In the previous chapter I mentioned the generally dichotomous attitude our culture possesses towards psychic abilities and occult phenomena. The extent to which I outlined this attitude was to say that this dichotomy exists because the legitimate and educated sector of our society has no clear means of conceptualizing occult realities. I was careful to use the term "clear" here, because certain sectors of learning in our society do have means of conceptualizing occult events.
On one hand, there is the science of parapsychology. I have already stated that parapsychological thought is highly biased towards conceptualizing occult events as unusual. On the other hand, there are those in the medical and especially psychiatric disciplines who may not infrequently encounter cases and patients who are experiencing occult realities to some extent or another. In these types of cases the events are not seen as "paranormal" but are usually considered to be "pathological" to various degees. At the other extreme is the psychological study of the rare genius who has the ability to perceive and sense order and relation where no one else has. These are the sectors of modern science that frequently deal with events with which occultists also deal.
What I would like to do in this discussion is a comparative analysis of the paradigms used by parapsychologists, the medical oriented sciences and the occult with regard to one specific form of psychic phenomena. The purpose for such a discussion is to clarify vividly the underlying assumptions within the world-views, or paradigms, of these three groups. The phenomena we are to focus on has many names: astral projection, out-of-body experience, or lucid dreaming. As is the tenant of this discussion, each of these names embodies completely different contextual elements and metaphysical assumptions.
What is an "out of body experience"? The best answer to this question is to learn how do it and find out first hand. However, it is not my intention here to discuss methods of obtaining the experience, there are good books available on this topic1. What I would like to discuss at this point are the various names given to this experience and the bearing these names and labels have on how we conceptualize the fact of this activity.
Some call it "astral projection", others say "outof body experience" (which they can acronymize as OOBE, apparently to lend some type of scientific air to their description). Also common is the term "lucid dreaming". These are the three main terms one hears, so these I shall focus on. I want to begin by discussing each of these names and attempt to reveal the hidden implications in each term.
The oldest term in use to describe these experiences is probably "astral projection". The term "astral" is attributed to Paracelsus, and means "of the stars". This term is used to describe the second of the seven planes because of the self-glowing appearance of the objects that exist on this plane. Like the stars, astral objects appear to be glowing or self-illuminated.
This term is increasingly less fashionable to use nowadays, being replaced by the other two listed above. Likewise, the term "clairvoyance" is being replaced by the term "remote viewing". I think this is because "astral projection" or even "clairvoyance" are too occult sounding. We have already seen how parapsychologists tend to dislike being classed along with occultists. Apparently the sentiment is, if they change the name of the phenomena then they have eliminated any associations with the occult. Yet, whatever we call the experience doesn't matter. The experience exists and we are forced to understand it somehow.
Let us first look to the term "astral projection" and discern what world-view is behind it. The term "astral projection" is the one commonly used by occultists. As we have seen in our survey, occultism speaks of other, nonphysical worlds. Astral projection, as a description of the experience, assumes or implies that whatever is going on is occurring in a world different from the physical world. That is, whoever it is having the experience, is actually experiencing a different world. The astral projector has left behind the physical plane and projected into the astral plane, or one of the other planes etheric, mental, etc.. The term astral projection is a catchall term meant to imply that one who is a physical plane inhabitant has temporarily left and traveled in one of the nonphysical planes.
One implication of the occult view that is within the scope of our current discussion, and was touched on in the previous chapter, is that it allows us to at least put our dream experience on the same level as our waking experience: both are projections of ourselves into the appropriate planes. What I'm saying is that occultism offers an alternative definition for the phenomena of dreaming. And though at this point it may seem a fantastic and perhaps fantastically unbelievable perspective, we shall see that, as we proceed with our questioning, it becomes a progressively more tenable alternative. In this view, our dreams become no more or no less real than our usual waking life. If anything, it is a more equitable and democratic view of our experience as conscious beings. And such a view will inherently reveal its own limitations, for when we begin to take our dreams seriously (or perhaps not take our waking life so seriously) we will begin to see and understand the relative relationship between our normal and dream consciousnesses.
