Opinion 19
Includes comments on the 2024 Linda G. O’Bryant Noetic Sciences Research Winning Essays
Brief
In 2024, the Institute of Noetic Science (IONS) sponsored an essay contest with the instruction to provide a “Review and comparative analysis of theories of non-local consciousness.” First, second and third winners were announced. I read the essays expecting to learn more about contemporary views of consciousness. Instead, I found the same old compilation of theories.
IONS is a public facing educational organization that, from my experience, has always been focused on supporting the seeker community. That is why I expected to gain a sense of the kind of guidance learned academics might offer to the lay community to help us understand our nature, the nature of reality and our relationship with reality.
My intention was to write a brief review of each essay intended for my imagined lay readers. As it turned out, the essay question was too open-ended, and the essays seem to add little to our understanding of consciousness.
The reviews are included at the opening. They are followed by a roundup of my qualifications and lessons learned from the Association TransCommunication (ATransC). This is in the form of twelve guiding observations. The “so what” of those observations is described in a four-part brief of the cosmological model I find useful for the study of consciousness.
By reading this paper, you should expect to have a better sense of your nature, the nature of reality and your relationship with reality. Those are the three objectives of the Seeker’s Way.
As an aside, I refer to the model I write about in this paper as the Implicit Cosmology. I have been evolving it for the past eight years and much of my past writing represents snapshots of that evolution. While I do tend to repeat the same talking points in my writing, the presentation in this paper represents my most current view. It also represents my latest approach to trying to make it more understandable.
Contents
Elements of a Useful Theory of Consciousness
Brief
Contents
Essay Challenge Sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Science (IONS)
First Place Title: Theories of Non-local Consciousness: A Review and Framework for Building Rigour
Second Place Title: The Arcane Nexus, Assessing the Roots of Non-Local Consciousness
Third Place Title: Breaking the Boundaries of the Brain
Consciousness from the Perspective of ITC
It is best to begin by explaining my point of view
Instrumental TransCommunication
Lessons Learned
Modeling Consciousness
Premise
Fundamental Concepts
Four Parts
Part 1 – Concepts
The Field Concept and Etheric Fields
Rapport
Organizing Principles
Entrainment
Conceptual Space
Part 2 Life Field Anatomy
Life Field
Worldview
Collective
Nested Hierarchy
Morphogenic Mind
A Person
Attention Complex
Mostly Conscious Self
Part 3 Perception
Principle of Perceptual Agreement
Uncertainty in Conscious Feedback
First Sight Theory
Temperament
Temperament Mediated Perception
Navigating
Part 4 Teachers
Pioneers in Consciousness Studies
The Creative Process
Question of Origin
The Emerald Tablet
The Three Aspects of a Teacher
Hermetic Tarot
Katha Upanishad
The Razor’s Edge
Teachers
Concluding Remarks
But there is work to be done
The Takeaway of This Paper
Essay Challenge Sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Science (IONS)
2024 Prize Topic
“Review and comparative analysis of theories of non-local consciousness”
Instructions
“By consciousness, we mean first-person subjective awareness. By non-local, we mean a form of consciousness that is not exclusively generated by neuronal activity and that extends beyond the brain and body. The comparative analysis will review theories suggesting that (a) consciousness is not constrained by the brain, the everyday boundaries of space and time, or by the traditional five senses, and/or that (b) consciousness, via focused attention and intention, can potentially influence aspects of the physical world at a distance. The term non-local consciousness (NC) is used to encompass this definition.
“The review highlights theories supported by empirical evidence rather than purely philosophical ones. The philosophical implications and a discussion of how the theories may be tested will also be included. The target audience for the reviews is the general public, meaning that they should be able to convey their messages in language understandable to the average person (and not in scientific jargon).”
I See These Main Points in the Instructions
Consciousness
“First-person subjective awareness.”
Comment: Your sense of self.
Non-local
“A form of consciousness that is not exclusively generated by neuronal activity and that extends beyond the brain and body.” And “The term non-local consciousness (NC) is used to encompass this definition.”
Comment: The idea is that our awareness of the world is not restricted to information that is formed in the brain and in response to just our five senses. The evidence of psychic (Psi) functioning (e.g. clairvoyance, mediumship, remote viewing) suggests that our biological brain might also use information from beyond our physical body (nonlocally) to help form our awareness.
“The comparative analysis will review theories suggesting that:
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- “Consciousness is not constrained by the brain, the everyday boundaries of space and time, or by the traditional five senses, and/or that”
Comment: “Psi” is the term currently used to name the outward expression of mind. It can be used as mental sensing as in psychic functioning or outward mental expression or influence as in psychokinesis and healing intention. The target concept here is whether or not mind can express or sense outside of the body.
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- “Consciousness, via focused attention and intention, can potentially influence aspects of the physical world at a distance.”
Comment: Can we influence the world with our thoughts? If so, such an influence would be psychokinesis.
Audience
“The target audience for the reviews is the general public, meaning that they should be able to convey their messages in language understandable to the average person (and not in scientific jargon).”
Comment: As important aspect of a scholarly review of theory is understandability for the reader.
My observations about these essays
This is not an in-depth review. My intention here is to provide a perspective for the lay paranormalist community from a point of view of current parapsychological thought about Psi Phenomena as I understand it and especially lessons learned from the study of Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC). See What ITC Tells us About Consciousness. (1)
Be mindful that, as author of the Implicit Cosmology, (2) I have a specific point of view that is likely not considered “scientific” by the academic community. Since the Implicit Cosmology is inspired by lessons learned from ITC and is designed by an engineer, you may find it very different than models proposed by academically trained researchers. With that said, it is useful to note that the cosmology has consistently helped me model Psi phenomena and consciousness.
Beware of hidden biases. The fact that none of the authors mentioned ITC in their lists of “parapsychological” phenomena warns us that they likely do not know much about ITC. Alternatively, they may doubt the veracity of ITC. Because of the unspecific nature of isms, it can be difficult to recognize the theoretician’s point of view. It is useful to consider points of view in terms of:
Anomalistic Psychology: Everything is physical, and reports of paranormal phenomena are misattribution, illusion of fraud. This is the Physical Hypothesis. Generally, Physicalism
Exceptional Experiences Psychology: Everything is physical, but Psi functioning may be possible. This is sometimes referred to as the Super Psi Hypothesis. Generally, Physical Dualism.
Continuous Life: The physical is an aspect of the greater reality that has been expressed by life forms that are native to the greater reality (nonphysical). It is helpful to think of this point of view as “Spirit having a human experience.” This is the Survival Hypothesis. Generally, Strict Dualism.
Theories of consciousness are laden with “isms.” Many are an ism derived from other isms. Examples of isms addressed in these essays include Panpsychism, Dualism and Physicalism. Unless you are very familiar with remembering what each ism means, it is likely that you will not fully comprehend the essay author’s point. I know that my engineer’s mind is not well suited to philosophical and psychological discussions of metaphysical concepts that do not include “so what” examples. The theories are almost always written for academic peers. With that in mind, I will try to help you focus on the more useful points in these essays.
First Place
Title: Theories of Non-local Consciousness: A Review and Framework for Building Rigour
Prize: $50,000
Authors: Michael Daw, PhD (psychology) and Chris Roe, PhD (psychology)
Note that I have paraphrased much of the material from the essay that is discussed here.
The authors pointed out that theories of consciousness fall into one of five major categories.
“In traditional academic philosophy, theories of consciousness are usually considered as occupying five broad categories:” (5.1 Philosophical Classifications Page 50)
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- Physicalism: The physical world is all there is and everything in the world, including consciousness, is ultimately subject to observation and measurement through the use of our senses and physical instruments.
- Dualism: The two fundamental aspects of the universe are physical and mental so that everything has a physical and a mental aspect.
- Dual-aspect monism: The substance of the universe has both physical and mental aspects. This is also known as Panpsychism meaning everything is consciousness.
- Idealism: Consciousness is all there is. The physical world is a manifestation of consciousness.
- Mysterianism: Any explanation of consciousness ultimately comes from within consciousness itself meaning that it is ultimately inexplicable and therefore mysterious.
In Section 7 Summary Conclusion, the authors noted that it is important for the reader to have a clear sense of what is to be explained. They also noted that the theoretician’s failure to explain key terms used in their text is a significant source of confusion and misunderstanding for readers.
The authors noted essential characteristics of consciousness that should be considered in theories include:
- That consciousness is subjective, private, personal and unitary (aka complete?).
- Emergent subjective experience such as love or fear (qualia)
- Different states of consciousness such as the waking, sleeping and trance states.
- Why we have conscious experiences as opposed to mindless or zombie states.
- Free will.
- Difference between conscious things and non-conscious things.
The authors parsed major theories of consciousness into six categories and indicated the metaphysical point of view they support as Table 1. Since they listed the theories of consciousness addressed in the essay only by author, I have provided a version of the table, modified to include the distinguishing points of the related theories.
Table 1 Philosophical Classifications from page 51 of the essay (modified to show theories)
Comment
Of the three, I agree that this essay earns first place for being the most informative and well presented. If you watch the video on the IONS website you will see that IONS wanted the authors to focus on public accessibility and possible next steps. Daw and Roe organized the essay to explain definitions and then addressed only the more prominent theories in six well-considered categories.
I did note that the essay has a definite feel of an outline for a required course toward a psychology degree.
“Disturbing Phenomena” aka Psi Phenomena
I am disappointed that the authors introduced “disturbing” as a new, alternative term for Psi phenomena. From Page 32 of the essay:
“We call these phenomena ‘disturbing’ after Alan Turing’s reference to them in his proposal for the ‘imitation game,’ a test to gauge whether computers can exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human (Turing, 1950). Turing considered one objection to the test to be that human protagonists might use extrasensory perception (ESP) in order to pass the test whereas an intelligent computer could not. He exclaims, ‘These disturbing phenomena seem to deny all our usual scientific ideas. How we would like to discredit them! Unfortunately, the statistical evidence, at least for telepathy, is overwhelming’” (Turing, A.M. (1950). Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind, 59, 433-460. p. 453)
The parapsychological community has named the expression of mind “Psi” and “Psi functioning.” As I read this essay, Turing called Psi phenomena “disturbing” in the context that they are contradictions to mainstream thought. And not in a good way.
While I think consciousness studies should supplant parapsychology as a field of study, I think it is a mistake not to carry forward parapsychological thought that has been useful. Calling Psi phenomena “disturbing” casts a negative light on a most promising field of study.
