Förändrat medvetandetillstånd Psykiskt fenomen, Upplevelse

normal

• Text 5388, v1

Altered State of Conscious = förändrat medvetandetillstånd

normal

• Text 5389, v2 - Inmatad av Göran Brusewitz
• Ur PSSPR (No 13, sid 17-21)
• Av Göran Brusewitz

Förändrade medvetandetillstand (FMT) är av central betydelse för parapsykologin. Det är sedan länge klart att de parapsykologiska fenomenen oftast uppträder spontant just när man befinner sig i ett förändrat medvetandetillstånd, i sömn, i drömmar, strax innan man somnar etc. Eran med transmedier är i stort sett över, men parapsykologerna har på senare år visat förnyat intresse för tekniker som skapar ett FMT.

Rhea White gjorde en undersökning 1964, där hon analyserade de tekniker som används av olika medier för att öka den psykiska mottagligheten. Gemensamma element i dessa tekniker var just avslappning och ett stillande av sinnet så att man lättare skulle bli medveten om och uppmärksam på psi-intryck.

En ofta använd teknik är hypnos. Ganzfeld-tekniken utvecklades av Charles Honorton. Han hade arbetat med experimenten med dröm-ESP, men ville försöka hitta en säkrare och enklare metodik.

normal

• Text 5393, v2
• Ur PSSPR (No 14: Alterations in Consciousness and psi Phenomena)
• Av Stanely Krippner

The term consciousness has been used in different ways by psychologists, but one useful definition is simply to view it as the pattern of perception cognition, affect, and corresponding behavior (i.e., perceiving, thinking feeling, and related activity) that characterizes an organism at any given point in time. When there is a change or shift in this pattern that is noticeable to outside observers and/or the person experiencing this change, we can refer to the pattern as an alteration of consciousness. If the alteration is stable over a period of time, and if it involves a majority of the functions of consciousness (e.g., perception, memory, attention, awareness, emotion, volition) we can speak of it as an altered state of consciousness. Sleep is considered an altered state as is rapid eye movement sleep in which dreams usually occur.

normal

• Text 5397, v1 - Inmatad av Jonas
• Av Jonas Liljegren

I andra kulturer (indien, östasien, naturreligioner, osv) är paranormala fenomen starkt knutna till ASC. I början av den amerikanska experimentella parapsykologin experimenterade man väldigt mycket med hypnos och alfavågsinducering. Även spontanfallen är ofta knytna till förändrat medvetandetillstånd, exempelvis vid insomnande, uppvaknandet, sömn eller vid långvarig monoton aktivitet (ensam bilkörning, etc).

Alla dessa informella observationer antyder att ASC inducerar psi. Men så vitt jag vet finns det inga klara experimentella bevis för att fp i ASC lyckas bättre än de i normalt vaket tillstånd. Dock bygger ganzfeldtekniken på ASC, och denna teknik har visat sig vara den mest upprepbara inom parapsykologin.

normal

ASC och UFO

• Text 5399, v1

Många gamla kultplatser verkar ha en förmåga att mer eller mindre orsaka ASC. [8] Effekterna av ett förändrat medvetandetillstånd liknar i hög grad de som vittnen i närkontakter av andra, tredje och fjärde graden visar. Alltså finns det anledning att misstänka att vittnet har haft ett ASC. ASC kan innefatta [9] förändring i tänkandet, tidskänslan, känslan av kontroll, känslouttryck, jagbilden, varseblivningen, mening och signifikans, och ge en känsla av outsäglighet och föryngring, samt leda till hypersuggestivitet.

Det finns många sätt att hamna i ASC. Det sker t ex när man är uppslukad av någon intressant läsning, sitter drömmande och ser ut genom fönstret på ett tåg eller kör bil en regning natt. Utmattning och trötthet gör det lättare att glida in i ASC. Är man ensam kan man lättare ostört hamna i ASC.

