This site introduces the concept of spiritual travel. Spiritual travel is a form of out-of-body experience done voluntarily to achieve a spiritual or religious goal. In order to have an out-of-body experience, the soul or consciousness of the individual must temporarily leave the physical body. During out-of-body experience, the physical senses shut down. When this occurs, an entirely new world opens up to the individual. Spiritual travel is a special type of out-of-body experience where the individual's awareness is heightened, and he or she is able to make decisions and direct the experience.

The spectrum of experience afforded by spiritual travel is very broad and can include a wide variety of psychic and spiritual states. In most cases, the spiritual traveler is able to clearly remember the experiences and learn from them.

Spiritual travel is sometimes called transcendent or ecstatic experience because it deals with the "inner" senses rather than the physical senses. It also deals with states of being seemingly independent of the physical world.

The goal of spiritual travel is mystical or transcendent religious experience. The reason for an interest in spiritual travel is that it provides a unique means of approaching these distant and extraordinary states of religious awareness. It does this by exposing the spiritual seeker to a series of lessons about the nature of identity, and the freedom of the soul to travel in various non-physical environments. These lessons gradually introduce the spiritual traveler to a variety of psychic and spiritual states containing increasing degrees of individual freedom, and spiritual awareness. In addition, spiritual travel provides an inner laboratory where the seeker can experiment with techniques and methods of moving through the more limited psychic states of awareness and into these distant spiritual realms. The religious person can use spiritual travel to explore the heavenly states described in their religious texts prior to physical death which can help them turn faith and hope in their religious ideal into confidence and spiritual knowledge.

The uniqueness of spiritual travel is that it can address one of the most vexing problems of human existence - the coming abyss of death and its radical disconnection from embodied existence. Spiritual travel experience has the extraordinary capacity to create continuity between life and death, and between embodied and disembodied existence.

One common form of spiritual travel seen in the modern West is near-death experience. The concept of near-death experience was developed by Dr. Raymond Moody Jr. in his book Life After Life in 1975. In near-death experience, a person comes close to death due to sickness or injury, and the person's soul temporarily leaves the physical body. In the early stages of a near-death experience, the spiritual traveler usually views his or her lifeless body and the surrounding physical environment from a short distance away. This is usually followed by a shift of awareness to a non-physical environment in the later stages of the experience where the traveler encounters a spiritual guide or "being of light". Near-death experience is a limited form of spiritual travel in three respects.

First, it occurs spontaneously as a result of a medical crisis rather than voluntarily as part of a spiritual search. Second, though the individual seems to exercise some control over out-of-body movements in the physical environment, the more religious and other-worldly elements of the experience are usually controlled by some outside force such as a guide. This guide directs the near-death experience without any request or permission from the traveler who has little power over what occurs. Third, near-death experience while many times uplifting and life-changing is usually limited to a series of repeating states or stages, and is not as broad or wide-ranging as spiritual travel experience.

However there are two important similarities between near-death experience and more voluntary forms of spiritual travel experience - they both have the potential to significantly decrease the fear of death while also presenting the spiritual traveler with an optimistic view of the afterlife. In this way, spiritual travel experience performs some of the same functions as different world religions.

There is also a distinct advantage to these voluntary forms of spiritual travel because it is not necessary for an individual to undergo a medical crisis and come close to death in order to have a spiritually-oriented out-of-body experience.

Spiritual travel is a tool for the spiritual seeker. An individual can engage in a spiritual practice designed to induce spiritual travel experiences. It is possible for the advanced spiritual traveler to control the contents of a spiritual travel experience.

This site includes:

• Discussion and analysis of spiritual travel experience
• The relationship of spiritual travel to dreams
• Descriptions of the unique kinds of learning that can be gained during spiritual travel
• Spiritual travel experiences from the Bible, and a variety of literary sources
• Spiritual travel experiences from personal sources
• Discussion of spiritual travel that occurs following the death of individuals
• Discussion of the role of deities in the creation of both heavens and material worlds
• Arguments as to why lucid dream environments must exist as separate, "objective" worlds since they appear to be far too complex to be created by any single, individual mind
• Techniques and methods to induce spiritual travel experience
• The importance of religious practice and religious symbols in spiritual travel
• The relationship of spiritual travel to death and dying, and near-death experience
• Discussion of scientific claims that reduce all out-of-body experience to brain states
• References to books on the subjects of mysticism and spiritual travel

Attempts to describe the value of spiritual travel in abstract terms seem destined to failure. Phrases like "spiritual freedom" and "increased awareness" sound vague and diffuse. However, I believe when one reads the many firsthand accounts of spiritual travel experience listed at this site, the meaning of these phrases becomes much more clear and concrete. I challenge the reader to read on, and learn more about one of the great mysteries of life - the phenomenon of spiritual travel.