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Comment by fargolime | Hacker News Reader

An OBE can range from a feeling of being located somewhere else, as in this study, or, in my experience, a full-on alternate reality that is every bit as real (albeit different) than this reality. I've learned that our brains (if these experiences are truly contained within it) have the ability to imagine a full reality that is indistinguishable in its "realness" than the one you're experiencing now as you read this.

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Yes, dreams too can feel extremely real. Also there is lucid dreaming [1] when you realized you are dreaming but the dream environment still feels real. There are claims that brainwaves can be altered with listening to binaural beats [2] because they sync to them and can induce OBE and lucid dreaming, but these claims are unverified and sounds like pseudoscience.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

To add to this, there is also a form of this known as as Astral Projection [1] and there is a great body of esoteric teaching about the common experiences of people who have achieved this. One may achieve access to a "place" known as the Astral Plane[2] that is said to be occupied by certain energies and entities, some of which can impart wisdom and some that can actually inflict psychic damage.

I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to make up their own mind on the legitimacy and effectiveness of such practices. I think, like any practiced meditation, it is a matter of deep personal preference whether one sees through the mysticism or is stopped short by it.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_plane

Good info. To me, OBEs and lucid dreams are the same except that in the latter I was asleep before the experience began. I've had many of both but prefer the lucid dreams because in those I'm "hyperspaced" into them with no effort on my part. In the OBEs I have to move from my sleeping spot to someplace interesting, even if it's just the backyard.

I don't know if I've every astrally projected, but have met many spirits, who are just people (albeit non-physical) in what I call the spirit world. I don't see it as mystical. I try to keep an open mind about what the reality is (i.e. all in my head and dead is dead, or we're part of something larger and immortal) but lean toward immortality.

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