Author’s point of view
Chris Roe is past president of the Society for Psychical Research (3) and currently Director of the Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, the University of Northampton. (4) From his biography offered by IONS:
“Roe is renowned for his empirical approach to exploring these areas, integrating rigorous scientific methods with an open-minded investigation of extraordinary human experiences.”
“Extraordinary human experiences” is a phrase often used to indicate the Exceptional Experiences Psychology point of view which I understand as a Physicalist view of Psi functioning typically phrased as the Super Psi Hypothesis. Super Psi is more commonly known today amongst parapsychologists as Living Agent Psi (LAP). That translates as the assumption that mind is an emergent characteristic of biological brain.
As I note later in this paper, proof of Psi functioning is not necessarily proof of the Survival Hypothesis. Some theories of nonlocal consciousness are applicable to Super Psi Hypothesis as well with the idea that Psi functioning as an emergent quality of biological mind.
As I discussed in the Author’s Point of View Essay, (5) It is sometimes necessary for the reader to examine the author’s prior work to gain a sense of the kind of bias the authors might insinuate into their writing. I have noted that some of the literature produced by staff in Roe’s department has a distinct bias toward Physicalism.
With that said, I may have the wrong impression. It is noteworthy that the Roe et al BICS 2024 Essay (6) submission is a $20,000 honorable mention essay. See A Critical Evaluation of the Best Evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death. The essay is also mostly a survey of long past evidence. However, it ends with:
“Our essay thus leads us to conclude that the survival hypothesis is the most rational plausible explanation for the range of evidence discussed.”
Second Place
Title: The Arcane Nexus, Assessing the Roots of Non-Local Consciousness
Author: Michael Nahm Ph.D. (Biology)
Prize: $30,000
Comment
Of the three essays, this is the most difficult to comprehend for me. It is a mind-bogglingly long 215 pages (double spaced). The author is a biologist and my past exposure to his work tells me to be extra discerning about his opinion. Much of the 215 pages is filled with his opinion.
One example of the unnecessarily obscure writing is on Page 169:
“Processes of life are objectivations of holistic dynamics in the ontic domain that manifest on the epistemic level by way of final causation.”
“Objectivations” and “holistic” are unnecessarily obscure terms. “Ontic domain” and “epistemic level” mean little without further explanation. Does “final causation” mean end of life? The essay fails IONS’ requirement for readability:
“The target audience for the reviews is the general public, meaning that they should be able to convey their messages in language understandable to the average person (and not in scientific jargon).”
My bias: Author’s Point of View (5) and The Arrogance of Scientific Authority (7)
Third Place
Title: Breaking the Boundaries of the Brain
Author: Cameron T. Alldredge, PhD (Psychology)
Prize: $20,000
While I agree that Daw and Roe earned first place, Alldredge’s essay is the most reader friendly of the three. The essay reads a little like reading a well-planned power point presentation. In general, it is an innovative, reader-friendly approach to teaching.
The author noted that the “Hard Problem” in consciousness studies is how the brain can produce subjective experience. He listed six associated problems: [I have abbreviated the explanations.]
The Problem of Personal Identity
How does one maintain a unique and consistent identity over time? And how does this continuity of identity remain intact if consciousness transcends the physical person?
The Reverse Hard Problem
How do subjective experiences give rise to or influence physical processes?
The Combination Problem
How separate units of consciousness (perhaps residing in basic particles like neurons or atoms) come together, or combine, to create the complex and cohesive conscious experiences typical of human beings.
The Interaction Problem
How does the consciousness that is not bound by locality or physicality engage with systems like neurons and synapses in the body’s functions and processes?
The Problem of Free Will
How can we know that our choices are genuinely our own rather than being influenced or directed by overarching non-local forces?
The Epistemic Gap
How can we study or measure consciousness if it exists outside the brain and outside the scope being measured by traditional scientific instruments?
Comment
The author talked about “filtration” and “Free will” as important elements for the study of consciousness. As I understand his point, “filtration” is used in the sense that the experiencer’s mostly unconscious mental processes tend to filter or reject information that does not agree with their worldview. This is consistent with the idea of Perceptual Agreement I discuss later in Par 3 of this paper.
The author suggested that such mind distracting techniques as meditation, hypnosis and psychedelics sometimes helps reduce filtration.
The author also explained that “Free Will” (one of his six problems listed above) may be moderated by the influence of other life fields. That is an interesting question I explored in the Conditional Freewill Essay. (8)
Consciousness from the Perspective of ITC
It is best to begin by explaining my point of view.
Since I do not hold a Ph.D. and my work is virtually invisible in academic literature reviews, it seems important that you know why I think I am qualified to comment on these essays.
Some 65 years of seeking have shaped my sense of the nature of consciousness.
- I began studying hypnotism when I was sixteen. I turned to self-hypnosis when my English teacher threatened to expel me for experimenting with a fellow student. My study of self-hypnosis led to a brief exploration of the Rosicrucian Order. (9) That correspondent membership ended when I could not figure out what they intended by “Meet us on the inner.”
- The Silva Method (10) came after my discharge from the Air Force. A correspondence course with Builders of the Adytum (11) to study the Hermetic Tarot (12) (13) was a distraction from electronic engineering college courses. Eckankar, (14) and many residential classes with the Delphi University (15) served as a distraction from work as a long range planner in telecommunications. Lisa and I attended many residential classes at the Monroe Institute (16) with a focus on such subjects as lucid dreaming, out of body exploration and deep meditation. The Morris Pratt Institute (17) introduced us to Spiritualism in which we eventually became certified as National Spiritualist Association of Churches (18) Spiritualist ministers, mediums, healers, teachers.
- Exploration of alternative thought has been a way of life. For instance, examination of radionics, channelers and forms of healing and meditation such as a few years practicing Transcendental Meditation. As a spiritualist minister, I have years of routinely practicing mediumship and healing intention (aka spirit healing).
Each of these organizations represent a system of thought based on the understanding that consciousness is nonlocal. Each teaches how to integrate that understanding into daily living.
Instrumental TransCommunication
Around 1987, my wife Lisa began working with Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). (19) In 2000, we assumed leadership of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP). The AA-EVP is currently known as the Association TransCommunication (ATransC). (20) It is no longer a membership organization but is maintained as an educational service. Examples of EVP are on atransc.org. For instance, EVP Online Listening Trial. (21)
The term Instrumental TransCommunication or ITC (22) includes visual and audible forms of apparently anomalous trans-etheric communication. Examples of visual ITC are on atransc.org. For instance, Perception of Visual ITC Images. (23)
I have included two examples of visual ITC to give you a sense of the paranormality of ITC:
Caution – ITC examples are not photographic quality. They appear to be produced via the psychokinetic influence of intended order on available physical energy and processes. Because they are largely dependent on the technology used, the resulting features are typically more like a simulation of their intended form.
The above video frame is a roughly a 1/30th of a second sample of the video loop we were generating at the time. The frames before and after did not have the same features. My Internet avatar for many years has been the feature at the lower-left bottom of the frame. The frame is only slightly enhanced for contrast. The avatar has been greatly enhanced to improve clarity.
I see a man looking toward your right ear. He has a full beard and light reflecting from his right temple. It appears he is wearing a ruff in the style of the 16th century.
Features tend to form in the medium-intensity light regions of chaotic optical noise. Regions of order tend to naturally form in the chaotic noise, we think because of stochastic amplification. We also think stochastic amplification is the physical mechanism enabling feature formation as it is intended by nonlocal consciousness. If the resolution was better, it would be evident that there are numerous face-like features in the medium-density regions of the frame.
It is as if there is an etheric background noise composed of faces. Considering the metaphysics, we think the faces represent the self-identity or memory of other life fields. We do not think the features are directly expressed by the owner of the faces. All of our study indicates that the practitioner or an interested observer unconsciously provides the intention channel to transform available physical energy into the features.
The model that we think works for ITC suggests that the practitioner or an interested observer psychokinetically influences the thoughtform (concept) related to available chaotic physical energy to produce intended physical order to cause the apparently paranormal feature.
Light reflecting from moving water produces chaotic optical energy similar to the video-loop technique. In this example collected by the late Erland Babcock, (24) light was shined down through the “hip” of a large amber glass jug while the water in the jug was agitated by swirling. He used a quality still digital camera positioned beside the light.
Remember that ITC features tend to be approximations of what they represent. It may take a little refocusing of your eyes to find the features I will describe. I am using this example to show the commonality of how different techniques apply uncertainty to produce the apparently paranormal features. It is also one of the more astounding examples of visual ITC we have seen. It appears to be a scene rather than a single face.
The circle in the picture is the side of the jug. We think there are two children—a girl facing to your right and a little boy, possibly a small dog in front of the boy and a tall man in the background with long hair blowing in the wind toward your right. His right ear sticks out from his hair more like a mule’s ear. (Think Chewbacca of Star Wars.) He is looking toward you but down at the girl. Directly under his chin is a translucent dome hat, in which you can see the head and hair of the little girl. Hair on the right side of her head is blowing past her right cheek. It looks like her bare shoulders are pulled up, as if hunching against the wind that is at her back.
Just in front of the girl is possibly a boy wearing the same type of hat. His chin is sloped into his neck, and you can see his open mouth just under his nose. He may have a dog in front of him that is looking at the boy.
We think there is more to be seen in the scene, but the resolution of the display degrades the information beyond reasonable recognition.
If you look over the What ITC Tells us About Consciousness (1) Report, you will see that we have tested how well people are able to experience ITC. We think this is an example of what Cameron Alldredge (above) was referring to with his comments about “filtering” and what I refer to as Perceptual Agreement. That is, your ability to experience these examples is at least to some degree determined by your worldview and your ability to suspend judgement. With that said, take a little time to contemplate the two examples.
Another point these examples illustrate is the idea that paranormal phenomena are the expression of the nonphysical “into” the physical. The factors apparently deciding how well the phenomena manifests begins with how well the practitioner or an interested observers is able to function as a conduit for the Psi influence. That appears to be a function of lucidity and the ability to suspend judgement.
Doubt tells our Perceptual Loop (below) to return a rejection of what is being seen or what might be seen.
While there are principles guiding the operation of physical space, following the Idealism model, there are also principles we have collectively agreed on for the operation of etheric space. As such, we think our intentionality has more influence on concepts representing the greatest uncertainty. Thus, chaotic light or sound is more easily influenced than well-organized light or sound.
