Focus Levels Overview

[Volgerle]

I was wondering actually to stumble across this on Wikipedia (the home domain of rational skepticism...). But anyway, here it is. I thought it might be helpful as it is the best write-up, overview, summary of all existing Focus Levels I have found so far (again: what an irony to find it on Wiki). Wanted to post this in the permanent topics section but found that this is not possible, so I post it here.

I know there's another one on the TMI website (here: http://www.monroeinstitute.org/resources/overview-of-focus-levels ) but it is restricted to the human experience and goes only until F27 and it's also not that concise to serve as a quick overview.

So I thought this one might be helpful. Many newbies or even pros do not know about or "use" focus levels, and often we don't know what they write about. One could use this as a reference point to make it clear.

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link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_level

text (you may know, any wiki text can be copied in whole without problem, I am also doing this for the danger of this article being 'marked for deletion'):

Focus levels are numerical, content-neutral labels for specific altered states of consciousness associated with specific Hemi-Sync binaural beat combinations defined by The Monroe Institute (TMI). From a physiological point of view, they correspond to specific objectively measurable brainwave frequency distributions.

There is significant agreement by those who induce them that each Focus Level has a distinct subjective mental flavour.[1] These flavours tend to be notably non-pedestrian, as the brain states associated with them are rarely encountered naturally outside of meditational contexts. For example, anecdotal reports commonly suggest that Focus 15 feels "beyond time", and that levels beyond Focus 22 relate to perceptions of various planes of afterlife existence. Higher-numbered Focus Levels are generally felt to be extremely profound and spiritual in nature. The concept of Focus Levels has been used extensively by Robert Monroe[2] and Bruce Moen[3][4].

The levels are numbered, with Focus Level 1 (sometimes called C1) being Earth and higher levels being more and more spiritual by nature.

    Focus 1 - Physical Waking Consciousness. The level of awareness in which people spend most of their daily, waking lives.
    Focus 3 - Basic Hemi-Sync. The first level where Hemi-Sync starts to have an effect on the person.
    Focus 10 - Mind Awake / Body Asleep. The physical body sleeps and the mind is awake.
    Focus 11 - Auto-suggestion state.
    Focus 12 - Expanded Awareness. The awareness is expanded beyond the physical body.
    Focus 15 - No Time exists. The awareness is expanded beyond time and place.
    Focus 18 - Unconditional love / heart energy state.
    Focus 21 - Other Energy Systems. The awareness is expanded to realities and energy systems beyond normal time, space and physical matter.
    Focus 22 - At this level people are unconscious or partly conscious. People in coma, suffering from delirium or dementia, under the influence of drugs or alcohol; patients who are anesthetized or comatose. This level is chaotic, people are confused and very difficult to communicate with.

The levels above are mainly inhabited by people in physical existence. Beyond these levels this is not the case.

    Focus 23 - Inhabited by those who have recently left physical existence (i.e. have died). They are either not aware of this or not able to become free from their ties to life on earth. They are isolated from contact with others.
    Focus 24, 25, 26 - Belief System Territories. Somewhat similar to Focus 23, however people here are not isolated but live in groups. The inhabitants are humans from all periods and areas who have accepted and subscribed to various premises and concepts. All inhabitants of a specific territory are in contact with all others who share their beliefs. Contact with anyone holding conflicting beliefs is very limited.

    Focus 27 - The Reception Center. An artificial area created by human minds, designed to ease the trauma and shock of the transition out of physical reality. It takes on the form of various earth environments in order to be acceptable to the wide variety of newcomers. Contact and communication is open between all inhabitants. Many people living in Focus 27 provide assistance to new arrivals to help them adjust to their new situation. This is a highly organized and structured area.
    Focus 33 - Creation, a "creative area"[5]
    Focus 34/35 - The Gathering. Beings from many other locations within the physical universe are gathered here to witness the upcoming Earth Changes. Consciousness of the monad ("I-There" in Monroe terminology)
    Focus 42 - I-There cluster consciousness
    Focus 49 - Sea of I-There clusters

Focus Levels are grouped into sevens. The state categorizations follow this pattern:

    Focus 1, 15, 22... - Security states
    Focus 23... - Outer reality states
    Focus 3, 10, 24... - Inner reality states
    Focus 11, 18, 25... - Love states
    Focus 12, 26... - Healing states
    Focus 27, 34... - Ascension states
    Focus 21, 35, 42, 49 - Wholeness states

[Contenteo]

This should have been posted long ago. Thanks Volgerie!

