Lehal Library

about it, and we have a lot of aggressive fantasies about other people dying, but we do not really think about it. This book is going to make you think about death. You are not going to like some of the things it says and some of the thoughts it inspires. It will be very tempting to dismiss Robert Monroe as a madman. I would suggest that you not do that. Neither would I suggest that you take everything he says as absolute truth. He is a good reporter, a man I have immense respect for, but he is one man, brought up in a particular culture at a particular time, and therefore his powers of observation are limited. If you bear this in mind, but pay serious attention to the experiences he describes, you may be disturbed, but you may learn some very important things. In spite of being afraid. If you have had an OOBE yourself, this book may help you to be less afraid, or to develop your potentials for this experience into a valuable talent. Read the book carefully and examine your reactions. If you really want to experience it yourself, good luck! CHARLES T. TART Davis, California January 10,1971 1. NOT WITH A WAND, NOR LIGHTLY 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. The primary purposes for the release and publication of the material contained here are (i) that through dissemination as widely as possible, some other human being—perhaps just one—may be saved from the agony and terror of trial and error in an area where there have been no concrete answers; that he may have comfort in the knowledge that others have had the same experiences; that he will recognize in himself the phenomenon and thus avoid the trauma of psychotherapy, or at the worst, mental breakdown and commitment to a mental institution; and (2) that tomorrow or in the years to come, the formal, accepted sciences of our culture will expand their horizons, concepts, postulates, and research to open wide the avenues and doorways intimated herein to the great enrichment of man's knowledge and understanding of himself and his complete environment.