An example is the way white noise is not very useful for transform EVP while relatively chaotic noise with occasional noise spikes has proven best for EVP. White noise is conceptually very determinant because every next instance of the sound stream is expected to be the same as the previous. In comparison, each next sample of chaotic noise is relatively indeterminant.
Our ability to visualize our intention in the nonphysical is complemented by the granularity of our technology in the physical. For instance, the granularity of video-loop energy is limited by the sample rate and resolution of the television, the video camera and the resolution of our display. We tend to collect much clearer examples with moving water and a high resolution still cameras.
Lessons Learned
With many ATransC members collecting and studying examples and conducting studies intended to understand their nature, we have learned: See What ITC Tells us About Consciousness (1)
- ITC is an Objective Phenomenon – Blinded witness panels tend to agree on content of examples. Collection of ITC is an easily repeatable practice. Quality and quantity of examples tend to be a function of technique and practitioner’s ability.
- Some Examples are not ITC – Some claimed ITC may be normal mistaken as paranormal or illusion. It is usually easy to tell the difference.
- Mind-to-Physical Influence – Examples of ITC appears to be formed by the mental influence on concepts related to physical processes. The relationship between the nonlocality of Psi influence and the local nature of physical processes points toward the etheric as a spatial singularity “propagating” ubiquitous Psi influence.
- The Source of ITC – The apparently psychokinetic influence might be initiated by incarnate or discarnate personalities.
- Nonlocal – It appears that physical distance has no effect on ITC suggesting that everywhere is here for Psi influence (reality as a spatial singularity that is conceptually infinitely large) as opposed to the holographic here is everywhere characteristic proposed in parapsychology.
- ITC is Personal – Instances of ITC are unique to each recording process suggesting that Psi influence is intended as communication.
- Mind-Body Relationship – ITC seems to support the metaphysical view that we are spirit having a human experience. The implication of this is that we have a relatively immortal aspect that has evolved in the etheric sharing a worldview with a relatively mortal aspect that has evolved in the physical. I have modeled that relationship as the Two-Mind Solution to the Survival Hypothesis. (25)
- ITC is Colored by Worldview – The practitioner’s and/or interested observer’s worldview tends to modify experiences to better agree with expectations. This effect is sometimes referred to as “filtering.”
- Mental Predilections Moderate Transcommunication – People’s ability to witness or collect examples of ITC may be determined by a composite of imperatives that shape their expectations and inform their point of view. (5) The factors that seem to most dominate the perception algorithm include:
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- Instincts – Primarily the human instinct to assure dominance of the gene pool but possibly also inherited purpose (Two-mind model).
- Cultural Indoctrination – Point of view as tribal doctrine or paradigm for Mind 2. Possible influence of a collective (sibling life fields) for Mind 1.
- Memory – Learned response based on expectation.
- Circumstance – For instance, a fear of darkness. We minimize or reinforce perception based on expectation.
- Discerning Intellect (Lucidity) – The mindful examination of assumptions. See the Temperament Mediated Perception Diagram below. A population of people exhibits a range of “wisdom” that is sometimes referred to as “spiritual maturity.”
- Temperament – Predilection for how to consider experiences. See the Temperament Mediated Perception Diagram below. People will tend to interact with their environment in different ways depending on their apparent personality predisposition.
- Intentionality – The practitioner’s ability to collect examples appears to be determined by their purpose and focus as it shapes their intentionality. Think “quality of want.” This is the Conscious-to-Unconscious Feedback circuit. See the Intention Review in the Expression and Perception Functions Diagram below.
- Mind-to-Mind Rapport – People’s ability to visualize (imagine) another personality appears to be a dominant factor determining their ability to communicate with that personality. The same appears to be true of the practitioner’s Psi expression influencing thoughtforms.
Modeling Consciousness
To understand ITC and Psi functioning in general, it is necessary to think of consciousness in the context of mind and reality (mind-centric) rather than mind and biological body (body-centric). It should be noted that “non-local consciousness does not automatically mean survived personality. In fact, while it was developed to address a mind-centric perspective of reality, much of the model of consciousness I work with, the Implicit Cosmology (2) appears to be true for both a body-centric and a mind-centric perspective.
Theories about the nature of consciousness seem to come to us in three primary forms:
- The nature of reality – These are typically metaphysical speculations in the form of isms such as Dualism or Idealism. They offer a context for how we think about reality but seldom provide much in the way of “so what” for the lay community. As with Physicalism, they sometimes become a dominant paradigm.
- Observation of human nature – These are more like a traditional naturalist view of reality, especially human nature. Examples are the typically Greek philosophical observations about human nature. For instance, the Allegory of the cave illustrates the relationship between perceived reality and actual reality. Their abstract nature is suited to philosophical debate but perhaps not so approachable for seekers.
- Instruction for the Seeker’s Way – Some early theories of consciousness were presented in the form of instruction for gaining greater lucidity. These represent the “so what” of metaphysical speculation.
The Seeker’s Way is explained as “seeking” to understand our personal nature, the nature of reality and our relationship with reality.
My intention in this paper is to apply the view that if mind is nonlocal, then there are concepts that we should consider. That is, reality is complex and there are many concepts to consider if we are to understand reality.
- Metaphysical models, such as Idealism (26) which proposes that reality is fundamentally consciousness and expressions of consciousness, are essentially correct.
- The metaphysical model that seems to best describe current understanding is the idea that “we are spirit having a human experience.”
- The idea that “a person is a symbiotic self (spirit) entangled with a human in an avatar relationship for the lifetime of the human” requires a two-mind solution to the consciousness model.
- Understanding the processes of consciousness does not necessarily require the concept of nonlocal mind; however, it does when Psi phenomena is considered.
Fundamental Concepts
It is fine to say consciousness is this or that. Any philosopher can speculate in that way. But the idea of nonlocal consciousness has little meaning if we are listening to the voice of a recently dead loved one we just recorded. Finding a picture in video loop noise of a loved one you know has transitioned out of this lifetime requires more explanation than being told reality is idealistic. Experiencers need a way to understand.
I am writing this paper with two objectives in mind:
- For my friends in the lay community. I have an idea about the nature of reality and our part in it, but I know I need to do a better job in explaining my understanding. This paper is a step in my evolution toward being a better teacher.
- As a suggestion for the academic community. As always, I fantasize that someone in the academic community will read this work, and following my lead, take a crack at turning their theories into useful guidance for us seekers.
Four Parts
The points I wish to make are presented in four parts:
Part 1 Concepts –Describing the basic concepts that seem to be relevant to consciousness studies.
Part 2 Life Field Anatomy – Modeling the person, reality and the person’s relationship with reality.
Part 3 Perception – Noting the Characteristics of Perception such as temperament and lucidity.
Part 4 Teachers – Brief reviews of teachers and approach to teaching from Hermes to Sheldrake and Carpenter.
Part 1 – Concepts
The Field Concept and Etheric Fields
A field is defined here as a set of elements with related characteristics which are bound into a system by a common influence (the attractor). In a nonphysical environment, a field is bound by the degree to which the attractor is able to exert the influence of intentionality on the elements of the field. This can be modeled as “rapport” (below). Also, in a nonphysical environment, fields are not located by coordinates. Instead, they are located by their association with other fields.
Terms like “attract” and “propagate” are intended to be understood as conceptual attributes to the etheric (nonphysical) aspect of reality. See the Etheric Fields Essay. (27)
The categories of fields I focus on for modeling consciousness are:
Reality, Etheric and Nonlocal
Reality is treated here as a field that behaves as a spatial singularity but that is conceptually infinitely large. That is a useful definition for “nonlocal,” as well. I suggest a way to visualize this infinitely large singularity below in Conceptual Space. Also see The Cosmology of Imaginary Space. (28)
“Etheric” is an old term traditionally used to describe the subtle, underlying characteristic of the greater reality. Think of the etheric as the matrix of reality. It is conceptual space in which the influence of thought (Psi) is propagated. Here “propagated” is a function of focus and perceptual agreement relating influence with the focus of intention.
Psi and the Psi Field
While “Psi” has become a commonly used term for thought and the influence of thought. “Psi Field” is a term sometimes used to describe the medium of propagation for Psi. In Exceptional Experiences Psychology and the Super-Psi Hypothesis, the Psi field can be considered an emergent quality of the physical. In the Survival Hypothesis, the Psi Field is best thought of as the etheric.
Thoughtform
As rudimentary etheric fields, thoughtforms contain information about a specific subject. As etheric fields, 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.
For perspective, elements of thoughtforms are not piled into a bundle as we have been taught to visualize physical fields. As sets of related concepts, they are entangled with a core concept, for instance wagon, red wagon, wheels, ….
The only rule for a person’s ability to associate with a particular thoughtform appears to be perceptual agreement. That is, although all related concepts would be attracted to the core concept, personality would only be able to access those concepts it is able to imagine. For example, a person living in Europe should have no difficulty imagining a red, small four-wheeled load-carrying device but might have trouble imagining a carrier supported by sound waves.
In a strict sense, all etheric fields are thoughtforms, but in a practical sense, there appears to be a difference in coherence between a thoughtform as a life field and one that is an ideoplastic expression of a life field. See the Etheric Fields Essay. (27)
Thought Ball – Robert Monroe (29) (16) described the method of communication between people he encountered during his out of body travels as an exchange of thought balls he called “rotes.” Thought balls would be considered thoughtforms. The term is useful in describing an exchange of conceptual information that is sensed as a gestalt impression that includes intention, feelings and imagery as an instantaneous experience.
Rapport
Rapport is a Formation Organizing Principle. (30) I define it as:
Personalities are interconnected by links of cooperation (influence) forming a matrix of relationships (cooperating community).
One personality’s awareness of another personality manifests as a link of influence between the two life fields. The degree of rapport appears to be a function of either personality’s attention on and intention for the other personality. That is, the nature of this link of rapport depends on the clarity (intensity) of awareness and the reason for the awareness. These links are dynamic and are thought to facilitate cooperation.
In a model of reality based on Idealism, aspects of reality such as the Physical are imagined by one or more personalities. For instance, the Physical is sometimes modeled as a collective vision, sometimes a hierarchy of collectives as in the Urantia Book. (31)
For a person to access an aspect of reality, say a different venue for learning, it is necessary to access the worldview of those who experience or support that aspect. In these models, remote viewers do not “extend their mind” to a place. They mentally link with someone who has an image of that place in their worldview. The ability to do that depends on the degree of rapport the viewer has with the target worldview.
