What would atheists say to themselves when they by chance experience "out-of- the- body- experience"?

Answer 1

Agnostic , but I will answer anyway.

I cant say that I have had an " Out of body experience " but Deja vou' sure is weird. It kind of freaks me out.

I guess if I did have an experience that could be described as out of body it would bring up questions , but I certainly would not assume an answer to those questions if the information surrounding said experience was not available. I would just chalk it up as being something out of the ordinary.

Answer 2

An atheist, like myself, would consider every possible option as to what that out-of-body experience was.

It could be God. It could be a hallucination. It could be a mis-firing with the brain.

Either way, an atheist wouldn't jump straight on the 'easy explanation band wagon' and go "it's God!"...they would weigh up all the possible options, and see what was most likely.

Since most people who experience them are either in hospital shot up with painkillers or near death (hardly the best state of mind), or crazy or actually on drugs, there is a huge reason to doubt it's God's work.

And that's exactly the view you'll find atheists, scientists and physiologist would take.

Answer 3

There's a rational explanation for everything. The mind can play tricks. If it happens in peoples sleep then its just a dream, if awake it could be due to stress or over tiredness and feeling light headed and feels like they are floaty. Otherwise could be too much drink or drugs making people feel like that. Lots of explainable reasons why people think its an out of body experience but it isn't.

Answer 4

I would ask myself: Is an unusual occurance happened in my brain that my consciousness interpreted as an out-of-body-experience more likely than part of my consciousness actually leaving my body. I always come to the conclusion the former is more likely. Hallucinations and other strange mental abherations happen every day. If metaphysical events happen everyday, they wouldn't be considered supernatural.

Answer 5

I know some atheists who have, they remained atheists. Out of body experiences and near death experiences do not necessarily make a person change over to Christianity. And some times with the NDEs the visions are radically different than what Christianity portrays.

Answer 6

Atheist don't by chance experience out of the body experience and neither does anyone else.

Answer 7

Excellent question Owl!

Interesting how so many answers refer to "drug" related experiences since "drugs" can and do cause involuntary exteriorization from the body. They also simulate but cannot maintain a feeling of spiritual release from the body, which is the basis of addiction.

So they have inadvertantly proved your point.

Answer 8

They SHOULD say:
"Wow, this is just like those scientists described. .. yes, in those recent experiments in which they induced 'out-of-body' experiences with a few well-placed electrodes. And I bet there are people who think this is somehow supernatural ... if only they kept up with the research .. or just read the literature ...oh well..."

Answer 9

Out of body experiences are typically created by ingesting psychedelic drugs, or when the brain malfunctions and creates a chemical imbalance. There are other times when extreme stress causes such experiences. Just because they happen doesn't mean they are real, or have valuable meaning.

There are many people who have had hallucinations, many of them were wild and violent, I hope you aren't proposing we follow these experiences just because they happen? Or are you saying that God is responsible for the cemetery scene in Easy Rider?

Answer 10

There is still much we don't know about the dimensions of time/space and how they interact with the human brain.

Atheists, perhaps, would wonder about all that we don't know- without resorting to using the explanation that their imaginary invisible, omnipotent diety was the cause of everything that they didn't fully understand.