I believe it may be possible to occupy someone else's "vessel" as you call it. Robert Monroe projected to the future, around the year 3000, where they were able to occupy any living body there was. Fish, birds, humans, grass, trees, cingle celled organisms... So I think it may be possible, we just don't know how to do it yet.  The facts at the current moment are that we are "connected" to our physical bodies. By the "silver cord." But maybe this will change in time. Monroe sure thinks so.

To answer your other question.  Dying while out of body would be in no way shape or form the same as getting "stuck in a permanant jail."  If this were to happen, there would be no transition into the "afterlife", because you would already be in it.  If you consider the afterlife to be a prison, if you consider "existing"  to be a prison, then yes you would be stuck in prison. Because you are and will always be you, you are consiousness and that will never change.

For everyone reading this.. I have been talking to "DigitalSkeptic" for a few days now. He desperately wants to believe in the afterlife, and even after talking with me for ten hours he is still unconvinced. I do see a change in his attitudes and thoughts though, I do think Im making a good impression on him. He is begining to be more open to some of the ideas I am bringing to him.  I am not trying to force anything on him, but he wants me to convince him beyond a doubt so I am doing my best. If anyone else has somthing they can add that would be great.

You can not take on another's physical body, your soul is  energetically attached to your body. As for Roberts experience , this would be a merging of his higher consciousness, meaning his higher self was showing him how to merge and that it is possible. It may come to pass when each soul has reached a high enough evolutionary level that at will we all be-able to project our consciousness into living things, but where a long long long long way of that!

Digital,

In "Journeys out of the Body" Robert Monroe reports an experience of inadvertantly returning to someone else's body rather than his own.  Montoe worries that his antics with those present might have caused great embarrassment for the dispossessed person.   Monroe does not comment on what happened that guy, while he took over his body.

that makes a lot of sense what you said about the energy field Kathy. a few of us have been discussing entities who need retrieval attached to the energy field. I would not say the retrievers are possessed. they are directing the entitiies to move on towards the light by the energy of thier thoughts. this sometimes takes a few days.
I believe this was one of Monroe's early obe experiences before retrieval concepts were born at TMI.
when I read that experience Don, I wondered the same thing. I assume there was some sort of closeness of their energy fields, or some reason that we don't understand yet how that would be possible and I haven't read of it happening to but one other person in all the books I've read on the subject. so must be too rare to worry about it. maybe he apologized? I mean, the ultimate invasion is embarrassing   but it would be similar to entitiy attachment, although this one of Monroe's appears he is a novice at this point,  and I liken it stories I've heard of drunks entering the wrong house on the block because they don't have all thier wits about them. being a novice some very funny stuff happens and apologies or making up for something we have done would be on the menu in some cases. I believe theres intentional harm versus unintentional harm to consider.

love, alysia