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Please note that this essay was not selected as one of the 2021 BICS winners.
You can see the winning essays at bigelowinstitute.org
Also see:
BICS 2021 Essay Contest – Proof of Survival
Review of Jeffrey Mishlove’s BICS Essay
Review of Pim van Lommel’s BICS Essay
Review of Leo Ruickbie’s BICS Essay
Review of Runner up BICS Essays
My (unselected) BICS Entry: Case for the Survival Hypothesis
Abstract
This is a Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS) essay answering the question: “What is the best available evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death?” This essay presents an engineer’s view of the Survival Hypothesis based on evidence provided by mainstream and parapsychological science addressing consciousness, and lessons learned from the study of Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC).
An example of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) has been offered as “evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death.” The example is clearly not mundane, and as an example of trans-etheric influence, does not appear to be explainable with the Super-Psi Hypothesis.
Because the nature of ITC is not well known, a short explanation of EVP is included.
The Two-Mind Solution to the Survival Hypothesis is detailed, beginning with how black box analysis was used to develop a cosmology modeling the implications of survival. That resulting cosmology is referred to as the Implicit Cosmology.
The implication of survival is discussed followed by a brief discussion of alternative models. The importance of the question of survival is addressed.
Contents
The Importance of the Question of Survival
The Nature of Electronic Voice Phenomena
Instrumental TransCommunication
4Cell EVP Demonstration
The New Lab Rat
Illusion
Who is Talking in EVP?
Is EVP Evidential?
The Two Mind Solution to the Survival Hypothesis
Implicit Cosmology
Black Box Analysis
Characteristics Addressed in the Black Box Task
First Sight Theory
The Great Work
Morphic Resonance
Lucidity Spectrum
Instincts
Discerning Intellect
Personality Types
Temperament Mediated Perception
Explaining TMP
Psi Functioning and Psi Field
Out of Body Experience
Near-Death Experiences
Reincarnation
Mediumship
Foundations of the Survival Hypothesis
Concluding Remarks – aka So What?
The Importance of the Question of Survival
The Association TransCommunication (ATransC) is an organization focused on the study of trans-etheric phenomena. As co-director, I have received hundreds of contact messages asking about the fate of a transitioned loved one. For instance:
“I lost my mom 2months ago whom i have been caring for the last 18 years. I am trying to stay sane and really believe that she is not gone and i will see her again. I would give anything just to hear a sound from her.”
The person is referring to her desire to hear her mom’s voice in an Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) recording. I will address the reasonableness of that below. The point to note is how personal the question of survival becomes when a loved one dies. Whatever we may do with the science, we who study these phenomena have an obligation to find ways to help people understand their etheric nature, the nature of their mortality and the hypothetical fate of their transitioned loved ones.
As a model for the greater paranormalist community, we pledged to our ATransC readers to base our published material on the most accurate and up-to-date information available. We also pledged to distinguish between belief-based popular wisdom and explanations supported by research, the evidence and well-considered speculation. When we respond to queries about the survival of loved ones, it is our duty to not mislead, but to explain what is known in a way the person will understand. We are not grief counselors, but it is important that we who study these concepts are sensitive to the grief while being true to the science.
The information presented here is from the perspective of an engineer who is trained in electronic technology, rather than the social, neurological or psychological sciences typically associated with consciousness studies. It is my intention with this paper to update current parapsychological thought to include our findings in ITC.
Comment: Note that I have taken the position on the question of survival that it is a natural part of our existence. To explain these concepts in a way that makes sense, it is necessary to have a useful context in which the concepts are shown to be part of a whole. Of course, I understand that the context is hypothetical from a science perspective, but it is also actionable in the sense of personal seeking.
Many readers will have difficulty integrating the related concepts into their worldview. While I have attempted to provide comprehensive explanations, it remains for you to ask for clarification. This subject is too important to allow the complexity of this explanation to turn you away from personal progression. You are encouraged to use the contact link at the bottom of every atransc.org or ethericstudies.org web page for questions, suggestions or comments.
Etheric – Etheric is an old term referring to the aspect of reality that is not physical. The physical aspect of reality is seen as a differentiation of the etheric. The term has been traditionally used to describe the subtle, underlying media supporting reality. See Psi Functioning and Psi Field in this paper.
One White Crow
As I will later explain, I work with a cosmology (73) that supports the idea that we develop perception and expression in our mostly unconscious mind. (1) (2) We become consciously aware of information as it is modified by a blend of environmental inputs, our human instincts, memory, and assuming the Survival Hypothesis is largely correct, our inherited lucidity. Environmental inputs are modeled as psychically sensed signals which may be from our human’s five senses or another mind.
As it is modeled here, all psychically sensed environmental inputs from other minds are treated the same. In mediumship, depending on the nature of the information, some of those minds are considered discarnate.
It is one thing to say that a psychic has successfully acquired information using purely psychic tools. That is a reasonably well-established capability. (3) (4) It is different to say that a medium has successfully contacted a discarnate personality. In the end, the information is sensed in the same way by both the psychic and the medium. Based on my training, most practitioners decide the difference by who they intend to contact and the information they sense. I will explain that, considering the Super-Psi Hypothesis, those are not reliable measures.
The Super-Psi Hypothesis (aka Living Agent Psi Hypothesis) holds that all anomalous access of information is mind-to-mind amongst still living personalities. The extreme interpretation of that view is that information might also be accessible from a hypothetical field of residual memory. The residual memory concept depends on a radical understanding of how physical principles govern the propagation of thought energy and the assumption that a person can psychically access residual energy from the Psi Field.
The radical version of Super-Psi is widely supported amongst parapsychologists even though it depends on multiple hypothetical principles that make it difficult to support. Still, it is necessary to account for the possibility of such extreme psychic ability. For that reason, the one form of information access that seems to violate Super-Psi is mental access to that which has not previously existed or that would not be easily extrapolated from existing information.
Cathy Speaks
One example of apparent after-death communication that seems to satisfy the requirements for survival evidence is an example of EVP recorded by Martha Copeland. Her daughter Cathy transitioned as a young woman in an automobile accident. Martha had left Cathy’s dog Dojo free to move about in the house when she left to go shopping. She had also left her voice-activated audio recorder on a living room table. No one was in the house except for the animals. Doja tore up a potted plant and made a great mess. Amongst the noise made by the dog in the recording, is an EVP from Cathy as she scolds the dog saying, “Doja No!”
Based on my study, this is the type of example that provides “the best available evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death.”
The argument for the validity of EVP as actual phenomena, as opposed to possible pareidolia, is made below. The point to note is that the utterance is recognizably Cathy’s voice and that she can be heard scolding her dog in an entirely appropriate manner for the circumstance. The EVP is an example of apparent real-time interaction between a discarnate personality and physical space. It is also an example of the Psi influence on a physical process as a mind-to-technology exchange.
Martha has been a competent EVP practitioner and has produced other such examples. (5) Thus, we can argue that the “Doja, no!” EVP is an example of an often-repeated process using an ordinary recorder to facilitate apparent after-death communication.
It is best to listen to the example several times using headphones. As explained below, speech in EVP is considered a simulation and not biologically formed. The effect is that there is sometimes a learning process for listeners.
(c)Martha Copland 2004 “Doja, no!” EVP spoken by Martha’s discarnate daughter Cathy
The Nature of Electronic Voice Phenomena
For the “Doja, no!” EVP to be seen as proof of survival, it is necessary to understand why EVP are considered objective phenomena, rather than pareidolia or some other form of imagined experience. The ATransC White Paper on Transcommunication is written to provide a useful overview of the subject. (6) A brief discussion of EVP is provided here.
Electronic Voice Phenomena are anomalous, intelligible speech formed in electronic devices. They may be heard as a real-time output but are more generally heard during the review of a recording. No currently understood physical processes account for the existence of EVP. The speech is not heard in the air when the recording is made.
Many practitioners use a three-tier scale for classifying how well an EVP example is expected to be heard and understood by a listener:
Class A – can be clearly heard and understood over a speaker by most people.
Class B – can be heard over a speaker, but not everyone will agree about what is said.
Class C – requires headphone and can be difficult to understand.
Class B or C voices may have one or two clearly understood words. Loud does not equal Class A.
It is important to understand how examples are formed. From the nomenclature used in the ATransC:
Transform EVP – Apparently anomalous voices thought to be formed by the expression of intended order to change available audio-frequency background sound into speech. (7)
Opportunistic EVP – Messages formed by the selection and streaming of bits of prerecorded sound from a digital library to form the intended output sound. Message formation is typically via the apparent impression of intended order on a random process such, as a noise generator or changes in environmental energy, to select pre-recorded sound or radio broadcast signals. (7)
Spontaneous EVP – EVP may be induced via a question-and-answer session. They may also be spontaneous in that an apparent utterance might be found in a recording device such as a telephone answering machine. (8)
Instrumental TransCommunication
Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) is the term for any form of apparent technology-assisted communication between the etheric aspect of reality and the physical aspect. EVP are considered the audio version of ITC.
Visual forms of ITC are not commonly classified A, B or C; however, a Best Practice for classifying both audible and visible ITC has been recommended. (9) See the Classifying Phenomena Best Practice.
A useful model for the formation of audio and visual transform ITC is that the apparent paranormal features are formed by the influence of intended order on chaotic noise. (10) In visual ITC, this noise can be formed with a video loop in which a video camera is pointed at a video monitor displaying the output of the camera. Done right, the resulting loop produces chaotic optical noise in which areas of relative order naturally emerge in a rolling display. (11) Apparent paranormal features—usually human or animal faces—can sometimes be found in those more orderly areas.
We find animal features as well. The video loop example shown here appears to be a man in uniform sitting for a portrait while proudly displaying his dog. From the technique and hardware we use, it is common for us to see apparently correct colors. It is also common to see distortion as evident in the man’s face. Practitioners tend to experiment with combinations of technology and technique, as every combination, brand and model of electronic devices produces a slightly different video loop.
An easy way to collect visual ITC features is to take pictures of light reflected from moving water. We like a colored glass pot with tap water. A dark background is useful but experiment with different contrasts. There is usually enough overhead light to reflect from the water as it is agitated. Carefully examine pictures taken of the light reflected from the moving water.
Practitioners occasionally recognize loved ones in their visual ITC. For instance, I asked my father to show himself during a video loop session. We found the feature shown below in the results of that session. It is shown here beside a photograph of my father. I just happened to have the photograph on my desk as I was moving it into storage. The feature resembles my father posed in about the same way as in the photograph. Again, it is common to have parts of the face missing in ITC.