The main implication of using the term "astral projection" is that it implies an occult view of the experience; the astral projector leaves the physical world and projects into the astral world. And the deeper implication is that the physical world is not the only world available to our consciousness, but that other worlds, best defined as "nonphysical" worlds, exist and are comprehensible to our consciousness. The term "astral projection" is difficult in that it implies an understanding of the complexities and subtleties of the occult world-view.
Let us now go on to the other terms for this phenomena. Instead of calling the experience an "astral projection" let us call it now a "lucid dream". This term implies a whole different mind-set. To call the experience a lucid dream means we aware that we are dreaming while within a dream. Lucid dreams are in contrast to our normal dreams in which we are neither aware of the fact that we are dreaming while we are in the dream, nor do we possess the same degree of conscious awareness that we have in our normal waking state. The lucid dreamer is aware that she is dreaming and usually possesses the faculties of her waking mind to a much greater extent than the normal dreamer.
The concept of the lucid dream is simpler in its implications than was the occult view. The implications to having a lucid dream are cleaner, making it easier to relate to within the context of commonly held notions of reality. We have all had the experience of being in a nightmare, realizing that "I'm only dreaming", and waking ourselves up before we are engulfed by impending danger. Very simple. We all dream and we can relate to the concept of being aware that we are dreaming while within a dream. There is no mention of other worlds or occultism or any such metaphysical things. When we refer to the experience as a lucid dream, we have made it a safer and more comfortable experience, one that fits into concepts that we know and understand, one even that can be relegated into the domain of Freud or Jung. The experience becomes one of archetypes or repressions. Something that can be dealt with cleanly, clinically, and simply on the psychiatrist's couch.
To one who thinks of the experience in terms of science, occultism, philosophy and mysticism, this is not a very acceptable definition. All the really exciting implications get lost in the wash. The sheer drama of the experience gets lost when we turn the astral projection into a lucid dream, and our dreams themselves ultimately get relegated back to the domain of the normal and the ordinary. The lucid dreamer is not a traveller through mysterious and uncharted realms beyond space and time, whether consciously in the case of the projector or unconsciously as with the dreamer. Such conceptions as this become wishfulfillment, fancy, the result of too much stress, or they are branded as delusions, and drugs and clinics are prescribed. One may believe such occult things, but the psychiatrist will only nod as he scribbles notes on his pad. The lucid dream is a comfortable thing, one easily handled by the proper medical authorities.
This term "lucid dreaming" implies a mindset that is not as extreme in its implications as that of the occult mindset. It is a mindset of medicine and psychiatry, of Freud and psychoanalysis, behaviorist's biofeedback and Jungian induced adventures into an obscure intellectual mysticism. It is a mindset that, in some respects supplements occult views but in other respects belittles them. It is a mindset with the right intentions but without the proper intellectual tools to make a difference. Lucid dreaming implies a worldview that does not embrace the occult but one that overlaps with it in key areas. Such areas include: mental health, personal and interpersonal relationships, counseling, therapy (which has often utilized meditation) and other such approaches. In a sense this is a mindset that is on the fringes of current institutionalized learning, in that it is practiced and believed by many professionals but it is simply not at the heart of the concerns of contemporary Western academia.
To delve further into the hidden overtones of the term lucid dream, let us concentrate on this idea of "modern Western academia". There are many important points concerning the understanding of the projection/lucid dream/OOBE phenomena that can be clarified, simplified and better understood if we make the distinction between institutionalized learning on the one hand, and the total sum of knowledge we have available to us today on the other hand. This is the difference between the entire intellectual heritage of the West, and those particular portions of it taught in our high schools and universities. This is the difference between what there really is to know and what we are taught that there is to know. It is an arbitrary distinction in some respects, but it is one that will allow us to proceed a little more clearheaded on some points than if we did not make the distinction at all. The terms "lucid dreaming" and "OOBE" are both products of the institutionalized intellect of the modern Western academia. The occult, on the other hand, though a substantial product and heritage of Western Civilizations, is not an accepted part of contemporary learning.
