science – LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Podcast Episode: Psi, UAPs, And Consciousness

Pip: Liberty Psychological Association has been quietly building what it calls the most comprehensive online library on mental health, psychology, and parapsychology in the world which is either an ambitious mission statement or a very confident filing system.

Mara: Shervan K Shahhian and Liberty Psychological Association cover a lot of ground here experimental parapsychology, the strange overlap between UAPs and consciousness, and what grief research looks like when you add anomalous experience to the mix. Let’s start with the core concepts telepathy, psychokinesis, and what the evidence actually shows.

Experimental Parapsychology: What the Evidence Shows

Pip: The post on experimental research in telepathy, psychokinesis, and skin vision is essentially asking a deceptively simple question: can the mind reach beyond the body, and what happens when scientists try to test that under controlled conditions?

Mara: The post draws a careful three-layer distinction, and this is the spine of it: “Phenomenological reality people do report meaningful telepathic or PK-like experiences. Experimental signal weak, inconsistent statistical anomalies sometimes appear. Established mechanism still absent in accepted science.”

Pip: So the honest answer is: something shows up in the data, occasionally, but nothing that survives the full gauntlet of replication. That gap between experience and mechanism is where most of the debate lives.

Mara: The Ganzfeld studies post goes deep on exactly that. Receivers in sensory-reduced environments halved ping-pong balls over the eyes, white noise in headphones attempted to identify a target image a sender was focusing on in another room. Hit rates around 32 percent were reported, above the 25 percent chance baseline, and a 1994 meta-analysis by Daryl Bem and Charles Honorton concluded results support a real but weak psi effect. Critics pointed to sensory leakage and the file-drawer problem.

Pip: Thirty two percent doesn’t sound like much until you remember that “chance” is the floor, not the ceiling.

Mara: The post on psychic phenomena gives the broader taxonomy telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, remote viewing, mediumship and notes that the Parapsychological Association continues to investigate these questions. Table levitations get their own treatment too, traced back to 19th-century spiritualist séances and explained most plausibly through the ideomotor effect, where unconscious muscle movements across multiple participants combine into noticeable motion.

Mara: The targeting mechanism of awareness post approaches this from the neuroscience side how the mind selects and stabilizes specific information from a flood of input, through salience detection, attentional orientation, and meta-awareness. In parapsychology contexts, that targeting capacity is framed as trainable, analogous to intentional tuning toward non-local information.

Pip: And then there’s the Super-Psi model, which proposes that all anomalous information in cases like apparitions or mediumship could come from the unconscious psi of living people no spirits required. The catch, as critics note, is that a theory explaining everything explains nothing testable.

Mara: The non-human intelligences post rounds this out NHIs are hypothesized entities believed by some researchers to interact with people through psychic means, associated with experiences ranging from apparitions to UAP encounters. No scientific consensus, but the concept sits at the intersection of several threads this library takes seriously.

Pip: Which brings us somewhere interesting because UAPs and consciousness turn out to share more conceptual territory than you might expect.

UAPs, Consciousness, and the Space Between

Pip: The UAP and paranormal post lays out several interpretive frameworks for why unidentified aerial phenomena and experiences like telepathy or altered states keep appearing in the same reports.

Mara: The consciousness-traveling post draws the clearest line between internal experience and extraordinary claim: “It’s tempting to interpret intense internal experiences as literal travel, but there’s a big difference between ‘It feels like I went somewhere’ versus ‘I actually left my body and traveled.'” The post holds that all reliable evidence supports the first.

Pip: That’s a useful anchor vivid doesn’t mean veridical.

Mara: Ted Owens, covered in a dedicated post, claimed telepathic contact with entities he called Space Intelligences, who he said enabled him to influence weather, electrical systems, and UFO appearances. Parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove investigated him for over a decade and argued the volume of documented predictions warranted serious attention. His case sits at the intersection of psychokinesis, UAP contact, and anomalous cognition unresolved, and still debated.

