Monroe - Journeys Out of the Body

Robert A. Monroe has been a pioneer in exploring out-of-the-body experiences, and J OURNEYS O UT OF THE B ODY , his first book, has become the undisputed classic in the field. He had a long and distinguished career in the broadcasting industry, as a writer, director of programs, and creator and producer of some four hundred radio and TV network programs, and eventually as owner and operator of a radio network and cable TV system in Virginia. He is the founder and executive director of the Monroe Institute, internationally known for its work on the effects of sound wave forms on human behavior.

Robert Monroes second book, Far Journeys, tells the story of his research and development of the OOB experience and further explorations beyond time and space. It was published by Doubleday in 1985.

Mr. Monroe plays an active part in the work of the Monroe Institute and lives with his family in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.

FAR JOURNEYS

A hardcover edition of this book was originally published in 1971 by Doubleday. It is here reprinted by arrangement with Doubleday.

Journeys Out of the Body. Copyright 1971, 1977 by Robert A. Monroe.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information, address: Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.

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ISBN: 0-385-00861-9
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8041-5388-1

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Much has taken place both in the world and in my personal life since the final manuscript days prior to the publication of J OURNEYS O UT OF THE B ODY .

It was an interesting experience, to say the least, when I publicly became a member of a highly suspect group labeled Psychic, Sensitive, Freak, and, more generously, Parapsychologist. The publication of the book quite thoroughly blew my cover as a reasonably orthodox business executive.

However, a good many of the results were totally unexpected, and some of the serious trepidations were unfounded. For example, the fact that I was (and still am) well grounded and active in the material world of business helped greatly in the serious consideration of the book material.

Another facet: I should have had more faith and confidence in the business mind as I know it. I had always maintained that business and industry respected something of value without particular regard to its origin. If it works, use it. Still, I was greatly concerned about the reaction to the book of the board of directors of the corporation of which I was president. (Who would want such an unstable person running their multi-million dollar operation!) At the first board meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after the book publication, no one mentioned it. Nor did I. However, as we cruised up the canal in the board chairmans yacht, on our way to dinner at the country club, the chairmans wife came up from below deck with a copy of J OURNEYS in her hand.

Bob, will you autograph this for me? she asked. I complied, more than a little self-conscious and surprised. I should not have been.

Interesting stuff, the chairman called over his shoulder as he steered for the yacht club dock. My wife is a real psychic. I never make a major business deal without a reading from her. It works, too.

Needless to say, I was not asked to resign. Actually, I found little or no adverse effect on my business relationships as a result of the public disclosure of this private side of my life. Instead, many broad new avenues opened up to me, totally unexpected. Who could have guessed that I would speak on out-of-body experiences at such an august and conservative body as the Smithsonian Institution! It actually happened.

Another miscalculation, or so it would seem: it has been stated that J OURNEYS was a book ahead of its time, that serious interest in the type of material it contains is only now reaching significant levels. This may have been true, yet what was it that precipitated such changes in a mere four years? I like to think a chicken-or-the-egg question is appropriate, that this book was and is part of a trigger or catalytic process that is now in chain reaction. This process states simply: its O.K. to have strange experiences, to consider seriously as natural those events and activities beyond the present ability of our physical sciences to replicate or measure. Existence beyond death is one of these.

Another decision made about the time of publication: that my conscious mind or self had insufficient experience and/or training to control in toto the scope of such non-physical exploration. This was brought about first by the boredom and impatience of here-to-there-and-back tests in our physical world. Who wants repeatedly to take an hour dressing in preparation (wire up to instruments, develop a careful separative state) just to go from bedroom to kitchen (Virginia to California or Kansas). Second, many explanations were taking place far beyond my conscious understanding and controlwhich inferred that the physical, conscious I actually had very limited ideas as to where to go and what to do.

Thus I made an important decision. For the most part, I would set up the conscious out-of-body state, then turn the action over to my total self (soul?). My present consciousness would go along for the ride, as a part of the whole. The results have been: ecstatic, illuminating, confusing, awe-inspiring, humbling, reassuringexperience and exploration far beyond my ability to conceive of, most of it an apparent educational program that I am absorbing bit by bit. The problem as I sense it is simple. Eventually, a quantum jump in consciousness will be required to reduce the material to a practical something of value level.

What does this mean? Does that great consciousness change take place while still alive physically? Or in another reality, later? Who are the instructors, the helpers?

Precisely bit by bit, we are beginning to approach the answers in our research at the Institute. Yes, a research facility was formed and became active in 1972.

Our work has attracted the interest and co-operation of physicists, psychologists, biochemists, engineers, educators, psychiatrists, corporate presidents, statisticians, many of whom serve on our board of advisers. Among the eleven thousand plus pieces of mail received to date, many sighs of relief were reported. The secret could be talked about without the need for sanity hearings. Thus the book is serving its primary purpose.

Over seven hundred persons have participated in our research and experimental training program. Our first Explorer Team has six members. Some fifty more are waiting for our facility to handle their final indoctrination, and their number is growing daily. We hope to be able to expand shortly in physical space, equipment, and personnel so that we can absorb the backlog and the increase. This year, training programs at the Institute may qualify for credit at the college and university level.