Carlos Alvarado, PhD, is an assistant professor of research in psychiatric medicine of the Division of Personality Studies at the University of Virginia. For over 16 years he has been studying the paranormal and collecting accounts of episodes of nonbiological consciousness that range from one-time astral projectors to those unique individuals who can leave their bodies at will again and again. According to Dr. Alvarado, at least 7% of the population, or about 25 million people, has an out-of-body experience at some time in their lives. That means there's a decent chance you're one of them. Just think about it - sometime recently, or in the past, while sleeping, during meditating, or for no apparent reason, you somehow were seeing things from a point of view clearly dissociated from your normal bodily vantage point...

Despite their apparently common occurrence, these mysterious flights of consciousness baffle the mind, escape explanation, and persistently defy rational analysis. Yet, says Dr. Alvarado, there's an unusual degree of consistency in how these occurrences are described. WIE editor Carter Phipps interviewed Dr. Alvarado about his original research, and to discuss the possibility that different planes of existence may actually be a whole lot more real than we think or maybe even want to believe.

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