A second factor controlling a person’s ability to experience a different aspect of reality is what I refer to as the Principle of Perceptual Agreement. (below)
Organizing Principles
Just as fundamental physical principles spontaneously emerged during the early formation of the physical universe, it appears that organizing principles have naturally emerged in the etheric during personality’s progression from the initial state of curiosity to the potential state of understanding. The possible principles I have encountered are listed in the Organizing Principles Table below. Each item is discussed in Organizing Principles (30) on Ethericstudies.org.
While many of the principles are indirectly addressed, the links are to the more complete explanations in this paper.
| Organizing Principles by Category
Given that there is a First Cause or Source, the following principles logically follow as organizing influences |
||
| Reality | Formation | Personality |
| Collective | Aspectation | Attention |
| Entanglement | Attraction | Balance |
| Field | Cooperative Communities | Curiosity |
| Evolving Influence | Continuity | Discernment |
| Nested Hierarchy | Emergent Order | Experience |
| Organizing Principles | Evolution | Expression |
| Prime Imperative | Life Field | Focus |
| Time | Perceptual Agreement | Intention |
| Process | Local Reality | |
| Rapport | Perception | |
| Reciprocity | Personal Reality | |
| Point of View | ||
| Progression | ||
| Self-Determination | ||
| Suspended Judgment | ||
| Transition | ||
| Understanding | ||
| Visualization | ||
| Worldview | ||
Entrainment
Entrainment as a means of consciousness shaping is a common characteristic of the different schools of thought I have studied. Of course, hypnosis and self-hypnosis are classic forms of entrainment.
I discussed in The Monroe Way Essay (32) the idea that the binaural-beats, frequency-following audio programs (Hemi-Sync®) developed by the Monroe Institute (16) are intended to be used as a training tool to help the mind learn to “recognize” the intended deep meditative states and thereby more quickly return to those states of mind without the need for Hemi-Sync.® Robert Monroe intended the student to use the resulting “body asleep-mind awake” states to develop such abilities as lucid dreaming and clairvoyance.
I once asked well known and respected physical medium Stewart Alexander (33) (34) how he prepared for a darkroom séance. He told me (paraphrasing) that the one thing he knew for sure was that everything needed to be the same leading up to the session.
All of the traditionally trained physical mediums I have sat with sought a quiet time hours before the session. It was typical for them to begin a session by introducing their control and one or more helpers on the other side to the sitters. It was evident that the succession of presumably discarnate personalities represented deeper and deeper levels of trance for the medium. At the end of the session, those same helpers came forth to say goodbye in the reverse order. Again, evidencing a gradual withdrawal from deep trance.
Mental mediums typically self-induce a sort of contemplative calm as they focus on their purpose. The process is often referred to as “centering.” For myself, the process was more a focusing on my present intention.
In virtually every modality of Psi functioning, contemplative mindfulness is central to the practice. This appears to be true when the practitioners are mentally “getting out of the way” so that their “higher self” is able to us their person as a vehicle for conveying information.
Popular Wisdom – As discussed in this paper, there appears to be a sound theoretical reasons for entrainment that involve such concepts as nonlocality worldview and intentionality. However, possibly because science has not settled on a useful working theory, tradition has produced many misleading, often distracting explanations for why practitioners work as they do.
For instance, it remains popular wisdom that the physical medium’s “guide” or discarnate personality helper must be an American Indian. Think “Indian Guide.” In the same way, mental mediums are taught to “get out of the way” so that spirit can come through.
Such personification of a natural ability sometimes leads to a worshipful attitude toward “our friends and helpers on the other side.” This is debilitating and hinders progression because it puts the blame for success or failure on the cooperating etheric personality.
Conceptual Space
An important implication of modeling nonlocality as a singularity is that we should think in terms of thought objects rather than physical objects. Terms like wave and frequency have no meaning when discussing the realm of thought. Terms I frequently use include:
| Comparing Physical and Nonphysical Terms | ||
| Concepts Space | Physical Space | Comment |
| Concept (aka thoughtform, concept of a physical thing) | Physical thing | If the physical is an aspect of a greater reality, the arrow of creation flies from idea to concept to expression (sometimes physical objects). In the nonphysical realm, concepts are better thought of as thoughtforms. |
| Psi Influence (want, love, visualized intention) | Physical Influence (gravity, magnetic, centripetal) | Thoughts about another life field or thoughtform influences them. The thinker is influenced as well. |
| Rapport (ability to correctly visualize and associate with an aspect of reality) | Social connection, navigation | Rapport defines the mind’s ability to associate with another mind or another mind’s expression. |
| Fields (thoughtforms, communities, collectives, hierarchies, networks of rapport.) | Place relationships (a pair of shoes, twins, solar system, networks of relationships.) | In thought, fields are the expression of influence and the focus of that influence. Rapport helps to determine coherence of a field. |
| Potential | Future | I use curiosity as First Cause and the initial state of reality in the Implicit Cosmology. Understanding is the satisfaction of curiosity as the only but probably unobtainable stable state. |
| Progression | Time | The change in state from potential to realization such as the satisfaction of curiosity to understanding. |
| Attention | Purposeful action | Attention is used here as the decision to decide that binds mental functions to produced perception. It provides the unit of influence and difference in potential. |
| Intention | Motive force | The motivation to operate a function. |
A way to visualize reality as a singularity is to consider the way infinity is realized in the small space of the Mandelbrot Set. I elaborated on this point in The Cosmology of Imaginary Space. (28)
Navigation in Mandelbrot Space is accomplished by changing the constant “C” in the formula
Z n+1 = Zn2 + C, where Z0 = C. The value of “C” is written in terms of C = X + Yi, where “i” is written as i = 
. “i” is considered an irrational or imaginary number because -1 times -1 is always +1. The square root of minus one is not allowed in the real number set.
Each point in the plot is individually calculated. Color is arbitrarily assigned based on how quickly the calculation goes toward infinity. Black areas are stable regions of infinity.
It is possible to “telescope” to an infinitely small space and still find the Apple Man fractal.
Part 2 Life Field Anatomy
Life Field
Life fields are considered here to be the fundamental building blocks of reality. They are modeled as a set of complex etheric fields representing functions necessary to produce and manage expression and perception. These include:
Personality – The intelligent core of a life field that binds the Attention Complex and aware self functional areas into a coherent field. The Personality functional area represents inherited purpose from its source and previously acquired understanding from its collective. Think of this almost always unconscious process as the Observer.
Attention Complex – This functional area represents the processes necessary to respond to sensed information to produce expression. Worldview is the moderating influence for the streaming expression signal. It is consulted by the expression forming processes and functions as a reality map for the life field’s decision of what is real. Think of this mostly unconscious complex as the Judge.
Because of the Principle of Perceptual Agreement discussed below, the Attention Complex functions as the Navigator determining the aspect of reality with which it will associate.
Conscious Self – Conscious self represents the Experiencer function of the life field. It acquires perception based on the expression signal produced by Attention Complex.
Conscious self includes an “Is this what I intend?” decision function that produces an intention feedback signal to the input of the Attention Complex.
Worldview
Each of us maintains a mental map or worldview of what we think is real about reality. This is a characteristic of mind that appears to be widely accepted in current thought about consciousness.
Worldview can be thought of as a database-like function in the part of our mind that generates expression and perception. As our sense of what is real, it serves to act as a judge to determine what we will experience and how.
Collective
A life field’s worldview “database” is primarily populated with purpose (instincts) memory and acquired understanding. Many frequent trans-communicators have indicated that they are members of a cooperating group of personalities; for instance Jane Roberts’ Seth, (35) The Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis’ (SORRAT) (36) Imperator Group and the Scole Experimental Group’s (37) spirit team.
In that view, our worldview would also include content from some form of collective or life field community. As I will explain later, our conscious ability to access the collective memory appears to be limited by our ability to comprehend the information.
Nested Hierarchy
An important and commonly encountered Organizing Principle is the Nested Hierarchy. A hypothetical First Cause is visualized as a rudimentary life field composed of a Purposeful Agent (Personality motivated by curiosity), a Meaningful Agent seeking understanding and an Experiencing Agent testing understanding. Refer to A Person below.
In this model, the First Cause Meaningful Agent is modeled here as having expressed aspects (Exploring Agents) of itself to seek understanding. This is much as we might imagine ourselves driving a fancy sports car. Our imaging would consist of mentally seeing ourselves (our Exploring Agent) driving the car. In effect, we create a “little me” aspect of ourselves with the purpose to experiencing the car. We usually give our “little me” a degree of self-determination so that it can provide meaningful feedback.
Once we have expressed such an Exploring Agent, it would remain in our memory indefinitely. The reported experience would in some way change our understanding. We routinely express or imagine (create) Exploring Agents. In effect, they are “in” our conceptual life field.
Our “little me” Exploring Agents are modeled here as life field. We are a “little me” and our sibling “little mes” compose our collective that is conceptually within the life field of our parent or local creator. It seems reasonable to expect that our parent life field is in a collective, as well. Each of its siblings likely express Exploring Agents. If so, then reality looks more like a cascading nested hierarchy.
We see this in the formation of biological organisms as well. Biological cells are modeled here as life fields. They would be limited in functionality by their mechanical form and environmental constraints. For instance, skin cell life fields would represent a species-specific sibling collective. That is, they would be a nest of life fields sharing a morphogenic mind (below) as a parent life field.
Morphogenic Mind
Rupert Sheldrake is a contemporary theoretician that has contributed much to my thinking about consciousness. His Hypothesis of Formative Causation (aka Morphic Resonance) (38) is concerned with the mechanisms supporting the formation of biological organisms.
Sheldrake’s theory is an attempt to answer the question “how do cells know when to differentiate as different kinds of cells such as skin or bone.” He suggests that there are nonphysical fields of morphogenetic information that contain “Nature’s Habit” for individual species. These fields direct the cell division process. For that reason, I refer to the “Nature’s Habit” field as a “Morphogenic Mind.”
I discuss the way the theory of Morphic Resonance has helped solve the black box analysis of our life field anatomy in the Morphic Fields Essay. (39) The main points I have taken from the theory include:
- Modeling reality as fields makes sense.
- The relationship of fields in a biological organism looks like a nested hierarchy of fields.
○ This agrees with the ideas of collectives and groups of personalities in nonphysical space.
○ The Morphogenic Mind represents the top or parent field.
○ The type and function of cells, for instance skin cells, represent a collective of cells that are nested in relationship to other types of cells, for instance bone cells.
- The Morphogenic Mind includes the instincts that guide the organism’s behavior.
- “Nature’s Habit” in the Morphogenic Mind is a functional equivalent to our worldview.
