First of all, Hallelujah! I'm not sure what kind of html editor you are using, but it worked to get something on the screen. With respect the questions that arose in your conversation with your friend in New York, the best modern writer whose work touches on several of those themes is Rudy Rucker. His book "The Fourth Dimension" published about twelve years ago picks up some of the threads you mention, and definitely spends more time talking about the occult than I do in my book. If you have trouble locating it, I can lend you a copy.
There are other writers who have used dimensional analogies to describe out-of-body experiences and other paranormal phenomena, and Rucker will have some in his bibliography. P. D. Ouspenskii is another key figure in this business, and I can recommend his "Tertium Organum" or "A New Model of the Universe".