THE GATEWAY PROGRAM | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov) (2024)

CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270006-0

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November 4, 2016

June 23, 1998

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January 1, 1984

BOOK

Approved For Release 2003/09/16 : CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270006-0 Monroe Institute of Applied Sciences PRESENTS THE GATEWAY PROGRAM In 1958, Robert Monroe, a New York broadcasting .xccuti.ve, began having experiences that drastically altered his life. Unpredictably, and without willing it, Monroe found himself leaving his physical body to travel, is a. "st cond body," to locales far removed from the physical and spiritual realities of his life. He was inhabiting. tia place unbounded by time or space. With some trepidation ire wrote a book about his experiences. Doubleday published Jourvoys Out of the Body in 1971. Anchor broug ht curl a second edition in 1977.. Throughout the book Monroe maintains the stance of a careful, objective reporter who ,atten reports his own confusion in this unusual area. He .elivs upon personal experiences for interpretation rather .ran any occult, religious or spiritual framework. In the 1960's, Monroe became interested in the possible i,'nnnection between non-verbal audio patterns and brain- vave rhythms. From his long experience with sound, he advanced from rotating disc circuit breakers to ,ophisticated, custom-built signal generators and the roroduction of tape recordings in which he has as many as -sixteen patterns of sound mixed together on stereo channels. I irawing upon his discoveries and the work of others, he 1-1nploys a system of binaural beats to create a,l'r.cgvencif ,r)Ilorr big respon.5e (FF'R) by the brain-wave rhythms. The 'FR not only gives some control over the brainwave 'rrrission of each hemisphere, it also promotes brain-wave 4ynchronizat:ion between the two hemispheres. In May, 975, Monroe received a generic patent for this method. In 19i1, the Monroe Institute of Applied Sciences was itn;nded and located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. After he shared his findings with others pursuing he same interests, an Advisory Board representing several major scientific disciplines formed around the Institute. the Institute then. developed a highly . experimental program for the training of consciousness itself. conscious of one's particular inner resources, inner abilities, and, most of all, of one's inner guidance. From Samadhi and Satori to the "Vision Quest" and the "Cloud of Unknowing," cultures in all times and all palaces have harbored a few individuals who reached and practiced profound levels of self-exploration. Most of these individuals practiced within a mythology, an epistemological groundwork by which they could interpret and give meaning to their experiences. Present (lay Western epistemology, just recovering from an entrancing flirtation with materialism, provides little in the way of a ladder toward other perceptual modes. What investigation has been done within our current theory of knowledge has centered on the physiology of the brain and on the possible correlation between the brain's physical state and the subjective state of the mind. First, brain-wave profiles and then lateral brain specialization and hemispheric synchronization have offered potential tools for the description of the subjective state and the mind's operational function. Yet, in our work, we suspect that while the tremendous variety of subjective states may each have physiological correlates, the ability to determine these correlates lies beyond our present techniques. It may well be, as Elmer Green suggests in Beytrrtd 1iinf'ecrlhut?k, that the brain, as a physical mechanism, cannot register "non-physical" events. If this is the case, the Western idea of "knowledge" will have to be enlarged. But how? It is precisely this that we are investigating. First, we .are training interested individuals to switch their perception to areas or fields outside the realm of our physical matter reality. We call these, "non-physical realities." Then we examine the "data" they "bring back." Such examination presents problems peculiar to this investigation. Often the experiences in these non-physiNl realities appear to be in and come from a qualitatively greater consciousness than our usual consciousness in physical matter reality. 't'herefore, in order not to miss or misinterpret important We are instructing and training individuals in the art of patterns and information, we need I. c. the qualitatively ~~witchi nt.r, perceptual modes, the art of becoming more Treater perspective into acco n w iil!e at the same time, in Approved For Release 2003/09/16 : 6A-RDP96-00788R0017002 0 0 0 -0 ?1"utu for w ie pxiue1I1`.k anti, irimrrr on I[euseC in prhysi6l reality, v4pRrp s i r p~gi : CIA- 96-00788R0RW270Q 60,E-0 p)ei-spective of physical matter reality. It would be easier, of course, if we all would switch I , ierceptual modes and rise into a greater consciousness. 'F hat may be the only way we can enlarge our ideas about knowledge itself; the only way we can create a "mythology" sufficient for the coming years. Our Gateway Program provides the instruction, the training and the environment for making this transition. On oo wide scale we have no idea how successful the program v; ould be. On a small scale we do know that it is successful bnr those who have the volition and courage and desire to rise nto the "truly" unknown. 110W IT WORKS In appearance the Gateway Program presents a puzzling facade. A group of twenty people stand around talking, stretching. Then they all enter a large room, lie down on i ?idividual mattresses, pull blankets over them, put. on :added stereo headphones, and become motionless. The room is darkened. For the first five minutes slight coughs