August 23, 2007

scientists respond to study on out of body experience as published in Science

Dr Susan Blackmore, Visiting Lecturer, University of the West of England, said:

“This new experiment has at last brought OBEs into the lab and tested one of the main theories of how they occur. Scientists have long suspected that the clue to these extraordinary, and sometimes life-changing, experiences lies in disrupting our normal illusion of being a self behind our eyes, and replacing it with a new viewpoint from above or behind. By using virtual reality techniques they have now shown that the feeling of being out of the body can actually be induced this way. This adds to previous work inducing OBEs in epileptics using direct brain stimulation, and extends it to healthy volunteers.

“Finding out that OBEs are a perfectly natural phenomenon does not prove there is no astral body, or soul, or spirit, but it certainly makes their invention superfluous. OBEs should be understood, not as evidence for the supernatural or life after death, but as a fascinating and exciting experience that potentially we can all have. Nothing really leaves the body in an OBE but the experience is no less interesting for that.”