Abstract

Astral body views posit that an exotic double with a definite location in space—an astral or ethereal body—leaves the normal biological body during out-of-body experiences or after death. In this paper the severe difficulties confronting such a view are reviewed, difficulties concerning not only the nature of the double which travels, but the nature of the world in which it travels. Three exhaustive possibilities are considered: that a physical double travels in the physical world; that a nonphysical double travels in the physical world; and that a nonphysical double travels in a nonphysical (but objective) world. Careful analysis shows that none of these possibilities can adequately resolve the problems that they generate. 1. Physical Theories (A Physical Double Travels in the Physical World) -- 2. Physical Astral World Theory (A Nonphysical Double Travels in the Physical World) -- 3. Mental Astral World Theory (A Nonphysical Double Travels in a Nonphysical, but “Objective,” Astral World)