The Demo Site

Brief Encounters With a Mandala 

Mandala areas are composed of powerful imagery containing a variety of clear multi-colored moving geometrical forms tied together in an overall circular pattern. In tantric meditation, they are symbolic maps of the heavens. 

The "Clay-like" Nature of some Psychic Worlds 

This experience illustrates the malleable nature of some kinds of experience in the psychic worlds. In some states, the reality encountered is plastic and will rapidly reform itself if the traveler has the presence of mind to examine it closely. This power of concentration during spiritual travel has the effect of producing a much wider variety of experience during spiritual travel than is usually present in dreams. 

Meeting a Spiritual Guide in a Surreal Other-worldly Environment

The traveler discovers his body appears as a sphere of light as he embarks on a journey to meet his spiritual guide. 

Shape-shifting or Altering the Body Image in Spiritual Travel 

One unusual aspect of spiritual travel is changing the body image to a different form. In this example, the change happens spontaneously but it is likely that some experienced travelers can change bodily forms at will. 

Three Dimensional Spaces Containing Luminous Objects 

There are a broad variety of visually interesting spaces to explore in the psychic areas. 

The Joy of Flying Gives a Taste of Spiritual Freedom 

Exploring the skies of the psychic worlds is a creative outlet which is exciting for the spiritual traveler, and a refreshing alternative to embodied existence. 

All Aditions for this Section: 

Monroe's Experience of joining with a Collective Consciousness in the Psychic Worlds.

From: Far Journeys 

Robert Monroe, Far Journeys (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1987), pps. 120-122 

I am in a bright white tunnel and moving rapidly. No, it is not a tunnel, but a tube, a transparent radiating tube. I am bathed in the radiation which courses through all of me, and the intensity and recognition of it envelop my consciousness and I laugh with great joy. Something has changed, because the last time, they had to shield me from the random vibration of it. Now, I can tolerate it easily, the actual energy itself. The radiation flow is twodirectional in the tube. The flow moving past me in the direction from which I came is smooth, even, and undiluted. The flow that I am is moving in the opposite direction and appears much different. It is organized in a more complex form. It is the same as the wave moving past me, but it contains a multitude of small waves impressed upon the basic. I am both the basic, and the small wave forms, moving back to the source. The movement is 

steady and unhurried, impelled by a desire I know but cannot express. I vibrate with joyous ecstasy just by knowing. 

The tube seems to become larger as another joins it from one side, and another wave form melds into me and we become one. I recognize the other immediately, as it does me, and there is a great excitement of reunion, of this other I and I. How could I have forgotten this! We move along together, happily exploring the adventures, experience, and knowledge of the other. The tube widens again, and another I joins, and the process repeats itself. Our waveforms are remarkably identical and our pattern grows stronger as they move in phase. There are variegations in each which, when combined with another related anomaly, create a 

new and important modification of the total that we are. 

The tube expands again and I am no longer concerned with the walls as still another I enters the waveform flow. This is particularly exciting, as it is the first I perceive as returning from a nonhuman sojourn. Yet the intermesh was near perfect and we become so much more. Now we know that somewhere, a consciously controlled physical tail, much like a monkey's is useful in ways far more than balance and acting as a third hand for holding things. It can be a very efficient means of communication far beyond a super sign language just as eloquent as the spoken word.

Steadily and surely, one I after another joins us. With each, we become more aware and remember more of the total. How many does not seem important. Our knowledge and ability is so great that we do not bother to contemplate it. It is not important. We are one. 

With this, we divert from the underlying wave form and move away from it. We watch motionless in unified respect as the action of it continues away from us into infinity. We also perceive easily the smooth originating wave coming from such infinity and dissolving into the pattern from which it came. Flowing through all of us is a coherent energy that is our creation, that displays immensely the reality of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Our ability and knowledge seem without limit, yet we know at this point such is valid only within the energy systems of our experience. 

A Classic Example of Entering a Dream-like Psychic World 

From: How I Learned Soul Travel 

Terrill Wilson, How I learned Soul Travel (Minneapolis: Eckankar Publishing, 1987), pps. 61, 62 

Waking early one morning, I decided to try concentrating on the blackness of my inner mind screen in the vicinity of the Spiritual Eye. I gradually slipped back into sleep, and during the early stage of sleep became partially conscious of a colored picture on the inner screen. The two-dimensional still-picture showed a young lady standing in the middle of a blacktop road 

in an outdoor, countryside landscape. The picture grew steadily larger as I concentrated, and I felt a slight suction in the vicinity of my Spiritual Eye. Instantly I found myself standing on the road. The young lady with her back towards me came alive, and started walking away from me. It was like zooming into a stop action movie; everything suddenly came to the life the moment I joined the world. 

My first impulse was to do something, anything to keep my mind occupied, and hopefully stay out of the body as long as possible. My surroundings included a light-blue sky and rolling, grassy hills dotted with a few shrubs and trees. The blacktop road stretched in front of me in a straight line as far as I could see. Without paying any mind to the lady walking away from me, I jubilantly raised my inner body arms and jumped off the ground, to begin flying over this earth-like terrain. However, my exhilarating flight ended abruptly when I suddenly lost control and was pulled away into the blackness, moments later, ending up back inside my physical body. 

A Description of a "Heavenly" Psychic World during Spiritual Travel.

