4 Proven Ways to Induce an Out-of-Body Experience (And Other Altered States)

If you read the last post, you know that the modern spiritual path requires you to drop the exhausted fossil fuel of belief and start running on the rocket fuel of direct, experiential evidence. You need a Proof Jewel.

For me, that proof arrived in my college dorm room after reading Robert Monroe's new-age classic, Journeys Out of the Body. Monroe was a solid, grounded, practical businessman who recounted his out-of-body states with minimal hype and a sobering sense of practical science. I took his experiences to heart and started trying to have my own.

Eventually, I experienced a full-body vibrational buzzing—an electrical current washing over me from head to toe in the hypnagogic state. It was the doorway into my first out-of-body experience. My worldview shattered. I was no longer spiritually ignorant; I finally had proof that I was more than my physical body.

If you are ready to acquire your own Proof ...

Finding Your Spiritual Proof Jewel: Why Belief Is No Longer Enough

Most spiritual seekers start their journey running on a very old, very exhausted fossil fuel: belief.

You may believe (fervently, fundamentally, vaguely) in a God, a Self, Jesus, Buddha, an afterlife, an eternal soul, reincarnation, spiritual awakening, enlightenment, or any number of religious concepts, but you don’t actually know if any of them are real.

Glance at the “solid ground” below your feet right now and you’ll see that it isn’t so solid after all. You are, contrary to your beliefs, knee deep in the dark, muddy swamp waters of spiritual ignorance. Most belief systems are constructed from inherited stories, cultural myths, age-old falsehoods or fanciful thinking.

If you attempt to climb the seven spiritual mountains fueled by belief, with a great amount of effort and a lot of luck, you might make it to a few mountain tops. But if your goal is true awakening, belief, faith, hope and any forms of wishful thin...

What is the Pain Jewel? Understanding Existential Depression

Deep down in the recesses of your being there is an existential pain that most are minimally, consciously aware of. I call this the Pain Jewel.

Read any cheap, mass-market self-help book on the shelf today and you’ll discover that human beings are motived by just two forces: pain and pleasure. We seek joy and peace, and we aggressively avoid stress and hurt. But Western culture has a very difficult time coming to terms with the existential fact that life is indeed suffering.

Whether we lie about it, deny it, stoically stifle it or distract ourselves to death from it, we are constantly trying to numb the Pain Jewel. But if you want to actually wake up and climb the seven spiritual mountains, you have to do the exact opposite. You have to listen to it.

The SOS Signal of the Soul

The first quality of the pain jewel is that it continually broadcasts an SOS signal. That signal emanates from the darkest, hidden-most, central c...

The 7 Stages of the Modern Spiritual Path: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you are looking for a neat, clean, and orderly spiritual journey wrapped in ancient mysticism and soft, comforting platitudes, you are in the wrong place. I’ve never expressed myself in the manner that most spiritual teachers or authors do. I’m 57 now and have been involved in spiritual matters since I was 18. I’m fairly fluent in psychology and philosophy, and my formal background includes neuroscientific mindfulness, but primarily, I speak street. What I’ve learned deep in the blood and bones about spirituality, I didn’t learn in an institution, church or temple. 

Most traditional paths rely on faith, belief, and second-hand knowledge from long-dead teachers. But we're living in the modern age, and the modern path requires a completely different approach. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone, stop relying on belief, and engage in the messy, radical work of self-discovery.

The journey to true awakening i...

Mindfulness Practice: The Grounded Guide to Rewiring Your Brain

When you hear the phrase "mindfulness practice," what immediately comes to mind? For most people, it triggers a very specific image: waking up at the crack of dawn, sitting completely still on a specialized cushion, and trying desperately to empty the mind of all thoughts.

The wellness industry has marketed mindfulness as an intense, isolated discipline. We treat it like a spiritual workout that we have to force ourselves to do, and when our minds inevitably wander to our grocery list or a frustrating email, we feel like we are failing.

But if you look at the actual mechanics of consciousness, genuine mindfulness practice is not about forcing your mind to go blank in a dark room. It is a highly practical, neuroscientific tool for completely transforming how you experience your everyday life.

Here is the grounded, no-nonsense truth about what mindfulness practice actually is and how to use it.

The Neuroscience of Being...

