About the Verification of OBEing

Obes and Verification

Materialism and esoterism are colliding at the subject of OBEs. For that reason, I often was asked for verification.
Well, verification can't be done by a single and simple experiment. Perhaps one or the other could do this, but except for the experiment of Prof. Dr. Tart, no OBE verification experiment in sleep laboratories or paraphysical laboratories is known to me. Because OBEs are far beyond the common materialistic paradigm, it would need many reproducible experiments to be convincing. And it is also important to point out that OBEs are dealing with astral events and not with physical ones (some few exceptions excluded), and for that reason, they cannot be dealt with by instruments based on material physics.

The reason why I believe in the reality of OBEs (I do not mean "brain reality") are several reports, which are astonishing examples for the evidence of a subtle body. Below you find collected examples of verification.

In the book "Journeys out of the body" from Robert Monroe (various publishers), you can also find interesting and exact documentations of verification.

OBE Letter 349

Lisa
24 September 2000

"Dear Alfred,
After reading through your website, I find myself confused as to what exactly happened to me. I feel that I perhaps didn't have an OBE at all, but perhaps a premonition of sorts, or something else that I may not know the name of. I'm hoping that by writing this letter and telling you of my experience, that you can tell me, did I in fact have an OBE or was it something else entirely?

Several years ago, I was in an 8 year ‘on again off again’ relationship with an alcoholic. Being in that sort of relationship had been quite stressful and worrisome at many times, but it's this one time that I remember so vividly. I had heard about OBE's on a talk show and looked up some information about them on the internet although I can't remember any of the things that I'd read at that time. Some time had passed when this experience took place. My boyfriend, Ruben, had not been heard from by myself or his mother in nearly 24 hours and we were both very concerned for his well being. I knew that he was on another ‘drunk’ as it had started several days before, but it was unusual for neither of us to hear from him for this length of time. We feared that something terrible had happened.

I went to bed around midnight. As I lay there I kept thinking over and over again, ‘Where is he? I want to be with him.’ and other various thoughts of longing, yearning, want, etc. Eventually, I guess I fell asleep. I remember it being very dark and then there was a rushing sound. Things began to come clear and I realized I was in a car, watching the white lines pass underneath in the beams of the headlights. I didn't recognize the street. The car was a large 4-door, sort of resembling a Ford Torino, and green in color. At that time I assumed that the rushing sound was that of the moving car, you know … wind noise. We used to have an old green Ford Torino when I was a child and at first thought I was dreaming of my childhood. Next, I remembered that our Torino wasn't a 4-door and then realized that this car wasn't the one from my childhood, nor was it a Torino, but I couldn't tell you what kind of car it was because I next realized that I wasn't alone in the car. First, I recognized Timo as the driver and some girl sitting next to him. I remember thinking ‘This isn't Timo's car.’ I turned around and saw Mike in the backseat behind Timo. Mike lives across the street from Ruben. Then, there was Ruben with some other girl sitting in his lap very cozily making out. They were drinking Bush beer, talking and laughing, although I couldn't hear what was being said. For that matter, I couldn't hear anything except that ‘wind noise’. I remember my heart pounding very hard as it often does when I'm scared, nervous, or anxious. I just continued to watch. Eventually, the beer was gone and Mike tossed the box out the window and a bit later we pulled up in front of Mike's house and that's when I woke up. My heart was still pounding, I started crying, and my clock read about 2 AM. I didn't lay there long. I had an overwhelming feeling of having to ‘find out’. So, I jumped up, got dressed, and headed out to the street that Mike and Ruben lived on.

When I rounded the curve on their street, there was the large green 4-door that I had been ‘in’ in my dream. I parked behind it. I got out of my car and could hear the music coming from inside the house. When I knocked on the door, no one answered, so I just went in. Mike and I were fairly good friends. I didn't think he'd really mind. No one was in the front room. I went down the hall and knocked on Mike's bedroom door and Mike opened it up. I stood there shocked for a moment. There in the room was Timo, the girl that had been next to him in the car, and Ruben still making out with the girl that had been in his lap, only this time they were on Mike's bed, still fully clothed though, thank goodness. My first question was, ‘Been here long?’ Mike replied, ‘No, only about a half hour or so.’ (That's about how long it took me from the time I woke up to get there.) Timo was the next to speak, ‘Hi, did you see my car out front?’ I asked, ‘The green one?’ He replied, ‘Yes, I just got it today.’ Ruben began paying attention to me as if I'd not just caught him making out with someone else and I didn't make a big deal out of it. I think I was too amazed by what had just happened to me. Later, Ruben and I left and went to sleep at his house.

