OBE, Retreat 1997

OUT-OF-BODY AND NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

Given By Paula Thomas, D.D. and Penny Warren, B.A., M.A., D.D.

at the PLIM 1997 Retreat in White Cloud, Michigan

Reported by Dr. Penny Warren

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See Related Articles: ESOTERIC MYSTERIES REVEALED

Introduction

Paula Thomas and Penny Warren co-lectured a session on out-of-body experiences (OBE) and near-death experiences (NDE). They explored the possibility of consciousness existing separate from the body by reports from people who attained an out-of-body state. In spite of the fact that all cultures history, myth, anthropology, and religion have reported this universal occurrence, scientists have not been able to provide proof of these incidences. Researchers wondered whether they could demonstrate that man has a soul and that a realm exists for souls to reside after they leave the physical body.

Prior to the advent of medical technologys ability to resuscitate people on the verge of death, OBE appeared historically in non-scientific literature. (See p. 13, Does the Bible mention OBE? In Is Spirit Calling Modern Man to an Inner Journey? May/June 1997 issue.) Relatives or friends of the dying reported these experiences and described deathbed visions of a duplicate, astral body leaving the physical one. They used terms such as subtle double, apparitional body, ethereal or phantom duplicate, Bardo body, ba, ka, exteriorization, and silver cord (Eccl. 12:6-7) to describe the OBE. Near-death experiences (NDE) were reported when the soul left the physical body and a silver cord that attached the two remained in tact. If the cord snapped, death ensues.

Reports from people who have attained an out-of-body state after surviving a near-death experience did not begin to emerge in medical journals until the 1960s. These survivors related that consciousness does indeed exist separate from the body. Dr. Raymond Moody, a psychiatrist and author of Life After Life, coined the term NDE in 1976 after interviewing hundreds of revived individuals. NDE have an out-of-body component that makes testimony from a group of people, who have exhibited various criteria of death, such as stopped heartbeat, ceased breathing, or flat brainwaves, and have survived the experience, invaluable. Due to advances in medical technology, more people resuscitated from heart attacks and near fatal accidents have been able to recount their own NDE than ever before. According to a Gallup poll in the late 1980s about one in 20 people had NDE. (The Light Beyond, Raymond Moody, p. 5)

Who has experienced OBE/NDE?

Paula and Penny began their session with excerpts from three video tapes that captured the experiences of people who had a OBE/NDE and survived to tell of their supernatural incident. The first video, Saved by the Light, was a television dramatization of Dannion Brinkleys story. In 1975, he was struck by lightening and was clinically dead 28 minutes. Then in 1989, he died again during open-heart surgery. The images he saw and conversations he heard while his consciousness communed with 13 beings of light was reminiscent of the Apostle Johns vision. (See p. 14, Who is Dannion Brinley? In Is Spirit Calling Modern Man to an Inner Journey? May/June 1997 issue.)

The second video tape entitled Embraced by the Light featured Betty Eadie lecturing to a group of interested people about her NDE where she was dead four hours. The Native American housewife and mother of seven shared with her audience the courage and self-esteem her experience with Jesus gave her. (See p. 28, What happened to Betty Eadie when she died? In Is Spirit Calling Man to an Inner Journey in the May/June 1997 issue.)

The last tape called Conversations with God featured conversations with people who had experienced and written about OBE/NDE. One of the researchers, Melvin Morse, M.D., reported that children who are free of cultural and religious conditioning experiences the same common elements of NDE listed in the next section as adults.

What are OBE/NDE?

These words describe an out-of-body phenomenon in which a person feels separated from his or her physical body and seems to be able to move to, and perceive, distant locations on earth or in nonworldly realms (Harpers Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experiences, p. 419.)

NDE describes the mystical-like phenomena experienced by individuals who appear to die and return to life. Raymond Moody identified some common elements in NDE. They are: a sense of being dead, peace and painlessness, out-of-body experience - consciousness of the environment after being pronounced clinically dead, the tunnel experience, people of light, the being of light, the life review, rising rapidly into the heavens, reluctance to return (The Light Beyond, Raymond Moody, p. 5)

Can NDE/OBE be compared to Israel's migration?

Penny Warren showed that Israels migration from Egypt compares with NDE. Egypt equals a death state (Rev. 11:8). The parting of Red Sea compares to a tunnel (Exo. 14:16, 21-22; 15:8; Psa. 78:13). Then Moses climbed Mt. Sinai and saw Elohim as a being of light (Exo. 24:9-10). Elohim showed Moses a vision of creation that equals a life review (Exo. 24:16). Yahweh told Moses to descend from the mount because of the children of Israel's corruption and Moses was reluctance to return (Exo. 32:7-9).

Who says what about NDE/OBE?

Paula Thomas explained that theories on NDE/OBE fall into two camps. One believes that nothing leaves the body. The other group believes that something leaves the body (Harpers Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experiences, p. 423). The reason the former group does not believe anything leaves the body is due to disappointing results in laboratory experiments with people who claim to be able to leave their body and go elsewhere (Harpers Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experiences, p. 423). In controlled experiments researchers have told these people to go to a certain place and report what they saw. Inaccurate and false reports lead the researchers to believe that nothing leaves the body. Tests for ESP during OBEs have had sporadic results.

Do scientists believe NDE/OBE are real phenomenon?