An important hint about the nature of ITC is revealed by the example possibly representing my father. According to the Super Psi Hypothesis, I could have caused the ITC feature to form by remembering the photograph of my father. In this case, the photograph of him on my desk could have supplied the model.
According to the Survival Hypothesis, my father could have initiated the formation of the example as transcommunication. Alternatively, I could have acted as the conduit for that influence. If I acted as the conduit, it would necessarily be modified to agree with my worldview. I will explain that below.
The objective nature of visual ITC is an interesting question. Am I imagining faces in the clouds? To test this, I presented seven examples that were only identified with a number. Using the online survey, on average, 26% of 128 respondents offered a reasonably correct description of the examples. (12) We conducted a similar study of EVP in which, on average, 25% of the participants correctly identified words in the EVP examples. (13)
These numbers have held reasonably true for other tests. (14) People understand words based on expected clues of frequency and amplitude. Italian researcher Daniele Gullà has conducted forensic-quality studies comparing a person’s biologically spoken speech with that person’s apparent speech in EVP. (15) He has noted that Formant 0 is often corrupted in EVP and the higher formants are often “stacked” in ways that could not normally be biologically caused.
4Cell EVP Demonstration
The ATransC hosted a subgroup known as The Big Circle—bridge to the other side. (16) Most of the members were grieving the loss of recently transitioned loved ones. Many were exceptional EVP practitioners.
Wanting to take advantage of the active cooperation amongst Big Circle members, and always trying to find ways to identify the limits of EVP, we developed a study protocol that involved groups of four people working as a team. Named the 4Cell EVP Demonstration, the protocol was intended to determine if specific questions can be answered via EVP.
From the abstract of the final report for the study:
4Cell EVP Demonstration Abstract
Can discarnate personalities communicate with people in different parts of the world by hearing (sensing) a question from one person, ascertain the correct answer and deliver that answer to someone else in a different part of the world? A series of EVP sessions based on a specific protocol was conducted by four-person teams. Coordination was via email and discussion board, and team members were in different parts of the USA.
A person functioning as a Requester thought of a question and told the question but not the answer to a person functioning as the Sender. The Sender communed in some way with his or her etheric communicators, asking them to tell the Receiver the correct answer via an EVP message. Once notified that a question had been sent, but not the question or answer, the Receiver conducted an EVP session to ask for the answer. A fourth person acting as the Scribe evaluated the resulting recordings for possible EVP and made the first determination of what was said, if anything.
The study indicated that it is possible to use EVP to gather information, but that there are limits to the kind of information that may be accessed. (75)
An example from one of the 4Cell cycles conducted 4Cell 2 Infinite:
Question: “What was the name of the tavern where I met my husband?”
Correct answer: “The Waterfront.”
Class C answer: “Has a view of the bay.”
“Has a view of the bay.”
Question: “What happens when we die?”
Deviating from the protocol, when the Receiver did not record an EVP that seemed meaningful, she asked the Questioner to record for the answers. The Questioner recorded this response, which is an astoundingly clear Class A.
Answer: “Review our lives”
“Review our lives”
From CellOctetic:
Question: “What were some of your misconceptions about death and/or life on the other side?”
Answer: The experimenter told us that her son wanted them to know that the answer was very difficult for him to give. The order of the EVP that was most important to the study was a Class C “It’s just hard to answer this,” Followed directly by Class A
“Regrets.”
The practitioner explained: “I think that he and his friends on the other side did not want to hurt their moms or frighten others—they discussed whether my son could even say it. He knew I could handle it, but others might not be able to. The EVP came as you see it above. As I said, my son wants us to know that this is an important part of our passing; our life review.”
Comment: Near-Death Experience researchers appear to agree that we do experience a life review and that it is from the perspective of those with whom we have interacted during the lifetime. This review can be expected to be emotionally painful, but it is probably the foundation on which we build greater understanding.
The 4Cell results are amongst the very few we have seen indicating all is not heaven when we make our transition. However, researchers should note that the practitioner’s understanding of the difficult to hear/understand “discussion” about being hard to answer question is based on the combination of an experienced practitioner’s understanding and a mother who knows her son.
The New Lab Rat
The first lesson for ITC research is that the protocol must require a competent practitioner. While a professor might stumble on a naturally able practitioner amongst student volunteers, there remains the need to understand the state of the art. (17)
Accessing information via ITC for which the correct information is not known is possible but should be done with cross-correspondence. Historical precedence helps, but the consensus is necessary. A simple example comes from a hypothetical EVP recording session in which the practitioner asks, “What is your name?” The person records the EVP, “Bob.” Is the communicator named Bob? Or is it a likely name dredged from the practitioner’s worldview? Without collaborating information, there is no way for the practitioner to know. This is especially true considering the Implicit Cosmology. (73)
Comment: As a point of order, it is poor form to give credence to a single syllable EVP. In a radio-sweep study, the rate of correct recognition of reported utterances falls to nearly zero when single syllable examples are eliminated. (14) (76)
Illusion
EVP are typically only a few words. Reports of long EVP, or many EVP from one session, is a red flag indicating possible pareidolia. In one study, I asked online listeners to indicate if they hear speech in recordings of noise. (18) I clearly stated in the instructions that there was no speech. From the study report:
Of the 111 submissions, 15.3% (17) reported hearing voices in the brown noise file and 27.8% (33) reported hearing voices in the modulated file. That means that 39% (43) reported voice in one or both files.
Participants were also asked if they had a history of hearing voices not heard by others. 36% (40) of the respondents said that they did. Most indicated they were likely in a hypnagogic state of awareness.
Interestingly, many respondents reported hearing music or musical tones. While hearing music might be an associated characteristic of the phantom voices phenomenon, the question has not been addressed here.
Assuming researchers have competent practitioners, such experimental questions as the nature of ITC, practitioner characteristics, limits of the hypothetical Psi Field and datapoints for information gathering are amongst the potential targets that can be addressed using EVP as an experimental tool. To be clear, I am referring to observing the results of ITC sessions to study these phenomena, not asking hypothetical discarnate communicators to provide answers.
Comment: The ET Visual ITC Study is an example of using ITC as a tool for research. (19) Practitioners sometimes collect visual ITC examples that seem to show a person who has not evolved on earth. The study is intended to collect examples while looking for evidence that they share a line of evolution. Since not enough is known about the origin of the features, it is not yet reasonable to say the apparent extraterrestrials are from another planet.
Who is Talking in EVP?
Forensic quality software has been used to compare the apparent discarnate personality’s voice with a previously recorded voice of the person thought to be speaking. Some comparisons resulted in greater than 90% agreement. (20) (21)
We do not have the software, skills or funding to routinely compare incarnate with discarnate speech. However, some examples are of such quality that simple hearing can make it clear who is speaking. For instance, compare the “Doja No!” example with the “Where’s mom” example also thought to be spoken by Cathy.
(c)Martha Copland 2004 “Doja, no!” EVP spoken by Martha’s discarnate daughter Cathy
(c)Martha Copland 2004 “Where’s mom?” EVP spoken by Martha’s discarnate daughter Cathy
Some EVP seem to be spoken from the perspective of another space. Consider this from Martha Copeland’s book, I’m Still Here. (22):
First Contact – Cathy had been dead for five months. It had been excruciating, more difficult for all of us than we could ever have imagined. One night, Rachel got up during the night, unable to sleep. On the Internet, she found something about Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP. With new hope, she tried and tried to get something through the computer. Frustrated, she started crying and kicking things around in her room. She yelled, “Cat, you promised me you’d come back. You promised, and now I’m alone.” With tear-filled eyes, Rachel sat down at her computer to try one more time.
“I’m still here” came through in a very faint voice, followed by, “How do you know they can hear?” in a male voice. Then came Cathy’s sigh, so typical of what I remember throughout her life. When I’d ask her to clean her room, I’d always hear that sigh. Yes, this was certainly Cathy.
We see many EVP in which more than one person is speaking. For instance, in the 4Cell study discussed above, the practitioner’s discarnate son seemed to be discussing with another person whether he should tell his mother about his “Regrets.”
Is EVP Evidential?
Two questions need to be asked about the “Doja, no!” EVP. First is whether any EVP example can be considered evidential. Are they real? The second is whether the offered example is speech containing evidential information. Assuming the example includes an utterance spoken by a girl scolding her dog, is it dead Cathy speaking? Is it a speech-like sound that coincidentally sounds like Cathy scolding her dog? Is the utterance evidence of survival or is it just evidence of Super-Psi?
The above brief discussion about the nature of EVP should provide a sense of confidence that EVP have been tested and shown to be real, objective phenomena. While the ATrans.org website has many articles that should help your self-education, the ATransC White Paper on Transcommunication (6) has been written as an ITC intensive.
EVP appears to be governed by the same concepts governing other forms of trans-etheric influence. For instance, there is evidence that the practitioner’s worldview is involved. Intended order is also evidently involved in the formation of examples, as is the relationship between what is objectively experienced as words and the underlying physical concepts thought to be influenced to produce the resulting form.
Because EVP is apparently a conceptual-to-objective effect, and because intended order appears to act on the etheric concept of the object and not the physical object itself, the mindset of both the practitioner and interested observer is thought to be part of the trans-etheric process. There appears to be a Psi effect similar to the uncertainty principle often talked about in quantum mechanics. If the observer of EVP is not able to relate to the concept, it is possible the observer will not experience it or perhaps will experience a version of it that better agrees with the observer’s worldview. (23)
In answer to the first question, then, EVP is established as phenomena that can be replicated by most people and experienced by anyone open to the concept. EVP are objective evidence of mind-technology interaction.
Whether or not the “Doja, no!” EVP is evidence of survival is a little easier to address. If we can find a way that the information could have existed before the recording was made, we must argue that it is evidence of Super-Psi. This paper assumes that, if we cannot explain it with known physical principles or Super-Psi, what is left is the Survival Hypothesis.
The Two Mind Solution to the Survival Hypothesis
For the survival of consciousness after bodily death to be more than a matter of faith, it must be supported by a rational cosmology based on arguably correct assumptions.
The Given in this paper is that discarnate Cathy’s voice, speaking about something that no one in the world was aware of at that time, has been found in recording media. No known physical principles explain the existence of the speech. The Super-Psi Hypothesis does not explain such previously nonexistent information.
The least convoluted explanation for the example is that dead Cathy was scolding her still physical dog as the dog misbehaved. And, that her discarnate voice was captured by a physical audio recording device. The characteristics of the speech are consistent with EVP and not consistent with direct voice (apparent disembodied speech physically heard by everyone present) or live voice (biologically formed physical utterances; normal speech).