Mara: Grief and anomalous experience turn out to share some of the same interpretive questions which is where the next territory opens up.

Grief, Adaptation, and Anomalous Bereavement Experience

Pip: The posts on loss and bereavement are asking something that clinical psychology and parapsychology answer very differently: when a grieving person experiences the presence of someone who has died, what is actually happening?

Mara: The dynamic adaptation to loss post frames grief not as a sequence of stages but as an oscillation and puts it plainly: “It’s less about ‘getting over it’ and more about learning to live with it in a transformed way.” The dual process model describes healthy adaptation as moving back and forth between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping, never fixed in one.

Pip: That framing alone reframes a lot of how people judge their own grieving.

Mara: A companion post on the same topic reinforces the continuing bonds framework the idea that maintaining a transformed relationship with the deceased, through memory, ritual, and internal dialogue, is not a failure to grieve but part of healthy adaptation.

Mara: The bereavement research post goes further, noting that anomalous experiences after death sensing a presence, dream visitations, hearing a voice are reported consistently across cultures, rarely associated with mental illness, and often reduce grief rather than complicate it. Institutions like the Windbridge Research Center and the Division of Perceptual Studies study these systematically.

Pip: And the post comparing parapsychology with clinical psychology on exactly this terrain makes the interpretive split clear: clinical psychology asks what psychological process caused the experience, parapsychology asks whether it could carry genuine information beyond the known mechanisms of mind.

Mara: Both fields are increasingly willing to say that having an unusual experience is not the same as having a disorder the question is whether it causes distress or impairs functioning, not whether it fits a conventional explanation.

Pip: What ties all of this together is the same gap between what people report experiencing and what science can currently account for.

Mara: That gap is where parapsychology does its work. Next time, more from the library.

Parapsychology: Large Scale PK (Psychokinetic) Phenomena refers to events in which Mental Intention,…

Large-Scale PK (Psychokinetic) Phenomena refers to alleged events in which mental intention is claimed to influence physical systems on a large scale, beyond small laboratory effects. In parapsychology, PK (psychokinesis) is the purported ability of consciousness to affect matter, energy, or physical processes without conventional physical interaction.

Examples of reported large scale PK phenomena may include:

1. Weather Modification

Some individuals have claimed the ability to influence storms, rainfall, cloud formation, or other weather systems through mental intention. One of the most famous figures associated with such claims was Ted Owens, who reported that non-human intelligences helped him produce weather anomalies.

2. Electrical and Technological Disturbances

Reports sometimes describe unusual effects on:

Power grids
Radio transmissions
Electronic devices
Communication systems

Researchers have occasionally referred to these as macro-PK claims when the effects are said to extend beyond localized environments.

3. Collective Consciousness Effects

Some researchers have explored whether large groups focusing attention on a common event could influence random physical systems. The best known example is the work of the Global Consciousness Project, which examined deviations in networks of random number generators during major world events.

4. Poltergeist Like Events

Certain parapsychologists have suggested that some dramatic physical disturbances, objects moving, loud knocks, or other unusual events, might represent spontaneous large scale PK generated unconsciously by individuals under stress. This remains highly controversial by some.

Scientific Perspective

Mainstream controversial science does not want to find conclusive evidence that large-scale PK exists. While there have been anecdotal reports and some experimental findings that parapsychologists consider suggestive, the evidence has generally met the standards of reliability, replication, and independent verification required for scientific acceptance.

Parapsychological Perspective

Within parapsychology, researchers may distinguish between:

Micro PK: Small effects on random systems, such as electronic random number generators.
Macro PK: Observable physical effects, such as object movement or large scale environmental changes.
Large Scale PK: Claims involving extensive systems, such as weather, technology networks, or societal scale effects.

