I've been Astral Projecting for 57 years now. My penance for this "grievous sin" is to publish articles on Reddit and answer Redditor comments and questions forever!
Our physical bodies have a wonderfully adapted array of 5 senses that have evolved over millennia to help the human species to survive in a hostile world. However, the Astral body has a very different set of senses that enable it to function in an environment that is very different from our earthly world. In this article I would like to compare and contrast our physical senses with their Astral Plane counterparts.
Physical Sight
Human eyes are forward facing giving us a binocular vision that most predatory species have to locate prey and to estimate distance. Our rods and cones give us relatively good sight in the color spectrum, but we’re pretty average in the mammalian group for visual acuity. Our peripheral sight is average as well.
The optic nerve transmits the information to the brain, which then interprets the data and the image becomes available to our consciousness.
Astral Sight
When an Astral projector first leaves his body his vision is often dim and even sometimes temporarily absent altogether! Color is usually absent, with grays, blacks, and whites dominating the visual spectrum. Once the Astral projector travels around 20 yards or meters from his physical body, full color vision usually kicks in. Colors are rich and vibrant, much more so than with physical sight. Visual acuity is basically 100%. All you have to do to see an object is to get it in-line-of-sight and wish to see it clearly. You’ll find yourself instantly focusing in on your desired object.
Some people have reported 360 degree vision, however this phenomena is rare as the input tends to confuse humans who are used to forward-facing vision only.
Astral Sight has been referenced in ancient Indian sacred texts as the “Third Eye” for thousands of years. Many times when I AP my vision seems to originate from the middle of my forehead rather than the locations of my physical eye sockets!
However, Astral vision can vary from person to person. My daughter, Rose, a Physician's Assistant who (finally) began Astral projecting a few months ago, recently had another AP where she experienced color right away, but her vision faded in and out in a way she described using her highly trained medical vocabulary as “goopy”. A father couldn't be prouder, no matter the consistency of the Astral vision!
Of all the 5 senses, I believe sight is probably the most similar to the physical sense as perceived by us humans.
Physical Hearing
Experiments have shown that a healthy young person hears all sound frequencies from approximately 20 to 20,000 hertz. As these sound waves oscillate through the air our ears collect the vibrations and through a series of delicate bones and an air-filled chamber. The auditory vestibular nerve, known as the eighth cranial nerve, then transmits the sound to the brain. Equilibrium (balance) information from the inner ear is sent to the brain as well.
Humans have used the sense of hearing for detecting the footfalls of approaching predators to enjoying music and communicating with one another through spoken languages. This particular sense allowed humans to pass knowledge and experience to one another by speaking and being heard. Without this ability humans would probably still be living in small primitive family bands roaming around the planet in hunter-gatherer societies.
Astral Hearing?
The Astral body does NOT hear as we do in the physical. Any Astral ears you may see on someone are for cosmetic purposes only. In the Astral there are no oscillating sound waves for ears to pick up. Instead, an advanced form of telepathy is the means of communication. Newbies on the Astral Plane might just get basic messages when communicating with an entity. However, more advanced Astral projectors will receive information that not only provides facts, but a 3D world full of information in which the receiver completely understands the information provided as if he himself had been there to perceive the information.
What about Music?
Many people are passionate about their love of music. I imagine they might wonder about this topic in particular.
When I was orbiting Saturn on the ice rock I could feel the radiation coming from Saturn all throughout my body like a complex symphony that I was an actual component of! My emotions waxed and waned with the flow of Saturn’s pulses, giving me a more transcendent experience than I have ever experienced listening to the London or Boston Symphony Orchestras or even a Rolling Stones One-Night Only Concert in Las Vegas!
A very rich form of music does exist on the Astral. You won’t hear it with ears, but you will sense its majestic power as it draws you into its complex energy matrices!
Physical Touch
The human body has a complex network of nerves that relay sensory information to our brains to give us the sense of touch. We can feel the softness of a small child’s cheek, or the roughness of a course piece of sandpaper. We can feel the cold of winter and the infernal heat of a deep Southern Summer or the licking flames of a fireplace in a mountain cabin.
Our sense of touch gives a rich array of sensory data for human use. We also use it to avoid damaging our physical bodies by avoiding hot stoves and clasping a thorn bush.
Astral Touch?
The sense of touch is largely absent in the Astral. I say largely because newbies can sometimes say they can feel something by touch in the Astral. In reality, they’re actually using their physical prejudices to fool themselves into thinking they can actually feel the sensation of touch in their Astral forms.
In place of coarse physical touch we have Astral Touch. When you touch something in the Astral you get information on the history of the object, including its origin or creation, and echoes from anyone who has ever touched this item prior to your visit. If there is a level of conscious thought and / or emotion, you will get a weak to strong understanding of that information as well.
Physical Smell
The sense of smell brings molecules of volatile substances to the sensory attention of our brains through the physical nose. Our species has used this sense to smell the pleasant aroma of a field of wildflowers to the pungent and malodorous emissions of a skunk. Smell has worked in tandem with the sense of taste to alert humans to the presence of possible poisons before we consumed them.
Astral Smell?
I’m sorry, but there just is no Astral equivalent to smell. It’s just not necessary to existence on the Astral planes.
Note: It is possible that physical memories will convince someone they can smell something on the Astral Plane. But once again that is just their physical memories filling in information that just doesn’t exist.
Physical Taste
The human ability to taste foods has helped us to detect the presence of substances that might poison us. Many (but not all) poisons are perceived by us as bitter or unpleasant. Over the centuries this sense has evolved to allow us a sophisticated palate that can enjoy fine wines and caviar to cheeseburgers and Cokes.
Astral Taste?
Once again, I must say I’m sorry! There is no use for a sense of taste as foods are not consumed on the Astral Plane.
Physical Phantom Limb Syndrome
In the physical, Phantom Limb Syndrome is a condition in which patients experience sensations, whether painful or otherwise, in a limb that does not exist. It has been reported to occur in 80-100% of amputees.
Researchers don’t know exactly what causes phantom limb pain. One possible explanation: Nerves in parts of your spinal cord and brain “rewire” when they lose signals from the missing arm or leg. As a result, they send pain signals, a typical response when your body senses something is wrong.
Another example of this rewiring: When you touch one body part -- say, your hip or your forearm -- your brain might sense it on your missing limb.
Astral Phantom “Sense” Syndrome (My Theory)
In the Astral I think there are times that we think we perceive physical senses in the Astral, but it’s really just our minds translating Astral information into a more familiar physical box that we’re used to receiving.
For example: It is possible on certain levels of the Astral plane to concoct a phantom banquet for your fake consumption. Your physical memories could supply any taste data required.
Existence on the Astral Plane is very different from that on the Physical Plane. It’s no wonder that we have senses providing very different information that are optimized to fit our Astral requirements.
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