Audio ITC, also known as Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP, is considered paranormal because it appears to violate known physical principles. Because we do not know all there is to know about physical and Psi principles, the fact of the example is not sufficient proof of survival. There needs to be a plausible context for the example that relates what are reasonably well-established principles with naturalist-like observations that point toward a cosmology that makes sense of the example and suggests future study.
Implicit Cosmology
The Implicit Cosmology is a model of reality designed to provide a hypothetical context to facilitate the study of ITC and related phenomena. It is based on emerging understanding about the unconscious-conscious mind relationship, current understanding about anomalous perception (psychic, Psi, mediumship) anomalous expression (healing intention, expression of intended order) and Instrumental TransCommunication. (73)
Black Box Analysis
In Black Box Analysis, a closed box is imagined containing a set of functions that respond to known inputs to produce known outputs. In reverse engineering of a competitor’s existing device, say a radio, engineers are not allowed to examine the enclosed components. The idea is to produce the same results without replicating the original components … only their functions, thus avoiding patent infringement.
The same approach has been taken for the development of a model for our etheric anatomy. The resulting functional areas represent an engineer’s view of the functions required to produce known states. The following characteristics were expected to be addressed by the black box solution:
- Perception is developed in mostly unconscious mind before becoming available to conscious awareness. (1) (2) See First Sight Theory
- A nonphysical database representing “Nature’s Habit” organizes life forms. (24) (In the sense of Émile Durkheim (25), David Bohm (26) and Rupert Sheldrake (24)) See Morphic Resonance
- Lucidity as a state of mind exists as a spectrum. (27) See Lucidity Spectrum
- Instincts as a moderator of behavior. See Instincts
- Discerning Intellect. See Discerning Intellect
- Personality types. (28) (29) See Personality Types
- Characteristics of consciousness as evidence of the influence of two minds. (30) See Evidence of Two Minds
Here, a life field includes: (71)
Observer – A probably immortal core personality representing purpose and acquired understanding. Organized and bound by Personality in an etheric field are:
Judge – A mostly unconscious complex representing intention, attention and choice moderating formation of perception and expression based on memory, instincts, understanding and inherited purpose. The Attention Complex (Judge) is modeled as the arbiter of all signals to and from conscious self (experiencer) and etheric Personality (Observer).
Experiencer – Conscious awareness as the source of intention.
Expressions – Thoughtforms representing life field expressions. They may be simply a thought or movement command to the avatar. In this model, they also represent a mental map of personal reality. They likely include aspects of self differentiated as sub-fractals.
Defining a Thoughtform – As a rudimentary etheric field, thoughtforms contain information about a specific subject. As an etheric field, they may be nested so that a thoughtform concerned with transportation, for instance, may contain information about all forms of transportation while a red wagon thoughtform would contain information specific to red wagons and would be a subset of the transportation thoughtform. (Nested hierarchy)
The Life Field Complex with Avatar Diagram represents the black box solution. Note that two life fields (71) are represented in the diagram:
Avatar –Body-Mind, Attention Complex and conscious self functional areas represent our human organism. The avatar life field is primary from the body-centric perspective (I think I am this).
Symbiont – Personality, Attention Complex and Conscious Self functional areas represent our life field as our etheric personality is entangled with our avatar. The symbiont life field is primary from the etheric personality-centric perspective (I am this). From the perspective of survival, our primary sense of self follows the symbiotic mind.
Avatar and symbiont are distinct instances of a life field fractal. The functional areas are expressed differently by each life field, depending on the core personality of the symbiont and Body Mind for the avatar.
The Life Field Complex with Avatar Diagram represents a two-mind solution to the Survival Hypothesis. Note that the Intention Channel represents the one influence conscious self has on the Attention Complex.
Comment: A frequently asked question concerns the welfare of pets after they transition. The implicit Cosmology has been designed to address people, but there is nothing in the cosmology indicating other species cannot be avatars. For instance, pets or wild animals.
Some systems of thought argue that animals may have a group consciousness while people have unique souls; however, the favored architecture of the creative process appears to be the nested hierarchy. In that case, life fields are universal fractals. We might say that a dog is a member of a dog oversoul and a person is a member of a collective; however, the difference is more likely our failure to normalize concepts of dog heaven with what we think we know about people heaven.
Also note that this model supports the possibility of life fields that are native to other parts of physical space. With the idea that the Psi Field is nonlocal, there are no conceptual limits on the aspect of physical space a personality might associate.
Seeing my cat watching my every move, and remembering the Implicit Cosmology, I find it prudent to at least consider that my cat is an avatar.
Characteristics Addressed in the Black Box Task
The primary characteristics considered in the black box task are briefly described here.
First Sight Theory
In First Sight Theory, psychologist-parapsychologist James Carpenter argues that psychic sensing is a person’s first contact with environmental signals. (1)
The Given in First Sight Theory is that people psychically sense environmental signals and psychokinetically express their intention as environmental signals.
These two contentions are supported in the book, First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Everyday Life. (31) with Corollaries describing how the conscious self is related to the mostly unconscious processing of sensed information. A simplified digest of the corollaries. with some paraphrasing. is provided here: See the essay, About First Sight Theory. (32)
- Personalness Corollary: The unconscious processes that constitute consciousness are personal and deliberate. The more important it is to us, the more we unconsciously pay attention.
- Ubiquity Corollary
Part 1: Psi sensing is not limited by time or distance.
Part 2: Psychokinesis contributes to the formation of experience by bringing intention to bear upon the physical processes of the nervous system. - Integration Corollary: Other preconscious processes are processed together with psi in a rapid, holistic, efficient, unconscious manner to format experience and action.
- Anticipation Corollary: The mind seeks to anticipate events.
- Weighting and Signing Corollary: The importance of sensory and extrasensory information is weighted as being more or less important before it is acted upon.
- Summation Corollary: The content of conscious experience, emotional states and behavioral choices are constituted in a summative way by unconscious thought.
- Bidirectionality Corollary: In this summative process, the person may turn toward information (signed positively) to include it in the construction of experience, affect or action, or turn away from information (signed negatively) and exclude it.
- Intentionality Corollary: Including or excluding information is a function of unconscious intention in regard to an element of potential meaning.
- Switching Corollary: A person will be fairly consistent in how information is processed, (but) may switch in how information is weighted, the sign attributed to it, and therefore, whether or not it is included in behavior. This switching will occur rapidly or slowly depending on the consistency and purity (focus) of unconscious intention, and this, in turn, is determined by the relative weight of the information over time, situational factors that promote or diminish critical analysis, changes of approach in a task and mood.
- Extremity Corollary: The frequency of switching affects the relative density of accumulated additive or subtractive references to the meaning in question. Rapid switching renders potential meaning irrelevant to ongoing experiences.
- Inadvertency and Frustration Corollary: Information gathered via psi is not available to conscious experience but does contribute to the formation of conscious experience by the arousal of anticipatory networks of ideas and feelings (assuming that they are heavily weighted, afforded slow switching and approached with the intention of assimilation). Because of this arousal, their action can be glimpsed consciously only by observing thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are inadvertent; that is, not intentional and not obviously caused by any current experiences. Someone who has become skillful in interpreting them is thought of as relatively psychic.
- Liminality Corollary: The arousal of anticipatory networks of ideas and feelings resulting from unconscious psi information may be considered liminal ones, in terms of the boundary between conscious and unconscious thought. Habitual interest in liminal experiences facilitates expression of psi processes (openness), leading to unconscious reference to psi material (and other streams of unconscious material). A more positive, open, secure state of mind will tend to facilitate reference to a broader spectrum of contextual, potentially liminal experience.
First Sight Theory is the only model I have found that integrates known psychology and parapsychological concepts in a way that accommodates Psi functioning and that agrees with current understanding in ITC. The theory is important to the understanding of the Implicit Cosmology because it represents a ruleset for the functional areas in the Attention Complex of the Life Field Complex Diagram above.
The Great Work
The most fundamental lesson of the ancient wisdom schools is the Creative Process which I define as: Changes in reality are expressed via personality’s attention on an imagined outcome with the intention to make it so. (33)
Applied to the seeker’s goal of developing discerning intellect, the Creative Process is the Great Work, (34) which in the Hermetic teaching is the transmuting of the lead of instinct-driven choices to the gold of discerning intellect. Basic to the Great Work is the assumption that the seeker will progress by seeking to become more lucidly aware of reality. That is, seekers intend to experience reality as it is and not as they have been taught by mainstream society.
I discuss the Creative Process in more detail further in the paper. As it applies here, the First Sight Theory corollaries important to a person trying to develop greater lucidity include:
Corollary 5 – Weighting and Signing
Corollary 7 – Bidirectionality
Corollary 8 – Intentionality
Corollary 9 – Switching
Corollary 12 – Liminality
Increasing lucidity is seen by some as a contributing factor for developing latent psychic ability. It is not usually the objective of seekers to become more consciously psychic. It is just that both require the same attention to the implications of how we react to sensed information. Psychic functioning is a tool. Lucidity is a state of awareness. Reference the About First Sight Theory essay. (32)
Morphic Resonance
Biologist-parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake has proposed the Hypothesis of Formative Causation. Better known as Morphic Resonance, the hypothesis is intended to help explain such questions as how biological cells know to differentiate into different kinds of cells, such as bone cells. It also applies to the evolution of instincts. (24) Sheldrake proposed in this hypothesis that there is a sort of database representing “Nature’s Habit” containing information about the formation of and functioning of biological organisms. Each species has a different database, to which each instance of the species shares access. Each instance of the species contributes to the evolution of its specie’s “Nature’s Habit.” This is a nonlocal effect.
In this hypothesis, “Nature’s Habit” information is modeled as being retained in a ubiquitous database-like thoughtform. (My words.) It is said to evolve with successful “creative solutions to environmental challenges.”
The hypothesis is important to the Implicit Cosmology because:
- It proposes a nonphysical thoughtform that acts as the body consciousness of a biological organism. (Body-Mind)
- Morphic resonance, meaning agreement of a developing organism with a ubiquitous species-specific set of instructions, requires a nested hierarchy of influence. For instance, in this model, all skin cells are organized by the same instructions. Conversely, all bone cells are organized according to the same instructions. Each represents a nested tier of a hierarchy of life fields that also included organs, muscle, hair, and such, in the same hierarchy that constitutes the top organism which is organized by the Body-Mind.
One way of considering the elements of such a hierarchy is to think of them as fractals. In the Implicit Cosmology, I refer to a life field fractal. Each life field fractal has the same functional areas, but expresses them to different extents, depending on the life field’s function. In the nested hierarchy are sets of life field fractals within sets of life field fractals forming a top life field fractal.