From: The Tiger's Fang 

Paul Twitchell, The Tiger's Fang (Menlo Park: The Illuminated Way Press, 1978), pps. 65-66 

We traveled for a time in this dark world where only the faint sound of mystical bagpipes could be heard. Finally, we came out of the gloom into the light of a wondrous land where golden palaces were set in open fields of silvery light. The landscape was beyond human description and the beauty of the travelers living there were incomprehensible, the brilliancy of each equal to the light of many suns. In the distance was a gigantic reservoir like those on the earth plane from which flows the most delicious nectar, out through canals to supply the distant regions. This world, Sat Lok ... is rich, prosperous, comfortable, fertile, delightful and crowded with godly Souls. The countryside emitted many fragrant odors and was rich in great variety of flowers, trees and fruits, especially jewel trees which were frequented by flocks of various birds with sweet voices which Sat Nam's power has created for his world. This world has various colors, many colors, many hundreds of thousands of colors. They are variously composed of the seven precious things in varying combinations of gold, silver, beryl, crystal, coral, red pearls and emeralds. Such jewel trees and banana trees and rows of palm trees are all made of precious things and grow everywhere in this region. On all sides it is covered by strange golden nets and these nets are covered with lotus flowers made of 

precious things. 

Some of the lotus flowers are huge in proportion, a half a mile in circumference, and others up to ten miles. From each lotus issues many rays of light, and at the end of each ray there is 

a saint whose golden-colored body bears the great mark of a spiritual traveler, and who in all directions and in countless world systems, demonstrates the love of God for man. Rivers flow through this gigantic world. There are rivers there from a mile in width to hundreds of miles wide, and the same in depth. All flowing calmly with fragrant waters, and resounding with the delightful music of bagpipes, and once you have drunk of their waters, never again do you have the desire for the worlds below, but clamor with anxiety to reach the higher worlds. You can bathe in their waters and be refreshed with heavenly bliss, furthermore you can make the waters at the temperature you desire. 

A Description of a Spiritual Travel experience which involved "exquisite touch" 

From: Heaven and Hell 

Emanuel Swedenborg, Heaven and Hell (New York: Swedenborg Foundation Press, 1962), pps. 294-295 

The following passage, which was written by the 18th century thinker Emanuel Swedenborg, attempts to describe what happens when a person is "withdrawn from the body and is carried away by the spirit to another place". Swedenborg was a complex man who was part scientist, part inventor, part theologian, part spiritualist-medium, and part spiritual traveler. Of particular interest here is first his attempt to put spiritual travel in a biblical context by describing the soul as "being carried away by the Spirit". This is something that happens in a number of places in the Bible such as in Saint John's vision in the book of Revelations. He also makes reference to Saint Paul's vision of light on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) in describing the state of "not knowing one is in the body or out of it". 

Second, his emphasis on the the capacity of the spiritual traveler for the sensation of touch is unusual. He emphasizes how this sense of touch is very pronounced because he believes that 

all the bodily senses are available to the spiritual traveler (as well as to the angels and to man's disembodied spirit after death). This is a topic which is not much discussed by other authors. This passage contains some confusing elements. He apparently, while walking and "conversing with spirits", went into an out-of-body state without realizing it, and only became aware of it when he returned to his body and saw he was at a different physical location. 

Swedenborg writes: 

439. To make clear that man in respect to his interiors (inner state) is a spirit I will relate from experience what happens when man is withdrawn from the body, and what it is to be carried away by the spirit to another place. 440. First, as to withdrawal from the body, it happens thus. Man is brought into a certain state that is midway between sleeping and waking, and when in that state he seems to himself to be wide awake; all the senses are as perfectly awake as in the completest bodily wakefulness, not only the sight and the hearing, but what is wonderful, the sense of touch also, which is then more exquisite than is ever possible when the body is awake. In this state spirits and angels have been seen to the very life, and have been heard, and what is wonderful have been touched, with almost nothing of the body intervening. This is the state that is called being withdrawn from the body, and not knowing whether one is in the body or out of it. I have been admitted into this state only three or four times, that I might learn what it is, and might know that spirits and angels enjoy every sense, and that man does also in respect to his spirit when he is withdrawn from the body. 

441. As to being carried away by the spirit to another place, I have been shown by living experience what it is, and how it is done, but only two or three times. I will relate a single instance. Walking through the streets of a city and through fields, talking at the same time with spirits, I seemed to myself to be fully awake, and in possession of my usual sight. Thus I walked on knowing what I was doing, and all the while with clear vision, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and other objects. But after walking thus for some hours, suddenly I saw with my bodily eyes, and noted that I was in another place. Being greatly astonished I perceived that I had been in the same state as those were who were said to have been led away by the spirit into another place. For in this state the distance, even though it be many miles, and the time, though it be many hours or days, are not thought of, neither is there any feeling of fatigue; and one is led unerringly through ways of which he is ignorant, even to the destined place. 

A Description of Supernatural Flight in Spiritual Travel 

From: A Life of Visions 

Shree Shree Annada Thakur, A Life of Visions, (Calcutta: Adyapeath Dakshineswar Sangha, 1968) 

Suddenly I saw as if Thakur was coming to me smiling. Thakur came and sat by the side of my head; and placing his hand on my head said, "What is this whim of yours... Will you tell me why you are so eager to see hell?" ... 

Thakur tried to dissuade me in many ways. When I would not be dissuaded at all Thakur said, "Then come- let us go; let me show you hell and give you an idea of it." 

Then I came out with Thakur with a cheerful heart and stood outside the room. Pointing his finger to a great distance Thakur said, "Do you see there? That high road you see there is the road to heaven; we have to approach that road." Lost in wonder I looked at something with keen eyes. There was a wonderful feeling of joy in my heart. I asked Thakur with a joyous heart, "Thakur, how long and along which way are we to go?" 