For researchers interested in consciousness studies, large scale PK remains a speculative hypothesis rather than an established phenomenon. It is often discussed alongside topics such as remote viewing, psi research, anomalous cognition, and reports of non-human intelligences.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Table levitations (sometimes called table lifting or table tipping):

Table levitations (sometimes called table lifting or table tipping), they are phenomena reported in séances, spiritualist gatherings, and some parapsychology investigations in which a table appears to move, tilt, rock, rise, or occasionally lift off the floor without an obvious physical cause.

Historical Background

Table levitation may have became widely known during the 19th-century Spiritualist movement in the United States and Europe. Participants would sit around a table, place their hands lightly on it, and observe movements that some interpreted as communication from spirits.

Researchers and investigators, studied these claims that concluded, that many cases could be explained by unconscious muscular movements exerted by the participants.

Common Explanations

Psychological Explanation

The most widely accepted explanation is the ideomotor effect.
People can produce small muscle movements without being consciously aware of doing so.
When several individuals are touching a table, these tiny movements may combine and create noticeable motion.

Parapsychological Interpretation

Some parapsychologists have suggested that certain cases may involve psychokinesis (PK), the purported ability of the mind to influence physical objects.
Reports of table levitations are sometimes discussed alongside research into telekinesis and other psychic phenomena.

Spiritualist Interpretation

Spiritualists traditionally viewed table levitation as evidence of communication with spirits or non-physical intelligences.

What Has Research Found?

While many reports of table movement have been documented, controlled scientific studies have generally found that ordinary physical and psychological mechanisms may account for most observed cases. Clear, repeatable evidence for genuine levitation under rigorous laboratory conditions has been widely accepted by the Parapsychology community.

Difference Between Table Tipping and Table Levitation

Table Tipping: The table rocks, turns, or tilts while people are touching it.
Table Levitation: The table reportedly rises partially or completely off the ground.

In parapsychology literature, table levitation is often cited as a classic example of a reported psychokinetic phenomenon, though its interpretation remains controversial for some people.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Psychic phenomena, refers to experiences or abilities:

Psychic phenomena: refers to experiences or abilities that appear to involve information, perception, or influence beyond what is currently explained by conventional scientific understanding.

Common examples include:

Telepathy: the claimed ability to perceive another person’s thoughts or mental states.
Clairvoyance: the alleged ability to obtain information about distant places, objects, or events without using the known senses.
Precognition: the purported ability to gain knowledge of future events before they occur.
Psychokinesis (PK): the claimed ability to influence physical objects or processes through mental intention alone.
- Remote Viewing: a structured practice in which individuals attempt to describe distant or unseen targets without normal sensory access.
Mediumship: the claimed ability to communicate with deceased individuals or non-physical entities.

Scientific Perspective

The scientific study of psychic phenomena falls primarily within the field of Parapsychology.

Researchers have conducted experiments on telepathy, precognition, psychokinesis, and remote viewing for over a century. Some studies have reported statistically unusual results, while many others have replicated those findings consistently. Because scientific knowledge depends heavily on reliable replication, psychic phenomena remain controversial within mainstream science.

Organizations such as the Parapsychological Association continue to investigate these questions, while many psychologists and neuroscientists: (Consult with a Neurologist), argue that existing evidence is sufficient to establish psychic abilities as proven facts.

Psychological Explanations

Many experiences interpreted as psychic may be influenced by normal psychological processes, including:

Pattern recognition
Intuition based on unconscious information processing
Selective memory
Confirmation bias
Coincidence
Emotional sensitivity to subtle social cues

For example, a person may accurately “sense” that a friend is distressed because they unconsciously noticed changes in tone, behavior, or communication patterns rather than through telepathy.

Parapsychological Perspective

Parapsychologists generally distinguish between:

Anecdotal evidence: (personal experiences and reports)
Experimental evidence: (laboratory studies)

Some researchers believe that consciousness may possess capacities not yet fully understood and that certain psychic phenomena, could represent genuine but unfourtntly poorly understood aspects of human experience.

