@Noble Dust
I haven't had the specific experience you mentioned. But I do have a great interest in this phenomenon.
I think it is related to dreaming,especially lucid dreaming,remote viewing and being in the zone.

Mescalin.
Psilocybin.
Peyote.
Ayahuasca.
LSD.

(Caveat: mindset & setting are paramount.)

"OBE"? More like out of ordinary states of mind (OOSM). Bodily-awareness – proprioceptive experience – very strongly correlates with an ordinary state of mind (OSM), so the psychoactives listed above (all of which I'd repeatedly indulged decades ago) induce suppression of bodily-awareness and thus "OBE". This can also happen while dreaming. And to recall (pace Plato) these non-ordinary states of mind (nOSM) – I don't think of them as "experiences" any more than I think of (day)dreams as "experiences" – has helped, or provoked, me to learn how to deliberately (reflectively) suspend the ego (StE) in various ways – contemplation, meditation, prayer, play & sleep – I term ecstatic techniques. (However I no longer meditate or pray.)

So, for me, psychoactive-induced OOSM aka "OBE" had showed me that, without psychoactives, StE is not only possible to self-induce but more preferable and more holistic. As far as I've discerned, the (intrinsic) benefit of intermitten StE has been gradually gaining a non-egoic understanding of others' lives and one's life, livelihoods and life-worlds.

I've wondered about the connection between psychedelics and OOBEs as well, but I don't begin by assuming they're the same experience (seems like the right word to me).

Do you have any thoughts on organic OOBEs, rather than drug-induced states, as that's what the thread is about? I assume you haven't had one from what you're saying?

As far as I've discerned (the intrinsic) benefit of intermitten StE: gradually gaining a non-egoic understanding of others' lives and one's life, livelihoods and life-worlds. — 180 Proof

This I can get down with.

I wonder about the connection between dreaming in general, as well as lucid dreaming, with OOBE's as well, but as above with 180, I'm not beginning with any assumption that they are the same experience. They could be, but I'm not assuming anything. What seems to delineate OOBEs from dreaming (and perhaps from psychedelics, @180 Proof?) is the retention of full conscious awareness.

Remote viewing I haven't read up on as much, but it does seem to be connected with certain types of OOBEs.

Do you have any thoughts on organic OOBEs ... — Noble Dust

How can they not be "organic" given that we are "organic"? Besides, "OOBEs" are illusions better described as nOSM, also occurring during dream sleep and other ecstacies which I've pointed out previously. Psychactive drugs are not needed though they are helpful as, for want of a better analogy, 'training wheels'.

@Noble Dust
Have you ever imagined something in the day or day dreamt at length?

This phenomenon is related. Its about focusing on a certain facet of life that we need to.

Meditation throws up these visions and travels,as can entheogens.

These visions and episodes have a personal meaning.

By organic I mean not induced by any foreign substance.

Besides, "OOBEs" are illusions — 180 Proof

Can you make an argument for this rather than an assertion?

Reread my first post.

Your first post just equates naturally occurring OOBEs with psychedelics without an argument as to what makes naturally occurring OOBEs an illusion, or why you equate them with psychedelics.

Okay. I can't read it for you – that's not what I wrote.

so the psychoactives listed above (all of which I'd repeatedly indulged decades ago) induce suppression of bodily-awareness and thus "OBE" — 180 Proof

So, for me, psychoactive induced OOSM aka "OBE" — 180 Proof

It's possible I misread you, but your distracting use of text formatting and convoluted sentence structures do not do you any favors.

So, for me, psychoactive induced OOSM aka "OBE" had showed me that, without psychoactives, StE is not only possible to self-induce but more preferable and more holistic. — 180 Proof

So are you saying your use of psychoactive drugs showed you that it's better to have what you label StE without the use of psychoactives? and if so, are you then referring to this list you made:

contemplation, meditation, prayer, play & sleep — 180 Proof

Which you then define as "ecstatic techniques"? Or are you referring to naturally occurring OOBEs that are induced simply by learning a method such as found in Monroe's book? Can you see how confusing your post is?

