<-------------------------------------------------------------------> <___Astral Projection_________>< Brought to you by:_________________> <___Preliminary Exercises_____><_______Arkham Asylum________________> <___By: The Joker_____________><_______(302)-629-5537_______________> <___& The Occult Crue_________><______65 Megz_24oo Baud_____________> <-------------------------------------------------------------------> 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. 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. THE SEPARATION PROCESS After you have achieved the state of vibration and some control of your stage of relaxation, one additional factor must be considered. It is probable that you have already obtained it, since it is ordinarily a product of the previous exercises. However, it should be emphasized. This factor is thought control. In the state of vibration, you are apparently subject to every thought, both willful and involuntary, that crosses your mind. Thus you must be as close to "no thought" or "single thought" (concentration) as possible. If one stray idea passes through your mind, you respond instantly, and sometimes in an undesirable manner. I suspect that one is never completely free of such misdirection. At least I have not been, which may account for the many inexplicable trips to places and people I do not know. They seem to be triggered by thoughts or ideas I didn't realize I had, below the conscious level. The only approach is to do the best you can. With this in mind, the first practices of disassociating the Second from the physical body should be limited in time and action. What follows is designed basically as a familiarization and orientation technique which should permit an approach to disassociation without fear or concern. Release of extremities. This serves to acquaint you with the sensation of the Second Body without full commitment. After relaxation and creation of the vibration state, work with either your right or left hand and arm, one at a time. This is important, as it will be your first affirmation of the reality of the Second. With one hand, reach for any object - floor, wall, door, or whatever - that you remember as being beyond the reach of your physical arm. Reach for that object. Make the reaching process neither upward nor downward, but out in the direction your arm is pointing. Reach as if you were stretching your arm, not raising or lowering it. A variation is simply to reach out with the hand and arm in the same manner with no special object in mind. Often this method is better, as you then have no preconceived idea of what you will "feel." When you reach out in this fashion and feel nothing, push your hand a little farther. Keep pushing gently, as if stretching you arm, until your hand encounters some material object. If the vibration pattern is in effect, it will work, and your hand will eventually feel or touch something. When it does, examine with your sense of touch the physical details of the object. Feel for any cracks, grooves, or unusual details which you will later be able to identify. At this point, nothing will seem unusual. Your sensory mechanisms will tell you that you are touching the object with your physical hand. Here, then, is your first test. After acquainting yourself with the object with your outstretched hand, straighten out your hand and push against the object with your fingertips. You will encounter resistance at first. Push a little harder, and gently overcome the resistance you feel. At this point, your hand will seem to go right through the object. Keep pushing until your hand is completely through the object and meets some other physical object. Identify the second object by touch. Then carefully withdraw your hand, back through the first object, and slowly back to normal, so that it feels as if it is where it "belongs." With this, decrease the vibrations. The best way to do this is slowly to attempt to move the physical body. Think of the physical body, and open your physical eyes. Bring back your physical senses, deliberately. Once the vibrations have faded away completely, lie still for a few minutes for full and complete return. Then get up and make a notation of the object which you "felt," locating it relative to the position of your hand and arm when you were lying down. Note the details of both the first and second objects which you felt. Having done this, compare your description with the actual first object. Make special note of small details which you could not have seen from a distance. Physically feel the object to compare it with what you felt under the vibrations. Examine the second object in the same manner. You may not have been consciously aware of its presence or position prior to the experiment. This too is important. Test the line of direction from the place where your physical hand lay, through the first object and up to the second. Is it a straight line? Check your results. Was the first object you touched physically located at a distance it would have been absolutely impossible to reach without physical movement? Did the details of the object - especially the minute details - coincide with the notes you have made? Make the same comparison for the second object. If your answers are affirmative, you have had your first success. If the facts do not check out, try again another day. Almost without qualification, if you have produced the vibrational state, you can perform this exercise. You can also practice the following quite easily. After producing the vibrational state, lying on your back, arms either at your sides or on your chest, gently lift your arms without looking at them and touch your fingers together. Do this quite casually, abstractly, and remember the sensory results. Once you have clasped your hands above your chest, look at them first with your closed eyes. If you have moved easily enough, you will see both physical and non-physical arms. Your physical arms will be at rest at your side or upon your chest. The sensory impressions will be with the non-physical arms and hands above your physical body. You should test this phenomenon as many times as you wish, however you desire. Prove to yourself that you are moving not your physical arms, but something else. Do it by whatever means are necessary to give you full assurance of this reality. It is important always to return your non-physical arms to full conjunction with their physical counterparts before "shutting off" the vibration state. Although there may be no severe aftereffect if this is not done, I think it best not to find out in the early stages. Disassociation technique. The simplest method to use in separating from the physical is the "lift-out" procedure. The intent here it not to travel to far-off places, but to get acquainted with the sensation in your own room, with familiar surroundings. The reason for this is that the first true experience will then be examined and explored with identifiable points of reference. In order to assist in this orientation, it is better that these first complete disassociation exercises be conducted during daylight. Test for yourself your needs in regard to the