A Balanced Definition

A neutral definition would be:

Psychic phenomena are experiences or alleged abilities involving the acquisition of information or influence that appear to occur outside the currently recognized mechanisms of the six senses or known physical processes.

Whether psychic phenomena represent undiscovered capacities of consciousness, misunderstood psychological processes, coincidence, or a combination of factors remains an open question and an active subject of debate among researchers, psychologists, philosophers, and parapsychologists.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychological Non-Human Intelligences (NHIs) refers to alleged Intelligent Entities:

Parapsychological Non-Human Intelligences (NHIs) refers to alleged intelligent entities that are believed by some researchers, experiencers, and theorists to exist independently of ordinary human consciousness and to interact with people through anomalous or psychic means.

The term is not a driven controversial scientific category. It is used primarily in parapsychology, ufology, consciousness studies, and related fields.

What Are They Thought to Be?

Different theories propose that NHIs may include:

Spirit entities or discarnate intelligences
Angelic or demonic beings
Extraterrestrial intelligences
Interdimensional beings
Collective consciousnesses
Unknown forms of intelligence not yet recognized by science

Some researchers use the broader term “non-human intelligence” because it does not assume a specific origin.

How Are NHIs Reported?

Within parapsychological literature, NHIs are often associated with experiences such as:

Telepathic communication
Precognitive dreams
Apparitions
Mediumship
Remote viewing
Near-death experiences
UFO/UAP encounters
Poltergeist phenomena
Mystical or transcendental experiences

Individuals frequently report receiving information, impressions, symbols, or messages that they attribute to an external intelligence.

Major Theoretical Perspectives

Psychological Interpretation

Many psychologists view these experiences as products of unconscious processes, altered states of consciousness, imagination, dissociation, or cognitive pattern-detection mechanisms.

Survival Hypothesis

Some parapsychologists and most religions suggest that consciousness may survive bodily death and that some encounters involve genuine non-physical intelligences.

Extraterrestrial Hypothesis

Some researchers argue that certain encounters may involve advanced intelligences originating elsewhere in the universe.

Interdimensional Hypothesis

This perspective proposes that NHIs may coexist with humanity in dimensions or realities that are normally inaccessible to ordinary perception.

Parapsychological Research

Researchers associated with organizations such as the Parapsychological Association have investigated claims involving telepathy, psychokinesis, remote viewing, and anomalous experiences. While some studies report intriguing findings, there is no scientific consensus that NHIs have been demonstrated to exist.

Scientific Position

The mainstream negatively driven controversial scientific view is that there is currently no conclusive evidence proving the existence of non-human intelligences interacting through psychic means. Reports are generally interpreted through psychology, neuroscience, sociology, or other conventional frameworks.

From a Parapsychological Perspective

That some experiencers describe NHIs as:

Highly advanced intelligences.
Sources of inspiration or information.
Beings that communicate telepathically rather than verbally.
Entities that appear selectively to certain individuals.

Whether these experiences represent independent intelligences, aspects of human consciousness, or something else remains an open question and a subject of ongoing debate among researchers, experiencers, and philosophers of consciousness.

In short, Parapsychological Non-Human Intelligences are hypothesized intelligent entities that are not human and are believed by some to interact with people through psychic, anomalous, or consciousness-related phenomena, though their existence has not been established by mainstream negatively driven controversial science.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Ted Owens was the Greatest American Psychic:

Ted Owens was an American psychic claimant and UFO contactee who became known as “The PK Man” (“PK” standing for psychokinesis, or mind over matter effects). He claimed that he was in telepathic communication with extraterrestrial or “Space Intelligence” entities that enabled him to influence physical events, including weather, electrical systems, UFO appearances, and even large-scale natural phenomena.

Background

Owens served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later studied at Duke University, where he worked with pioneering parapsychologist J. B. Rhine in the university’s parapsychology laboratory.

