Apologies for my long term disappearing act - I return with an interview with OBE'r, author, Vegan and Parapsychology research participant Graham Nicholl's!
My question would be the obvious sceptical one. If out-of-body experiences really involve what they appear to do - perception from a viewpoint outside the body - and if they can be induced, why can't that be proved by straightforward experiment? If they don't involve that, in what sense can they be objective?
What are his thoughts about specific "objectively-existing" "Locales" that OBErs can visit? Is that BS and it's all only subjective mind-creating/exploring or is there truth to that?
And then can we expect those Locales to be "places" consciousness continues to visit in the "afterlife"? (Although if I remember from past interviews, Nicholls is kind of agnostic on those types of afterlife-questions, but it might still be interesting to ask him.)
How consistent are his experiences with those of other OBErs of whom he's aware? And how (dis)similar? What does he make of any inconsistencies/dissimilarities?
Hi Roberta, I hope all is well with you! I've just seen this post now and despite it being quite late here in the UK, I felt I had to log-on and pose a few questions, if I may. The problem is, I get the sense you're getting close to a cut-off date for questions, and as it's late I don't have time to review what Graham has said before in regards to my Qs (if anything), which is kind of disingenuous of me, but I really wanted to get my question/s in if possible! I have heard several podcasts and videos of Graham (even on a UK SKY TV channel, if I recall correctly?), some 6 hours worth I'd say, but that would be around 10 or more years ago. Regardless, I hope my questions generate some interesting answers, even if he's addressed them before..... Long preamble over...
Q1) Do you differentiate, and in what practical ways, between different varieties of "OBE", such as "etheric projection", OBE, astral projection, lucid dreams, remote viewing and other visionary experiences in general? If so (I believe Graham does differentiate between lucid dreams and "OBEs", for eg. if I recall correctly), what is the practical differences between these experiences in relation to our ontological being or state of consciousness? Is it just the CONTENT of the experience which defines what label we ascribe to them, or what method or practice we use, or something more fundamentally "differential"? Further, is there some sort of objective or invariant structural hierarchy to these states of experience, in your opinion, and how do you personally frame that conceptually?
Q2) What have your experiences suggested to you about the "ultimate" nature of reality, or at the very least, our "individual" consciousness and the potential spectrum of experience that is available to us, if anything?
Q3) Have you ever experienced, during an "OBE" or some other visionary state, the experience of becoming infinite (or at least numerous) souls or beings, individually and in their "totality" (ie. knowing all their "history", connections, relationships etc, despite their being "fictional" interior characters, ostensibly at least). If not this, have you experienced any other unusual "OBEs" or visionary experiences that are in some way "unusual", and do not fit the linear, singular person perspective of "out-of-body" perceptions? I would love to hear if so!
I'm sure I've forgotten something I intended, but I'm being greedy now & I'm too sleepy to ask anything coherent now anyway
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