| For a rather different, and broader, perspective I recommend *Beyond
The Body* by Susan Blackmore. I don't agree with everything that
Dr. Blackmore concludes (as a matter of fact, we've had several
rather pleasent debates, both by correspondence and in person) but
her scholarship and presentation are outstanding. It is her view
(and not her original one I might add -- so her prejudices are not
the usual ones) that the OBE (as I've said elsewhere the abbreviation
OOBE is incorrectly formed and now rarely used) is a *psychological*
phenomena rather than a *paranormal* one (actually I agree with
her there, its in some details and extensions that we disagree).
I'll quote part of the review of the book that appeared in the January
1984 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (review
is by Carlos Alvarado):
"BEYOND THE BODY: AN INVESTIGATION OF OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCES"
by Susan J. Blackmore. London: Published on behalf of the Society
for Psychical Research by Heinemann. 1982 North Pomfret, VT: David
and Charles, 1983, Pp. xv + 271. $18.00 (cloth).
"'Beyond the Body' is one of a series of books published by Heinemann
'on behalf of the Society for Psychical Research' to commemorate
the Society's centenary. Its purpose is to review 'what the SPR
and others have learned [about OBEs] in those 100 years' (p 8).
"Basic descriptions and a definition of OBEs are presented in the
first two chapters. Blackmore describes her own OBE, an experience
which provides her with a valuable inside view of this phenomenon.
She defines an OBE as 'an experience in which a person seems to
perceive the world from a location outside his physical body' (p.
1). an experiential definition close to that proposed by Green (1968)
and Palmer (1974).
"Int the third chapter, 'The Doctrine of Astral Projection,' the
concept of subltel bodies is presented in detail, and the author
makes clear that she regards such explanations for an OBE as
inadequate; she discusses this later in the book in more detail.
"Chapters 4 and 5 review the accounts of subjects who have described
frequent voluntary OBEs in detail, such as Sylvan Muldoon, Oliver
Fox, Yram, and others, giving adequate general sumaries of this
material.
"In Chapters 6, 7 and 9 spontaneous case collections and surveys
are reviewd, giving the reader a more detailed view of OBE
phenomenology, frequency and other variables than was presented
at the beginning of the book. . . .
"Other interesting chapters are concerned with OBEs in other cultures
(Chapter 8), methods of OBE induction (Chapter 10), and lucid dreams
(Chapter 11).
"Death experiences are covered in two chapters: 'Visions of the
Dying' (Chapter 13) and 'Close Encounters with Death' (Chapter 14)..."
There's a lot more to the review. Including criticisms of Dr.
Blackmore's conclusions, and some mention of what is left out.
Nevertheless, this is *the* book to read, if you want to find out
what is actually known about OBEs, as opposed to the perspective
of a single individual (who is automatically subject to telling
you about him/her-self rather than universals of the experience).
It is also a good presentation of one of the psychological theories
of the OBE, by someone who does not reject paranormal explanations
out-of-hand. I recommend it even for its information content even
if you are strongly committed to a "astral projection" theory of
the experience.
I will mail a copy of the complete review to anyone who requests it.
Topher
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