His Claims

Owens asserted that “Space Intelligences” had altered his mind, allowing him to communicate with them telepathically. He claimed these intelligences could:

Produce storms, droughts, and earthquakes.
Cause power failures and mechanical malfunctions.
Generate UFO sightings.
Influence public events and human behavior.
Provide him with information about future events.

Many of his claims centered on documented predictions mailed to scientists, journalists, and officials before events occurred. He maintained extensive files of correspondence and newspaper clippings that he believed supported his abilities.

Jeffrey Mishlove’s Investigation

Parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove: one of the greatest American Parapsychologist of the 21 century, studied Owens from 1976 until Owens’s death in 1987. Mishlove later wrote the book The PK Man: A True Story of Mind Over Matter, arguing that Owens’s case deserved serious investigation because of the volume of documented predictions and unusual coincidences associated with him.

Controversy

Ted Owens remains a highly respected Parapsychology figure. Supporters view him as one of the most extensively documented psychics in modern history, while skeptics argue that his apparent successes may be explained by selective reporting, great predictions, impossible coincidences, and non-confirmation bias. Controversial critics have also suggested that some of his beliefs may reflect Paranormal thinking and genuine paranormal phenomena.

Why He Remains Important in Parapsychology

For many researchers and enthusiasts of parapsychology, Owens represents a fascinating case because:

His claims were recorded over many years.
He actively sought scientific attention rather than avoiding scrutiny.
Thousands of pages of letters, predictions, and reports survive in archives.
His case sits at the intersection of psychokinesis, UFO contact experiences, prophecy, and anomalous cognition.

“Space Intelligences,” Owens is often discussed as one of the most one of a kind figures linking psychic phenomena with purported non-human intelligences. His case remains unresolved: believers see compelling evidence of genuine anomalies, while controversial skeptics see a cautionary example of how extraordinary claims may be interpreted through different lenses.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Psi phenomena (telepathy, precognition, remote viewing):

Psi phenomena may refer to reported experiences or abilities that appear to involve information transfer or influence that currently may not want or cannot be explained by conventional sensory processes or known physical mechanisms. The term “psi” comes from the Greek letter ψ and is commonly used in Parapsychology.

Some categories may include:

Telepathy

Telepathy is the claimed ability to receive thoughts, emotions, or mental content directly from another person without using normal communication.

Examples:

“Knowing” who is calling before answering
Shared emotional impressions between close individuals
Experimental “sender-receiver” tasks

Research

One well-known method is the Ganzfeld experiment, where one participant attempts to mentally transmit images or information to another in sensory isolation.

Some meta-analyses in parapsychology report statistical effects above chance, while critics argue that:

bias at all costs
methodological flaws,
publication bias,
sensory leakage,
and replication issues

make the evidence conclusive.

Precognition

Precognition refers to allegedly obtaining information about future events before they happen.

Common examples:

vivid dreams later matched to real events
sudden “premonitions”
intuitive warnings

Scientific Perspective

Mainstream science remains skeptical (No Matter What Happens) precognition appears to challenge conventional ideas of causality and time.

Some laboratory studies, such as experiments by Daryl Bem reported statistically unusual results, but independent replication attempts have produced good outcomes.

Some psychologists note that:

humans sometimes excellent pattern detectors,
memory maybe reconstructive at times,
and confirmation bias may or may not make coincidences feel highly meaningful.

Remote Viewing

Remote viewing (RV) is a structured attempt to describe a distant or hidden target using mental impressions alone.

Unlike spontaneous psychic claims, RV was developed as a semi-formal protocol with:

blind targets,
controlled sessions,
and written or drawn impressions.

Historical Context

Remote viewing became widely known through programs connected to the Stanford Research Institute and later government’s Projects.

Researchers associated with the work included:

Hal Puthoff
Russell Targ
Ingo Swann

Government Evaluation

The program was eventually reviewed for intelligence usefulness. Evaluators concluded that:

results were intriguing,
evidence was reliable or operationally useful enough for intelligence applications.