- According the Morphic Resonance, evolution is accomplished via “creative solutions to environmental challenged.
○ This is consistent with the idea that worldview can be modified over time via intention.
In the Life Field Complex Diagram below, Mind 2 is the Morphogenic Mind of our human avatar.
A Person
In metaphysical models arguing that the physical aspect of reality is an expression of mind, it is necessary to establish a vocabulary that helps us communicate the difference between reality, who we are as a core personality and who we are as a temporary experiencer of this physical aspect of reality. The terms I have been using include:
Reality – Source or First Cause represents the initial state of reality. I treat First Cause as a life field with a core personality that expresses curiosity about its nature:
- Potential – Curiosity is balanced by understanding. Thus, the expression of curiosity creates a difference in potential between curiosity and understanding.
- Progression – The degree to which curiosity is satisfied with understanding can be described as progression. Progression is the conceptual equivalent of physical time.
- Understanding – Understanding is gained via experience but acquired understanding tends to reveal more that is not understood. Thus, we converge on understanding asymptotically.
- Uncertainty – Understanding represents a fundamentally uncertain state of mind. If uncertainty is an important quality for the creative process (below), the “final” state of understanding would be the ultimate “raw material” for the creation and evolution of reality.
- Existence – Conceptually, existence appears to be within the life field of First Cause. In the same way, individual life fields are “local” creators and their expressions are conceptually within their life field. In that way, reality is hierarchical.
- Formation – Formation is based on previously acquired understanding. It is bound by the Organizing Principle of Perceptual Agreement (below).
- Personal Reality – A life field’s sense of reality is limited by its worldview.
Personality – The core aspect of a life field is modeled here as personality. It expresses purpose and senses acquired understanding. The actual “I am this” aspect of who we are. It is the Observer or Purposeful Agent.
Mind – Mind is the functional area of a life field that develops expression based on purpose, acquired understanding, consciously expressed intention and environmentally sensed information. It is the Judge or Meaningful Agent.
Sensed information – Based on ITC studies, we do not directly sense our physical environment. The model that seems to best describe how we sense our environment is that environmental signals originate from the bodily senses of our physical avatar and from other life field’s expression.
Self – Self is commonly thought of as the aware aspect of a person. As the Experiencer, it is also the outward expression of a life field. Think of this as the “I think I am this” aspect of who we are. It is the Experiencing Agent.
Person – A person is a symbiotic self entangled with a human in an avatar relationship for the lifetime of the avatar. By “entangled,” it is intended that both the symbiont (Mind 1) and the Avatar (Mind 2) are distinct life forms that share functions of the mind (worldview, expression) and the self (perception and intention). The Life Field Complex Diagram below illustrates this symbiotic relationship.
Attention Complex
The Seeker’s Way Is concerned with aligning Worldview with the actual nature of reality and with developing discerning intellect. The Attention Complex represents the functional area of our mind that manages Worldview.
- The Attention Complex is modeled here as mostly unconscious mind.
- Information sensed from the environment (body senses, other minds) is considered in a streaming process:
○ If the Perceptual Loop produces an “Agree with worldview” result, the sensed information is unchanged and becomes the expression signal.
○ If the Loop produces a “Maybe” result, the sensed information will likely be modified to better agree with worldview and then becomes the expression signal.
○ If the process does not recognize the sensed information, the information will likely be ignored.
- Information is characterized (Trial Imagination) which produces a Trial Perception signal back to the Perceptual Loop.
○ This is considered a very rapid, iterative process of negotiation to see if agreement with Worldview is possible.
○ If a version passes the Perceptual Loop test, it becomes the mind’s outward expression.
- The Attention Complex acts as a Judge to compare what we sense with our Worldview.
- The Attention Complex also acts as a Navigator to present sensed information about reality to conscious self based on Worldview. Conscious self will not become aware of sensed information that does not agree with Worldview.
Mostly Conscious Self
We identify with information represented by the expression output of the Attention Complex. That is why it seems necessary to think that our mostly unconscious expression comes first as a streaming signal. Our conscious self perceives the expression output.
- Mostly conscious self is only aware of what is expressed by the mind. That is perception comes from expression.
- The only direct influence conscious self has on the Attention Complex is the expression of intention.
- The Lucidity Feedback Test represents a mostly conscious decision that asks, “Is this what I mean?”
○ Neutral – If a person does not question the content of the expression signal, the feedback signal is considered neutral. The feedback signal will likely have little effect on the expression forming process.
○ Agree – A feedback signal that is strongly in agreement with expression, say during a fear response, will theoretically amplify the tone of the expression signal. We see this when some people express unreasonably intense fear. The same problem can occur with irrational beliefs.
○ Modify – Seekers learn to question the implications of their expression. Their resulting feedback signal is thought to influence the Perceptual Loop in the Attention Complex to modestly change worldview. In turn, that begins to change the expression signal to better agree with what is consciously intended.
- The resulting feedback to the Attention Complex helps to moderate the Perceptual Loop.
Part 3 Perception
Principle of Perceptual Agreement
The Organizing Principle of Perceptual Agreement is pivotal for the operation of reality. I define it as:
Personality must be in perceptual agreement with the aspect of reality with which it will associate.
If this is true, the processes involved in producing perception are key to understanding Metaphysical Idealism and the nature of a person. This section describes some of the factors that need to be addressed when modeling nonlocal consciousness.
Uncertainty in Conscious Feedback
To identify a mechanism by which we can consciously influence our worldview, it seemed necessary to include a mechanism for the mind to produce a feedback influence.
Pragmatic Information Theory
Walter von Lucadou & Frauke Zahradnik offered an important contribution to consciousness studies with their 2004 paper Predictions of the Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI) About RSPK. (40) My takeaway from the paper is that witnesses are more receptive to experiencing Psi phenomena when their perception of it is limited.
Referring to the Expression and Perception Functions Diagram above, the Lucidity Feedback Test in the Mental Review functional area appears to return a more indeterminant feedback signal if conscious self does not have enough information to form an opinion. If so, that would leave the Attention Complex open to produce a more spontaneous expression. The expression is still limited by Worldview but doubt, for instance, would be less influential.
Nonlocal Psi of the Development Circle
One of the reasons Spiritualists have learned to conduct darkroom séances is to limit observer certainty. From my experience, the difference between a good, phenomenon-filled darkroom séance and a less successful session is the openness of the sitters to experience the unknown. Much of the entrainment routine is designed to help sitters see the possibility that something paranormal might really happen.
This apparent link between sitter openness and the demonstration of phenomena in a circle suggests that the physical medium might be orchestrating the demonstration but that the sitters are part of the process. Spiritualists describe this with the idea that the sitters are providing “spiritual energy” or functioning as a battery.
It is arguable that the Psi environment of a development circle demonstrates the nonlocality of consciousness. In practice, the local collective of minds formed by entrainment in a circle demonstrate that mind is not “in the body,” but is in the etheric.
Shared Psi Sensing
Another demonstration of this nonlocality comes from the way some mediumship teachers seem to directly witness a student’s psychic (inner) experience. I have experienced this with two different teachers:
Sitting knee-to-knee with another student, the teacher’s instruction to me was to mentally see my fellow student. I was to look for a message from the student’s “inner self.”
I hesitated too long, and the teacher decided to help. “What about that tree you see beside him?” Yes, my hesitation was all about that tree. “Tell him what the tree means to you,” she added. I told him and he was amazed by the meaningful message I gave him. So was I!
I had a similar experience years later on the other side of the world. A well-respected Psi teacher seemingly joined me in my mind and accurately described what I was sensing. It appears that the ability to share mental experiences is a mark of a good Psi instructor.
Of course, my experiences are anecdotal and are not proof. I am well-aware of the psychic problem of cold reading and projection. Personal accounts are probably the poorest form of evidence. But evidence can be accumulative. Just as reality is complex, the ways in which we experience reality are many and often complex.
Hyperlucidity (related to Voyager Syndrome)
For the study of things paranormal, Hyperlucidity is defined as a short-term change in behavior marked by the tendency to find phenomena everywhere despite considerable testimony to the contrary by peers. Compared to lucidity which is defined here as clearly experiencing reality as it is and not as it is imagined, hyperlucidity appears to result from an amplified “want” bias in the Intention Feedback link of the Expression and Perception Functions diagramed above.
The concept comes from occasional reports of odd behavior exhibited by some people when they visit an emotionally charged place (Paris syndrome, Jerusalem syndrome(41)) or experience great beauty (Stendhal syndrome).
In Hyperlucidity, the effect is the experiencer’s persistently mistaken belief in experiencing paranormal phenomena such as reporting voices in recordings when there are none, seeing features in featureless visual media and misattributing thoughts as transcommunication.
First Sight Theory
In First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Everyday Life, (42) psychologist and parapsychologist James Carpenter argued that psychic sensing is a person’s first contact with environmental signals. Also, all expressions include a psychokinetic influence. Also, see About First Sight Theory. (43)
With Psi sensing and psychokinetic expressing as givens, Carpenter provided corollaries describing how the conscious self is related to the mostly unconscious processing of sensed information.
Please note that I have paraphrased in many parts.
First Sight Theory Corollaries
- 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.
Ubiquity Corollary 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 concepts in psychology and parapsychology 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.
Contemplating the elements of First Sight Theory can provide a sense of how functions in the Attention Complex manage Worldview and produce expressions of mind. Think of mind as a relatively instantaneous and continuous streaming process. That mental chatter mystics teach us to suppress is likely our mind telling us stories about sensed information. As we gain in lucidity, those stories become more meaningful. See Mind as Storyteller. (44)
Temperament
Just as we are born left or right-handed, we are born with basic personality traits that tend to bias the way we integrate new experiences into our worldview. Traits are referred to here as “temperaments.” Learning to understand the mostly unconscious influence of our temperament is considered an important step toward learning to manage our normally unconscious thought processes. While our temperament’s influence on how we think is mostly unconscious, understanding the basic functions of thought and limits of conscious control can help us manage our choices.
The four temperament model I have adapted for this discussion is inspired by the Driver, Analytical, Amiable, Expressive model proposed by David Merrill and Roger Reid. (45) Note that I have assigned names and meaning that better apply to my point.
Leader – Seeks to dominate socially and in business. Choices tend to be guided by human instincts, especially the urge to assure dominance of the personal gene pool. Compared to Merrill and Reid’s Driver temperament.
Conformist – Finds protection in numbers. Choices are instinctual and tend to assure position in the tribe. Compared to Merrill and Reid’s Expressive temperament.
