What O.B.E. actually means

[sash]

I have pondered the question of how O.B.E. would best be approached to increase understanding of it. Up until now this question for me has been whether O.B.E. can be separated from spirituality or not.

I cannot see how it can be and would ultimately say no, but I know a lot of people would say yes, so basically I would like to know why.

Note, for a clearer definition of spirituality I am talking about the unconsciousness that the Astral seems to be, and going by general ideas that the unconsciousness cannot become illuminated without commonly named 'spiritual' tools (ie . love, acceptance, open-mindedness). Those attributes seem to 'unlock' the unconsciousness, hence the Astral, hence allow O.B.E.

Is it possible to arrive at a different conclusion and to state O.B.E. has nothing to do with spirituality at all? This is mainly a question for those who would say yes.

[CFTraveler]

My knee-jerk reaction to the question would be yes, because I'd have a different definition of spirituality, and to me OBE is an experience and now a discipline, but a second look would lead me to believe that I was wrong, because the OBE experience does facilitate the spiritual mindset.
To explain my thinking:
To me spirituality is a mindset that makes you aware of the 'bigger picture', that is, the relationship that I have with the 'All', God, the Multiverse, or whatever you want to call it, and it kind of puts emphasis on the nonphysical aspect of being.
IMO, OBE is something that happens, and that you make happen if you can, which puts you in contact with 'other types of being', however you want to define them (the astral, your subconscious, the quantum foam, etc.) so in essence it would facilitate or push you in the direction of wanting to explore all the possibilities of being, which in turn would then facilitate the expression of the spiritual focus.
You can separate it from spirituality if you are of a materialistic mindset but eventually you will find yourself asking how certain things are possible when you actually experience the 'hard to believe'.

[sash]

Yes I agree that you could take a Materialist position and say something to the liking of 'everything is material' and hence OBE is just travelling to another part of that Material Existence.

The point you make about the states of Being is pretty applicable to this question, this is also another reason I can't see how you could have an O.B.E. and disregarded variations in states of being.
States of being are essentially different consciousness, and exploring different consciousness ties back into spirituality, so it seems that the O.B.E. process is inherently spiritual as long as the definition of spiritual remains as being that to explore new states of being.

[kiwibonga]

I feel that in order to sleep, dream, and ultimately project, there's a very important thing to do.

It's something about not being grounded in the physical. When you go to sleep and are too worried about material things (your job, your problems, your relationships, etc...), you will have a hard time relaxing, a hard time falling asleep at all. If you do not learn to pacify your own mind, the response is nearly always the same -- you will forcefully be put into standby mode, unconscious, with very little memory of what you did during the night.

The best way to have fulfilling, dreamful sleep is to have a certain attitude, to let go of all the physical things and to be at peace with the idea that you are going away for a while, despites all the things you have to do.

Getting rid of these "attachments" is a big part of spiritual practices... Technically, there's nothing awfully spiritual about it, it's just a matter of proper relaxation, but I think anyone who is too stressed out and somewhat reticent to fall asleep, whether consciously or unconsciously, will not experience much during the night.

I know very often people mention that they had an OBE dry spell because "they had too much on their mind" or "they were very busy" -- that's a perfectly valid excuse, imo ; we still sleep every day regardless of whether we are busy or not, but it's our ability to "let go" that will ultimately define how interesting the nightly experience will be.

Adepts of phasing probably understand this better than most -- compare how fast and vivid the hypnogogics appear on a stressful day as opposed to a casual nap when you have nothing to worry about...

I don't know if "relax and do not let your problems affect you so much" would qualify as spirituality or not... It's something about your state of mind and leading a more fulfilling life with less stress... It is indeed a spiritual practice, but it has pretty much nothing to do with "greater knowledge" or enlightenment...

And as far as open mindedness goes... Indeed... If you go to sleep with preconceived ideas and firm convictions, you'll most likely experience that and not something else (take the example of lucid dreamers who deny the existence of OBEs, energy, etc)... But is it really spiritual to be open minded? You can be an open minded scientist without being spiritual at all...

I guess the problem is that "spirituality" is way too broad a term -- it seems to encompass everything one can do that is "good for all and bad for no-one."