One of the most fascinating and one of my personal favorite aspects of the out-of-body experience involves alternate or parallel universes. Many believe it is possible to travel to, and enter other universes, which exist alongside the one we live in. These other universes are removed from us spatially by an additional dimension or dimensions, as the theory goes.
Some of these other universes are very close to our own, and are almost identical, except for minor differences. Others are further removed and the differences increase as the distance from our own increases.
The concept is not a new one. In fact, the idea that other invisible worlds exist in proximity to our own are nearly as old as humankind. It is one of the oldest and most frequently used ideas in speculative literature and legend. Good examples are "Fairyland" and the good old "Astral plane."
While spiritualists, shamans and mystics have been happily dealing with the subject of alternate universes for centuries, modern science, notably the field of physics, has embraced the idea of alternate worlds in recent years.
In the field of quantum mechanics, alternate universe theory is generally refereed to as the "Many Worlds Interpretation."
The theory was first proposed 40 years ago in 1957 by the brilliant physicist Hugh Everett III. He came up with the Many Worlds scenario to deal with some of the more perplexing aspects of quantum mechanics. Everett suggested that whenever numerous viable possibilities exist, the world splits into many worlds or universes, one universe for each different possibility.
For example, if you get up this morning and can't decide if you want to have coffee or tea for breakfast, the Many World Interpretation says that for each choice that is made, an entire universe is created to accommodate each choice. In one universe you choose coffee, In another universe you choose tea. In a third universe, you decide to have neither. IN still another, you go with orange juice. Each universe is as real and valid as the other. It's just that each goes its separate way from the point of decision. According to the bold and astounding Many Worlds Interpretation, every single choice that is made by every single human being at every instant of time creates an entire universe, which goes on forever into infinity.
Obviously, this means that millions and billions and trillions of universes are being created on an ongoing basis! Again, the theory is a mind-boggling one, astounding to say the least, and very difficult to accept from the standpoint of our ordinary way of thinking about things.
In each universe created, everything is identical, except for that one different choice; from that point on, they develop independently, and no communication is possible between them, so the people living in those worlds have no idea that this is going on.
But those of us who practice out-of-body travel would question the assertion of the scientists that no communication is possible between universes. Many of us have traveled to such alternate universes, have talked and interacted with other people there - even aspect of our own selves - and have returned to tell the tale.
I have done so many times, and I'll tell you about of few of my own adventures in just a bit. But first, let's talk a bit more about alternate universes.
Now, as I said, according to the Many-Worlds Interpretation, there are not only an infinite number of universes, but an infinite number of versions of you!
Your alternate selves have all split off at some time in the past from the path your are now following. There may be versions of you that split off one or five years ago, or perhaps five minutes after you were born.
But in a very real sense, those people are still "you." What if you could travel to another universe and meet yourself and have a conversation with yourself? What would you say? What would it feel like? It's intriguing to think about. What's even better, out-of-body travel may make it possible! I believe so because I have done it!
But for this same reason, many people find the Many-Worlds Interpretation, and the consequences it implies, deeply disturbing. Also, scientists find Many Worlds disturbing simply because it is so hard to believe.
However, polls have been taken among theorists who study such things, and have revealed that most of them believe that the Many-Worlds Interpretation represents an accurate description of reality. (Interestingly, the polls also show that many of them would rather not discuss the subject!)
A political researcher by the name of I. David Raub conducted a poll of 72 of the "leading cosmologists and other quantum field theorists" about the "Many-Worlds Interpretation" and found the following":
Among "Yes" thinkers is the famous Stephen Hawking, author of "A Brief History of Time." Also in agreement are Nobel Laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Richard Feynman.
In his book, "Leaving the Body - A complete Guide to Astral Projection," the late writer D. Scott Rogo touches on the subject of alternate universes.
Rogo, (who, incidentally, was murdered) often noticed a certain amount of inconsistency in what he perceived of the objective world while in the out-of-body state. It seemed to him that certain dreamlike elements invaded his perceptions. To explain it, Rogo theorized that during nocturnal OBEs, his perceptions were colored or influenced by his brain's dream consciousness.
Later, though, he abandoned the idea when another accomplished out-of-body traveler, Stuart Blue Harary, convinced him that the world we enter in the out-of-body state is not our own everyday world, but rather a "parallel" of the real world.
