The technique for achieving altered states of consciousness(the "Gateway Experience") involving brain hemisphere synchronization or "Hemi-Sync": The most effective way to begin is to briefly profile the basic mechanics which underlay operation of related methods such as hypnosis, transcendental meditation, and biofeedback. It is easiest to effectively describe what Gateway is by beginning with a short description of those associated techniques that share some common aspects with the Gateway Experience but which are nevertheless different. In this way we can develop a frame of reference at the outset which will provide useful concepts to explain and understand Gateway by comparison, as we proceed.

Hypnosis is a technique which permits acquisition of direct access to the sensory motor cortex and pleasure centers, and lower cerebral(emotional) portions(and associated pleasure centers) of the right side of the human brain following successful disengagement of the stimulus screening function of the left hemisphere of the brain. The left hemisphere of the brain is the self-cognitive, verbal and linear reasoning component of the mind. It fulfills the function of screening incoming stimuli by categorizing, assessing and assigning meaning prior to allowing passage to the right hemisphere of the mind. The right hemisphere, which functions as the noncritical, holistic, nonverbal and pattern-oriented component of the brain appears to accept what the left hemisphere passes to it without question. Consequently, if the left hemisphere can be distracted either through boredom or through reduction to a soporific, semi-sleep state, external stimuli to include hypnotic suggestions are allowed to pass unchallenged into the right hemisphere where they are accepted and acted upon directly. The result may involve an emotional reaction originating in the lower cerebral region, sensory/motor responses requiring involvement of the cortex, and so on. Both the sensory and the motor cortices of the right cerebral portion of the brain contain a sequence of points known as the "homunculus" which corresponds to points in the body. Stimulation of the corresponding area on the cortex causes intermediate response in the associated portion of the body. Consequently, induction of the suggestion that the left leg is numb, if it reaches the right hemisphere unchallenged and is referred to the appropriate area of the sensory cortex, will result in an electrical reaction being generated that will induce the feeling of numbness, Similarly, the suggestion that the person is experiencing a general feeling of happiness and well being would be referred to the appropriate pleasure centers located in the lower cerebral portion or in the cortex of the right hemisphere, thereby inducing the suggested feeling of euphoria. Finally, suggestions such as one that informs the hypnotic subject that he enjoys enhanced concentration or powers of memory would be responded to in the right hemisphere by accessing unused information storage capacity normally held in reserve as a result of left hemisphere selection and control processes. This aspect will become significant in the context of the Gateway process when attention is given to examining the way that hypnosis may be used to accelerate progress in the early stages of the Gateway Experience.

On the other hand, transcendental meditation works in a distinctly different fashion. In this technique, intense and protracted single minded concentration on the process of drawing energy up the spinal cord ultimately results in what appears to be creation of acoustical standing waves in the cerebral ventricles which are then conducted to the gray matter in the cerebral cortex on the right side of the brain. These waves "will stimulate and eventually 'polarize' the cortex in such a way that it will tend to conduct a signal along the homunculus, starting from the toes and on up.", "The states of bliss described by those whose Kundalini symptoms have completed the full loop along the hemispheres may be explained as a self-stimulation of the pleasure centers in the brain caused by the circulation of a 'current' along the sensory cortex."

The third consciousness altering methodology which will be briefly described is biofeedback. Biofeedback is somewhat unique in that it actually employs the self-cognitive powers of the left hemisphere to gain access to such areas of the right brain as the lower cerebral, motor and sensory cortices and assorted pain or pleasure centers. Instead of suppressing the left hemisphere as is done in hypnosis, or largely bypassing and ignoring it as is done in transcendental meditation, biofeedback teaches the left hemisphere first to visualize the desired result and then to recognize the feelings associated with the experience of successful right hemisphere access to the specific lower cerebral, cortex, pain or pleasure or other areas in the manner needed to produce the desired result. In this way, pain can be blocked, healing can be enhanced, malignant tumors can apparently be suppressed and ultimately destroyed, the body's pleasure centers can be stimulated, and a variety of specific physiological results may be achieved. In addition, biofeedback may be used to greatly accelerate achievement of deep meditative states particularly for beginners.

