“Man has no Body distinct from his soul; for that called Body is a portion of a Soul discerned by the five senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.”
William Blake (1757-1827).
Two centuries after William Blake made the above statement, one could be excused for believing that the quotation was taken from the writings of a 21st century parapsychologist or a cutting edge quantum physicist – case in point is the late Professor JHM Whiteman, who, prior to his retirement in 1972, was the Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town. A degree in applied mathematics includes courses in quantum mechanics – the study and application of sub-atomic particles – where we discover that everything is energy vibrating at different frequencies, including body and soul.
The following personal experiences highlight the difference between lucid dreaming and out-of-the-body experience.
Lucid Dream: A dream in which the sleeper is aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control or influence the course of the dream. (Oxford English Dictionary.)
Lucid dreams are frequently experienced by my eldest grandson, Kyle Jankowitz, now in his early thirties. With his permission, I am able to share this first-hand account of both spontaneous and induced lucid dreaming.
“The sudden realisation that I am dreaming, occurs spontaneously several times a month. This could be caused by a minor disruption while asleep which is not enough to wake me up completely.
“My earliest memory of having had a lucid dream was when I was about 12 years old. I was crouched behind a sand mound watching an army battalion marching down my street. I realised I was dreaming, so, in an effort to prove this to my sleeping self, I kicked the sand up around me to see if it would impact my physical environment. I awoke shortly afterwards and saw that my blankets had been flung to the other side of the room.”
Since then, Kyle has experienced spontaneous lucid dreams several times a month. “I enjoy different levels of lucid dreaming, such as the ability to interact and control objects and events with which I am familiar in my present environment, while being aware that I am dreaming. Or on occasion being able to indulge in the wildest and most enjoyable fantasies created through my imagination.
“My interest in lucid dreaming was spurred on by curiosity,” he said. “Until I was about 17, I had always drifted off to sleep while day dreaming. I wanted to see if would be possible to induce a lucid dream at will. The idea was to see to what extent I could control the environment or influence it.”
Through research and considerable practice, Kyle eventually succeeded.
“I do it for entertainment once or twice a year. My process usually starts when going to sleep at night. I actively practise visualisation. This entails forming faces or objects out of dark spots behind closed eyelids until I fall asleep. The more I relax and let the image be what it wants to be, the clearer it becomes. After some considerable practice at consciously maintaining vivid visualisations – this could take up to fifteen minutes – once clarity is achieved, I either feel myself starting to fall, or the image becomes vivid with a fully formed environment. In the scenario of my falling this is enough to jolt me out of it; as for me, it is difficult to remain semi-conscious when it feels as if the bed is upright.
“Once the environment is formed it needs to be maintained, which enables me to take control using my imagination. Most primary emotions can draw me out, such as those that significantly increase my heart rate (e.g. fear or elation). “
Controlled laboratory research with volunteers has found that athletes who practise their skills while in a lucid dream, on average, perform better as a result. I asked Kyle whether one might be able to influence real time through an intention during the dream state.
“With practice you should be able to program yourself to achieve a goal which, in reality, would set a course for your conscious self to be influenced by the subconscious. Theoretically, this would entail being able to convey a conscious intention to the subconscious before inducing the lucid dream, which could then be recalled in the semi-conscious lucid dreaming state. This would be quite a feat, like a child being handed a magic wand in a candy store.
“A similar example of where this exists in waking life is in the law of attraction through conscious intention using affirmations, goal setting and vision boards. These are ways in which people are able to program their subconscious in real time to seize opportunities which are aligned with their aspirations, yielding a better probability of a successful outcome than had they not created the intention in the first place.”
Astral Projection: An out-of-body experience during which you are wide awake in another dimension which, esoterically, is referred to as the astral plane.
My interest in astral projection began 45 years ago. A very dear friend drowned off the coast near Muizenberg in Cape Town. I was distraught. The police had asked me to come to the mortuary to identify the body. The forehead was badly bruised, yet it seemed as if he had died very peacefully.
