Explore (New York, N.Y.)
June 4, 2025
Jenny Moix, Samantha Baldaccini, Marta Isern
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) can occur spontaneously, be self-induced, or triggered by methods such as sleep paralysis or lucid dreaming. A scoping review of 87 publications from 1987 to 2024 found that reactions to OBEs vary widely, with some people fearing recurrence and others welcoming them. OBEs are highly idiosyncratic and often feel intensely real. Explanatory hypotheses include psychological, physiological, and non-local consciousness perspectives. The phenomenon is complex and requires further study to normalize and expand the current conception of consciousness.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2025
Jeb Barton, Marjorie Woollacott
Drawing on teachings from enlightened masters, this essay presents eight insights about consciousness, awareness, and experience. It explains how these insights can help evaluate the usefulness of personal values and beliefs, which shape responses to life experiences. The essay emphasizes that cultivating and refining one's own awareness is crucial because the level of awareness governs the flow of creativity and experience into and out of one's life.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2023
Marie-Julia Guittier, Helané Wahbeh, Magali Eykerman et al.
A triple-blind, mixed-methods study tested whether mediums could communicate with a hypothetical prenatal consciousness during pregnancy. Eleven pregnant women participated, with three to eight mediums per woman generating over 1,500 statements. Spontaneously reported information showed 69.40% agreement with parental reports, versus 17.63% for structured questions. Agreement did not vary by number of mediums. Qualitative analysis indicated that some sessions produced verifiable communication, while others did not. The results are preliminary and suggest the possibility of interacting with prenatal consciousness, opening avenues for research into altered states.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2021
Jeff Levin
This article introduces a framework for understanding Western esoteric healing. It first provides background on Western esotericism and its healing traditions. The concept of therapeutic knowledge, drawn from philosophy of medicine and medical anthropology, is then explained and applied to esoteric healing. A taxonomy is proposed that categorizes sources of therapeutic knowledge in esoteric healing systems into channeling, initiation, and empirical observation or validation. The second part of the series will offer examples for each category and suggest directions for further research.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2015
Vernon M Neppe, Edward R Close
Events described as 'non-local' need additional qualifiers to specify their degree of non-locality, the observer's framework, and the observer's position relative to the event. The concept of 'relative non-locality' is introduced, distinguishing non-locality from the framework of the infinite or a mystic experiencer from non-locality relative to ordinary three-dimensional spatial reality in the present moment (3S-1t). The immediacy principle proposes that events happening instantaneously, without requiring light speed, are fundamental properties of non-local time involving more dimensions than 3S-1t.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2013
Yung-Jong Shiah, Dean Radin
Drinking oolong tea that had been intentionally treated by Buddhist monks improved mood more than drinking ordinary tea from the same source. Over seven days, 189 Taiwanese adults in Kaohsiung recorded their mood each evening. On three of those days, participants drank 600 mL of tea twice daily. One group blindly received tea treated with good intentions; the other received untreated tea. Those who drank the treated tea showed a greater mood increase (Cohen's d = 0.65). Believing one was drinking treated tea also produced a large mood improvement, but only when actually drinking the treated tea, suggesting that belief and the intentional treatment interact.