"Skip" Atwater's book about remote viewing in the
military is both an important historical marker in the published
accounts of the U.S. military's original RV program and a breakthrough
discussion of the use of sophisicated sound technologies to enhance
the remote viewing experience.
Skip Atwater is a leading researcher into the use of sound technologies
to enable and sometimes enhance the remote viewing experience. Based
at The Monroe Institute in Faber, Virginia, he is continuing the
pioneering research begun many years ago by Robert Monroe. But Mr.
Atwater is also a former principal and original member of the Pentagon's
"Stargate" remote viewing project. His book, Captain
of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guidance, is a real
treat for anyone interested in either the history of the U.S. Government's
early remote viewing efforts or the use of sound technologies with
regard to remote viewing.
This book has two parts. The first is a historical account of Mr.
Atwater's introduction in the U.S. Army into the world of conscious
research generally, and remote viewing more specifically. This part
of the book is an especially lively read, with lots of personal
details added that effectively convey his evolving appreciation
of the uniqueness of his own career path as an Army intelligence
officer involved with psychic research. Along the way, readers will
learn some of the most fundamental facts of the Pentagon's early
RV work, such as that it really did happen, and that it was once
regarded by many as a highly valued intelligence asset. But Mr.
Atwater also includes in his mix all sorts of fascinating trivia,
from code names for various intelligence units to detailed descriptions
of many emotional reactions of notable military brass to some of
the results obtained by the military's RV unit.
Perhaps one of the most important points in this latter regard
is Mr. Atwater's retelling of how top military officers quickly
seized upon the importance of remote viewing to U.S. national interests
when they realized the potential ways remote viewing could be exploited
for espionage purposes. When confronted with scientific studies
(primarily the early reports produced by researchers at Stanford
Research Institute, now SRI International), a good number of Army
generals (and lower ranking officers) quickly divided the potential
challenges facing the military into two parts: (1) enabling the
U.S. intelligence services to exploit remote viewing to spy on America's
enemies, and (2) attempting to evaluate the potential for foreign
foes to use remote viewing to compromise U.S. secrets. The appreciation
of the reality of the remote viewing phenomenon and its potential
use for espionage was deeply felt at various levels of the intelligence
command hierarchy, and Mr. Atwater identifies by name many of those
who were the most profoundly impressed by the Army's RV capabilities.
In this respect, Mr. Atwater's book is an important historical marker
in the chronicling of this interesting aspect of military history.
While retelling the history of the U.S. military's remote viewing
efforts, Mr. Atwater also includes a great deal of information relating
to the RV phenomenon itself, and many readers will appreciate the
care which he takes in describing some of the often overlooked aspects
of data-gathering while using RV methodologies. For example, Mr.
Atwater describes in considerable detail the painstaking efforts
that were made to integrate traditional interviewing techniques
used by intelligence operatives with the RV protocols used by monitors
who guided the remote viewers during sessions. He also discusses
the potential for interesting or spectacular events at a target
location to cause "time displacements" in the targeting
process, and how he was able to train many military remote viewers
to be less dependent on obtaining immediate feedback (or sometimes
any feedback) for their sessions when delayed or withheld feedback
was necessary (sometimes for security reasons). This is just a short
list of such examples of fascinating detail that can be found in
Mr. Atwater's book, and readers will certainly find themselves focusing
on many these and other diverse elements offered here as they correspond
with their own interests.
The second part of this book delves deeply into the use of sound
technologies with remote viewing research. I had the pleasure of
sitting in on one of Mr. Atwater's lectures on this subject at The
Monroe Institute. I have long had a professional interest in nonlinear
mathematics, and I was impressed with the seriousness of Mr. Atwater's
own research into hemispheric frequency mapping of the human brain
when individuals experience various altered states of awareness.
It was and remains clear to me that Mr. Atwater has spent a great
deal of time understanding the subtleties of this subject, including
the advanced use of Fourier transformations to identify "beat
frequencies" in internal brain communications during moments
of unusual perceptual awareness. The technicalities in this part
of the book will not frighten anyone. Mr. Atwater clearly describes
his material so that nearly any lay person can understand his primary
points, and I am certain that most readers will find his latter
discussions to be as fascinating as I did.
I cannot finish a review of this book without mentioning the special
treats that are included with the CD that comes with the book. On
this CD are a variety of declassified documents, recordings, and
presentations that can be accessed on a computer. Some of the audio
recordings are of Mr. Atwater's own altered-state experiences. But
there is also the inclusion of the original audio recording of Joe
McMoneagle's now famous session where he remote views what appears
to be a civilization on Mars in the very ancient past. This CD has
much more, and indeed I think most readers will think that the CD
alone is worth the price of the book.
For those who really want to know the truth about the military's
remote viewing past, this book is a "must read." Moreover,
Mr. Atwater's style of writing is fun for the reader. Most readers
will likely finish this book by wondering with some anticipation
when Mr. Atwater will publish his next volume. If this book is any
indication of what is still to come, his next book will certainly
be worth the wait.
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