The Origins of Out of Body Experiences and Astral Projecting

Although with no scientific proof, many cling to the concept of leaving one’s body and being able to claim that the soul is a separate entity of the body has been an idea that has long existed in religious and cultural backgrounds. In the West, the idea of out of body experiences explained that the astral body is an intermediate body of light that links the rational soul to the physical body while the astral plane is an intermediate world between Heaven and Earth and said that the astral plane contains sphere that were populated by angels, demons, and spirits.

In Ancient Egypt, the concept of soul travel appears in religious traditions. Ancient Egyptian teachings state that the soul (called ba) has the ability to hover outside the physical body thanks to the “ka” , another component  said to make up one’s body. However In Japan, the manifestation of the soul of a living person has more of a petty reason. It is said that if someone holds a sufficient grudge against another person, that a part of their soul can temporarily leave their body and appear before the target of their hate in order to curse or harm them. Similar to the concept of an “evil eye”.

However the term OBE (out of body experience) was popularized by Robert Monroe who from the years of 1971-1994 recounted his journeys to other realms and even founded an institute dedicated to research, exploration, and non-profit dissemination of auditory technology for assisting others in achievement projection and related altered states of consciousness. Although with no scientific backing, astral projecting has been used in various forms of entertainment and media to even further popularize this idea that one’s soul can leave its physical body.