I have many slight issues with this progression.

Mainly it is vague, so it is a good tool for an overview, but at the same time, can be exceedingly confusing.

For instance, F22 isn't when you are drunk or in a Coma. It is when you have phased and interact with other entities that are in these states. It is where retrievals take place. This slight misconception could throw one's whole view of the entire framework off, greatly.

The same sort of issue exists to a lesser degree with many of these other Levels. Thus...

An important note:
Treat this as a table of contents. Not something to be inferred, but a wiki to give you a rough idea of what is going on. A book or at least a slew of chapters could be written on each one of these topics.

Some other notes:
- If you can still feel your body, you havn't gone past F10 yet.
- F15-F18-F21 is more of a transition then a discrete stage.
- When you pop out in a world that looks like your room, but things are slightly different, that's F21

Best on all your studies.

Cheers,
Contenteo

[Stookie_]

There are no set-in-stone guidelines, it is vague. There can be varying degrees of awareness within each focus state. A person's F10 state and perception can change over time - contrary to what I read a lot, you can have an etheric OBE from F10, I've done it. This happens if you follow through with the first gateway series. Creating these rules of what has to happen in each state is too limiting on what it possible.

If you can still feel your body, you havn't gone past F10 yet.

That's not necessarily the case. It's common for me to feel my physical body in the background while I'm deep in the astral. Awareness can stretch across several "F" levels simultaneously. I see them as simple guidelines that were created by an institute, they are not hard rules. Consciousness just doesn't separate nicely into easy-to-read textbook sections.

[Pauli2]

- When you pop out in a world that looks like your room, but things are slightly different, that's F21

What source do you have for this definition?

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Im trying to filter these F's into experiences and will second the above question.
The RTZ comes to mind from what I've so far read.

[Contenteo]

Some other notes:
- If you can still feel your body, you havn't gone past F10 yet.
- F15-F18-F21 is more of a transition then a discrete stage.
- When you pop out in a world that looks like your room, but things are slightly different, that's F21

These are notes are mainly for newcomers, the majority of audience here on the pulse. This is who these notes are tailored to because I have spent hours upon hours of my life answering the same questions and clearing the same misconceptions over and over and over and don't feel like answering feeding that fire they I could easily prevent right here. 



A. If you can still feel your body, you havn't gone past F10 yet.
You are certainly correct, I have felt the presence of my body fading in and out in some fringe cases. I was more speaking of people seeing hypnogogic imagery or simply entering into the more robust stages of projection visualization and think they are projecting. This is meant to clear up that one, because this is very common. If you are still having a tactile sensation from anything pretty much lower then your lungs, you need to lay there some more and shut down that sensory input some more. Nothing more, nothing less.


B. F15-F18-F21 is more of a transition then a discrete stage.[/b]
All newcomers will be able to really need to put into context before they become exceeding confused is F10 and F12. Many newcomers seem to think desert can become before dinner. I thought this too. I hate to be the mom here, but it takes hard practice of becoming fluent in F10 and F12 before you can really go anywhere super exciting. If that is done right, the next thing they anyone will be putting into their mental model is F21 when they actually project. of course then coming back to this model, and with this snippet, be very very confused.

C. When you pop out in a world that looks like your room, but things are slightly different, that's F21
This is putting F21 in context, because the above F-model really didn't do F21 justice. 'Other Energy Systems' is a nice concise definition, but it really is quite vague. To the laymen, the would have no idea what we are talking about. F21 is where you have completed the initial phasing process and land someone in the astral. It could be deeper, but more then likely, if its your first time, its goin' be F21, and its goin' look like the same room you passed out in.


Pauli2- I love ya, but please go have a projection, gather some subjective data, and then start pouring on the objective questions. This isn't a school paper, this is a group of people trying to beat an important taboo in the earliest stages of man's revolutionary technologies. The old way of centralized published information will not work, not hep foster this discipline. The vast majority of panderers and bullcrapers out there on this subject is scathing proof. 