"Come on- I am leading the way" saying this Thakur began to fly with a flutter. In my attempt to follow Thakur I slowly got up into space. Ah! what a delightful journey! What a thrilling experience of supernatural aerial flight! If anybody had ever dream flown in the sky like a bird- he only would feel this joy; none else would be able to guess it. Both of us were flying so fast as to produce a hissing sound; our hands seemed to serve as wings and the legs and feet as the tail of the flying bird guiding flight. We had flown a great distance; the way seemed to have no end; both of us were covering the distance silently. After a while a soft breeze touched my body. Thakur exclaimed, "Annada, this is the breeze of heaven; this is what they mean by Moloy breeze (zephyr); heaven is not far off. Is it painful to you?" I said with a cheerful heart, "No, Thakur. Where is the pain. It is a matter of great joy; it is the height of peace. I have no objection if you thus make me fly day after day. Ah! how sweet is the breeze of your heaven! How Pure! How soothing!" 

The Sioux Medicine Man Black Elk Visits the Land of the Ancestors 

From: Black Elk Speaks 

John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (New York: Washington Square Press, 1972), pps. 205206 

The Oglala Sioux medicine man Black Elk returned from Europe to find his people involved in the Ghost Dance. It was one of the last large collective attempts of the Plains Indian tribes to reinvigorate their traditional religion. In the following vision, he visits the land of the ancestors after falling unconscious during the dance ritual. This kind of trance is a form of conscious entry into the inner world since he appears to have never lost consciousness during the transition. After awhile I began to feel very queer. First my legs seemed to be full of ants. I was dancing with my eyes closed, as others did. Suddenly it seemed I was swinging off the ground and not touching it any longer. The queer feeling came up from my legs and was in my heart now. It seemed I would glide forward like a swing, and then 

glide back again in longer and longer swoops. There was no fear with this, just a growing happiness. 

I must have fallen down, but as I fell, I had fallen off the swing when I was going forward, and I was floating head first through the air. My arms were stretched out, and all I saw at first was a single eagle feather right in front of me. Then the feather was a spotted eagle dancing on ahead of me with his wings fluttering, and he was making the shrill whistle that is his. My body did not move at all, but I looked ahead and floated fast towards where I looked. 

There was a ridge right in front of me and I thought I was going to run into it, but I went right over it. On the other side of the ridge I could see a beautiful land where many, many people were camping in a great circle. I could see they were happy and had plenty. Everywhere there were drying racks full of meat. The air was clear and beautiful with a living light that was everywhere. All around the circle, feeding on the green, green grass, were fat and happy horses, and animals of all kinds were scattered over the green hills, and singing hunters were returning with their meat. I floated over the tepees and began to come down feet first at the center of the hoop where I could see a beautiful tall tree all green and full of flowers. When I touched the ground, two men were coming towards me, and they wore shirts made and painted in a certain way. They came to me and said: "It is not yet time to see your father who is happy. You have work to do. We will give you something that you will carry back to your people, and with it they shall come to see their 

loved ones." 

I knew it was the way their holy shirts were made that they wanted me to take back. They told me to return at once and then I was in the air again, floating fast as before. When I came right over the dancing place, the people were still dancing, but it seemed that they were not making any sound. I had hoped to see the withered tree in bloom, but it was dead. Then I fell back into my body, and as I did this I heard the voices all around and above me, and I was sitting on the ground. Many were crowding around asking what vision I had seen. I told them just what I had seen, and what I brought back was the memory of the holy shirts the two men wore. 

Shamanic Subcultures and Spiritual Travel 

Many Americans are interested in practicing shamanic or Native American tribal traditions partly because they emphasize personal religious experience rather than faith in a distant God. The author of this site strongly supports and encourages an interest in personal religious experience. Much of the religious experience present in these shamanic traditions can be classified as spiritual travel. However, attempts by persons who are not members of these tribal groups to participate in these traditions are problematic. This is because the vast majority of native people in these traditions will tell you that a person must be born into these tribes to properly practice the tradition. This is not an arbitrary or selfish statement on their part. There are good reasons that justify such claims. These shamanic traditions are tightly bound up with a group of tribal ancestors who have an 

interest in guiding and protecting the tribal members. 

If a non-tribal member wants to contact ancestors, who will he or she contact? There is no tradition of being helped by ancestors in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. So the question arises: "With which ancestors are these modern-day non-Indian shamans in contact?" 

It is theoretically possible for the tribal ancestors to "adopt" a non-native person into the tribe, but why would they wish to do so? Certainly a non-Indian person cannot "adopt himself" into the tribe (i.e. claim new ancestors) anymore than a child can walk into the house down the street and tell the residents he or she in now their son or daughter. In addition, the shaman's role of healer and priest is based on a close-knit long-term relationship with a tribal group which trusts his or her judgment and skill. A group of people who show up at a "shamanic workshop" do not constitute a legitimate and cohesive community that resembles the tribes of indigenous peoples. So what group is it that looks to these contemporary shamans for spiritual direction and spiritual vitality? 

Other religious groups have a means of accepting new members that were not born into them through the process of conversion. Medieval Christianity has the tradition of being baptized and becoming part of the mystical body of Christ, and the communion of saints. Mainline protestantism allows a person to adopt Jesus as a personal savior to become "saved" or "born again" and become a part of the church. Hinduism and Buddhism both have the tradition of initiation where a disciple accepts an individual as a guru and joins a lineage which in some ways is like a family. 

However, non-tribal members attempting to join a Native American tradition are going against the grain of that tradition. Such a convert is subject to being labeled a "plastic shaman", and will likely be resented by the true members of the tribal group. This is especially true if the practicioner makes money from the practice. These tribal traditions have many attractive elements and it is understandable why many would wish to be involved in them. However, if one is interested primarily in spiritual travel, there are other ways to pursue this interest apart from using these shamanic methods and imitating tribal groups. 

