From: rspeterson@aol.com (RSPeterson)
Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body
Subject: What the Books Didn't Tell Me
Date: 20 Jan 1995 13:24:25 -0500

I know I'm opening myself up to flames from afar, but here goes. This
group needs some life!  We need to get excited!  Involved! To help, I
am posting a chapter from the book I've been writing. This is not a
plug--I'm just trying to give people some topics to discuss so we can
liven up this newsgroup.  Note: This material is copyright 1995 by
Robert S. Peterson.  Selling this material is illegal.  Note that this
is probably not final form text.
---------------------------------------------------------------------


                              CHAPTER 16

                     What the Books Didn't Tell Me


     As I began having more out-of-body experiences I naturally set
about doing my own type of scientific experiments.  In my travels I
ran across some things that were peculiar but I hadn't read them in
the many OBE books I'd read.  Other peculiarities were only touched on
by these books, but not explained to my satisfaction.  Here are some
of my findings:


I. Getting Stuck to the Physical Body.

     The first undocumented thing I ran across was the problem of
getting "stuck" to my physical body.  In several OBEs I found myself
seemingly "glued" to my physical body, unable to move away from it. A
typical instance was my third OBE:

     12/09/79 Sun - OBE #3
     ...I was partly out of my body.  My left arm was free.  I waved
     it back and forth and looked at it to make sure it was really
     happening, and I wasn't dreaming.  I tried to move more of my
     limbs, but they wouldn't budge.  I tried to use my free left
     arm to push the rest of me out, but the rest of me was secure
     (I couldn't move my physical or astral legs.  They were
     cataleptic.)  I felt that if I put my left astral arm back in
     its physical counterpart, I would leave the astral state.  But
     [being almost paralyzed] I had no other choices.  I waved my
     left arm again, and looked at it, to once again make sure I
     wasn't dreaming.  Then I returned it to its physical
     counterpart.  That brought me back to the physical world, and
     I came to.

     After some experimentation I found a few ways to "unstick" myself
and pry away from the physical body.  A good example is given below.

     01/22/83 Sat - OBE #88
     ...My first problem was...to get away from the physical body
     that usually claims some sort of hold on my astral counterpart.
     This time I had no problem: I turned over so that I was face
     down (my body was face up).  Then I pushed myself up until I
     was on my hands and knees.  My hands, knees, and legs were
     still in coincidence with the physical body.  Then I just
     withdrew my limbs one by one, and climbed off the bed.  I was
     free from the body.

     Most OBE books agree that out-of-body "reality" is mostly
governed by thoughts, fears and expectations.  In one OBE, I used my
fear of falling off the bed to counteract my expectation of being
stuck, thus freeing myself.

     Despite my limited success I still haven't found a satisfactory
solution to the problem of getting stuck to my body, but I do have a
word of consolation:  This happened to me more often when I was first
learning how to consciously get out of my body.  As time went on I had
fewer experiences of being stuck.

__________________________________________________________________

II. Getting in the Body Backwards.

     This has only happened a few times, but it's an interesting
experience when it happens.  The first time this happened I was at my
parent's lake cabin in northern Minnesota.  I was feeling a bit under
the weather and I was tired.  I went into my bedroom to lie down for a
bit.  I was laying flat on my back with my head to the West and my
feet to the East.  I induced the vibrations and floated about three
feet above the body.  My astral body seemed completely paralyzed and I
had no control at all:

     09/21/80 Sun - OBE #23
     ...I tried to go up, but I couldn't.  I wanted to go forward,
     but couldn't.  Finally I wanted to turn around, and I rotated,
     so that my astral head was above my physical feet and vice
     versa.  I started going down into my body the wrong way!  Try
     as I may, I couldn't stop it.  Finally I went into my body and
     blacked out for a second.  When I came to again, I was
     disoriented; I thought I should be facing East like my astral
     body was, but woke up facing West in my physical [body].  In
     one instant I was in my astral body, looking at the West wall
     of the room.  The next instant I opened my eyes and saw the
     East wall.  I felt intensely disoriented, which was like a
     dizziness, but it seemed more physical than mental.  In other
     words, it seemed as if I were still physically feeling the
     spinning or reorientation my astral body.  About one minute
     later, the dizziness went away and I felt normal.

     Since no harm ever came from these incidents, "getting in" the
wrong way was never a problem.

__________________________________________________________________

III. The Blackout on Exit and Reentry.

     Many books on the out-of-body experience claim that when a person
leaves his or her body, there is usually a split-second blackout.  The
same blackout happens when the person reenters the body.  What is this
blackout, why does it happen, and what can we learn from it?