The next morning, during breakfast, Ruben asked me how I'd known where to find him and I told him about my dream. I told him how I was "in" the green car. I described how they were all sitting, particularly the girl in his lap. I told him about the beer and Mike throwing the empty Bush box out the window and that I'd woken up from my dream when they pulled up in front of Mike's house. I described every detail that I could. Ruben sat there listening to me and looking as if he'd just seen a ghost. He claimed that everything I'd said had been just as it had happened.

I've never had anything even remotely close to that experience before, nor has it happened since. I never saw myself sleeping or lying in the bed. The only thing that seems to come close to other experiences is that "wind noise" sound. I saw no tunnel. I was simply ‘there’ and then I was awake.

What happened to me?
I appreciate your time and thank you in advance for your reply.

Sincerely,
Lisa"

Answer:

Hi Lisa,

This was exactly a spontaneous OBE. One of the rare kinds of OBE in which your senses are open for our material world.

It is not so rare that our subtle body makes its own excursions without our knowledge or awareness. Let me remind you of "doubles/ forerunners" or "false awakening" or "telepathic awareness" in the kind of ‘remote viewing’. Our subtle being, in some way, is independent from the controlling will of our daytime ego, though in your case it was directed by your worry about Ruben.

Alfred

OBE Letter 356

Lauren
5 October 2000

"Dear Alfred
I was thrilled to find your site. It took some time to finally figure out what was happening to me and that it even had a name. I am one of those people who has OBE's without trying. They come frequently. I try to fight them but sometimes they sneak up on me and then I realize what's happening and I pull myself out.
I know my mother also had the experience a few times. My experiences started after the birth of my son, who is now five. I knew the moment he was born that I felt different. I was so spiritually connected to him. It was after his arrival that the OBE's started. I also became very aware of things I had no previous knowledge of. I sometimes know more than I want to.

During a recent OBE I was standing next to an older woman, she was wearing a blue dress and had a large long strand of pearls on, her stature was small and her voice was distinctive. She said something to me but I don't remember what it was, however, I became aware of who she was. I then started to feel the vibration and the pull on, how I would explain it, my energy. I pulled away until I broke free. The woman who came to me was the mother of a friend of mine. I never met or even spoke to this woman nor do I know her name. I felt like I was supposed to tell her daughter about her visit but I was nervous and unsure of her reaction. I don't see my friend often. The next two days she was everywhere I was. I broke down and told her. She confirmed the description: pearls, voice and all. Even though I didn't remember what she said my friend found comfort in her mom's visit to me. It so happens my friend has been having difficulty selling her mom's house and with the estate.

My question is how do the OBE's fit in with the medium/ clairvoyant part of my experience and why has this happened to me? Is it possible that my son brought this gift with him?

Thanks - God Bless
Lauren"

Answer:

Hi Lauren,

1) I do not know why this had happened to you. You were attracted by the woman and who knows about the reason and origin - the attraction could have its source in former lives or can happen as a cause of unknown astral friendship. This kind of OBE is a product of mediumism (but not clairvoyance in the entire sense - but I would suppose that you have clairvoyant abilities as well).

2) This gift of yours is a hereditary gift in your family. It looks like your gift was triggered by your son while you were pregnant and has been actualized at his birth. I suppose that he will have this gift as well (to take this into account could be important for his education).

Alfred

OBE Letter 453

Kathryn
23 January 2001

"Hello,

I need some help with my research. I am attempting to compile evidence for or against the existence of a ‘soul’. It occurred to me that one way of going about this is researching the validity of astral projection. If it is possible for a person's consciousness to leave the physical body, then it would stand to reason that a ‘soul’ exists.

My question to you is how can astral projection be documented? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kathryn"

Answer:

Hi Kathryn,

Validation of OBE (or soul existence) accomplished in the sense of verification principles of natural sciences is not possible. Natural science is totally different from soul principles and in the same way, natural science tools (validation principles) do not fit either. An example: how would you verify the existence and quality of consciousness? Which apparatus would you use for this? How do you measure the differences of individual variations of consciousness (qualities)?