amount of light in the room. Avoid using an electric light if possible. To establish the condition, achieve the vibrational state, and maintain complete control of your thought processes. You are going to stay only in the confines of your familiar room. Think of getting lighter, of floating upward, of how nice it would be to float upward. Be sure to think how nice it would be, as the subjective associated thought is most important. You want to do this because it is something you will respond to emotionally; you react even before the act, in anticipation. If you continue to hold only these thoughts, you will disassociate and float gently upward from your physical. You may not achieve it the first time, or the second. But quite surely, if you have achieved the preceding exercises, you will achieve it. A second method is the "rotation" technique, which has been mentioned elsewhere. Under the same prescribed conditions, slowly try to turn over, just as if you were turning over in bed to be more comfortable. Make no attempt to help yourself rotate with either arms or legs. Start turning by twisting the top of your body, your head and shoulders, first. By all means move slowly, exerting gently but firm pressure. If you do not, you may become loose and actually spin like a log rolling in water before you can alter the pressure. Such action is disconcerting only because you may lose all orientation and be forced to find your way back carefully in rotation juncture. The ease with which you begin to turn, with no friction or sense of weight, will inform you that you have begun to succeed in disassociating. As this happens, turn slowly until you feel that you have moved 180 degrees (i.e., face to face with your physical body). It is uncanny how you will recognize this position. this 180 degrees about face is merely two 90 degree turns, and without orientation, it is easy to sense. Once you are in the 180 degree position, stop the rotation by merely thinking of doing so. Without hesitation, think of floating upward, backing up away from the physical body. Again, if you have reached the vibrational state successfully, this method will surely bring results. Of the two separation techniques, the first should be tried before the second. Then, after both have been examined and tested, the one that seems easiest to you should be utilized. Local experiments and familiarization. Once you have succeeded in the separation process, it is most important for your own objective continuity that you remain in complete control. The only possible way to do this seems to be by staying close to the physical in the early stages. Whatever you may feel emotionally, keep in close proximity to the physical. This admonition is made not because of any known danger, but so that you will maintain a step-by-step familiarity and thus perceive for yourself exactly what is taking place. Wild, uncontrolled trips at this stage may well produce uncomfortable situations and conditions that will force you to relearn much of what you have already achieved. The process of mental acclamation will be different from any you have ever consciously experienced. The gradual adaptation will greatly enhance your peace of mind and confidence. At this point, the principal exercise is to return. Keep your separation distance no more than three feet away, hovering over the physical. Do not make any attempt at this time to move laterally or farther "up." How do you know how far aware you are? Again, this is something you sense. Your vision now is zero. You have conditioned yourself not to open your eyes, and let them remain closed for the moment. Stay close to the physical. The mental concept of this will keep you in proper range. For the next three or four exercises, do nothing but practice getting "out" and returning to the physical. To return under these conditions, merely "think" yourself back into the physical, and you will return. If you have used the first method of separation, the reintegration is relatively simple. When you are back in exact alignment, you will be able to move any portion of the physical body and reactivate any or all of your physical senses. Each time you return, open your physical eyes and physically sit up so that you know you are completely "back together." This is to ensure orientation, to instill confidence that you can return at will, and most important, to assure yourself of continued contact with the material world in which you now belong. Whatever you believe, this reassurance is most necessary. If you have applied the rotation method, move slowly back toward the physical, again by thinking of it, and when you feel you have made complete contact, start your rotation back 180 degrees to conjunction with the physical. It seems to make no difference whether you continue the circle of rotation or reverse and turn back in a motion opposite to that which helped you release. In both techniques, there seems to be a slight, click-like jerk when you are again in conjunction with the physical. An exact description of this sensation is quite difficult, but you will recognize it. Always wait a few moments before sitting up after you have returned, primarily to avoid any possible uneasiness. Give yourself some time to readjust to the physical environment. The physical act of sitting up provides evidence of continuity in a demonstrable form; you will know that you can consciously, willfully act in a physical movement interspersed with experiments in the non-physical environment and retain conscious awareness throughout the process. You will have completed the cycle when you are able to separate, return to the physical, sit up and note the time, go back to the separation process, and return to the the physical a second time, all without loss of conscious continuity. The notation of the clock reading will help in this. The next step in familiarization is to separate to a slightly farther distance, applying the same procedures. Any distance up to ten feet will do. Always keep mental concentration on a single purpose without stray though patterns, especially in these extended exercises. After you have become accustomed to the feeling of being more "apart," mentally tell yourself that you can see. Do not think of the act of opening your eyes, as this may well transmit you to the physical and diminish the vibrational state. Instead, think of seeing, that you can see - and you will see. There will be no sensation of eye opening. The blackness will just disappear suddenly. At first, your seeing may be dim, as if in half-light, indistinct or myopic. It is not known at present why this is so, but with use, your vision will become more sharp. The first sight of your physical body lying below you should not be unnerving if you have applied the previous exercises. After you are satisfied that it is "you" lying there, visually examine the room from the perspective of your position. Mentally move slightly in one direction or another, slowly and never violently. Move your arms and legs to reassure yourself of your mobility. Roll around and cavort in the new element if you wish, always staying within the prescribed range of the physical. ---