The mind and the out-of-body

[emad]

Guardian

Psychologists at Manchester University are investigating the idea that out-of-body experiences, commonly thought of as paranormal phenomena, may in fact have their roots in how people perceive and experience their own bodies.

They are appealing for help from members of the public around the world in the hope of capturing data from at least 500 people, who may or may not have had an out-of-body experience (OBE in research jargon).

Around 10% of the population have an OBE at some time, typically involving a sensation of floating and seeing the physical body from the outside. It isn't uncommon for people to have more than one OBE, and they may also occur as part of the wider near-death experience some report experiencing in life-threatening circumstances.

An online survey at www.freeresponse.org/muobe2005/ will be linked to parapsychology websites across the world. It will be available for the next six weeks, and a summary of the results, which should contribute substantially to psychologists' understanding of the phenomenon, will be posted on the site in the autumn.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,9865,1555499,00.html

[trotsky]

1. Happens a lot to test pilots

who black out after experiencing high G-forces.

That should tell us a lot about the nature of OBEs. The brain does some pretty nutty things when deprived of oxygen.

[kikiek]

2. My husband has had one. He is pretty intuitive also.

[salvorhardin]

3. Interesting idea

but that has to be the worst designed survey I've ever seen. Often it's not clear whether the questions are referring to everyday life or the person's reported OBE. I also did not care for the way religion was handled. The survey did ask about belief or disbelief but then proceeded into a whole littany of questions that assumed belief.

[zalinda]

4. I've had 2 of them

One while trying to fall asleep and the other during sex.

zalinda

[Meldread]

5. Was the sex really that bad? :P

Sorry, had to poke a bit of fun at that.

On a serious note, I don't think I've ever had an OBE. What was it like? What do you think triggered it? What did it feel like emotionally?

[zalinda]

6. It was interesting.........

I remember the one while I was trying to fall asleep the most, as it was most startling. I was lying down and then, all of a sudden, I was at the door looking at a body. I was confused at first and then I realized it was my body and I freaked. I slammed back into my body and immediately sat up. I don't think I even slept that night, I was so shaken. Maybe that's why I've had so much trouble falling asleep over the years, I hadn't thought of that before.....

As for the sex, yeah, there has been some that was REALLY bad, but that's another story. This time I can't remember exactly what happened, only that I was up above looking at the two of us and thinking how silly it looked. But, that's all I remember.

There is a feeling of disconnection.

It is said that taking drugs or drinking alcohol is a forced OBE, and that is why we can't control our bodies well. But, in those times we are also struggling to stay in control, so we don't notice that we are out of our bodies.

zalinda

[Pepperbelly]

7. The whole experience of perception is far more basic than we acknowledge.

We live our lives through our senses, the neurological data from the specialized sensory organs going to the brain, converted to how we perceive that sort of data (visual v. aural v. tactile v. smell v. taste), place the data into a context for us, and then, what we finally use to make decisions and evaluations is, at the point of consciousness, an abstraction of the original data.

How that relates to the OP I do not know but ... :D

But everything that drives us is based on these abstractions and of course, we rarely consider it, preferring to take our coffee with sugar, so to speak.

Peace.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. This is one of Persinger's effects, too

Michael Persinger has discovered that low-frequency magnetic fields can drive brain function to produce unusual states of consciousnes that fit the descriptions of OBEs, near-death experiences, posession, the "perceived other" effect (the strong feeling that there is another presence in the room or in your body) and so on.

It's been know for years that drugs can produce these effects, too, most notably DMT (n,n-Dimethyltryptamine) and Ketamine. And, of course, they can happen as a result of illness, fever, food poisoning, or even spontaneously.

Not many people talk about these experiences, and those who do are usually trying to convince others of their paranormal abilities. Surveying to determine the range of responses is a good start.

--p!