Wayshower – Understands the need for collective, meaningful progression. Choices tend to be guided by acquired discerning intellect. Habitually considers the implications of choices. Compared to Merrill and Reid’s Analytical temperament.
Seeker – Responds to the urge to better understand personal nature and the nature of “meaningful.” Choices tend to be guided by acquired discerning intellect. Learning to habitually considers the implications of choices. Compared to Merrill and Reid’s Amiable temperament.
People can be described as a primary and secondary trait such as Leader-Seeker. Pleasurable and Meaningful are terms from the Katha Upanishad below. (46)
Temperament Mediated Perception
The Temperament Mediated Perception (TMP) Model diagramed above was composed to help me understand the way people decide the meaning of their perception. It illustrates the spectrum of mental influences between more spontaneous, instinctual reactions to the environment (left) and more mindful living (right).
Pleasurable or Meaningful
Following the lead of the Katha Upanishad (47) (46) discussed in the Part 4, the kind of choices people make tells us a lot about whether the Personality (Mind 1) or Morphogenic mind (Mind 2) 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 (more self-centered).
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.
Note that the Katha Upanishad uses “Preferable” instead of “meaningful;” however I think “meaningful” is more relevant in current culture.
Discerning Intellect – From the Etheric Studies Glossary of Terms: (48)
Discernment: Believe what you wish but understand the implications of what you believe. While worldview informs perception and expression, the conscious intention to align perception and expression with the actual nature of reality is discernment. Suspended judgment allows personality to consider experiences without incorporating them into worldview.
Discernment is possibly the most important quality one can intentionally cultivate. The objective is to resist deciding truth (suspended judgement) while purposefully examining the implications of what is being experiences.
Lucidity
In the context of the Seeker’s Way, lucidity refers to a clear and open channel of awareness of our actual nature and nature of the reality we inhabit.
The objective of a person seeking greater lucidity is to align the personal world map represented by Worldview with the actual nature of reality. The expression of intention appears to be the seeker’s only way to influence Worldview, so the prescribed approach is for the seeker to habitually examine assumptions. That is, “what are the implications of this perception?”
Lucidity Spectrum
The Lucidity Spectrum concept began as an effort to identify why some people experience paranormal phenomena and others do not, or at least not as clearly. As it turns out, the current political environment and conspiracy theories in the USA have 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 sociopolitical choices. (49)
The spectrum is intended to illustrate the Seeker’s progression. Comparing spontaneous, instinctual perception on the left with the effects of increasing lucidity on the right is intended to highlight the purpose of mindful living.
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 an average person begins to realize that they are not their body and thus begin seeking to discover what that means.
All relationships in the diagram are relative and 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 limited to what they have been taught to experience. However, it seems evident that everyone has at least a sense that there is more to who they are. The Enlightenment Threshold represents the likely relationship between a person simply thinking there might be more and doing things to discover what that is.
Navigating
If space is a spatial singularity but conceptually infinitely large, how do we mentally navigate conceptual space? How might we mentally communicate with a friend or imagine a distant city? For instance, the Silva Method (10) teaches (at least did in the 1960s) the student to mentally find someone in the etheric by following a set of information such as name, age and address that is unique to the target personality.
As has been discussed elsewhere in this paper, if Worldview does not contain information about an aspect of reality, the Perceptual Feedback Loop will likely produce a “Reject” outcome, and the conscious self will not become aware of it. In effect, if our mind is not familiar with a place, say a different venue for experience, the person will not be able to correctly imagine it, and therefore, will not be able to directly experience it.
In this way, we are limited in what we can experience in reality. Habitual suspended judgement, and increasing lucidity by developing discernment, are thought to be ways to extend the scope of reality we are able to experience. But it all depends on our worldview. That is one of the reasons the Seeker’s Way is to align worldview with the actual nature of reality.
The Mind as Navigator (50) Essay is an exploration of the idea that the Principle of Perceptual Agreement may help explain such phenomena as:
Interstellar travel – Considering the great distances between stars, how would it be possible for Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) to be from other star systems?
Cryptids – There are reports of many other creatures, but using Big Foot as an example, how is it possible for large animals to exist while leaving so little evidence of their passing?
Orbs – While most photographic orbs are just pictures ruined by flash-illuminated particulates or light flares, some orbs appear to be images of sentient critters. In some reports, they appear to pass through solid objects. How might such behavior be explained?
Bilocation, time slips and teleportation – There have been reports of encounters with people who are supposed to be in another place or time.
Apports – Apports are objects that are reportedly paranormally transported into a place from some other place.
The creative process (below) defined as “Changes in reality are expressed via personality’s attention on an imagined outcome with the intention to make it so” is moderated by the Principle of Perceptual Agreement which states “Personality must be in perceptual agreement with the aspect of reality with which it will associate.” That is, we can only create what we can imagine. What we can imagine is limited by our worldview.
It seems reasonable to speculate that some life forms have learned to sense environmental signals without judging whether they are real. That would look like a very open-minded person who does not require information to conform with a personal view of reality.
There seems to be sufficient evidence that the Apport Model can be applied to reported phenomena such as Interstellar travel, cryptids and orbs. Remembering that a concept thoughtform in the Implicit Cosmology may include physical property attributes such as place or timeline. In this view, movement from one place to another would be accomplished by disassociating our perception of physical objectivity from one location and reassociating it with a new location.
My fantasy novel Two Worlds One Heart was published in 1994. It was not a success but did serve to teach me to keep my day job. The story had three devices. One was that the hero named Jajeff lived in the Pacific Northwest near Mt Saint Helen, but in a different timestream than ours. The second was that he was able to see through the eyes of animals. Third, he was able to self-apport into our timestream and back.
A lot of the story is concerned with how Jajeff managed to self-apport. The book is available as a free PDF at ethericstudies.org/two_worlds_one_heart.pdf
Part 4 Teachers
Pioneers in Consciousness Studies
Contemporary consciousness theoreticians tend to focus on communicating theories with peers and exhibit little interest in helping the lay community understand their spiritual nature. In comparison, what has survived of the ancient wisdom schools indicates they were dedicated to teaching seekers.
Based on my study, lessons from the ancient wisdom schools are proving to be in line with current understanding about consciousness. The lessons they taught were couched in terms of the local culture. Our current focus is on consciousness studies, but that is a term understood by our current culture.
The ancient teachers were focused on what I have been describing in this paper as the Seeker’s Way which is to understand our personal nature, the nature of reality and our relationship with reality. In many schools of thought, the nature of reality was implied in lessons explaining the seeker’s nature and their relationship with reality.
My point of view is that we cannot understand consciousness without understanding the context in which we develop consciousness. For instance, we cannot understand a radio receiver without also understanding radio transmission, propagation and purpose. By understanding the context of radio, it then becomes possible to understand how a simple amplifier can sometimes act like a radio and how we might find radio signal contamination when we measure the electricity at your home’s power outlet.
By developing a sense of the nature of consciousness, it is possible to teach people how to best manage their consciousness, or more to the point, how to manage how they think. Conversely by contemplating the kind of lessons taught over the last 6,000 years, it is possible to extrapolate what those ancient teacher knew about consciousness.
An important assumption guiding the ancient wisdom schools I have studied is the need for seekers to understand the Creative Process.
The Creative Process
The Creative Process should be discussed before I address the early metaphysical schools of thought. For a metaphysical model like Idealism to make sense, it is necessary to have a mechanism by which reality can be differentiated and intentionally expressed as different aspects of reality. What I refer to as the Creative Process (51) is taught by many if not all of the ancient wisdom schools.
Think of the Creative Process as a fundamental expression of mind. I define it as:
Changes in reality are expressed via personality’s attention on an imagined outcome with the intention to make it so.
Note that what can be “imagined” is limited by the creator’s worldview. And that is the purpose of the ancient lessons. In this context, think of lucidity as a measure of how well a person can sense beyond the conscious-unconscious interface to experience reality more as it is rather than as it is supported by the person’s worldview.
Much of the ancient teaching was directed toward increasing the seeker’s lucidity by teaching the student how to align their worldview with the actual nature of reality.
Question of Origin
I begin with the 6000 years-old ancient wisdom attributed to the Egyptian Hermes. The major concepts thought to have been introduced by Hermes include:
- One God
There is one God, which is comparable to Source or Infinite Intelligence. - Avatar Relationship
The concept of man as a chariot with spirit as its driver comes to us from the Katha Upanishad (47) (46) (see below). It is consistent with Line 7 and 8 of the Emerald Tablet (52) (13) (see below) in which a person, understanding and purpose are treated in terms of the two aspects of the gross and the subtle. See Line 1-III-3. in the Katha Upanishad below. - Progression
The purpose of gaining understanding about the self and reality. This is described below as the “Great Work” in the Emerald Tablet. - Creative Process
The Emerald Tablet is all about the major elements of the Creative Process. - Three Aspects of a Teacher
This is actually a commandment of sorts. I have always maintained that “Our lot is to learn, and having learned, our lot is to teach.” This would appear to be a consequence of progression as described in the status of Hermes as being thrice-great. As noted below, it is also mirrored in the Hermetic TAROT. (11) (13) Also see the Prime Imperative Essay. (53) - Organizing Principles
Hermes opens the Emerald Table with “…that which is above is as that which is below; and that which is below is as that which is above…,” which has become known as the “Hermetic Law of Correspondence.” The “One Thing” of Line 2 is the expression of Source. It is described in Line 6 as “That only One Thing is the true father of all things in the universe.” Although not specifically stated, organizing principles are implicit in the concept of “…by adaptation to their individual purposes” as stated in the last part of Line 2.
These are concepts that are only recently becoming part of our view of metaphysical conversation. It has to be asked how Hermes knew so much about the nature of reality in ancient Egypt. Three origins come to mind:
- Independent Realization
The school of thought was developed during the ancient Egyptian Dynasties by the Hermes or more likely a priesthood identified as Hermes. Consider the way Edward Malkowski explained the Egyptian pantheon of gods in Before The Pharaohs: The Evidence for Advanced Civilisation in Egypt’s Mysterious Prehistory: (54)
From a modern Western perspective, their [the Egyptian’s] religion has been billed as primitive and polytheistic, and appears as a mythological menagerie of gods. Nothing could be further from the truth. The source of this misunderstanding stems from the Egyptian word neter being translated into Greek as ‘god,’ which later took on the Westernised meaning of deity. The true meaning of neter was to describe an aspect of deity, not a deity to be worshipped. In essence, neters referred to principles of nature in a practical scientific way.