Brief Encounters With a Mandala 

From: The Author's Archives 

One encounter with a mandala in spiritual travel reminded me of a shooting gallery with a circular symmetry. There were bright and detailed forms of different colors moving in a precise almost mechanical fashion, some around the circle's center, some up and down, some spinning on their own central axis as they moved across other arcs. The moving objects were abstract circles, squares, triangles and lines filled with bright high-contrast colors. One characteristic of these areas is their overabundance of energy. The forms radiate a great deal of light, and are somewhat surprising to the traveler in their visual intensity. In my experience, the mandala appears without prior warning spontaneously during a dream state. These areas are difficult to experience for more than a few seconds at a time, since a strong 

emotional response of surprise tends to bring the traveler back to the body shortly after the onset of the experience. In general, strong emotional responses tend to terminate the experience. It is difficult to say where such imagery would lead if a skilled traveler were able to follow it for an extended period of time. The best way to prolong an experience is usually to be detached from what happens, although this is, in practice, sometimes a difficult rule to follow. 

The "Clay-like" Nature of some Psychic Worlds 

From: The Author's Archives 

I was dreaming and suddenly woke up. The most interesting aspect of this experience was the way the objects in the mind changed form when I concentrated upon them. In the dream, I heard music and the clarity of awareness associated with lucid dreaming appeared. I let the music carry me along. I was gliding down a hallway on my back. I enjoyed not having to walk in this dream environment, and the associated feeling of weightlessness. The music was similar to a Judy Collins folk song I had heard. As I floated on the music, I noticed a somewhat ape-like older gentleman walking down the corridor who invited me into his office to talk. I told him I probably did not have much time, as out-of-body experiences tend to end at a moment's notice. I then told the man of my opinion of his strange appearance. 

As I continued to stare at him studying his features, his face began to change into a variety of different forms. His neck seemed to disappear, and he assumed a bird-like look with a large 

beak-like nose. The transformations continued into different figures one after another as if I was watching a claymation movie. The final transformation was that the man shrunk down and was transformed into a series of bent wires like a set of complex wire earrings. I marveled at this last transformation and picked up a piece of the wire separating it from the rest of the tangle to examine it. I then put it back, thinking it should be an integral part of the whole. As I placed it next to the other wire, a little flash of light occurred fusing the piece I had separated with the part I had left lying there. I then found myself without any effort back in my body. While some environments in the inner worlds seem stable and resist efforts to change them, others are plastic and can change form dynamically in front of the travelers eyes. 

Meeting a Spiritual Guide in a Surreal Other-worldly Environment 

From: The Tiger's Fang 

Paul Twitchell, The Tiger's Fang (Menlo Park: The Illuminated Way Press, 1978), pps. 3-4 

Almost as quickly as my eyes were closed I awoke in the Atma Sarup or soul body to find myself walking along a beach where the wild surf lashed the shore and a wind whipped the pines along the edge of the strand. There were pale, white clouds in an azure sky. Something about the landscape was ethereal and my pulse quickened with the thought that this was an out-of-the-body projection via the dream technique. The color, the invigorating air and the beauty were beyond words. It seemed as if there was God in everything. 

I felt no fear at this sudden transportation but curiosity, tugging at my mind, asked the question of where was I? Somewhere in the back of my mind it seems that this was not a strange place at all... that sometime, in the afterwards, in the earlier travelers with Rebazar Tarzs, I had gone through this section of landscape. But a peaceful feeling settled over me and all was accepted for what it was. 

The sea of crystal blue and the lacy surf was like a million sparkling diamonds that dashed up against the sand beach and ran off into the sea again. The distance was majestic with foaming whitecaps. Yet there was a silence, a strange wonderful silence so deep reaching that it stirred through me. Looking down at my body a feeling of joy went through me. I was wearing a white robe of light which flowed around me in a circular motion in a gentle swirling current. There were no feet, no hands, nothing but a ball of swirling light. My vision was below where my feet should have been and it was also in the back of my head. It was anywhere I directed my attention... all simultaneously. When I spoke, there was a multitude of sounds issuing from me. A brilliant sphere appeared on the horizon and as it came closer and grew larger it revealed itself as a small sailing vessel, at the tiller was [my spiritual guide] Rebazar Tarzs. 

Shape-shifting or Altering the Body Image in Spiritual Travel 

From: The Author's Archives 

I was once in a dream state and witnessed a bodily transformation. My body changed from its normal form to a shining cross. Immediately, I realized I was out of my body and fully conscious. The cross was similar to two crossed bright white fluorescent bulbs. The feeling was one of great energy and vitality. The cross which was now my body vibrated with an electrical radiant energy. As soon as the transformation occurred, the cross left the ground and began moving through the darkness. Becoming a being of light made me weightless and I literally floated upward moving slowly hovering above the ground. I vividly saw and felt myself to be this shining cross during the experience. This is a case where my new body image during spiritual travel in no way resembled my normal body image. My sense of body consciousness was completely changed. 

Three Dimensional Spaces Containing Luminous Objects 

From: The Author's Archives 

Once while out of the body, I encountered a space containing thousands of suns a few feet across moving in random patterns much like the movement of a group of insects buzzing around a light (except moving somewhat more slowly). Each sun gave off bright yellowwhite light. The background was dark like a night sky. These spheres were too bright to see the outline of their disks clearly, each one having a kind of bright corona radiating from it. There was no particular emotional feel to the space and I felt myself to be a distant observer of the passing scene. I also did not sense any consciousness or self-awareness in these suns. This kind of space is probably typical of many different three dimensional spaces filled with varied forms composed of energy or light in the psychic worlds. 

The Joy of Flying Gives a Taste of Spiritual Freedom 

Flying during spiritual travel and the joy it brings is mentioned more than once at this site. However this activity merits some additional comment. This is because the freedom of flight is a kind of faint echo of the more extreme states of spiritual freedom that come at later stages of the spiritual path. 

