Out of Body, Loss of Self: Spiritual or Scary?

Elpine M De Boer

doi:10.3390/rel11110558

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to investigate when “loss of self” results in scaredness or anxiety during or after an out-of body-experience (OBE). An OBE is an intense form of (bodily) self loss in which people have the impression that their self is located outside their body. In a sample of respondents reporting to have had an OBE (n = 171), anxiety and different conceptualizations of “self loss” were assessed. In addition, questions were asked about meaning making processes after the OBE. Results show that there was no relationship between anxiety and self loss with a relational component (i.e., mystical experiences, positive spiritual experiences). However, there was significantly more anxiety in respondents who (1) (have) experience(d) ego loss/deconstruction, (2) have difficulties to (re)turn their attention to an internal bodily state (low mindfulness) and/or (3) experience a lack of self-concept clarity. Respondents who did not succeed in making sense of their OBE experience more anxiety, more ego loss/deconstruction, lower mindfulness and higher self-unclarity. Finally, the article examines how respondents explain their OBE (by using, for instance, medical, spiritual or psychological explanations) and how and why respondents do (not) succeed in making sense of the OBE.

Highlights

Religion is about beliefs or belonging to religious institutions and includes personal self-transcendent experiences
The present study focuses on a particular experience in which the experience of the self clearly deviates from what is usually experienced as one’s normal self: the out-of-body experience (OBE)
The main aim of the present study is to investigate when “loss of self” during or after an OBE may result in scaredness and anxiety

Summary

Introduction

Religion is about beliefs or belonging to religious institutions and includes personal self-transcendent experiences (cf. bonding experiences, Saroglou 2011). Various religious writings refer to experiences of a felt connectedness with something beyond the self: feelings of oneness, seeing angels, hearing voices of the divine or other signs of a “sensed presence” (cf James [1902] 1985). Uncommon experiences in a religious context, certain experiences may be recognized or labeled as religious experiences by a religious community (Taves 2008). In secular societies where fewer and fewer people belong to traditional religious institutions, people report to have had special unusual experiences. These experiences may raise existential questions or trigger self-transformation processes

Objectives

Results

Conclusion