out-of-the-body experience

Experience in which the world is apparently perceived from somewhere outside the body. A person having such an experience may perceive his or her real physical body below, often from the perspective of a nonphysical body which in some cases appears attached to the physical body by a cord. The experience has most often been reported by those who have temporarily ‘died’ but have then been resuscitated after a period of unconsciousness.

The nonphysical body may ‘travel’ to locations nearby or even ‘visit’ places hundreds of kilometres away. The experience, reported by people of many different ages and cultures, is deeply impressive and has understandably given support to the widely held belief that humans have a spirit or soul that leaves the body for another world at death. In some societies, sorcerers and shamans are believed to be able to send their souls to distant places to obtain information or to bring back the lost soul of a sick person. Out-of-the-body experiences fall within the bounds of parapsychology and many studies have been carried out on reported experiences, without conclusive results.