From: garyk@garyk.mentorg.com (Gary Kaminski)
Subject: Re: OOBE: How? Why?
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 17:18:54 GMT
Organization: mentor
Keywords: 
Followup-To: 

In article <92348.062015SWK105@psuvm.psu.edu>, Stephen Kuhn <SWK105@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
|> I've achieved OOBE several times.  An interesting thought occurred to me
|> recently, though, and I've spent a lot of time pondering it.  WHY do we
|> OOBE?  Why did evolution or God (It depends on your point of view.) give us
|> this ability?  How can we use OOBE to reach some goal?  Surely it isn't just
|> a pointless psychic deadend.  Psychologists have theorized that we dream as
|> a result of our minds trying to make sense out of the information it
|> recieves from random(?) electrical impulses in our brains as we sleep.  Can
|> OOBEs be scientifically(!) explained in a similar manner?  Lately, whenever
|> I OOBE, I try to accomplish something.  Anything.  Just to see how the OOBE
|> can affect the physical world around me.  I haven't had much success in some
|> realms, such as moving objects, or giving messages to people.  But I have
|> successfully projected myself to someone I loved, with the intended results
|> of having her feel that I was holding her as she was falling asleep.  Or
|> could the power to OOB be a weak form of teleportation, or a form of
|> telepathy, or a means of contacting the spirit world?  Has anyone ever tried
|> to make contact with a ghost during an OOBE?  Any replies or thoughts on
|> this are welcome.  Please do.  Thanks for giving my wonderings your
|> attention.         ^^^^^^
I posted this line of thought once before, but I don't think I make it out all
the time so I'll try again.

If you believe that we are made as bodies that happen to have a mind and 
consciousness, then your questions may be valid.  Consider another possibility:

I do not believe that we were created as bodies.  I believe that we were
created (or whatever suits you) as beings of light (in the image of God, which
I do NOT perceive to be as an old human male with a long white beard).  As beings 
of light, we at some point decided (free-will) to "try on" physical existence.  
Taking on physical existence and the related limiting consciousness causes us to 
forget our true nature.  Dreams, OOBE, and other non-physical experiences are 
perceptions of our true nature leaking in to our physical consciousness.  

Some "people" are closer to their true nature than others (they have forgotten
less) hence their pronounced conscious OOBE or dream recall.  

The following quote hints at what is (or could be--for some of us) our real nature:

                    A Quote By Paramahansa Yogananda

"Self-realization is the knowing--in body, mind, and soul-- that we are
one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come
to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's
omnipresense is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a part of Him
now as we ever will be.  All we have to do is improve our knowing."

I did not make up these ideas, and have only included a very brief condensation
of a lot of ideas.  Reading Jane Roberts, Robert Monroe, and even Paramahansa 
Yogananda (for a more religious explanation) would give you some other possibilities
to consider other than the mainstream Christian and Scientist combination we all seem
to get while we are growing up.

Have fun trying on new ideas and considering other realities.
garyk (Gary Kaminski)  (If the shoe fits, wear it.)