While I personally use Monroe's model to guide my explorations, I have always held in an interest in Frank's Wider Reality Model. What interests me most is that half of the entire model has no direct correspondence with Monroe's-- F2oC, one's subconscious, and F4oC, the network of interconnected minds/mass of subjective energy of which we are all a part.
Why Monroe never discussed F2oC, I'm not sure. Perhaps Monroe had little time for exploring F2oC, as most of his work took place in F3oC. Another explanation is that Monroe's objective, "scientific" observations most likely resulted in few F2oC overlay experiences (aka reality fluctuations), though he probably experienced at least a few.
At any rate, my correspondence with Monroe hasn't exactly shed light on the situation, he's a very busy man, and he frankly didn't seem interested in me. I was hoping for a tour guide experience like Bruce Moen had. Maybe just wishful thinking from using Moen's methods.
More of an enigma than F2 is F4. Monroe had no direct correlation in his model of reality. Not even close. How did Monroe, Mr. OOBE himself, miss this area of consciousness? Or a better question, how did Frank manage to find it? Frank spent most of his time spending time in F4, at least in his latter days, yet we're all left with more questions than answers.
My efforts to contact Frank in the non-physical have been largely fruitless. I have, however, managed to gather some information as to the circumstances regarding his sudden disappearance. From what I understand, Frank chose not to be physical anymore. Have you ever read one of those stories about how so-and-so just disappeared into thin air and their body has never been found? That's basically Frank. Let's face it, when you're having 2 or 3 OOBE's every day, there comes a point where you just can't take physical reality seriously anymore. I do hope that my efforts to contact Frank will result more success in the future.
At any rate, this brings me to my speculations regarding F4. Perhaps Monroe didn't miss it at all. I have no experiences that I would classify as F4, but what I do have is contact with my I/There (or Disk, as we Moen folks are apt to call it). For the uninformed, one's I/There is the cluster of lives and aspects that come together to form a whole. All our many lives and aspects are separate yet one. An encounter with your I/There can be like a big family reunion, as some have reported, or like having a talk with a single semi-divine presence, as I have experienced. It's one, it's many. Moen's research indicates that our I/There's are "probes" sent out by Consciousness to explore Itself. But I digress.
Frank never reported encountering his Disk/I/There. But what if he did? And what if, while he was formulating a new model of consciousness, he called it F4oC? What if Frank was simply merging with his I/There cluster?
After much thought, these "what if's" have become more of a solid theory than speculation, at least after having experiences with my own I/There. I propose that Frank was in telepathic contact with his I/There and didn't fully realize it.
What do you think?
My perspective is that all of these different "views" aren't so very different in the end... I see them all as metaphors for that persons unique perspective of how the larger/wider reality is.
I see all of this as unique to each individual.
I believe that both of them are correct. It's just that they both had a different way in explaining what they had experienced. The Astral is a personal thing, we all see it in our own ways. We all have our own lessons and advances to find. We also have our own preceptions and realities. Ask 5 Wise Men the same question and you will likely get 5 different answers. But, all of them will be right. It all comes down to perception.
After my extensive work on the subject. I have come to agree with Ryan. Initially I was very hooked on Franks models of reality. It made it all look and sound so simple. Like it was all layed out and layered up like a building. Unfortunately the wider realities canot be drawn onto a map. Its way too subjective for that. These so called focus levels are so intertwined with each other, and the fact you can occupy more than one level at one time also. (Which you are doing right now anyway).
Remember, everything here is speculative and nothing is proven. You have to becareful about building up your own reality base and belief system based on the writings of others. Even having your own experiences may not present you with solid conclusions on what the wider reality is.
I am well-aware of the purely subjective nature of Non-Physical Reality. Unfortunately, I feel I have no choice to assign labels and use human-concepts such as "level" and "separation" in order to make sense of it all.
At the risk of hijacking my own thread, I have an experience I wish to share.
I believe that I managed to have a visit with Frank this morning. I asked my helper to take me to him. He was standing in front of a large structure that had some kind of pond in front of it, he was looking out at the pond. It felt like we were in some kind of city. At any rate, all I managed to accomplish was to blubber like an idiot about how "I was a fan." I really do talk like an idiot when I'm Non-Physical, I'm not sure why, maybe that's just how the raw thoughts come out. I asked Frank why he wasn't exploring F4, and he said he was, and so am I. Then I remembered the whole "no separation in consciousness" thing.
Frank took me to see Monroe, who was standing in front of some weird crystal ball thing. (It wasn't in this city, it was somewhere else, maybe TMI/There.) All i remember about this encounter is Frank saying "Here's a Phasing student." The rest of it just kind of faded away, like how you forget dreams in the morning. State-Specific Memory is such a bugger.
Now, assuming it was Frank and Monroe that I saw, I hope to have more meaningful discussions in the future. For now, I think it's fair to say that F4 and I/There are two different objective interpretations of the same subjective reality.