More Than Our Physical Body

“And knowing you are more than your physical body is the beginning of knowing that you survive physical death. And knowing that is a tremendous relief in fear. Because if you know that you survive physical death, something else has happened. You are free.” - Robert Monroe 

I attended the Gateway Experience in the late fall of 2025 at the Monroe Institute in Faber, Virginia and received the answer to the question I have been seeking for decades. The question of whether or not we survive our physical death has been debated and pondered upon for eons but evidence appeared only to be speculatory at best. That was until my world opened up and I was able to see beyond the veil of illusion and have my first taste of direct knowing. Many people acquire this knowledge through the Near Death Experience or NDE but mine came about in another form, one that bled over from meditation into the waking reality that we call life. 

Looking back on our lives we can sometimes see our path with crystal clear hindsight. What led me to this program was synchronistic in and of itself and worthy of mention. I originally came across the Gateway Tapes en route to the Middle East on my first deployment via the Sean Ryan podcast. My curiosity provoked, I began meditating for the first time in my life and really jumped down the quantum rabbit hole so to speak. I decided one of the things I had to do when I returned back to the United States was attend a retreat at the Monroe Institute. A good friend of mine who I had trained with extensively over the course of a decade stumbled upon the same path unbeknownst to me at the time through a completely different channel. Call it synchronicity, alignment or destiny the Institute was brought up in casual conversation and plans to attend together were quickly drawn up. This world was very different from our previous interest and for us to both learn about the Monroe Institute on our own separate paths and converge on the subject was odd in and of itself. I cannot speak for Tony, but I was a very rigid and black and white person throughout my 20’s and attending a spiritual retreat was so far removed from radar even my closest friends would scoff at the mere idea of me attending this type of program ten years ago. 

I had completed the bulk of the Gateway Tapes prior to attending the course and my world had already opened up in a variety of different ways but this was another opportunity to expand my consciousness and retreat from a world of noise and busy schedules. I arrived without expectations with the aspiration of hopefully achieving a full out of body experience, as I had only had partials at the time. The course consisted of some preparatory lectures, meditations and debrief sessions and was going well but it was about the third day when I had one of my most profound experiences. It was this day I received an answer to the question I sought in the most unusual way. 

On this day, we were instructed to go into the next meditation with three questions to ask the universe and that we should then receive answers. I dotted down a few questions in my notebook, retreated to my CHEC unit or Controlled Holistic Environmental Chamber and placed the headphones on and went into meditation. 

As Robert Monroe’s voice guided us, I sent my first question into the ether and awaited an answer. Nothing came. I asked my next question, still nothing, the third question, I received a sense of direct knowing but was not satisfied. Frustrated in my mind I finally said, show me something in my waking reality that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that there is more to this world and that we survive physical death. The Meditation ended and we were called to the dining hall for dinner.

I filled my plate and made my way to the table I had been sitting at since the course began. Tony joined and we began conversing when John, one of the instructors came to the table and asked to join us. Natural conversation took its course, and we began asking John about his personal experiences and how he came to Monroe. John told us that after mowing the lawn one day he laid down on the couch and had his first out of body experience and after that they kept happening. I inquired what his most profound experience was and he told us about his wife who passed away and explained in great detail a very beautiful encounter when he reunited in an out of body experience with his late wife. It is John’s story to tell so I will not attempt to regal it here but I will say it was shortly after he shared this that it dawned on me that this was the answer to the question I had just asked! Low and behold, less than thirty minutes after my inquiry to the universe, a man sits down with me to share his account! This was not mere synchronicity, nor was it coincidence or perfect timing, for I had asked a specific question, I demanded proof in my waking reality and the universe, source, who or whatever then delivered its answer! 

It wasn’t until months later that I would experience my own out of body experience adding another layer to directly knowing we are truly more than our physical bodies! The first time you witness your own body from a third person perspective certainly has its own level of proofness. Perhaps this anecdote is not enough to convince the reader, but direct knowledge is not designed to convince others it is just that, direct knowledge, but maybe it will inspire you to journey down the unknown like I continue to do so with an open mind because you never know what you are going to discover. When you cast off the shadow and death as Monroe stated it is a very liberating experience and you will never look at the world the same again, you are free to be, to explore, to grow, to go beyond...