A writer's early explorations of the soul

[Author of the Hidden Truth]

When I was researching the material that would eventually become the basis for my book, The Hidden Truth: A logical path through compelling evidence to discover the nature of reality and the meaning of life, I initially considered conducting first-hand experience to supplement my research findings and conclusions. I later abandoned this idea because I decided my initial foray of researching these issues should be impartial, and a first-hand experience was likely to provide me an unfair advantage by reaching a conclusion that could not be adequately described in a way that would convince a skeptic to consider the validity of my logic-based efforts. If I wanted to prove my points, it would have to be via scientific research already conducted, and not first-hand experience.

Still, I did not reach this conclusion immediately, and I made some minor efforts to learn how to have an out-of-body experience (OBE) at one point in my research program. Along with this research, I practiced many techniques described in the literature, and it is to those experiences I will now turn.

Obtaining an initial OBE can be a frustratingly difficult endeavor – at least without a personal guide, and I had none – and so I tried to teach myself not only what I should do but what I should experience. I tried the Mind Awake/Body Asleep techniques via self inducement and bi-aural audio inducement, both to no major success. However, I was particularly keen on paying attention to the initial stages of the experience so I could mark whether or not success might be just around the corner. Initial experiences that precede an OBE include hearing buzzing sounds, feeling one’s body vibrate, and being able to see even though one’s eyes are closed. The latter two might occur while still resident in the physical body, while the former usually occurs as the astral body is transitioning to the out-of-body state. Amazingly (to me), I achieved both of the latter, but never the former.

One night as I was particularly tired, but still interested in trying to achieve an OBE, I lied down on our bed as my wife engaged in her nightly routine. I conducted a relaxation initiation routine to trick the mind into losing all feeling of the outer extremities, and concentrated only on relaxing and thoughts of becoming lighter and increasing the astral body’s vibrational frequency. As my mind continued to relax, I moved closer to the state of sleep but somehow retained just enough consciousness to direct my thoughts. At that point I literally felt my body start to vibrate, and it wasn’t a mild vibration – it felt like my whole body was moving forcefully in a lateral direction, back-and-forth, from my toes to my head. The force of the vibration increased like an earthquake, and I have to admit that I became scared at that point of actually committing to the next step and moving into an out-of-body state. I opened my eyes to force the experience to end, and the vibrating stopped immediately. I felt disappointed in myself for becoming scared at that point, but I felt confident as well that an out-of-body state was theoretically possible because I had been able to purposely take myself to the edge of inducing the experience and was then able to voluntarily back away, having remained in control the whole time. For my purposes, I decided this experience was good enough at that point in time.

Some few weeks later however, I had occasion to wake up in the middle of the night, and decided to try another experiment. I again induced myself using the relaxation technique and this time once I reached the edge of sleep while still remaining in conscious control, I forcefully asserted in my mind that I wanted to see. Like a camera shutter opening, I could suddenly see the light fixture on the ceiling of my bedroom and a few feet to each side of it – WITH MY EYES CLOSED – but the experience shocked me so much that again the experience ended prematurely. I was not scared that time – I was amazed. I had sufficiently proven to myself that an astral body existed, though admittedly my control over it was virtually non-existent, and any greater knowledge that might be gained from personally traveling in the astral realm would have to wait for me until after I had completed the research which eventually became my book.

If you’re interested in perusing that research, the first five chapters of my book are available for free at www.thehiddentruth.us. I cover the scientific research available on out-of-body experiences in chapter four and would be very interested in your feedback on the points raised in that chapter, as well as others. I expect the full book will be published sometime at the beginning of autumn, 2012. Now that the initial research has been completed, I may need to reconsider my earlier thoughts on personally experiencing the astral realms. Indeed, such experience might be cause to eventually consider writing a sequel. :)

Wade Wilson, Author of The Hidden Truth at www.thehiddentruth.us”