{"id":6368,"date":"2012-02-01T01:10:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T06:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=6553"},"modified":"2012-01-22T16:28:36","modified_gmt":"2012-01-22T21:28:36","slug":"plastic-paths-the-astral-travel-chronicles-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2012\/02\/01\/plastic-paths-the-astral-travel-chronicles-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Paths: The Astral Travel Chronicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ethics of Astral Travel<\/strong><\/p>\n

As moderator of an online Out of Body group, many of the new members have the same questions, but every once in awhile we get a new question. A few years back, a man introduced himself, explained that his first experience had been unintentional; he woke up walking around his bedroom while seeing his sleeping body on the bed. He then explained that his current goal was to astral travel around someone else\u2019s house to prove that he could and did leave his body. His question was, what was the best way of going about doing this?<\/p>\n

I absolutely understand. Astral traveling is amazing, awe-inspiring, breath taking. Unworldly. Really stop to consider the heaviness of that word\u2014unworldly\u2014and what it takes to accomplish something that qualifies for that label. To want to share this phenomenon is natural, to want to prove to others that one has accomplished consciously leaving their body is expected. However\u2026<\/p>\n

However, is exploring another person\u2019s home without their consent or knowing, to prove to them that you were there (in any state of being) really ethical? I don\u2019t believe so, and I told this member as much, but that opened up a new question: what are our ethical duties in the astral plane?<\/p>\n

In a quick informal poll in the group, I was fascinated to discover that the men who responded all felt that there shouldn\u2019t be ethics in the astral at all, rather that ethics were for the physical plane only. The woman felt the opposite, that we should continue to treat others as we want to be treated.<\/p>\n

Would you be happy to learn that someone was walking around your house without your consent? There are plenty of volunteers who welcome astral travelers into their home (myself included) so is canvasing the home of someone who doesn\u2019t know you might show up morally correct? There are times when travelers cannot control where they show up, and there are travelers who ask to see a friend or loved one and arrive at their house. An OBE\u2019er can\u2019t exactly call ahead for permission, which is why there is no easy answer to the question of what is, and isn\u2019t, ethical astral traveling.<\/p>\n

Another topic that often surfaces is astral sex. Is it wrong to participate in astral sex if one is in a monogamous partnership in the physical world? Is it wrong to participate for any reason?<\/p>\n

Many travelers find themselves in the act without any effort or initiation from themselves, and many more find that while in an out of body state, being intimate with others feel exactly right. No guilt, no drama, just a perfectly natural means of interacting with other souls.<\/p>\n

I discussed it with my spouse and neither of us considers it wrong for our marriage, while I\u2019ve spoken with others who do feel that astral sex is a form of infidelity.<\/p>\n

Obviously different people will have different opinions on all of this and the other topics regarding the moral \u201cright\u2019s\u201d and \u201cwrong\u2019s\u201d of life outside the body. Let\u2019s talk about it and open ourselves to such discussions with love and respect for each other. I recommend asking yourself first<\/span> what is acceptable when traveling by starting with the Golden Rule, \u201cDo onto others as you would have done unto you.\u201d Would you want someone walking around your house without your consent? Is affection without a body something you want your partner engaging in?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ethics of Astral Travel As moderator of an online Out of Body group, many of the new members have the same questions, but every once in awhile we get a new question. A few years back, a man introduced himself, explained that his first experience had been unintentional; he woke up walking around his bedroom while seeing his sleeping body on the bed. He then explained that his current goal was to astral travel around someone else\u2019s house to prove that he could and did leave his body. His question was, what was the best way of going about doing this? I absolutely understand. Astral traveling is amazing, awe-inspiring, breath taking. Unworldly. Really stop to consider the heaviness of that word\u2014unworldly\u2014and what it takes to accomplish something that qualifies for that label. To want to share this phenomenon is natural, to want to prove to others that one has accomplished consciously leaving their body is expected. However\u2026 However, is exploring another person\u2019s home without their consent or knowing, to prove to them that you were there (in any state of being) really ethical? I don\u2019t believe so, and I told this member as much, but that opened up a new question: what are our ethical duties in the astral plane? In a quick informal poll in the group, I was fascinated to discover that the men who responded all felt that there shouldn\u2019t be ethics in the astral at all, rather that ethics were for the physical plane only. The woman felt the opposite, that we should continue to treat others as we want to be treated. Would you be happy to learn that someone was walking around your house without your consent? There are plenty of volunteers who welcome astral travelers into their home (myself included) so is canvasing the home of someone who doesn\u2019t know you might show up morally correct? There are times when travelers cannot control where they show up, and there are travelers who ask to see a friend or loved one and arrive at their house. An OBE\u2019er can\u2019t exactly call ahead for permission, which is why there is no easy answer to the question of what is, and isn\u2019t, ethical astral traveling. Another topic that often surfaces is astral sex. Is it wrong to participate in astral sex if one is in a monogamous partnership in the physical world? Is it wrong to participate for any reason? Many travelers find themselves in the act without any effort or initiation from themselves, and many more find that while in an out of body state, being intimate with others feel exactly right. No guilt, no drama, just a perfectly natural means of interacting with other souls. I discussed it with my spouse and neither of us considers it wrong for our marriage, while I\u2019ve spoken with others who do feel that astral sex is a form of infidelity. Obviously different people will have different opinions on all of this and the other topics regarding the moral \u201cright\u2019s\u201d and \u201cwrong\u2019s\u201d of life outside the body. Let\u2019s talk about it and open ourselves to such discussions with love and respect for each other. I recommend asking yourself first what is acceptable when traveling by starting with the Golden Rule, \u201cDo onto others as you would have done unto you.\u201d Would you want someone walking around your house without your consent? Is affection without a body something you want your partner engaging in?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}