This information is taken directly from the book Journeys Out of
the Body by Robert A. Monroe.
Throughout this writing, I have made many references to
one evident fact: the only possible way for an individual to
appreciate the reality of this Second Body and existence within
it is to experience it himself.
Obviously, if this were an easy task, it would now be
commonplace. I suspect that only an innate curiosity will enable
people to overcome the obstacles in the path of this achievement.
Although there are many cases of existence experienced apart from
the physical body, they have for the most part – at least in the
Western world – been of a spontaneous, one time nature, occurring
during moments of stress or physical disability.
We are speaking of something entirely different, which
can be objectively investigated. The experimenter will want to
proceed in a manner that will produce consistent results, perhaps
not every time, but often enough to validate the evidence to his
own satisfaction. I believe that anyone can experience existence
in a Second Body if the desire is great enough. Whether or not
anyone should is beyond the scope of my judgment.
Evidence has led me to believe that most, if not all,
human beings leave their physical bodies in varying degrees
during sleep. Subsequent reading has proved that this idea is
thousands of years old in man’s history. If it is a valid
premise, then the condition itself is not unnatural. On the
other hand, conscious, willful practice of separation from the
physical is contrary to the pattern, it would seem, in view of
the limited data available.
Harmful physical effects from such activity are
undetermined. I have not detected (nor have any physicians) any
physiological changes, good or bad, that can be attributed
directly to the out-of-the-body experience.
There have been many psychological changes that I
recognize, and probably many more that I have not been aware of.
However, even my friends in the psychiatric profession have not
claimed that these have been detrimental. My gradual revision of
basic concepts and believes is apparent in a number of ways
throughout this writing. If these psychological and personality
changes are truly harmful, there is not much that can be done
about it now.
A note of caution is in order here for those who are
interested in experimenting, for once opened, the doorway to this
experience cannot be closed. More exactly, it is a copy of “you
can’t live with it and you can’t live without it.” The activity
and resultant awareness are quite incompatible with the science,
religion, and mores of the society in which we live. History is
strewn with martyrs whose only crime was non-conformity. If your
interest and research become commonly known, you run the risk of
being labeled a freak, phony, or worse, and of being ostracized.
In spite of this, something extremely vital would be missing if
you did not continue to explore and investigate. In the
unaccountable “low” periods when you cannot produce this activity
no matter how carefully you try, you realize this deeply. You
have a strong sense of being left out of things, of the shutting
out of a source of great meaning to living.
Here, then, is the best written description I can give of
the technique of developing the non-physical experience.
THE FEAR BARRIER
There is one great obstacle to the investigation of the
Second Body and the environment in which it operates. Perhaps it
is the only major barrier. It seems to be present in all
people, without exception. It may be hidden by layers of
inhibition and conditioning, but when these are stripped away,
the obstacle remains. This is the barrier of blind, unreasoning
fear. Given only small impetus, it turns to panic, and then to
terror. If you consciously pass the fear barrier, you will have
passed a milestone in your investigation.
I am reasonably sure that this barrier is passed
unconsciously by many of us each night. When that part of us
beyond our consciousness takes over, it is not inhibited by fear,
although it seems to be influenced by the thought and action of
the conscious mind. It seems to be accustomed to operating
beyond the fear barrier, and understands better the rules of
existence in this other world. When the conscious mind shuts
down for the night, this Super Mind (soul?) takes over.
The investigative process relative to the Second Body and
its environment appears to be a melding or blending of the
conscious with this Super Mind. If this is accomplished, the
fear barrier is overcome.
The fear barrier is many-faceted. The most fearless of
us think it does not exist, until, much to our own surprise, we
encounter it within ourselves. First and foremost, there is the
death fear. Because separation from the physical body is much
like what is expected at death, early reactions to the experience
are automatic. You think, “Get back in the physical, quickly!
You are dying! Life is there, in the physical; get back in!”
These reactions appear in spite of any intellectual or
emotional training. Only after repeating the process eighteen to
twenty times did I finally gather enough courage (and curiosity)
to stay out more than a few seconds and observe objectively. The
death fear was either sublimated or assuaged by familiarity.
Others who have tried the technique have stopped after the first
or second experience, unable to suppress this first aspect of the
barrier.
The second aspect of the fear barrier is also linked with
the death fear: will I be able to return to the physical or to
get back “in.” With no guidelines or specific instructions, this
remained a prime fear of mine for several years, until I found a
simple answer that made it work every time. Mine was a matter of
rationalization. I had been “out” several hundred times, and the
evidence showed that I was able to return safely one way or
another. Therefore, the probability was that I would return
safely the next time also.
The third basic fear was fear of the unknown. The rules
and dangers of our physical environment can be determined to a
reasonable degree. We have spent our lifetime building up
reflexes to cope with them. Now, suddenly, here is another,
completely different set of rules, another world of entirely
different possibilities, populated by beings who seem to know all
of them. You have no rule book, no road map, no book of
etiquette, no applicable courses in physics and chemistry, no
incontrovertible authority you can turn to for advice and
answers. Many a missionary has been killed in a remote land
under just such conditions!
I must confess that this third fear still crops up, and
with justification. The unknown is still to a great degree
unknown. Such penetration as I have made has brought forth
pitifully few unalterable and consistent rules. I can say only
that, to date, I have survived these expeditions. There is so
much that I do not comprehend or understand, and more that is
beyond my ability to do so.
