I read all three of Robert A Monroe's books, starting with the first one, Journey's Out of the Body, all the way back in the late 70's. I can even remember the day I bought it at a used book store that is now long gone. I had no idea at the time that this one book would end up being of such lasting value. I also read a handful of others that shaped my early young adult questioning mind. When I read Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass, and he wrote about his spiritual teacher eating all that LSD he had brought with him, and then nothing happened. He was already completely living in an altered state of being that most do not even know exists. And the many amazing things Paramahansa Yogananda talked about in his Autobiography of a Yogi. The concept of having lived many lives, and being able to access other realms of existence, levitation, bi-location, and many other fascinating concepts my early upbringing as a fundamentalist Christian did not prepare me for. And yet, as I read all this information about what should have seemed far out, it felt more like coming home, and waking up to something I already knew very well, a remembering.

Another amazing book I read, somewhere in the early 90's, the Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot, also had a profound influence. And it keeps coming back to me, this need, in whatever way feels most comfortable, to lose my fear of dying. For you see, I can't help but think this is what is really used to keep humanity in line. Fear of dying, fear of leaving the physical, fear of the unknown, even fear of going to hell. Yup, let's just dish up a big helping of fear!

I admit, after having actually been present as the spirit is leaving the body, with two humans and one cat, I am not looking forward to the moment when, much like when I was born, I cannot take a breath. It's interesting to remember that the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, is all about the breath. And the Fool, follis, bag of wind. It makes me smile to think about that, that we are all just bags of wind and water.

I also know, that much like in childbirth, the less fear you have, the more you can work with the experience, rather than against it. When you are afraid, your body tenses up, your mind races, and you can no longer remain in a state of clear awareness. You cannot work to handle the upheaval taking place, and it can become a terrifying experience. If, on the other hand, you are able to let go of your fear, you can remain aware, alert, and able to consciously work with what you are experiencing, rather than have the experience take you over. Probably a lot like the skill that is required to ride a big wave when surfing, it easier with practice and experience. Balance is everything. And balance is much easier to maintain when you are not afraid.

But how do you get experience with leaving the physical, before the big event? I have never had the opportunity to participate in any of the programs offered by the Monroe Institute, but this is exactly what they help prepare you for. I never learned to do remote viewing at will either (actually I do a form of this, but it's not quite the same either) but I do know about other realms, having experienced them, and I do know about leaving the body, and having other experiences outside of this particular reality channel, enough to have lost most of my fear of death. It may seem like a strange preoccupation, to prepare yourself for something most go out of their way to avoid even thinking about. Some may accuse me of being morbid, but when I see how so many have never even learned to live, to really embrace all that this experience of being here in a body has to offer, because of their fear of so many things, it seems that conquering this fear would bring a sense of liberation.

One of my favorite parts of Robert Monroe's first book, is when he encounters (in the OBE state) a authoritative energy/being that presents itself as the big kahuna, and tries to get him to defer to its authority. For we clearly have a god want to be energy that has been bullying mankind into submission for some long time. Eventually everyone has to stand up to that to really be able to get out of Dodge (whether you have a body or not). For one of the only things I actually learned from my religious upbringing that has continued to stay with me, is that God, the real divine energy that I would lovingly defer to, is all about love. Not a love that demands worship, adulation, sacrifice, and so on. It is an expansive all encompassing love that does not demand anything. I am fortunate to know what that is, and know the difference.

In my next post I will quote this part of the book, that tells this story, because I think it is worth sharing, and I have re read this part so many times I can't remember them all.

For those who may be interested, here is the link to the Monroe Institute sight:
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I made a mistake in my previous post. It turns out the story I will share is from Robert A Monroe's last book in the series, Ultimate Journey (1994 edition). The first part of it is about gathering parts of his larger self, which is what I have felt as I have extended my reach even beyond this life. There is a lot of common language he uses, while traveling out of body. He has listed a whole glossary at the end of the book, but I won't list them all here. Here is just a few:

Aperture: Entry point into the beyond, the source of the creative force that organized our physical universe.

Basic: In developing a Different Overview, the knowledge and application of certain Basics are essential. A key Basic, for instance, would be the knowledge that you are more than your physical body and that you do survive death. Such Basics must be absolute knowns, not just beliefs, to complete the growth.

