Synchronized Virtual Reality Heartbeat Triggers Out-of-Body Experiences

Zothecula writes "New research demonstrates that triggering an out-of-body experience (OBE) could be as simple as getting a person to watch a video of themselves with their heartbeat projected onto it. According to the study, it's easy to trick the mind into thinking it belongs to an external body and manipulate a person's self-consciousness by externalizing the body's internal rhythms. The findings could lead to new treatments for people with perceptual disorders such as anorexia and could also help dieters too."

Comments

Videos become illegal..

[FrankSchwab]

So, when does this technique get declared illegal, like all drug-based methods of altering mental states (other than alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine)?

Evidence that body-identification is illusion

[John Allsup]

Any tennis or squash player knows that you treat the racquet as an extension of your body.  Likewise a musician treats the instrument as an extension of their body and that as an extension of their mind and emotions.  Feeling one with your instrument is of great benefit to playing, and it is a similar 'illusion'.

A common misperception, according to what is taught in classical disciplines that involve serious mind training, like raja yoga or taiji, is that we are not our bodies, nor is our mind and consciousness really seated in our heads.  After significant self-development, that illusion eventually dissipates.

What we perceive to be our body is that part of reality that appears to be strongly correlated to our minds.  Thus it is easy to mistake ourselves to be our bodies, and our minds for our brains.

The problem with much of this research is that the researchers have not developed a detailed understanding of their own mind before trying to experimentally analyse someone else's.  This is akin to trying to study an advanced maths paper when you haven't learned maths past high school level: the result is naive researchers whose qualifications and professional position give an illusion of greater research competence than they have.