The sensation of flying completely unrestricted by gravity has many ecstatic elements and shades of subtlety. On one hand, there is the creativity of sky-dancing as the traveler explores different positions while moving through the air. There is the tumbling, the rolling, the twisting, the spinning, and the diving. All of this can be done at break-neck speed. A sparrow would have a difficult time outmaneuvering the individual with some experience of spiritual flight. 

Normally we might associate such movement with skydiving in the physical world but spiritual flight is different in that it is self-powered rather than depending on gravity for movement as the skydiver does. It also contains the option of soaring through an airless void where the wind which limits the skydiver's movement is not present. The effect is for the person in soul flight to experience fewer limits on his or her movements because of this lack of air resistance. 

Beyond this dancing approach to soul flight, there is the powerful sensation that sometimes comes when moving rapidly across the sky, as if the soul were powered by some mysterious engine that vibrates it with great energy. It is as if the soul is a craft specifically designed to soar at fantastic speeds through the atmosphere. The experience of freedom, speed, and power differs significantly from normal body consciousness. It is another flavor of experience- yet another altered state of consciousness. There are many such different modes of being that occur in the psychic worlds during spiritual travel. 

WESTERN TRADITIONS, Spiritual Travel in Christianity and Judaism 

Spiritual Travel in the Christian New Testament. Some of the most important visionary experiences in the Christian New Testament can be understood as spiritual travel. While the number of examples listed below from scriptures are small, they are only samples from a larger set. But even with this limited number, there are enough to show that the concept of spiritual travel has been unjustifiably ignored or devalued in these Western traditions. In the author's view, the topic of spiritual travel needs to be revisited by scholars and religious leaders to first document, and then assert the importance of spiritual travel in Western religious scripture and practice. 

For Christians who value the authority of Saint Paul, an important biblical passage is Paul's story of the man who was transported up to the third heaven in Corinthians 12. This experience clearly fits our criteria for spiritual travel (assuming the man did not visit heaven while actually in his physical body). Some scholars believe Saint Paul was the person who experienced heaven but that he described the experience as happening to another man because of his humility. 

This story is important because it is a passage from the new testament that describes in literal terms the soul leaving the physical body and traveling to heaven. It does this when Saint Paul questions: "Was the man in his body when he visited heaven or not?" By wondering about these two possibilities, Saint Paul is stating that he believes that the soul of a living person can leave the body, visit heaven, and return to the body to tell the story of what happened. This is precisely what appears to happen in deeper spiritual travel experiences. ... I shall go on to tell of visions and revelations granted by the Lord. I know a Christian man who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of it, I do not know- God knows) was caught up as far as the third heaven. And I know that this same man was caught up into 

paradise, and heard words so secret that human lips may not repeat them. About such a man as that I am ready to boast; but I will not boast on my own account, except of my weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 12:1-5) 

The most pronounced and longest spiritual travel experience in the new testament is in the book of Revelations. In Revelations 4, the description of spiritual travel is clear and unambiguous. This following passage from Revelations precedes the famous section where Saint John meets the four heavenly figures with the faces of a human, an eagle, a lion, and an ox. This spiritual travel experience appears to go on almost to the end of the book of Revelations. Saint John never does describe returning from heaven to his physical body, but clearly he had to return to write the Book of Revelations. After this I looked, and there before my eyes was a door opened in heaven; and the voice that I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen in the hereafter." At once I was caught up by the spirit. There in heaven stood a throne, and on the throne sat one whose appearance was like the gleam of jasper and cornelian; and round the throne was a rainbow, bright as an emerald. In the circle about the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on them sat twenty-four elders, robed in white and wearing crowns of gold. Burning before the throne were seven flaming torches, the seven spirits of God, and in front of it stretched what seemed a sea of glass, like a sheet of ice. (Revelation 4:1-6) Paul's conversion experience where he had a vision of light on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9) is unclear as to whether it qualifies as spiritual travel since it is unclear whether he left his body. It may or may not have been a spiritual travel experience. 

3 As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him! 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" 5 "Who are you, sir?" Saul asked. And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men with Saul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but they saw no one! 8 As Saul picked himself up off the ground, he found that he was blind. 9 So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days. And all that time he went without food and water. (Acts 9:3-9) 

This vision which blinded him for three days was a crucial turning point in the history of the early church since Paul, after his conversion, was the primary figure who spread Christianity to the Gentiles. One indication that the vision may qualify as spiritual travel was that Paul lost his ability to see. This might indicate his other senses also failed during the experience. If this were the case, his experience might meet our criteria for spiritual travel since if all of his senses were inoperable, his vision may have occurred during an out-of-body state. 

Spiritual Travel in the Old Testament 

There are a few examples of spiritual travel in the Old Testament where individuals are transported to heaven while awake rather than in dreams. Ezekiel 8 is one such example: 

1 Then on September 17, during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign LORD took hold of me. 2 I saw a figure that appeared to be a man. From the waist down he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up he looked like gleaming amber. 3 He put out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair. Then the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and transported me in a vision of God to Jerusalem. I was taken to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple, where there is a large idol that has made the LORD very angry. 4 Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley. 5 Then the LORD said to me, "Son of man, look toward the north." So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate of the altar, stood the idol that had made the LORD so angry. 6 

"Son of man," he said, "do you see what they are doing? Do you see the great sins the people of Israel are doing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even greater sins than these!" (Ezekiel 8:1-6) Ezekiel 40 is another example of spiritual travel in the Old Testament where a vision transports the prophet to what appears to be a physical location (the land of Israel). 