Dessa ASC är ofta inte särskilt dramatiska. Men ibland skapar det en djup, så kallad, religiös upplevelse. Oftast är upplevelsen mycket harmoniskt positiv, men ibland kan det vara en fruktansvärt hemsk upplevelse. Den kan vara fylld av stark ångest och skräck. [10] Detta överensstämmer med närkontakter med UFOn. Även dessa präglas ofta av starka positiva känslor, men ibland istället av en djup ångest. [11]

Tinningloberna (hjärnan mellan örat och pannan) är centrum för emotioner. [10] Det finns speciella punkter i höger tinninglob som, när man ger en svag elektrisk stöt där, ger upplevelsen av det underbara gudomliga ljuset och ger en känsla av fundamental sanning. [12] Känslan av absolut sanning och fundamental meningsfullhet är endast en känsla och måste inte nödvändigtvis ha något med verkligheten att göra.

Neuronerna (hjärncellerna) i tinningloberna är mer instabila än någon annan stans. [10] Experiment har visat att en slags halvledarneuroner kan svara på förändringar i EMF. [13] Det finns även mycket, men ännu så länge endast preliminär, forskning om hur tallkottskörteln genom bland annat ämnena melatonin, serotonin och betakarboliner påverkar drömprocessen. [1] Mycket forskning har visat hur förändringar i EMF påverkar tallkottskörteln. Med andra ord så kan förändringar i EMF orsaka vakendrömmar (dvs hallucinationer). Vissa hallucinogena ämnen (sådana som orsakar andliga upplevelser) som används av shamaner liknar de som tallkottskörteln styr produktionen av.

Dessa platser orsakar alltså både fysiska ljusfenomen, som kan fastna på fotografi eller radar, och även hallucinationer och djupa känslor. [10]

Referenser

• Text 5400, v1

[1] S M Roney-Dougal och Günnther Vogl 1993 Some Speculations on the Effect of Geomagnetism on the Pineal Gland Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, vol 59, s1-15.

[8] Dan Matsson 1991 Jordstrålning, hälsa och forntida vetande Nyköpings Tvärvetenskapliga Bokförening, s149.

[9] Charles T Tart 1969 Altered States of Consciousness - A Book of Readings, s13-18.

[10] M A Persinger 1987 Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs Praeger Publishers, kap 1-3.

[11] Budd Hopkins, mars 1986 Mufon UFO Journal nr 215.

[12] Melvin Morse och Paul Perry 1991 Närmare ljuset - Om barns nära-dödenupplevelser Natur och Kultur.

[13] Michael A Persinger 1974 ELF and VLF - Electromagnetic Field Effects Plenum Press: New York & London, s1 & s276-277.

normal

• Text 5401, v1

Valda delar ur Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs

Predicting the God Experience

• Text 5402, v1
• Ur Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs

The God Experience exists for a few seconds or minutes at any given time. Multiple experiences can occur in quick succession. During this period, the person feels that the self, or some reference indicating the thinking entity becomes united with or at one with the symbolic form of all space-time. It may be called Allah, God, Cosmic Consciousness, or even some idiosyncratic label. Slightly deviant forms include references to intellectual abstracts such as mathematical balance, consciousness of time, or extraterrestrial intrusions. These phenomena are similar to mystical states ande the more secular peak experiences.

Usually the God Experience involves euphoric and positive emotions. The person reports a type of God high that is characterized by a sense of profound meaningfulness, peacefulness, and cosmic serenity. Invariably the state is perfused with references to reduction of death anxiety. It is defined as the anticipated extinction of the self-concept or the thinking entity. During the God Experience, the person suddenly feels that he or she will not die. Instead, he or she will live forever as a part or subset of the symbol of all space-time. If the symbol is a father image, then the person expects to become a child of the father. If the symbol is imageless, the person expects to become a part of the Universal Whole.

Sometimes God Experiences can have negative emotional valences. During these periods, the same sense of oneness is pervaded by anxiety and fear. It is the epitome of terror. These experiences rarely happen more than once, except in psychiatric patients; the consequences punish any futher display. Labels applied to these experiences reflect the bad, aversive or generally evil components of the culture in which the person survives. Classic references involve hell, demon world, or the more abstract nether world. They are not traditionally called God Experiences, although they are certainly derived from the same source of variance. The self, with respect to space-time and imminent dissolution (death), still dominates the experience.

