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Personal Identity

Out of Body Experiences

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. As is the case with Near Death Experiences², which sometimes include them, OBEs offer various challenges to physicalist³ accounts of the mind⁴, and to animalist⁵ accounts of what we are⁶.
  2. OBEs may or may not be a concomitant of an NDE. They seem sometimes to occur during other crisis times of illness.
  3. An example – see "BBC, Burgess (Gary) - Why do we know so little about ME?" – was given in March 2018 by a reporter suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as ME, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). He stated quite casually, without any self-consciousness about the prima facie absurdity of his account – “In the middle of a piece about maternity and paternity benefits, during the 6pm news programme, I had the most wonderful sensation. I left my body, was suddenly up in the studio ceiling, and was looking down on myself, the presenters, and all of the camera crew. I was having an out-of-body experience.”
  4. The question is – of course – whether these experiences are of anything outside the mind⁷. Do they really prove that something like a soul⁸ can wander out of the body⁹?
  5. A difficult situation to “explain away” is where the NDE-experiencer claims – as in the example above – to see something (while having an Out of Body Experience) they could not have seen under normal circumstances. The difficulty with evaluating such reports is that they are either vague and unsurprising, or anecdotal and hard to verify – so the presumption is that they aren’t veridical.
  6. There’s a famous “shoe” case where no follow-up seems to have been possible. There’s a (naturally sceptical) page on Infidels.org ("Augustine (Keith) - Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences") which references this “shoe” case amongst others.
  7. The case of our reporter is surprisingly off-hand for such a surprising claim. "Blackmore (Susan) - Beyond the Body" asserts that 10% of people claim to have had OBEs. Maybe most also believe in immaterial souls¹⁰, and think that most other people do likewise. So, they may claim more than they strictly observed as a way of making their experience seem more important than those of rival accounts. Rather than thinking they are distorting the evidence-base for this phenomenon, they may simply take it as a fact, and want to share in the glamour associated with having experienced it. Much like alien abduction.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Augustine (Keith) - Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences", 2003 (Updated 2008), External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
  2. "BBC, Burgess (Gary) - Why do we know so little about ME?", 2018, External Link, Read
  3. "Blackmore (Susan) - Beyond the Body", 1992, Book
• For a Page of Links¹¹ to this Note, Click here. This required some manipulation₁₂.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹³, include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Emslie (Karen) - Hallucinogenic nights", 2014, Annotations, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Footnote₁₄
  • General:
    1. "Almeder (Robert) - Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death - Preface", 1992
    2. "BBC, Burgess (Gary) - Why do we know so little about ME?", 2018, External Link
    3. "Buzzi (Giorgio) - Correspondence: Near-Death Experiences", 2002
    4. "Edwards (Paul) - The Astral Body", 2002
    5. "Fenwick (Peter) & Fenwick (Elizabeth) - The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences", 1995, Book
    6. "Godelek (Kamuran) - Review of Thomas Metzinger's 'The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self'", 2009, External Link
    7. "Thomas (Janice L.) - Other arguments for dualism", 2000
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Almeder (Robert) - Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death", 1992, Book, Read = 2%
    2. "Almeder (Robert) - Out-of-Body Experiences", 1992
    3. "Augustine (Keith) - Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences", 2003 (Updated 2008), External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    4. "Augustine (Keith) - Near-Death Experiences are Hallucinations", 2015
    5. "Blackmore (Susan) - Beyond the Body", 1992, Book, Footnote₁₅
    6. "Blackmore (Susan) - Out-of-Body Experiences are not Evidence for Survival", 2015
    7. "Blackmore (Susan) - The Implausibility of Astral Bodies and Astral Worlds", 2015
    8. "Chopra (Deepak) & Hameroff (Stuart) - Can science explain the soul?", 2010, External Link, Read = 150%
    9. "Dilley (Frank B.) - Review of Robert Almeder 'Death and Personal Survival: The Evidence for Life after Death'", 1995, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Ehrsson (H. Henrik) - The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences", 2007, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    11. "Hick (John) - Death and Eternal Life", 1996, Read = 2%
    12. "McGinn (Colin) - Minds & Bodies: Philosophers and Their Ideas", 1997, Book
    13. "Metzinger (Thomas) - Being No One: Neurophenomenological Case Studies II", 2004
    14. "Metzinger (Thomas) - The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self", 2009, Read = 1%
    15. "Moravec (Hans) - Pigs in Cyberspace", 2013
    16. "Morse (Melvin) - Life After Life: Preface", 2001, Read = 42%
    17. "Radden (Jennifer) - The Divided Minds of Mental Disorder", 1996
    18. "Rawlings (Maurice S.) - To Hell and Back: Life after Death - Startling New Evidence", 1993, Book, Write-Up Note¹⁶, Read = 1%
    19. "Talbot (Michael) - The Holographic Universe", 1992, Book, Read = 1%

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• For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder¹⁷.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 12:

• There are far too many false-positives for “OBE”, though fewer for “OBEs”, so I ran an updating run for the latter, then excluded them, but excluded the former altogether.
• Might be worth re-running once I’ve made a software development to exclude “usual suspect” false-positives automatically.

Footnote 14:

• This paper is about the author’s experience of sleep paralysis, but includes discussion of OBEs.

Footnote 15:

• This book – though sceptical – is probably the best starting point.

