Journeys Out of the Body

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What a great book! - Rated
I recently read Robert Monroe's 'Journeys out of the Body' - what a great book!
When you consider that these experiences happened predominantly to him in 50's America, and he was a respected businessman from a pretty traditional background, in that sense he was a real pioneer! He had to overcome a great deal of fears that perhaps do not exist in today's more spiritually open-minded Western culture. In this book he documents his out of body experiences, and the most notable thing is his almost obsessive desire to try and provide proof that these experiences are real, and not just a remarkable variety of dream. I think that anyone reading this book will come away feeling inspired and with a genuine sense of warmth for the author. Perhaps the best tribute I could pay to this book is that the night after reading the first couple of chapters I had my first OBE - thanks Bob! (First in the sense of actually experiencing getting up out of my sleeping physical body.) I would dearly love to find evidence as he appears to have done that this was a 'real' experience.

So it was with great excitement that I began to read the second in the series - 'Far Journeys'. This so far has been a real disappointment - even saddening. It describes how he and a small group of regular members started using technological devices, (largely audio tapes called Hemi-Sync with voiceovers.) To me this starts to sound a lot like hypnotic induction, and together this group begin to experience during the experiments what I guess you could describe as channeling aliens! To me it really seemed to document the descent into a kind of group hysteria, to the point where they even invent an unnecessary 'cultish' kind of language to describe their experiences. Robert's writing style also becomes disjointed and artificial. To be honest, I don't think I can even bring myself to finish the book. But I guess I will, and will probably read 'Ultimate Journey' just to see how the guy ended up.

Still, I suspect if he were alive today he would probably appreciate the gesture of me writing how much I enjoyed the first book, but tell me 'boy are you wrong about the second one'. Who knows.

A forerunner to Far Journeys - Rated
This was Monroe's first book on the subject of out of body experiences. It is an interesting book as an introduction to the OBE experiences and the beginning of a long and selfless journey for Monroe. I read this after reading "Far Journeys" and was dissapointed, but only because his second book was so incredibly well written and gave so much food for thought. This will give anyone interested in Monroe an in depth backround on his life and how he ended up starting The Monroe Institute. I reccomend this for people interested in the biography of Monroe.

A classic on OBE - Rated
This is a classic work on out of body travel by Robert Monroe who since then has set up the Monroe Institute to help others discover their true selves beyond the physical body. The book contains his encounters with dimensions beyond the physical realm. Robert never claims to be an expert at out of body travel and this is his attempt to convey what he saw and experienced during his frequent travels beyond the physical dimension. Excellent book for anyone interested in Astral Projection. The other recommended titles to read by the same author are "Far Journeys " and "The Ultimate Journey"

An interesting book of dreams - Rated
I found the book to be an interesting description of an illustrative man's dreams. DREAMS. Monroe makes a giant leap of faith and disregards any connection towards a logical, believable explanation of the events that occured to him. Maybe he should consider different states of consciousness as possible explanations? Or lucid dreaming? People seem to underestimate the power of the brain to make up experiences that seem incredibly realistic. Most people believe what they so desperately want to believe, whether in an OBE or flying turtles. Whatever makes you feel better. Its just a shame when a man such as Monroe capitalizes on such a desire for understanding.

The book that launched my life. - Rated
After reading this book I started looking at the world around me differently. If you read this book and enjoyed it, I definately suggest you get his other books. They are just as good as this one.