     The split-second blackout that usually precedes and follows OBEs
is a great concern because it may make the experiences seem more
subjective and less objective, less "real."

     Skeptics may say that the blackout suggests a loss of
consciousness during which the person might actually start dreaming.
They would say that the blackout is some kind of shortcut to the Delta
brain wave state that accompanies our everyday dreams. Therefore, they
would say the OBE is just a dream, with only subjective reality.

     Some theories claim that the blackout is necessary.  Crookall
believed the blackout is caused because neither the physical nor
astral bodies are available as a vehicle of consciousness during the
transference of consciousness.  Some people believe the blackout
happens because only the subconscious self can separate the soul from
the body; therefore, the consciousness of the individual must give up
all control to the subconscious during the transference. Others
maintain that the blackout occurs because during the actual separation
process, the physical brain is unable to interpret the experience.
Or, perhaps the brain can interpret the experience, but for some
reason or another, the portion of the brain that is responsible for
memory in unable to function.

     Despite the theories, I have experienced OBEs in which there was
no lapse of consciousness during the separation process and OBEs in
which there was no blackout during reentry.  The first time this
happened was on my fifth OBE:

     01/01/80 Tue - OBE #5
     ...I looked at my astral hands.  They were gently waving back
     and forth....I thought my waving must be interfering with my
     travels.  I slowed myself down.  It felt like I was drawn
     closer to the physical body.  I felt more physical.  Then I
     dropped into my body and immediately opened my eyes (no
     blackout).  [There was] no split-second of unconsciousness.  I
     was fully conscious the whole time.  I gently floated down
     [into the body].  I felt myself become more solid.  I
     immediately took charge of the physical body and opened my
     eyes, wide awake....

In my 54th OBE, I was fully conscious for the entire exit and reentry:

     10/31/81 Sat - OBE #54
     ...I got really comfortable, and started to "mind-sway" myself
     gently.  I was extremely relaxed, and my mode of thought was
     perfect: PASSIVE.
          I went deeper toward the unconscious state, but I never
     got there.  I felt a strange electrical-type of sensation one
     third of the way up my spinal column.  I also became alert, and
     at the same time I became restless.  I was on my back but [my
     back was] curved around my pillow, and I felt uncomfortable
     with that position.  I turned over so that I was on my stomach,
     but I felt that my body didn't move with me!  Only my astral
     body turned!  I didn't let this bother or excite me, because I
     knew that the separation process was not finished.  I knew I
     was halfway inside and halfway out of my physical body.
          I also knew what I had to do next [to finish the process].
     I gently and carefully pushed myself down a little bit, away
     from my body; About one inch of me was out.  I instinctively
     knew that the vibrations would come to me then.  Sure enough,
     the vibrations came filtering down into my head from above.
     When the vibrations were at their peak, I took [that as] my
     cue, and lifted out of my body, twisting at the same time so
     that I was heading for my bedroom door.  I mentally noted how
     clear my consciousness was again.  When I got to the bedroom
     door, I looked and realized that my astral self was curved
     around an astral pillow, just like my physical body was curved
     around its pillow.  I reached over with my astral right hand,
     and tried to pull the pillow away.  That is when I noticed that
     I was dressed in the same clothes as my body--my pajamas.  I
     pulled on the pillow, but it wouldn't come free.
          I got frustrated and turned so that I was facing west.  I
     was going to look at my body to the northwest, but I stopped
     turning when I looked to the west and saw some lights.  I tried
     to look at the lights and study them, but I noticed that my
     sight was strange.  Everything looked as if it was tilted back
     45 degrees.  It was as if my astral body was leaning at a
     45-degree angle.  I wanted to see those lights better, so I
     tried to upright myself.  But no matter how hard I tried, I was
     still at a 45-degree angle.  It was like I was halfway between
     lying down and standing up.  I thought to look at my physical
     body, but when I thought about my body, I immediately went into
     it without getting a chance to look at it.
          I was now semi-physical in my body, and I made a great
     effort to stay awake.  I kept saying to myself, "I will stay
     conscious."  Then I thought that if I opened my eyes again it
     would help me stay awake.  So with a great effort, I opened my
     eyes and everything was blurry.  But I was awake.  Then it
     seemed like I was in the cataleptic state.  Very, very slowly
     my sight became more "real" until I was fully back in my body.
     I was fully physical again.  When I rolled over and looked at
     the clock then it was 9:35, so I estimate the projection to be
     around 9:30.

