial aspect is only a metaphor, this is
what I intended. Starting from a purely materialist foundation, one
can see that the nature and structure of our nervous systems makes
certain experiences possible and others not so. We can imagine a
large number of potential states of this highly complex system but
some might be stable while others are 'forbidden' or extremely unstable. In addition some routes between them would be easier than
others because of similarities in necessary conditions and the stability
or otherwise of the intervening states.
We can see that it might be possible to develop a map of this
multi-dimensional space. This is no new idea. Some have seen the
I Ching, Tarot and Cabbala as examples of cartography of experiential space and many other maps have been tried (39, 91, 146i, 1),
but so far no mapping has been achieved which would allow for
simple classification of ASCs, or relate them to known and
measurable physiological or psychological conditions. I would suggest that to do this we need to identify some crucial variables which
form, in the spatial analogy, major dimensions of the space, and then
try to find the kinds of thing which make some areas stable while
others are not.
This is what I have tried to do for the OBE, albeit rather inadequately. I have suggested four possibly important prerequisites.
Although these need defining much more clearly I have shown how
they can lead to an altered state of which one form is the semi-stable
OBE. I have tried to indicate related states and shown how the
experience can change into others when conditions, or ways of thinking, change; and I have indicated how the OBE is expected to end.
One advantage of this approach is that it leads to many testable
predictions, but only time and much research will show how it copes
if they are tested.
Charles Tart suggested in 1972 (146e) the notion of state specific
sciences. If scientists could learn to get into and manipulate ASCs
we might be able to operate sciences with learning and communication within those states. The future of OBE research may lie in the
A Psychological Approach to the OBE
251
attempt to bring subjective experience of this kind into the realm
of publicly testable experience.
Of course we would have to learn many new skills, but here the
trials of the adepts and the long tradition of occult learning might
help us. Looked on as maps of. experiential space we may find that
these old traditions are better guides than we thought for the modern
explorer. The psychological approach may even begin to make sense
out of the otherwise rather baffling regions and planes of the 'astral
world'. One can see them as reflections of th« structure and organization of the brain and its processing systems.
Travelling in the astral may be a process of exploring the contents
of your own memory and imagination, brought to life by a new way
of thinking in a special state of consciousness. The more mundane
representation of the cognitive map may be seen as forming one
region of the lower astral, while the monsters and creatures of childhood fears populate another'. Are the 'higher planes' states of consciousness involving ways of thinking which most of us cannot reach?
Many occultists would reject this interpretation but to me it makes
a lot of sense and might mean that we could start learning from
occult teachings if we tried to integrate them with the psychology
of memory, imagination and consciousness.
I would just like to add two more important implications of this
psychological approach. First, it suggests that nothing leaves the
body in an OBE. Everything seen is from the person's own imagination and this means that psychic events of a,ny kind are not expected
during the OBE. This approach is not incompatible with the idea
that the OBE is a psi-conducive state but if so, then this is incidental
to the theory.
It could be argued that this takes the OBE out of the province of
psychical research, or parapsychology; but if so then the loser is
parapsychology. Many of the phenomena currently labelled 'paranormal' may turn out to be nothing of the kind but I do not believe
that parapsychology should reject them on that score. I hope that
parapsychologists will continue to investigate the OBE as an intrinsic
part of their field, whichever theory they eventually adopt.
Finally, of course, it says nothing about survival. Nothing leaves
the body in an OBE and so there is nothing to survive. I would not
say there is no survival; I very much hope chat there i s - b u t according to this theory the OBE itself has no bearing either way on the
matter.
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Beyond the Body
Some readers may think this provides a depressing outlook for
research on the OBE. I think quite the reverse: that it is tremendously exciting. Here is an altered state of consciousness which we
know a little about, which is rather common and which we can
readily explore further. I hope that through this psychological
approach we shall eventually be able to understand far better than
we can now all the experiences I have described in this book, including that one of my own which set me off on this trail in the first
place. It is my hope that in years to come we shall have a coherent
theory of ASCs, of memory and of imagination, within which the
OBE will take its rightful place as one of those private spaces which
the human mind, because of its very human brain, can explore.
