Astral Travel Lucid Dreaming On Steroids

I consider myself as open minded and although I myself have never experienced Astral Projection does not mean that it is not a real phenomena. Many people from different cultures all over the world have claimed to have experienced AstroProjection also known as Astral Travel or an Out Of Body Experience, some of which say that they have not only experienced an Out Of Body Experience but with practices you can control the experience of this phenomena.

OK that’s great but what is an Out Of Body Experience? Well according to the encyclopedia it is an esoteric interpretation of any form of out-of-body experience (OOBE) that assumes the existence of an "Astral body" separate from the physical body and able to Travel external to the physical body. Astral Projection Astral Travel symbolizes the Astral body leaving the physical body to Travel in the Astral plane.

In some religions this is spiritual practice that can involve Travel to higher levels of consciousness referred to as Astral planes. This is frequently described as any sensation of one’s Astral body Traveling outside of their physical body to obtain a higher spiritual learning.

Now let us take a look at some of the history of Astral Travel and beliefs of some of the people that practices it.

According to classical, medieval, renaissance Neo-Platonist, later Theosophist and Rosicrucian philosophy, the Astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul to the physical body, and the Astral plane is an intermediate world of light between Heaven and Earth made of the spheres of the planets and stars. These Astral spheres were held to be occupied by angels, demons and spirits.

There are similar concepts of "soul" Travel ancient Egypt and a variety of other religious traditions, for example ancient Egyptian teachings presents the soul as having the ability to float outside the physical body in the ka, or subtle body. A widespread belief is that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by the means of a psychic silver cord.

Even Christian religions recognize Astral Travel, but it is a forbidden for Roman Catholics because the soul; holds all reason, thought, memories, emotion, attitudes, and beliefs; leaves the physical body during the dreaming state and becomes agnostic indifferent toward The Holy Trinity and is left without protection.

A human soul, when detached from the physical body, during a dreaming state, is without the protection of Jesus Christ, and very susceptible to molestation by evil demons.

Well don’t that beat all, I would of thought that the sold unencumbered by the physical man (the physical body) would have been unreceptive to evil, and sins of the physical man. Well that is a subject for whole different discussion.

As you can see the Out of Body Experience has been around since ancient times and it is still alive today. Many eastern as well as new age religions practices meditation and have reported having Out Of Body Experiences (OOBE).

During the 60’s and 70’s as new age religions where on the rise and practicing many eastern religions ideas such as meditation. During this time a survey was conducted and reported percentages ranging from 8% to as much as 50% (in certain groups) of the respondents who they had an out of body experience. The this opinionated nature of the occurrence provides explanations that do not rely on the existence of an "Astral" body and plane. There is little beyond subjective evidence to support the idea that people can actually really "leave the body".

Hey this sounds great I would like to get out of my physical body sometimes maybe I would get some relief from my rheumatism. All joking aside many physics, and eastern as well as new age spiritualist believe that Astral Travel can help you obtain enlightenment or a higher spiritual awareness and we could all use a little help in that department. But the question still remains is Astral Projection real or just another form of lucid dreaming.

During a lucid dream you have the feeling that you are out of your body not unlike an Out of Body Experience, you can fly, Traveling to other plants. You can do just about anything you want. So is there any difference between Astral Travel and lucid dreaming? Many people, even Astral Travelers, say that there is no difference between the two; while others are of the opinion that they are two different experiences
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The reason they are different is that with Astral Travel you get into the Astral Plane direct from your physical body. When you have a Lucid Dream, you have merely 'missed' the initial Projection.

Astral Travelers, say the difference arises typically because of the framework you are entering from. If you project from the waking state, you can encounter some difficulties due to restrictive ideas carried with you that don't relate to the Astral realm, and require some practice to adapt to the new environment. alternatively, in a Lucid Dream, having accustomed to the expansiveness of the dream state, you can sometimes have the opposite problem, finding it hard to retain a conscious focus, and thus 'losing lucidity'. With practice of course, both of these will be overcome.

In conclusion if you ever had a lucid dream you recognize that the experience is not much different then that described as Astral Projection and in actuality lucid dreaming may be an undeveloped form of Astral Travel and all you need is a little discipline and some focus and you too can be an Astral Traveler.