A few days later, while driving with his friends to the funeral, I could ‘hear’ him saying in a playful way, “We’s going to Dickie’s funeral.” Until then, I had never experienced anything ‘psychic’. For me hearing his voice so clearly was surreal. I hadn’t even known that he had a nickname. I wanted to find out for myself if we had a spiritual body which survives after death. I was not interested in third party information, be it biblical, through mediums or reports on near-death experiences. I had heard of astral projection from one or two of my ‘sixties’ hippie friends. I decided to invest in a copy of Projection of the Astral Body by Hereward Carrington and Sylvan Mundoon.
After four months of practice, I eventually succeeded. Following the instructions, I lay down flat on by back, with the intention of ensuring that I remained relaxed and motionless as my consciousness began slipping into the hypnagogic state (between waking and sleeping). After a while, I felt a jerk in my left leg and hip, as I went into a trans-like state – similar to a deep meditation. Then I felt as if I had levitated and was hovering about nine inches above the bed.
What happened next was quite unexpected and something I had neither heard of nor read about. A strange identifiable rhythmic noise was coming from underneath me. This was a very definite experience. It meant that I was not levitating at all. It was the sound of my physical body gently snoring. I was tickled pink. For the rest of my life, this has been proof enough for me that we do indeed have a spiritual body, by whatever name one wished to call it.
The trance-like wave enveloped me again and then it was as if my whole body was speeding down a shoot. I just let it whoosh through the walls and the roof. I had a lovely time flying in my astral body.
On my way home I flew across the Constantia Valley into a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. What was most interesting was the fact that, for the previous three to four days, the region had been experiencing really bad weather. It had been continually overcast and raining. As I was driving to work that morning I noted that the weather had cleared overnight; it was lovely and sunny. I was particularly struck by the sky. It looked exactly like the sky of my projection – bright blue with fluffy clouds!
I do believe that the little dog barking at me and the flight across the valley a few hours before driving to work contribute to the overwhelming evidence of astral travel being in real time.
I had been unable to find a single scientific study to validate the thousands of reported cases until I opened the website for the Monroe Institute, founded by Robert Monroe, author of Journeys out of the Body (first published in 1971).
I was in for a shock: The Monroe Institute had been investigated by the CIA in the 70s and later cleared of covert activity. I then found a document dated 1992 which had been approved for release to the CIA Library in 2001. It relates to Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research during the Cold War. As in the case of Professor Whiteman, a young soldier had the ability to project at will. Remote viewing during an O.B.E has the potential to breach intelligence and poses a serious security threat. The excerpt below explains why. I rest my case. Validation lies within your own experience. Have fun.
Bon Voyage,
Jill
Approved for release 2001/04/02: CIA-RDP96-00789R002600250002-6
Remote Viewing: Parapsychological Potential for Intelligence Collection?
By Michael E Zarbo Captain United States Army Graduate Class 9201
(U) Steiger’s book also illustrates beneficial tactical applications. Reportedly, a young German soldier in World War I had the ability to project himself out of his body to spy on the divisional headquarters of a nearby French unit. When the soldier reported to his intelligence officer that the French were planning to attack German positions the following evening at 2300 hours, the officer scoffed at him until a number of the young soldier’s comrades convinced the office to let the soldier prove his ability. The officer challenged the soldier to project himself upon their own headquarters, several kilometres away and report to him activity that was taking place there. The young soldier agreed and lapsed into a trance-like state. Page 51
(U) When he stirred a few minutes later he reported that an Austrian general had just arrived at division headquarters with orders. After copying down the general’s orders as relayed by the young soldier, the intelligence officer phoned division headquarters to confirm the soldier’s report.
Headquarters showed immediate concern that there was a leak in security, because there was no conceivable way that the intelligence officer, so far away from division headquarters, could possibly know the orders that headquarters had just moments before received from the general. The intelligence officer explained his source and reported the young soldier’s claim that the French were planning an offensive scheduled for 2300 hours the following night. The newly convinced intelligence officer requested reinforcements. The officers at division headquarters dismissed this convincing demonstration as nonsense and as a result, the young soldier’s unit was overrun and captured by the French the next night at 2300 hours.
Ref. Brad Steiger Astral Projection Schiffer Pub. 1982.
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/cia-rdp96-00789r002600250001-6.pdf
Web results – Remote Viewing – CIA