- The hypothesis requires a means of propagating “Nature’s Habit.” This agrees with the Psi Field Hypothesis. (Current study of trans-generational epigenetic inheritance may support this point. (35))
- Changes to the “Nature’s Habit” database are seen as incremental. In effect, the organism cannot directly change the database. Instead, need-based reactions to environmental influences are considered. It is speculated in the Implicit Cosmology that the consideration is based on existing rules so that a very large change would tend to violate those rules and be either modified to be less substantial or rejected.
While some tests of the hypothesis have been proposed, it has not gained wide acceptance. One of the approaches to such a test is the idea that once a difficult task is learned by one or a few members of a species, it may become easier for every instance of the species.
In the Implicit Cosmology, operation of “Nature’s Habit” is managed via a ruleset based on First Sight Theory. This would apply in the Attention Complex illustrated in the Life Field Complex Diagram above. Reference Morphic Fields Essay. (36)
Comment: One of the predictions of the Hypothesis of Formative Causation is that skills acquired by one instance of a species may be shared by every instance of that species. This is not specific to biological skills or instincts. It also applies to organism-object skills. This is a complex concept to prove since the context in which skills are learned and expressed is convoluted. For instance, has a person found a traditionally difficult task easier to learn because the person is smarter than average, or has the person inherited memory of the ability from “Nature’s Habit”?
Although only anecdotal evidence, I have noted that the quality and quantity of visual ITC examples seem to be increasing. We collected our first examples around 2001. There were few people collecting examples at that time. For the past twenty or so years, I have noted that people posting examples on Facebook seem to be producing more and higher quality examples. This, using all digital devices when a few years ago, virtually no one was able to develop a suitable video loop using all digital.
I speculate that working with ITC may be becoming easier. The same seems to be true of mental mediumship. Again, this is anecdotal evidence that cannot be used for proof of Morphic Resonance; however, in the sense of inherited credibility, there is reason to watch the evolution of ITC.
Lucidity Spectrum
“Lucidity” is a term used to describe how clearly a person senses the actual nature of reality. In the Implicit Cosmology, lucidity is described as a spectrum with a person being entirely guided by cultural training and instincts at one extreme, to a person experiencing reality as it actually is at the other extreme. Seekers intend to experience reality in its actual form. Refer to the Temperament Mediated Perception Diagram below. Reference Becoming Lucid Essay (27)
Instincts
The behavior of biological organisms is moderated by instinctual imperatives that have evolved as the organism has evolved. The three categories of instincts most often cited are survival, procreation and social. (37) In a hierarchy of our decision drivers, our human’s instincts are normally the least obvious but most dominant.
Evolutionary Psychology appears to approach the intent of my assertions about human nature. From “How Hardwired Is Human Behavior?”: (38)
Evolutionary psychology offers a theory of how the human mind came to be constructed. And that mind, according to evolutionary psychologists, is hardwired in ways that govern most human behavior to this day.
However, note that Evolutionary Psychology is studied with the beginning assumption that the brain is a computer evolved to access environmental information. That is a body-centric perspective that does not consider such possibilities as a Psi Field. The value of Evolutionary Psychology is in the recognition that behavior is driven by instinct. As discussed in this paper, the most useful perspective for studying survival of personality is the etheric personality-centric perspective as taken in the development of the Implicit Cosmology. (39)
Human instincts are a behavior version of “Nature’s Habit” which tend to determine how an organism will behave. Just as with morphogenetic momentum, behavior also has momentum so that our human body has essentially the same guiding instincts as all animals. These instincts tend to dominate our behavior at birth and are only moderated by discerning intellect as we gain in rational maturity … if then. Reference Humanism and Discerning Intellect Essay. (40)
Comment: There is a relationship between political tribalism and the influence of instincts. Our human’s influence on our perception is at the core of most of our decisions. For instance, in most cases, apparent altruistic acts may have the primary but unconscious objective of gaining stature in the community. Which, in turn, increases the stature of the person’s gene pool. (41) (37) (42)
Discerning Intellect
A person is modeled in the Implicit Cosmology as an etheric personality entangled with a human in an avatar relationship during a lifetime. The model implies that the conscious self is the “I think I am this” perspective of the person. Assuming the avatar is a complete organism with an independent body intelligence, conscious self necessarily represents the combined avatar and symbiotic perspectives.
While history is a poor predicter of truth, it is worth noting that the Katha Upanishad taught this relationship some 4,000 years ago. (43) The text was drawn from the even earlier oral tradition of the Hindus Valley between Pakistan and India. It tells of a seeker who asks the God of Death to explain the implications of death. In it, the God of Death tells the seeker: (44)
1-III-3. Know the Self to be the master of the chariot, and the body to be the chariot. Know the intellect to be the charioteer, and the mind to be the reins.
1-III-4. The senses they speak of as the horses; the objects within their view, the way. When the Self is yoked with the mind and the senses, the wise call It the enjoyer.
1-III-5. But whoso is devoid of discrimination and is possessed of a mind ever uncollected – his senses are uncontrollable like the vicious horses of a driver.
1-III-6. But whoso is discriminative and possessed of a mind ever collected – his senses are controllable like the good horses of a driver.
1-III-7. But whoso is devoid of a discriminating intellect, possessed of an unrestrained mind and is ever impure, does not attain that goal, but goes to samsara.
Samsara is Hindu for the cycle of death and rebirth as life is bound to the material world.
1-III-8. But whoso is possessed of a discriminating intellect and a restrained mind, and is ever pure, attains that goal from which he is not born again.
1-III-9. But the man who has a discriminating intellect as his driver, and a controlled-mind as the reins, reaches the end of the path – that supreme state of Vishnu.
Supreme state of Vishnu refers to self-realization or self-knowledge.
The Katha Upanishad is written from the etheric personality-centric perspective. That agrees with the definition of a person used for the Implicit Cosmology. Considering the nature of transcommunication and what we know about the Psi Field, it is sensible to argue that the Katha Upanishad teaches essentially the same cosmology.
The purpose of this part of the Katha Upanishad is to teach the value of learning to experience actual reality of the spiritual self as opposed to the instinct-informed reality of the human. Consciously making this distinction is called “discriminating intelligence” by the God of Death. Since we try to teach the value of discernment, I use “discerning intellect” in the Implicit Cosmology. Reference The Razor’s Edge – Katha Upanishad Essay. (43)
Personality Types
From: “A study on human behavior has identified four basic personality types”: (28)
A study on human behavior has revealed that 90% of the population can be classified into four basic personality types: Optimistic, Pessimistic, Trusting and Envious.
From: “David Merrill & Roger Reid: Social Styles”: (29)
Assertiveness styles range from ‘asking’ behaviours to ‘telling’ behaviours, while our responsiveness varies from ’emoting’, or displaying our feelings, to ‘controlling’ our emotions.
Merrill and Reid defined four behavioral styles that we each display. We each have our preferences but can display all of the styles from time to time.
Analytical – Thinking, thorough, disciplined; always a student of the subject
Amiable – Supportive, patient, diplomatic, healer and caregiver
Driver – Independent, decisive, determined; always thinking about the next step
Expressive – Good communicator, enthusiastic, imaginative; often the opinion setter (29)
Personality traits tend to bias how a person responds to instinctual urges. That is important to the Survival Hypothesis because it indicates how the person develops perception. Reference Point of View Essay. (45)
Evidence of Two Minds
The avatar is assumed to be a life field with an evolutionary history distinct from the symbiont’s life field. Implicit in this assumption is the idea that avatar and symbiont contribute unique characteristics to the person – an etheric personality (as a symbiont) entangled with a human in an avatar relationship during a lifetime. Of course, our avatar is a biological organism evolved on Earth and we as symbionts have evolved as etheric personality.
The dominant personality trait of our avatar is the influence of instincts that turn the avatar toward decisions related to the dominance of its gene pool. That influence tends to produce self-serving choices.
Remembering that the etheric appears to be a conceptual space, I have speculated that the first cause began with a singularity best described as curiosity. Curiosity is satisfied by gaining understanding through experience. For a relatively immortal personality, the question of survival is less important. Considering the hypothetical primacy of curiosity, decision drivers for etheric personality appear to be more oriented toward gaining an understanding of the nature of reality.
Following First Sight Theory, (31) it is arguable that we live in a vast network of life fields streaming thoughtforms into etheric space that represent their expressions. In a sense, one life field’s new understanding benefits all life fields. This, in the same manner that, according to The Hypothesis of Formative Causation, when an instance of a species introduces a change to “Nature’s Habit,” every instance of the species benefits. (24)
From the body-centric perspective usually held in research, the benefits of seeking understanding would be characterized as threat avoidance, opportunities for reproduction or feeding. Altruistic behavior would be seen as uncharacteristic of survival behavior. However, if the influence of two personalities is considered in the model, and if the person is considered from the symbiont’s perspective, altruistic behavior might be better thought of as a characteristic of a long-lived communal personality.
Temperament Mediated Perception
The Temperament Mediated Perception Diagram is designed to put a few of these differences in avatar and symbiont traits into the Dualist perspective. As I explain the elements of the diagram, notice that the left side depicts primarily human dominant influences. The right side represents the effect of increasing lucidity and discernment.
Perception is described in the Implicit Cosmology as the formation of awareness. It is the essence of sentience. Perception precedes expression and is part of the process of developing the influence of intention.
As shown in the Attention Complex of the Functional Areas of Perception and Expression Diagram below, the process that produces perception involves the Worldview functional area as the database and the Perceptual Loop as the process. The Agree? decision function is well-described by First Sight Theory. (1) However, there appears to be a hierarchy of influences that bias the decision toward behavioral inclinations that may be independent of the influence of instincts.
For instance, the Switching Corollary (Number 9) of First Sight Theory indicates that some people are more inclined to focus on the subject at hand. I identify the difference in people’s focus as the effect of an influence that overshadows the more fundamental thought processes. That influence is generalized by the temperament model discussed here as lucidity.
Explaining TMP
The Temperament Mediated Perception (TMP) model is based on observation and my understanding of the science of perception. Its purpose is to diagram the spectrum of choice between mindful living and spontaneous, instinctual reactions to the environment. It is not based on research conducted by me.
This subject is important to the study of perception because the way people mentally interact with their environment determines the choices they make and the kind of experiences they have.
Pleasurable or Meaningful
Following the lead of the Katha Upanishad, (44) the kind of choices people make tells us a lot about which mind—avatar or symbiont—is driving their decisions:
Pleasurable: People tend to be more comfortable doing things that promote the dominance of their gene pool. Human instincts turn people toward behavior that promotes their stature in the community. (41)
Meaningful: The basic assumption of ancient wisdom schools is that individuals are intended to experience reality as it is and not as it is taught. Choices that lead a person to progress toward that understanding are considered meaningful in that they are made with the intention to gain understanding in preference to having pleasurable experiences that promote the gene pool. This is not to say pleasurable is bad. It is to say that sometimes truly beneficial experiences may not come from the more pleasurable choice.
