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Unexplained / Mysteries / Other Worlds / Out-of-Body Perception / 


Out-of-Body Perception

Out-of-body (OOB) perception is a latent faculty of human consciousness - an unusual, albeit universally described phenomenon which is theoretically capable of development in anyone. In the first two articles of this series we compared the out-of-body experiences of Robert A. Monroe with both shamanic and gnostic world-views, showing how they correspond to a common archetype of expanded awareness.

Since OOB awareness is not measurable by scientific methods, we next discussed how any subjective observation must be evaluated to avoid either uncritical acceptance or gratuitous refutation. We concluded that, whether scientifically verifiable or not, the world-wide historical consistency of out-of-body testimony offers overwhelming evidence of a universal human experience - which doesn't make it any easier to evaluate, but does demand that we not dismiss it arbitrarily as a hallucination.

Our last article presented the most plausible hypothesis to be drawn from these data: that our four-dimensional space-time continuum is the integral component of a higher dimensional construct, and that out-of-body perception constitutes the penetration of subjective awareness into this trans-dimensional realm. If true, then logic argues that we should seriously consider the idea of Consciousness itself as a dimensional phenomenon.

Anticipating that some people might regard this exposition as 'speculative,' it is time to reinforce our emerging thesis with analogous ideas found in other systems. This is not difficult to do - it has all been described before in the Perennial Philosophy.

The phrase 'Perennial Philosophy' refers to a complex of archetypal ideas underlying the esoteric lore of every culture in the world. In its simplest form it describes a 'spiritual' (i.e. higher-dimensional) Primal Cause which originally emanated and still animates all of reality. Our physical space-time continuum ('All That Is') emerged from this higher-dimensional source and is continuously being nourished by it. By definition then, every entity in the universe has its origin in this reality and is both an observing component and subjective reflection of the whole of which it is a part. Every projected fragment of the Unity is thus eternal and immortal. According to the Perennial Philosophy, the goal of life for each reincarnating being is to ultimately reunite with the Primal Cause which is both our source and our destiny.

These ideas are found in Hinduism, in Buddhism and in Taoism. They are also manifested in the corpus of the Western Mystery Tradition, which includes Hermeticism, the Hebrew Kabbalah, both Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic Greek thought, and of course Gnosticism. You can find its images in all shamanic religions, in Wicca, in Alchemy and in concepts such as the Dreamtime upon which Australian Aboriginal cosmology is founded. Analytic (Jungian) Psychology is a Gnostic system, hence a contemporary interpretation of these ancient concepts. Were you to boil all the above systems down to their essence the result would be pure, unadulterated, 'Perennial Philosophy.'

The fact that these structures (like out-of-body data itself) are so universal argues that they are cognate with the Objective Psyche, from which subjective awareness emanates. The fact that they are generally regarded in the West as 'occult,' 'pagan,' 'heathen,' 'mystical,' or 'heretical' suggests Archonic censorship by the world's Monotheisms. This is because the essential message of the Perennial Philosophy mandates the evolution of consciousness via individual responsibility and freedom of choice - ideas which challenge the control of any centralised authority, be it religious, political or corporate.

It is highly significant that some of the most fundamental insights of quantum physics are symbolically explicit in the Perennial Philosophy. Indeed, this venerable tradition actually propounds an esoteric 'Big Bang' theory which was extant thousands of years before the idea was proposed by modern science. Let's compare their analogous concepts.

The generally accepted 'exoteric' theory of Cosmogenesis offered by science is that it all began with the explosion of a 'singularity':

singularity: 1: Something that is separate or singular: UNIT. 2a: An unusual manifestation or eccentricity in manner or behavior. b. A unique or remarkable characteristic or development. c. An odd or peculiar feature or characteristic.

- Webster's Third New International Dictionary

Cosmologists interpret the word 'singularity' in a special sense which seems to encompass all of the above definitions - i.e., as the 'remarkable behavior' of a 'single unit' (conceived of as infinite mass compacted into a zero-dimensional point) - which then 'explodes':

The evidence suggests that the Universe was born out of a singularity - a point of infinite density occupying zero volume - and that in the first split second the tiny seed containing all the mass and energy in the observable Universe went through a period of exponential expansion, known as inflation.

This concept of the universe emanating from an expanding Singularity, or Unit is found in many spiritual traditions world-wide. Here is a version described in the sacred literature of Hinduism:

In the beginning there was Existence alone - One only, without a second. He, the One, thought to himself: Let me be many, let me grow forth. Thus out of himself he projected the universe; and having projected out of himself the universe, he entered into every being. All that is has its self in him alone. Of all things he is the subtle essence. He is the truth. He is the Self. And that, Svetaketu, THAT ART THOU.

The Taoists (anticipating modern science perhaps) chose to render this archetypal idea in mathematical terms:

Out of Tao, One is born;

Out of One, Two;

Out of Two, Three;

Out of Three, the created universe.3

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