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From: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india,net.religion,net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Inquiry on Reincarnation
Message-ID: <852@loral.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 28-May-85 22:22:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: loral.852
Posted: Tue May 28 22:22:15 1985
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Reply-To: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard)
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>>> He was telling me his experiences in astral projection. For those who
>>> don't know: astral projection is the science of projecting oneself
>>> mentally out of your body  ... I do not know how much 
>>> credibility you give this,   ( etc. etc.)
>> 
>> None at all.
>> 

It seems that positions like this reflect the typical Western reluctance
to view both objective reality and experiential reality as equally 
"real" and valid.  No doubt, in our attempt to separate ourselves
from the mysticism of the past, we sometimes throw out the baby
with the bathwater.

What if someone simply has experienced astral projection, and
yet nothing physical has taken place.  Was the astral projection
experience "real"?  In terms of objective, physical reality, perhaps
not.  But the *experience* was real, therefore, in the domain of
experiential reality, it was a genuine event.

There is plenty of blurring of the boundaries between these two
domains, and some things may seem to belong to one, and in fact
belong to the other, or both.  But it is important to know that
some very real events have no physical, measurable manifestation,
other than the physiology of the brain that produces the (possibly)
illusory experience.