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Index
Abrahams, G., 177, 180
Absorption, 170-1, 248
Accident, 47-9, 131, 142, 145,
Age, 63-4, 82-3, 86, 92, 140
Alcohol, 96, 104, 157
Altered states of consciousness, 102,
108, 120, 243-4, 250-2
American Society for Psychical Research, 57,127,129, 190, 220
Amphetamine, 174
Anaesthetics, 30,34,47-8,51-3,127,
209-12
Angels, 19,134,137, 138, 148
Animals, 200, 203-5, 208-10,220-2
Annals of Psychical Science, 108,
216
Apparitions, 18, 20, 23, 46-7, 58-9,
68, 171-2,178, 200-12
at death, 134-6
during OBE, 69, 93, 220
of double, 153
Apsey, Mr, 57, 178
Aristotle, 10, 11
Arnold-Forster, H. O., 107, 108
Asomatic experience, 65-6
Astral,
aura, 18, 21
cable or cord, see Cord
doorways, 95, 103
matter, 17, 207
plane, 27, 43, 232
vision, 22
world, 17-18, 26, 28, 51, 74, 120,
169, 225, 229-34, 240, 251
Aura, 29, 93
astral, see Astral aura
in migraine, 160
Autoscopy, 11-12, 153-63, 165, 169,
172
Balfour, Lord, 180
Baraduc, H., 206-7, 213
Barbiturate, 104, 174
Barrett, Lady, 138
Barrett, Sir W., 137, 138, 142
Being of light, 143, 148, 150
Besant, A., 16, 17, 226, 232
Belts, G. H., 164, 171, 196
Bible, 19, 20
Bierman, D., 88
Bilocation, 9, 12
Black, D., 158
Blackmore, S. J., 61, 88
Blackwell, H., 214
Blavatsky, H. P., 16
Blondlot, R., 217-18
Bobbeitt, E. W., 208-9,
Body Image, 100, 153, 156, 162,
1(55-7, 244-7
Bozzarto, E., 135
Brain activity, 5, 122, 134, 139-40,
142, 204
Breathing,
at death, 204
during lucid dream, 118-19
during OBE, 130-1
in inducing OBE, 98, 101
Brennan, J. H., 95, 103, 114
Buddha, 18
Cabbaila, 1, 103, 250
Capgras syndrome, 154-5
Carington, W., 235
Carrington, H., 21, 28, 34, 47-51,
178, 206, 208, 210,.214, 219,
228, 232
Catalepsy, 24, 29,50-1,63,64-5, 75,
94
see also Paralysis
Chance, 42, 92, 189, 191-2, 193-4,
196
Charpentier, A., 217
266
Index
Chloroform, 26, 104, 209
Christianity, 10, 19, 140, 151
Christos technique, 99-100, 166
Clairvoyance, 20, 46, 47, 72, 136,
182, 194
see also Travelling clairvoyance
Clothes of double or phantom, 31,
228, 232
Cloud chamber, 207-11
Cobbe, F. P., 138
Cognitive,
map, 167-9, 176, 246, 25!
processes, 245
skills, 169, 248
style, 170
Coincidence, 92, 135
Coleman, S. M., 158-9
Colvin, B., 155
Concentration, 57-9, 94-106
Consciousness, 71, 85, 104, 108, 115,
after death, 53, 134
blanking of, 51, 53, 64-5, 249
centre of, 166
cosmic, 134
disembodied, 66
dual, 24, 27, 38, 39
during OBE or projection, 18, 31,
34, 36-7, 176
seat of, 48, 230
split, 62
survival of, 203
transfer of, 97, 99, 101, 172
vehicle of, 17, 18
see also Altered states of consciousness
Conway, D., 95, 103
Cord, 6, 22, 28-32, 34, 36, 43, 70,
75, 80, 137, 185, 240, 248
activity range, 29-30, 32, 109
astral, 51
breaking in death, 19, 54
silver, 3, 7, 19-22, 27, 28, 39, 52-4,
65-7, 76-7, 175
Critchley, M., 156
Crookall, R., 21, 51-4, 57, 64, 77-81,
133, 137, 201, 249
Cryptomnesia, 182
Dadaji, 12-13
Damas Mora, J. M. R., 156-7
Danvers, Miss, 200-1
de Maupassant, G., 158-9
de Rochas, A., 108-9, 184-6, 202,
214
de Vesme, C, 109
Deane, Mrs, 205
Death,
breaking cord in, 19, 54
comparison with OBE or projection, 19, 30, 53, 133, 192
definition of, 142
denial of, 150
fear of, 5, 7, 93, 149, 202
survival of, see Survival
Deathbed experience, 138-41
Delage, Y., 107, 110, 112
Dennis, M., 85
Depersonalization, L49, 151, 153-4,
241
Depression, 51, 157
Derealization, 153-4
Dewhurst, K., 158-9, 161-2, 169
Doppelgdnger, 11, 71
Dostoevsky, F., 12, 158
Doyle, Lady, 49
Doyle, Sir A. C, 49
Dreams, 23, 36, 37, 39, 46, 58
compared with OBE, 7, 14-15, 68,
249
compared with NDE, 149, 228-9
day-, 2, 122
falling, 30, 50, 73, 108-9
flying, 1,30,38,50 108, 116
high, 108
lucid, see Lucid dreams
of knowledge, 24-6, 28
precognitive, 20
projection, 109
Drugs, 9, 37, 4 7-8 /74, 86-7, 92,