Translating Traits
I have adapted the four styles identified by Merrill & Reid to better illustrate the point of the diagram:
Merrill & Reid Driver compares to TMP Leader in the sense that the person seeks to be dominant in society and business and tends to make life choices that prioritize foreseen pleasurable outcomes over meaningful outcomes.
Merrill & Reid Expressive compares to TMP Conformist in the sense that the person finds protection in numbers and tends to make choices that help assure a place in the community.
Merrill & Reid Analytical compares to TMP Seeker in the sense that the person responds to the urge to better understand personal nature and tends to make life choices that prioritize foreseen meaningful outcomes over pleasurable outcomes.
Merrill & Reid Amiable compares to TMP Wayshower in the sense that the person understands the need for collective progression and tends to make meaningful choices that support the community.
Lucidity Spectrum
The Lucidity Spectrum concept began as my effort to identify why some people experience paranormal phenomena and others do not, or at least not as clearly. As it turns out, the 2016-2020 political environment and conspiracy theories in the USA has provided ample opportunity to examine how people do or do not develop discernment. Virtually all of the analyses I have found point toward fundamental but poorly understood differences in temperament informing conservative or moderate choices. (42)
Enlightenment Threshold
The Enlightenment Threshold on the spectrum represents the realization that we are more than our body. This is not an event so much as it is a phase change that begins the process of a person consciously questioning if what is perceived is actual. It is at the Enlightenment Threshold that we think of an average person realizing that they are not their body and thus becoming a seeker of greater discernment.
The curve represents a wild guess as to the distribution of people on the spectrum. The great majority of people never consciously reach the realization that what they experience is what they have been taught to experience.
Discerning Intellect in Spiritual Seeking
You may be more familiar with the idea of Discerning Intellect as the objective of spiritual seeking. Spiritual is used here in the sense of higher ideals and achieving personal potential. The base assumption is that people have a hidden aspect that can be realized through mental discipline. This concept is taught in many forms:
- Emerald Tablet – Thought to have originated in Egypt some 6,000 years ago, it is attributed to a teacher known as Hermes. (34) The document has little historical value because of probable cultural contamination introduced through successive translations; however, the text of the document includes meaningful but arcane teaching about the Creative Process. (33)
- Katha Upanishad – As previously discussed the Katha Upanishad teaches the need to develop discernment to escape the cycle of repeated incarnations. (43)
- Hermetic Tarot – The 22 Major Arcana of the Hermetic Tarot are thought to have been composed more than 700 years ago. The cards represent a cycle of spiritual progression from naïve to mature seeker. The 22 keys represent concepts and potentials (Keys 1-7), processes (Keys 8-14) and effect (Keys 15-21). Think in terms of a potential being operated on by a process to produce an effect.
The Major Arcana of the Hermetic Tarot are not intended as a tool for divination. They are a textbook based on very ancient teaching intended for seekers’ self-education. Their value here is that the concepts presented in the Hermetic Tarot are consistent with what we know about our nature.
- John 14 – In John 14.6 of the Christian Bible, Jesus is shown to say: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In terms of seeking Discerning Intellect, this describes the three aspects of a teacher. That is, “The way” is the concepts Jesus taught, “The truth” is the application of those concepts in daily living, and “The life” is seen as how living the concepts results in greater discernment. (63)
This is not religious instructions, but a lesson in human potential.
The challenge for the person looking for proof of survival is to normalize what is scientifically known with what are seemingly philosophical or religious concepts that may correctly reflect previously understood indicators of survival.
It may help to remember that the “Doja, no!” EVP is presented as a discarnate personality speaking to her still physical dog via an audio recorder. If EVP is a trans-etheric influence, it substantiates the idea that mental mediumship is also, at least sometimes, a trans-etheric influence. As such, it is reasonable to look for other examples of such communication. In that view, there is reason to think that our friends on the other side routinely offer guidance and encouragement while not violating our self-determination.
The consistency of personal potential lessons taught throughout history can be seen as a form of evidence that has nothing to do with belief or religious dogma. I argue here that at least some ancient teachings are inspired by discarnate influences in much the same trans-etheric processes that are thought to be involved in the formation of transform EVP.
Also consider Jane Roberts’ Seth material (60) and “The Content-Source Problem in Modern Mediumship Research” (65)
Psi Functioning and Psi Field
If the mind is nonphysical and if thought can influence physical processes or exchange information with other minds, there must be a nonphysical medium in which the mind exists and means by which mental influences can be propagated.
An important parapsychological concept is the idea that the expression of the mind is a Psi or psychic function. (4) (3) In general usage, “Psi” is not the thought but the influence of thought. Psi appears to act on concepts to produce intended results.
The Psi Field Hypothesis has been proposed to explain the nonphysical characteristic of reality that propagates the influence of the mind. Like the Survival Hypothesis, the Psi Field Hypothesis is one of the many parapsychological concepts that has become part of the conversation with scant explanation. See Etheric Fields Essay for a discussion of the metaphysical view. (46) (72)
An important characteristic of the proposed Psi Field is that it is nonlocal. The parapsychological understanding of nonlocality is that the field is holographic-like, in that the same information can be accessed in any part of the field. That is the body-centric perspective of “here is everywhere.”
Reality is characterized in the Implicit cosmology as the etheric, a term historically used to signify the greater reality. It is argued in parapsychology that the Psi Field is an emergent characteristic of the physical. It is argued in the Implicit Cosmology that the Psi Field is an aspect of the etheric and the physical is an emergent characteristic of the etheric.
From work with ITC, it appears to be more useful to describe nonlocality as “everywhere is here.” That is, reality is a singularity in much the same manner as the physical universe is thought to have originated from a singularity. In this view, we, as etheric life forms, populate the singularity with expression.
Rather than physical things, the etheric is modeled as life fields and the expression of life fields. Those expressions are in the form of concepts. Concepts, then are about things but not the things themselves.
The underlying assumption is that physical reality is as it is because we agree to assign physicality to sensed information.
Developing Perception
Reasonableness of the Survival Hypothesis partially comes from the growing realization that sensed environmental signals are first processed in our mostly unconscious mind. (2) (1) (47) The Functional Areas of Perception and Expression Diagram below represents part of the solution to the black box exercise. Think of the Attention Complex shown in the diagram as the mostly unconscious mind.
Environmental Information
In First Sight Theory, sensed environmental information is modeled as Psi sensing. (1) Remember that reality is modeled in the Implicit Cosmology as life fields (you and me … and probably my cat) and the expressions of life fields such as thoughtforms, to some of which, we assign physicality. If that is correct, the environmental information would come from the avatar’s biological senses or another mind. It might be understood as an exchange of information, say a message, or information about what that other mind is imagining to be true. In this model, for instance, remote viewing would be considered a mind-to-mind exchange of information about what someone at the target location is seeing. Alternatively, it may be the access of someone’s memory about the location.
Worldview
Worldview is identified as a functional area of a life field’s perceptual process. It acts like a database containing memory, cultural training and instincts. In the case of a person (an etheric personality entangled with a human in an avatar relationship), entanglement is thought to occur as a shared conscious self and shared worldview. As such, the worldview we are concerned with for the Survival Hypothesis contains human instincts and inherited discerning intellect.
Perception Function
Perception is developed in mostly unconscious mind as a proposed visualization of sensed information. The proposed solution is based on Worldview so that, if the person is very religious the first visualization will tend to confirm religious beliefs.
Perceptual Loop
The Perceptual Loop is my term for the process that determines acceptance, rejection or modification of sensed information. That process is based on the output of the visualization function.
This is a streaming process in which:
Ignore: Information from the environment is visualized, compared to Worldview, and if there is no recognition, it is rejected, and the conscious self does not become aware of the information.
Try again: The information is visualized, compared to Worldview, and if familiar, it may be modified for repeated tries. The visualized image will likely pass through the loop several times to be modified to agree with Worldview or rejected.
Accept: If it is a good match with Worldview (personal sense of what is real), it is accepted and sent to the perception function and will be consciously experienced.
Maybe: If the Perceptual Loop produces a maybe or ambiguous result, it may be accepted or modified then accepted, and sent to the perception function. Ambiguous results are more apt to change Worldview.
It is important in cosmology to identify a mechanism by which evolution may occur. Rupert Sheldrake’s Hypothesis of Formative Causation includes provisions for creative solutions to evolve “Nature’s Habit.” (24) In the Implicit Cosmology, an ambiguous result of the Perceptual Loop can evolve Worldview. Thus, the model suggests that a small change or a little newness is more apt to cause learning than will a dramatic change.
Attention Limiter
A person is presumably immersed in a huge amount of Psi information and this process helps enable the Perceptual Loop to focus on more important input. In terms of digital data, think of this as the router interface: if the signal does not address the Attention Complex, it is ignored.
Expression
The output of the Attention Complex is expression. When it is directed to conscious self, it is a thought. When it is directed to the avatar it is a movement command. When it is directed toward another personality, it is a psychic expression. When it is directed to a concept, it is an expression of intended order.
In every case, expression begins with intention. The intention to express is responded to by the Perceptual Loop to produce a thoughtform representing one or more concepts.
Perceptual Agreement
In developing the Implicit Cosmology, it was necessary to assume that etheric space is organized by principles that are inherent in nature in much the same way that physical principles such as the natural rate of decay and electron charge, organize physical space. (26)
One of the most useful organizing principles has turned out to be the Principle of Perceptual Agreement: Personality must be in perceptual agreement with the aspect of reality with which it will associate. (23)
Perception is developed based on Worldview. The language of perception is conceptual. Concepts behave as if they are thoughtforms which represent a sort of hierarchical gestalt bundle of meaning. For instance, a Red Wagon thoughtform would call to mind everything related to red wagons. It would be part of a hierarchy of related thoughtforms that might have transportation as the attractor and include automobile and horse-drawn wagons as related thoughtforms.
Because the Perceptual Loop is limited by Worldview, a person can only experience that which can be expressed in the Attention Complex. The Attention Complex is part of the etheric life field. This means that reality experienced by core personality is limited by Worldview. Reality for an avatar without an entangled personality would also be limited by its worldview. The personal reality of an incarnate person is limited by the merger of avatar and the symbiont worldviews. I speculate that the tunnel sometimes experienced in near-death experience is a perceptual reaction to the first in a lifetime separation of avatar and etheric personality’s worldview.