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Table of the Previous 6 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4688	Out of Body Experiences
16/05/2022 21:18:43	4307	Out of Body Experiences
16/02/2021 01:00:29	4006	Out of Body Experiences
29/09/2020 19:24:58	3746	Out of Body Experiences
15/03/2018 20:54:14	4165	Out of Body Experiences
15/10/2017 23:38:24	1337	Out of Body Experiences

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Out of Body Experiences	Souls

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Body	Fine - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter	Mind
Near Death Experiences	Note Links Explanation	Physicalism	Plug Note Apologia	Souls
What are We?	Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Aeon Papers - Summary Document: 2017-2018	Near Death Experiences, 2	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Status: Personal Identity (2026 - March)	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Aeon	Video - What science tells us about the afterlife	Paper		Yes
Almeder (Robert)	Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death	Book
Almeder (Robert)	Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death - Preface	Paper	2	Yes
Augustine (Keith)	Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences	Paper	2, 3
Augustine (Keith)	Near-Death Experiences are Hallucinations	Paper
BBC, Burgess (Gary)	Why do we know so little about ME?	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Blackmore (Susan)	Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences	Book
Blackmore (Susan)	Out-of-Body Experiences are not Evidence for Survival	Paper	2
Blackmore (Susan)	The Implausibility of Astral Bodies and Astral Worlds	Paper
Buzzi (Giorgio)	Correspondence: Near-Death Experiences	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Chopra (Deepak) & Hameroff (Stuart)	Can science explain the soul?	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Dilley (Frank B.)	Review of Robert Almeder 'Death and Personal Survival: The Evidence for Life after Death'	Paper
Edwards (Paul)	The Astral Body	Paper		Yes
Emslie (Karen)	Hallucinogenic nights	Paper		Yes
Fenwick (Peter) & Fenwick (Elizabeth)	The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences	Paper		Yes
Fenwick (Peter) & Fenwick (Elizabeth)	The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences	Book	2	Yes
Godelek (Kamuran)	Review of Thomas Metzinger's 'The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self'	Paper		Yes
Hick (John)	Death and Eternal Life	Paper
McGinn (Colin)	Minds & Bodies: Philosophers and Their Ideas	Book
Metzinger (Thomas)	Being No One: Neurophenomenological Case Studies II	Paper
Metzinger (Thomas)	The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self	Book
Metzinger (Thomas)	The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self	Paper
Moody (Raymond A.)	Life After Life: Main Text	Paper
Moravec (Hans)	Pigs in Cyberspace	Paper
Morse (Melvin)	Life After Life: Preface	Paper
Moshakis (Alex)	What do near-death experiences mean, and why do they fascinate us?	Paper		Yes
Radden (Jennifer)	The Divided Minds of Mental Disorder	Paper
Rawlings (Maurice S.)	To Hell and Back: Life after Death - Startling New Evidence	Paper
Rawlings (Maurice S.)	To Hell and Back: Life after Death - Startling New Evidence	Book	2, 3
Talbot (Michael)	The Holographic Universe	Book
Thomas (Janice L.)	Other arguments for dualism	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Near Death Experiences	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Almeder (Robert)	Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death	Book - Cited	Almeder (Robert) - Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death	2%
Almeder (Robert)	Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death - Preface	Paper - Cited	Almeder (Robert) - Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death	Yes
Almeder (Robert)	Out-of-Body Experiences	Paper - Cited	Almeder (Robert) - Death and Personal Survival: Evidence for Life After Death, Chapter 4	No
Augustine (Keith)	Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences	Paper - Cited	Infidels Website	6%
BBC, Burgess (Gary)	Why do we know so little about ME?	Paper - Cited	BBC Radio 5 Website/Articles; 2018; Extract taken 03 May 2023	Yes
Blackmore (Susan)	Beyond the Body	Book - Cited	Blackmore (Susan) - Beyond the Body	No
Blackmore (Susan)	Out-of-Body Experiences are not Evidence for Survival	Paper - By Subtopic	Martin & Augustine - The Myth of an Afterlife, Part 4, Chapter 24	No
Buzzi (Giorgio)	Correspondence: Near-Death Experiences	Paper - Cited	Lancet. Vol. 359, Issue 9323 (June 15, 2002): 2116-2117	Yes
Edwards (Paul)	Reincarnation: A Critical Examination	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Edwards (Paul)	The Astral Body	Paper - Cited	Edwards - Reincarnation: A Critical Examination, 2002, Chapter 9	Yes
Ehrsson (H. Henrik)	The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences	Paper - By Subtopic	Science  24 Aug 2007: Vol. 317, Issue 5841, pp. 1048	No
Emslie (Karen)	Hallucinogenic nights	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 27 June, 2014	Yes
Fenwick (Peter) & Fenwick (Elizabeth)	The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences	Book - Cited	Fenwick (Peter) & Fenwick (Elizabeth) - The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences	Yes
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: C-F	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	51%
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: L-P	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	33%
Martin (L. Michael) & Augustine (Keith)	The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Martin (L. Michael) & Augustine (Keith) - The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death	15%
McGinn (Colin)	Minds & Bodies: Philosophers and Their Ideas	Book - Cited	McGinn (Colin) - Minds & Bodies: Philosophers and Their Ideas	No
Moshakis (Alex)	What do near-death experiences mean, and why do they fascinate us?	Paper - Referencing	Guardian On-Line, 7 March 2021	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Out of Body Experiences	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026
2. Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)

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