- Codified of an even more ancient tradition
The 4,000 year-old Katha Upanishad (see below) is said to be based on oral tradition that evolved in the Indus Valley. There is some speculation the Indus Valley tradition that also gave us Sanskrit may have been brought from Egypt by traders.
Because the Hermetic teachings appear to be fully mature at the time of the Emerald Tablet, it seems reasonable to speculate that, like the Katha Upanishad, the teaching preceded the Egyptians. If so, that would give new meaning to the idea of ancient civilizations.
- Channeled Guidance (transcommunication)
Thinking the lessons were handed down from earlier schools of thought (#2.) seems unlikely. We have seen how ancient teaching can be corrupted by cultural contamination. The Greeks turned the “Great, Great Hermes” into “Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus.” The Romans confounded Hermes with their god Mercury. The Christian Bible includes many adaptations of the ancient wisdom in their parables.
For instance, in John 14.6 Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The probable intention of his comments reflects the three aspects of a teacher taught by Hermes: Line 10 (I teach the principles), Line 11 (I teach how to live the principles) and Line 12 (And so you will create the world) and Line 13 ([I show the way] “For this reason, I am called Hermes Trismegiatus–one in essence but three in total aspect. In this Trinity are concealed the three parts of the wisdom of the whole world.”
The metaphysical model I work with suggests that all of our perception is based on Psi communication amongst nonphysical minds, some of which are incarnate (you and me) and some are discarnate (perhaps long-dead friends and relatives … even discarnate teachers).
ITC and psychic access to information and mediumship point to the idea that we routinely access information that is beyond our physical knowing. The only apparent limitations to the information we have access to are our worldview and whether we are paying attention.
While there probably was prior speculation, it seems reasonable that Hermes (a priesthood?) may have been a student of ancient and contemporary metaphysical thought, the consistency of basic teaching over the past 6,000 years suggests that he also received guidance from etheric teachers.
The Emerald Tablet
To gain credibility, it was common practice for lessor philosophers to credit their work to better known thinkers. Consequently, much of the text attributed to Hermes should be ignored. A similar form of cultural contamination came with each round of translation and interpretation as the ancient text came to us via many cultures. The result is that seekers must be discerning about what they accept as valid teaching and that which is too contaminated to be of use.
I should note that our current use of artificial intelligence for accessing information on the Internet is introducing a new batch of literature, the authenticity for which we have no reason to trust. An examination of cultural contamination?
The 6,000-year-old Emerald Tablet (13) is the only document attributed to Hermes I feel useful to modern seekers. In keeping with Ancient Wisdom Schools, it contains hidden meaning that was intended for “those who have the eyes to see.” Considering the content of the Tablet, it was probably titled something like The Truly Great Work. The Great Work described in the Cabala is the process of changing the young, immature Self into a Master of the principles governing the operation of reality.
In terms of the Implicit Cosmology, (2) the Great Work is based on the concept of 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.”
There are a number of different translations of the Emerald Tablet. I prefer the version translated from the Latin of Ficinus by Kircher, and into English by Dr. John Everard. (52) It was first published in 1650.
The Emerald Tablet
by Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus
This is a lesson taught by a master to his initiates. It is concerned with the process of developing discerning intellect by applying the Creative Process. The title was probably something like “The Truly Great Work.”
- It is true and no lie, certain, and to be depended upon, that which is above is as that which is below; and that which is below is as that which is above, for the performance of the one truly great work.
This is the complete instruction for “as above, so below.” Consider the Expression and Perception Functions Diagram above. “Above” is mostly unconscious mind. “Below” is mostly conscious mind. The “Great Work” is the deliberate alignment of worldview to agree with actual reality. “That which is below” is the expression of intention based on increasing discernment to moderate “That which is above” to gain greater lucidity.
- And as all things are from only One Thing, by will of the one God, so all things have their origin in this one power, by adaptation to their individual purposes.
The “One Thing” is reality and organizing principles resulting from the differential between curiosity and understanding. The “One Power” is the Creative Process by which the One Thing is adapted.
- That only One Thing has the sun for its father, the moon for its mother.
“Sun” is creative influence. “Moon” is receptive Self (immortal personality). The three aspects of creation are within each of us as attention (the Sun) on a visualized outcome (the Moon) with the intention (wind) to make it so.
- The wind carries it in its wings.
The third part of the Creative Process (adaptation) is intention. It seems reasonable that the wind is the intention to make it so.
- But its nurse is a spiritual Earth.
As I understand the instruction, “Earth” is a reference to immortal self entangled with a human in an avatar relationship (aka a person). We are the ones who are performing the Great Work, as we live in the physical (earth).
- That only One Thing is the true father of all things in the universe. Its power is integrating or perfecting after it has been united to a spiritualized Earth.
Reality and the organizing principles are the “Father of all things.” Emanation from First Cause (curiosity) is perfected or changed as it is differentiated by Self (to gain understanding).
- Thou shalt separate the Earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, by means of a gentle heat, and with great ingenuity.
Hermes appears to be explaining the need to become aware of the difference between what is consciously perceived and the existence of a conceptual reality which underlies experience. This can be described as the difference between the etheric personality (immortal personality as “I am this”) and the person (conscious self as “I think I am this”).
- It ascends from Earth to heaven, and descends again to Earth. Thereby it receives the power of the superiors and the inferiors.
Understanding is relative so that something understood tends to shine new light on that something, thus offering potential new understanding. Since a lifetime is a transient experience, acquisition of understanding appears to be for the benefit of the greater community or collective of personalities. Thus, we have access to understanding from the collective even as we contribute new understanding to the collective.
- By this process thou wilt partake of life, love, and light, and the honors of the whole world; therefore, let all obscurity flee before thee.
Hermes has identified our purpose as a person and has described the process with which we can pursue that purpose. In Line 13, Hermes identifies himself as an example of what living in accordance with the true nature of reality means.
- This is the strongest of all forces, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing.
- With this thou wilt be able to master all things and transmute all that is fine and all that is coarse.
- So the world was created. Hence were all the wonderful adaptations of the One Thing manifested; but the arrangements that follow this great mystic path are hidden.
- For this reason, I am called Hermes Trismegiatus–one in essence but three in total aspect. In this Trinity are concealed the three parts of the wisdom of the whole world.
- What I have to tell is now completed concerning the operation of the Sun.
The Three Aspects of a Teacher
When considered with Line 13 of the Emerald Tablet, the phrase, “For this reason,” makes it clear that the “three parts of the wisdom of the world” is a direct reference to the three aspects of all teachers. That is, a teacher:
- Represents the lesson to be taught (imagination).
Imagination relates to recognizing fundamental organizing principles
- Appears to the student as an example of what it is to understand the lesson (intention).
Intention relates to application of the principles.
- Demonstrates the value of the lesson through application of the lesson in life (attention).
Attention relates to the effects of the principles as they are applied in daily living.
The three aspects of a teacher also relate to the three parts of the Creative Process:
The three aspects of a teacher also relate to the three parts of the Creative Process:
“Changes in reality are expressed via personality’s attention on an imagined outcome with the intention to make it so.”
These three aspects are demonstrated by the way Jesus presented himself in John 14.6 of the Christian Bible:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
In this line, Jesus is showing himself to his followers as the three aspects of the teacher. He was saying that he taught the principles (imagination), that he demonstrated how to live those principles (intention) and that he demonstrated the spiritual maturity that can only come from understanding and practicing the spiritual lessons he taught (attention).
By showing himself as the three aspects of a teacher, Jesus is saying that students will achieve spiritual maturity (greater lucidity) by practicing what he has taught.
Hermetic Tarot
The Hermetic TAROT. (11) (13) represents an important way of learning for people who learn best through technical metaphysics. While the Tarot is most commonly used for divination, in its occult use, the 22 Major Arcana, sometimes referred to as 22 Keys (keys to secret wisdom), represent a path to self-realization (Seeker’s Way). Each card represents a step along the path beginning with Key 0, The Fool, which represents the seeker at the beginning of the cycle of education as a relatively spiritually immature person, and at the end of the cycle following Key 21 The World as a more enlightened person. It is understood that the cycle of learning is never-ending.
The keys are arranged in three rows of seven with Key 0 set above. The first row represents powers or potencies (imagination), those in the middle row represent laws or agencies (intention) and those in the bottom row represent conditions or effects (attention).
For instance, Key 1 The Magician (self-conscious phase of mental activity, intention) represents the power which works through the agency symbolized by Key 8 Strength (authority over primal nature) to modify the conditions or effects typified by Key 15 The Devil (erroneous belief in limitations).
Seekers are advised to contemplate the Keys to understand the meaning they imply. This is a “for those who have eyes to see” form of secret wisdom.
We can rename some of the Keys in more contemporary terms. These are the terms I would use for the Potencies:
Key 0 The Fool is The Seeker. The pouch he carries represents curiosity becoming understanding and the mental tools that enable that understanding.
Key 1 The Magician is Intentionality. The tools on the table represent the outward application of natural principles.
Key 2 The High Priestess is Imagination. That which the Magician might create is only limited by imagination (Worldview).
Key 3 The Empress is Potential. The creative process is about turning ideas into reality.
Key 4 The Emperor is Expression. In effect, the first four Keys represent the Creative Process and The Emperor represents the creating influence. Note that the cube he sits on is used throughout the Tarot as a reference to physicality.
Key 5 The Hierophant is Mindfulness. Examining implications (discernment) promotes lucidity.
Key 6 The Lovers is Collective. The Creative Process is always informed by other personalities.
Key 7 The Chariot is Differentiation. The Creative Process can assign physical meaning to concepts. Note that the cube shaped chariot represents the same physicality shown in Key 4.
Katha Upanishad
The 4,000-year-old Hindu Vedic Sanskrit text called the Katha Upanishad (46) represents a conversation between the God of Death and a seeker. It includes instruction for how a person can gain sufficient lucidity (aka spiritual maturity) to avoid Samsara which is Hindu for the cycle of death and rebirth as life is bound to the material world.
The document is long, so I will focus on the parts that I think are most relevant for the idea of nonlocal consciousness. This material is based on the translation by Vidyavachaspati V. Panoli (47) provided by Vedanta Spiritual Library.
