OOBE Isn't Necessary?

Many questions submitted by readers center around my claim that of Out Of Body Experience (OOBE) is unnecessary for the Afterlife exploration that I do.

The classic definition of OOBE usually includes statements like: awareness of being in a separate, nonphysical body; seeing your physical body lying on the bed, traveling to various locations within a nonphysical body and so on. In my lifetime I've had two or three such experiences and they all occurred in the mid-1970's. The first such experience led me to find Robert Monroe's first book, Journeys Out of The Body, which convinced me what was happening wasn't the onset of some mental derangement. Since childhood I'd been curious about where we go after we die and I saw OOBE as a means to explore the question. After reading Bob's book, I became obsessed with learning how to get "out of my body" and be able to explore as he did. I began a years long quest after the "Holy Grail" of OOBE. After several months of continuous effort I succeeded in "getting out of my body." I traveled to a physical world location and observed things that were later verified by the people I'd been watching. That story is recounted in my first book, Voyages into the Unknown

My obsession continued for months with little success, and I gradually lost interest in the quest. Years later I found Bob's second book, Far Journeys, and it renewed my obsession. Then, in a magazine article, I found out about The Monroe Institute and bought the first set of home study tapes. For months I worked diligently, trying to go OOB, again to no avail. Finally, in frustration, I decided to go to the Institute's Gateway Voyage program, figuring it would teach me to go OOB much faster. That's what I thought Gateway Voyage was all about, learning to consciously go OOB. That didn't happen for me and what did was so much more valuable it completely blew me away! I came back from Gateway Voyage with the beginnings of an understanding of what "more than my physical body" means. To my dismay, I also discovered the years of effort to go OOB, so I could explore the nonphysical world, had been a complete waste of time.

Gateway Voyage taught me to communicate with a greater part of myself, a part that exists in the nonphysical world. It taught me that exploring the nonphysical world was easier than I could have imagined. Still, it took me almost three years to fully accept how easy it truly is. Once I'd learned to focus my awareness into the Focus levels of Gateway Voyage, and later Lifeline, I learned to use imagination as a tool of communication. That was the most important key to unlocking the ability to explore. I resisted and fought with myself for a very long time before I finally came to accept it. For all that time I still harbored the notion that somehow what I was doing was all made up in my head. This was partly due to my belief that since I wasn't exploring in exactly the same way Bob Monroe did, it wasn't real. My first two books recount my journey as I moved from discarding my nonphysical world experiences, as mere figments of my imagination, to full acceptance of their reality. At end of a three year journey, I gathered irrefutable evidence of the Afterlife's existence. Since then my nonphysical perception has opened beyond my wildest dreams! My primary reason for writing both books is to share that experience, to tell you the things that worked and the things that didn't. It's my hope that others questing for Afterlife Knowledge will recognize the landmarks I've pointed out on their journeys.

So, if I don't use OOBE as the method of exploring the nonphysical world, what do I use? First, I can't overstress the importance of my attending the Lifeline program. In it I learned to focus my awareness into the areas of human consciousness where nonphysical humans reside, the Afterlife. The training and support of The Monroe Institute staff was essential for me. That done, all that was left was to learn to FEEL what was going on within my awareness in these Focus levels. I learned to become aware of impressions, feelings, thoughts and emotions. At the same time I had to learn about the power of my beliefs and how they blocked my perception. I had to learn how to identify and then change or eliminate those beliefs. Lifeline didn't teach me that, I had to struggle through it and learn by doing. Voyage Beyond Doubt, my second book, deals extensively with this aspect of learning to explore the Afterlife. During this phase of my development, I learned techniques which effectively deal with perception-blocking beliefs. I also learned, by trial, a lot about techniques that are completely worthless. It's my hope that what I've written will shorten other's journey of Knowing into weeks or months, in place of the years it's taken me since finding Bob's first book in the mid-1970s.

So, again, how do I do it? It took two, 330+ page manuscripts to fully explain it, but basically, I begin by lying down and relaxing into a Focus 10 state. Then I shift my awareness to the Focus level in which I want to be working. That work could be the retrieval of a specific deceased person, moving a ghost out of someone's home or business, or detailed exploration of some aspect of the Afterlife or beyond. Once in that Focus level, I place my intent on whatever I desire to accomplish. Then I wait, being open to whatever impressions, feelings, thoughts or emotions are within my awareness. Generally there is an initial impression which may be visual, auditory, of a feeling nature, or other form of knowing. Focusing my attention on this initial impression usually leads to awareness in a fuller, richer environment of impressions. I am almost always aware of my physical body and surroundings to some extent during these experiences. There are powerful techniques disclosed in my books which make this whole process work.

The method I use probably sounds a little too simple. I'll admit, the brief description above leaves out a myriad of details all contained in both my books. At the very least I hope it shows that an exotic technique, like OOBE, is not what I'm doing. That description also ignores how the journey that led to this method changed me forever. Not all of those changes were easy. Through my hindsight I hope what I've written in my books will make your journey easier.