103-6, 120, 139-40, 144, 157,
166, 173-6, 247-8
hallucinogenic, 77, 81, 104, 173-5,
244
psychoactive, 86
Durville, H, 185-7, 215-16, 219
Eastman, M., 104, 240
Ecsomatic,
experience, 60
form, 66
hypothesis, 237
state, 65
theory, 192-4
Ecstasy, 70, 71
Index
267
Fox, O., 23-8, 30, 31, 33, 35, 37,
Ectoplasm, 18, 205, 208
50, 63, 65, 68, 69, 103, 105,
Ehrenwald, J., 71, 150, 194
108, 110, 111, 113, 119, 233,
Electricity, 17, 36, 43, 44, 203, 215
248, 249
Electromagnetic spectrum, 17, 222,
Gallon, F., 164
227
Electroencephalograph (EEG), 17, Galvanic skin response, GSR (skin
potential), 124-5, 130
123-31, 189-90, 199
Ganzfeld, 197-8, 247
Eliade, M., 71, 80
Gates, E., 203, 211-12
Emotion, 5, 17, 96, 168, 234
Ghosts, 20, 208, 220
in depersonalization, 153-4
Glaskin, G. M., 99-100
in lucid dreams, 24, 111
Gordon, R., 171
in NDEs, 143, 149
Green, C. E., 22, 56, 59-69, 84-5,
in OBE or projection, 30, 69-70
88,91-2, 107, 110-12, 116, 119,
photographing, 206, 213
178-9, 181,201
Schachter's theory of, 198
Greenhouse, H, B., 137
Epilepsy, 155, 157, 162
ESP projection, 13, 56-9
Ether, 104, 209
Grosso, M., 151, 238
Etheric,
Gurney, E., 46
body, 16-17, 49, 133, 157, 214,
Halifax, J., 105, 150
226
Hallucinations, 7, 41, 46-7, 50, 80,
double, 16-17, 53
134, 136, 137, 158-76, 237
matter, 17, 18, 207
autoscopic, see Autoscopy
world, 17, 226-7
census of, 135-6
Evidentiality score (or rating), 57-9,
definition of, 157, 172
200
compared with NDE, 151
Exteriorization,
compared with OBE, 14, 81
of mobility or motivity, 183,
hypnagogic and hypnopompic, 173
215-16
pseudo-, 157
of sensation or sensibility, 183-7,
Hallucinogenic index, 140
214
Extrasensory perception (ESP), 13, Haraldsson, E., 12-13, 87-8, 92,
15, 56, 59, 85, 139, 218, 219-20,
234
Harary, S. B., 128-31, 195, 197,
definition of, 194, 237
220-2
during lucid dreams, 119
Hart, H., 56-9, 69, 83-4, 88, 104,
during OBEs, 7, 69, 93, 123,
178, 192, 200-1
125-7, 177-88, 223, 237-8, Hartwell, J., 222
242-3
Hash, see Marijuana
related to OBEs, 15, 91, 92, 225
Haemmerte, A., 202
Extrasomatic theory or hypothesis, Hearing,
during hypnosis, 186
192,223
during OBE, 68
Ezekiel, 19
Hearne, K. M. T., 115, 117-19
False awakening, 24-5, 38-9, 108, Heart rate, 198
110
during lucid dreams, 118
Father Christmas, 77
during OBE, 124-5, 128, 130-1
Fete A, 11,46, 71
in inducing OBE, 98
Findlay, A., 17, 208, 226-7
Heautoscopy, 156
Flammarion, C, 135, 142
Heaven, 42, 67, 74, 134, 148, 151,
Fleetwood, Mrs, 200-1
174
Fodor.N., 211
Heim, A., 142, 150
Fortune, D., 103
Hell, 42, 134, 148, 150, 151, 174
268
Index
Hope, W., 205
Hopper, B. J., 210-11
Houston, J., 105
Hypnagogic and hypnopompic,
hallucination, 173
imagery, 116, 127
state, 50, 115,241
Hypnosis, 47, 51, 57-9, 103-4, 106,
120, 166, 183-7, 202, 214-6,
224
Hypnotic regression, 182
Hyslop, J. H., 137
Imagery, 81, 93, 117, 121, 124, 154,
161, 245-9
control of, 169, 248
in inducing OBEs, see Induction
of OBEs
related to OBEs, 163-76, 196-8
vividness of, 164-6, 169, 236, 244,
247-9
see also Hypnagogic and hypnopompic
Imagination plus ESP theory, 192,
237-8
Induced v. spontaneous or 'natural'
experiences, 51-4, 57-9, 69,
131, 169-70, 178, 199, 248
Induction of lucid dreams, 119
Induction of OBEs or projection, 28,
30, 41, 46, 93, 94-106, 125, 166,
247
at will, 7, 18, 19, 21, 23, 33, 41,
61,90-1,94-106, 123, 127, 129,
215
by concentration, 57-9, 94-106
by effort, 39
by hypnosis, see Hypnosis
by imagery or imagination, 33, 34,
94-106, 130, 169, 172
deliberate, 57, 73
experimental, 47, 57, 106, 170,
195-9
from dreams, 105-6, 115
Intra-atomic quantity, 209-11
Irwin, H. J., 88-92, 161, 169-70,
199, 248
Israel, M., 19
Jekyll and Hyde, 158
Jesus Christ, 18, 19, 148, 150
Jodko, J. de Narkiewicz, 214
Joire, P., 184
Jung, C. G., 142
Kletti, R., 149-51, 153-4
Klotz, I. M., 218