Now that we have briefly profiled the basic mechanics of the principal techniques for altering or expanding consciousness which share some of the objectives and/or methods employed in the Gateway Experience, we may proceed to focus on what that technique actually involves. Fundamentally, the Gateway Experience is a training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence to the amplitude and frequency of brainwave output between the left and right hemispheres so as to alter consciousness, moving it outside the physical sphere so as to ultimately escape even the restrictions of time and space. The participant then gains access to the various levels of intuitive knowledge which the universe offers.

To achieve synchronization of brain hemispheres, the Hemi-Sync technique takes advantage of a phenomenon known as the Frequency Following Response(FFR) which means that if a subject hears a sound produced at a frequency which emulates one of those associated with the operation of the human brain, the brain will try to mimmick the same frequency pattern by adjusting its brainwave output. Therefore, if the subject is in a fully awake state but hears sound frequencies which approximates brainwave output at the Theta level, the subject's brain will endeavor to alter its brainwave pattern from the normal Beta to the Theta level. Since the Theta level is associated with sleep, the subject concerned may progress from a fully awake to a sleep state(provided that he does not consciously resist) as the brain strives to entrain its wave frequency output with the one which the person hears. Since these brainwave frequencies are outside the spectrum of sounds which can be heard in pure form by the human ear, Hemi-Sync must produce them based on another phenomenon known as the brain's capacity for deducing "beat" frequencies. If the human brain is exposed to one frequency in the left ear which is 10 Hertz below another audible frequency played in the right ear, rather than hearing either of the two audible frequencies, the brain chooses to "hear" the difference between them, the "beat" frequency. Thus, availing itself of the FFR phenomenon, and using the technique of "beat" frequencies, the Gateway system uses Hemi-Sync and other audio techniques employing the FFR phenomenon to introduce a variety of frequencies which are played at a virtually subliminal, marginally audible level. The objective is to relax the left hemisphere of the brain, place the physical body in a virtual sleep state, and bring the left and right hemispheres into coherence under conditions designed to promote the production of ever higher amplitude and frequency of brainwave output.

However, brain coherence through entrainment to "beat" frequencies introduced via stereo headphones is only part of the reason why the Gateway system works. It is also designed to achieve the physical quietude characteristic of deep transcendental meditative states which brings about a complete alteration of the fundamental resonance pattern associated with the sound frequencies produced by the human body. Yoga, zen or transcendental meditation, if practiced long enough, will produce a change in the sound frequency with which the human heart resonates throughout the entire body.

As the coherent resonance produced by the human heart in a state of profound relaxation reaches the fluid layer surrounding the brain, it sets up a rhythmic pattern in which the brain moves up and down approximately 0.005 to 0.010 millimeters in a continuous pattern. The selfreinforcing character of resonant behavior accounts for the body's ability to sustain this movement despite the minimal level of energy involved. In this way, the entire body, based on its own micromotion, functions as a tuned vibrational system which transfers energy in a range of between 6.8 and 7.5 Hertz into the earth's ionospheric cavity, which itself resonates at about 7-7.5 Hertz.
"This is occurring at a very long wavelength of about 40,000 Km, or just about the perimeter of the planet. In other words, the signal from the movement of our bodies will travel around the world in about one seventh of a second through the electrostatic field in which we are imbedded. Such a long wavelength knows no obstacles, and its strength does not attenuate much over large distances. Naturally it will go through just about anything: metal, concrete, water, and the fields making up our bodies. It is the ideal medium for conveying a telepathic signal."
Consequently, the Gateway process is designed to rather rapidly induce a state of profound calm within the nervous system and to significantly lower blood pressure to cause the circulatory system, skeleton and all other physical organ systems to begin vibrating coherently at approximately 7-7.5 cycles per second. The resulting resonance sets up a regular, repetitive sound wave which propagates in consonance with the elecrostatic field of the earth.

The electrons which spin in the energy field located around the nucleus of the atom and the nucleus itself are made up of nothing more than oscillating energy grids. Solid matter, in the strict construction of the term, simply does not exist. Rather, atomic structure is composed of oscillating energy grids surrounded by other oscillating energy grids which orbit at extraordinarily high speeds. In his book, Stalking the Wild Pendulum, Itzhak Bentov gives the following figures. The energy grid which composes the nucleus of the atom vibrates at approximately 1022 Hertz(which means 10 followed by 22 zeros). At 70 degrees Farenheit an atom oscillates at the rate of 1015 Hertz. An entire molecule, composed of a number of atoms bound together in a single energy field vibrates in the range of 109 Hertz. A live human cell vibrates at approximately 103 Hertz. The point to be made is that the entire human being, brain, consciousness and all is, like the universe which surrounds him, nothing more or less than an extraordinarily complex system of energy fields.

