Markdown lines 47–148 · Part 1 of 2
[6.9-14.1] This is an interview with Robert Monroe, author of Journeys Out of the Body, a book that has become a classic in the realm of out-of-body explorations.
[14.1-19.3] It has been translated into six languages and is now in its 11th American edition.
[19.3-24.5] Mr. Monroe, how did your encounter with out-of-the-body experiences begin?
[24.5-36.5] Well, it began in what seems to be a non-classic way, and a non-classic way is that many out-of-body experiences begin with some
[36.5-48.8] extreme type of trauma, such as an automobile accident or serious illness. Mine had nothing to do with any of those kinds of things.
[48.8-58.8] I was simply minding my own business and trying to conduct a business, and when suddenly I began to notice a peculiar sense of shaking in my physical body.
[59.6-74.1] I then went to a favorite physician who examined me and said there was nothing wrong with me, that perhaps I was suffering from a little stress tension, go home and take some aspirin and forget about it.
[74.1-88.5] Unfortunately, this particular funny kind of shaking vibrational state wouldn't be forgotten, and one time I tried to stop it and force myself out of it.
[88.5-103.5] And on another time, a final time, I decided, well, if it's going to kill me, it'll kill me. So I simply let it happen or exist, and after about four or five minutes, this funny kind of vibrational state just faded away.
[103.5-113.6] After that, I became no longer afraid that it was a terrible, terrible thing that might be killing me or a nervous disease or anything like that.
[113.6-122.7] So I just simply waited till I got past this funny kind of a spasm or seizure and then forgot about it.
[122.7-135.1] And on one particular evening, I was lying in bed waiting for this vibrational state to end so that I could in turn go to sleep.
[136.4-151.4] And I was thinking that tomorrow was Saturday and what a nice day it would be to go soaring. I was involved in gliding at the time and that it was a nice cold front day, so the thermal currents should be very, very good.
[151.4-164.7] And as I lay there thinking about that, waiting for this vibrational state to end, I suddenly felt something bumping against my shoulder and turning to look at what was bumping against my shoulder.
[164.7-172.9] This was funny kind of a flat surface. And I thought, well, that's strange. I must have fallen out of bed and I was lying on the floor.
[172.9-178.9] However, I then remembered there was a rug on the floor and this particular flat surface had no rug.
[178.9-189.1] So I rolled a little further and to my great surprise, there was this flat surface and sticking out of the flat surface was something that looked like a fountain.
[189.1-197.1] And observing it a little more closely, I suddenly realized that wasn't a fountain. That was a light fixture hanging down from the ceiling.
[198.1-210.3] And with that, I flopped around and looked down and down below me was a bed and there were two people in the bed and lying there very closely.
[210.3-221.3] I looked and I said, wait a minute, I'm dreaming. There I am in bed and there's my wife in bed. But I said, wait a minute, I'm here. Who is that in bed with my wife?
[222.3-232.7] But it turned out that in a little more closer look, I realized with a shock, very much of a shock that the person lying in bed with my wife was I.
[232.7-240.7] I was the one in bed and with a great scrambling fear, I said, I'm dying. I'm bouncing against the ceiling and I'm dying.
[240.7-247.7] And with that frantic panic stricken effort, I swam through the air and dove at my physical body.
[248.7-256.1] And there was a clicking shock and there I was back in my physical body. I sat up, looked around, everything was quiet.
[256.1-269.1] My wife was quietly in bed and asleep beside me. The room was quiet and I looked up and there was the ceiling and there was the fountain turned into a hanging fixture.
[269.1-272.4] And that was my first out of body experience.
[272.4-282.4] That must have been a rather amazing one at that. Can you give us one or two more vivid examples of this type of experience and how it feels to you as the traveler?
[282.4-295.0] Well, after I became acclimated to that, and I must add that it took a number of times before I became halfway casual about the experience of the out of body.
[296.0-305.0] And after several more visits to the doctor and totally convinced it was an hallucination, I began to experiment with it a little bit.
[305.0-317.1] And it wasn't until perhaps even a year later that I became totally convinced and more than convinced, sure, that it was not an hallucination.
[318.1-330.8] And this took place when on a late Saturday afternoon, I decided when this vibration started that I would simply roll out of my physical body and go visit this psychologist friend, which I did.
[330.8-341.9] It was very easy to roll out. And I went moving out above the house and across the treetops to about, oh, some four or five miles distant.
[341.9-351.9] And as I did, I was searching, seeing it and trying to observe from overhead where my friend's house was.
[351.9-359.0] And having, again, the aircraft experience and flying experience to see things from overhead, it wasn't too hard a spot.
[359.0-375.0] And I then made a diving swoop down into the back part of his yard where I got down just in time to find my friend moving out of his house, wearing a hat and coat and heading for the garage.
[375.0-382.0] And his wife dressed in very dark clothes following him and holding some type of conversation.
[382.0-392.0] And I tried to attract his attention and I could not. However, they got in, went to the garage, got in their car and drove away.
[392.0-404.0] And I figured, well, I know luck. I was unable to get ahold of him. I thought this would be a very interesting attempt at getting a validation of the real existence of this out of body state.
[404.0-415.6] So rather sadly, I turned and wiggled my way back down the hill over the trees and back to my house and got back in my body.
