There’s a long answer and a short answer to this.
The short one is no, there’s no empirical evidence to prove or disprove possibility of a consciousness existing outside of a human body.
That’s not to say that research hasn’t been done, however. The studies that I’ve heard of (I don’t have names and dates for the studies so take what I say with a grain of salt) have focused primarily on studying the way the mind functions during what the test subjects describe as out of body experiences. These studies have indicated the mind entering in a dreamlike or trance like state with similar parts of the brain lighting up as though the subject had entered R.E.M. sleep. To my knowledge the methods to test this state of being was transcendental meditation, hypnosis, and drug induced effect, primarily LSD.
I’m going to repeat, 90% of this is pure speculation. Like I mentioned I don’t have names and dates for the studies, and I have a highly over active imagination. So, a grain of salt it is.
Now, there’s another end to this spectrum. We have “evidence” in the form of personal experiences. Mabey not a common occurrence, but the group you’re looking for are Buddhist monks. Specifically those who practice transcendental meditation. This is a form of meditation with the sole purpose of being able to remove the conscious mind from the physical body and transporting it to the astral plane. The astral plane is the space that fills in the holes between this world and the next.
From there things become less and less structured. It stops being the metaphysical and becomes the paranormal. The search for ghosts, to prove ghosts exist, is not only a way of proving there is an afterlife, but it can also double as seeking out a consciousness that has no human form. For what is a ghost if it’s not a soul, and the soul is made up of the human consciousness.
There are other examples. Reports of bilocation, being in two places at once, and out of body experiences where you’re either transported to heaven or hell. There are simple reports of an out of body experience being your consciousness standing off to one side while the body goes on and does its thing.
None of this is proof of the conscious mind existing outside of the body. It could be that these people tap into the mainline of the subconscious and the dreaming world. So, to round things out: No, there’s no hard empirical data on whether or not a consciousness can exist outside of a physical body. There is anecdotal evidence it is possible.
If this is something you want to do further research into, I would suggest going the path of transcendental meditation. That seems to be the only “proven” way to induce an out of body experience.
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