Robert Allan Monroe (October 30, 1915 – March 17, 1995) was a radio broadcasting executive who became known for his research into

altered consciousness An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there ...

and for founding The Monroe Institute. His 1971 book ''Journeys Out of the Body'' is credited with popularizing the term "

out-of-body experience An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly use ...

". Assisted by specialists in psychology, medicine, biochemistry, psychiatry, electrical engineering, physics, and education, Monroe developed

Hemi-Sync Robert Allan Monroe (October 30, 1915 – March 17, 1995) was a radio broadcasting executive who became known for his research into altered consciousness and for founding The Monroe Institute. His 1971 book ''Journeys Out of the Body'' is credi ...

, a patented audio technology that is claimed to facilitate enhanced performance.Monroe, Robert A (1977) "Journeys Out of the Body", Anchor Press, Russell Ronald (2007) "The Journey of Robert Monroe: From Out-Of-Body Explorer to Consciousness Pioneer", Hampton Roads Publishing, Stockton Bayard (1989) "Catapult: The Biography of Robert A. Monroe", Donning Co.,Mayer, Robert A. (2007) "The Intrigue of the Possible", AuthorHouse, Randolph Keith (1983) "The Truth about Astral Projection", Llewellyn Worldwide, He is also notable as one of the founders of the Jefferson Cable Corporation, the first cable company to cover central Virginia.Barling, Stephen (2003-02-13
"Cosmic degrees: Out of body at the Monroe Institute"
The Hook (Charlottesville), Issue 206

Biography

Robert Allan Monroe was born, severely underweight at just two pounds, in 1915 in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He grew up in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, and

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

; his mother, Georgia Helen Jordan Monroe, was a non-practicing medical doctor and

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

and piano player. His father, Robert Emmett Monroe, was a college professor of

Romance Languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

who led summer tours to Europe. Monroe had two older sisters, Dorothy and Peggy, and a younger brother, Emmett, who became a medical doctor. According to his third book ''Ultimate Journey'', he dropped out of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in his sophomore year due to a hospital stay for a facial burn that caused him to fall behind in his studies. During almost a year away from college, a desire to find work led him to become a

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

who rode freight trains. He returned to Ohio State to graduate after having studied

pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...

, English, engineering, and journalism. He had an early fascination with flying and music and had great mechanical aptitude. He displayed some ability to read music by age four without having studied the subject, perhaps by listening to his mother and sisters playing piano. He married Jeanette, a graduate student and daughter of a lawyer, in 1937, and divorced her in 1938 or 1939. He married Mary Ashworth, a divorcee with a daughter Maria, in 1950 or 1951. They had Bob's only biological child together, daughter Laurie. They divorced in 1968. He then married Nancy Penn Honeycutt, a divorcee with four children. They remained married until her death from breast cancer on August 15, 1992. Monroe developed ulcers in young adulthood and so was classified 4F (unfit for service) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He spent the war years working for a manufacturing company that designed a flight-simulator prototype. He wrote for an aviation column in '' Argosy'' magazine and was given a job with the

National Aeronautic Association The National Aeronautic Association of the United States (NAA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a founding member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Founded in 1905, it is the oldest national aviation club in the Uni ...

(NAA), for whom he produced a weekly radio show called "Scramble!", the primary purpose of which was to interest youth in aviation. In 1953 Mr. Monroe formed RAM Enterprises, a corporation that produced network radio programs, as many as 28 programs monthly, principally in dramatic and popular quiz shows. In 1956 the firm created a Research and Development division to study the effects of various sound patterns on human consciousness, including the sleep state. Monroe was especially attracted to the concept of

sleep-learning Sleep-learning (also known as hypnopædia, or hypnopedia) is an attempt to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by playing a sound recording to them while they sleep. Although sleep is considered an important period for memory consoli ...

. This was a natural direction to take, applying to this new area the audio production methods used in the firm's commercial activity. The purpose was to find more constructive uses for such knowledge than was ordinarily available, and the results of this research have become internationally known.

