So, we're looking for an out-of-body experience.
I don't know much about neuroscience or brain activity, but I suspect the same mechanisms that cause out-of-body experiences are the same ones that cause dreams. Out of body experiences don't require a non-physical soul.
The alledged soul leaving the body on death, is an out of body experience no matter how it is looked upon.
Pertaining to dreams and out of body experience. On the contrary, albeit an easy association to make. For most part, those tested through meditation, have all exhibited dream type states and therefore imagination. Not one of those tested, who had claimed to have left their body, could say what a picture was in the next room, or even what was going on in the same room for that matter. Some though did give it their best guess. LOL some more than one guess.
When a person sleeps, the brain doesn't stop. The best time a person can study for an exam, is just prior to going to sleep, the brain will keep this knowledge turning over all night and will be on the top of their thought patterns the next day. Providing of course they haven't anything more important to focus on, for then the brain will give this knowledge priority.
The brain itself works on many levels, our first thought is our strongest thought, or the relationship of association our brain holds greatest value in. This is the value we generally run with, however, if we stop to think a bit more, other values may come into play as a second or after thought. The more we think, the deeper we think, the more values we can come up with, as long as they don't go past our own comfort zone, they are okay, for if they do, we will deny them and dismiss them as irrelevant.
When we sleep, the brain slows right down. This is the time of life we are closest to death, albeit can be brought about by a meditation or medication state. When the brain is slowed right down, there is no path of association which holds greater value, the conscious state is not there to control them. This is the reason why sometimes dreams can appear so erratic or fanciful. You might start dreaming about a car, driving down the road somewhere, everything is good, then suddenly, whammo! Out of the blue a cow falls from the sky. This is the brain picking up on an association pattern, which normally, in the awakened brain, would have been pushed aside. This association pattern could have come from a movie, anywhere as long as the brain has knowledge of it, the brain will use it. The reason why people often find answers to problems in their dreams, is simply because in the dream state, the brain will relate to things not normally associated to in an awake state. The brain is also more focused at this point.
OBE's and NDE's do not generally exhibit this same erratic or fanciful state. What the people observe is very clear cut, defined and specific. In many cases, knowledge they could not know, yet do know, in great detail. Coincidence? Possibly. Reality? Possibly. Only testing and evaluation will give us this knowledge for sure.