Here is another example:

     09/18/82 Thu - OBE #81
     ...Then the vibrations swept into me, and I was cataleptic.  I
     tried to move, but I couldn't.  I struggled to get away from my
     body but I couldn't.  I opened my eyes.  I could look around,
     but could not pull away from my body.  My astral body was
     obviously separate from my body, and it felt free.  I felt
     weightless, and yet I couldn't move.  After trying to roll out
     of my body to the right and was unsuccessful, I looked at my
     bookcase.  I looked around some more.  Then I went to try to
     roll out to the left.  Then I noticed a blur of red to my left.
     It was my clock, with a digital red display.  I had heard that
     some people believe that time moves differently while out of
     body, so I tried to look at my clock.  The clock was just
     barely out of my field of vision; my body was pointing straight
     up.  So I tried to turn my head.
          After a great deal of effort, I managed to turn my head to
     the left.  It was very hard to turn.  But as my head turned, my
     whole being solidified.  I was turning my physical head.  With
     no break in consciousness, I felt my whole being getting bound
     into my physical body.  By the time I finished moving my head,
     I was no longer astral, but I could see the time: 9:30 a.m..

     I've had many more fully-conscious exits than reentries, for a
simple reason: I usually try to make my OBEs last as long as possible,
so I don't let the experience end until I black out or lose
consciousness.

     We may never know why the blackout usually occurs.  Perhaps
science will discover the reason, but not until the OBE is given
serious scientific research.

___________________________________________________________________

IV. Pain During an OBE.

     I have learned some interesting things about pain while I was out
of my body.  All the OBE books said that during an OBE it was
impossible to feel pain.  They said only the body feels pain.  So I
was very surprised when I had the following experience:

     04/26/80 Sat - OBE #14
          I entered my astral body and suddenly felt a pressure at
     my astral rib cage on both sides, as if someone were poking me
     there!  I couldn't stand the tickle/hurt feeling and, as if I
     were being tickled, I twisted and put myself back into my body.
     Once in my body I felt all right.
          I left the body again and the same thing happened!  I
     tried to ignore the poke-pressure, but was overcome [with the
     pain] and had to go back again.
          I was determined.  I tried again.  I swayed my astral legs
     once again.  This time I noticed something strange.  I didn't
     use my eyes nor my astral eyes, but I could feel my astral
     limbs with my mind!  I could also see them partially with my
     mind's eye, just like visualizing a thought!  This time I also
     noticed my astral arms.  When I got out, I wiggled my fingers.
     Again, I felt the tickle-pain in my rib-cage on both sides.  It
     wasn't as bad this time, and I also did a better job of
     ignoring it and withstanding the pain.  I felt a hand grab my
     right wrist.  It gently tried to help me away from my body, but
     once again the pain-tickle took its toll and I had to return to
     my body.  When I came back to my body for the third time, I
     suddenly became very dizzy, and had to abandon the attempts....

This experience was the only one in which I felt "pain" in the true
sense of the word.  As I described, it felt as if someone were poking
me in the rib-cage very hard.

     I didn't get around to actually experimenting with OBE-pain until
1983:

     01/09/83 Sun - OBE #86
     ...I clapped my hands in front of me as hard as I could.  It
     made a sound, just as I had expected.  I had hit my hands very
     hard, and I felt the pain in them for a second, but the pain
     was a painless-pain!  I clearly recognized the sensation of
     pain in my hands, but I swear it didn't hurt!

I've experienced this painless-pain or mock-pain several times.  For
instance, instead of floating up above my body on one occasion, I
decided to float down under my body:

     04/27/80 - OBE #15
          Sometime this morning I found myself conscious out of my
     body, but very near it.  My first instincts were to get away
     from it.  So when I thought about getting away, I drifted down,
     through my bed underneath my body.  I could feel the bed as I
     went through it.

What I experienced was the sense of thirty or forty bedsprings
piercing through my astral body as I went down beneath my body.  The
sensation wasn't painful, but I did feel the dull, throbbing sense of
mock-pain.

     In another OBE, I very much expected to feel pain, but I didn't:

     05/25/84 Fri - OBE #109
          I woke up astrally.  I had been dreaming that something
     was attacking me on my left side.  I woke up [in the astral
     body] and found myself swinging my right astral arm wildly
     hitting at the imaginary attacker on my left side.  Although I
     was hitting my left side as hard as I could, I didn't feel any
     pain at all.  I became fully conscious and continued to swing
     my arm, but only to gather momentum to swing away from my body.
     Soon I blacked out.

     The subject of astral pain, especially unexpected lack of pain,
may very well be another way to clearly tell OBEs apart from dream
states.

___________________________________________________________________

V. Making the Body Move During an OBE

     The books I read on out-of-body experiences led me to believe
that it was impossible to move the physical body during an OBE.  I
found out that it might be difficult, but possible.