1 On April 28, during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem the LORD took hold of me. 2 In a vision of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. From there I could see what appeared to be a city across from me toward the south. 3 As he brought me nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze standing beside a gateway entrance. He was holding in his hand a measuring tape and a measuring rod. 4 He said to me, "Son of man, watch and listen. Pay close attention to everything I show you. You have been brought here so I can show you many things. Then you will return to the people of Israel and tell them everything you have seen." (Ezekiel 40:1-4) vision of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. From there I could see what appeared to be a city across from me toward the south. 3 As he brought me nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze standing beside a gateway entrance. He was holding in his hand a measuring tape and a measuring rod. 4 He said to me, "Son of man, watch and listen. Pay close attention to everything I show you. You have been brought here so I can show you many things. Then you will return to the people of Israel and tell them everything you have seen." (Ezekiel 40:1-4) Dreams are also a very important element in the Old Testament. Numerous prophets such as Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Amos have visionary and prophetic dreams. 

The following passage from the Song of Solomon actually describes Solomon waking up in a dream which is something that happens often in spiritual travel. 

2 "One night as I was sleeping, my heart awakened in a dream. I 

heard the voice of my lover. He was knocking at my bedroom door. 

'Open to me, my darling, my treasure, my lovely dove,' he said, 'for I have been out in the night. My head is soaked with dew, my hair with the wetness of the night.' 3 "But I said, 'I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?' 4 "My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. 5 I jumped up to open it. My hands dripped with perfume, my fingers with lovely myrrh, as I pulled back the bolt. 6 I opened to my lover, but he was gone. I yearned for even his voice! I searched for him, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply. 7 The watchmen found me as they were making their rounds; they struck and wounded me. The watchman on the wall tore off my veil. 8 "Make this promise to me, O women of Jerusalem! If you find my beloved one, tell him that I am sick with love." (Song of Solomon 5:2-8) In the following famous passage from Joel, the importance of dreams for the believer is emphasized. Implied in this statement is that spiritual dreaming is an important part of life, and that the ideal world or the "end times" would contain many individuals who had spiritual and visionary dreams. Since many visions and dreams in the Old Testament appear to involve spiritual travel, it would seem that the bible recommends this practice. If it is good for the prophets, it may be just as valuable for ordinary men and women. 

28 "Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. 29 In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike. 30 "I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred before that great and terrible day of the LORD arrives. 32 And anyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. There will be people on Mount Zion in Jerusalem who escape, just as the LORD has said. These will be among the survivors whom the LORD has called. (Joel 2:28-32) name of the LORD will be saved. There will be people on Mount Zion in Jerusalem who escape, just as the LORD has said. These will be among the survivors whom the LORD has called. (Joel 2:28-32) In the next passage from Daniel, the concepts of visions and dreams is equated. In the Old testament, the two are very close and sometimes confused, or spoken of using the same terminology. 

1 Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar's reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote the dream down, and this is what he saw. 2 In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction. 3 Then four huge beasts came up out of the water, each different from the others... (Daniel 7:1-3) In addition to the above examples of spiritual travel in the Old Testament, there are prophets who enter heaven while alive and sometimes appear to take their body with them. Elijah saw a "chariot of fire" and "went up by a whirlwind into heaven" apparently never to be seen 

again by those who witnessed this event. This cannot be classified as spiritual travel since the prophet never returned but it has some clear similarities. 

THE FLUID SELF, Changing Identities in Spiritual Travel 

Everyone knows what it is like to be embodied living in the physical world from day to day. In what ways does the individual's identity, self-concept, and body image vary during 

spiritual travel? 

One fascinating aspect of spiritual travel is the ability to shift from one's normal body image to a different form. Taking on an identity or form different from one's normal body image happens on occasion during spiritual travel. It sometimes happens spontaneously and advanced practitioners can probably choose to 

create a new body image through visualization. Some claim that those who reside in the more ethereal places seem to use this ability to change shape as a form of artistic creativity. They are said to be able change bodies the way we in the material world change clothes. An example of a change in body image can be found in the section on shape-shifting at this site. 

However, it is more common to find one's self with little or no bodily sensation thus creating the sense of having no body at all than to shift shapes. One of the basic lessons learned during spiritual travel is that the soul can take many forms and identities when outside the body. However one generic thing that happens repeatedly is the soul or individual becomes a kind of energy or vibration. The qualities of this difficult to describe "energy based identity" differ much like the varying qualities of color and texture differ on the surface of a body of water such as a lake. The surface of the water changes so much depending on the kind of wind and the quality of the natural light as it reflects off the surface. Raymond Moody talks briefly about these alterations in body image that occur during neardeath experience: 

I have heard this new body described in many different terms, but 

one may readily see that much the same idea is being formulated in each case. Words and phrases which have been used by various subjects include a mist, a cloud, smoke-like, a vapor, transparent, a cloud of colors, wispy, an energy pattern, and others which express similar meanings. Raymond Moody, Jr. M.D., Life After Life, (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1976), p 50 

However, it is important to remember that those undergoing a near-death experience are usually experiencing out-of-body states for the first time. The above terms are descriptive of how such persons felt immediately after their accident or injury when they first found themselves outside their physical body. Spiritual travelers are likely to experience a wider variety of identities than those described as occurring during near-death experience. 

Generally, this kind of experience is very important for the following reason. Once the individual gets acquainted with this unusual way of being during spiritual travel, it is not such a big step to mysticism since once the soul becomes aware of its own energetic nature and essence, it can approach the mystical areas of light and sound with a sense of relatedness. One form of energy is not so easily alienated by another form of energy, whether in the form of another disembodied individual or a vast ocean of light or sound. This is one way in which spiritual travel in the psychic areas prepares the individual soul for its encounter with ultimate Truth or God. 