Now, some of the specific questions from readers.

Q: In order to go the focus levels Robert Monore did, I thought I had to literally leave my body. I don't have to?
A: In my experience, no. Monroe described how he experienced perception in the nonphysical world. His Hemi-Sync® system allows one to develop such perception without the necessity of OOBE.

Q: How do your experiences and techniques compare to Robert Monroe's? Are they the same?
A: As explained above I don't use an OOBE technique, so my experiences are different from that perspective. For me, what's important is that I've been able to explore the Afterlife and verify my experiences there as real."

Q: Are the techniques you use the same as those taught during Lifeline? I thought those people were going OOB?
A: The basic techniques I use are what people are taught in Lifeline. There might have been a few people who were using an OOB technique, but that's not what Lifeline taught.

Q: If you're not OOB, then how can you "be" somewhere? You talk about taking "trips", what part of you "takes a trip?" If it is your "attention" what part of you is that?
A: If you sat on your sofa and imagined taking a trip to the grocery store you might start by imagining you get into your car and back out of your driveway. With your eyes closed you might imagine passing some of the landmarks along the way. You might see yourself parking your car and going into the store to shop. You might even get short visual impressions of the "trip." All these imaginings occur within your awareness. In principal what I do is no different then your "trip" to the grocery store. I've just learned to bring into awareness "trips" to the nonphysical world.

Q: Often when I call a friend who lives 400 miles away, he answers the phone by saying, "Hello Eric." Was it my attention that reach him, his that connected with me, or both?
A: The way I would say it that you both came into each other's awareness.

Q: If time is not a factor, then neither is space. Quantum theory holds that something which happens "here" also happens "there," though the other "place" be 3 billion light years away. Are you "traveling" by simply focusing your attention. Is the connection "always in place" and you're just using your ability to become aware of it?
A: That's a good way to put it. The connection between myself, whatever that is, and something 3 billion light years away is always there. I've just learned to bring it into my awareness. In other words, in terms of "space," our connections extend to the "limits of space" and beyond. We just learn to focus our attention to bring the connections into our awareness.

Q: What are some ways of recognizing the different Focus levels and remembering them?
A: Early in my training, Gateway Voyage and Lifeline, each Focus level had a specific set of "feelings" or "sensations" to me. Focus 10, deeply relaxed, Focus 12, a feeling of expansion, Focus 15, an absolute stillness and so on. As I gathered more experience I came to trust that when intended to be in a particular Focus level I "was there." Now I determine Focus levels more the kinds of activity I "feel" around me or that the inhabitants are doing. To be honest I give less importance to the specific Focus level I'm in now, and just intend my activity and lots of times let the Focus levels take care of themselves.

Q: Any tips on learning to focus your attention on a different Focus level?
A: The method taught in Monroe Institute programs is very effective. Using a Hemi-Sync tape, allow yourself to shift to the Focus level on the tape. While there, visualize your personal identification code (PIC) symbol with the Focus level number next to it. Your PIC is a simple symbol of your choosing, mine's a certain triangle. From then on, trust that when you visualize your PIC with the Focus level number next to it, you'll be in that level. You must do this using a tape for each Focus level so you're certain which one you're in. It was hard for me to believe this could work, but I know now that it does.

Q: Was it the feedback you got from others that made it "real" for you?
A: For the most part, yes, in several ways. Before I started partnered exploring, this feedback came in the form of information from a physically living person which verified something I'd found out in the nonphysical world. The grandmother retrieval story is an example. I received a woman's name from the deceased woman which turned out to be correct. Partnered exploring brought direct, verifiable feedback of shared activities. That accelerated the process greatly. What finally "made it real" for me was resolution of my beliefs which conflicted with my experience.

Q: What is your experience, if any, with other beings interacting with humans in the Afterlife. Is there a connection with E.T. phenomena?
A: The vast majority of my experience exploring the Afterlife has been with interaction between human beings. During the Exploration 27 program at The Monroe Institute, I had a little experience with intelligences from other parts of our universe. Those stories are in my third book, Voyages Into the Afterlife: Charting Unknown Territory.

Q: Why do you think it's so difficult for those of us who really desire to understand and have curiosity to get past the barriers?
A: The strongest influence, I believe, is that we intentionally closed down our awareness level just to survive as a coherent conscious being in the physical world. The next most powerful influence in my experience are our beliefs. Beliefs act upon our perception in subtle, incredibly powerful ways. In any conflict between belief and perception, belief almost always wins.

Q: In the case of Max (from the Max's Hell article), if he knew he was dead, why didn't he question his situation?
A: As far as Max knew, he was alive. What he didn't know was that he was in a Focus 25 Hell. As far as he was concerned he just lived in a place where everyone was out to get him and he was out to get everyone else. Since his attention was focused in this place he spent all of his time dealing with his situation. My third book Voyages Into the Afterlife: Charting Unknown Territory explores Max's Hell, and others, in further detail, revealing more about what holds him there and more about how people like Max can get out.