     Several times I have apparently forced my body's eyes open during
an OBE, yielding some interesting results.  I have written more about
that in the next chapter.

     Although I have no way to prove it, I have apparently made my
body move in other ways during a few OBEs.  For example:


     11/08/80 Sat - OBE #25
     ...I started myself astrally swaying again.  I tried moving my
     feet, and my physical ones moved!  They felt very heavy.  The
     foot I moved was not the swaying astral limb, but the physical
     one, and I could sense it move with my mind-vision.   About
     then I blacked out and came back....

I have also apparently made my body speak during an OBE.  For example:

     10/04/81  Sun - OBE #51
     ...I was really in my astral body again, stuck to my physical
     body.  I tried to say, "It's just not fair," but I couldn't!
     So I tried to telepath it, and I heard it faintly in my inner
     hearing.  Disappointed that I couldn't "say" it physically, I
     tried really hard again.  Then it seemed like I heard my
     [physical] voice "say" it, but the voice sounded distorted, as
     if someone said it for me.  Or as if the transition from the
     physical sounds to the astral sounds made it sound squeaky,
     distorted.  I still didn't realize I was nonphysical.  Then I
     blacked out for a long time, and started dreaming....

     I've also had OBEs during which I've put all my energy into
trying to make my body speak, without success.  Again, only scientific
experiments can prove whether a person can affect his body during an
OBE.

___________________________________________________________________

VI. OBE Myths

     There are many myths about the out-of-body experience passed down
through the ages, many of which cause people unnecessary concern.


A. State of health:

     Some books on OBEs say that OBEs are easiest when the subject is
in perfect health.  Other books say that OBEs are easiest when the
body is physically weak, sick or exhausted.

     I've had OBEs in sickness and in health, for richer and for
poorer, for better and for worse, till death do I part!  Most of my
experiences were done in good health, but as a rule, my body's state
of health hasn't affected the experiences, nor my ability to induce
the experience.


B. Lying on your stomach.

     Many books caution the reader not to attempt an OBE while lying
on their stomach.  At first I had some concern about it, but the
concern was short-lived:


     04/05/81 Sun - OBE #38
     ...I rolled over onto my stomach.  I headed off to sleep.  I
     wanted to project, but I was too lazy to make any effort.  I
     was almost asleep when I found myself waving.  I thought,
     "Good.  Now I can project."  So I increased the waving.  I was
     almost ready to come out of my body when I thought, "Wait.  I
     read that you're not supposed to project while on your stomach.
     Maybe I shouldn't."  Then the waving slowed down.  I thought,
     "Maybe I should turn over."  Then I thought, "No!  That might
     ruin the whole attempt.  I should take the opportunity while I
     still have it."  So I started waving again.  The waving got big
     enough, and I went up out of my body....

I've projected many times while lying on my stomach, and never had
any problems or discomforts from doing so.


C. Attempting to have an OBE with your legs crossed:

     Many OBE books caution their readers against attempting to have
an OBE with their arms or legs crossed, or their body in any unusual
positions.  Supposedly, there is a danger of blocking the flow of
energy in the body, which could possibly harm the physical body or
astral body.  Some books claim it's difficult for the astral body to
leave the physical body in strange positions.

     I've left my body in many unusual and awkward positions, and
there have been no bad side effects.

     It is important that your body be comfortable and relaxed during
OBEs, and if you are comfortable and relaxed in an awkward-looking
position, don't hesitate to use it.  I would, however, recommend using
only positions that allow good blood circulation.  When some people
sleep, they look like a squashed ant, or like an airman whose
parachute didn't open on time.  My general rule is this: if you can
sleep in such a position, it is safe to leave your body in that
position while you astrally project.

     Some body positions do make it easier to leave the body.  I've
found that when I lie on my sides, I am sometimes too comfortable and
therefore fall asleep instead of leaving the body.  When I lie on my
back, it seems easier to control my state of consciousness.


D. Usage of Energy During OBEs

     I've often had people ask me if I came back to my body feeling
drained.  Not surprisingly, several books on OBEs claim that the
experience requires a great deal of energy, and is therefore rare and
difficult to achieve.

     My experience has been just the opposite.  I've never come back
to my body feeling drained of energy.  Rather than being tired, I
return to my body feeling refreshed and happy.  When I return to the
body, I'm often exhilarated because the experience was so exciting and
uplifting.

     Although there have been many myths and legends about the out-of-
body experience, there is still much to be learned.  There is only one
way to break through the barriers of fear, superstition and prejudice
that keep us from broadening our knowledge  and expanding our
consciousness: to test the myths, to explore our outer limits and to
bring that information out in the open.