Communication with recently discarnate personalities indicates that they tend to inhabit much the same sort of world they experienced while still in the flesh. This cloaking of self in the familiar is thought to fade as the newly transitioned personality becomes accustomed to its more natural environment. This is thought to be one of the reasons mediumistic messages and examples of ITC tend to be framed in physical world references.
Perceptual Agreement, then, is the mechanism by which we progress from the course lead of human instinct-driven behavior to the finer gold of increasing discerning intellect. (This is a reference to alchemy and the Hermetic Great Work. (34))
This is consistent with Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance as considered from the etheric personality-centric perspective. Since perception is based on Worldview, the ability to experience actual reality is limited by prior understanding—a “Nature’s Habit” equivalent. Changing perception requires changing Worldview, but like “Nature’s Habit,” Worldview has considerable momentum and generally only changes in small increments.
I am often asked how to become more lucid. In answer, I point out that Worldview guides us to make the world as we remember it to be. There is considerable momentum in Worldview memory. This is aggravated by the idea that, once the mind decides something is true, it is difficult to change Worldview. Habitually questioning if the implications of perception are reasonable is the first step, but the most important is to resist making an agree-disagree decision. I refer to this as “Suspended Judgement.”
Researchers question the survival benefits gained from human characteristics. In the same way, we need to question the usefulness of etheric personality’s characteristics. If our etheric instinct is to gain understanding—if that is our purpose—increasing our range of access to the greater reality serves the purpose of increasing our ability to gain understanding through experience.
In the same way, we do not experience and then understand. We gain a little understanding from each experience. In effect, we converge on understanding the actual nature of things through examination of repeated experiences. That is the benefit of many experiences and of being more attentive to what we are learning.
Intention
The one conscious influence a person has on perception is the influence of attention. A person can change Worldview and thus the nature of personal reality by persistently intending to do so. The degree to which intention influences personal reality is dependent on how well the person can focus.
Rapport
A way to consider the nature of an instance of expression is to compare it to the Creative Process: Changes in reality are expressed via personality’s attention on an imagined outcome with the intention to make it so. (33)
I define the Organizing Principle of Rapport as Personalities are interconnected by links of cooperation (influence) forming a matrix of relationships (cooperating community). (48)
A long-running study of Rapport was conducted by John Neihardt (1882–1973) via the Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT). (49) (50) (51) The idea was that, by developing strong social bonds amongst members of the group, a Psi-contact field would form that would facilitate the expression of psychokinetic phenomena.
Using the rapport concept, the ability to exchange information with another personality would be a function of how well the person is able to visualize the other person. That is, how strong is the emotional link between the two?
The same would be said of association with a thoughtform. If the person has considerable interest in paranormal phenomena, the principle of Perceptual Agreement suggests he or she would have a strong link of rapport with that concept.
When a person goes to a reportedly haunted house, the expectation of encountering a ghost would be enhanced by belief and expectation. In effect, one attracts a thoughtform with expectation.
Phenomena
Experiences that are correctly referred to as paranormal phenomena such as anomalous information access or evidence of psychokinesis are usually only spontaneously experienced. In many cases, the only evidence is verbal reports. There are too few scientists engaged in the study of paranormal phenomena and there is too little funding for research. The result has been that some phenomena are reasonably well studied while more arcane phenomena like EVP are ignored by more conservative researchers. The science of things paranormal has yet to coalesce into a coherent study.
The scientist-practitioner relationship is a critical factor in the development of useful theories and research techniques. For instance, the tendency of professors to use unskilled college students as research practitioners predictably produces “failure to replicate” reports. (17) More damaging, though, is when researchers try to explain reported instances of phenomena as reports from naïve, delusional or fraudulent experiencers (Anomalistic Psychology) or as Super-Psi sensing of residual memory (Exceptional experiences Psychology) without seriously considering the Survival Hypothesis.
Possible evidence of survival is too often reported as if it is evidence of Super-Psi, even if such explanations require equally questionable characteristics of physical space such as multiverse, quantum entanglement or time travel via wormholes. Some of the more active writers about survival subtly cast doubt on the concept under the guise of detached science.
As a layperson with a BSEEE and fifty years of study in the field, I find the greatest hindrance to progress in the study of survival metaphysics is what I refer to as the Academic-Layperson Partition. In brief, parapsychologists are expected to hold a Ph.D. in a related field. However, lacking a consensus on the nature of things paranormal, what is considered a related field is not established. Consequently, parapsychologists are typically trained in an unrelated field. For instance, one of the more anti-survival “researchers” of physical mediumship holds a degree in biology. Another is a retired professor of philosophy.
Understanding the disconnect between people who are competent practitioners and people who are trained in the sciences is important for understanding the state of the art of survival metaphysics. From my layperson perspective, here are my observations about survival science.
Inherited Credibility
Lacking a well-studied consensus model for survival, it is necessary to rely on consistency and verifiability. By that, I mean that these phenomena tend to share characteristics. In effect, I follow the tenets of Bayesian analysis. That is, a reported experience is more credible if it includes characteristics of similar reports.
A good example is visual ITC. Instances of visual ITC, such as a piece of wood that looks like a face, are always present (Type 2). Or they are formed by transforming available optical energy into a feature (Type 1). (9) Transform ITC is usually transient and best studied as a recording. A frequently noticed characteristic of Type 1 visual ITC is the presence of secondary features. For instance, two face-like features may share an eye or the hair of one may be the chin of another.
An example is the “Blue-faced warrior” example we collected using video-loop noise. The contrast in the example has been enhanced using Photoshop. The color has not been enhanced. Note that there is a face-like feature at the left ear and another around the solar plexus. There are many more, but their visibility depends on the resolution of the technology used to display the example. As the primary feature, you should see a blue-faced person looking toward your left. He appears to have a fur-lined vest or chest plate. Note that we often see correct colors.
Video-loop noise is chaotic. We use a color video camera pointed at a color television set to generate the loop. The camera records the display, and we look for features in grabbed frames. Small areas of order naturally emerge in the loop display. I speculate that the areas of order are due to stochastic amplification (52) of irregularities in the video stream.
Following the Implicit Cosmology, the formation of intelligible features is thought to be due to the impression of intended order on the chaotic noise. The practitioner or an interested observer is thought to be able to provide a conduit because of their etheric-to-physical entanglement. In this model, the intended order could be initiated by any personality.
Transform EVP are thought to follow the same trans-etheric characteristic, only using audio technology. In the case of transform EVP, chaotic audio noise has been the most useful. White noise is least useful. This supports our speculation that the mind acts on concepts and not directly on physical things. Trans-etheric influences appear to act on indeterminant processes. Processes that are engineered to reduce uncertainty, such as high-quality audio recorders, tend to produce fewer examples of EVP.
The output of Random Event Generators (REG) has been shown to change in randomness when under the apparent influence of meditating practitioners. (53) The well-known Global Consciousness Project uses REGs and seems to indicate a sort of humanity-wide dread just before a disastrous event. (54)
Stochastic amplification is the amplification of a small signal when mixed with broad-spectrum noise in a nonlinear device. This electronic configuration can be found in REGs, video and audio equipment—even magnetic field detectors. Arguably, the validity of a REG, audio ITC and visible ITC as a possible Psi detector is mutually inherited because they share characteristics involved in their formation.
Rules of Evidence
The rules of evidence for survival that need to be considered include:
- Phenomena must be able to be experienced by witnesses without prompting.
- Evidence must be supported by cross-correspondence from more than one source.
- Reported evidence that cannot be experienced by others without prompting, such as mental mediumship, must be supported by non-verbal evidence such as official records, uninvolved experts or more objective phenomena such as ITC.
- For proof of survival, the evidence must include information that has not previously existed.
- To be complete, studies of apparent paranormal phenomena should include consideration of the Psi Field, Survival Hypotheses and ITC. This is because any electronic device that includes nonlinear transistor technology may possibly act as a trans-etheric influence detector. However, if it is engineered to display detected changes with a meter, say a magnetic field detector, it can only display a Psi influence as a change in magnetic field rather than a change in intended order. The active circuitry of a magnetic field detector is electronically similar to audio recorders used for EVP.
The Four Traditional Proofs
In an effort to understand my spiritual nature and the meaning of survival, I have spent the better part of my life jumping down one New Age rabbit hole after another. The best approach to teaching how to apply Psi functioning was Silva Mind Control (now known as the Silva Method). (55) The most clarity came from the Hermetic Tarot taught by Builders of the Adytum. (56) In every case, it is for the seeker to self-educate to know how to tell the difference between a dead-end belief and a verifiable concept.
Out of Body Experience
The Out of Body Experience (OBE) is explained as the projection of conscious awareness beyond the physical body as if that awareness is a traveling camera. The experience is sometimes reported as Astral Projection or soul travel. As one of the more common proofs offered for Dualism, reported OBEs range from the sense of projecting attention to a distant location to the sense of complete bodily travel in a sort of shadow version of local reality.
I have practiced many recommended techniques for inducing an OBE with modest success. My few spontaneous experiences appeared to be need-driven. My assessment is that OBEs are elaborate mental constructs.
Based on the Implicit Cosmology, an etheric personality must be entangled with an avatar to directly see physical space. An entangled personality senses its avatar’s physical environment by way of sensory information as it is translated in the Attention Complex and mapped by Worldview. In effect, conscious self makes the world according to expectations.
In an OBE, the etheric personality appears to exist in a memory-based world that is more or less lucidly experienced, depending on the personality’s focus and intention. An apparent OBE may include unexpected information, but that would come from outside of the Attention Complex, say a different person who is seeing or has seen the place. This would be in the same sense as remote viewing.
Comment: For a time, members of the ATransC recorded EVP about mirrors. Our advice has been for people to establish a quiet place in which they could record without interruption until they became competent recorders. That usually meant that there was no one present to physically see them. We are reasonably sure the mirror was wanted to help the etheric communicator psychically see the practitioner through the practitioner’s physical senses to better establish a link of rapport.
We know that EVP must pass through the etheric-physical conduit provided by a person in the flesh. For instance, a person who loved being scared and one who is more pragmatic recorded at the same time in a “scary” room. The more excitable person recorded scary EVP while the other recorded helpful names for further study.
EVP are always in a language the intended audience can understand. The utterance can be understood, even if the known speaker has never spoken the language. In the same sense, we advise practitioners that their communicators will “talk where they know the practitioner is listening.”
The indications are that the practitioner or interested observer provides the conduit but does so while translating the initial information to better agree with their worldview. If this is true, perception of a shadow body and the shadow world it inhabits would seem to necessarily be mental constructs.
Near-Death Experiences
Experiencing apparent death of the physical body and “coming back” to tell of the experience is generally known as a Near-Death Experience (NDE). NDEs often have an OBE aspect.
