Q & A: Out of Body Experiences & Dream Symbols
September 20th, 2007 by John Wolfe
Question: I have a question that I’d like to see featured on your blog about out of body experiences, even though I’ve never really been able to project. I was wondering what your thoughts are about why some people can do it while others can’t? And where do you think those that can project are going?
-Ryan M.
Answer: Those are some awesome questions. It’s interesting how astral projection can come so easily for some, while others may go their entire lives without ever experiencing it consciously. From my personal perspective, I feel that conscious, spontaneous OBEs were a huge launching platform for propelling me faster and farther down the path I’m currently on.
But I don’t view individuals that have experienced them as being “better” or more spiritually “evolved” than those that haven’t. I try not to get caught up in that sort of logic because it implies status and rank, along with the idea that certain people have arrived at some imaginary destination while others are still playing catch up.
I believe that each one of us experiences OBEs while we sleep, so it’s really a matter of who retains the memory (by becoming completely conscious during the experience) and who loses it during the sleep state. People like to take things like near death experiences and astral projection and turn them into something which is more spiritual than being focused on our physical bodies.
While I do believe NDEs and OBEs can have enormous impacts upon the recipients, sometimes changing the entire focus and course of their lives; I don’t feel they are above and beyond our experiences with the physical body. There’s not one human experience that can occur outside the realm of the spiritual. I stress this a lot, but I believe it’s true.
The out of body state exists as another location for focusing our consciousness. We focus our consciousness in a similar manner while existing on the physical plane. The only reason we choose to zero in on physical vehicles is because of the wide variety of experiences they can afford us, which may not be available at more subtle dimensional existences.
I believe we never really “go” anywhere while our energy is physically focused. The same is true when we transition into being non-physically focused as well, whether through out of body experiences or the death transition.
I believe the only form of actual out of body travel, we undergo, is deeper into ourselves. I’ve had astral encounters that have made it very clear to me that the astral plane resides inside my own awareness. As humans, we become accustomed to trying to mark out physical locations and pinpoint them geographically speaking. But OBEs help make it obvious that this entire physical environment, along with the astral plane, is literally all in our minds.
I like to compare life and the afterlife (and life after that and so on) to a virtual reality game. Our higher consciousness is the viewer or player of this VR game. It stays stationary in its consistent, always state of perpetual being while projecting its awareness into a multitude of virtual environments. These environments become backdrops for the characters that we identify with (as ourselves) to make their way through the settings and experiences that we call life. This is why nothing that occurs can happen outside of spirit, because it all stems from the same conscious spiritual origin.
Question: I love to research dreams and their meanings. A few nights ago I had a dream that was full of symbolism and when I woke up I was excited to look up its meaning in my reference books. It consisted of several elements that I’d rather not discuss, but the general consensus of my research pointed to a pretty negative interpretation of the symbols. Do you get into the symbolic meanings of dreams and can you recommend any good books on the subject?
Answer: The dream world fascinates me, but I’ve never invested a lot of time in researching any book’s interpretation of the people, objects and environments I encounter there. I don’t put a lot of stock in someone else’s viewpoints of what’s going on in my dreamscapes. I also don’t feel that anyone can accurately write a blanket statement saying that each dream symbol means exactly the same thing for everyone. While I do feel that the dream world could be considered an actual environment- not just fantasy- I understand that there are symbolic representations that we will encounter while in that realm.
I like to view books as beneficial guides (the dream meaning books are no exception) but not something that’s set in stone for interpreting our own unique individual life experience. It’s important to weigh out information as you read it. I’ve read many metaphysical and supernatural works that I would not recommend through my site because the information just didn’t make a connection with me.
I’ve mentioned before that I encourage my Wind of the Soul blog readers to only take away what truly resonates with them. It doesn’t hurt my feelings if people disagree with my viewpoints. In fact, I encourage them to do so if something I’m saying doesn’t feel valid. I’m sharing my ideas, beliefs, experiences and opinions about this subject matter from my own unique perspective, just as my readers are assimilating it and (hopefully) weighing it out from their own unique perspective.
If the dream guide interpretations primarily feel like they are on the money and they give you a sense of power over any fear that the dreams may be causing, then I think you should continue using them. However, if they feel like they are instilling a deeper sense of fear and insecurity about what they believe your subconscious may be trying to tell you, then I think you should let go of them for a while.
I believe we have our own built in powerhouse for interpreting dreams and we do it through our intuition. Feel for some clarity after each dream and see if you can recognize continuing patterns among the dream themes. I also think dream logs can be beneficial in helping to track trends and themes. I used to log my out of body experiences on a consist basis and it helped me to recognize certain trends. The main thing is to try and rely more upon your own senses, since your dreams are unique and stemming from within you and no one else.
And that does it for this second question and answer post of September. I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to continue emailing me such great questions. If you have something you’d like to see addressed in the Wind of the Soul blog, then feel free to get in touch with me through my contact page. Your name will always be kept anonymous, unless you ask otherwise.
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Experiences Out of the Body - Part 1
Experiences Out of the Body – Part 2
My Astral Experience With a Tribal Shaman
Recent Out of Body Experiences
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