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The Filter Factor

We express and experience our higher selves through a filtering process. This filter is our physical body. Unfortunately, this body is grossly limited in comparison to our astral and mental bodies. Just because we cannot currently hear, smell or see things to the same degree as other beings, it does not mean that it isn't there. A dog can hear and smell far more than us, a hawk can see significantly farther than us, radios and televisions can pick up waves and signals that we cannot detect without the proper tools and devices, yet we know they exist. We are so limited!

In the astral, this cumbersome filter is removed thus revealing to us a vast amount of sensory input that we normally do not have access to. To experience the full benefit of having no physical body takes a little practice, but it is well worth it.

Colors:

In our physical body we can only see a small range of colors. I can remember how astounded I was to enter into the astral and perceive a much greater range of colors than I ever had while in the physical. The perception of colors is based on light, and in the higher planes of the astral, objects can radiate (the air for example). On one occasion I left my body and requested: "Take me to a very beautiful place." I immediately was whisked away to a place of such extraordinary beauty and colors that I gasped over and over in disbelief and delight. I am sure that any pastor or priest who had seen this would definitely declare this to be "heaven" for no place on earth looks like this. There were colors that were out of this world. Everything shimmered: the water, the air, everything! It was coursing with life and beauty. Oh, to come back to my body was a sour moment indeed!

Sounds:

I don't recall ever reading about this in any astral projection book, but I was quite surprised to discover that we can hear radio waves while in the magnetic body range! So many times I have left my body, when suddenly I hear music and talking (see my topic called Radio Frequencies under the Commentary link for more details). If I turn a certain way or shift my focus, I can pick up on the different frequencies in perfect clarity. I know this to be real for several reasons; one is that I will hear classical pieces that are too marvelous for me to ever reconstruct in perfect clarity in my own mind, plus I will hear exact words to songs that I only partially know. I also (I believe) transcended time because I've heard gorgeous songs that I know do not exist today. These are not classical or jazz pieces that I'm not familiar with and wouldn't know if they exists, but songs that would be played on a soft rock station today. Gorgeous! If only I could write and sing, I would be quite famous! I also had a recent experience where I was coming out of sleep (the hypnopompic state) and I could again hear a radio. This time I heard the time! It said, "Good morning, it's 8:00 o'clock" and at that exact moment, the downstairs bird clock chimed the black-capped chickadee which represented 8:00 o'clock. This so startled me that I made myself wake up and I looked over at my bedside clock to confirm that it was indeed 8:00 o'clock! Why is this possible? Quite simply because our etheric is also known as the electromagnetic body, and radio frequencies are affected by this.

Emotions:

This is always a marvel because while I am a loving and sensitive person, feelings are so incredibly deep when out of the body. When out of the body, you will love, fear, pity, more deeply than in the physical. I'm not sure what filter removes this sensitivity while in the physical, but emotions are enhanced in the astral. Perhaps when we build up "walls", they are, in part, due to our physical brain. It is said that our astral body is the formative dimension for emotions, and from what I've experienced, this is definitely true. I guess this is why they call the astral the "emotional" body.

Exceptions:

There are several senses that I have not experienced in a great degree while in the astral and that is smell, touch and taste. I don't recall ever having any wonderful experiences where any of those senses were better than my physical ones. Robert Monroe stated in Journeys Out of the Body that, "Smell and taste have been conspicuously absent to date." Only sight, sound and feelings were overly enhanced, but that could easily be me. I'd be interested in hearing others who may have experienced those senses with over amplification. Perhaps touch and taste are too closely related to physical sensations, whereas sight, sound and emotions are of a more spiritual nature?

Update: 8/11/03:

A reader just sent me a really interesting theory why taste and smell are not as noticeable in the astral. Here it is:

I was reading the article titled "The Filter Factor," and I have a suggestion as to the reason that smell and taste may not be experienced as enhanced in the astral. I was thinking that our senses of sight and hearing are based on the perception of waves or energy, where taste and smell are based on the perception of chemical compounds. Although it would seem that energy definitely does exist in planes beyond the physical, matter seems not to. This would explain not being able to sense those things triggered by actual phyisical molecules.