Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the astral plane.
The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife in which the consciousness' or soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an...out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or dream body or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms." It is therefore associated with near death experiences and is also frequently reported as spontaneously experienced in association with sleep and dreams, illness, surgical operations, drug experiences, sleep paralysis and forms of meditation.
It is sometimes attempted out of curiosity,or may be believed to be necessary to, or the result of, some forms of spiritual practice. It may involve "travel to higher realms" called astral planes but is commonly used to describe any sensation of being "out of the body" in the everyday world, even seeing one's body from outside or above. It may be reported in the form of an apparitional experience, a supposed encounter with a doppelgänger, some living person also seen somewhere else at the same time.
Through the 1960s and 70s, surveys reported percentages ranging from 8 percent to as many as 50 percent (in certain groups) of respondents who state they had such an experience. The subjective nature of the experience permits explanations that do not rely on the existence of an "astral" body and plane.There is little beyond anecdotal evidence to support the idea that people can actually "leave the body".
Whether this is the same as remote viewing as I know it, its difficult to explain. Remote viewing was using by the ***CIA at the height of the 'Cold War', whereby the CIA conducted experiments with psychics to practise 'Remote Viewing' as a precursor to spying on the 'Iron Block' countries. I discovered I had this ability purely through chance. I had had a few Out of Body Experiences, but what I term 'Remote Viewing' it does not mean actually leaving the body but rather sending out a tentacle of your aura and for want of a better word spying. I had been using this ability for sometime before I knew exactly what it was, until one day whilst on a course, I learned this ability was known as 'Remote Viewing'. Part of the exercise was to view others' homes within the group and I found I could see inside cupboards and wander round their home with 99% accuracy. I do not know how exactly I achieve this, its akin to letting your mind go floppy and take myself into a type of trance, so in effect I am two places at once. I use this ability in psychic readings. It's unlike when I am linking with Spirit to communicate with those on the other side or guides, where it is quite a high vibration, remote viewing is more a passive energy as in spiritual healing and more on par with the brain rhythms associated with hypnosis and deep meditation.
***All humans have the innate potential to receive detailed information on a target, using only their minds. But throughout history, only a small number of exceptional natural psychics developed their ability to a point of repeatability and consistency. It was not until the late twentieth century when the U.S. intelligence community poured millions of research dollars into the area of psychic functioning that a true breakthrough was realized. In an effort to use psychics for intelligence gathering purposes, the Defense Intelligence Agency contracted Stanford Research Institute to develop a reliable technique that could be used to collect accurate information on distant targets. The outcome of this research was a set of protocols and a training program that allowed virtually anyone to be trained to perceive psychically derived information, while surpassing the accuracy of the best known natural psychics. For the first time, a remote viewer could learn how to consistently separate imagination from true target data and remain locked on to the target signal. Unlike earlier research involving "out-of-body experiences" and freestyle Extended Remote Viewing (ERV), the remote viewer worked fully conscious at a state of high attention. The protocols were designed to slowly bring the viewer to closer target contact, working from the general to the specific, collecting bits and pieces of data in a specific and structured manner, with all viewers following the same rigorously applied six stage process.
Remote Viewing as an Applied Military Intelligence Tool
General Albert N. Stubblebine
- Former Chairman of the Board of PSI TECH
The refinement and development of the process did not end in the laboratory. In the Defense Intelligence Agency's unit, these remote viewing procedures were tested against top secret and distant targets often involving life or death situations - a motivating factor which simply does not exist in the laboratory research environment. The work these viewers produced had to be accurate and they used it to save lives, find hostages and solve complex problems involving the security of the United States. This resulted in improvements in the techniques and training regimen and brought great strides in perfecting the accuracy of the skill. It was now a highly accurate military intelligence collection and problem solving tool, applied by highly disciplined military intelligence officers. One of the training officers of the remote viewing unit formed a private corporation, in 1989, and the former presiding General of INSCOM (Intelligence Security Command) sat on the board of directors, to help usher this technology out of the confines of secrecy and into the private sector. That company is PSI TECH.
Maggie Brown (Author)
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