Szaxx - when I started analyzing the F model way back in the Begin, I thought I was much deeper then I actually was. When I overlayed it with what Frank was talking about, my experiences combined, alongside matching the description Monroe gave forth, gave me a solid foundation to believe that the stage where one pops out into the 'astral', that is, a stable otherworldly construct, where I am able to use my freewill to interpret and move about my surroundings(much like the POV you have in a dream) was what was dubbed F21. This was futhered by the point that F15-18-21 was a sort of 'gateway' or transition period. Which was similar in my experiences as well.
In addition, many of my unrecognizable 'higher' experiences started to perfectly fall into the F22/F23/24-26(BST's) started to fall into place as well. I started looking at experiences and judging them not by the events that occurred, but by the number and interactive potential of the entities occurring in these experiences. The model is confusing in this way. The different tiers have different appear to have metrics for measurement. But when one really steps back and analyzes their experiences as a whole, I found one metric that fits both the quantitative nature of the model and the complexity of our qualitative experience and that is the metric of disconnectedness from the physical.

Talk to you both soon    I am sure.

Cheers,
Contenteo

[Pauli2]

What's your source ---v

A. If you can still feel your body, you havn't gone past F10 yet.

Reports from various TMI trainers and participants (Atwater, Moen, DeMarco, Caudill etc)
invalidate that claim of yours, so I have to ask:

According to what source?
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Pauli2- I love ya, but please go have a projection, gather some subjective data,
and then start pouring on the objective questions.

I'm sad to say it, but that won't help your claim.
---

Also, your claim below requires someone to:

A. Have been able to measure the exact brain wave pattern of the OBE person.
B. Got a verification from the OBE-person that an OBE has happened.

All Focus Levels from F 3 to F 27 are defined by specific brain wave patterns.

Contenteo, where is your source for that claim of yours below?

- When you pop out in a world that looks like your room, but things are slightly different, that's F21

Cheers,
Contenteo

What source do you have for this definition?

You are providing a completely new, never heard before claim. Are that your
own homemade one?

In your next post you merely repeated your claim, but didn't answer the most
important question.

So? According to what source? What source (and neurological brain wave measurement
to verify the F 21 entrance) qualifies your claim?

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Thanks Contenteo on putting together the basic info on those F's. I've read for around a year and still find difficulty in some interpretations. However they are a guide, a reference  point to communicate your experiences to others in the stages of phasing out of the physical.
What you've presented is in line with what I've read with the addition of F12 and F3.
The 3D blackness From what I understand occurs at F21 and until this point is reached its not 3D. This is somewhat confusing as F15 is the 2D blackness origination point.  Befor reaching these levels everything is pictoral in some form. Only F21 is the void and once experienced after the 2D blackness you really feel its immense size, any thought here and your out almost instantly. In comparison to the 2D state you need to create a scene until it gets realistic to enter it. This is where I think the F15 initiation of the visualisation deepens to F21 or becomes real in order to exit. Ive reasoned this as F15 visualisations are flat and cannot be entered into. Wait until they envelop with depth and bingo. This is an unseen transition as its either one or the other.
There still exists the F18 but not read much on this. The only experience that stopped before the familiar F21 was creating music in totality a full orchestra and choir. It took a little time to learn it but it lasted for over an hour. F21 meditation is difficult for a great length of time as the slightest thought sends you out to it.
In your opinion is the above a correct outlook on the initial F's.
No physical tactile awareness at all above F10

[Xanth]

Ok Pauli, that's enough trolling from you.

Contenteo is his own source.
He derives his points from *HIS OWN DIRECT EXPERIENCES*.

I'm my own source, and I derive my conclusions from my own experiences.
Frank is his own source.
Bruce Moen is his own source.
Robert Bruce is his own source.
Every single person who has had direct experiences with the non-physical are their own sources!
And once you begin to have your own experiences, you too will be your own source because it'll be at that point that you can give opinions that aren't backed by someone else's words.

[Contenteo]

Yeah, I am sure my take on it doesn't help the number of interpretations that are out there, but I do hope it helps your mental model a little. I have my masters in accounting, focused on theoretical representational faithfulness, I do intangible process modeling for a living. This is just fun charity work from my POV. At least that's how I justify staying up late. 

Szaxx--> With your description, yes, that is good. I like it after reading it through a couple times. It matches with what I have experienced, just with different language. If I havn't been in there so many times, though, I would be confused out of my mind.

I first want to say how tough it is to analyze that transition from F12 into F21. Everything is blackness mixed with whatever you are visualizing and your brain is completely preoccupied with non-physical thoughts. To do critical analysis, its almost like you must sacrifice the projection attempt to get a clear picture of where you were, or else the experience will surely be sullied by the common memory loss that follows waking. From a scientific POV, this throws any possibility of a constant out the window. You can't have two experiences at once.