There are many who write on the subjects of mysticism and meditation who talk of the illusion of separateness, and how true spirituality consists of overcoming this illusion. However, when the individual's consciousness is focused within the body, the barriers which account for this feeling of separation are solid and substantial. It is during out-of-body experience that the self becomes permeable and can merge partially or fully with other forms of consciousness and states of being. In whatever form the individual takes as he or she experiments, the freedom to vary one's bodily form and identity can be one of the beautiful and fascinating aspects of spiritual travel. 

Shape-Shifting 

From: The Author's Archives

I was once in a dream state and witnessed a bodily transformation. My boy changed from its normal form to a shining 

cross. Immediately, I realized I was out of my body and fully conscious. The cross was similar to two crossed bright white fluorescent bulbs. The feeling was one of great energy and vitality. The cross which was now my body vibrated with an electrical radiant energy. As soon as the transformation occurred, the cross left the ground and began moving through the darkness. Becoming a being of light made me weightless and I literally floated upward moving slowly hovering above the ground. 

I vividly saw and felt myself to be this shining cross during the 

experience. This is a case where my new body image during spiritual travel in no way resembled my normal body image. My sense of body consciousness was completely changed. 

RETURNING TO THE PHYSICAL BODY 

The Ease of Getting Back to the Physical Body 

One fear of those considering spiritual travel is that once one's consciousness is outside the body, the traveler may not be able to return. My experience with respect to this concern is that it is quite difficult to leave the body but very easy to return. I have never had difficulty returning. Once out of the body, it is difficult to stay out since there seems to be a kind of gravitational pull to return. Two ways of intentionally returning are either to have a strong emotional reaction, whether to some event or consciously induced, or to simply tense up one's being, which reasserts the natural connection to the physical body. One of the reasons I call it travel, is that the individual has gone somewhere new, and therefore must make the return trip. Both actions usually involve time. It takes a few seconds at most to return to the body. The experience of returning is akin to using a camera to unfocus on a distant object while refocusing on a much closer one. The distant object blurs out at first and eventually disappears completely as the new one comes into focus. The non-physical body image seems to slowly evaporate like water on hot pavement, as the normal physical body image coalesces and takes its place. 

One of the peculiar things that occurs on rare occasions is that upon return from a spiritual travel experience, the traveler is unable to move any part of the physical body for up to thirty seconds. On these occasions, the sensory nerves seem to work as usual and the traveler can feel every part of his or her body. However, the motor nerves which carry nerve impulses to the muscles seem to take longer to readjust to the return. This can be disconcerting while it is occurring. However, it is short-lived and the traveler regains control of the muscles after a few seconds. 

NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE 

Examples of Spiritual Travel During Near-Death Experience 

The concept of near-death experience was developed by Dr. Raymond Moody Jr. in the 1970s. It was based on interviews with over a hundred (and later more than a thousand) patients who described the phenomenon of leaving their body during a medical crisis where they came close to death. The vast majority of the people Moody interviewed had no heartbeat or respiration during the near-death experience, and a few also had no measurable brain-waves at the time. The experiences were based on first-person interviews with the patients as well as the medical staff that were present during the event. Moody considered it important for his study that medical personnel experienced with emergency medicine were present to verify that the patients were thought to be dead during the period when their NDEs (near-death experiences) occurred. 

There are two general phases to the NDE. The first phase consists of the person's soul leaving the body and viewing the lifeless body and its surroundings (usually a hospital room or accident scene). The second consists of the soul entering and passing through a psychic tunnel which ends in another world. Here the dying person sometimes meets a "being of light" and reviews their past existence with the aid of this being. At some point the person is told that it is not time to die or makes a conscious choice to return to life, and the soul returns to the physical body. There are about ten stages to the common near-death experience outlined by Dr. Moody. Not every person experiences every stage and it is common for a person to experience only four 

or five out of the ten. We will list the stages briefly. 

The first stage is "hearing the news". This occurs when an accident victim or patient in a hospital hears someone say "I think we have lost him" or "He is dead" or words to that effect. This statement describing the person's death is many times the last sensory event a person experiences before the onset of the NDE. 

The second stage of an NDE is "the noise". This is an unusual auditory sensation experienced by the individual as he or she leaves the physical body, and sometimes as he travels through 

"the tunnel" (described later). It is described variously as "a buzzing sound", "a loud click", "a banging sound", "a beautiful majestic musical sound", or "Japanese bell-like wind chimes". Such sounds are many times associated with a feeling of movement through space. The third stage is "the dark tunnel". There is a sensation of being pulled or drawn through a dark tunnel at great speed. The tunnel is also described as "a corridor", "a black valley", "a well", "a sewer", or "a cylinder". One person in the tunnel said, "I was moving beating all the time with this noise, this ringing noise". Another said, "I went through this dark black valley at super speed". The tunnel sometime has a light at the far end which the person moves toward. 

The tunnel is sometimes perceived as a transitional experience - as a place between two places or worlds. It overwhelms the senses like a roller coaster, and the person in the tunnel is usually completely involved in the experience and can think of little else. The fourth stage is "being out of the body". This is a complex stage with many elements. The descriptions listed below will hopefully give the reader a sense of how this feels. The fifth stage is "meeting others". This usually occurs either in the tunnel or shortly after the end of the tunnel is reached. The others that are met are usually dead relatives or dead friends. The people are usually supportive and happy, and sometimes the individual helper is only sensed rather than seen. The others are also sometimes called guardian spirits or spirithelpers. 

The sixth stage is the "the being of light". This being asks the person to reflect on their life and acts as a guide. He or she is described as composed of white or yellow or clear light that has an "unearthly brilliance". The being is supportive and compassionate and helps the individual review their life. The seventh stage is the "review". The review consists of a series of pictures or snap shots in two or three dimensions of the person's past life on earth. They may be very detailed or show just the highlights of the life. More important events are examined in greater detail but the whole process proceeds very quickly. Some describe having great intuition and understanding concerning their own behavior and the reactions of others to that behavior. 