Rogo writes:
"Rather reluctantly I had to accept the theory that during the OBE, we contact only a parallel of the real world - a plastic interactional world that may alter when we physically alter our own. If I place a picture on a wall, for instance, the same object may well appear in the parallel world. But this plane is more tenuous and less stable than the physical world of the five senses, and it wavers and drifts away from a perfect semblance of it ... During an OBE, we perceive a mirror image of the real world because that is what we expect to see. We are chained to this mirror reality by the limitations of our own minds."
(And, he continues:)
"... a close perceptual relationship exists between the OBE environment and the real world. The reason is simple: the OBEer must constantly reassure him - or herself that the experience is real and not a delusion. The person can do this only by allowing him - or herself to perceive an environment that corresponds to his or her concept of consensus reality."
It could be, however, that Rogo is correct in both his assumptions about the out-of-body state --both this dream interference theory and parallel world theory.
Another famous mystic, Jane Roberts, author of the famous Seth books went in to great detail about her personal theory of alternate universes. Roberts, speaking (or channeling) for the disembodied entity called Seth, said we each create our own universe at every instant of time. Also, Seth said the universe we create in an infinite one, containing an infinite number of parallel worlds, all existing along side each other with no end in sight to any of it.
According to Roberts and Seth, in this universe we create for ourselves, we have complete and unabridged freedom of choice and action. Not only is the universe infinite, they said, but each human being is infinite as well. By that Roberts meant that each one of us possesses not one life and one personality, but an infinite number of lives and personalities all existing independently, each in their own parallel universe, yet all interacting on some subtle, psychic level.
I think Roberts version of all this is an excellent one because it is the most complete explanation - scientific, philosophical and metaphysical - for everything that I myself have experienced in my own out-of-body studies, although I am always cautious about accepting any idea or the say-so of any other individual no matter how much I admire their work.
Anyway, I was struck by how Robert's' descriptions of parallel worlds bore a close resemblance to what many mainstream physicists have been talking about in their so-called quantum structure of the universe.
More specifically to OBEs, one of the things Seth taught to would-be astral travelers about being in the out-of-body state was that it was common to have residual hallucinations, or dream elements crop up in the out-of-body environment.
Seth said you should recognize these dream elements for what they are and make them go away so they won't confuse you. All you have to do is "will" them to go away, and they will do so. I took this advice and have applied it with great success on several occasions.
Once, for example, I found myself in an apparent out-of-body state in my own bedroom, but some weird things were going on. There was a television in my room, although I knew that in "real life" I didn't have a television. Also, I noticed that my socks were jumping out of my drawer and bouncing around on the carpet. Renville, my beautiful Himalayan cat, was in the room, but I knew that Renville had died a year before. I assumed from all this that I was merely dreaming, and that I was not out-of-body.
Still, I had a strong, subjective feeling that this was no dream. It just didn't "feel" like one. My room looked normal in most respects, and I could see my quite natural looking body sleeping soundly on my bed. Yet, all the bizarre hallucinations were disconcerting.
I struggled with myself to remain calm, because hallucinations or no hallucinations, I was excited about the excellent level of lucidity I had, and I wanted this to last as long as it could.
When I got control of myself, I remembered what I had read in the Seth books about residual hallucination. I decided to give it a whirl.
I proceeded to command the television to go away, the socks to stop jumping around - and they did. After that, the "firmness" of my perceptions increased tremendously, and I achieved an incredible clarity and control over my out-of-body state. I'm almost convinced that I wasn't dreaming at this point because my subjective feeling of being in physical reality - not dream reality - was so complete.
Then I turned to Renville to make him disappear ...but ... I couldn't bring myself to do it. Whether he was a mere wisp of my projecting consciousness, hallucination, or whatever ... well ... I had loved him so fondly when he was alive and with me, I wanted to let this vision stay. I picked him up and he felt as real as anything. He was soft next to my face, and he purred in my ear.
After a lingering hug, I put him down and he wandered out of my sight as I turned my attention to other things.
Still in excellent control of my out-of-body state, I climbed out of the window because I couldn't get myself to pass through it, although I did experiment with passing my arms through the glass. Outside, the countryside was bathed in an exquisite silvery-blue light. I had a sudden feeling of freedom and exhilaration. I lifted my hands into the air and took off flying, Superman style.
I circled my house a couple of times, one time zooming past the window of the room I was sleeping in. I glimpsed my body resting safely there, so I decided to fly as fast as I could in no particular direction.