I'd like to talk about this 2D, 3D thing. I think I get what you are saying, but the issue is that it is so open to interpretation, I can't be sure. If I was to use the terminology, I would say nothing after the deep stages of F10 feels 2D. Everything after that to me, has a sense of at least 3 dimensions

However, I would preemptively agree, it feels as when you go deeper in each one of these states that some sort of 'dimension' is added. Especially the one into F21, the blackness transitioning to wherever you 'pop out'/land/roll out definitely feels like a 2d-->3d transition.

Only F21 is the void and once experienced after the 2D blackness you really feel its immense size, any thought here and your out almost instantly.

Could you expand on your perception of 2D and 3D Blackness? I'd like it if you could sequentially walk through it starting at the end of F12, let's say, at the point where you don't care if you are breathing or not anymore and everything seems to settle. Its just you sitting in blackness alone, possibly a sinking feeling associated with. Is that this F15, your construct of 2D blackness?

Cheers,
Contenteo

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Making something objective from its subjective parameters.
After losing the physical the backdrop is flat, grainy with various images coming in and out of view. This generally I leave to itself until it expands. Thats the feeling that its larger, it has some depth but nothing compared to that experienced at the exit point, F21.
Its still 2D as the boundary feels close and the visualisations that appear are similar to a video screen. They have a representation of 3D but only due to movement and our inherent knowledge of perspective. This I thought was or is F15.
The depth thus far can easily be interpreted as 3D but the infinite spaciousness with F21 has not appeared yet.
Trying to exit at this point is around 1% when compared to the void F21.
Continue with the phase and the images become more prominent and start lasting much longer. Similar to mini dreams and sleep at this point is the obstacle to avoid. Keeping passive you can view several of these scenes and can control them to a fair degree. The feeling inbetween the visualisations becomes that of a cave, eventually it feels vast. Taking control here and denying the visualisations to continue leaves you in this expanse of grainy nothingness. At this point, if not asleep the many worlds are open to you should that be your desire. At this point any stray thought is detrimental to your wished as thought=action is very powerfully exacted upon. For meditation purposes, I find this depth to have all the answers to anything asked. The results come in a flash and are imprinted within you, the problem is keeping vast amounts of info when returning to the physical. This experience is 3D with knowledge unknown within the physical. Words fail to describe it. If you've achieved this in depth and stopped the visualisations then removed ALL emotions the blackness is immense

[Stookie_]

It's all so analytical and precise and measured. Major Tom stopped by here once and compared AP to poetry and art. This single post always resonated with me:

This is correct, there is no reason to limit the the 3D blackness to any particular focus level.

As far as those quotes, they will make sense once you experience it. Sometimes adjectives, or even poetry, does a whole lot more than just analyzing it, thinking you got the picture while in fact you do not. I do understand that mental movement to a great degree, but it doesn't change the fact that practice has to incorperate more than just that. Projecting is an art, more than anything else.

Now as far as moving from focus 10 to 12, it is mostly just about loosening the leesh, in accordance with leaving the analytical world behind - atleast for the time time being. You do have to get into in some sort free-flow to be able to reach it, even if it risks falling asleep.

Analytics and exactly knowing what to expect do not help a great deal in achieving that state, and will actually prevent you from doing so, which is one of the reasons I have never embarked upon describing it in the same detail as reaching focus 10.

Another reason is that all different focus levels and divisions are not really useful in practice, and most of the information on how to reach the out of body state is already out there. This is also one of the reasons I have been moving away from looking at my experiences in terms of focus levels. There are other ways to allign practice with theory.

I agree there is room for improvement to make people more effective at reaching the state, approaching it from yet a different angle, but it's still going to take your passion and dedication, which is poetry yet again. That simple fact is too easily forgotten, and in fact, it is something that will take you further than anything else.

found here: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/more_information_on_focus_10_and_focus_12-t32504.0.html;msg269520#msg269520

[Lionheart]