As far as I know, the only thing you can do is to register subjective experiences/ observations, in order to compare and to select them by means of statistical methods.

OBEing is an experience done in other dimensions or done in a pool of collective consciousness or wherever - who knows, there are only speculations. How can a science develop which is not favored and sponsored by public institutions? Such a science has to stagnate and to stay on medieval level.

On some very rare occasions, there is an interaction of OBEers on physical plane (that's not the common plane where OBEs usually do happen). Such interactions can be used for verification in the sense of natural science. But as I said such occasions are rare and not reprocible (a natural science verification postulate).

Prof. Ch. Tart (http://www.paradigm-sys.com/) has done some OBE verification experiences and reported about these results. I do not know which article it was - the best way would be to send him an e-mail and to ask him.

A very poor contribution is found in my homepage under OBEs and Verification - this short article of mine certainly will not satisfy you.

Alfred

…..............................

Today at the morning I have consulted my wife concerning your request. We spoke about methods of verification. My wife told me that there are as well difficult verification problems in medical physiology, like sensory awareness and sensory interpretation, emotions etc. These to a certain degree individual reactions can't be classified by standard natural science (physical) methods; for that, psycho-physical methods have been developed.

Your case of verification is still more complicated. Nevertheless I would recommend you first to study psycho-physical methods and other methods situated at the border of common science. Having come to a survey in this field, you can ask in a precise way for OBE experiences, which then can be evaluated to a certain degree for research.

Alfred

Michael Ayers

06 December 2000

"I would like to begin sharing some experiences in more detail. Specifically, I am interested in any evidence suggesting the reality or objectivity of OBEs. I alluded to such an experience in my last e-mail. When I was about 21 years I was having almost nightly success with OBE and found that 3 am was a common OBE time. I set up an experiment. I asked a friend to get up at 3 am and will me to appear while I would attempt contact via OBE. I recall achieving OBE at the appointed time, going to his house, down the hallway and to him in bed, at which point I felt a blast of energy, fear, which sent me back to my body in a rough and fast manner. His account was that he forgot about the experiment but woke up suddenly at 3 am and saw ‘a vortex of energy which terrified him’.

I've noticed in other OBE's how intense other one’s emotions and thoughts are and their effect on the nonphysical body. I talked with Dr. Leberge about the Ingo Swann and other similiar experiments. The evidence seems to suggest that while there is evidence pointing at the reality of OBE, duplication/ repeatability is lacking. Any comments will be appeciated … Thanks"

Vortices are an old and well-known phenomenon in relation to OBEs and witches fly and you can find quite a lot of such examples in old fairy tales. I suppose that the rotation may come from an etheric emanation descending from a rotating chakra serving as a port.

"Unusual Spontaneous OBE"
09 December 1997

"I was in an argument with my mother and father after we'd all had a lot to drink. I felt something pull my head to the left and felt a popping noise. I subsequently found myself, out of body for the first time, but behind my parents. I did not feel scared, but was apprehensive, and wanted to return to my body. I thought I was probably invisible. As I went back, my mother saw me and was terrified. Later, she said she had seen a demon enter my body. I never felt like a demon, but looked like one."

Lilliane, 26 May 2002

"While I was separated from my children and unable to contact them I had an OBE. I left my bed and found myself at a children’s home were I had never been to but were my children were living. I entered the home and went to my children’s room to find one ill with chicken pox. She was in bed and asked me to open the curtains but I was unable to. When my children did come to visit me, my daughter said ‘Mum, didn't you come to see me last week and read me a story and could not open the curtains?’ I said yes and the lady whom she was with said she thought that the child had made it up. When I told my local priest, he dismissed it as missing the children."

OBE letter 12

"Today, something awesome happened to me (we have a free day today). I woke up around 10 am because I have had a dream. I sat at my computer and as I looked in my guest book, I saw a new entry. A few days ago, I had wrote in the guest book of this girl. But now, in my dream, I saw her name and the text she wrote to me. After having woken up with a start – because I had seen the monitor in front of me very big suddendly, I went to the computer at once and indeed, everything was there in the guest book just as I had dreamed it before … weird!"

