Sunday, October 17, 2010

Astral Projection

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Astral projection (or astral travel) is a controversial interpretation of out-of-body experiences (OOBEs) achieved either consciously or via lucid dreaming, deep meditation, or use of psychotropics. Proponents of astral projection maintain that their consciousness or soul has transferred into an astral body (or "double"), which moves in tandem with the physical body in a parallel world known as the astral plane.
Astral projection is often associated with the occult and the New Age movement.

Schools of thought

There are two general schools of thought on the nature of astral projection; these can broadly be defined as the mystical model and the phasing model.

Mystical model

The mystical model includes a large variety of belief systems and astral maps, but they are tied together by their belief that astral projection takes place outside of the actual physical body. A more subtle energy body is believed to carry the consciousness outside of the physical body, and as one progresses to more advanced levels of the astral plane, more subtle bodies are realized and consciousness is transferred to turn to each of them. (Other mystical models assume only one subtle body.) The subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of an energetic connection which usually takes the appearance of a silver cord 'plugging' into the chakras like an umbilical cord.

Phasing model

The phasing model, which was defined by Robert Monroe, contains the belief that it is impossible to actually leave the body in the truest sense of the word, and that the astral planes and the physical world are merely points on the long spectrum of consciousness. When a person projects, they actually "phase" into another area of consciousness and the locales it contains. This can be likened to tuning a radio to another station. This viewpoint can be seen as a logical progression of the realisation that external reality is actually an internally created state (see Postmodernism).

Kinds of projection

Astral projection

The traveller finds him- or herself in an apparently real domain without exact parallels to any physical setting. The environments here range from populated to un-populated, artificial to natural to completely abstract environments and from beautific to horrific. Here, normal physical laws often do not apply and humans can often, for example, float or fly. Quality of physical detail ranges from crude and un-detailed and depressing to bright, vivid and fascinating as detailed, among other writers, by Robert Bruce in his Astral Dynamics (1999) Travelers may travel from one realm to the other. Projectors may find access to visions of the past or future and to the Akashic records accessible from here. Many travelers have theorized that people having dreams actually travel to the astral realms, unaware, and, again as reported in Astral Dynamics, travelers have reported seeing dreamers enact dream scenarios on the astral plane, unaware of the more extensive and varied non-physical environment surrounding them.

Real time projection

In contrast to "astral" projection, the traditional understanding of out-of-body experiences involves the projector (or traveller) moving about in (usually invisible) ghost-like form in the a world resembling mundane physical reality. This world, may, however have minor differences between the physical reality world we know and travelers may encounter non-human astral entities. Practioners sometimes refer to this practice as Real Time Projection (RTP) and the mundane world as the Real Time Zone. From the Real Time Zone, travellers can access "the astral".

Virtual reality projection

Part astral projection and part real time projection, called Virtual Reality Projection by most, is when a projector claims to move on the physical plane and interact with the astral plane at the same time. An example of this is the projector walking into a "real" poster or picture and being transported to a perfect reconstruction of this place/world, via the concentrated experiences and thoughts of every beholder of the concept of the picture.

Research

Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute, published several accounts of his experiences of astral projection, including Far Journeys (ISBN 0385231822). Monroe developed a method he calls Hemisync to induce mental states that are favorable for projection. Hemisync is a synchronization of the brainwaves of both of the brains' hemispheres or lobes. This is said to work by altering brain waves using sounds, together with meditative instruction, listened to on headphones. The process based on a concept referred to as binaural beats.

An exhaustive reference, which includes techniques and types of out-of-body experiences and related phenomena, is the 1,200+ page Projectiology by Dr. Waldo Vieira, MD (ISBN 8586019585), which has over 1,907 bibliographic entries from sources in 18 languages on the topic.

Astral projection and the Bible

The Bible describes people as being "in the spirit" while receiving prophecy (eg. Ezekiel 37:1, 1 Chronicles 12:18, Revelation 1:10, 4:7, 17:3, 21:10). Many biblical scholars attribute this to being in a dream-like state or trance. The terminology of the mystical model of astral projection is also found in Ecclesiastes 12:6-12:7:
"Remember [your Creator] — before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it."

See also

Major proponents

References and Further Reading

Forums on Astral Projection

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