Belief system territories: Parts of the (M) field spectrum adjacent to the Earth Life System where many human minds reside after completing physical life experiences. Each is attracted to a particular segment in accordance with a deep attachment made during the life just finished to a seemingly powerful belief.

((M) Field: Non-physical energy field that permeates time-space including our Earth Life System, but is not a part of current human scientific knowledge or study.


From Chapter 15, Long Trail A-Winding, he is going OBE (out of body) with a specific intention to find a missing Basic. He has a variety of encounters, after moving out past the Belief System Territories, he meets an old friend in the non-physical, called Miranon (page 205):

Miranon says (doesn't really say, more like just thinks to Robert): Well! So you have come to join me! I did not have to come back and meet you.

Robert: Miranon! Are you still on the 49th level?

Miranon: I am, but I am ready to move. You come at the right moment.

Robert: I was not intentionally trying to find you.

Miranon: I know. I perceive what you are doing. You have learned much.

Robert: Yes, I have. And I understand now your purpose in returning. The task of gathering in your parts, as you call them, is not easy, is it?

Miranon: That is true. As with you, others are performing that function, other parts of me. Now you too are searching.

Robert: But I do not know what I am searching for. Is what I seek the same as your goal? We are gathering the parts of us, up and down in time, from belief system to belief system. I cannot - we cannot - leave until we gather all in.

Miranon: That is so.

Then Miranon indicates that what Robert is searching for may be found back at his point of origin, his first experiences in consciousness that he can remember, back in KT-95. They say their goodbyes and then:

Warm radiance washes through me and fades as the glowing figure fades away. Was the meeting accidental? It came just when needed, when the distance ahead seemed endless, bringing me added strength to give increased impetus. But I must turn back - let me explore a little farther before I do so ... What? Blinding energy - I cannot move!

A voice in my head - a cold admonitory voice ...

I AM THE LORD THY GOD, WHOM YOU SERVE.

... A feeling of intense pressure, as if I am dissolving ... now I am in water ... my lungs are full of water ... I must have air ... get rid of the water ... no, it can't be, it isn't so ... there is no water ... I have no lungs. I am being made to think that is where I am ... it is an influence ... I know it is not so. The pressure releases ... I can feel fingers of energy probing for the core of me ... I can stop this ... close receptors ... close tight ... I remember how ...

YOU DO NOT REMEMBER! YOU DO NOT REMEMBER!

But I do ... I remember the tests, the training experience from my I-There ... they were so real ... I am ready, ready for this demanding energy ... it cannot harm me or affect me ... be calm, warm, friendly ...

DO YOU NOT ACCEPT ME AS YOUR GOD?

... the idea of a God that threatens amuses me ... I let this idea flow out ...

DO YOU NOT FEAR ME?

... I release a picture of me blowing apart again and again and again into millions of fragments, and reconstituting after every explosion ...

YOU ARE DAMNED! YOU ARE NO MORE THAN WASTED ENERGY OF ME WHO IS YOUR LORD!

... the energy fades to a tiny point and vanishes.


This is taken from his next chapter, entitled The Roadside View. He made it back to KT-95 and has returned with the missing Basic. He has just listed some of what has become known for him, through his travels. He continues on page 225:

The desire to return with gifts is an integral part of the design.

Most important, I realized that no words I could write or speak, no music I could compose, would be able to transfer fully such knowing to another human mind. As a belief, it might be possible, but not as a known. This could only come through direct individual experience. How to provide this was the essential item.

(Further down)
First I had to ascertain why there was a need to help this transfer to others. I recalled my meeting with the nameless great being near the Aperture. I was incomplete, I had been told. I was too small. There was not enough of me. And I knew nothing of the gifts that were to accompany me through the Aperture.

(From page 226 - he goes on to share what he further understands about the Basic)
It was the Basic; the collection and unification of the "parts", not only the errant and missing ones in my own I-There (which we all have), but the parts of the entire I-There cluster to which I am bonded.


The Monroe Institute is Robert Monroe's labor of love, I guess you could say, as it is an outworking of his desire to provide a way for others to move from beliefs to knowns when it comes to knowing what to expect when going beyond the physical. And his books provided a powerful set of possibilities that have been exciting to contemplate and explore ever since I first read them.