Atlantic University

     Near death experiences, out of body experiences, psychic functioning, the paranormal, all of these are terms that are far more familiar in present day mainstream society than they were 20 years ago.

These phenomena are becoming a part of every day vernacular. Whole sections of bookstores are exclusively dedicated to such things.

Where you don't expect to hear about them, however, is in relation to the government and military intelligence. And yet, psychic functioning is exactly what one particular government agency was designed for.

Research was carried out and an organization was established whose sole aim was to obtain intelligence information using paranormal methods.

At the current stage of our societal evolution, however, the CIA and military intelligence cannot use such terms and retain their credibility.

Terms such as psychic and the paranormal smack far too much of the mystical non-tangible side of life to be widely valid, and so a new term had to be devised, one that had no associations with anything paranormal, one that had no "baggage" attached to it. The term chosen and the skill employed was "remote viewing".

Research began into remote viewing in 1975 as part of a CIA request. Initial explorations into remote viewing were successful enough to allow the establishment of an organization first called SCANATE and later STARGATE.

STARGATE made successful use of military personnel as remote viewers against hundreds of intelligence targets until it was shut down in 1995.

Many reasons were given for the program being terminated; those that were released publicly gave the impression that the entire operation had been little more than a farce with a minimal success rate and no real evidence to warrant the continued use of paranormal activities.

There were 2 reasons for the program being discredited. One was lack of access to relevant records on the part of the investigators (most of the records were classified), and the other was fear.

What happened to the organization, STARGATE, is similar to what happens to individuals when faced with something new and different that challenges established belief systems.

For millennia, western society has ignored and berated any aspects of life considered paranormal, revering instead science and logic. To accept any other truths would be to threaten existence and life as we have come to know it.

When faced with such a threat to "normalcy", human beings tend to become afraid, revert to what they know, and to shut down.

It takes a great deal of courage to change one's belief system and our logical minds do not let us do this easily; they will go to any lengths to protect the old established systems.

The key to success and the removal of fear is not just to take something away and leave nothing behind, but to remove one set of beliefs but to replace it with another that is meaningful and acceptable.

What happened to STARGATE is, in a way, similar to what happens to individuals when they first begin to move into the world of psychic phenomena.

Joe McMoneagle is a classic case of a person who, when presented with a new way of viewing life and existence as we know it, let his ego take control, tried to make sense of it in a logical way, and when the new way did not "fit", he shut it down.

Joe was a regular military guy with no affinity for or belief in the paranormal until an experience changed his life. Joe died in 1970.

He did not remain dead, however, instead he left his body, stayed close enough to it to see much of what happened to it, found himself going through a tunnel and then in the presence of a light being with whom he felt an overwhelming joy and peace.

The energy and experience were so loving, safe, and protective, that Joe did not want to return to his body and to this life, but he did.

After returning to "life", Joe experienced 3 major aftereffects, all of which have been commonly reported by other people having NDE's (near death experiences), depression, spontaneous knowledge about other people, and spontaneous OBE's (out of body experiences).

Receiving no confirmation for his experiences from any source, Joe started to think what other people thought about him, that he was going crazy, and he began to deny and suppress this new facet of his life.

What Joe had experienced, although unbeknownst to him at the time, was what some ancient mystery schools considered to be the highest form of spiritual initiation.

A person would be deliberately pushed into a death experience, thus removed temporarily from the mundane physical plane, and taken to a higher level of existence before being revived.

The purpose of this experience was to show the initiate that he or she was so much more than a body and to give them a taste of grace.

For Joe, however, he had no guidance, no support, and no explanations. His own belief system had been challenged, but did not have anything tangible with which to replace it.

His mind could not process the new information and so it chose to ignore it. A feat he accomplished quite successfully for 9 years.

Joe's life changed again in the late 1970's when he was recruited by STARGATE to take part in a series of tests that led to his becoming one of their longest serving and most successful remote viewers. Initial testing of possible candidates showed tremendous success rates.

Unfortunately, this was followed by many failures. There were also confusions about the practice and experience of remote viewing and what it actually was. It was difficult for individuals to tell if they were genuinely receiving information or if they were imagining it.

Joe compared his early experiences of getting information to that of a feather brushing across his mind. Images and impressions came fleetingly, like soft drifting touches that were hard to grasp.

