Robert Monroe - Journeys out of the body, Practical Guidebook

Deliberate entry into the phase using any technique

+1

The phase world was realistic or was made realistic

+1

Phase was of average or above-average duration (2 minutes or

+1

more)

Deliberate use of the phase to work towards a specific goal

+1

Deliberately studying the phase or experimenting with it while

+1

in it.

If there is some doubt any regarding any item, only half a point should be awarded.

Chapter 13 - Putting a Face on the Phenomenon

Stephen LaBerge

Stephen LaBerge was born in 1947 in the United States. At the age of 19, he received a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics from Arizona

State University, after which he enrolled as a graduate student in the Chemistry program at Stanford University. In 1969, he took an academic

leave of absence.

He returned to Stanford in 1977 and began

studying the human mind, including subjects related to dreaming. LaBerge received his Ph.D. in psychophysiology in 1980. He founded the Lucidity Institute in 1987.

Stephen LaBerge has made the largest scientific contribution to the study of phase states. It suffices to say that LaBerge was the first in the world to prove during a full-fledged scientific experiment that it is possible to become conscious while dreaming This was done through logging specific signals made with the eyes by a person dreaming while sleeping under measurement instruments. These experiments also proved that eye movement in the physical body and perceived body are synchronous.

Lucid Dreaming , first published in 1985, is LaBerge's most well-known book. Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, a book that LaBerge wrote with Howard Rheingold, was published in 1990. It was mainly thanks to the efforts of LaBerge that mind-machines for achieving dream consciousness were created, such as DreamLight, NovaDreamer, and DreamMaker.

The key feature of LaBerge’s work and achievements is an absolutely pragmatic approach to the nature of the phenomenon.

Arguably, he is one of the few authors and researchers totally lacking in irrationality. Everything that can be read and learned from his books is verifiable and accessible for everyone, with no peddling of out-of-this-world superpowers.

Carlos Castaneda

Due to Carlos Castaneda’s desire to follow the

spiritual practice of the Warrior’s Path, which entails erasing one’s personal history, the details of his biography are unclear. As far as Castaneda’s early years are concerned, it can only

be stated that he was born outside of the United

States sometime between 1925 and 1935. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 1960s, where he received a Ph.D. in anthropology on the basis of his books.

Castaneda’s entire life path was devoted to studying the teachings of a certain Juan Matus or don Juan Cachora. It is more than likely that his persona is a composite-image of an Indian Shaman, a sorcerer, and an heir of the culture of the ancient “Toltecs”.

Castaneda wrote a dozen books; however, the book The Art of Dreaming (1993) has the most to do with the phase state. It contains several effective techniques for entering the phase through dream consciousness. His subject matter is soaked in a large amount of mysticism and virtually devoid of any pragmatism.

Despite the fact that the main orientation of Castaneda’s work did not touch upon the phase state, he nevertheless became one of the founding fathers of this field, as his general popularity reached massive proportions worldwide.

Carlos Castaneda passed away in 1998.

Robert A. Monroe

Robert Monroe was born in the United States

in 1915. In 1937, he graduated from Ohio State

University with a degree in Engineering. He worked for some time as a radio program producer and director until he established his own

radio company in New York, which rapidly expanded.

In 1956, his company also conducted a study

about the effect of sound waves on the abilities of the mind.

In 1958, Monroe had an accidental personal experience with the phase phenomenon, which strongly stoked his interest in the subject to which he would devote his entire career. In 1974, he founded the Monroe Institute, which was entirely devoted to studying unusual states of consciousness and the ability to influence them through audio stimulation and other technologies. One of its main achievements was the creation of the Hemi-Sync system, which was designed to help a person reach altered states of consciousness, including out-of-body states, by synchronizing the two hemispheres of the brain.

His first book, Journeys Out of the Body , was published in 1971.

Two books then followed: Far Journeys (1985) and Ultimate Journey (1994).

Robert Monroe has, so far, made the largest contribution toward popularizing the phase state. However, he understood the phase more as an actual exit of the mind from the body, which is why the term

“out-of-body experience” (OBE) was introduced. The book Journeys Out of the Body was such a massive success that Monroe quickly became an undisputed authority in the field.

However, the large influence of mysticism on Monroe’s work and views cannot be ignored. This is especially apparent after his second book. The majority of phenomena described in the book have not been verified in practice. The only attempt at conducting a full-

fledged scientific experiment proving that the mind left the body was unsuccessful. In the end, typical misconceptions about the phase became widespread, as did awareness of the existence of out-of-body experiences.

Robert Monroe passed away in 1995.

Patricia Garfield

Patricia Garfield was born in 1934 in the United States. From the age of 14, she kept an uninterrupted daily dream journal that would allow

her and all of humanity great insight into dreams

phenomena associated with the phase.

She was one of the founders of The Association

for the Study of Dreams. Dr. Garfield holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

She is the author of a great number of books, with the 1974 best-seller Creative Dreaming being the most widely lauded. It was one of the first pieces of literature to approach the phase state in a practical and non-specialist way, and received worldwide interest and appreciation. The book contains good practical guidelines and also describes the dreaming practices of various cultures.

Sylvan Muldoon

Sylvan Muldoon was born in the United States in 1903. He is considered to be the American pioneer in the study of the phase, although he used the esoteric term astral . He inadvertently woke up in the phase at the age of

12, where he saw a cord connecting his perceived

body to his real body. Muldoon first thought that

he was dying during the experience, although he

eventually concluded that this was an instance of

“astral projection”. He had repeated experience with the

phenomenon, but Muldoon was still unable to become an advanced practitioner due to a lack of full control over the practice.

After coordinating efforts with Hereward Carrington, the famous American investigator of the unknown, the two published the sensational, jointly authored book The Projection of the Astral Body in 1929. The authors published two other books: The Case for Astral Projection (1936) and The Phenomena of Astral Projection (1951).

Despite a large serving of esotericism, Muldoon’s books, (especially the first one) contain a lot of helpful, practical information and explanation of the most diverse phenomena that can occur during the phase. However, Muldoon is considered to be the greatest popularizer of irrational esoteric terms and theories, which subsequently became quite widespread.