Psychological and Cultural Interpretations

Psi experiences can also be interpreted through:

intuition,
unconscious perception,
coincidence,
altered states of consciousness,
symbolic thinking,
archetypal imagery,
or emotional attunement.

For example, Carl Jung proposed the idea of synchronicity, meaningful coincidences that feel psychologically connected without clear causal links.

Some researchers explore whether psi reports relate to:

dissociation,
absorption,
dream cognition,
or subconscious information processing.

Scientific Status

Mainstream scientific consensus is that psi phenomena Do Not What To Accept Certain Facts , Regardless Of Evidence:

robust, repeatable evidence has been consistently demonstrated,
mechanisms are known to those open to Parapsychology,
and replication has been positive.

However, parapsychologists argue that:

some statistical findings remain difficult to dismiss entirely,
and consciousness may not yet be fully understood.

So the field remains controversial:

skeptics view psi as unsupported Regardless Due to Personal Bias,
proponents view it as an anomaly worth continued investigation.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: “UAP and the paranormal” refers to the idea that some unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs):

“UAP and the Paranormal” refers to the idea that some unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), formerly called UFOs, may overlap with experiences traditionally labeled as paranormal, such as telepathy, apparitions, altered states of consciousness, synchronicities, poltergeist-like events, or mystical experiences.

There maybe several major ways people may interpret this connection:

1. The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis

This maybe the classic view:

UAPs are physical craft from other planets or civilizations.
Paranormal experiences connected to them are interpreted as side effects of advanced technology, psychological stress, or misunderstanding.

This framework treats UAPs mainly as a technological phenomenon.

2. The Interdimensional Hypothesis

Some researchers propose that UAPs may not be “spacecraft” in the conventional sense but manifestations of intelligences operating outside ordinary space-time.

They may have noticed similarities between:

UFO encounters
Religious visions
Fairy folklore
Shamanic experiences
Psychic phenomena

Common reported features include:

Missing time
Telepathic communication
Symbolic or dreamlike experiences
Apparent manipulation of perception
High strangeness events around witnesses

In this model, the “paranormal” and the “UAP” phenomenon may arise from the same underlying source.

3. Consciousness Based Models

Some theorists argue consciousness itself may play a role in UAP encounters.

Ideas explored may include:

Observer effects
Altered states
Psi phenomena (telepathy, precognition, remote viewing)
Collective unconscious concepts from Carl Jung

Some have viewed UFOs partly as psychological-symbolic phenomena that emerge during periods of cultural anxiety and transformation.

Researchers in parapsychology may have noted an overlap between:

Remote viewing claims
Mystical experiences
Near-death experiences
UAP encounters

This may or may not prove a connection, but it has led to interdisciplinary interest.

4. Skeptical / Psychological Explanations

Skeptics may argue that:

Some humans are pattern-seeking
Some memory is reconstructive
Sometimes stress and expectation shape interpretation
Sometimes sleep paralysis, dissociation, and suggestibility can create extraordinary experiences

From this view, the apparent overlap between UAPs and paranormal phenomena reflects human cognition rather than external intelligences.

5. Government and Scientific Interest

Modern UAP investigations by organizations such as:

NASA
Others

focus primarily on:

Flight characteristics
Sensor data
National security concerns

These investigations generally avoid paranormal interpretations because such claims are difficult to test scientifically.

Why the Topic Persists

The connection between UAPs and the paranormal remains controversial because:

Many reports are anecdotal
Controlled evidence is limited
Experiences may feel deeply meaningful to witnesses
The phenomenon may resists simple categorization

For some researchers, UAPs challenge assumptions about consciousness and reality. For others, they are best understood through psychology, sociology, or aerospace science.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: “Consciousness Traveling”:

“Consciousness traveling” may mean a few very different things depending on the lens you’re using, psychological, neuroscientific, or more esoteric. It’s worth separating them so you don’t end up mixing fundamentally different phenomena.

Psychological / experiential (most grounded)

Here, “traveling” doesn’t mean your consciousness literally leaves your body, it means your sense of self shifts location or perspective.