First out-of-body experiences

According to his own account, while experimenting with

in 1958 Monroe experienced an unusual phenomenon, which he described as sensations of paralysis and vibration accompanied by a bright light that appeared to be shining on him from a shallow angle. Monroe went on to say that this occurred another nine times over the next six weeks, culminating in his first

(OBE). Monroe recorded his account in his 1971 book ''Journeys Out of the Body'' and went on to become a prominent researcher in the field of human consciousness. Monroe later authored two more books on his experiments with OBE, ''Far Journeys'' (1985) and ''Ultimate Journey'' (1994).

The Monroe Institute

In 1962 the company moved to Virginia, and a few years later changed the corporate name to Monroe Industries. In this location it became active in radio station ownership, cable television, and later in the production and sale of audio cassettes. These cassettes were practical expressions of the discoveries made in the earlier and ongoing corporate research program. In 1985 the company officially changed its name, once again, to Interstate Industries, Inc. This reflected Monroe's analogy of how the use of Hemi-Sync serves as a ramp from the "local road" to the "interstate" in allowing people to go "full steam ahead" in the exploration of consciousness, avoiding all of the stops and starts. The research subsidiary was divested and established as an independent non-profit organization, The Monroe Institute, later in 1985. Interstate Industries, Inc. remains a privately held company, now doing business as Monroe Products. Monroe's leadership of the entire program of development was supported for more than 50 years by many specialists who continue their participation to this day. His daughter, Laurie Monroe, continued her father's research into consciousness and the mind's potential until her death in 2006. Under the current direction of another of Monroe's daughters, Maria Monroe Whitehead, Monroe's stepson, A. J. Honeycutt, and Teresa West, president of Monroe Products, the company's objective is to continue to expand the Hemi-Sync line of products and their benefits into markets worldwide. The Monroe Institute (TMI) is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

education and research organization devoted to the exploration of human

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

, based in Faber,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States. Upwards of 20,000 people are estimated to have attended TMI's residential Gateway program during its first thirty years, with consumers of the audio industry founded on its research running into millions. Currently, many tens of thousands of people have experienced the residential programs developed by the Monroe Institute at TMI's campus in Virginia as well as across the US and the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Romania, and Spain. TMI claims a policy of no dogma or

bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group, ...

with respect to

belief system A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

stance. Monroe founded TMI after he started having what he called "

out of body experiences An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly us ...

", now also commonly referred to as OBEs. The institute is housed in several buildings on of land south of

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

, USA. One of its activities includes teaching various techniques, based on audio-guidance processes, in order to expand consciousness and explore areas of consciousness not normally available in the waking state. In 1978, the U.S. military evaluated TMI and arranged to send officers there for OBE training. In 1983, it sent additional officers.

Research

Controlled studies of the Institute's technology suggest that it is effective as an analgesic supplement and can reduce hospital discharge times. The Institute has an affiliated professional membership, and also publishes scientific papers on a subset of its own studies of

altered states of consciousness An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there ...

. In its in-house laboratory, these states or focus levels are typically induced by delivering

signals to subjects performing relaxation procedures inside a shielded, sense-depriving

isolation tank An isolation tank, sensory deprivation tank, float tank, float pod, float cabin, flotation tank, or sensory attenuation tank is a water filled, pitch-black, light-proof, soundproof environment heated to the same temperature as the skin, developed ...

. Progression through states is detected and monitored by measurement of peripheral skin temperature,

galvanic skin response Electrodermal activity (EDA) is the property of the human body that causes continuous variation in the electrical characteristics of the skin. Historically, EDA has also been known as skin conductance, galvanic skin response (GSR), electrodermal ...

and DC skin potential voltage.

Coverage

In 1994, a front-page article in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported confirmation from the former director of the

Intelligence and Security Command The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for United States Army commanders, partners in the Intelligence Community, and nationa ...

of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

sending personnel to the institute. It also stated the opinion of the head of the

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

temple in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia that "Gateway students can reach meditation states in a week that took e30 years of sitting".Bob Ortega, "Research institute shows people a way out of their bodies", ''The Wall Street Journal'', September 20, 1994, pp. A1, A8. A reporter for ''

The Hook The Hook, or The Hookman, is an urban legend about a killer with a pirate-like hook for a hand attacking a couple in a parked car. In many versions of the story, the killer is typically portrayed as a faceless, silhouetted old man wearing a rai ...