Being a structured organization with intelligence purposes, logical scientific methods had to establish for the experiments to continue.

Specific methods were devised, and all remote viewing activities were carried out in a carefully controlled environment. A pool of targets was created for training purposes.

These targets would mostly take the form of specific locations, which would be described, in writing or by pictures. The targets were kept in double sealed envelopes with which the remote viewer never came into contact.

The remote viewer was set up in a room with an interviewer who also had had no contact with the envelopes and no knowledge of the targets.

An envelope would be chosen at random and a team of "outbounders" would drive away, open it, proceed to the identified location, walk around, look at it carefully, and then return to STARGATE.

Meanwhile, the remote viewer would begin to report whatever he or she was feeling or seeing to the interviewer. Everything would be taped, and drawings were encouraged. Later, the remote viewer and the outbounders' experiences would be compared for accuracy.

The learning process was just as important for the team putting together the targets as for the remote viewers themselves; it was discovered that the more specific the information gathered by the team, the more accurate and effective the viewing.

For example, to specifically identify McDonalds as opposed to "a hamburger restaurant" resulted in greater success for the viewer. The 3 most valuable types of information for the team to know were discovered to be knowledge of time or date, location, and event.

When one or more of these was missing, sometimes the viewer would slip in time or place. For example, he or she might identify the correct location but would sometimes go back to an earlier time, or even, as was discovered later, ahead to a future time.

The finer details of the practice of remote viewing changed slightly over the years, but the fundamentals remained the same and a protocol was established.

The remote viewer was put in a room with an interviewer who was also ignorant of the target to prevent any subconscious guidance or passage of information. Specific procedures were followed that included checks and double-checks on all activities.

Following the established protocol under laboratory conditions is one the defining characteristics of remote viewing; this is what separates it from other paranormal or psychic practices that have no checks and balances and can be somewhat random.

Learning and to become centered are very helpful skills in developing remote viewing, but, above all, practice is important. The more one practices, the more sensitive, open, and aware one becomes. All practice helps.

Useful daily practices include visualizing a parking space before going somewhere, estimating the amounts for a grocery bill or gas total, or writing down the time and date of the next rainfall.

Following protocol within practice is important because it helps to establish patterns, and the existence of patterns reinforces mental states and belief systems. In addition, it is important to write things down. Writing things down helps the practicing viewer to be honest and to monitor progress.

As with any practice, there is a learning curve involved with remote viewing. The learning curve involves moving information from a place of knowledge to one of belief. The remote viewer goes through a series of levels in a rather erratic manner.

Initial successes will be inevitably followed by setbacks because of the way our minds react to new and unfamiliar information. When something unexpected happens, the conscious mind is shocked and does not have time to act, merely to receive.

Shortly thereafter, the conscious mind kicks into gear and tries to do what it does so well, to process, organize, and make sense of experiences and make them fit into its preconceived and firmly established patterns.

Once a new way of perceiving has been established at one level, the same process continues again as one moves on to another levels. To date, 9 levels of remote viewing have been identified.

In level 1, the viewer receives overall gestalts. The remote viewer might get an image that captures the essence of the target but no specific details.

In level 2, the remote viewer is likely to get a sense of feeling and proportion in addition to the overall gestalt. Information pertinent to the senses comes through, for example its size or texture.

After about 12 months of continued practice, the remote viewer is likely to enter the third level. At this time, the target comes more into focus and there is a more aesthetic impact on the viewer.

For example, the viewer might get a sense of overriding beauty or joy in relation to the target. In addition, concepts become more concrete at this stage. Rather than describing a feeling of something big, the viewer might get a sense of a mountain.

The fourth level involves far more specific information and the emotional impact is stronger. The viewer might get a sense of the nature of a target, for example that something medical or something illegal is happening at the target. Size and details are more accurate as are overall proportions.

In level 5, the subject and topic of the target are more refined and underlying ideas are presented. For example the viewer might see a "natural park in a protected site." Far more details are received that flesh out the impressions.

Level 6 seems to represent a major breakthrough, this can be described as the "Ah ha!" level. It is here that time, space, size, and proportion are all evident. Everything from the other levels comes together and the remote viewer receives a clear picture of the target.

Level 7 adds another dimension to the perceptions of the remote viewer. More abstract elements are recognized, such as religious associations or information from the past or the future.