 This morning I awoke as usual. Then kind of just remained in the same position and shifted away. The next thing I knew I heard a roaring sound, like a train coming down the tracks. I focused deeper and the visual came, it was a Roller Coaster Car pulling up to me. The arm protectors raised and I got into the car, so did a number of other people in front and in back of me. Then the arm protector came down around me and the car started to move. At first we were just going through the regular motions and sites of a true Roller Coaster ride, meaning the dips and curves and tall steep climbs etc. Then all of a sudden it started moving really fast and the visuals totally went away. When it finally started to slow down I could see we were in a very dark dismal putrid smelling area. There were dark shapes kind of moping around everywhere. Then the car sped up again, went dark and now we were in some kind of zombie land, some of the people were actually sticking out of the ground.  Again, the people here were moping around, but there was more color to this area. Again this was interrupted and the car started to speed up again, fade to black and then I saw I was in a neighborhood where everyone had the same homes. The homes had the same driveways, same cars in front of them and each one had kids shooting hoops at a basketball net in the driveways. But the kids were all different, meaning there was different races, different sizes, unlike the fact that everything around them was the same. The car sped up again, fade to black and now we were in ritzy land, beautiful mansions everywhere and the most expensive cars I had ever seen, this one guy ever had a heliport in his driveway. Wow, must be nice. I wanted to stay here for awhile, but the car sped up  again, this time the speed was kind of like warping. There were vivid colors, grid like patterns, this one was fascinating. Then the car slowed down and I saw total light and saw people that were just sitting with their eyes closed, kind of levitating. The feeling here was total love. I could soak this in for hours, but this was the quickest jump of this entire journey, so unfortunately it was short lived. The car really starting warping now and I thought it was never going to end up anywhere else. when it finally started to slow I saw I was in an area of pure color, unlike I have ever seen. this area consisted of just waves of patterns. But, there was no feeling, no emotion here at all. Then the trip ended leaving me puzzled.
I came to the conclusion here that the earlier stages or level definitely had to do something with your "class" level here on earth. I have travelled quite a bit around the US and have seen the slums where the lower class are, the middle class areas and also I have seen the mansions of the upper class. This shows me that where you go has a lot to do with the way you live. That your perception of life would lead you towards what your visions would be or Focus levels are. Now the one area I went to where everyone was the same i would probably call the Belief System Zone if anything. For everyone here thought the same, in this belief it must have been that they were afraid of change, of going against the status quo. I have never really thought much about the Focus levels that people talk about here. But I do see now that it is very easy to distinguish between each level.  You just have to be aware of your surroundings.
I think this was the one of the longest Phases I have ever had. But it was truly inspiring and will aid me in breaking these levels down a bit more one by one for my own personal interpretations of them. I think I will skip the first one though, if I can. It doesn't seem to be an area with a "Welcome Mat" at the front door.

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Nice trip to show the lower to higher levels.
Skipping out those of distaste may be an erroneous action. You've been shown all to learn from all of them. This you will work out at some point Im sure.
The highest locale being of pure colour, you would expect some visualisation to appear and the feelings within this locale, you may not have been witness to for some reason. Not sure what to think on this. Maybe an emotional parameter not being met..
From a similar experienced (on my own) locale the colours were so bright and clear, the visualisation of some vast land of colour (Salvador Dali style) with the ultimate in peaceful feelings. Utopia even. Its a place where you never want to come back from. I've been here only a few times. Through a vortex or portal as I remember. It lasted a while too. Striking similarity. I dont think I had a body here either, I certainly cant remember any.
It's like dream share through time. Definately more than a standard dream.
Nice one.
Can you work out if it had any purpose?
You weren't alone but went on the ride, as a spectator perhaps?
Hidden meanings....

[Lionheart]

Can you work out if it had any purpose?
You weren't alone but went on the ride, as a spectator perhaps?
Hidden meanings....

Possibly a taste of what's yet to come. There was 2 other areas that I visited on the ride, but these areas were never to be discussed at least in public and I respect that. I'm sure there is all kinds of hidden meanings in here. That should keep me busy for awhile. That in itself might be the the purpose of the visit. To always give me a new direction to follow.

[Pauli2]

In my opinion, one of the more complete lists of the Monroe Focuses is presented
in Suddenly Psychic as M Caudill lists the Focuses from C 1 to F 49 (she also
mentions a few others). The problem with most such lists are that they
often are kind of sketchy in my mind.

The most complete description of the Focuses from 23 - 27 has probably
been written by B Moen as he writes almost only about retrievals. And then
there is of course Monroe in the later part of Ultimate Journey.

There also is The Brown Book written by -K- (yes), and the text content is
the result of several TMI programs, with for example Focus 15 - 49. It
should be noted that the author -K-, uses the concept of "density" and
similar, which I don't see as purely Monroe schoolish.

Other than that, I think it would be interesting if anyone can relay the latest
material from TMI from their more advance programs, as I think those are
the sources to many Focuses little known (and beyond F 49).

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Lion,
There's a saying,
Use it or lose it.
This applies to memory, reminisce, on your outings in particular. There's a link, you may need to find it, if this doesn't apply you'll already know.