ASK ABDI: HOW DO I SEPARATE MY PHYSICAL SELF FROM MY SPIRITUAL SELF?

QUESTION: How can I experience the energy of an out-of-body experience and embrace the feeling? I would like to know how I can separate my physical self from my spiritual self? I understand I may not be able to do this just by thinking it. Can you teach me this or guide me in the right direction?

ANSWER: Who is the “I” who wants to leave the body? Is the “I” inside the body or is the body inside the “I”? Where is the “I” that wants to be separated from the “physical self”? Where is the “I” that wants to inhabit the “spiritual self”? Answer these questions and you will be free. A common term for what you are describing is astral travel. Read Robert Monroe’s Journeys Out Of The Body and purchase his Brain Sync CDs through The Monroe Institute. They can help entrain your brain to perform that feat. Or just watch a movie, which can be the same thing, meaning that it is voyeurism of sorts. There is a reason that many spiritual traditions warn against pursuit of such endeavors: they are ego candy dressed up as spiritual work. While infinitely interesting, and at times liberating to realize how much lies beyond our five senses, know that such powers will not bring you any closer to the serenity you are looking for. Only introspection will do that.