Rethinking how things work here...

Recently, I was introduced to the work of Robert A. Monroe and his home-study program called Gateway Experience, "dedicated to developing, exploring and applying expanded states of awareness". The Gateway Experience utilizes special patented sounds proven to synchronize the hemispheres of the brain. I began this set of 18 CDs in early July, and will start the last CD tomorrow morning. So far, I have not experienced anything out of the ordinary as a result of doing the Gateway Experience, but I do find each session deeply relaxing and I think it is helping me to manage my stress better, so I will probably go through most of the tracks again and again in the months ahead, and maybe one day I will be surprised.

I had never heard of Robert Monroe before about two months ago, although the term he is very famous for, "out-of-body experience" (a.k.a. "OBE"), has been in my vocabulary for at least forty years. If you are interested, it is best if you read about his life here in his website, as I could only imperfectly rehash what has already been written there, and there are other things I want to tell you about now. There are many interesting things in the website, including some free downloads that would give you a taste of what the Gateway Experience is like.

After doing the first few tracks of the Gateway Experience, I felt I also wanted to read the three books that Robert Monroe had written during his lifetime about his OBEs, so I ordered them online, received his second book, Far Journeys, a few days later, and started to read it right away. The first chapter seemed pretty normal, but after that, I felt like I was reading science fiction! It was truly one of the strangest books I have read in a really long time, but I enjoyed it very much, and was very happy when his third book, Ultimate Journey, arrived a few days before I finished Far Journeys so that I didn't have to wait to find out what was going to happen next. His first book, Journeys Out Of The Body, arrived late last week, so I have only just started it, and it seems quite tame in comparison to the other two books, but I am sure it will probably fill in some gaps in my understanding so far. I think it is really useful to read these books as part of going through the Gateway Experience, but you could also read the books alone, without doing the Gateway Experience.

Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey have caused me to rethink entirely my philosphy of how things work here. I still think most things here are random, but I have abandoned the idea of "karma", and now believe it is possible to have just one life here, if that is all one really wants to have.

If you like science fiction, or if you think you might enjoy a really different reading experience that might possibly be mind-opening, read Robert Monroe's books.