As I approach the end of Russel's book on Bob Monroe, I am becoming more skeptical, and were it not for my own OBE's, I might dismiss much of it as crackpot stuff. It is not the vagueness of some things that worry me, but the precision of others. For instance, one adept brought out a very specific spiritual guide (time and again) who drew, through conversation, a distinct and intelligible chart of the cosmos. That is, that there are 7 levels of reality divided into 7 parts, making up a tier of 49 shelves. This is called "magical geometry" as it was understood and practiced until the later golden age of Greece, most notably by the Egyptians and its student, Pythagoras. The very distinctiveness makes me queasy - it begins sounding like an ersatz religion like Dyanetics. On the other hand, this psychic informant does add that "this is not the end of it, only one area of reality. There are infinite numbers more." That's more like it, putting it very much in line with Hindu cosmology, where there are wheels within wheels within wheels to a literally astronomical number, each a reality withing a time frame and within another greater reality. The idea of the Hindus being, and one that so far Monroe has not addressed, that the realities are endless, and as such are not ends to themselves; that, in fact, all these circles or levels are a maze from which we should extricate ourselves. The goal is to return to the formless, the Absolute. Monroe sometimes refers to "Home", but so far has not described it as a mystic would describe the Source (as much as it can be described, primarily in negatives).
So we are left playing with infinite realities, whether we like it or not (again as the Eastern religions conclude - unless we free ourselves), and Monroe's maturing reason for being turns to bringing souls - both of the alive and of the dead - to The Park. What is convincing about many of his journeys are that they are replicated in part by others - and the Park becomes a striking example of this. The Park is not Home, but a beautiful open space among sylvan splendor where souls are said to be able to rest and decide (with help) on their future destinations. Many souls, however, get lost in the many- worlds of location 2, or simply refuse to acknowledge that they are dead. Because of this, Monroe decided to give them help, and to train others to do so as well. And when he does, the others do find the Park, and in it, many dead friends and relatives. For instance, one man describes how he meets his grandfather and also his dog, a lab then living with his ex wife and kids. He wonders why the dog, Winslow, is there (usually it is for the dead), and decides whimsically to ask him. Surprisingly he "replies" via telepathy, with "because next time we're together, I want you to name me something better than Winslow." There is humor there (unexpectedly, and thank god), but more: the man finds out several days later from his son that the dog has died. So: here we have a different reality capable of being shared, where many are brought to a certain location to have unique and creative personal experiences - just like here on Earth. In addition, this reality is corroborated by in-world information such as the death of the dog. Very convincing stuff. And as opposed to L Ron Hubbard, it lacks religious dogma (and does not require great expense). We find that Bob Monroe, while all too human, is truly sincere about his mission. The OBE's have truly changed his life.
This brings us to the idea of the "imaginal" , a vision of realities (plural intended) shared by Sufi mystics from a thousand years before - and by the Romantic Poets. For the Sufis - and the Hindu and Buddhist mystics as well - the imagined realities are just as real as this reality - in fact, ours is just another of the many realities made by basic errors in the mind - the primary error being that we, as things and individuals, exist separately from one another (Jesus spoke to correct this error, proclaiming that He and His Father were one, beyond time; and also that we should treat others as ourselves, because in God (Reality with a big R) we ARE our neighbors). It seems that the imagination is a somewhat distorted extension of God in its creator aspect, and that the realities it creates can be as real as any other distinct reality. From what I understand of William Blake, he believed the imagination to be a direct pipeline to God, and its products even closer to reality than this one: thus his firm belief in his frequent visions of angels, Christ and so on.
The implications of separate realites are enormous, at times frightening, and very hard to explain. For Monroe, what separates normal imagination, such as I might have now envisioning, say, a cat, from his, let's say, of the Park? Is it that his imaginings are shared? Is it that these can fill our senses such as smell and touch? Is it that they arise fully and spontaneously? Of what I can tell,yes. Local Out of Body travel is easy to verify - what was so and so doing when you visited her? But travel into other realms, what scientist could touch it? And so we are left only with this kind of proof- that these realities are fully sensed and shared perceptions of places that can be visited again and again.