OBE letter 43

"About 7 years ago, I had the first experience. It was after I had slept very long. Suddendly, I saw myself lying on the sofa bed from above and somehow I found this very scary. When I ‘woke up’ I felt very queasy. But at first, I had some problems to open my eyes at all and to move somehow. When I finally was ‘awake’, I realised that I lay there exactly as I had seen myself from above. At first I thought it was a dream, but it was so realistic; especially because I had perceived all my surroundings and this normally isn’t the case when one is dreaming. After I had had some experiences of this kind, I stopped ignoring it and began to occupy myself with this topic, whereat a friend of mine helped me a lot. He knew the feeling, so I could speak with him about this openly.

Then a new situation came up when my son was 1,5 years old. He was quite ill and I always was worried that maybe I wouldn’t hear him during the night when something happened, despite the baby-phone. What happened then was very weird like the first time: my son started crying and suddendly I was in his room, he sat in his bed. I wanted to comfort him, but it wasn’t possible, and then suddendly I ‘woke up’ and via baby-phone I heard that he was indeed crying, so I went to his room. He sat in his bad exactly how I had seen him before. There it dawned upon me that this could not have been a dream."

OBE letter 77

" … my subtle/ beta body then was suddendly above the bedroom of my girlfriend, who was lying in bed with her niece … I had a curved vision of the bedroom, like an oval … and I wanted to attract the attention of my girlfriend. But she got frightened and yelled: ‘Go away!’ At this very moment, the bilocation ended and my etheric body sank down to the physical body, due to the abrupt frightful reaction of her.

On the next day, I told this to her – she lives 150 km away from me, by the way! And she confirmed to have had the sensation of fear at the very same time when I experienced the OBE! The phenomenal about this is that her 13-year-old niece felt that someone was in the room although she could not see him … later, she said to my girlfriend that she believed it was her boyfriend. At first, she didn’t think much about this, but when I told about my experience she was of course astounded and had no words …"

Letter from Wolfhard:

"Since I have found to your website through the link list on the site of Mr. Zurfluh, I am searching with much interest for hints on a real wandering of the soul in space or time. Regarding my own experiences, this search started since my first conscious OBE around 11 years ago. My success on this search leaves a lot to be desired, except for a remarkable experience that I will now reconstruct from my memories, because unfortunately I didn’t take notes so far. But this one experience is one of the few ‘dreams’ and OBEs that I can remember quite vividly, even after years. In this case, it was around 3 years ago. I vaguely remember the loosening process, which was like a sudden ‘being rocked out of the body’ with a jerk, simultaneously with becoming conscious of being out of body. Lying on my back, I was pulled here and there as if by a magnet, without being able to influence the direction willfully. Until here, the experience was happening in my bedroom. And at this point, there’s a ‘leap’ or just a blackout. Now I floated, lying on my belly, through the staircase in the direction of the flat of my mother; whereat it was still difficult for me to control flight direction. It rather seemed, like before in my own flat, that I was pulled somewhere automatically. My velocity and reeling movements were alarmingly high. There were many other beings in the staircase, but I guess it was due to the high velocity that they were only dimly visible. But I recognised an acquaintance, a friend of one of my brothers. This acquaintance was standing there in front of the door, with a matress or something similar under his arm, and asked to come in – which caused worry or even annoyance in my mother, who was present as well. At this point, my memories end; I woke up in the morning in reality and was surprised about the intensity of this experience and its strange mix with dream-like elements.

When I visited my mother in her flat on the next day, I noticed very quickly – because it was uncommon – that a matress lay in the living room. Actually I didn’t have to ask her about it, because it was suddendly all clear to me. Nevertheless, I asked her about the happenings on the evening before, and she explained to me that exactly this acquaintance had rung the doorbell and asked for staying overnight, because it had been a very cold winter’s night. My mother was not fond of being visited by a homeless, but she was a kind-hearted person so that she had let him in. I then thought that if it was possible that I had seen this acquaintance before my nocturnal experience somewhere in Hamburg – whereat my subconscious maybe had woven an appropriate dream; or maybe an incidental remark in some telephone conversation with a family member. But I am sure I didn’t have had any hint like this.

