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Beyond The Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences
About one person in ten claims to have left his or her body at some time. Some were close to death; others had under-gone an accident or shock. Dr Blackmore's explanation for out-of-body experiences is based on historical and anecdotal material, surveys, and laboratory experiments.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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About the author
Susan Blackmore
32 books310 followersSusan Jane Blackmore is a freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth. She has a degree in psychology and physiology from Oxford University (1973) and a PhD in parapsychology from the University of Surrey (1980). Her research interests include memes, evolutionary theory, consciousness, and meditation. She practices Zen and campaigns for drug legalization. Sue Blackmore no longer works on the paranormal.
She writes for several magazines and newspapers, blogs for the Guardian newspaper and Psychology Today, and is a frequent contributor and presenter on radio and television. She is author of over sixty academic articles, about fifty book contributions, and many book reviews. Her books include Dying to Live (on near-death experiences, 1993), In Search of the Light (autobiography, 1996),Test Your Psychic Powers (with Adam Hart-Davis, 1997), The Meme Machine (1999, now translated into 13 other languages), Consciousness: An Introduction (a textbook 2003), Conversations on Consciousness (2005) and Ten Zen Questions (2009).
http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Artic...
She writes for several magazines and newspapers, blogs for the Guardian newspaper and Psychology Today, and is a frequent contributor and presenter on radio and television. She is author of over sixty academic articles, about fifty book contributions, and many book reviews. Her books include Dying to Live (on near-death experiences, 1993), In Search of the Light (autobiography, 1996),Test Your Psychic Powers (with Adam Hart-Davis, 1997), The Meme Machine (1999, now translated into 13 other languages), Consciousness: An Introduction (a textbook 2003), Conversations on Consciousness (2005) and Ten Zen Questions (2009).
http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Artic...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 17, 2024
THE NOTEWORTHY SKEPTIC'S FIRST BOOK, WHEN SHE STILL "BELIEVED"
Susan Jane Blackmore (born 1951) is an English freelance writer and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal. Interestingly, although she earned her Ph.D. in psychology and physiology with a thesis on, "Extrasensory Perception as a Cognitive Process," and herself had an out-of-body experience, she has since become a skeptic, and prominent member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). She has written other books such as 'Dying to Live,' 'The Adventures of a Parapsychologist,' 'Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain,' 'Free Will,' and 'What It Means to Be Human,' etc.
This book, however, was written BEFORE she became a skeptic---although one can perhaps perceive seeds of her future doubts in some passages. She said in the Introduction to this 1982 book, "with an apology for egocentricity, I shall describe my own first OBE. It happened ... in my first term at the university. I was already interested in psychical research... Is there any way to account for the OBE? Personally, my aim is to be able to understand what happened in those few hours ten years ago... In this book I shall survey what the [Society for Psychical Research] and others have learned in those 100 years." (Pg. 1, 8)
She admits about OBEs, "This is a clear example of something we shall meet again and again: the frustrating mixture of right and wrong information. It is always tempting to feel that everything must either be right or not; that the person must either be 'out of his body' and therefore seeing things correctly, or not 'out' and seeing them wrongly. It is also tempting to think that if the details are correct this 'proves' he was 'out.' ... producing the right information is no proof that the person was 'out.' One the other hand it is clear from the evidence ... that information gained in an OBE is rarely ALL correct." (Pg. 42)
She says, "There are two reasons for associating lucid dreams with OBEs. First... many practised astral travellers also have lucid dreams. Second... it is hard to know where to draw the line between an OBE and a lucid dream." (Pg. 107) Later, she argues, "If we do have souls I don't think they are what travels in an OBE. Moreover, there is already the evidence that what is seen in an OBE is not, in any case, the physical world." (Pg. 231) She adds, "I find the evidence for paranormal events during the OBE limited and unconvincing... I think it is possible that all the claims for ESP and PK in OBEs are groundless." (Pg. 242)
Blackmore's book will be of considerable interest not only to those interested in psychical research, but also to skeptics.
Susan Jane Blackmore (born 1951) is an English freelance writer and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal. Interestingly, although she earned her Ph.D. in psychology and physiology with a thesis on, "Extrasensory Perception as a Cognitive Process," and herself had an out-of-body experience, she has since become a skeptic, and prominent member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). She has written other books such as 'Dying to Live,' 'The Adventures of a Parapsychologist,' 'Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain,' 'Free Will,' and 'What It Means to Be Human,' etc.
This book, however, was written BEFORE she became a skeptic---although one can perhaps perceive seeds of her future doubts in some passages. She said in the Introduction to this 1982 book, "with an apology for egocentricity, I shall describe my own first OBE. It happened ... in my first term at the university. I was already interested in psychical research... Is there any way to account for the OBE? Personally, my aim is to be able to understand what happened in those few hours ten years ago... In this book I shall survey what the [Society for Psychical Research] and others have learned in those 100 years." (Pg. 1, 8)
She admits about OBEs, "This is a clear example of something we shall meet again and again: the frustrating mixture of right and wrong information. It is always tempting to feel that everything must either be right or not; that the person must either be 'out of his body' and therefore seeing things correctly, or not 'out' and seeing them wrongly. It is also tempting to think that if the details are correct this 'proves' he was 'out.' ... producing the right information is no proof that the person was 'out.' One the other hand it is clear from the evidence ... that information gained in an OBE is rarely ALL correct." (Pg. 42)
She says, "There are two reasons for associating lucid dreams with OBEs. First... many practised astral travellers also have lucid dreams. Second... it is hard to know where to draw the line between an OBE and a lucid dream." (Pg. 107) Later, she argues, "If we do have souls I don't think they are what travels in an OBE. Moreover, there is already the evidence that what is seen in an OBE is not, in any case, the physical world." (Pg. 231) She adds, "I find the evidence for paranormal events during the OBE limited and unconvincing... I think it is possible that all the claims for ESP and PK in OBEs are groundless." (Pg. 242)
Blackmore's book will be of considerable interest not only to those interested in psychical research, but also to skeptics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review