[415.6-421.6] That evening after supper, I reached my friend, my psychologist friend, by phone.
[421.6-425.6] And I asked him what he was doing about four thirty in the afternoon.
[425.6-442.2] And he said, well, I've been sick all day and about four thirty, I got real tired of being sick and I thought I'd go down into the town, down to the small town and down to the store and get something, anything, he said, just to get out of the house.
[442.2-458.4] And my wife followed me and I said, well, were you dressed in a hat? And I remember that a gray hat and an overcoat and what your wife dressed in black and following you about five or ten feet behind you as you went across to the garage.
[458.4-463.4] And there was a pause on the phone and he says, why, yes, how did you know?
[463.4-471.4] And I said, and this was about four thirty. And he says, I tried. I said, thanks. That's just what I felt I needed to know.
[471.4-481.4] And later on, of course, I told him about it and he thought I should go study with a guru in India for about ten or fifteen years and learn how to handle this stuff.
[481.4-490.4] And I said, well, how do I do that when I have a business to run and when I have a mortgage on the house and when I have a wife and a couple of children?
[490.4-495.4] He says, well, that's not my problem. That's yours. So that's one of the typical types of things.
[495.4-500.4] I see. Well, do some of these journeys simply involve movement through space?
[502.1-510.1] Yes, they seem to be what we feel as movement.
[510.1-518.1] The more sophisticated you get in this particular activity, you begin to question the fact that it is really movement.
[518.1-527.1] It seems like movement. But our suspicions are growing that it is more a transition in phase rather than movement.
[527.1-535.1] And it gives you the illusion of movement when in actuality it's simply moving in and out of phase.
[535.1-545.7] But in the early stages, very much you're moving through space. I think the longest conscious space I took was between Virginia and California, I'd say.
[545.7-554.7] And that was you could do it in slow speed or fast speed. And I can remember one time on a super slow speed, I was living in a subdivision at the time.
[554.7-566.9] And I rolled out and headed across. And interestingly enough, I moved slowly through the walls and I came out of our house and there was a space and I went into the next house.
[566.9-573.9] And I went through about eight or nine houses all the way through along the block. It was very interesting. And then I simply picked up speed.
[573.9-579.9] I see. So this is your earthly travel type of thing. Do you also travel in other types of dimensions?
[581.7-593.7] Well, you have to understand that the this second body, as I like to call it, or energy body, it's natural home is in another reality or another energy system.
[593.7-600.0] It is unnatural for it to move in and of itself and by itself.
[600.0-601.0] the earth.
[601.0-606.1] The earth is the same as the earth itself, say in time, space, in and around the earth.
[606.1-610.5] It naturally moves in a, quote, another dimension.
[610.5-616.8] It belongs in this other dimension, which incidentally is the same dimension as it were, same energy
[616.8-619.0] system that you go to when you die.
[619.0-620.5] Oh, really?
[620.5-621.5] Yes.
[621.5-626.0] Would you care to expand on that a little bit further?
[626.0-634.2] Well, one of the things that when my father died about after, I don't know why I said,
[634.2-640.0] I waited about three months and gave him a chance to get settled, I suppose.
[640.0-643.9] I thought, well, I'll see whether I can locate my father.
[643.9-647.3] And it was relatively easy to do so.
[647.3-653.5] When I did find him, he was in sort of a place of recuperation, and he looked at me with
[653.5-658.9] this utter astonishment, and this was the, and he looked at my father about 20 or 25
[658.9-662.2] years younger than the time that he died, and he turned and looked at me, and there
[662.2-664.4] was utter surprise on his face.
[664.4-667.0] I can remember so much, even now.
[667.0-672.6] It was if you had left a friend in New York and gotten on a plane and gone to Paris,
[672.6-674.3] and you got off of Paris and there was your friend.
[674.3-677.6] It was, what are you doing?
[677.6-687.1] And he greeted me in any way that only he would have known that I would have recognized.
[687.1-691.5] This certainly raises some very interesting philosophical and theological questions, but
[691.5-694.3] I don't think we'll get into that right now.
[694.3-699.6] In the same line, though, can you move forward or backward in time?
[699.6-700.8] Yes.
[700.8-709.1] In some of our work, we have worked with a number of people in an experimental level.
[709.1-714.5] We have a system that we set up a state, a state of consciousness where time does not
[714.5-715.5] exist.
[715.5-721.3] And if you think of, we symbolize it as it were, if you think of time as a center
[721.3-728.0] of a hub of a wheel and with time around the rim of the wheel so that if you were
[728.0-736.8] to leave time and enter what we call focus 15 along the spoke of a wheel, say in 1983,
[736.8-742.6] once you have achieved the point where the center of the hub of the wheel is, you can
[742.6-749.6] simply rotate as it were and face another spoke that goes out to another point in time.
[749.6-753.2] And some of the things that we have tried, of course, is one of them.
[753.2-759.4] Our favorite is to go back and rotate around in time until you face the point where you
[759.4-762.9] were five years old, where it was your fifth birthday.
[762.9-769.2] And in doing that, then go out the spoke of the wheel and reenter time and not exactly
[769.2-777.5] experience but be in the same, quote, space as you are or were when you were five years
[777.5-778.5] old.