Another fear is the consequent effects on the physical
body as well as on the conscious mind of participation and
experimentation in this form of activity. This too is very real,
as our history, at least to my knowledge, does not seem to
contain accurate reporting of this area. We have studies on
paranoia, schizophrenia, phobias, epilepsy, alcoholism, sleeping
sickness, acne, virus diseases, etc., but no assembled body of
objective data on the pathology of the Second Body.
I do not know how to circumvent the fear barrier, except
by cautious initial steps that create familiarity bit by bit as
you proceed. I hope this writing in its entirety will provide
the psychological “step” over the barrier. It may help to
recognize conditions and patterns that are familiar in that at
least one person has had similar experiences and survived.
The following are the necessary procedural developments.
1. RELAXATION
The ability to relax is the first prerequisite, perhaps
even the first step itself. It is deliberately generated, and is
both physical and metal. Included with the condition of
relaxation must be the relief from any sense of time urgency.
You cannot be in a hurry. No pending appointments or anticipated
calls for your services or attention must clutter up your
thoughts. Impatience of any sort can effectively stifle your
prospects for success.
There are many techniques available for obtaining this
kind of relaxation, and a number of good books cover the subject.
Simply select the method that works best for you. There are
three general methods that seem to work, two of which are
applicable in these exercises.
Auto- or self-hypnosis. Most self-study books offer this
method in different versions. Again, it is a matter of which is
most effective for you individually. The most efficient and
speediest way is to learn self-hypnosis through the training of
an experienced hypnotist. He can set up posthypnotic suggestion
that will bring immediate results. However, select a tutor with
care. Responsible practitioners are rare, and neophytes
numerous. Forms of meditation can be converted to effective
relaxation.
Borderland sleep state. This is perhaps the easiest and
most natural method and usually ensures relaxation of both body
and mind simultaneously. The difficulty here lies in the
maintenance of that delicate “edge” between sleep and complete
wakefulness. All too often, you simply fall asleep and that ends
the experiment for the moment.
By practice, conscious awareness can be taken up to this
borderland state, into it, and through it, to your destination.
There is no way to achieve it that I know of that than practice.
The technique is as follows: lie down, preferably when you are
tired and sleepy. As you become relaxed and start to drift off
to sleep, hold your mental attention on something, anything, with
your eyes closed. Once you can hold the borderland state
indefinitely without falling asleep, you have passed the first
stage. It is, however, a normal pattern to fall asleep many
times in the process of this consciousness deepening. You will
not be able to help yourself, but do not let this discourage you.
It is not an overnight process. You will know you are
successful when you become bored and expect something more to
happen!
If attempts to remain at the borderland state make you
nervous, this too is a normal reaction. The conscious mind seems
to resent sharing the authority it has during wakefulness. If
this occurs, break the relaxation, get up and walk around,
exercise, and lie down again. If this does not relieve the
nervousness, go to sleep and try another time. You are just not
in the mood.
When your “fixative,” the picture thought you have been
holding, slips away and you find yourself thinking of something
else, you are close to completion of condition A.
Once you have achieved Condition A – the ability to hold
calmly in the borderland state indefinitely with your mind on an
exclusive thought – you are ready for the next step. Condition B
is similar, but with the concentration eliminated. Do not think
of anything, but remain poised between wakefulness and sleep.
Simply look through your closed eyes at the blackness ahead of
you. Do nothing more. After a number of these exercises, you
may hallucinate “mind pictures,” or light patterns. These seem
to have no great significance, and may merely be forms of neural
discharge. I can remember, for example, attempting to achieve
this state after watching a football game on TV for several
hours. All I saw were mind pictures of football players
tackling, running, passing, etc. It took at least a half hour
for the pattern to fade away. These mind pictures are apparently
related to your visual concentration in the preceding eight or
ten hours. The more intense the concentration, the longer it
seems to take to eliminate the impressions.
You have accomplished Condition B when you are able to
lie indefinitely after the impressions have faded away, with no
nervousness, and seeing nothing but blackness.
Condition C is a systematic deepening of consciousness
while in the B state. This is approached by carefully letting go
of your rigid hold on the borderland sleep edge and drifting
deeper little by little during each exercise. You will learn to
establish degrees of this deepening of consciousness by “going
down” to a given level and returning at will. You will recognize
these degrees by the shutting down of various sensory mechanism
inputs. The sense of touch apparently goes first. You seem to
have no feeling in any part of your body. Smell and taste soon
follow. The auditory signals are next, and the last to fade out
is vision. (Sometimes the last two are reversed; I suspect that
the reason for vision being last is that exercises calls for the
use of the visual network, even in blackness.)
Condition D is the achievement of C when one is fully
rested and refreshed, rather than tired and sleepy, at the
beginning of the exercise. This is quite important, and not
nearly as easy to achieve as it is to write about. To enter the
relaxation state full of energy and wakefulness is great
insurance for maintaining conscious control. The best approach
to take in the early attempts at the Condition D exercise is to
start it immediately after you wake up from a nap or a night’s
sleep. Start the exercise before you move around in bed
physically, while your body is still relaxed from sleep and your
mind is fully alert. Don’t take too many liquids before
sleeping, and you won’t have the immediate need to empty your
bladder upon awakening.
Induction by drugs. None of the relaxation-producing
drugs that are readily available seem to help. Barbiturates