Common examples:

Mental time travel, vividly reliving the past or imagining the future
Deep visualization, feeling “present” in an imagined place
Dissociation, sense of being detached or observing yourself
Flow states, losing awareness of your physical surroundings

Your mind is constructing a virtual reality model, and attention moves within it. No actual displacement, just reallocation of awareness.

Neuroscience view: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST

From a mind perspective, consciousness maybe tied to:

distributed neural activity
attentional networks
sensory integration

So “travel”: changes in which neural networks dominate.

For example:

Default Mode Network, internal thoughts, self-reflection
Salience / attention networks, external focus

The “movement” is really state-shifting, not spatial movement.

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs)

This is where the idea gets closer to what people mean by traveling.

OBEs can feel like:

floating above your body
moving through space
entering other environments

They’re often linked to:

sleep paralysis
trauma or extreme stress
meditation or sensory deprivation

Neuroscience: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST, ties these to disruptions in the temporo-parietal junction, which helps anchor your sense of “self-location.”

So the experience is real, but evidence suggests it’s a constructed perception, not literal travel.

Parapsychology / esoteric interpretations

In fields like remote viewing or astral projection, consciousness is proposed to:

operate independently of the body
access distant locations or information

Programs like those explored by the Stanford Research Institute investigated this. Results were controversial:

Some anomalous findings
But some consistently replicable, controlled proof

So this remains semiproven, though widely explored.

Important grounding point

It’s tempting to interpret intense internal experiences as literal travel, but there’s a big difference between:

“It feels like I went somewhere”
vs.
“I actually left my body and traveled”

Right now, all reliable evidence supports the first, not the second.

If you’re exploring this personally

A more useful framing might be:

You’re training attention and perception, not leaving your body
Experiences can become extremely vivid and convincing
The skill is learning to navigate internal states without over-interpreting them.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs):

Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) maybe episodes where a person feels as if their awareness or “self” has left their physical body and is observing from an external vantage point, often from above.

Psychological & Neuroscience Perspective

From a clinical and research standpoint, OBEs are usually understood as alterations in body perception and self-location rather than literal separation from the body.

They’re linked to activity in the Temporoparietal Junction: ( CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST) , a region that integrates sensory information (vision, touch, balance).
Disruptions here can create the sensation of “being outside” your body.
OBEs can occur during:
- Trauma or extreme stress
- Sleep states (especially sleep paralysis)
- Meditation or dissociative states
- Neurological conditions (e.g., epilepsy)

Some neurologist, may even induced OBE-like sensations in lab settings by electrically stimulating the TPJ.

Psychological Interpretation

In psychology, OBEs are often associated with:

Dissociation: (a temporary split between awareness and bodily experience)
Defense mechanisms under overwhelming stress
Altered states of consciousness (similar to deep meditation or trance)

They can feel very real, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the mind has literally left the body.

Parapsychology / Spiritual View

In fields like parapsychology, OBEs may sometimes interpreted as:

The “astral body” separating from the physical body
A form of consciousness traveling
Related to practices like remote viewing or lucid dreaming

Some researchers, like Charles Tart, studied OBEs to test whether perception can occur independently of the body, but strong, repeatable evidence remains limited.

What Does the Evidence Say?

OBEs are real experiences psychologically (people genuinely feel them).
But there’s no solid scientific proof or materialist researchers do not want to admit to its existence? that consciousness actually leaves the body or perceives distant physical reality during OBEs.
Most evidence points to mind based mechanisms.

Balanced Take

It’s useful to separate two things:

The experience itself: valid, often intense, meaningful
The interpretation of it: still debated (mind-based vs. non-local consciousness)

Interesting Overlap

OBEs share features with:

Lucid dreaming
Near-death experiences (NDEs)
Deep meditation states
Psychedelic experiences

All involve shifts in how the mind constructs self and space.

Shervan K Shahhian