Sure, I think all forms of consciousness that are a departure from everyday waking life are most likely related in some way. I'm just specifically interested in naturally occurring OOBEs as discussed in books by Monroe and others.

These visions and episodes have a personal meaning. — Protagoras

I agree.

@Noble Dust
There are meditation techniques to help induce OBEs,maybe Monroes book has some techniques he recommends.

Not confusing, just not quick reading. You got the gist with slightly more effort to unpack the post (without spoon-feeding my understandings).

So are you saying your use of psychoactive drugs showed you that it's better to have what you label StE without the use of psychoactives? and if so, are you then referring to this list you made:

Yes. Yes.

Which you then define as "ecstatic techniques"?

Yes.

Not confusing, just not quick reading. You got the gist with slightly more effort to unpack the post (without spoon-feeding my understandings). — 180 Proof

I don't ask for quick reading or spoon feeding, I just prefer clear writing, especially when writing about complex ideas.

So now on to the topic of the thread: do you have any thoughts about supposed naturally occurring OOBEs as reported and written about by Robert Monroe and others? If not, that's fine too.

His techniques mirror some meditation techniques in some ways I think, yes. The difference might be the setting; a sitting position for a lot of meditation techniques vs. the brink of the sleep state for Monroe and other OOBE practitioners.

@Noble Dust
Yep,my bad. Of course a lot of people might like the brink of sleep state and lying down meditating.

With that said,sitting or even moving meditation can help as well. Depends on the person really.

Must be you, ND, because my writing is clear enough for most others I interact with on these fora. As for your question, I don't conceive of nOSM (via StE) as "OOBE" as I've already stated, so I've not investigated or even heard of "Robert Monroe", et al.

moving meditation — Protagoras

For sure; I've definitely had what I would call meditative experiences while walking.

Must be you, ND, because my writing is clear enough for most others I interact with on these fora. — 180 Proof

Perhaps they put up with it. :wink:

If that was so, then there'd be no discussions or useful arguments – gems in the usual dung piles – to be had between me and others here, which is by far not the case. English is not your first language, is it?

@Noble Dust
Walking is a great meditation.

As can be any activity if one focuses on it.

You could try to induce an OBE whilst walking.

I know of a successful OBE from focusing whilst sitting on a sofa.

I know of a successful OBE from focusing whilst sitting on a sofa. — Protagoras

Was this your experience or someone else's?

@Noble Dust
My Wife's.

I'm not questioning your intelligence or knowledge, but you would have received a D at best in the honors English course I took in college. I don't mean that as an insult, it's just a simple fact.

I'd be curious to hear any details, but no pressure.

@Noble Dust
We both practice meditation in numerous different ways.

In the period mentioned we both talked a lot about astral projection and practiced a lot.

Then after a while Wifey began to be able to project when she Focused and suceeded to OBE whilst awake.

I will also clarify,astral projection is also a kind of OBE,and if so we both were able to do this regularly.

Yeah, my understanding is that astral projection and OOBE are terms for the same experience, but I guess there's not necessarily a way to substantiate that. Monroe specifically states that he avoided the term astral projection in order to minimize occult connotations.

So you have had an OOBE? Or rather, you've astral projected but distinguish the two in your mind?

@Noble Dust
I've never really looked at my astral projecting as an OBE,because that term normally refers to an experience of vibrating and seemingly happening to one whilst awake rather than consciously projecting.

But,on closer inspection through talking with you here,how much of a distinction is there really?

Mainly I don't consider a person actually leaves their body literally but just projects themselves from within the body.

But,on closer inspection through talking with you here,how much of a distinction is there really? — Protagoras

I'm not sure.

Mainly I don't consider a person actually leaves their body literally but just projects themselves from within the body. — Protagoras

Yeah, the metaphysics of this are unclear, and can't really be demonstrated in any substantial way, I don't think. Your perception of your experience seems to be what makes it so, if that makes sense. I don't think there's really a vantage point that can be taken to definitively make the distinction one way or another.