Klüver, H., 173
Koestler, A., 62
Kohr, R. L., 88-91, 116
Kreutziger, S. A., 148
Kubler-Ross, E., 133, 142, 144
LSD, 105, 150, 174
La Barre, W., 174
Lambert, Madame, 214-16
Lancelin, C, 185
Landau, L., 214, 243
Lauwerys, Mr, 211
Leadbeater, C, W., 232
Leary, T., 173
Leonhardt, J. L., 19
Lhermitte, J., 153
Lieberman, R., 197-9
Life review, 150-1
Liguori, Alphonsus, 12
'Like attracts like', 35, 43, 234, 236
Lindsley, D., 173
Lippman, C. W., 156, 160-1
Lodge, Sir O., 180
Lucid dreams, 14, 24, 37, 84, 93, 98,
100, 105-22, 172
definition of, 14
comparison with OBE, 14, 249-50
Lukianowicz, N., 71, 155, 156
Magic, 35, 75-7, 94, 184, 233
ritual, 17, 102-3, 106
sympathetic, 184
Magnetism, 183-7
Magnetometer, 222
McCormick, D., 223
MacDougall, D., 203-5
Mcintosh, A. I., 75-6, 78-80, 100
Marijuana, 2, 6-7, 87, 104-5, 1 7 3 ^
Masters, R. E., 105
Mead, G. R. S., 10
Meader, J. R., 135, 206
Meditation, 92, 94, 96, 166
Mediums, 57, 183-7, 202, 205 208,
213-16, 224
Mediumship, 47, 51, 134, 182
Memory, 37, 38, 81, 99 120, 167-8,
202, 231, 237, 243-52
fallibility of, 45, 50, 74, 135, 141,
179-80
Index
of astral projection, 18, 22, 48-9,
52
ofOBE, 121
Mescaline, 173-4
Mesmerism, 183
Migraine, 157, 160-1, 162
Mind, 5, 203, 229, 241, 243
Miss Z., 123-5, 128, 189-90
Mitchell, J., 127-9, 190, 230
Monroe, R. A., 40-4, 68, 101-2, 103,
104, 106, 125-7, 190, 198
Moody, R. A., 133, 142-50
Morphine, 104
Morris, R. L., 192, 220, 224, 230, 237
Moses, W. S. 213
Motivation, 69, 97-8
Movement,
at will, 28, 30, 31, 52, 53, 105,109
by thought, 34, 42-3, 53
during OBE or projection, 28, 30,
32, 33-4
of objects, see Objects
Muenter, E., 211
Muldoon, S., 21, 23, 28-32, 33, 35,
269
Osis, K., 12-13, 93, 129, 139-41,
150, 190-5, 210, 220, 223, 230,
237, 238, 240
Ouija board, 1-2, 6
Ouspensky, P. D., 107-8, 112-13
Out-of-the-body experience,
definition of, 1, 9, 14-15, 56-7, 59,
60, 84, 90, 97, 122, 191-2, 196
Oxenham, J., 141
Palladino, E., 208
Palmer, J., 10, 15, 85-93, 106, 116,
170,181,195-9,201,237, 240-2
Paralysis, 23, 24, 50, 63
in sleep, 118
see also Catalepsy
Paranormal, 47, 68-70, 85, 92, 18990, 192, 237-8, 251
ability, 172, 225
phenomena, 243
vision, 50
Parasomatic experience, 65-6
Parker, A., 190
Perry. M., 19
Peyote, 57, 173-4
77, 78,80,96-8, 105, 109, 115, Phantasms of the Living, 46, 47, 58,
135, 200
133, 153, 178, 184, 214, 228,
Phantom, 28, 29, 30, 31, 97, 155,
232, 248
202, 215-16, 219, 220, 224
Mumler, W., 205
limb, 162
Murphy, G., 57
Myers, F. W. H., 46-7, 113-14, 135, Photography, 200, 205-11, 213-14,
218, 219
142, 180, 200-2
spirit, 205, 213
Mystical,
Physics, 33, 36, 55, 217-19
experience, 9, 36, 51, 92, 247-9
Physiology, 63, 152, 198, 240, 245,
state, 37/39
249, 250
of lucid dreams, 118-19
N-rays, 216-19
of OBEs, 120, 121-32, 189, 195
Narcissism, 159, 161, 240
of sleep, 117-18
Near death experience (NDE), 133, Pineal door, 26
138, 142-52, 153-4, 174-5
Plato, 10
Nightmare, 23, 78, 81
Plotinus, 10
Noyes, R., 149-51, 153-4
Podmore, F., 46
Pope Clement XIV, 12
Powell, A. E, 226
Objects,
inability to influence, 35, 52, 69, Poynton, J. C, 56, 60-9, 232
Precognition, 20, 50, 119, 194
118, 120,214,216 ^
Price,
H. H., 235
movement of, 31, 39, 45, 69,
Psi conducive (or favourable) state,
214-16
Ochorowicz, J., 213
230, 237, 251
Ophiel, 98, 103 105
Psilocybin, 174
Opium, 173
Psychic,
Optical image device, 192-5, 223
ability, 70, 241
270
Index
experiences, 20, 85, 87, 89, 91-2,
115, 128
phenomena, 15, 47, 109, 217, 241
'Psychic ether hypothesis', 235
Psychical Research Foundation, 129,
220, 224
Psychoanalysis, 158-9, 161, 175,
240-2
Psychokinesis (PK), 69, 136, 194,
223—4 237 242
Psychology, 6, 17-18, 55, 134, 152,
170, 183, 198, 238-52
Psychopathology, 12, 153-63
Radio-active essence, 33, 226
Radio-activity, 34-5, 36, 208-9,
216-18
Rank, O., 158, 161