NDE reports sometimes include a tunnel-like experience through which the experiencer is invited to travel, presumably as part of an end-of-life transition. Because they are considered spontaneous experiences, I have not studied NDEs. However, I do speculate that the tunnel may be a mental response to ending entanglement with the avatar for the first time.
Encounters with friends and loved ones are often reported by near-death experiencers. We would model that as sensing an actual link of rapport with the other personality which is then mentally embodied by the experiencer based on memory and supposition.
Both OBE and NDE phenomena do seem to support Dualism but are also indicative of deep-trance visualization and Super-Psi-related integration of environmental signals during the experience.
Reincarnation
An important question about survival is why we would enter into a physical experience in the first place. Based on the Implicit Cosmology, a reason that makes sense is that we seek to satisfy a prime directive inherited from our source to gain understanding about the nature of reality as it is expressed in this physical venue for experience.
Also using the idea that life fields are fractals, it can be argued that we create in the same manner when we apply the Creative Process—Changes in reality are expressed via personality’s attention on an imagined outcome with the intention to make it so (33). For instance, we might imagine ourselves driving a sports car. To do so, we create an imagined place in which to drive the car, the car, and a little me to drive it. We give the little me a degree of self-determination so that we might more spontaneously understand the feeling. We also give the little me the urge to have the experience and the purpose of discovering if it is desirable.
If done with spontaneity, little me returns a useful impression of the experience and we develop a little understanding of ourselves, cars, and possibly, the value. Little me remains with us forever. We can access the sports car experience at will. We can conjure that little me for other experiences.
Following the nested hierarchy concept, and using this little me visualization as a model, we represent a “nest” of the hierarchy of personalities. Our many little me creations represent a “sub-tier” in the same hierarchy we inhabit. If this is true, reality is a shared creation of many personalities. Some of my fellow collective members will be in a lifetime but many may be between lifetimes. When I say, “my friends on the other side,” I am including members of my collective. It serves the purpose of my collective for me to gain understanding.
Because it appears that personalities share a collective sense of reality, in this model, the physical venue would be a consensus that would have considerable momentum. Following the Organizing Principles of Perceptual Agreement, we would tend to create our experiences based on that consensus reality. This is consistent with the Hypothesis of Formative Causation. (24)
I am not well-informed about reincarnation studies. My assessment is that reincarnation is consistent with the Implicit Cosmology. However, the cosmology only requires that the personality continues to seek understanding about the nature of reality. Its quest is probably inherited.
There is nothing in the cosmology that says a personality cannot incarnate into a new physical experience on another planet or with an avatar from another species. However, our worldview tends to follow us during transition, which means we will gravitate toward more familiar experiences.
The strong cultural influence on reported memory of past lives suggests that even birthmarks could be based on the Super-Psi model. To be clear, though, it is reasonable to argue with the Implicit Cosmology that apparent evidence of reincarnation could be initiated by a recently transitioned personality, especially one in our collective.
Mediumship
Current understanding suggests that everyone psychically senses environmental signals. (1) (4) Some people are more sensitive than others. Following the Implicit Cosmology, sensed signals originate from the biological senses of the avatar’s body or other life fields. If the other life field is discarnate, that sensing would be referred to as mediumship.
A saying amongst Spiritualists is that “everyone is psychic but not every psychic is a medium.” Since both psychic and mediumistic sensing are functionally the same, it is necessary to evaluate the sensed information to tell if it is mediumistic. In practice, a medium intends to contact a discarnate personality and is thus predisposed to assume what they sense is mediumistic. Rapport would play an important role in a medium’s success.
I have been taught several different modalities of psychic and mediumistic information access and have served as a National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) certified mental medium for over twenty years. (57) (The NSAC seeks to provide “spirit greetings” during meetings to demonstrate the continuity of life.) The takeaway from my experience includes:
- A skill I must always develop is suspended judgment. By that, I mean that I must consciously resist allowing the person’s appearance to influence what I think I am sensing mediumistically.
- It is common for my sitter (the one receiving the message) to come to me days later to report that my message was “right on,” even though the person did not indicate so at the time. Each message must be considered in the broader context of the sitter’s life and mental state, but there is also a danger that the sitter will find meaning where there is none. This is mental storytelling. (58) (May relate to False Memory Syndrome.)
- We know from ITC that an interested observer is apt to provide the conduit for the trans-etheric influence. I might think I am reading my sitter but may be sensing an interested observer.
- Since there is currently no known way to shield from the Psi Field, mediumship studies depending on blinded mediums and sitters have little meaning as proof of survival. They may prove the existence of anomalous access of information but that might be explained with Super-Psi.
- In the context of the Implicit Cosmology, mediumship is an exchange between the Attention Complex of one life field and the Attention Complex of another life field. As with ITC, the information should be expected to be modified to agree with each individual’s worldview.
- It is prudent for the medium to realize the information thought to be coming from a discarnate loved one may be coming from the sitter or an interested observer.
- Sometimes the therapeutic values of hope warrants standing and delivering whatever is sensed so long as it is positive. For grief management, the grieving person has the final say about meaning.
From experience, people can develop mediumistic skills. Characteristics, such as the ones listed above, tend to merge in an experienced medium’s worldview. The resulting lucidity can facilitate meaningful exchanges of information.
Even though mediumship might not be a stand-alone proof of survival, as with other forms of trans-etheric influence, mediumship inherits credibility from other phenomena. In the end, it is the skill of the medium and the content of the message that decide the quality of evidence.
Foundations of the Survival Hypothesis
I have been following a fellow on social media who is in hospice. Faced with his imminent transition, he has been looking for meaning in his existence and a reason to believe there is life after death.
Much of the information he has been posting about his search has been faith-based. Some of it is New Age feel-good sentiment which is also mostly faith-based. As a card-carrying New Ager, I understand how New Age beliefs help fill the space in the infosphere abandoned by science.
While I cannot say that we continue to exist after bodily death with academic authority, I can say that Dualism makes much more sense than Physicalism for the study of ITC. It is not much of a stretch to accept the evidence that Dualism leads to the two-mind solution for our etheric nature and that our symbiont self is much longer-lived than our human’s self. The problem is finding a way to develop a consensus of opinion based on the science and then to find a way to explain that understanding to the average person. While people have been complaining for years that we are a death-fearing society, little has been done thus far to changed that fear.
Part of the failure to communicate reasons to accept survival is the lack of a rational explanation of our purpose for entering into a physical lifetime.
Purpose
Perhaps the most fundamental lesson we learn from the study of transcommunication is that understanding we develop during a lifetime follows us through transition.
ITC
ITC has important implications for science, society and grief management. It also offers important evidence in support of the concept of continuous life. It took years for my technical-minded thinking to come around to the realization that an EVP like “Doja, no!” (above) or visual ITC features such as the one possibly of my father, (above) amounts to a new revelation about our etheric nature. In this sense, revelation means a reminder from our friends on the other side that we are more than our physical body. Implicit in that message, and the fact of our incarnation in this lifetime, is the idea that we are embodied for a purpose beyond simply assuring the survival of our avatar’s gene pool.
Hermes
The teachings attributed to Hermes of 6,000 years ago appear to have existed full-blown during his time as if it were the state-of-the-art of a long line of evolving knowledge. For instance, the knowledge conveyed in the Emerald Tablet (34) is consistent with what we are learning anew today about how Worldview moderates perception. Based on current forms of transcommunication, it is arguable that both the Hermetic revelations and contemporary transcommunication may have a similar trans-etheric origin.
Here is an example. In the Emerald Tablet, after explaining the Creative Process to his students, in Line 7, Hermes states: “Thou shalt separate the Earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, by means of a gentle heat, and with great ingenuity.” (34) In more contemporary terms, this can be understood as illustrated in the Temperament Mediated Perception Diagram above.
In most esoteric schools of thought today, fire is the intuitive aspect and earth is the empirical objective aspect. To be consistent, subtle would be unconscious perception of reality as it is differentiated through the Creative Process. Gross would be reality as it is perceived as the product of the instinctive perceptual processes. Heat would be directed intention and ingenuity is an excellent description of the kind of work required to learn how to think beyond cultural influences to follow the mindful way. (59)
Katha Upanishad
The same message offered by Hermes, but from a different cultural perspective, is in the Katha Upanishad: (62)
But whoso is possessed of a discriminating intellect and a restrained mind, and is ever pure, attains that goal from which he is not born again. 1-III-8.
But the man who has a discriminating intellect as his driver, and a controlled-mind as the reins, reaches the end of the path – that supreme state of Vishnu. 1-III-9.
Supreme state of Vishnu refers to self-realization or self-knowledge.
Spiritualism
Spiritualists say that our actions matter here and hereafter. Channeled information is often concerned with right living now for greater possibilities after transition. (60) (61) The ancient wisdom of Hermes, the Katha Upanishad and some contemporary religious text talk about the need for right living now to gain immortality after this lifetime. (43) (62) (63)
Virtually every paranormalist course I have taken and every system of thought I have studied includes the assumption that individuals have a purpose that is related to spiritual rather than human needs. Organized Spiritualism is a good example.
The fundamentals of the NSAC are expressed in the Declaration of Principles. (57) Principles 1-2 explain that Reality begins with Infinite Intelligence (not a father god) which is the source of organizing principles. Principle 3 tells us that “We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith, constitute true religion.” Principle 7 states that “We affirm the moral responsibility of individuals and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature’s physical and spiritual laws.”
While organized Spiritualism is all about survival, it has a strong tradition of teaching personal responsibility. It is felt that a person cannot execute personal responsibility without being aware of the organizing influence of Natural Law. When a person transitions out of this lifetime to new “atmospheres and awareness,” the person is thought to carry understanding acquired during the lifetime.
Robert Monroe
The 22 Major Arcana of the Hermetic Tarot is all about understanding natural principles for personal progression. (34) By saying “We are not our body,” engineer Robert Monroe also taught the difference between our human avatar and our etheric nature so that we might learn to gain lucidity. (64)
Jane Roberts’ Seth
At least one study has shown that a second personality is likely present in Jane Robert’s channeling of Seth. (65) The lessons Seth taught were also focused on the need for individuals to understand their etheric nature. (60)
Concluding Remarks – aka So What?
The “Knockoff Effect” in things paranormal is the idea that ability is sometimes inherited through association with a skilled practitioner. As a shade tree psychologist, my guess is that seeing a person demonstrate a skill, say physical mediumship, assures witnesses that such abilities are possible.