'', weekly newspaper for

, who visited The Monroe Institute said, "...with a few exceptions, the only 'normal' people with whom I could fully identify were the trainers, who seemed remarkably well-grounded for people whose day-to-day experiences include

astral projection Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...

and disembodied spirits".Stephen Barling,
Cosmic degrees: Out of body at the Monroe Institute
. ''The Hook''. February 13, 2003. The reporter also concluded that "there is something significant being developed at the Institute. Whether it's just a brilliant

guided meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

complete with trance-inducing stereoscopic sound, or a doorway to a world of spirit entities, I cannot say".

Hemi-Sync

In 1975, Monroe registered the first of several patentsUS Patent 3884218: "Method of inducing and maintaining various stages of sleep in the human being"
/ref>
/ref> ttp://www.freepatentsonline.com/5356368.html US Patent 5356368: "Method of and apparatus for inducing desired states of consciousness"/ref> concerning audio techniques designed to stimulate brain functions until the left and right hemispheres became synchronized. Monroe held that this state, dubbed

(hemispherical synchronization), could be used to promote mental well-being or to trigger an

altered state of consciousness An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there ...

. Monroe's concept was based on an earlier hypothesis known as

binaural beats In acoustics, a beat is an interference pattern between two sounds of slightly different frequencies, ''perceived'' as a periodic variation in volume whose rate is the difference of the two frequencies. With tuning instruments that can produce su ...

and has since been expanded upon a commercial basis by the self-help industry.Sheikh, Anees A.(2003) "Healing Images: The Role Of Imagination in Health", Baywood Publishing, Hemi-Sync is a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

ed brand name for a patented process used to create audio patterns containing

, which are commercialized in the form of audio CDs. Interstate Industries Inc., created by Hemi-Sync founder Robert Monroe, is the owner of the Hemi-Sync technology. ''Hemi-Sync'' is short for ''Hemispheric Synchronization'', also known as ''

brainwave synchronization Brainwave entrainment, also referred to as brainwave synchronization or neural entrainment, refers to the observation that brainwaves (large-scale electrical oscillations in the brain) will naturally synchronize to the rhythm of periodic externa ...

''. Monroe indicated that the technique synchronizes the two hemispheres of one's brain, thereby creating a 'frequency-following response' designed to evoke certain effects. Hemi-Sync has been used for many purposes, including relaxation and

sleep induction Sleep induction is the deliberate effort to bring on sleep by various techniques or medicinal means, is practiced to lengthen periods of sleep, increase the effectiveness of sleep, and to reduce or prevent insomnia. Darkness and quiet Dim or dark ...

, learning and memory aids, helping those with physical and mental difficulties, and reaching

through the use of sound. The technique involves using sound waves to entrain brain waves. Wearing

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

, Monroe claimed that brains respond by producing a third sound (called

) that encouraged various brainwave activity changes.
. The Effects of Hemi-Sync on Electrocortical Activity, Sadigh and Kozicky In 2002, a University of Virginia presentation at the Society for Psychophysiologial Research examined Monroe's claim. The presentation demonstrated that Electroencephalography, EEG changes did not occur when the standard electromagnetic headphones of Monroe's setup were replaced by air conduction headphones, which were connected to a remote transducer by rubber tubes. This suggests that the basis for the entrainment effects is electromagnetic rather than acoustical. Replicated, double-blind, randomized trials on anesthetized patients have found Hemi-Sync effective as a partial replacement for

fentanyl Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine ...

during surgery. A similar study found it ineffective at replacing

propofol Propofol, marketed as Diprivan, among other names, is a short-acting medication that results in a decreased level of consciousness and a lack of memory for events. Its uses include the starting and maintenance of general anesthesia, sedation f ...

, however.

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

Hemi-Sync Website and other Monroe ProductsThe Monroe InstituteThe Monroe Institute Official YouTube Channel

* TMI'
''Exploration 27 and the Healing/Regeneration Center Chapter 4''

Monroe Institute Research Papers

Similar and/or related technologies

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe, Robert 1915 births 1995 deaths Writers from Columbus, Ohio Writers from Indiana Writers from Lexington, Kentucky Writers from Virginia New Age writers Parapsychologists Non-profit organizations based in Faber, Virginia Remote sensing research institutes Spirituality Consciousness studies