Astral

Subtitles by explosiveskull

Hi, Claire. How you feeling today?

I'm feeling better than yesterday.

That's good. You manage to get any sleep this time?

I did actually.

Brilliant.

Right, I'll come back later and we'll have a little chat.

Is he a baby? Is he quite young?

He said to continue taking them.

- Claire? - Sorry?

He said you have to make sure you keep taking them, OK?

Joel, I'm fine.

Please, just for the first few weeks, OK?

OK, I will.

We live in a multi-dimensional world.

Each organism dependent on its

individual level of consciousness

apprehends a dimension of space extracted from time.

Yes, Ben.

So, the assumption is,

we have to separate ourselves from the...

lesser dimensions of other organisms?

Not quite. Our world encompasses theirs,

although they are unable to apprehend our wider reality.

Take the simple consciousness of an organism,

like a snail, for example.

They're unaware of the past or the future,

living only in the present.

Driven merely by sensation.

What about the dog? They're conscious of the past?

Remembering where they buried a bone.

Yes, good. By virtue of their higher mental

faculty and simple consciousness,

a dog can mentally extract from time

another dimension of space

and so it lives in a world larger than that of the snails.

And us?

We humans with self-consciousness

live in a world of three dimensions,

of space plus time.

Perhaps, there is a larger world still

that includes ours as ours includes

the others and so it continues.

So, we live in a world

unaware of a broader existence?

Exactly. We live in a multi-dimensional universe but

are conscious of ourselves only in a three-dimensional world.

We live in a real physical world but perhaps

we don't know it nearly as well as we think.

In fact, we may scarcely know it at all.

It has been said throughout time that man has sought to

enter this astral dimension by means of expanding

his consciousness be it through

an out-of-body experience or meditation, or the use of

psychoactive substances.

So, this week's assignment -

"Is there still a higher realm,

one that we cannot yet comprehend?"

A thousand word minimum, please. Collect them from

Corina as you make your way out. Thank you.

So, you're saying...

with increased awareness we can actually see into this

astral world?

There's a lot of research to support it, yes.

Seems a bit far-fetched.

I don't know, I think the idea of another dimension

we can't see seems feasible.

It's more than feasible.

There's plenty of esoteric literature on it.

What if we could access it, like find a way into that world?

There is a theory called astral projection.

Through it, it's thought you can detach your spirit from

your physical body and enter into another plane of existence.

But it's a pretty out-there theory.

Perhaps you would each be best

focusing your attention on actual science.

Do you think it's actually possible then?

Theoretically, yes. Thank you, Corine.

There are examples of clairvoyance,

using it to contact the dead but I guess that's where

it gets a little more... abstract.

Really?

Well, like any discipline it requires training

or at least some basic knowledge.

Well, perhaps the science of it would be a good place

to start your research for this week then?

But I'll leave that to each of you.

- See you all next week. - Gareth?

Your coffee.

Thank you, Miss Richardson.

Thanks for adding more work, Alex.

So, have you read about this then, Lys?

- Astral projection? - Yeah.

I stumbled across a little on YouTube.

You know people that claim to astral project,

they experience exactly the same sensations as someone,

as a jet pilot suffering from G-LOC.

You can't be that narrow-minded?

The mind's a powerful thing. I'm sure with a few cognitive tricks

anyone could be entertained by the darkest corners

of their subconscious.

Besides, if you wanna believe everything you see on YouTube

why stop at astral projection?

I'm pretty sure there are literally pages

dedicated to proving that ghosts

and mermaids and boogeymen are real.

You can chase the Mad Hatter, I'm sticking with psychoactive substances for my research.

I wasn't sitting there watching it all night.

Aww, so what else caught your attention?

Whatever it was, it won't be as disgusting as the filth you undoubtedly watch.

So, you DO spy on me?

Never thought I'd see the day I'd find you in here late.

Yeah, that makes two of us.

Interesting collection.

What's it for?

Bit in depth, aren't they?

Well, I guess if we don't challenge ourselves now, we never will.

Glad to see you're finally taking it seriously.

Psst!

Hey, Alex. You ready?

That's my cue.

Erm...

The sun sets late tonight, do you...

wanna come and hang with us at the Quad?

Er, no... I just wanna get this finished, but you go.

OK.

I'll see you tomorrow then, I guess.

Goodnight.

Night.

OK.

I haven't even seen the first.

Ahh, the sequel's better, anyway.

- You're up early. - Yeah, I know.

Got an early night, tried that astral projection thing.

Useless.

- There's a surprise. - Yeah.

Absolutely nothing. Bloody useless.

Told you. Wouldn't trust anything she says,

she'll have you looking for Big Foot next.

I don't know. I don't think you should be messing around with that.

Doesn't matter. I don't think I was doing it right anyway.

I was so tired, I just sort of fell asleep.

How were you tired? All you ever seem to do is sleep?

Well, the library session took its toll.

You read about it and still couldn't figure it out. Sounds about right.

Oh, so that's what the books are about.

Yeah, yeah. Quite interested, though.

Just thought I'd give it a go.

Interest? It's more like obsession,

seeing as you don't even research for classes.

Well, whatever it is, I'm clearly useless at it.

Oh, well, when in Rome.

Yeah?

Do as the Romans did.

OK?

When you're in Rome you talk to Caesar.

Yeah, you're retarded, man.

- - Professor Powell, dumb arse.

He's the one who suggested it.

Despite the awful misuse of that analogy, that's actually not a bad idea.

I'm... full of good ideas. Obviously.

Mr Harmann, what can I do for you?

I've been doing some reading on astral projections.

And I was just wondering if, maybe,

you could help me to understand it a bit better? If you have time.

Well, OK, what exactly did you want to know?

Well, I was thinking about attempting it...

But I want to know...

Dunno, I just want to know more about it first.

Have you tried YouTube?

Actually, I did try YouTube. Yes, that was interesting, to say the least.

But I dunno... I just dunno where to start.

Right. Where'd you get your reading material?

So, I spent a few hours in the library last night,

just going through some reference books.

Oh, yeah, they're a good place to start but the majority are probably...

outdated. I've been asking the university

to reinvest in more material but...

Apparently, funding's limited for the pseudo-sciences.

Can I ask why exactly you want to try it?

To be honest, it's something I think you should be careful with.

Besides, the university aren't exactly advocates for that sort of thing.

Well, it's just that since we've working on consciousness,

I just want a more practical understanding of our spirits.

Wow. That's how I started on this journey.

It's a passion for growth.

I'm far from versed in it, but I have tried it, although that was a long time ago.

- Really? - I was fascinated with it.

It's a wonderful tool but we need to

learn a lot more about it. It's not an exact science.

The idea of astral travel is rooted in most worldwide religious

accounts of the afterlife, where they describe the soul's

journey as an out-of-body experience.

The idea is that the spiritual traveller

leaves their physical body and travels in their astral body...

through higher realms.

So, when people say they've seen a ghost, that's just

like a glimpse into another parallel reality?