I'm posting this here instead of in an astral projection forum because its something I want to say once, while avoiding a big flame war if possible. Also, it relates to understanding the nature of the astral body, which I guess is more a topic for this forum.

I've astral projected a few times as an experiment. Thinking about what I've experienced, it doesn't seem to me to be a very healthy habit to cultivate. The astral body seems to be my interface with my physical body. It relates my mind to my physical body, and to the health and fate of my physical body. If I condition the astral body to work independently of my physical body, it seems to me that this creates a sort of schism between the two, as if I'm trying to be alive and dead at the same time. In the long run, I would expect this to lead to emotional instability, an inability to resist things like incubi or succubi, and possibly to health problems such as connective tissue disorders, or in extreme cases, insanity. I also imagine a kind of karmic disengagement, where eventually a person doesn't have as much psychic leverage to deal squarely with life's challenges.

For me, astral projection doesn't happen 'naturally' in my course of development, its something I would have to go out of my way to develop, just as I would have to go out of my way to take a drug. We've all got different destinies of course, and some people don't have to go as far out of their way for things like drugs: it comes looking for them. So I expect that there must be some people to whom astral projecting comes very, very easy. But it still looks to me like something to be wary of.

People who are into astral projection are of course going to stay into it until they're through with it, so I'm not out to change anyone's mind. I just wanted to say what I see, for other people who might have some thoughts in the same direction and are trying to work out what makes sense for them.

I'm also somewhat of that opinion in relation to 'lucid' dreaming. I'm always lucid when dreaming in the sense that the dreams are extremely vivid and I'm aware of and thinking about what's going on. But for the most part I don't try to force outcomes, and I don't pursue those kind of hyper-aware dreams where a person can see and hear astrally, which I've had a few of also. Maybe I should be more active in dream, less passive - I am somewhat unsure about exactly what the best mindset is in that regard. But I want to learn and grow, not create exotic experiences without regard for what the hell I'm dealing with. And I'm not convinced that acting in dreams is the right thing to cultivate. I've got a physical body for that, limited though it may be. I want to be a part of making it less limited, even if that takes millenia. Pushing in that direction in dream seems to me to be like a kind of psychic hemorrhage, a backwater relative to long term development.

Again, if you're into lucid dreaming, that's great, and I don't want to try to talk you out of it. But if you're not sure its your cup of tea, you're not the only one.