The eighth stage is "the border". At some point, the dying person understands that it is not their time to die and they must return to their physical body. They see or sense a barrier and have the feeling that if it is crossed, they will die. People undergoing NDEs do not cross the border and thus return to life. It is described as a door or threshold or line which separates those who can return to life from those that cannot. The ninth stage is "coming back". People describe returning in various ways and some do not remember returning but wake up later and remember the NDE. 

The tenth stage is "telling others". Individuals in many cases find it difficult to talk about the experience, and difficult to readjust to their normal lives following the experience. They also find that many of their friends and relatives do not believe that the experience was real. It is characterized as a dream, a fantasy, or an illusion. Some people change religions, jobs, or 

enroll in a different program at school. Many emphasize the profound effect the NDE had on them. 

These are the common stages of an NDE. There has been considerable effort put forth in the scientific community to reduce NDEs to physical changes in the brain and nervous system thus denying their spiritual causes. The Reductionist Arguments Explaining Near-Death Experiences page discusses these arguments 

in some detail. As mentioned in the introduction, near-death experience does not meet our full set of criteria for spiritual travel since it is almost never voluntary (except for failed suicide attempts) and much of the experience is beyond the control of the individual. The descriptions of spiritual travel that occur during near-death experience are extremely detailed. People who have NDEs are many times able to describe the precise conversations of relatives who were in other rooms of the hospital during the experience. Doctors and nurses are many times surprised when a patient tells them the exact medical procedures that were used to try and resuscitate him or her. The injured person usually has great concentration while out of their body and can remember the procedures in detail. Such enhanced memory is consistent with the heightened concentration and clarity that is associated with spiritual travel experience. Here are some examples of NDEs in which individuals experience the out-of-body stage in some detail. 

A Child's Description of a Powerful Near-Death Experience. 

A fourteen year old describes an intense NDE he experienced when he was eleven. In a bad accident, he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, and was taken to the hospital. These experiences were chosen by Dr. Moody to counter the criticism that only adults who were "socialized" had near-death experiences. The criticism was an attempt to prove that NDEs were false and only a product of social conditioning. However Dr. Moody countered these criticisms by giving examples that show that children also have NDEs. 

Another Young Child's Description of a Near-Death Experience. 

A nine year old girl describes an NDE she had which occurred during her appendicitis surgery. She had complications during the surgery and had to be resuscitated. Entering into the Sacred Light during a Near-Death Experience. 

This is a beautiful and lengthy NDE which contains many mystical elements, and much detail about the physical events observed by the experiencer while in the out-of-body state. 

Meeting a "being of light" During a Near-Death Experience. 

A man has a near-death experience in the operating room at a hospital, and while outside his physical body describes his encounter with a "Being of Light" 

. 

A Swimmer Almost Drowns and Describes his Near-Death Experience. 

A swimmer lost his strength and describes his near-death experience when he almost drowned in the middle of a lake. 

A Women Describes her Near-Death Experience, and Watching from a Distance the Efforts by Nurses to Revive her. A women with heart trouble is able to describe in precise detail both leaving the physical body, and the efforts by nurses to revive her while she was out of her body during a neardeath experience. 

All Aditions for this Section: 

Reductionist 

Arguments 

Explaining 

Near-Death 

Experiences 

Providing a scientific explanation for the phenomenon of near-death experience has been a difficult challenge for scientists ever since data in the form of NDE testimonials started appearing in the mid 1970s. Some of the scientific arguments against the validity of NDEs (i.e., that they are only hallucinations) are also applicable to out-of-body experiences in general since out-of-body experiences are an important component of most NDEs. 

When examining the Near-death experience, we might first ask the question, "Why did the NDE concept emerge when it did?" One explanation is that prior to the 1970s, ambulances were little more than transport services whose personnel had little knowledge of emergency medicine. The result of this was that most serious injuries resulted in the death of patients before they reached the hospital or shortly thereafter. The medical art of resuscitation was in its infancy, and the well known role of the Emergency Medical Technician did not yet exist. Thus, few patients came back to describe their near-death experiences. The large amounts of data necessary to develop the NDE concept probably came into being as a result of improvements in emergency medicine. As NDEs became better known, psychologists, physiologists, and neurologists began looking for ways to account for NDEs using physical and medical explanations. Reducing complex psychological phenomena to simpler material laws and processes is a primary occupation of scientists. The goal is to explain away the supernatural, and reduce it to physical causes such as brain chemistry (neural noise, hypoxia, etc.), psychological states (wish fulfillment or reliving the birth trauma), and sociological factors (religious fantasies based on social conditioning). The scientist's refusal to accept supernatural explanations for natural phenomena has in general been very advantageous for society, and resulted in many of the 

advances in material comfort that we see today. Their skepticism is therefore something to be praised and makes a valuable contribution to the world we live in. However, when it comes to investigating the events and experiences which occur on the borders of life and death, their standard assumptions and methodologies become somewhat problematic. As with scientific attempts to describe the origins and fundamental makeup of matter, seemingly implausable or contradictory claims lead to questioning the basic premises of science when investigating borderline or liminal areas. Such areas of investigation as Neardeath experience or subatomic matter seem to defy the clear explanations and rational analysis that are so fruitful in the other more common domains of scientific inquiry. 

Because NDEs contain so many elements, a number of different complementary explanations are needed to account for this complexity. But in most cases, each explanation focuses on only one element of the NDE and ignores the others. Such explanations use the divide and conquer approach to weaken the overall NDE concept by reducing one of its component parts to physical causes. Here are some common explanations for the elements of NDEs followed by some reasons why these explanations seem implausible or inadequate. The first set of explanations are physiological or medical explanations, and the second set are psychological explanations.