The Perceptual Agreement Organizing Principle (23) applies here. If our worldview can be extended to include the possibility of things paranormal, we become more able to experience things paranormal. I suspect this is also why Anomalistic Psychologists (66) are able to show that believers are more apt to attribute paranormality to experiences than nonbelievers. Knowing things paranormal are possible inclines us to include paranormal along with mundane explanations when we evaluate experiences.
In darkroom seances, the uncertainty of not clearly seeing the room is thought to leave the sitter’s mind open for the possibility that something might happen. When light is introduced, it is usually red. It is difficult to clearly resolve details in red light. (67)
Popular wisdom holds that light tends to dissipate ectoplasm and that the sudden introduction of light may harm the medium. I have seen some evidence of this. However, it appears that it is not the light but the surprise that causes problems for the medium. It is the clarity of detail that causes problems for the sitter.
Our studies indicate that trans-etheric influences have the most effect on indeterminant physical processes. The more constrained, the less a process is influenced by new intended order. For instance, at one time the best audio recorder for EVP was a Panasonic RR-DR60 Digital Note Taker. It is a terrible-quality recorder, but the occasional bursts of internally generated noise seemed to enable the formation of speech.
Comment: The same transform EVP is not known to be simultaneously recorded at the same time in more than one recording process. Because of this, we recommend the use of a second audio recorder during field recording sessions to help eliminate false positives. (77) An inexpensive digital recorder and a quality video recorder are a good combination. EVP normally forms in the less expensive recorder. We think this is because video recorders tend to be better engineered with more internal noise control. (Note that chaotic noise is better for EVP than steady-state noise no matter how random it may be.)
So here is the paradox. When dealing with trans-etheric influences, it is important to find ways to convince ourselves it is possible without being too dogmatic about how it must happen. A critical thinking scientist is expected to maintain the kind of objectivity that allows for an unbiased examination of the evidence. The result has been that authoritative reports related to paranormal research provide little guidance for laypeople to understand and apply what is reasonable based on the science. Let me say that another way. A report couched in big, inside baseball words or statistical notation does not convey the so what of the research.
I spent a lot of time as a Wikipedia editor with a focus on paranormal subjects. In many situations, I was a lone paranormalist editor trying to compromise with a horde of skeptical editors. (68) I was always overruled. In fact, I am even banned for life from editing in the Rupert Sheldrake article because I supported what skeptics think of as pseudoscience. One of the lessons I took from that experience is how clever people can be in hiding their true intention. As an example, in the Sheldrake article, the skeptic editors did everything they could to not say that he holds a doctorate in biochemistry. They cannot say he is a quack, but they can suggest he is irrelevant to real science.
Lay paranormalists take their lead, first from parapsychologists, and then from opinion setters who may or may not know what they are talking about. My guess is that a large percentage of parapsychologists tend toward Anomalistic Psychology which is basically the intention to prove things paranormal are illusion or trickery. (66) The parapsychologists who lean toward Exceptional Experiences Psychology seek to understand things paranormal entirely from the Anomalistic Psychology and Super-Psi perspectives. (69) Only a few parapsychologists seriously consider survival.
The reader usually cannot tell from most parapsychological research reports which position the authors embraces. Some are actually debunking Psi and most are debunking survival. I watched one seemingly pro-survival parapsychologists take over twenty years to declare himself as actually pro-survival. The parapsychological culture is one that permissively ignores such failure to disclose. This means that the lay reader has little way to know how to consider what parapsychologists teach. (70)
By itself, showing that survival is actual is meaningless. On the one hand, people need to understand if and why an authoritative person accepts the reality of survival. On the other, they need to understand the implications of survival. Considering the three aspects of a teacher—principles, applications, results—understanding why is meaningless without understanding the implications.
When I speak as an ordained Spiritualist, I speak in terms of living as if we are immortal. When I speak as a co-director of the ATransC, I speak in terms of self-education and behaving as if we are immortal. While I offer evidence in either case, I recognize that some people relate better to a feel-good explanation. Others do better with a technical explanation. None, it seems, do well with abstractions such as statistical analysis and evasive terminology.
Applying the Evidence
It is my hope that the organizers of this contest will combine the essays to provide a consensus statement about the Survival Hypothesis. Such a consensus statement does not have to be 100% correct in the sense that survival is proven. It needs to address the evidence and implications in a useful form. By useful, I mean that the lay community should be able to develop a sense of trust that learned people have examined the evidence and compiled their best guess.
Such a consensus statement from parapsychologists should include best-guess explanations about the nature of the etheric-physical interface. Laypeople should be able to develop an “if that, then I can do this” point of view that will help them live as if the Survival Hypothesis is largely correct.
Consider this question on Quora.com in the Sixth Sense (psychic sense) – Intuition Section:
“How can I tap into my sixth sense? My mom passed recently and we were extremely close for my entire life. The hysterical grief inside me has calmed down and I want to focus on learning sixth sense skills so I can communicate with her.” Quora.com
The answers to questions in Quora come from whoever wants to take the time. Many answers are excellent, but some are misleading. I cannot recall ever noticing an answer provided by an experienced parapsychologist.
Quora provides a window into the way average people are learning to understand their nature. Questions are often a jumble of probably inappropriately mixed concepts and religious dogma. For instance, the danger and evil of Ouija Boards seem to be a huge concern for many people. It is common to see a question asking how rather than if quantum theory explains psychic ability.
A consensus statement from parapsychologists should enable people to answer from the perspective of “Parapsychologists are telling us….” That means there should be plain-language articles that can be used as online accessible references—not behind a paywall or in technobabble.
Such a consensus should be like a Best Practice living document. From my experience, the only way to further our understanding is to clearly understand what is currently known.
As I have discussed in this paper, the science seems to be pointing toward the idea that our worldview moderates our perception. The dominant influence in our worldview is our avatar’s survival instincts. If this is true, the lesson is that part of our reason for existence in this lifetime is to learn to manage our avatar’s instincts. Instructions to further that understanding are central to the so what of science. We are not looking for such instruction based on scientific proofs, only on best practices.
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- Butler, Tom. “Personality-Centric Perspective.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/personality-centric-perspective/.
- Butler, Tom. “Humanism and Discerning Intellect.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/humanism-and-discerning-intellect/.
- Ropeik, David. “The Greatest Threat of All: Human Instincts Overwhelm Reason.” Psychology Today. psychologytoday.com/blog/how-risky-is-it-really/201501/the-greatest-threat-all-human-instincts-overwhelm-reason.
- Moskalenko, Sophia. “Many QAnon followers report having mental health diagnoses.” Neuroscience News. neurosciencenews.com/mental-health-qanon-18124/.
- Butler, Tom. “The Razor’s Edge.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/razors-edge/.
- (Translator) Panoli, Vidyavachaspati V. “Katha Upanishad.” Vedanta Shastras Library. psychologytoday.com/blog/how-risky-is-it-really/201501/the-greatest-threat-all-human-instincts-overwhelm-reason.
- Butler, Tom. “Point of View.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/point-of-view/.
- Butler, Tom. “Etheric Fields.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/etheric-fields/.
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. “Decision-making May Be Surprisingly Unconscious Activity.” Science Daily. sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414145705.htm.
- Butler, Tom. “Organizing Principles.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/organizing-principles/.
- Mügge, Kai. “Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT).” Felix Experimental Group. felixcircle.blogspot.com/2008/09/sorrat.html.
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- Grattan-Guinness, Ivor. “Real Communication? Report on a SORRAT Letter-Writing Experiment.” Society for Scientific Exploration. 1999. Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 13.
- Abbott, Mark D. McDonnell and Derek. “What Is Stochastic Resonance? Definitions, Misconceptions, Debates, and Its Relevance to Biology.” NCBI, PMC, US National Library of Medicine. May 29, 2009. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2660436/.
- Mason, Lynne, Patterson, Robert and Radin, Dean. “Exploratory Study: The Random Number Generator and Group Meditation.” com. 2007. deanradin.com/papers/RNG%20Mason.pdf.
- “Global Consciousness Project: Meaningful Correlations in Random Data.” noosphere.princeton.edu/.
- The Silva Method. silvamethod.com/.
- “Hightlights of Tarot.” Builders of the Adytum. botaineurope.org/the-tarot/highlights-of-tarot.
- National Spiritualist Association of Churches. February 2012. nsac.org/.
- Butler, Tom. “Mind as Storyteller.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/mind-as-storyteller/.
- Butler, Tom. “The Mindful Way.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/mindfulness/.
- Jane Roberts Learning Center. sethlearningcenter.org/.
- Butler, Tom and Lisa. “Hans Bender’s Message at Reno Séances.” Association TransCommunication. atransc.org/hans-benders-message/.
- Krishnananda, Swami. “Commentary on the Katha Upanishad.” The Divine Life Society Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India. swami-krishnananda.org/kathopanishad.html.
- Butler, Tom. “Metaphysical View of John 14.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/metaphysical-view-john-14/.
- Monroe, Robert. “The Monroe Institute.” The Monroe Institute. monroeinstitute.org/.
- Cunningham, Paul F. “The Content-Source Problem in Modern Mediumship Research.” Rivier University, Department of Psychology. The Journal of Parapsychology, 76(2), 295-319., 2012. researchgate.net/publication/289662359_The_content-source_problem_in_modern_mediumship_research.
- “What is Anomalistic Psychology?” Goldsmiths, University of London. 2015. gold.ac.uk/apru/what/.
- Zahradnik, Walter von Lucadou & Frauke. “Predictions of The Model of Pragmatic Information About RSPK.” org. 2004. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.487.246&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
- Butler, Tom. “Concerns with Wikipedia.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/concerns-with-wikipedia/.
- Moore, Christine. “What is Exceptional Psychology?” Journal of Parapsychology, 76 supplement, Pages 54-57. 2012.
- Abrassart, Jean-Michel. “Paranormal Phenomena: Should Psychology Really Go Beyond the Ontological Debate?” Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, 1-1, 2013. academia.edu/3715042/Paranormal_Phenomena_Should_Psychology_Really_Go_Beyond_the_Ontological_Debate.
- Butler, Tom. “Life Field.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/life-field/.
- Gauld, Alan. “Essay Review of The Survival Hypothesis.” Journal of Scientific Exploration. journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/article/view/874.
- Butler, Tom. “Implicit Cosmology.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/implicit-cosmology/.
- Butler, Tom. Your Immortal Self, Exploring the Mindful Way. AA-EVP Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-0-9727493-8-1.
- Butler, Tom. “4Cell EVP Demonstration.” Association TransCommunication. atransc.org/4cell-evp-demonstration/.
- Butler, Tom. “Radio-Sweep: A Case Study.” Association TransCommunication. atransc.org/radiosweep-study1/.
- Butler, Tom (et al). “Best Practices: Control Recorder for EVP.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/control-recorder/.