Rapid eye movement (REM), 11718, 122, 124, 125-30
Rationality, 36, 244
Rawlings, M., 150, 151
Reading,
in dreams, 24
in hypnosis, 186
Reality testing, 112, 244, 246-7, 249
Relaxation, 33, 61, 63, 94-106, 114,
Religion, 10, 92, 133-4, 140, 144,
145, 149, 151, 199
Religious experience, 4, 9, 14, 247,
249
Remote viewing, 13
Repercussion, 51, 202
Rhine, J. B„ 56, 187, 218
Ring, K., 145-51
Ritchie. G., 150-1
Rogo, D. S., 11, 59, 66, 138, 195,
233, 248
;
Roll, W. G. 235
Rushton, W. A. H., 121, 227-8
Ruth, 171-2
Sabom, M., 144, 148, 150
Sagee, E., 12
Sai Baba, S., 12
St Anthony of Padua, 12
St Paul, 19
Schachter, S., 198
Schatzman, M., 171-2
Schilder, P., 154
Schoonmaker, F., 144
Sensory deprivation, 173, 247
92, 140, 148
Sex, 43, 63-4, 82-3,
Sexual desire, 30, 97, 158, 161
Shamanism, 71-80
Sheils, D., 72-80
Shirley, R., 52
Shock, 37, 39, 48
Siegel, R. K., 151, 167, 173-1
Smith, P., 199
Smith, S., 201
Society for Psychical Research,
SPR, 8, 20, 46, 56, 60-70,
134-6, 176, 200, 218, 235
archives, 20, 208, 210
Journal, 20, 121, 135, 137, 177
Proceedings, 135
Soul, 10, 53, 71-9, 109, 200-12, 220,
Spiral, 33, 34, 48, 53, 106
in hallucinations, 173, 244
in OBE induction, 196
Spiritualism, 1, 207, 213
State-specific sciences, 102, 250
Stevenson, R. L., 158
Strain gauge, 223
Stratton, F. J. M., 177-80
Stress, 30, 52, 61-3, 96, 131, 173
Suggestibility, 198
Suggestion, 183, 184, 187, 216
Suicide, 145, 148
Super ESP hypothesis, 136, 237-8
Survival of death, 5, 19, 46, 52, 79,
129, 133-52 200 203-12, 219,
251
Swann, I., 13, 127-8, 190-1, 197,
222-3
Tanous, A., 193-5, 223
Targ, R., 13
Tarot cards, 1, 103, 250
Tart, C. T., 41-2, 59, 87 88, 102,
Taylor, R., 77
Telepathy, 17, 20, 46-7, 136, 194,
206 234-5
Theosophy, 1, 11, 16-22, 25, 226,
232
Theta aspect, 192, 220, 225, 230
Thought, 44, 122, 235
-created world, 6, 67, 169, 231-2
effect on astral, 17, 18, 31-2, 35-6
habits of, 28, 31,244, 247, 249
Index
in lucid dreams, 111, 115
movement by 34, 42-3, 53
photographing, 206, 213, 217
-responsive world, 3, 228
world of, 18, 43, 228-9, 236
Thought forms, 17, 25, 27, 35, 232-4
Tibetan Book of the Dead, 11
Todd, J., 158-9, 161-2, 169
Touch, 43
Trance, 24, 26, 27,47, 71, 74, 183
Travelling clairvoyance, 13, 59, 103
Tunnel, 33, 38, 53, 64, 65, 103, 143,
147, 240, 242
in hallucinations, 173-5, 244
light in, 147-8, 173-4
vision, 160, 175
Twining, H. L., 204-5
Tylor, Sir E. B., 79
VanEeden, F., 108, 110, 113, 119
Vassar, C, 195-7
Vehicle,
of consciousness, 17, 18
of vitality, 17, 52,53
Veridical information, 41, 57, 237
Veridicality, 39, 178
score, 199
test, 57
Vibration, 29, 31, 36, 40, 101, 104,
184, 216
in migraine, 160
271
rates of, 33
Vision,
in OBEs, 53, 58, 68, 93, 155,
189-99
Visions, 9, 37,46-7, 58, 81,134,172,
173
Vividness, 39, 68, 70, 121, 181
in dreams, 115, 116
of imagery, see Imagery
Watte™, R. A., 208, 209-11
Weighing, 200, 203-5, 216
Whirlwind, 33, 74
Whiteman, J. H. M., 36-40, 65, 108,
232, 248
Wilde, O., 158, 159
Wilmot, S. R., 200, 243
Wilson, I., 182
Wood, R. W., 217-18
World,
astral, see Astral
dream, 67, 113, 120
etheric, see Etheric
higher, 19, 226
of illusion, 18, 169
OBE, 6, 67-8, 70, 167-9, 228-9,
242
Wraith, 11, 17
Yram, 33-6, 39, 208
POSTSCRIPT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
I am lying back in some yielding, flowing
softness. It feels — oh so familiar. I seem to
be disintegrating, falling apart into separate
pieces and then into nothing at all. Then back
together and flying... the softness replaced by
a deep blue sky and I am flying home: to my
own house. The night is deep blue and the
garden dark but the house stands out, glowing
with yellow lights. I can look inside and see
someone in the kitchen cooking. I close in on
the upstairs windows and see the children fast
asleep, tucked up in bed.
