Swiss neurologist Olaf Blanke says out-of-body experiences
are caused when a part of the brain called the angular gyrus,
which controls our perception of the body, misfires under
stress, causing the sensation of floating outside the body. He
discovered this while mapping the brain of an epileptic
patient. However, Blanke admits, "We do not fully understand
the neurological mechanism that causes OBEs."
Jospeh B. Verrengia reports that Blanke implanted electrodes
in the brain of a 43-year-old epileptic woman, including the
angular gyrus area, which is associated with the perception
of sound, touch, memory and speech. When electrical
stimulation was applied, the patient reported seeing
herself "lying in bed, from above, but I only see my legs and
lower trunk." She also described herself as "floating" near the
ceiling.
However, this doesn't explain evidence of OBE patients seeing
objects from great heights that they couldn't have been
aware of while in their bodies. For instance, a nurse says one
of her patients, after a near-death experience, reported
seeing a red shoe on the roof of the hospital during, which a
janitor later found. A social worker found an object on an
outside window ledge that another patient saw during an
NDE. These are only two of many similar reports.
Another explanation could be that OBEs are part of the death
process in humans. That they also happen during epileptic
seizures may be because epileptic electrical activity mimics
the electrical activity in the dying brain.
Dr. Michael Persinger has developed a helmet called the
Shakti
LITE, which costs between $100 and $200 and can
stimulate OBEs. It produces a weak rotating magnetic field
over the temporal lobes of the brain, where the angular gyrus
is located.
Some seekers have learned to use
sound to create a special state of awareness.
To learn more,
click
here and
here.