Continuing with our terms, our next consideration is to realize that the term "OOBE" has its origin in the science of parapsychology. Not to sound too haughty, but from a historical perspective, from the perspective of the intellectual heritage of the West, the science of parapsychology is easily lost in the details. It is a new science, the selfproclaimed descendant of the nineteenth century Society For Psychical Research. It is a confused and fragmented science in fact, but also a brave attempt to achieve something far outside of its scope of comprehension. Parapsychology cannot stand alongside the Western occult tradition, for the latter can claim a rich history extending back as far as we know, available to anyone who should look. The occult tradition can claim a time when it was indistinguishable from science. The astrological charts Kepler consulted as a professional astrologer were not that different from the charts used by astrologers today. Parapsychology, unlike occultism, is only a recent invention of a rational materialistic mindset, an imitator in style but not in content of that which we take to be science. It is a poor imitator that unwittingly and unknowingly mocks the great intellectual heritage of science by perpetuating an attitude which shuns the vast and great mystical and occult literatures and traditions of Humankind, and ignores the contributions of these traditions to the heritage it of which it pretends to be a part. It simply does not know what it is missing. Fortunately this is a situation in transition. We have already seen from previous examples that it is only a matter of time before occult views become integrated with and assimilated into Western sciences, and parapsychologists themselves are finally beginning to admit the need to embrace occult type notions2.
The idea of conceptualizing the phenomena under discussion as an OOBE is that, at the expense of sounding redundant, one leaves their body. Yet it is fair to ask: What leaves the body and where does it go?
I said earlier that the mindset implied by the term "lucid dreaming" does not have the intellectual tools to cope with this phenomena, and these questions serve to illustrate this point. Treating the experience as a "lucid dream", these questions disappear for it is no other than a normal dream, albeit one in which you are "awake". When we call the experience an "astral projection", at least we can answer these questions. Occultism offers an answer. But in the coldhearted rationality of a Newtonian universe and even now in the smug uncertainty of a quantum chaos, there seems little room for the worlds of the Gods, the Demons and the Dead.
Parapsychologists, and institutionalized learning in general, do not know what an out-of-body experience is. This is because they have no clear conception of the validity and reality of nonphysical phenomena on their own terms (this being precisely the subject matter of occultism.) The nonoccult term "out of body" implies an essentially physical conception of the phenomena grounded in a mindset devoid of conceptions of nonphysical realities. The term "OOBE" implies a picture of the process as some gaseous wraith leaving the physical body, traveling through the night sky outside our windows, to some distant location. At least we can only guess that this is what is meant. Questions are asked in this field but assumptions are rarely established, and in turn, this makes interpretation of their ideas difficult.
Some parapsychologists have suggested that perhaps there is a grain of worth in occult concepts and methods, but rarely if at all are the implications elaborated or even considered. No, this mindset has wrought an attitude towards occult phenomena that asks: What is the change in weight in a body after it dies? Can probability determine if I am telepathically predicting the order of these cards? Can I psychokinetically alter the probability of this atom's decay rate? Can I psychokinetically alter the activity of this enzyme? Can an OOBE subject go into the next room and read the number on the wall? From an occult view these questions are noble but naive attempts, and they illustrate the inability of the Western institutionalized framework of understanding to grasp the heart of the issues involved3.
