The interrupted journey

Robert Monroe was a pioneer in the research of out-of-body experiences, from the standpoint of a non-sceptic "true believer". The Monroe Institute seems to have become a kind of crack New Age course, where the students could learn to master the occult technique of astral projection. Monroe himself claims to have travelled out-of-body on countless occasions.

Monroe wrote three books about his experiences: "Journeys out of the body", "Far journeys" and "Ultimate Journey". They are somewhat different. In the first book, Monroe's encounters with spirit-beings from the astral realms are frequently bizarre, threatening and somewhat demonic. The threatening aspect is absent in "Far journeys", and in "Ultimate journey" the atmosphere changes from quasi-rationalist to more traditionally Theosophical.

"Far journeys" feels very disjointed, with several different strands of material thrown in: descriptions of the Monroe Institute and its Hemi-Synch technology, out-of-body experiences of Monroe's students (or subjects), channelled messages... The bulk of the book contains Monroe's description of meetings with two spirit-beings called AA and BB. They both hail from another planet, and visit Earth onboard a cruise ship for reasons of recreation. For some reason, AA decides to investigate further and is trapped in the human reincarnation cycle, with BB and Monroe desperately trying to rescue him. It's implied that AA is actually Monroe himself in an earlier existence! Since time and space don't exist in the astral worlds, it's apparently possible to live a kind of "parallel lives" up there.

The book occasionally sounds pretty bizarre, as when Monroe claims that the Earth and humanity were created with the sole purpose of producing "loosh", a substance various alien races need for sustenance (or recreation?). Apparently, the best way to produce "loosh" is to create a never-ending cycle of conflict and conflict-resolution. The author was supposedly shocked by this revelation, and it's unclear to what extent he really believes it. The INSPECS, a kind of benevolent spirits overseeing human evolution, deny that "loosh" has anything to do with it. Somehow, we are at a loss about what actually to believe!

On some points, "Far journeys" feel self-contradictory. Thus, Monroe claims that nobody has been possessed during experiments at the Monroe Institute, but in an earlier chapter we were told about disembodied souls speaking to Monroe through the mouths of his experimental subjects. Surely channelled messages are a form of "possession"? Monroe claims that out-of-body travel is harmless, but in his first book, his soul was constantly attacked by malevolent beings.

In one of the last chapters, Monroe speculates about the nature of energy, matter and time. He somehow believes that souls incarnate as humans as a learning experience. Where we go once we "graduate" is never really explained. (In a previous chapter, Monroe claims that Earth will become a kind of paradise in AD 3000.) There's no God, only a long chain of creators who created other creators, etc. Good and evil are said to be relative concepts. The worldview of Monroe sounds somewhat bleak and reminds me of Scientology: pantheism plus confused spirits, minus deities, saviours or ascended masters.