Ultimate Journey [Paperback]

Robert Monroe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

In 1958, a successful businessman named Robert Mornroe began to have experiences that drastically altered his life.  Unpredictably, and without his willing it, Monroe found himself leaving his physical body to travel via a "second body" to locales far removed from the physical and spiritual realities of his life. He was inhabiting a place unbounded by life or death.



Monroe recorded these experiences in two bestselling, landmark books, Journeys Out of the Body and Far Journeys.  Ultimate Journey, his final and career-defining work, takes us further than we thought possible--and reveals to us what it all means.



Ultimate Journey charts that area which lies "over the edge," beyond the limits of the physical world. It presents us with a map of the "interstate"--the route that opens to us when we leave our physical lives, with their entry and exit ramps, their singposts and their hazards.  It also tells us how Monroe found the route and travelled it, and uncovered the reason and the purpose of this pioneering expedition.  It is a journey that reveals basic truths about the meaning and purpose of life--and of what lies beyond.



After six hardcover printings, the trade paperback edition of Ultimate Journey, will offer an even wider range of readers this exhilarating reading experience, the masterwork of one of the most daring and original thinkers and explorers of our time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using geographical terms, Monroe ( Journeys out of the Body ) continues his task as guide to "innumerable people" who are fearful of out-of-body experiences (OBEs), a phenomenon which, for 30 years, he has been claiming to chart. At the Monroe Institute in Virginia, the author conducts classes on his frequent and voluntary OBEs which have, he maintains, provided him with news of his wife after her recent death from cancer. Monroe argues that, by processes often unintelligible to the uninitiated, he can go on science fiction-like trips to "anywhere, in any time, past, present or future," including earlier incarnations. Monroe foresees a unification of all those who practice OBE and a collective passage through the "Aperture" scheduled for the 35th century. His claims are not likely to convince unbelievers.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Monroe is the preeminent explorer and chronicler of out-of-body experiences (OBEs) as well as founder of the Monroe Institute, a nonprofit research organization devoted to studying expanded forms of consciousness. In both his earlier books, Journeys Out of the Body (1973) and Far Journeys (1987), Monroe traversed many bizarre highways of the OBE universe, but here he hops onto the "OBE Interstate," taking us along for a wild ride. In Monroe's unending quest for knowledge beyond the usual human experience, he travels both to distant, nearly inconceivable realms and deep within his "core self" to develop what he calls a different overview. Monroe gains much knowledge, but continues to search for the missing "basic," or elemental truth. Often confused by the paradox of it all, he receives clues and information from several guides who also indulge in sarcasm and humor. As Monroe shatters preconceived notions of life, death, God, and the universe, his descriptions can be taken literally or metaphorically, but, either way, there is much here that is thought provoking and insightful. David Siegfried --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 3rd Printing edition (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385472080
• ISBN-13: 978-0385472081
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Outstanding Work of a Pioneer, April 10, 2004

By 

El principe (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultimate Journey (Paperback)

In his previous books, Out of the Body Travels written in 1973, and Far Journeys published in 1987 Monroe does not quite attain the level he has reached with this his third and best book.

Now he has behind him more than 30 years of experience in astral travel and practice, which is clearly reflected in this excellent, pager turner narration. This last book of the trilogy is the frosting of the cake in relation to his last two, which were rudimentary works of a pioneer.

Monroe is convinced there will be complete emotional and astral freedom in the 35-century for himself, and the group of souls that comprises his oversoul. Sounds like a long time assuming time has the same meaning in other realities as it does here. (Which does not, since time is an illusion created by clocks calendars, the orbit of Earth around the Sun, rotating on its axis, and mortal mind beliefs).

"you make your own reality" and Monroe proved it while discovering reality is a hologram type of illusion one hundred percent mentally created and imagined. He does not try to mix his discoveries with superstitions of any sort but keeps his wonderful discoveries uncontaminated.

Eventually we all, at our right moment, will evolve to reach a merger with our personal oversoul who as well is in an endless adventure of progression.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Bible" of the OBE Believer, January 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ultimate Journey (Paperback)

Unlike his previous two books, Monroe answers many more questions than he raises. He has come full circle to tell the "truth" about who we are, why we are here and where we can go. More than a guidebook, this book is tantamount to being the Bible for those who believe in the reality of OBE's. Monroe ties all the loose ends together, in as tight a knot as he can, and is finally able to present to us that elusive jewel of insight-the reason for our human existence. It will (hopefully) change, in a fundamental way, how we view reality and our ourselves.

However, to truly appreciate and understand this book, readers should first familiarize themselves with his previous two works. Despite an introductory chapter intended to acquaint unfamiliar readers with his history and experiences with OBE's, Monroe quickly plunges into charting new territory and insights. This is not a how-to book but the author's firsthand experiences traveling out-of-body. Understanding these experiences are difficult enough to grasp by the initiated reader but they may be indecipherable to the unfamiliar. The author's writings are also heavily laden with his own terminologies for describing reality in "the other side." If not familir with his his style and his vocabulary, one could find him or herself a bit perplexed.

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The wanderer cannot wait forever.", April 19, 2002

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ultimate Journey (Paperback)

Robert Monroe achieved his masterpiece in this volume. The final missing Basic became a Known. At least it did for him, and for those who take the time to contemplate it- or better yet, experience it for themselves. As for those who aren't yet ready for the truth, well, maybe on their next trip around....

Over the years I have been fascinated with Mr. Monroe's books. Here was a thoroughly left-brain type of individual (a successful engineer and business man) with an open mind. He wasn't a "convert" to the perrenial philosophy, no, he just totally reconstructed the core of metaphysical truth FROM SCRATCH. Or rather, he remembered. Mr. Monroe was no student of religion or metaphysics yet he reached a model of existance that is fully compatible with neoplatonism. We originate from a Creator beyond space and time, we descend into the holographic dream of space-time, we gain experience (along with our kindred sparks) through a varying number of lifetimes, our more evolved "higher selves" reach back through time and space to help ourselves at crucial moments, and we finally return back to the Creator bearing our hard-won gifts. He didn't get this from Plato, Plotinus, or the Upanishads- HE FOUND IT OUT FOR HIMSELF THROUGH DIRECT EXPERIENCE.

Oh yes, he even came to an understanding of M-field energy and manipulation techniques ( most call it magic and correspondence theory.) He also realised the truth of the rare few who "can do covertly anything imaginable- and much that we cannot imagine."

Well done, wanderer, well done....