It is not difficult to concede that perhaps there is some worth in such an approach, if only to show how scientific tools may be applied to seemingly occult matters. But if this approach has been successful, it is in the fact that it has shown us what not to do and think. The dialogue of such experiments has only served to obscure the issues by distracting our attention from more fundamental matters. If we attempt to understand occult phenomena in purely physical (note: I did not say "materialistic", "rationalistic", "positivistic", etc.) terms, then we are doomed to fail. Simply because they are not physical phenomena. Phenomena, yes, but things of the tenuity of a smile, or a unicorn, rage and glory and inspiration. These are not physical things and they cannot be captured in solely physical terms, though their physical effects can be cataloged to infinity. This is the fundamental flaw in the unconscious assumptions of parapsychology; the present approach is preoccupied with the physical effects of nonphysical phenomena when it has developed no clear conceptions of the nonphysical phenomena. Until such a theoretical framework can be established such cataloging of physical effects will be a useless and confusing exercise. It must eventually be accepted, not only by parapsychology, but by the entire intellectual climate of the West that nonphysical phenomena are an empirical reality that must be accepted and made an explicit axiom in our understanding. The situation is completely analogous to the situation in physics at the turn of the century, when physicists had to accept the reality that the speed of light is a constant measure. Although I earlier said that understanding our phenomena by the term "astral projection" is difficult because it implies a knowledge of occult worldviews, understanding the phenomena by the term "outof bodyexperience" or "lucid dream" is actually a vaster task in that it implies that we understand the structure of, and confusion within, modern institutional learning.
So to conclude this discussion we return to the title of the chapter: "What's in a name?" With respect to the experience under consideration, the name seems to imply the definition of what is going on. I have discussed how the various names given to this experience imply vastly different metaphysical systems and assumptions. The term "astral projection" is grounded in and implies conceptions of an occult nature, alien conceptions of other worlds outside of space and time as we know it, conceptions easily misunderstood by the "informed" culture of the late twentieth century. Conversely, the term "outofbody experience" implies a quite different set of assumptions, and those are the assumptions of the Western institutionalized intellect with its rich and infinitely detailed neverending maze of definitions and distinctions, a mindset too hypnotized by its own intellectual creations to pierce through to straight answers. And finally, the term "lucid dreaming" seems to be a watered down compromise between the two other positions. "Lucid dreaming" is a term open enough to accept the metaphysics of the more esoteric sides of Western psychology and medicine, but not encompassing enough to actually provide us with a model of the processes in operation in terms of relating our waking and dreaming experiences with the structure of the worlds of these experiences.
Notes: Chapter 8
1A very good technique book about astral projection is Rogo, (1986). Other useful astral projection material is Monroe, (1971), and Monroe (1985).
2Rogo, (1986).
3A very clear example of the Western institutionalized
intellect's inability to grasp the fundamentals of occult thought
can be found in Monroe, (1985). In the appendices to this book is
reprinted a paper by Twemlow, Gabbard and Jones concerning the
phenomenology of the OOBE. Looking through the references to this
paper, I was quite surprised to see Besant and Leadbeater's book Thought-forms
referenced here. Looking to the text of this paper to see just
why they were referencing Thought-forms, this is what is
said:
"An old theosophical tract used the concept of
"thought-form." In the general case the OBE is a
typical "thought-form," the question really being: What
form does the thinking take?" (page 283 of Monroe, (1985)).
Now, an OOBE is not a thought-form. I have discussed
thought-forms at great length in this book. One can see
thought-forms during an OOBE (as many authors who have had the
OOBE report), as thought-forms are a definite part of the scenery
of the astral and mental planes. To the clairvoyant,
thought-forms look like statues, or theater stage sets. The OOBE
experience is itself an altered state of consciousness. One could
argue against the occult view that one goes to the nonphysical
planes during the OOBE, but such an argument would have little to
do with thought-forms. An OOBE is simply not a thought-form. I do
not know what these authors are talking about by referring to the
OOBE as a thought-form. I wonder if these authors even read Thought-forms,
because Leadbeater is very clear as to what he means by the term
"thought-form" (even going so far as to provide
illustrations). In any case, it is apparent that these authors
simply do not know what they are talking about. They do not
understand what a thought-form is, nor do they realize that
thought-forms and OOBEs are two totally different phenomena. This
example clearly illustrates the Western institutionalized
intellect's complete inability to grasp occult concepts.
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