OBE gives completely INDEPENDENT confirmation of 5-shen theory

Just also found another neat tale – from Bob Peterson’s “Out Of Body Experiences” which I happen to be re-reading. The great thing about that book is Peterson doesn’t try to hide his sheer amateurishness from the start!

This is his very 1st out of body trip, and wouldn’t ya know (although he wouldn’t know a Taoist from a tooth fairy) the guy experienced the 5 shen. This should please Michael.

At the time it happened Peterson had been trying for OBEs for a while unsuccessfully at night, whilst working as a computer programmer during the day….

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After twelve hours of intense programming, I started getting tired and hungry. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. [impromptu fasting probably helped projection – NN]. I signed off the computer and caught the next bus home.

[after wolfing some lasagna] I went to bed at 11:30 pm, and was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

I fell into a deep sleep and started dreaming a programmer’s most hated and feared dream – the programming dream. The same dream plagued me for hours: I was sitting at a computer terminal, asking myself, “How can I make this program better?”

I put up with that dream for four annoying hours. That was all I could stand. I became so annoyed by this dream that I couldn’t take any more. Slowly I turned my attention away from the dream. I forced myself to become conscious, but as I did, I noticed the dream was still going on! Somehow I was awake and asleep at the same time!

What happened next is hard to describe. My consciousness was split into five parts. Each part was separate and unique, yet I was each of them simultaneously. Each was thinking its own thoughts, and communicating with the other four. All five of “me” were arguing about the computer game and how to make it better!

The feeling was beyond words: I was five personalities at the same time and I was talking to myself! One of my five selves asked, “Well, how can we make the space-war game better?” Another “me” said, “Well, I think we should allow more interactive communication between the spaceships.” Yet another “me” replied, “No, I think it’s more important to improve the fighting ability of the computer-controlled opponent ships.” One of my five selves was bored to tears watching this whole conversation and tried to force itself to consciousness. Now that “I” was conscious, I was fascinated at what was happening: I was conscious and split into five parts, and each part was taking turns talking.

At first I tried to follow the conversation, but something strange started happening. As I became more conscious my four others selves started to speed up!… Soon the four voices sounded like a tape player in fast-forward mode, and I lost track of what they were saying. Meanwhile, the voices faded into the distance and seemed to disappear.

My consciousness was no longer split. I was completely awake and aware of my surroundings, but I knew something was not normal. My body felt unusual. It felt odd to be conscious and yet still asleep… Another strange feeling came over me: I felt like I was completely separate from my body, although i was still occupying the same space. I decided to try to get out.

I had read a few OBE books by then. Some of them had good techniques to separate the consciousness from the body, but none of them said what to do next! How could I get away from the body I was lying in?… I thought about the problem for a few minutes. My physical body seemed like a bottle; it was solid on the outside, but hollow on the inside…

At first I tried to twist myself inside the physical body so I could climb out the stomach… Then I squirmed until I was under the rib-cage… I clawed and clawed, but some barrier, some force-field, was holding me back…

I decided to try another way out. I lifted my legs over my head, and did a backward somersault over my head and out of my body.

I felt free and weightless. I wanted to float slowly up to the ceiling. With that thought, I started to float gently up. Then I looked up and thought about my destination, the top of the ceiling. Suddenly I whooshed up there. I looked around the room with a sense of delight.

I looked straight down at my body… I thought, “Gee, what if I fall from up here?” As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I came crashing down into my physical body and rejoined. I went right into a short, dreamless sleep.

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… not an untypical ending for a 1st OBE BTW.

The grand prize question of course is: which shen was in control whilst the others continued to argue? Or is the situation more complex than that? Any guesses?

NN