I had taken 80 milligrams of Ketamine, an anesthetic not often used
for adults, though quite common for children. In larger quantities it
produces total anesthesia but in this relatively small dose one remains
hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness: between having
a body and not having one. The body is physically paralyzed, the eyes
unable to move. Psychologists such as Ri chard Gregory (17) have taken
Ketamine to investigate the fringes of consciousness but it is an experience not to be recommended unless you are really determined to explore
those borderline states in which OBEs can occur.
Over the years since I first wrote Beyond the Body I have had many
such experiences, usually through meditation or OBE induction practices. In this one, as in others, I wanted to find out whether what I saw
was accurate or not. Again, frustratingly, it was a curious mixture. There
was no one in the kitchen at that time — I later ascertained. But a friend
who was with me held up some fingers as a test. I correctly counted them
first time but thereafter failed. It could have been chance, couldn't it?
Of course, I was asking again that question which I already argued is
unlikely to be answered and probably won't even need answering. In the
end research will lead in one direction or the other. Either OB perception
274
Beyond the Body
is (or can be) veridical and experiments will find out, or it isn't and we'll
develop an increasingly coherent and effective psychological explanation.
That is, I think, what has happened in the ten years since Beyond the
Body was first published.
On the paranormal, or ecsomatic theories, there has been very little
further progress. I tried some exploratory experiments myself. From
time to time I meet people who claim to be able to have OBEs at will, or
to have them regularly when going to sleep. Several of these [people]
agreed to take part in a long-distance, open-ended experiment. It all
began when one frequent OBEr visited my home. He chose the test for
"Put up a target for me here by the door," he suggested, "I would like
a word best and perhaps a five-digit number like Tart used. You could
even try some real objects too."
So when he had gone I made out a list of twenty common words and
twenty small objects I could pin to his chosen spot on the wall. Each week
I used random number tables to select a new number, word and object and
there they remained for him to "visit" at any time. Later I changed them
only once a month and then even less frequently. Neither he, nor any of
the other people who tried this test, was able to correctly identify the
targets. One woman partially succeeded but was not able to repeat it. So
it was impossible to use this as a basis for finding anything out about
OBEs.
There has been little further research on ESP in the OBE. Alvarado
(1) reviewed experimental studies and concluded that they generally
showed weak and inconsistent results and in his recent book, Irwin (20)
argues that the claimed veridicality of OBE content is probably exaggerated.
By contract there has been a lot of progress on psychological
approaches. The ever-popular "birth theory" has been tested and found
wanting. The astronomer Carl Sagan (26) argued that the universality of
imagery in near-death experiences, including OBEs, could only be
accounted for by reference to one experience we all share — our birth.
Subsequently Becker (3) explained "why birthmodels cannot explain the
near-death phenomena". Honegger (18) then made the comparison with
OBEs more explicit, likening the tunnel experience to the passage down
the birth canal, the vibrations to the contractions of labor and the silver
Postscript to the American Edition
275
cord to the umbilicus.
But if birth were the source of the OBE and tunnel then we would
expect people born by Caesarean section not to have any tunnel experiences or classical OBEs. In a survey (4) I showed this was just not the
case. The people born by Caesarean had just as many such experiences
as anyone else. This is not to say that the general idea of birth may not,
in some way, mold our experiences, but it does show that an individual's
own birth is not "relived" in the OBE.
More positively, most of the predictions I made about OBEs have
been tested. For example, the question of imagery has been further
explored. It now seems much clearer that vividness of imagery is not
especially important for having an OBE but certain spatial imagery skills
are. Cook and Irwin (14) showed that although OBErs were no better
than non-OBErs at a test of imagery control, they were better at a task
using a specially constructed box with an F-shaped block inside. Participants were shown pictures of the block from different positions in the box
and asked to identify the position. Those who had had OBEs did better.
This may well involve the same skills as using the imagination to "see"
things from a different perspective. In two experiments (11) I asked
people to imagine viewing either remembered, or present scenes from
eye level or from above and to try switching viewpoints from one position
to the other. I found that those who had OBEs were better able to make
this switch.
This is closely related to a most interesting argument now being
pursued. My own theory (8) suggests that OBErs should be those who
habitually use "observer" viewpoints in their dreams or imagination.
Alternatively, Irwin (20) has proposed his "Synesthetic model of the
OBE". He argues that the basis of the OBE is a somaesthetic image of
being disembodied. Once the feeling of being disembodied is established, synesthesia (or the translation of one sense into another) takes
over and a visual image of a floating sel f is elaborated — hence the OBE.
This would not predict that OBErs should use observer perspectives
more often in imagery.
Both Irwin (21) and myself (11) have tested the viewpoints which
OBErs and others habitually use to recall their dreams and waking life.
We both have foundthat OBErs do tend to recall dreams more often as
observers (than do non-OBErs) but not waking events, thus partially
confirming my prediction; Irwin then argued that the recalled scenes
276
Beyond the Body
tended to be static while the dreams were more dynamic and active.
Perhaps it was the bodily imagery that was important. He went on to
break down his data for OBErs who had another body in their OBEs and
those who didn't, showing that it was predominantly the former who used
observer perspectives in their dreams. He speculated that it is their skill
in somatic, or bodily, imagery which enables them to do this and also to
have OBEs.
