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Huh? Astral Projections?

Somebody on FB brought up the term "Astral Projections" and I have to admit I had to google the term. I find it difficult and challenging when friends and family members bring up supernatural subjects as 'spiritual' guidance or cures. How do other people handle this without mocking the people you love? I have sat through discussions about ghosts where I have to just about bite my tongue off to keep from rolling my eyes out.

I understand that the brain is still an organ under investigation and we haven't reached a point where we completely have the regions all mapped out, but astral projections? Brain waves can be controlled. I understand that this is how stress relief therapies often work...meditation is effective and there is science to back it up. And regions of the brain function in coordination with chemicals and electric impulse. But can the common cold be cured...wouldn't this be placing a physical ailment in the realm of 'thought control"? I am fascinated with the study of the brain and neurology.

I have read a few books about brain disease and malfunctions. But this fascination with 'spiritual guidance' worries me...and how I'm defined as 'closed minded' if I start to criticize the somewhat kooky aspects of this subject matter: http://www.outofbodyexperience.info/astral-projection-for-beginners.

Past lives? Communicating with animals (ie: dog whispering)? Emotional hygiene?

I am completely out of my element, obviously!!

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on October 25, 2011 at 11:18am

I thought "astral projection" was related to lucid dreams, or it's a word for out of body sensations? There are some things that I would like to learn about but I can't find a source that doesn't bring woo and spirituality into it.

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Permalink Reply by Dorris Journeay on October 25, 2011 at 2:27pm

Astral projection is basically the separation of a person's consciousness from his or her body. It's the belief that one's consciousness can somehow float free of the brain and drift around from place to place or be purposely sent to some predetermined locale. It's a holdover from the time when people believed dreams were real, and the person actually saw the places or events in the dream, actually did the deeds, etc....This concept is otherwise known as dualism - the belief that mind is not just a function of the brain, and that the self is not a projection of the brain but a separate entity (spirit) that has taken up residence in a physical body. People who are dualists have no trouble imagining that they can exist independently of the body, and this gives rise to a whole range of woo, from the belief in the "meaning of dreams" to astral projection, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, ghosts, possession, the rapture, and a belief in an afterlife in heaven or hell.

In other words, complete bullshit. Don't be fooled by the whackos who claim that quantum physics allows this to really happen (like Deepak Chopra - a.k.a. Deep Crap ChokesYa). They're not physicists and they don't have a clue what they're talking about. Also, a metric ton of truly scientific experiments and studies of organic brain disease and traumatic brain injuries have pretty much proven beyond all doubt that all our experiences, perceptions, feelings, personality and sense of self are constructs originating in the brain. The electrical impulses of our nervous systems are really electrochemical, and are very small - not some ethereal energy cloud that can zip out of the skull and around town. We don't exist if our physical brains don't exist and we can't be where our brains aren't.

Some good books to read on the subject of neuroscience are: The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks, and Probing The Mysteries of the Human Mind by V.S. Ramachandran. One of the best books by a scientist on the subject of the supernatural is The Demon-Haunted World by the incomparable Carl Sagan. All of the above-mentioned phenomena are, to my mind, more than adequately explained in these books and should no longer be an issue in the 21st century.

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Permalink Reply by mojo5501 on October 25, 2011 at 4:09pm

Thanks Dorris...I own "The Demon-Haunted World" and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" so I'll have to re-visit what they have to offer as counter-arguments. I will look into the other books you mentioned also.

I'm a skeptical person by nature so it's not like I'm going to be susceptible to this stuff...but how to dispute it to otherwise rational people? I also think alot of this can be explained by the mere power of suggestion....and the pseudo-scientific language it often takes on.

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Permalink Reply by Dorris Journeay on October 25, 2011 at 7:01pm

I would just suggest they read these books. I might also use some examples of how brain-injured people's entire personalities, including their emotions and sense of connection to others, can completely change. If there was a "soul" or consciousness separate from the brain, you would think it would be immune to damage to the brain and would survive. I always found that argument persuasive. Use specific examples from books or other reliable sources. They might try to quote from some woo sources, but I would just challenge them on the scientific merits of the source.

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Permalink Reply by mojo5501 on October 25, 2011 at 8:58pm

AHHH, share my books, I get it now! (I'll put little post-its on the relevant pages! As in "read this")

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on October 25, 2011 at 5:10pm

The Demon Haunted World made me atheist. It might not have had such an influence on someone coming from an Abrahamic religion but I'm an ex-pagan and there is a whole plethora of woo floating around that. I will keep in mind the other books.

I like dreams. I don't think they have meaning but they're still entertaining. I write them down and then remember them. The other things you mentioned like out of body experiences, people still can have those sensations even if they don't believe their soul was walking around or whatever.

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Permalink Reply by Dorris Journeay on October 25, 2011 at 7:13pm

I like dreams too; I often have what's called "lucid dreaming", where I'm aware that I'm dreaming and can direct the dream somewhat. That's kind of fun. Most of my dreams are related to things that are going on in my life. I do think that dreams can sometimes make you consciously aware of problems or issues that aren't clear or are suppressed during waking hours and allow your brain to come up with solutions - sometimes very creative ones! The old advice "sleep on it" is usually good advice for me.

As far as OOBEs (out-of-body experiences) and sleep paralysis - two weird but common sensations - I remember reading in several of the afore-mentioned books that these experiences have actually been recreated in the lab by stimulating certain areas of the brain. Some woo-meisters tout the common elements of these experiences as proof that something "paranormal" is going on, but I would argue the opposite: The commonalities are instead indicative of similar brains reacting to stimuli in similar ways. Even "near-death" experiences have been replicated. No doubt these sensations can be powerful and disturbing, but so can a drug trip or a starvation-induced hallucination. I find a lot of believers fall back on the "but it was so powerful and life-changing! It had to MEAN SOMETHING!" argument, but I would say that it only means whatever they want it to; it's their experience and doesn't exist anywhere except in their brains.