I ended up in what I think was New York City. I went blistering through my building, and found myself stopped suddenly in the hallway of an apartment building.
I turned and walked through a wall and found myself in a cramped, closed closet. The closed closet door was outlined by a rim of light shining in from the room outside. I could hear activity on the other side. The door had an old fashioned keyhole, so I bent down to peer through it. On the other side of the door I saw three children playing with toys in what was obviously their bedroom. There were bunk beds covered with blue sheets and Muppet posters on the wall.
Because my out-of-body state felt so exceptionally solid, almost as if it were my normal physical body, I had the odd, uncomfortable feeling that I was invading the home of these children. I felt that I shouldn't be spying on them. I had some inclination to walk through the door to see if the children could see me or perceive my presence, but I was concerned about frightening them. I decided to stay put and just watch a bit longer - perhaps I was looking for a clue as to why I had landed here, if it hadn't been just a random event.
Then a woman walked into the room and spoke with the children for a minute or two, and walked back out. The whole time, I had the eerie feeling of being an invader, and that I shouldn't be there. I also had an impression that one of the children could somehow feel my presence, as if the child was psychic, or something. She kept looking toward the closet door expectantly, and once she seemed almost ready to come over and investigate.
After about five minutes, I suddenly began to hear a loud breathing noise. I was frightened at first because I thought there was someone in the dark closet with me, breathing right over my shoulder into my ear.
I looked around but saw only the vague shapes of hanging clothes. I was obviously the only one in there, but the loud breathing was becoming more distinct and it was getting closer. Soon it surrounded me ... I cowered - and then ... flash! - I was back in my physical body in bed.
I realized that the breathing had been that of my own body. I woke up, sat upright and felt disoriented and perplexed for a few minutes. Somehow, my astral body had still been in close touch with my physical body, close enough to hear myself breathing back in Minnesota when I was in New York! I got up from bed and felt absolutely exhilarated about my journey. I just kept saying, "Wow! I can't ... fringin' ... believe it! What a ride, b-a-a-by! Wow!" and so on.
That trip was perhaps the most subjectively "real" feeling OBE I have ever had. For the most part, I had no feeling I was in some parallel, mirror-image of the real world. It seemed to be our very own world. But this kind of out-of-body adventure is rare for me, and seems to be more rare as time goes by. Most of the high reality out-of-body trips I have now contain the characteristic parallel universe feel and peculiarities.
Here's another example of a trip I took to a parallel universe:
I woke up one night feeling my body lolling back and forth. Excited and happy that I was about to be blasted into a starry tunnel, I stayed as calm as possible - staying calm is always so important - and waited for the ride to begin.
The next instant I was traveling through a wild, blurry kind of tunnel where the stars took on a watery, flowing look as they streamed past me. It's not uncommon for the tunnel to occasionally take on this wavery look.
I traveled for what seemed like three or four minutes and exited the tunnel to find myself in a home I did not recognize. It was not so much a home, but more like a vacation cabin. It had large floor-length windows all along the walls, beautiful cedar paneling and hardwood floors. It was a rainy day outside, and I saw cold drops splashing into a large, gray lake which the cabin overlooked.
I was not floating around in the cabin as if I were in my astral body. I was just standing there like I normally would in waking reality. I walked into another room where I found a dark haired woman that I recognized immediately as my mother - except it wasn't quite here.
This person was younger and had an entirely different hair style, although her hair color was the same as my mother's. This person was not my mother, not the one I know in normal world, but an aspect of my mother, or better yet, an alternate person of an alternate universe that corresponded to my universe and my mother. Still, it was easy for me to recognize her.
To say the least, I was nonplused about finding myself in this strange, but beautiful cabin - especially when I realized that this mother-person was clearly able to see and speak to me! At first I thought she would think me an intruder, shout at me and ask what the hell I was doing in her home. But to my surprise, she acted as if she knew exactly who I was. She just glanced at me, walked right past me and went into the lining room and sat on a chair with a cup of coffee. I followed her and continued to gawk at her as if she were a side-show freak. Irritated, she asked why I was staring at her.
I stammered a bit and asked her if she knew me.
She again looked irritated and told me to stop bothering her. Apparently, I was a person well-known to her. The theory that formed immediately in my mind was that I had somehow displaced the regular person who lived with that mother-person in that house. My astral self temporarily inhabited what I guess would be my "twin" who was an aspect of myself in that alternate universe.