The universe is composed of interacting energy fields, some at rest and some in motion. It is, in and of itself, one gigantic hologram of unbelievable complexity. According to the theories of Karl Pribram, a neuroscientist at Stanford University and David Bohm, a physicist at the University of London, the human mind is also a hologram which attunes itself to the universal hologram by the medium of energy exchange thereby deducing meaning and achieving the state which we call consciousness. With respect to states of expanded or altered consciousness such as Gateway uses, the process operates in the following way.

Up to this point our discussion of the Gateway process has been relatively simple and easy to follow. Now the fun begins. Gateway involves more than just perception of those aspects of the universal hologram which can be accessed in the dimension of time-space as we know it. To explain how and why human consciousness can be brought to transcend the limitations of time-space is the next task which must be addressed. To do this we must first appreciate what time and space are in order to understand how the dimension that they constitute can be transcended. Physicists define time as a measurement of energy of force in motion. In other words, it is a measurement of change. However, in order for energy to be in motion it must first be limited in some way within the confines of some sort of vibratory pattern so that its confinement gives it the capacity for being contained at a specific location which is distinguishable from other locations(space). Energy which is not confined is force without limit, without dimension, without the limits of form. It is infinity, cannot move because there is nothing beyond infinity, and is therefore outside of the dimension of time. It is also beyond space because that concept implies that a specific energy form is limited to a specific location, and is absent from other locations. But if energy is in the state of infinity, there are no boundaries, no "here" to differentiate from "there", no sense of area. Energy in infinity means energy uniformly extended without limit. It has no beginning, no end, no location. It is conscious force, the fundamental, primal power of existence without form, a state of infinite being. Energy in infinity is said to be completely at rest and, therefore, cannot generate holograms so long as it remains utterly inactive. It retains its inherent capacity for consciousness in that it can receive and passively perceive holograms generated by energy in motion out in the various dimensions which make up the created universe put it cannot be perceived by consciousness operating in the active universe. Energy in this state of inactive infinity is termed by physicists as energy in its absolute state, or simply "the Absolute." Between the Absolute and the "material" universe in which we experience our physical existence are various intervening dimensions to which human consciousness in altered states of being may gain access. Theoretically, human consciousness may continue to expand the horizons of its perceptual capability until it reaches the dimension of the Absolute at which point perception stops because the Absolute generates no holograms of or about itself.

B. Patterning. This technique involves use of the consciousness to achieve desired objectives in the physical, emotional, or intellectual sphere. It involves concentration on the desired objective while in a Focus 12 state, extension of the individual's perception of that objective into the whole expanded consciousness, and its projection into the universe with the intention that the desired objective is already a matter of established achievement which is destined to be realized within the time frame specified. This particular methodology is based on the belief that the thought patterns generated by our consciousness in a state of expanded awareness create holograms which represent the situation we desire to bring about and, in so doing, establish the basis for actual realization of that goal. Once the thought-generated hologram of the sought after objective is established in the universe it becomes an aspect of reality which interacts with the universal hologram to bring about the desired objective which might not, under other circumstances, ever occur. In other words, the technique of patterning recognizes the fact that since consciousness is the source of all reality, our thoughts have the power to influence the development of reality in time-space as it applies to us if those thoughts can be projected with adequate intensity. However, the more complicated the objective sought and the more radically it departs from our current reality, the more time the universal hologram will need to reorient our reality sphere to accomodate our desires. Monroe trainers caution against attempting to force the pace of this process because the individual could succeed in dislocating his existing reality with drastic consequences.

The Gateway Affirmation
"I am more than my physical body. Because I am more than physical matter, I can perceive that which is greater than the physical world. I deeply desire to Expand, and to Experience, to Know, to Understand, to Control, to Use such greater energies and energy systems as may be beneficial and constructive to me and to those who follow me. Also, I deeply desire the help and cooperation, the assistance, the understanding of those individuals whose wisdom, development and experience is equal to or greater than my own. I ask their guidance and protection from any influence or any source that might provide me with less than my stated desires."

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