Because scientific evidence for NDE/OBE are inclusive, skeptics hypothesize that OBE is not an exteriorization, but a mental exercise in an altered state of consciousness (Harpers Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experiences, p. 423). Researchers are not sure whether the survivors recounted experiences are hallucinations or a biochemical process that occurs in the brain.

Some researchers believe that NDE are hallucinations brought about by oxygen deprivation at the time of death causing a series of images that parallel a birth process. They feel that this would explain the tunnel experience often reported in OBE. They also think the release of endorphins (the bodies own pain killer), or increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood may cause these illusions.

Others believe that NDE are a form of mental illness or schizophrenia. These theories cannot account for the fact that often no drugs are administered at the time of crisis and many NDE occur during flat EEG. If there is no brain waves, the two above conditions could not exist.

A third group think NDE are mind coping techniques, the imagination, and the egos denial of the inevitable death of the physical body.

None of the above scientists accept these experiences as proof of the existence of an immortal soul or life after death.

Did something leave the body?

On the other hand, there are a few scientists who believe that something really left the body. They think the something is either:

1. a physical double traveling in the physical world,

2. a non-physical double traveling in the physical world, or

3. a non-physical double traveling in a mental astral world.

They argue that believing "nothing leaves the body" ignores the fact that many clinically dead individuals are able to give elaborate accounts of their resuscitations or report conversations they heard. In one case a woman blind from birth reported accurate colors of clothing and other visual items (The Light Beyond, p. 134-135). In another recollection offered as proof against oxygen deprivation as the cause of a NDE, a psychotherapist told of a patient who, while out of the body, watched his physician perform a blood test that revealed both high oxygen and low carbon dioxide.

Others in this group believe symbolic messages are being conveyed to the living at the time of death.

Can OBE be induced?

OBE can be prompted by several means. 85% of OBE occur during rest, sleep, or dream states (Out of Body Experience FAQ, by Jouni A. Smed (http://www3.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/obe-faq.html, p. 3 of 66). When someone is experiencing a lucid dream, where the dreamer is aware of the fact that he is dreaming, OBE can occur. (A Look At Lucid Dreaming and Out Of Body Experiences, by Ian Wilson, (http://www3.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/obe-wilson.html) During these states the dreamer can travel with the speed of thought.

Meditation especially in Tibetan Yoga has also been used to induce OBE.

Certain patterns of sound can induce an out-of-body state. (See p. 29 Can anyones conscious leave his body? In Is Spirit Calling Man to an Inner Journey in the May/June 1997 issue for more details on Robert Monroe)

Drugs have been used to achieve an OBE. Ketamine is a synthetic dissociative anesthetic that works when 100 cc are injected into the muscle. (Using Ketamine to Induce the Near-Death Experience: Mechanism of Action and Therapeutic Potential, by Dr Karl L.R. Jansen in Jahrbuch f. Ethnomedizin 1995, 55-79)

(http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs/synthetics/ketamine/Ketamine_near-death.html). LSD has also been used to reproduce NDE-type phenomena.

Trauma, extreme stress, and fear also may produce OBE.

What is the spiritual purpose of NDE/OBE?

NDE/OBE serve as witnesses that prove consciousness exists outside of the body. NDE/OBE also illustrate the possibility of a transformation from a carnal state of being to a higher, elevated state of spiritual consciousness. Almost all NDE reported are positive. (See p. 14, What is a NDE? In Is Spirit Calling Modern Man to an Inner Journey? May/June 1997 issue.) Less than 3% are described as negative or unpleasant.

Conclusion

Scientists do not consider detailed interviews from those who returned from the dead to be scientific proof of life after death. Neither are the reports of people who leave their body through altered states of consciousness, sound, and drugs, adequate evidence to convince skeptics of a non-material realm. Believers, on the other hand, wonder why NDE and OBE dont prove that the soul or mind does indeed pass into another dimension of reality (The Light Beyond, p. 13). For the skeptic, there is never enough proof; for the believer, proof is not needed.

Bibliography

Internet articles

Out of Body Experience FAQ, by Jouni A. Smed (http://www3.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/obe-faq.html)

A Look At Lucid Dreaming and Out Of Body Experiences,

by Ian Wilson, (http://www3.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/obe-wilson.html)

The Monroe Institute, by Spiritweb Org, Promoting spiritual Consciousness on the Internet, (wysiwgy://12/http://www3.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/monroe-inst.html)

Robert Allan Monroe, (http://www.monroe-inst.com/programs/hemi-sync.html) (http://www.monroeinstitute.org/bio/robert-monroe.html)

Hemi-Sync® Audio Technology, (http://www.monroe-inst.com/programs/hemi-sync.html)

FAQ about the Hemi-Sync® Process, (http://www.monroe-inst.com/programs/hemi-sync-faq.html)

The Ketamine Konundrum, by James Kent, (http://www.lycaeum.org/~lux/alchem/konun.htm)

Using Ketamine to Induce the Near-Death Experience:

Mechanism of Action and Therapeutic Potential, by Dr Karl L.R. Jansen in Jahrbuch f. Ethnomedizin 1995, 55-79

(http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs/synthetics/ketamine/Ketamine_near-death.html)

A Conversation with Raymond Moody, http://www.lightworks.com/MonthlyAspectarian/1995/April/RaymondMoody.html

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