Once the remote viewer reaches level 8, he begins to see things that are not visible to other people. These might first appear as glimpses out of the corner of an eye but will later become more direct and substantial.

Also at this level, it is common to begin to "know" things about other people. For example to know things about their health or their personal lives.

Level 9 brings the remote viewer into contact with other levels of reality and existence. There may seem to a kind of strangeness about a target and then a sudden shift that allows a different vision.

For example, if seeing a death, a remote viewer might see that there is someone present and then they are not there in the same way. They may suddenly seem to be wrapped in gauze. UFO sightings and experiences are also part of this level.

There are different strengths in each of these stages, and the elements become clearer as one cycles in and out of them again. Some of the problems inherent in remote viewing involve one's own fear and ego.

Once the ego begins to accept the possibility of remote viewing, it tries again to take over. It sees images or gets a sense of something, and then tries to mold it and "make sense" of it. The greatest challenge is to let the information come and flow without trying to control it.

Some of the questions that of course come with the practice of remote viewing are what can and cannot, should or should not, be viewed. The answer is that anything can be targeted. Whether or not it should it another matter entirely.

A remote viewer will have his or her own limits as to how far he or she is prepared to go. It is unlikely that the viewer will be right all the time; he or she is bound to miss things so caution is necessary.

There are also times and situations when everything that is seen should not be shared. The bottom line is have integrity and to not violate it. Using remote viewing is like using the Force in Star Wars, it can be used for good or for evil; intention is everything.

Remote viewing does not work all of the time. And, although it is possibly true that anyone can be trained to remote view, some people will not pass beyond the rudimentary stages.

In the same way that everyone can run but not everyone has the capacity to become an Olympic runner, a certain degree of innate skill is necessary. Natural psychic talent has everything to do with the outcome.

Once firmly established on his path and fine-tuning his remote viewing skills, Joseph McMoneagle suffered a heart attack and had to undergo open-heart surgery. Going so deeply under anesthesia for a major operation is about as close to an NDE as many of us will experience.

This time, McMoneagle was interested, prepared, and had no fear of where he went and what he experienced. He did not get as close to the light as the previous time - probably because he was not as close to death, but he did see the light and did find himself in the presence of Light Beings.

These Light Beings communicated with him but would not let him go anywhere. He asked for proof of this experience and was presented with certain information to take back with him.

The first thing he was given was the permission to return early and watch the closing of his wound. The second was the knowledge that he would heal quickly with no complications.

The third included an interaction that would happen between him and another person in the future that he was forbidden to relate in advance. All of these things happened as described, including a startlingly rapid recovery in the hospital itself.

The major outcome of this event for McMoneagle was that he began to really wonder about the nature of life, God, and existence, and began to develop his own theories about life, consciousness, God, and cosmology.

McMoneagle has come to believe that the human form is just a small fragment of what and who we really are and that this physical reality is very primitive. He came to question our very nature, how and what we process, and the very essence of God.

Our dual nature, the fact that we straddle both the physical and non-physical realms, is what gives us our psychic abilities. These abilities, among which it the ability to remote view, are related to our consciousness, the aspect of our mind that is normally "awake", and our subconscious, the aspect of our mind that is not normally awake.

Our subconscious is also the gateway to the unknown. It is the place we access messages and information from the non-physical realm. All information is retained by and stored in non-physical reality until it is required.

It must be processed and synthesized by the mind where it has to be made acceptable to our conscious sense of reality before it can be integrated. Herein lies the challenge.

Our conscious mind, our ego, does not like to be wrong, it likes things to make sense and to be based in physical reality, and it does like to be in control. Anything it considers illogical, incomplete, or inaccurate will be ignored.

This is true even in the midst of successful remote viewing. The conscious mind is constantly assessing incoming information and trying to rationalize it.

Skepticism is good; it means that questions are being asked. When questions are asked, answers are found. Flat out rejection is what is bad; it is the product of ignorance and fear and will lead nowhere.

There is a great deal of evidence to support the successes of remote viewing, including many startling examples that span places and events in our present, in our past, and on other planets.

It is possible to view inside nuclear reactors and other such places that human beings are unable to physically access. The possibilities are phenomenally exciting and the implications far reaching.

If we can accept the possibilities available to us, we may come a step closer to accepting and understanding the truth of who and what we may really be and how connected we all are.

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