After some twenty minutes of calming myself down, I returned to bed. I was naturally reluctant immediately to try to sleep again. I did not want a re… - Robert Monroe

Three times I have "gone" to a place that I cannot find words to describe accurately. Again, it is this vision, this interpretation, the temporary visitation to this "place" or state of being that brings the message we have heard so often throughout the history of man. I am sure that this may be part of the ultimate heaven as our religions conceive it It must also be the nirvana, the Samadhi, the supreme experience related to us by the mystics of the ages.

For the most part, I would set up the conscious out-of-body state, then turn the action over to my total self (soul?). My present consciousness would go along for the ride, as a part of the whole. The results have been: ecstatic, illuminating, confusing, awe-inspiring, humbling, reassuring—experience and exploration far beyond my ability to conceive of, most of it an apparent educational program that I am absorbing bit by bit.

The following ordinarily would appear in a foreword or preface. It is placed here on the assumption that most readers skip such preliminaries to get to the meat of the matter. In this case, the following is the crux of it all.