“We are expressions of energy. Consciousness is focused energy. Energy focused is exponential. Consciousness is a form of energy at work.” - Robert A. Monroe
Bob Monroe didn’t so much catalyze our culture’s recognition of out-of-body experiences as he opened the way for OBE-ers to know and understand what they were experiencing. At some level, he made nonphysical travel socially acceptable. Among the unique perspectives one gains from those states, those deep and special states of awareness, are characteristic manifestations of focused energy, including sexual energy.
Readers of Bob’s books will remember his concern and embarrassment with feeling manipulated by his own sexual arousal while out of body. To his ire, he felt unable to control the urges, which had begun to interrupt his OB travels. He eventually discovered mental tools that allowed him to move past that block and function freely.
Thanks to Bob’s candid admissions we, too, are freer to notice and accept that form of “energy at work” in ourselves. One venue in which consciousness and sexual energy are predictably apparent is the Monroe Institute residential programs. Like Bob, participants sometimes feel waylaid by a sudden spontaneous focus on sex. Thanks to the skill and experience of our trainers, participants can be coached to redirect that energy, to learn from it, and to use it to their best advantage. What that best advantage might be, varies widely.
Below, excerpted from Far Journeys (Copyright © 1985 by Robert A. Monroe, published by Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC), is a report from an early Gateway Voyage attendee who bravely shared her remarkable experience with the Institute.
“… During one ‘REBAL’ breathing exercise I experienced what was the beginning of some rather puzzling happenings. For reasons unknown to me I was suddenly in a black box—a void of total blackness. It was like being juggled from one extreme to the other—from total sensation to lack of sensation. Frustration began to invade me, for I found it was somewhat difficult finding a way out of this vast blackness. In my next tape, I began to experience the blackness again, and that’s when I started to worry. At our next meal, I mentioned what was occurring to our trainer, hoping she might offer a solution.
During our discussion, my problem was overheard by a few males at the table who had apparently been listening in. Later one of the men took me aside to explain. He told me that a few of the men in our group had found themselves fantasizing about me during their own tape experiences—hence all the sexual thought vibrations I was picking up. He also told me that, having a hard time dealing with their sexual attraction, they were putting me in their ‘energy conversion box’ (a place to leave problems behind) before embarking into their other states of consciousness. They had all helped put me in my black void so as not to distract them! At first I was annoyed at this. How dare they influence my experiences! How dare their sexual energy have that much control over me! I still marvel at how powerful thoughts are, and three men’s directed at me was overwhelming. At the same time I felt somewhat naïve for not having picked up the signs earlier, but I was much too wrapped up in how the workshop was changing me to fully get into what others were thinking.
But this was not the end .… I transformed my annoyance at being used as a ‘sex object,’ even if only consciously projected, and started wondering what growth could be gained from this experience. It started me thinking along other lines and what was to follow would change the course of my life.
And it happened simply because I asked the divine forces in all sincerity for me to be able to experience spiritual love. I asked not for me to be the recipient of it but that I might learn how to give to others to my fullest ability. My request was granted:
As I went into the next tape I kept that thought in mind—I wanted to feel what it would be like to feel a part of the love in the universe, to in a sense actually be making love to a part of me, a part of everyone. I left my own CHEC Unit at that point (nonphysically; OOBE) and felt an urge to visit my other Gateway participants. Straying into one room, I called softly to one of the people. He seemed taken aback to see me and I told him not to be alarmed, that I was only there to send him love and then left after blowing him a quick goodbye kiss. (Later this person recalled that he heard a soft voice in his ear calling his name. He said that he had felt a surge of love upon hearing it but wasn’t sure where it came from.)
Then quite unexpectedly I was suddenly drawn by a powerful force to one room in particular—to one CHEC Unit in particular. It took me by total surprise, for the man in that unit was someone I didn’t know very well. In fact, he was the only one at the workshop I had never really had a chance to talk to. He was a young, good-looking psychologist, yet for some reason we seemed to be purposely avoiding each other.
All at once I had an all-knowing, as I seemed to float over him, that his vibrations were my vibrations. I had an overwhelming desire to meld, to feel a part of him—to become one. It was truly one of the sharpest and clearest of experiences.
I gave to him both my body and soul until there was this tremendous energy surge that rocked and exploded in us. It was an experience that is beyond words, for love, total and absolute, surrounded us more strongly than can be earthly experienced or imagined. The more I gave, the greater I received and I didn’t want to let go. I wanted to give him even more. It was like two energies in perfect unison becoming one at last. (I can remember thinking how physical sex paled in comparison).
Memories of past lives together came rushing in like flashes of light. We talked in this state and I came to realize this experience could only have happened at the end of the workshop as it did, for each of us would have been distracted had we ‘met’ earlier on—perhaps hampering other growth experiences that week. There was a meeting of both our minds with this experience and I knew our meeting had been more than coincidence—it was predestined.
I truly experienced everything I asked for and more, and when I came down to the meeting room after the tape there was an unusual heightened energy where people seemed to be flying. I saw ‘him’ as I came down the stairs to join the group and he looked at me excitedly, ecstatically, as if something totally incredible had happened to him. I hadn’t said a word yet, as he quietly repeated a number of times, ‘Thank you. Thank you.’ I felt elated—I had made contact. We compared our individual experiences, making sure each of us was not coloring the other’s story. It didn’t matter—our stories fit like puzzle pieces, matching perfectly and interlocking. We both had also had the use of all our senses—the strongest being touch. After this experience, we were later reunited to share others together. We’ve been with each other for the past two years now—growing and loving together.
“So much did I learn at my Gateway experience—but I was truly lucky to get it all. I not only got the icing—I got the whole cake!”
The Monroe Institute salutes everyone who has courageously and generously shared their most personal program experiences to the benefit of all. Thank you!