Recently, a remarkable document from 1983 surfaced on social networks. The previously classified 29-page U.S. military intelligence report, known as “Analysis and Evaluation of the Gateway Process,” has garnered significant attention. It claims that human consciousness “never dies.”
The report by US Army Lieutenant Colonel Wayne M. McDonnell was declassified by the CIA in 2003. He was initially assigned to discover the reason behind the deployment of some Army intelligence officers to a modest institute in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the “Gateway Experience” was being conducted.
This clandestine project is described as “a training system designed to enhance strength, focus, and coherence to alter consciousness.” Its aim is to assist individuals in transcending the physical realm, as well as the constraints of time and space.
The institute responsible for developing the Gateway was established by Robert Monroe, the proprietor of the broadcasting corporation RAM Enterprises. Monroe was captivated by the concept of altered states of consciousness and began his exploration by studying the impact of sound waves on human consciousness, including the potential for learning while asleep.
In 1971, Monroe published his inaugural book, “Out-of-Body Journeys,” detailing his personal experiences with out-of-body states, wherein he perceived his consciousness as detached from his physical form.
The Army Intelligence Unit (INSCOM) found this intriguing and dispatched Lieutenant Colonel McDonnell to conduct an investigation. He concluded that the Gateway was far from being mere pseudoscientific folly.
According to the lieutenant colonel, the “Gateway experience” is underpinned by a “solid and logical” foundation in physics and neuroscience. It is fundamentally a technique for calibrating the brain’s energy fields to access levels of consciousness that extend beyond ordinary reality.
McDonnell’s report posits that our consciousness operates like a hologram, emerging from the electrical and energetic activities of our brain in interaction with the universe’s quantum field.
If we consider the physical universe as composed of energy layers vibrating at distinct frequencies, then the human mind acts as a receiver: it interprets these frequencies, crafting the holographic “reality” we encounter daily. However, altering the channel through meditation, the Gateway method, or other esoteric practices allows our consciousness to transcend the mundane world and explore different reality layers unbound by space and time.
The Pentagon lieutenant colonel’s most profound conclusion was that consciousness, as an energy form, does not vanish after death.
Instead, it detaches from the physical body and merges with what Monroe termed the “Absolute,” an expansive cosmic sea of boundless potential. McDonnell’s analysis suggests that each life we lead contributes to an ever-expanding compendium of experiences woven into our perpetual consciousness.
Upon entering new physical vessels, these memories typically remain concealed, occasionally emerging, particularly in young children. This aligns with findings from the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Research, which has documented over 2,500 instances of children spontaneously recounting precise details of previous lives.
Although the McDonnell report is not widely endorsed, it lends support to the contested notion that reincarnation might be more than a mystical concept, representing a palpable, albeit not entirely comprehended, facet of existence.