This is surely an example of science at last tackling a problem
effectively. We are far from a complete understanding of OBEs but the
research is progressing as research should. Rival theories do exist wh ich
share a lot of common ground but differ in specifics. Ane we are doing
experiments to see which theory works better. This is precisely the kind
of progress which has never been made on the ecsomatic, or astral body,
theories of the OBE.
Another prediction I made was that the skills needed for a deliberate
OBE are quite different from those needed for a spontaneous one (such
as the OBE occurring before or after sleep, or during accidents or I llness).
I questioned nearly a hundred people and divided the thirty-six OBErs
into those who had had only spontaneous OBEs and those who had
managed to induce at least one OBE deliberately (9). As expected it was
the latter group who claimed to be able to stop a dream they didn't like
or to choose to dream about a specific topic. Every one of this group also
reported having lucid dreams. On the other hand, there was an association between having spontaneous OBEs and mystical experiences. It
seems, as predicted, that the two kinds of OBE occur to different people.
Whether this relates to their imagery skills or not remains to be tested.
It is interesting to compare this with a study by Alvarado (2) in which
he used Crookall's classification. Crookall divided OBEs into "natural"
and "enforced" on the basis of whether the astral body leaves more or less
naturally (see Chapter 6). This is rather a different classification from
mine. On this basis Alvarado predicted that the natural OBEs should
have more phenomenological characteristics than enforced OBEs and
should generally be more pleasant. Neither prediction was confirmed,
which seems to show that the classification based on astral projection
theory is not, at least in this context, very useful.
I have already mentioned the association between OBEs and lucid
dreams. The psychological theories all, more or less strongly, imply a
close connection between the two (12). This has now been amply
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277
confirmed in a variety of studies (e.g. 5,6,7,9,19). Irwin (21) has recently
reviewed the evidence and concluded that there is a significant but weak
association between OBEs and lucid dreams..
For anyone who has OBEs and worries about what this has to say
about their mental health or personality, there; is good news from recent
research. Gabbard and Twemlow (16) sent questionnaires to about 700
people who had had OBEs. Their most impoitant finding, among many
others, was that the people who have OBEs are psychologically very
healthy. They are remarkably similar to the average healthy American
and show no special signs of mental illness, psychotic thinking or
antisocial or deviant characteristics. The relationship with absorption
(discussed in Chapter 16) has now been confirmed (23), and Wilson and
Barber (27) showed that the small group of highly hypnotizable or
"fantasy-prone" subjects (who also show high absorption and extraordinary powers of imagery) relatively often report OBEs.
Nevertheless many people who have OBEs think they must be
"going mad" and some psychiatrists even take the occurrence of
OBEs as a sign of pathology. To see whether there is any justification for this, I surveyed a group of schizophrenics and a control group
of other hospital patients (10). From a preliminary question about
OBEs it appeared superficially that far more of the schizophrenics
had the experience than the controls (42% as opposed to 13%).
However, the questionnaire also asked for a description of the OBE.
This showed that many of the schizophrenics were including quite
different experiences, such as hallucinations of being on another
planet or meeting strange creatures, which were not at all similar to
the usual OBE. When only "typical" OBEs were included (those
which involved a viewpoint outside the body) the proportion dropped
to 14% — almost exactly the same as the normals. And these OBEs
sounded very familiar. Here is a rather daunting example which
happened:
On stage in the middle of a play at Her Majesty's
Theatre, Barrow-in-Furness. It didn't affect my
performance in any way at all. I went on acting
while my center of consciousness (I) floated about
15 feet above the scene I was in.
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Beyond the Body
In addition, those schizophrenics who reported the other more bizarre
experiences were more likely also to report more visual distortions and
more symptoms of schizophrenia but those who reported typical OBEs
were not. In other words there is no reason to think the typical OBE is
associated with schi zophren I a.
It is often thought that children have OBEs more readily than adults
and perhaps tend to forget them as they grow older. Indeed, many adults
claim to have had OBEs in childhood. If so, it would be most interesting
to talk directly to young children about OBEs. Wooffitt, a colleague of
mine, went to a primary school and interviewed fifty-two children
between the ages of 5 and 12 and asked them about viewpoints in
imagery, OBEs and imaginary playmates (28). To make the question
comprehensible to young children, and without priming them too much
for what was intended, Wooffitt asked questions about floating and then
added "Have you ever floated in the air?" Just one eleven-year-old boy
said he had, when he was once very ill at the age of nine.
"I was lying down on the bed and I felt as though I was flying around
the sky," he said. He saw the ceiling coming closer as he floated up. He
seemed to bemoving in a circular pattern and felt some "to-ing" and "froing". He said it lasted "a heck of a long time". But he was the only one
out of over fifty children. This very low incidence seems to imply that
children do not have as many OBEs as some adults suppose, unless
problems with the questions or method concealed further OBEs. This
surprising finding is something which deserves further study.
Obviously the OBE has not yielded all its secrets yet — far from it.
However, we are working towards a much better understanding of how
and why it comes about. At any point in this process of understanding
we can speculate a little beyond the established facts. I would like to end
by summarizing my speculations about the place of the OBE in a theory
of consciousness.
