In 1958, Robert Monroe, a Virginia businessman, began to have experiences that drastically altered his life. Unpredictably, and without his willing it, Monroe found himself leaving his physical body to travel, via a “second body,” to locales far removed from the physical and spiritual realities of his life. He was inhabiting a place unbounded by time or death. The author tells of his initial resistance to these “out of body” experiences, which soon began to appear with alarming frequency. As time went by, however, his fears were alleviated by his discovery of a long history of these experiences in the literature of the East, as well as a surprisingly large “underground” in this country, made up of people who had shared Monroe’s experiences. This book is the gripping personal account of Monroe’s courageous adventure into the unknown. This fully-documented, first-hand story challenges the reader to explore the limits of our physical universe-and re-think his ideas of life and death. For the adventurous, the author also provides instructions on how to initiate the out-of-body experience.
10 reviews for Journeys Out of the Body
Justin Rodgers –
If you are deep into the subject matter and have familiarity with Bob Monroe’s audio materials you may find this book a great read. He is very careful to assure the reader he doesn’t intend to impose a belief system on the reader as an absolute truth or directly claim to have answers. If you are a curious passerby, you may find some of the information a bit wordy and dry, subject matters not embellished for entertainment. It is the closest thing (I’ve read so far) to a 1950’s-70’s era scientist applying scientific method to something ultimately denied by the scientific community.A good portion will be his research notes organized by subject matter in an order designed to make some concepts easy to grasp (since the order of the experiences don’t always yield a great “teaching” order). You will see a lot of his thought process during these tests. It feels very honest without much push to believe him. Different than many other books that claim to teach the neophyte, there is no preditorial hooks attempting to manipulate any emotionally vulnerable readers looking for the secrets or short cuts.Right about the time I felt like this would be another book where the author is just beating around the bush and blowing smoke, he hits with a section all about his step-by-step processes and their importance. Having taken one of the entry level courses from the Monroe Institute already, I felt like this section was a great way to follow that class with “meat and potatos” and I realized so many things I was doing wrong (distractions that inhibit results) and he did such a thorough job to lay out expectations of what success looks like.As he gets into some theories later in the book, stating that it’s a very loose idea that is for consideration, I felt an eery correlation with a few other unrelated bodies of work. It seems like a good fragment of one’s seeking journey as long as it isn’t taken as a singular source of truth. If you combine it with a passionate seeking into many different “underground” subjects you may see this book as aMust Read.My personal addition to this book is that it did take place in a different era. He illustrates a small number of observations correlating the Second Body with electricity and magnetic fields (I think ghost buster traps). In a much more dense day and age with intensely charged magnetic fields, radio frequencies, wifi, Bluetooth etc. I started to get the impression that if you feel suppressed in your spiritual experiences, consider there may be a correlation to the density of computer equipment in your meditation space. A sylvan environment with as little wireless data as possible is my next test.
Amazon Customer –
Nice find, great it is still in print and available in paperback. Gave it to my psychic daughter who is interested in this topic of study. c
Ross McKenna –
Great read!
Tammy W. Z. –
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, however; I found it rather disconnected. At times, I felt lost like maybe I skipped something. But, I appreciate his work, very much.
Steven Christie –
I don’t know what to make of this book. I read it because Dr. Eben Alexander cited it in his book.From my reading, the author Robert Monroe, a very educated, accomplished, and obviously functional member of society, with candor and apparent sincerity, describes decidedly otherworldly experiences. And he does so in detail and with the same sort of random narration of people, places, and events that somebody might write into their personal journal during a trip to, say, Europe or the Far East. I’ve never quite read anything like it before, regarding its scope and breadth. This puts Dr. Alexander’s brief account into much broader perspective, to say the least. It’s so interesting and inspires intense curiosity, but I’m afraid that I’ve absolutely no basis to fairly evaluate the larger question that many reading this book surely must ask: did this really happen? I don’t know how to begin to answer that without making the journey for myself, and I’m not sure if I can even do that. This is all new to me. The thought that somebody might actually leave their body shocks my admittedly pedestrian notions of reality.The book receives 5 stars for making me sincerely wonder what happen to him, the how and why. This doesn’t read like fiction or somebody’s dream journal. He’s not crazy, and he had no apparent, ulterior motive to write this book, either. So what happened to him? The questions it raises and possible answers obviously carry great weight and importance.
