N:8
I should first explain back in Bob Monroe’s early research years he created an arbitrary numbering scheme for what TMI calls focus-levels of consciousness. Bob’s own experiences began around 1958 (I don’t remember the whole history) and the Institute along with a body of individuals (fellow investigators, psychics, military interests, etc), continued to use this naming convention.
The focus-levels one is introduced to in the Gateway Voyage course are levels: 10, 12, 15, and 21. There are other levels, up through F49, encountered in the advanced courses. See the link Monroe Institute’s Focus Levels Overview (TMI: UK) in the primary Menu’s Info & Resources section for a introductory description regarding what the levels’ contexts may represent.
Re-reading some of this I think I should give a brief over simplified explanation concerning what Hemi-Sync does. First one has to recognize how much noise there is in one’s mind all the time. I’m getting hungry. I feel like crap too. Oh shit, that guy cut me off. Why do my co-workers have to be such jerks?! I hate going to work. I should have more coffee when I get there. Hell, NOW what’s going on at home – and so on. There are also layers of near-subconscious noise rifling through one’s mind though one may hardly notice it, but it’s there.
If one tries doing any sort of meditation one quickly finds how difficult it is to stop one’s own non-stop train-wreck of thoughts. In a nutshell what Hemi-Sync does is it allows one to get to a state of solid single-mindedness and maintain that for long periods with relatively little practice.
As an aside, some people have click-out experiences with hemi-sync which is TMI speak for falling asleep or slipping off somewhere in which one looses self-awareness (or memory of it) and then wakes or re-emerges back into present self-awareness. It’s hard to say what really happens when one clicks-out but I’ve found in some cases something did happen during that time. It is a mystery what actually happens during click-outs. Some say one just fell asleep but I’m pretty sure that’s not what happens in all cases.
In a well controlled focus-level state one may become aware of other things and notice other perceptions; let’s just call those input signals that are not related to our normal perceptions. One may become aware of other awarenesses in one’s vicinity. There is no simple way to describe what it’s like to be in such levels.
The Gateway Voyage CDs are narrated hemi-sync lessons that slowly introduce the user to the various levels in a progressive manner. In general the CD lessons are the same as those provided at an on-site Institute Gateway course. The lessons progress through the focus-levels helping one discover what sorts of applications a focus-level may offer; what its context may be.
Some lessons pertain to performing a specific task; others provide unscripted free-time sessions that allows the user to experiment on one’s own. Free-time session are called free-flows. As an aside, there are more lessons in the CD set than one has when taking the course at TMI.
Below I describe the first lesson that blew the doors open for me. It was lesson 5 of the CD set called Wave 3. At that time I had been working on these lessons for a couple of weeks, doing one or more sessions per evening. Hemi-sync doesn’t just work the first time it’s used. Even at the Gateway course, which may have its first lesson start on Saturday night, many new to this stuff don’t have experiences until about Monday or Tuesday. Then they may continue to have prolific experiences the rest of the course. The CIA documented their people needed on average 10 sessions before the hemi-sync ‘kicked-in’.
My notes:
Wave 3 Lesson 5: The 5 Messages (Focus Level 12)
This was an impressive and imposing experience. That is certainly an understatement. The experience left me completely awestruck; dumbstruck. There is no way to adequately describe the magnitude of what I encountered. This was the first time something really happened and it was BIG! Previous lesson experiences were zeros.
This TMI lesson contains five questions that the narration guides the user through while one is directed to listen for an answer. Who the questions are addressed to is not stated in this lesson.
The first question the narration directed I ask was, “Who am I”? For this question I received no response, nothing. After a few moments the narration continued to the second question, “Who and where was I prior to this form”? Again this question yielded no response, absolutely nothing. All I experienced was blackness and dead silence.
At that time I was very skeptical anything would happen at all and I was beginning to think this whole business was one big waste of time, as I suspected. I remember thinking I was glad I only wasted money on three Wave sets of CDs.
Up to this point in the CDs sequence the earlier lessons were very instructional in nature; the student being introduced to various methodologies that enable one’s mind to be still and perceptive, so for myself this lesson was the first chance to demonstrated something was really out there with this hemi-sync stuff. At this moment in the narrated questions I was convinced my doubts about the whole damn thing were correct.
Then the narration directed the third question, “What is my purpose?”. Instantly a response blasted through my whole being as if I was standing front-row at a rock concert with a pile of amplifies pointing at my chest. There was a powerful pressure wave that punched right through me as I heard, “TO GROW AND DEVELOP IN BEING!”
I was absolutely stunned, blown away by the sheer power and the enunciated clarity of the response. Whatever it was it had a clear sense of authority. No dreamy hallucination here. This was like something pushed me in the chest.
Stunned by the experience I waited for Bob’s fourth question, “What is the most important message for me at this time”? Again a powerful blast impacted me as I heard, “BE PATIENT – WITH ALL THINGS”.
The response was loud and forceful; absolutely unmistakable. I had a sense that the messages were not trifle notions while I had no idea what just spoke to me, although again, whatever it was, it clearly had a sense of definitive authority.
The last question of the lesson didn’t produce an answer but given the magnitude of what had just happened not having an answer to the fifth narrated question didn’t matter to me. I should mention here that after a few years had gone by I came to know why those specific questions were answered and why the other questions were not.
The next day I returned to hemi-sync focus-level 12. In this session, rather than the loud speaker-like audible communication I encountered earlier I was made aware in some manner I can’t explain.
I began to apprehend in myself an awareness that I was receiving an understanding. It was like seeing someone else’s thoughts come to me, rather than hearing a voice. In this session I recognized a clear message, “All of this will take time…”, while at that time I did not understand what “this” was.
I also encountered a clear understanding that if I had to fashion into words I would say something like this … their reality needs to grow in my reality. This was clearly conveyed. It was something I just understood yet it was learned from outside myself. I did not know however, who was communicating with me.
I felt I was given foundational instructions for something or for some Time to come. One impressive aspect of this experience: I recognized I did not have to actually have things verbalized to me, rather I could perceive exterior thoughts. I could recognize concepts/thoughts that originate from outside myself and so I found a new modality of communication; the apprehension of exterior thoughts received without any physical perception. I could clearly distinguish which thoughts were mine and which thoughts were not.