I start with consciousness because it seems to me that consciousness
is what it is all about. Above all, having an OBE forces one to ask "How
can this altered state seem so real and what is consciousness anyway?"
I would like to make the suggestion that being conscious is what it is
like being a mental model. In a now famous paper, the philosopher
Thomas Nagel (24) asked "What is it like to be a bat?". He pointed out
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279
that the fact that an organism has conscious experience at all means
that there is "something it is like to be" that organism. In other words,
there is something it is like to be a bat — or a human being.
But the problem is, we are not really the flesh and blood of our
bodies. We are selves. And selves, as we know from psychology,
are constructed entities — or models. Really, "we" are mental
models of a self. I would say that consciousness is not "what it's like
to be" a bat, but to be the bat's mental model of itself. Things cannot
be conscious but mental models can. I am conscious because I am
a model or representation of myself in the world.
Now if I say there is "something it is like to be" a mental model,
then the implication (controversial as it may be) is that all the myriad
models constructed by any brain are all conscious. This seems
implausible until you realize that "we" are just the "biggest and best"
of the models in our own system.
The most obvious thing about humans as model builders is that
they mode] themselves. We all build vast mental models of "me,
here, now" based on our senses. It is this which provides the core of
our consciousness from moment to moment. Because it is stable,
coherent and complex it is usually the best model we have. So it
seems real. This I call our "model of reality".
The model of reality is sustained by the complex processing of the
brain and changes as that processing changes. It is normally totally
dependent on the input to our senses: on what we can see and hear and
feel and the body image with which we integrate it all. That is "me, now".
But what happens when there is not enough input, or confusing
input, or when we are drugged or near death? The normal model of
reality begins to break down, of course. But what happens next?
The tunnel is part of the answer. We know that the mapping of visual
space onto the brain cortex is such that when random noise sets up
waves of activation in the cortex this will appear like a spiral or
tunnel (13, 15). The greater number of cells devoted to the central
parts of the visual field provide the brighter centre, or the great white
light. Any other imagery being produced in the system when this
happens will get sucked into the tunnel form. But at the same time,
and far more drastic for the system, the normal view of the world is
breaking down.
This, I think, provides the answer about OBEs. A sensible system,
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Beyond the Body
losing touch with external reality, uncertain as to what is "out there"
and what is imagination, has to make a decision. Only one model of
the world can actually represent "out there" and seem real. So which
is it? I propose that when this breakdown occurs the most sensible
thing the system can do is to ask itself (as it were) "Who am I? Where
ami? What is going on?" and so reconstruct, on the basis of memory
and imagination, what it thinks should be happening. And what are
memory models like? We know from much work in psychology (e.g.
8, 25) that many representations in memory are in bird's eye view.
I propose that if the norma] eye-level model of reality breaks
down it can be replaced by a bird's eye model from memory and
imagination. If this is the best the system can manage then it will take
over as the current "model of reality" and so will seem real. This,
then, is the OBE. In a sense it is real — at least just as real as any thing
ever is because the OBE is the best representation of the world that
the system has.
It is interesting to note that sounds could easily be incorporated
into the new view without it breaking down. Since hearing is the last
sense to go in unconsciousness, it makes sense that people near death can
hear what is going on and seem to see it all from above. Their view is
hallucinatory but it is built on valid bits of information.
This theory of the OBE not only fits with much of the evidence
collected to date but it also sets the OBE in context. It is, if you like,
an illusion of reality. It is a result of the system trying to get back to
normal and clinging onto the idea that there must be a world out
there. Of course if the system gives up on that attempt then other
models or representations will take over and seem real — perhaps
models of heaven, of other worlds or other people. These too can seem
real if they are the best the system has at the time (as may well be the
case near death).
Most OBErs are convinced by their illusion; they are sure that they are
seeing the "real world". In this sense OBErs are like dreamers. But just
as you can become "lucid" in an dream, and realize that it is all illusory,
so you can in an OBE. You can realize the constructed nature of all
these images — indeed of the basis of consciousness itself. In this
way you can see into the essential emptiness of it all and the
connectedness of everything which can be experienced. It is simultaneously total aloneness and complete oneness. This is a key insight
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281
into the mystical experience.
An important implication of this is the artificial or constructed nature
of the dichotomy between self and the world: both are just aspects of a
useful everyday model of reality. It doesn't have to be like that. This
freedom is probably only available when you let go of the clinging
to normality, which itself brings about the OBE. So the OBE occurs
when a strictly input-based model of the world breaks down but it is
still a stage of trying to hang onto our normal view of a self in the
world. Like any other stage, it can eventually be transcended. As
mystics have long been telling us, an OBE may show that something
is afoot, but of itself it is unimportant.
So the mystery begins to look a little different from how we might
first have thought. The fact that the tunnel can be accounted for in
physiological terms and the OBE in cognitive terms is not a prescription for a meaningless reductionism, but a scientific achievement
which in the end might bring mystical insights more clearly into
view.
Susan J. Blackmore, 1990
POSTSCRIPT REFERENCES
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3. Becker, C.B. "The Failure of Saganomics: Why Birth Models
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(Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 1982,77, pp.
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5.
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6.
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Postscript
References
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and Reminiscence" (Journal of the Society for Psychical Research,
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