Dream On! Dream On!

As promised I have come with a new metaphysical/supernatural topic to discuss. This Friday we are talking about Astral Travel! This topic came to my attention when  I decided to talk about my very vivid dreams to someone (who for the sake of privacy I will not mention their names, their relationship to me and the state of their sanity) I thought hey why not talk about it?
Astral Travel  is another name for  an Out-Of-Body-Experience (or OBE for short) when the consciousness literally leaves the body and travels to realms unknown. In many cultures these travels are linked to the afterlife and the realms of  gods. Many OBEs can be experianced in dreams, hence why my source suggested Astral Travel and why I titled today's post the way I did.
Apparently humans have been  doing this since forever, or at least as far back as our ancestors' records allow us to see. In ancient Egypt, they believed the body had two souls; a Ka and a Ba. The Ba was for the afterlife but the Ka could hover outside the body, allowing for  visits to the other realms of existences. There is even some mentioning of  it in the Bible. Astral Travel has also appeared in China, Japan, India,  the Amazon, and Inuit cultures.
There are actually a few people who have practiced and written about Astral Travel. The oldest one I found so far was Emanuel Swedenborg who lived during the 18th century and wrote much about his experiences.

Robert Monroe was the one who came up with the term OBE and founded an institute dedicated to the studies

Waldo Veira is  a dentist and a physician, not a scientist but what makes him connected to Astral Travel is the fact that he claimed to have his first OBE at the age of nine and continuously had them since then. He wrote several books on the subject and became a major figure in the study.

Pretty much anyone can have an OBE. In the 1960s and 70s there were several surveys that revealed that 8 percent to 50 percent of people (depending on the group and area) had an experience. Though because the whole entire idea is subjective and spontaneous any rock solid fact is subject to a good amount of scrutiny.

And just for the heck of it, I thought I'd put a list of directions on how to do it yourself. Not saying it will work, it will just be a fun little activity that you can try and then make fun of later
1.Simply lay down with the lights off. Make sure you are completely relaxed. Lie there and be quite and still, calm and clear your mind.
2.Imagine your astral body which may look like gray matter shaped in the form of your body. Imagine it lifting  and floating out of your body, floating up to the ceiling in your room.
3.Turn and look down and try to see you body lying there. If you are successful you may want to stay in the room and float around a bit, staying close to the body. Or you can choose to walk through walls and travel to where ever you wish to go. You can fly there or you can will yourself there instantly.


See you Sunday with the second chapter of my book! Remember to post your crazy conspiracies for my contest!