The Hindrance of Fear

                            An article by:

                             Dave Ritchie


            A student of Indiana University of Pennsylvania
           uhlnpya@oak.grove.iup.edu and oiffer@mary.iia.org


          (c) copyright 21 - June, 1994  All rights reserved


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        I think it is imperative that I write about the problem of
fear hindering attempts to have on out of body experience.  If there
is one thing that is stopping people from having an OBE it would have
to be fear.  This is a topic that comes up in conversation repeatedly.
There is no way to avoid it. You will experience fear at some point in
your studies.

Here is an excerpt from my journals:


6-5-94

"I suppose that my real work with the out of body experience started
about three months ago.  Of course I had been doing 'work' on the
subject for almost a year now but I found many obstacles hindering my
attempts.  During that time of my life I more or less spent time
talking about the affair and not really participating in it.  I
suppose the most significant reason for this procrastination was
fear."


      To many people fear is more than just a hindrance, it is an
obstacle. Those of us who have never had a conscious out of body
experience can be extremely intimidated.  Many people turn away from
studying the OBE and trying to have one simply because they cannot
deal with the intense fear involved.  The truth is  thousands of
people have had OBEs with no harm come to them.  These people have
all, at one point experienced intense amounts of fear but have learned
to overcome it.  The question is how do you overcome this kind of
fear?

      Fear arises simply because of the instinctual act to be afraid
of the unknown.  But the unknown is slowly becoming the known.  More
and more people are traveling into the astral world and coming back
enlightened, rejuvenated but most of all. . . safe.  Why should we be
frightened?  There might be things in the astral world that can harm
us but there are also dangerous things in the physical world.  This
does not keep us from leaving our houses, so why should fear of the
unknown  keep us from leaving our bodies?


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      There are many theories, of course, that describe the origin of
this particular type of fear.  Perhaps it is a self-preservation
mechanism of the brain attempting to scare us out of going into the
unknown. The main task of a student of OBE is to gain control of the
subconscious.  Perhaps the subconscious does not want to hand over the
control stick to the conscious.  Why?  Throughout our whole lives,
society has taught that events, such as OBEs, are not real.  Most of
us were taught to keep the unknown untouched.  This is a type of
subconscious programming.  After many years we are programmed to avoid
anything unexplained.  Our brains trick us into believing that there
are many things to fear on the other side.  It makes us believe that
we will never be able to return to our bodies and other absurdities.


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      I overcame my fear quite simply.  I once read, in Have an Out of
Body Experience in 30 Days by Keith Harary, Ph.D. and Pamela
Weintraub, a good way to get yourself to have an out of body
experience was by simply repeating throughout the day, "I will have an
out of body experience tonight."  I realized that this was just a
simple technique to program the subconscious.  I decided to change it
to suit my needs.  I repeated throughout the day, "I am not afraid of
having an out of body experience."  I would not put any pressure on
myself to believe what I was saying.  It was just a simple affirmation
that I repeated whenever I thought of it.

      Also, I tried to gain control of my fear in another way.  Once I
felt the slightest bit of fear I would sit and relax.  I would then
try to fill the hollow feeling in my stomach with warm energy.  The
fear would soon dissipate.  Soon, fear became trivial.  I was able to
do the relaxation exercises without being scared of the OBE I was
trying to have.

      Don't take orders from your subconscious - let it work for you.
Take control of it,  it can be done.  Just believe that you are not
afraid of having an OBE and you won't be.


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      I want to conclude by saying that I am not an expert OBE'er.  I
haven't yet had a conscious exit from my body.  I have had three lucid
dreams where I became conscious during a dream and can honestly say
that I felt no fear during them.  I do not feel that I should have
been frightened. It was as safe as walking to the bathroom.  I can say
that I am eagerly awaiting my first conscious projection.

      In ways though, it is important that I have not yet had a
conscious OBE.  The reason is that I have completely overcome my fear
of having an OBE.  It was not an easy thing to accomplish but I did
overcome it.  Many people have said to ignore the fear because after
your first experience you will no longer have this fear.  But, fear is
the one thing that will keep most of us from having that first
experience.  The fear must be destroyed earlier.  It can be done - I
did it!


6-6-94

"Recently I have been experimenting with Supermind by Zygon, a mind
machine. The machine is set up with a bass tone behind a comfortable
audio scene while a set of blackened eyeglasses flash LEDs in
different sequences.  The point behind all of this is to set your left
and right brain hemispheres on the same wave.  Thus, a state of deep
relaxation is obtained.  While using this mind machine I have obtained
deep states of relaxation and have successfully reached the
vibrational point every time (about 6 times).  My most recent
experience also involved the mind machine.  I set it on a 20 minute
supercharge.  I let it take me deeper and deeper into relaxation.
Soon thereafter, or so it seemed, my left hand felt as if it were
swinging back and forth like a swing.  I couldn't distinguish if it
was really doing this, or my hand had separated from my body, or if I
was simply imagining it.  I decided to 'will' it forward.  I did not
use muscles but it did move!  To my surprise my hand swept right
through the covers in front of it.  I could feel the covers dangling
along my arm as it went through them.    The feeling of moving my arm
was a completely different feeling from moving your physical arm.  It
was more of a sensation of not moving than it was of moving.  I simply
wanted my arm to move. . . and it did.  I will have to experiment with
this more.  I am expecting to have a full blown OBE any time in the
near future.  The fear factor is not here but the anxiety one is.  I
can't wait any longer.  I want to separate."


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                            know yourself.


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        Thanks, Robert for all your help!

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        Feel free to E-mail any questions or comments.  Please do not
include the entire article.

                             Dave Ritchie
                       uhlnpya@oak.grove.iup.edu
                          oiffer@mary.iia.org