Gnome De Plume –
This book is a great overview of what Robert Monroe’s experiences with Astral Projection, as well as how to induce them yourself. In the book, Monroe didn’t intend to have them, they just happened one morning while he was experimenting with memory retention and audiotapes. He does not try to push any agendas or lead the reader to believe something is absolutely true, he leaves that to the reader themselves.He did some experiments with AP at a university, he goes about analyzing his experiences with a non judgmental attitude. He tries to convey his experiences without over analyzing them.Robert Monroe’s experiences with the beings he encountered are very informative, especially if you want to attempt an OBE. He says that ‘like attracts like’ in the afterlife, as it seems to do in this dimension as well. Thoughts are very powerful ‘over there’ and when you are out of your body you can’t hide your true self.I would definitely recommend this book if you want to have an OBE yourself, and want to read about the many entities and experiences he encountered, as well as how he dealt with them, like the black hole that appeared in front of him, and the hand that grabbed his when he stuck it in there!
Sunil Pandey –
I was hoping that writer could connect his astral projections to spirituality, but I did not feel that way. Most of the claims sounded like stories to me, with hardly any spiritual lessons to learn.
Emily Hayles –
Bought this because I accidentally astral projected and wanted clarity around the whole thing. Extremely knowledgeable and no bs. Everything is backed up and clear to understand. Amazing descriptive voyages into the astral plane. Also aligned perfectly with my perspective of the things I perceived whilst projecting.
K.V.Veloo –
“Journeys out of the Body” by Robert Monroe”Robert Monroe’s book is an easy, informative and interesting read compared to William Buhlman’s “Adventures beyond the Body” which is rather technical. It is a must read for those interested in or who wish to explore out of body experience.Monroe’ discovery, experiments and records of his second body engaged in astral projections and viewing out of the body experience are, indeed, a phenomenon. Some may be consider them as dreams or hallucinations that appear real but are actually created by the mind.Robert Monroe hopes that someday “our life sciences will unravel this knowledge and a new era will be born for mankind”Astral travelling is not new. In theosophy we learn of the astral body or double permeates the physical body. At the great Vesak Festival held once a year in Lord Maitreya’s residence in the Himalayas, the brotherhood travels to the meeting via astral projection.Experiments in out of body journeys are not for the weak-hearted. The greatest fear is whether one will be able to return to the physical body. The interesting part is one can see what happens to people in various time frames and situations. Surprisingly sexual desires are heightened during the second body state. It varies in intensity with the opposite sex but the act itself is “not an act at all but an immobile, rigid state of shock where the two truly intermingle”With so much power in the out of body experience one wonders if one can meet up with dead parents and relatives. It is not considered in the book although the author states that he finds no “evidence to substantiate the biblical notions of God and afterlife in a place called heaven”.In conclusion one may ask what is the personal benefit of all these out of the body experience? It seems it is more of a personal experience.
Stella Carrier –
This kindlebook that is Journeys Out of the Body; The Classic Work On Out of Body Experience by Robert A Monroe features the author’s experiences of juggling his career life and spiritual mystical life. I admit that I purchased this book over 16 months ago (May 5, 2017) and I do derive some benefit from this kindlebook while I admit to needing more time to reconcile some of the references made to what could be earth plane parallel realities. Monroe’s mystical experiences in this book sometimes touch upon sleeptime dreams relating to other planes of existence that would need to be looked at with an open mind. One of the experiences that I did find heartfelt in his kindlebook was when he recalled why he wishes he would have went to Europe with one of his friends when the chance was offered to him. Still, I am glad to have obtained this book for some of the out of body mystical experiences that the author shared for further intuitive and spiritual understanding and I’m aware that the way I feel about this book can possibly change more over time which is why I intend to keep this kindlebook.