Hi Rachel.. There are many layers to this onion.. The level of consciousness that we carry in our everyday waking lives is merely one of them.. My definition of an OBE is that it is an Energy Body Experience... which makes the OBE a more tactile, more dense experience than say,, RV...Posted by Rachel (here)
Hi Jake, I have a question relating to what you wrote here -
I was wondering if you could expand on the different flavours you mention here please?A loose definition of OBE is any experience that you have that is beyond the restraints of the physical body... You don't have to be outside your body like a ghost,, there are different flavors to this overall experience.
I have been out of my body but only once in the way that people generally define OBEs to be (I was four yrs old). I almost had another one more recently, I began vibrating and was floating out through my shoulders but then I slid back in before I could get completely out. Anyway, the reason I'm asking is because I have a lot of various types of experiences and I did experience some of them as being out of my body but now I'm wondering if some of those OBE experiences were more like psychic experiences. Here's an example of the type that I'm referring to (an excerpt from an experience I shared on another thread) -
Is there some sort of rule of thumb that you have that distinguishes between psychic and OBE experiences? I'm thinking of the difference between the above example and RVing. When I'm RVing I experience being where my body is, while seeing (or attempting to) the target, whereas in experiences like the above example I experience it as being out of my body. Would you agree it comes down to our personal sense of it?I reached out to a young man who had just died a couple of days previously. I was convinced he'd been murdered, so I told him what I thought, I told him I was sorry that had happened to him and then I asked him to let me know if there was anything I could help him with.
I then laid down and closed my eyes to focus on receiving any messages from him. After a few moments I was suddenly standing outside on the road in front of my house, looking up at the night sky (this was during the day). I noticed two stars which were much brighter than the rest and then my attention was drawn to the star on the left, which pulsed brighter for a second (I understood this to be showing me him entering here from the other side). The next instant I was back laying on my bed and I watched the spirit of the man I had addressed walk through the bedroom door. He then instantly put me to sleep (with consent from my HS, so I have no problem with spirits taking such liberties) and we spoke in private in a small wooden room. We hadn't been speaking for long when he had to leave. I pestered him to stay longer but he insisted he had to go right then, he then left and I woke up.
Our minds/consciousness reach out in different ways in order to glean what it is we are observing... For example,,, when there is something cooking,, our sense of smell gathers the info without us ever inducing any process.. We might LOOK at what's cooking.. again, an automatic process that we don't have to think about,, quite natural..
If we sort of relate that to how we have come to view our experiences with consciousness, it makes more sence...
Let me explain... 😊 The dreaming mind is in there doing it's job,, dreaming.. It thinks that IT is the one at the center of its journey, and that IT is the one living a life.. It carries on in a non-physical world, vaguely aware of a higher self,, and quite insist that it's world is solid and physical... (just like we do in our 'physical' world... lol...)
So both experiences are simply FLAVORS of our TRUE existence...
When one is Remote Viewing, one will still be aware of their physical body... When in an OBE, as soon as you think about your physical body,, it triggers a 'return'.. it's not so difficult, really... There are a vast number of ways to expand/house consciousness so as to explore our worlds.. This is not the primary reality.. this physical world is only one way we are experiencing living...
If we start by assuming that THIS is the primary reality, then trying to have an OBE will be,, well,, limiting... it is the same with RV and psychic experiences...
All worlds are soft, subtle,, energetic/mental constructs... including this one.. (there are no particles in dreams, though you can't tell that to the dreamer..)
Somewhere in the vastness,, we are large conscious minds observing and experiencing... As much as we believe we are physical, will be as much as we will be confused about these non-physical (OBE/RV) ways in which we glean information...
The mental travelers and psychics are traversing those mental planes and can become part of the scene or just be an observer... That is their gift and it is wonderful... Many of us who are having OBEs, are having Energy Body Phenomenon,, that is our gift, and it is wonderful... Mental, spiritual, physical, astral,,, etc,,, these are all different ways we are experiencing our worlds... but we are experiencing them at a higher level,, we just don't fully realize it yet... We are the dreamer who is living the dream,,, we think it is real, though vaguely aware that it ISN'T.. from a higher level, we may not know a difference between RV, OBE, Psychic...
If I take a big Sniff.. I will simply smell what I smell.. That is how I perceive smells.. However, if I am my Nose,, there may be an entire plethora of ways that I experience different smells, highlights, aromas, etc..
I can imagine that my soul comes from a more Energetic world.. Therefore my sojourns are an energetic experience ie,, OBE... I can imagine that you (soul/essense) may come from a more mental plane.. Therefore your sojourns will be more mental, ie RV...
I have absolutely no idea if I touched on your question.. lol... I try and get folks up and out of their bodies as soon as possible so they can judge it for themselves...
it may very well be that the OBE is the 'thrill-ride' version of sojourning... RV/Psychic may be the peaceful path to the same place...
Merrily merrily merrily merrily...
Jake