Self-Discovery: Waking Up from the Story of "You"

Our modern culture treats self-discovery like a treasure hunt. We are sold the idea that if we take enough personality tests, travel to the right exotic locations, or meticulously curate our hobbies, we will finally uncover the hidden gem of our "true identity."

We treat the self as an object that needs to be found, categorized, and polished.

But if we look at the actual mechanics of consciousness, this approach is fundamentally backward. True self-discovery is not a process of addition or acquisition. It is not about writing a better, more exciting story for your life. It is the profound realization that you are not the story at all.

Here is the grounded, no-nonsense truth about what it actually takes to discover who you are.

The Ghostwriter in Your Head

To understand self-discovery, you first have to look at how your current identity is constructed.

From a neuroscientific perspective, your brain relies heavily on the Default Mo...

Nonduality: The Grounded Truth Behind the Ultimate Spiritual Buzzword

If you spend enough time exploring mindfulness, meditation, or the mechanics of consciousness, you will inevitably hit the ultimate spiritual buzzword: nonduality.

Often, it is spoken about in hushed, reverent tones, wrapped in ancient Sanskrit or dense philosophical jargon. It is presented as an elite, mystical state reserved for monks or academics. But if we strip away the esoteric fluff, nonduality is not a complicated belief system. It is not a religion, and it is not a temporary altered state.

It is simply the fundamental reality of how consciousness operates—and recognizing it is the ultimate key to dropping the heavy baggage of your ego.

Here is the grounded, practical truth about nonduality.

The Illusion of "Two"

To understand nonduality, we first have to understand the illusion we are currently living in: duality.

Duality means "two." From the time we are infants, our brains are heavily conditioned to...

Spiritual Enlightenment: The Grounded Truth Behind the Myth

Of all the terms in the wellness and spiritual space, "spiritual enlightenment" is by far the most loaded.

When we hear it, our cultural conditioning immediately kicks in. We picture a monk sitting in a cave who hasn't spoken in ten years. We imagine a permanent state of superhuman bliss, immune to physical pain, grief, or frustration. We have turned enlightenment into an elite finish line—a spiritual gold medal that only a chosen few will ever achieve.

Because of this intense mystification, most people assume that spiritual enlightenment is entirely out of their reach. But if we strip away the Hollywood tropes and look at the actual mechanics of the mind, the truth is entirely different.

Spiritual enlightenment is not a mystical superpower. It is the natural, default state of your consciousness when the heavy machinery of the ego finally powers down.

The Myth of the "Upgraded Self"

The greatest trick your ego ever plays...

Spiritual Awakening: The Grounded Reality Behind the Mystical Hype

If you type "spiritual awakening" into a search bar, you are immediately hit with an avalanche of mystical promises. You will find endless articles about opening your third eye, vibrating at higher quantum frequencies, and achieving a permanent state of glowing, unbroken bliss.

The internet has heavily marketed awakening as a superpower or an elite club for the enlightened. But if you are actually feeling a profound, disorienting shift in how you experience reality, all that esoteric fluff is likely just leaving you confused.

You do not need to decipher ancient texts or buy expensive crystals to understand what is happening to you. A spiritual awakening is not a magical event; it is a mechanical shift in consciousness.

Here is the grounded, no-nonsense truth about what a spiritual awakening actually is.

Waking Up from the Default Mode

To understand what it means to "wake up," you first have to understand what it m...

How to Meditate for Self-Inquiry: The Direct Path to Waking Up

When most people think of meditation, they imagine sitting cross-legged on a cushion, trying desperately to force their minds into a state of absolute blankness. They treat meditation like a relaxation tool—a way to temporarily quiet the stress of the day so they can get back to the rat race with a little less anxiety.

If you just want to lower your blood pressure, standard breath-focused mindfulness is great. But if you want to wake up, you need a different tool.

Self-inquiry is not about relaxing the ego; it is about completely deconstructing it. It is the most direct, surgical method for cutting through the illusion of who you think you are and stepping into the reality of nonduality.

Here is the grounded, no-nonsense guide on how to meditate for self-inquiry.

The Goal is Not Silence, But Discovery

In standard meditation, the goal is often to focus on an object—like your breath or a mantra—to quiet the brain's Defa...