The Monroe Institute: Part 2

Lifeline and Beyond

I spent the months between my Gateway Voyage seminar and my Lifeline seminar contemplating my experiences at Gateway and using my take home tape to explore and free flow in Focus 21.

The last week of August in 2001 I traveled to Virginia to attend the Lifeline seminar. Bruce Moen and Rosalind McKnight have written about their experiences with Lifelines in great detail (see references at the end of this post). In addition, one of my fellow attendees, Joseph Felser, PhD also wrote about his experiences at our Lifeline seminar in his book, “The Way Back to Paradise: Restoring the Balance between Magic and Reason.”

I became fascinated with the concept of Lifeline from reading Robert Monroe’s books. The idea of performing a healing service for a spirit in transition appealed to me. The actual experience of the Lifeline seminar, for me, was a much more personal and deeply healing experience.

The official description from the Monroe Institute website is excerpted here: its primary emphasis is one of service - service to those here in physical matter reality and service to those There who have made the transitions from the physical and who may benefit from assistance.

Service is accomplished through becoming knowledgeable about Focus Levels 23 through 27. Focus 23 is often perceived as an area in which certain souls, for a variety of reasons, may become "stuck" following their transitions from physical life. Lifeline participants learn to comfortably make contact with such souls and offer assistance to help them move to Focus 27, (the area Bob Monroe described in Ultimate Journey as the Park, or Reception Center, or Way Station). Upon arrival in Focus 27, they are met by loved ones and guides who direct them to the specific areas of the Reception Center most appropriate for their next stages of development.

Perhaps the most significant impact of this week, however, comes from the personal revelations that frequently evolve from those "rescue and retrieval" activities. Beyond the considerable satisfactions of helping others move forward, many participants realize that at the same time they are also retrieving lost parts or fragments of themselves, and thus coming into more wholeness, completion, and balance.

The concept of soul retrievals or spiritually retrieving aspects of our selves is common to other spiritual traditions. Many shamanic traditions use the concept of retrievals as part of the spiritual healing process.

The question of whether these soul retrievals are literal, metaphorical, or a little of both, really depends upon the attendees belief system. As attendees move through the Focus Levels many times their existing belief systems are challenged. In my humble opinion, it is always healthy to occasionally challenge our belief systems. It is through this process that we grow and evolve, and really determine for ourselves “what is important”.

It was interesting to observe our group’s behavior from the beginning of the seminar to the end of the seminar. Our group's debriefing sessions became much quieter with very little discussion as the week progressed…as our experiences in the Focus Levels became much more personal. As in all TMI seminars, our discussions (in much smaller groups) over meals continued to be lively with a high degree of sharing and questioning what we were all experiencing.

Again, although there were many consistencies in the descriptions of our experiences…the most important interpretation is that of the experiencer. When it comes to exploring consciousness, the language is full of archetypes and is very metaphorical. Most importantly, the metaphorical language is unique to the experiencer.

On a personal note, yes…I did perform many retrievals. Yes, I did move backward and forward through time and space. And yes, the experiences were of a highly personal nature and were very healing.

Did I retrieve others? Did I retrieve aspects of myself? Did I retrieve family members? The short answer is “yes”. Am I able to distinguish between retrievals….which fall into what category? The short answer is….not really….but in the end, it does not really matter…because the entire experience is about healing and less about the “woo-woo” factor.

Over the next couple of years, I continued with TMI and attended the Exploration 27 and Starlines seminars. (I also attended the Remote Viewing Practicum seminar prior to Starlines…which I will discuss in a separate post)

Exploration 27 explored Focus Levels 27 through 34/35. Starlines explored Focus Levels 27, 34/35, through 49.

Again, my personal take on the TMI experience is one of personal healing, challenging existing belief systems, and learning how to be adaptable while being true to your core essence.

Fred “Skip” Atwater gave a presentation to attendees at one of the TMI seminars. In this presentation he described the similarities between the TMI process and other spiritual practices (i.e. Meditation, Prayer, Chanting, Shamanism, etc.). When you break these practices down into basic steps, the similarities are as follows:

- Deep Breathing
- Vocalizing
- Quiet internal chatter or Set-aside today’s concerns
- Be Open
- Set your Intent

I am not a scientist, nor do I have any expertise in neurology. But I do have a lay-person’s take on how TMI’s hemi-sync binaural frequencies facilitate moving into deep meditative states (i.e. Focus Levels). It feels like the binaural frequencies balance our use of the left-brain and right-brain hemispheres. Metaphorically, it feels like there is a balance that occurs between the logical and intuitive sides of ourselves. And it is through this balance of opposites that we are able to maximize our capacity and actively explore our consciousness.

The Balance of Opposites: Be Open...Set your Intent….and move forward.



References

Felser, J.M. (2005). The Way Back to Paradise: Restoring the Balance between Magic and Reason. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company.

Leva, P. (1998). Traveling the Interstate of Consciousness: A Driver's Instruction Manual: Using Hemi-Sync to Access States of Non-Ordinary Reality. Longmont, CO: Q Central Publishing.

McKnight, R.A. (1999). Cosmic Journeys: My Out-Of-Body Explorations With Robert A. Monroe. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company

Moen, B. (1997). Voyages into the Unknown (Exploring the Afterlife Series, Vol. 1). Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company.

Moen, B. (1998). Voyage Beyond Doubt (Exploring the Afterlife Series , Vol 2). Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing.

Moen, B. (1999). Voyages into the Afterlife: Charting Unknown Territory (Exploring the Afterlife Series, Vol. 3). Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company.

Monroe, R. (1971). Journeys Out of the Body. New York: Doubleday.

Monroe, R. (1985). Far Journeys. New York: Doubleday.

Monroe, R. (1994) The Ultimate Journey. New York: Doubleday

TMI (2006). Lifeline. Retrieved April 17, 2006, http://www.monroeinstitute.com/program.php?program_id=12

Villoldo, A. (2006). Soul Retrieval and Destiny Retrieval. The Four Winds Society. Retrieved April 17, 2006, http://www.thefourwinds.com/soul-retrieval-training.htm