In fact, this can make one a little uneasy, for from an outside perspective, we can ask no more of our current shared reality; for when you think about it, our world does not necessarily exist outside its own criteria any more than Monroe's other realities (that is, if one is involved in another reality, this one would appear no more real or necessary as the others do to us while in this one). This is the kind of thought you get while stoned, but given the circumstances - and that neither the mystics of religions nor Bob Monroe have been proven to be liars as a whole - what other conclusion can we come to? If our being does not rely on our current physical makeup (like the brain), then other realities can and almost certainly must exist, and these could very possibly be no less real than this one. Might we really have 7 reality levels with 7 subsections, of which the whole is only one cosmos among an infinite number? What crazy kind of world have we been born into? Or so it seems. And the vision of the mystics from this perspective only gets stronger - that there are infinite distractions (imaginary or imaginal or "real" - it makes no difference) but only one Truth, one Absolute that is all and beyond all imaginings. It makes sense.
So, how good or bad for you is this astral travel? And what, I ask again, does Monroe think of Love? Later, FK
So we are left playing with infinite realities, whether we like it or not (again as the Eastern religions conclude - unless we free ourselves), and Monroe's maturing reason for being turns to bringing souls - both of the alive and of the dead - to The Park. What is convincing about many of his journeys are that they are replicated in part by others - and the Park becomes a striking example of this. The Park is not Home, but a beautiful open space among sylvan splendor where souls are said to be able to rest and decide (with help) on their future destinations. Many souls, however, get lost in the many- worlds of location 2, or simply refuse to acknowledge that they are dead. Because of this, Monroe decided to give them help, and to train others to do so as well. And when he does, the others do find the Park, and in it, many dead friends and relatives. For instance, one man describes how he meets his grandfather and also his dog, a lab then living with his ex wife and kids. He wonders why the dog, Winslow, is there (usually it is for the dead), and decides whimsically to ask him. Surprisingly he "replies" via telepathy, with "because next time we're together, I want you to name me something better than Winslow." There is humor there (unexpectedly, and thank god), but more: the man finds out several days later from his son that the dog has died. So: here we have a different reality capable of being shared, where many are brought to a certain location to have unique and creative personal experiences - just like here on Earth. In addition, this reality is corroborated by in-world information such as the death of the dog. Very convincing stuff. And as opposed to L Ron Hubbard, it lacks religious dogma (and does not require great expense). We find that Bob Monroe, while all too human, is truly sincere about his mission. The OBE's have truly changed his life.
This brings us to the idea of the "imaginal" , a vision of realities (plural intended) shared by Sufi mystics from a thousand years before - and by the Romantic Poets. For the Sufis - and the Hindu and Buddhist mystics as well - the imagined realities are just as real as this reality - in fact, ours is just another of the many realities made by basic errors in the mind - the primary error being that we, as things and individuals, exist separately from one another (Jesus spoke to correct this error, proclaiming that He and His Father were one, beyond time; and also that we should treat others as ourselves, because in God (Reality with a big R) we ARE our neighbors). It seems that the imagination is a somewhat distorted extension of God in its creator aspect, and that the realities it creates can be as real as any other distinct reality. From what I understand of William Blake, he believed the imagination to be a direct pipeline to God, and its products even closer to reality than this one: thus his firm belief in his frequent visions of angels, Christ and so on.
The implications of separate realites are enormous, at times frightening, and very hard to explain. For Monroe, what separates normal imagination, such as I might have now envisioning, say, a cat, from his, let's say, of the Park? Is it that his imaginings are shared? Is it that these can fill our senses such as smell and touch? Is it that they arise fully and spontaneously? Of what I can tell,yes. Local Out of Body travel is easy to verify - what was so and so doing when you visited her? But travel into other realms, what scientist could touch it? And so we are left only with this kind of proof- that these realities are fully sensed and shared perceptions of places that can be visited again and again.
In fact, this can make one a little uneasy, for from an outside perspective, we can ask no more of our current shared reality; for when you think about it, our world does not necessarily exist outside its own criteria any more than Monroe's other realities (that is, if one is involved in another reality, this one would appear no more real or necessary as the others do to us while in this one). This is the kind of thought you get while stoned, but given the circumstances - and that neither the mystics of religions nor Bob Monroe have been proven to be liars as a whole - what other conclusion can we come to? If our being does not rely on our current physical makeup (like the brain), then other realities can and almost certainly must exist, and these could very possibly be no less real than this one. Might we really have 7 reality levels with 7 subsections, of which the whole is only one cosmos among an infinite number? What crazy kind of world have we been born into? Or so it seems. And the vision of the mystics from this perspective only gets stronger - that there are infinite distractions (imaginary or imaginal or "real" - it makes no difference) but only one Truth, one Absolute that is all and beyond all imaginings. It makes sense.
So, how good or bad for you is this astral travel? And what, I ask again, does Monroe think of Love? Later, FK
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