God Experiences occur once every few years within the normal person. When multiple events occur within a week, they are usually given special labels such as revelations, communions, or conversions. Given minimal epileptic contributions, God Experiences are precipitated by personal crises, such as the loss of a loved one (real or imagined) or the confrontation of an insoluble problem. Certainly the greatest insoluble problem is the anticipation of self-extinction. Death anxiety increases in incremental steps as the person ages and approaches the latter portion of life. God Experiences proliferate during these periods and may even occur as death-bed episodes. The God Experience is followed by a remarkable anxiety reduction and a positive anticipation of the future.

Biological Basis

• Text 5403, v1
• Ur Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs

The amygdala became a control center for the display and experience of emotions and moods (Plutchik and Kellerman 1986). The potential for fight or flight and the experience of anger or fear evolved together (Eleftheriou 1972). With the coupling of these emotions to mood, the human animal could exprience the heights of euphoria and the depths of depression.

Because of connection to the frontal lobes and upper portions of the temporal lobe, these emotions became mixed with the experiences of the self. The sensation of being a person, a real entity, a unique thing in this universe, became tied to the guts of the organism. With this mixing came the exhilartion of self-preservation and the fear of personal extinction.

A biological capacity for the God Experience was critical for the survival of the species. Without some experience that could balance the terror of personal extinction, existence of the human phenomenon called the self could not be maintained. It would have been fragmented by the persistent, gnawing realization that death could come at any time.

All of us, by virtue of our primate heritage, have this capacity. Some of us may regress to it, others may enhance it, and still others may be embarrassed by its presence. Like the propensity to walk and to talk, it is a potential in each of us. We may just know it by different names.

The hippocampus, for example, is notoriously prone to deterioration due to insufficient blood supply, inadequate oxygen levels, or deficits in essential nutrients. Because of the odd geometry of its blood vessels, the hippocampus is prone to deterioration from thickening of the arteries.

When electrical criteria are considered, the temporal lobe maintains a unique position among neural tissues. Hippocampal cells, in particular, display more electrical instability than any other portion of the brain. These cells are also prone to repeated firing long after the stimulation has been removed (Haracz 1984).

The usefulness of this sensitivity can be seen in its function. Since the hippocampus is so important for consolidation of experience (what we call memory), a sensitivity to the variety of complex and subtle inputs to the eyes. ears, and visceral senses is critical. As we search our complex enviroment, it must be given not only structure but meaning.

Electrical lability leads to unique properties. The amygdala and the hippocampus can LEARN specific electrical patterns. Like the total person learning to drive a car or to play tennis, specific kinds of electrical activity can be slowly acquired by these structures. This means that the experiences associated with those electrical petterns can come under the control of a place (like a church), a time (like crisis), or even more ominous, a person.

Learned electrical changes within the brain are integrated within the intrinsic patterns of activity. Different regions of the brain show particular patterns that more or less reflect structure and function. The temporal lobe is no exception. One of the most frequent electrical patterns generated from this lobe is called THETA ACTIVITY.

Theta activity, which has been defined as slow, synchronus or slightly spiked waves with frequencies between 4 and 7 hertz (cycles/second) is associated with alterations in temporal lobe function. These waves occur during dreaming, creative thinking, and twilight states. This activity is present when you hear your name called just before you fall asleep. It is active when you close your eyes and repeat some thought, prayer, or mantra until only a pleasant floating sensation remains.

Most of the time, the electrical activity of the temporal lobe is not exceptional. During thinking and experiencing, the billions of neurons within the region maintain a complex field of electromagnetic patterns. There are few experiences of god, few episodes of intense meaning, and little sense of cosmic serenity.

But, as we know, there are brief periods, such as those occuring late at night, when the threshold of the God Experiences can be approached. Sometimes, in the early morning hours as we concentrate on some meaningful task, the sense of solitude blends into an odd feeling of familiarity. We begin to experience thoughts as if they have occurred before. A presence is sensed but not seen.

There are times when the complexities of the world bear too much upon us. The job, the family and the six o'clock news wear away our thin veneer of invulnerability. Just as life appears worthless and futile, we suddenly experience a sense of understanding and a feeling of knowing. The next morning we can move again, forgetting, sometimes with shame, the convictions of the night before.