Now just a few additional words for explanation: I hadn’t met this acquaintance for one year, and only on this evening he had come back from a half-year stay at Berlin – thus, the wish for overnight accomodation. Of course, he had not brought the matress with him; it was in the house of my mother. I can’t remember to have dreamt of him ever before, even not to have thought about him much. The flat where my mother lives is situated in the same street where I lived back then, around 150 meters away from my flat. My mother and I often have premonitions about the fate of each other. But except for this potential verification, this OBE is quite comparable to other spontaneous separations that I have experienced. The surroundings were quite not congruent with the everyday appearance; it was rather variable. The flight direction was very hard or not influenceable. Encounters with friends and also deceased relatives from the everyday world are very impressive. There are often other beings, on a range from very simple – maybe isolated emotions or whatever – to complex. If you want to use this experience on your homepage, I have no objections to it."

Brita

16 March 2001

"I have read your reports with great interest. Something happened to me quite frequently that I cannot really interpret: 8 years ago, my husband, my son and I were in Greece. We were at the beach and all in good mood – sorrows and problems were far away. I just had a guilty conscience because I had promised my parents to call them on the phone. But I hadn’t done this yet. Suddendly, I was overcome by a strong tiredness and had to think intensely of my father. I went to our camper van and laid down for a short nap. I remembered very well the dream I had then:

I was in my parent’s garden and through the back entrance I entered their house. My mother stared at me speechlessly. I went on to the bedroom and I was surprised to see my father lying in bed despite the wonderful weather. He trembled terribly and didn’t notice his surroundings. I sat down on his bed and, again and again, I recited a mantra. Then I walked out again, I went past my mother and into the garden, where some neighbours stood at the fence. Then I woke up.

I immediately thought of this dream – I searched for the next telephone for a phone call abroad.

My mother answered and she was very annoyed because I had went past her without greeting her. She was very angry and even accused me of not being on holiday at all. She told me to come immediately because my father had a strong malaria attack again and the doctor had advised her to bring him to Gießen to the university hospital. She needed me more than ever. I tried to assure her that I was thousands of kilometers away from her, but she didn’t believe me. She said she had seen me in the garden, walking past her without greeting, going straightly into the bedroom and sitting down on my father’s bed. She told me not to lie to her, because even the neighbours had seen me.

However, my father didn’t have to go to the hospital. My mantras – or maybe the medication? - had helped.

I don’t have any clue how I created this ‘doppelganger’. Obviously, I am frequently ‘running away’ from my body. Years later, something similar happened. But I will tell this later maybe … "

Brita

"I had a top holiday offer: 14 days in Egypt. We invited our son to this trip. But he had his ‘party-lions-time’ and wanted to stay at home and to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve without his parents. Somehow, we were not sad about this and were happy to travel together, just we both. Our time in Egypt was wonderful. We dived, admired the enormous, monumental temple ruins and enjoyed the fascination of the desert for 3 days. When we came back to the hotel from our desert tour, we both were totally exhausted. We washed, went to dinner and after an animated conversation we went to bed – quite late, however. As always, I fell asleep quite quickly. And now there was something – I cannot describe it. If I’m recalling this right, I suddendly was aware of myself again, but I was asleep – however, I was awake, in a strange way. All of a sudden, I was in our living room. I heard the loud music from the room of our son – I heard the babble of voices, and how bottles were opened. I even smelled the cigarettes. I perceived my surroundings in a very real way. I was surprised that all the guests of my son were in his room. In the living room, there stood a girl and looked at the small Buddha statues which were in the glass cabinet of my grandmother. She opened the cabinet and took some of the Buddhas. She wanted to put them into her handbag. I was very outraged. She should fly to Thailand and buy some for herself! I went to her and gave her a slap in the face. She staggered and clang to the sideboard. I saw that one of her earrings fell down and I noticed that she bled quite profusely. Scared, she put the statues back to the cabinet and ran out of the room.

When we came back four days later, this experience was still very present in my mind. Thus, I asked Kai, our son, about the incident on New Year’s Eve. With a grin, he explained that there had been a brawl – but, and this would be very strange; no one except for one girl had been beaten or noticed something at all. ‘Just imagine’, Kai said, ‘this silly cow claimed that she had stood in the living room, when someone came to her and gave her a slap in the face. But we all had been in my room!’ When I tidied up on the next day, I found an earring."