I stayed as calm as I possibly could, but I was excited intellectually about the possibilities of this situation. A hundred questions formed in my mind. Here I was in another universe - an interloper with the perfect disguise - that of a person that everyone knew and recognized.
But how could I ask some simple direct questions without sounding like some kind of idiot? I decided to just plunge ahead. I approached the woman and asked her what year it was. She looked at me with a furrowed brow and said. "What?"
I repeated my question: "What year is it? I want you to tell me what year this is."
Looking impatient she finally answered: "You know damn well it's 70,899. What is wrong with your?"
70,899! I was completely baffled! I didn't know what to think - no, that's not quite true. I knew that the number she gave me did not represent 70,899 in terms of the way we reckon our calendar, and that they must use some entirely different numerical system to orient themselves in time in this universe. I could not accept that this was some 69,000 years in the future, not unless that distant time is remarkably similar to our own.
I looked around for a clock and found one on the wall. Well, I guess it was a clock. Instead of numbers and hands, it had strange set of curvilinear rotating wheels against a background of oddly arranged symbols. I could make no sense of it. It was an aesthetically beautiful piece, though, made of shiny black and ivory white metal inlaid with burnished gold symbols. It was all so wild!
Getting a bit more bold, I decided to ask her what undoubtedly would be another stupid-beyond-belief kind of question. But I didn't really care how foolish I sounded because I knew the starry tunnel would soon come calling to take me back. My time in these alternate universes is always brief. So I plunged ahead and asked her: "What is my name?"
Predictably, she became really irritated with me and went stomping out of the room saying something like, "I'm sick of this silly game you are playing."
Then I looked around and tried to find a mirror, but had no luck. I stepped up to the window and got a good look outside. This was a beautiful stop near a lake and some forested hills. I tried to take in everything and file it away firmly in my memory so that I wouldn't forget anything when I got back to my physical body. I was just about to look for something to read to see what more I could find out when, alas, I felt the energy presence of the starry tunnel. I was drawn in and after a whining, electrical ride, zapped back into my body.
I have had many similar parallel or alternate universe trips - situations where I appear to be in rough analogs of familiar places. I meet people that I know - friends and family - that are not quite those same people, but aspects of those people to a greater or lesser degree. Some alternate universes seem to be extremely close in similarity to our own universe, and others seem far removed but still vaguely recognizable.
I remember traveling once to an alternate universe that was a rough analog of my brother's home. I found my aspect-brother there and had an exchange with him similar to that with my aspect-mother. But this time I also asked my brother about historical events, such as who won World War II and if Hitler had been defeated.
My aspect-brother looked at me as I were insane after I asked him about World War II. He said: "I'm not sure of what is that you call World War II, but the wars we had with Hitler ended years ago, and Hitler ruled for 30 years after that. You know that!"
Or course, I know this all sounds like a pat science fiction convention. Alternate universe tales are popular these days in sci-fi magazines and books, and as represented by the recent television series, "Sliders." And I'm always ready to admit that I don't really travel in an out-of-body state to different worlds. Maybe I'm just playing out standard science fiction fantasies to myself in realistic lucid dreaming states.
It does seem plausible to me, however, that Seth and Roberts were correct when they said that if we allow our consciousness to "move just a bit sideways" we can contact those other parallel worlds which are stacked together invisibly like so much Tupperware. The farther sideways you move, the more variation you will find, they said.
Also, 58% of some of the most brilliant minds in the world accept the notion of Many Worlds. The question is: Is the out-of-body experience the doorway to those other worlds?
I've only touched on the subject of alternate universes in this issue. The subject is as complex as it is fascinating.
I would love to hear your stories if you have any to share. I would love to publish an entire issue [of OBE News] containing stories of this kind based on the real life experience of my readers. So please don't hesitate to write and share. As always, I look forward to hearing from you! Wishing you all happy travelling, ....
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Cory Gann is a writer, former newspaper reporter, university writing instructor, political speech writer, and public relations writer in the high-tech aerospace industry. Mr. Gann devotes his time to writing, and studying the out-of-body experience - and to helping other people achieve out-of-body travel success with this personal OBE consulting service.
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For more information on Cory Gann's newsletter - OBE News - contact:
Cory Gann - kkorczak@polaristel.net
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