About Discernment
The Temperament Moderated Perception Diagram illustrates the range of deciding between choices based entirely on human instincts and cultural norms on the left and choices made with increasing discerning intellect on the right. In the Katha Upanishad, that range can be reworded as Pleasurable (above) on the left and “Preferable” (I find “Meaningful” (above) more useful for today) on the right. From the text:
1-II-1. Different is (that which is) preferable; and different, indeed, is the pleasurable. These two, serving different purposes, blind man. Good accrues to him who, of these two, chooses the preferable. He who chooses the pleasurable falls from the goal.
1-II-2. The preferable and the pleasurable approach man. The intelligent one examines both and separates them. Yea, the intelligent one prefers the preferable to the pleasurable, (whereas) the ignorant one selects the pleasurable for the sake of yoga (attainment of that which is not already possessed) and kshema (the preservation of that which is already in possession).
Mind and Body
The God of Death described a person as a chariot and its driver. This is consistent with Premise 3:
“a person is a symbiotic self entangled with a human in an avatar relationship for the lifetime of the avatar.”
Note that the teacher focuses on “discriminating intellect.” Line 1-III-9. tells us that the seeker’s ability to purposefully develop discriminating intellect will lead to self-realization and fulfillment of purpose in the cycle of incarnations.
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.
1-III-10. The sensory objects are subtler than the senses, and subtler than the sensory objects is mind. But intellect is subtler than mind and subtler than intellect is Mahat (the Hiranyagarbha).
Mahat refers to the origin or Source of creation. Hiranyagarbha can be understood as the golden egg, where gold means objects of fulfilment and joy.
1-III-11. The un-manifested (Avyakta) is subtler than Mahat (Hiranyagarbha) and subtler than the un-manifested is Purusha. There is nothing subtler than Purusha. That is the end, that is the supreme goal.
The universe itself is a person, though without the limitations and prejudices of our human personality. This is what the science of Yoga calls the Purusha. The Purusha, meaning a person or conscious being, is a Sanskrit term for the Cosmic Being behind the universe, the spirit within all things. The entire universe is a manifestation of the Cosmic Person. This Cosmic Person endows every creature with personhood or a sense of self, not only humans but also animals and ultimately all of nature.
1-III-12. This Self hidden in all beings does not shine. But by seers of subtle and pointed intellect capable of perceiving subtle objects, It is seen.
1-III-13. Let the wise man merge speech in his mind, merge that (mind) into the intelligent self and the intelligent self into the Mahat. (Let him then) merge the Mahat into the peaceful Self.
1-III-14. Arise, awake, and learn by approaching the exalted ones, for that path is sharp as a razor’s edge, impassable, and hard to go by, say the wise.
1-III-15. By knowing that which is soundless, touchless, formless, un-decaying, so also tasteless, eternal, odourless, beginningless, endless, subtler than Mahat and constant, man is liberated from the jaws of death.
The body as chariot and driver as mind is comparable to Key 7 The Chariot of the Hermetic Tarot. The message of the Emerald Tablet is woven throughout these lines. The Seeker’s Way is described in lines 1-III-12 through 15.
The universality of these concepts should alert us to the need to bring them to our generation in terms relevant to today.
The Razor’s Edge
In Line 1-III-13 of the Katha Upanishad, the God of Death describes the evolution of our emerging discerning intellect in the same sense that Hermes described the Great Work in the Emerald Tablet. Both are concerned with the Seeker’s Way.
Line 1-III-14 tells us that the path of progression is a narrow one with many opportunities to yield to our human nature and possibly losing some or all of our progression. The idea that the Seeker’s Way is narrow as a “Razor’s Edge” is a concept we see in many systems of thought. Life experiences may add to our understanding, but they may also take from our understanding.
While “Ascended Masters” who enter into the human experience to help guide our progression are respected for their knowledge, they are also respected for their sacrifice and willingness to risk falling from the “Razor’s Edge.” We cannot make a discerning choice one time and lock in lucidity. It is something that must be a way of life. The implications of every choice must be examined.
Teachers
Seekers are advised to “learn by approaching the exalted ones” in Line 1-III-13 of the Katha Upanishad. The “exalted ones” of today are virtual gurus teaching from a distributed school composed of the Internet and books. Today, that school looks more like a “Tower of Babel” espousing popular wisdom than a wise master teaching spiritual understanding.
There is something of a dividing line between faith or belief-based teaching and science or rationally grounded guidance. Seekers want to understand the actual nature of reality, not a version based on an individual’s belief.
It is up to science to find common ground around a set of rational concepts, our understanding of which can be matured with the guidance of a cosmology that is well-supported by science.
It is up to our opinion leaders to find that common ground. To function as contemporary “exalted ones.” It is up to you, the seeker to expect rational, evidence-based lessons taught by learned people who clearly state their point of view and assumptions.
Concluding Remarks
It is important to recognize the contribution the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) (55) has made to our understanding over the years. From my experience, the organization has always worked to guide the emerging paradigm past president Willus Harmon (56) spoke of in his book, Global Mind Change. IONS is all about people and how to help seekers develop their potential.
We should also thank Linda G. O’Bryant for the financial support she is giving for the exploration of our potential. IONS is a nonprofit organization and could not continue to serve the public without the support of people like Linda O’Bryant and supporting members.
But there is work to be done
My reviewing of the winning IONS essays was intended to provide study notes for people who read my work. Metaphysical theories can be rather complex. However, it became clear as I read the essays that IONS may have asked the wrong question. More likely, the winners may have missed the point.
As I have said, IONS helps people understand and develop their spiritual nature. Consider the Seeker’s Way:
Seeking to understand our personal nature, the nature of reality and our relationship with reality.
The essay question was:
“Review and comparative analysis of theories of non-local consciousness”
If the contestants had taken the time to understand the work IONS does toward helping seekers, it seems to me that they would have realized that IONS was probably asking for some kind of assessment of the viability of promising theories. Perhaps:
“Also assess their viability given current understanding.”
Theories are “what if” models and are not complete if they do not have a “If that, then this” aspect. The Way of the Seeker is to examine the implications of assumed truth. It is in that examination that understanding might evolve.
Consider a simplified relationship between the lay community and academic community. People are the experiencers. They report their experiences to scientists, who in turn propose an explanation. Experiencers are expected to test the proposed explanation. All is well if the explanation reasonably explains the experience. If it does not, experiencers are expected to modify what they report back to the scientists. It is then that scientists are expected to reconsider their theory. The process is open-ended.
The Takeaway of This Paper
To paraphrase Hermes:
What I have to tell is now completed concerning the operation of your spiritual nature.
The reality of nonlocal consciousness does not automatically mean the Survival Hypothesis is correct. It could mean that our brain produces an effect we experience as consciousness and that produces a Psi expression that is propagated in some form of Psi Field. If that is true, we cease to exist when our brain dies. … Well, maybe some kind of Psi memory of us echoes around in that Psi Field for a time.
Most of the reported Psi experiences are not well explained as a product of our brain. The complex of phenomena I find most compelling as evidence that consciousness precedes biological brain is the different temperaments and obvious prior understanding exhibited by some people. Those characteristics of people seem to point toward our membership in different collectives of sibling life fields. Your collective has likely developed a different way of reacting to information (temperament) and gained a different base of understanding. Thus, you and I are different in those ways.
The Morphogenic Mind concept I use for the Two-Mind solution of who we are seems to make more sense than thinking biological evolution can account for our nonphysical nature. There is no doubt that we are burdened with instincts that have clearly evolved in the physical. At least since Hermes, teachers have taught the need for seekers to learn to balance the influence of those instincts with discernment in our choices.
Then there is the question of nonphysical space known by parapsychologists as the Psi Field, but less provincially known as the etheric. Some parapsychologists tell us that the Psi Field is holographic in nature so that information in one place is equally accessible everywhere else in the world.
From our studies, it is clear that the etheric is spatial singularity that is conceptually infinitely large. In other words, the Psi Field is not holographic. From the physical or holographic perspective, “here is everywhere.” From the etheric perspective, “everywhere is here.” In the etheric (aka Psi Fiield), we navigate by changing our perspective by changing our sense of the actual (aka by increasing lucidity).
It is for you to decide. Believe what you wish but understand the implications of what you believe.
Thanks for reading. As always, I am interested in your feedback.
References
- Butler, Tom. “What ITC Tells us About Consciousness.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/what-itc-tells-us-about-consciousness/.
- Butler, Tom. “Toward a Consensus Cosmology.” Etheric Studies. 2023. ethericstudies.org/toward-a-consensus-cosmology/.
- Society for Psychical Research. spr.ac.uk/main/.
- The University of Northampton. northampton.ac.uk/.
- Butler, Tom. “Author’s Point of View.” Etheric Studies. 2024. ethericstudies.org/authors-point-of-view/.
- Butler, Tom. “Review of Runner Up BICS Essays.” Etheric Studies. 2022. ethericstudies.org/2021-bics-essay-reviews/.
- Butler, Tom. “The Arrogance of Scientific Authority.” Etheric Studies. 2015. ethericstudies.org/arrogance-of-science/.
- Butler, Tom. “Conditional Freewill.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/conditional-freewill/.
- The Rosicrucian Order. AMORC. rosicrucian.org.
- The Silva Method. com/.
- Staff, “Builders of the Adytum. Hightlights of Tarot.” botaineurope.org/the-tarot/highlights-of-tarot.
- “B.O.T.A. Tarot Deck.” Esoteric Meanings. sotericmeanings.com/introduction-to-the-b-o-t-a-tarot-deck/.
- Butler, Tom. “The Hermes Concepts.” Etheric Studies. 2016. ethericstudies.org/hermes-concepts/.
- Eckankar. eckankar.org/.
- Delphi University. delphiu.com/.
- The Monroe Institute. monroeinstitute.org/.
- Morris Pratt. morrispratt.org/.
- National Spiritualist Association of Churches. nsac.org/.
- Butler, Tom. “A Model for EVP.” Association TransCommunication. 2017. atransc.org/model-for-evp/.
- Butler, Tom and Lisa. “About the Association TransCommunication.” Association TransCommunication (ATransC). org/about-atransc/.
- Butler, Tom. “EVP Online Listening Trials.” Association TransCommunication. 2008. atransc.org/evp-online-listening-trials/.
- Butler, Tom. “ATransC White Paper on Transcommunication.” Association TransCommunication. 2014. atransc.org/itc-white-paper/.
- Butler, Tom. “Perception of Visual ITC Images.” Association TransCommunication. 2010. atransc.org/visual-perception-study/.
- Butler, Tom and Lisa. “Babcock’s Photographic ITC.” Association TransCommunication. atransc.org/babcock-moving-water-itc/.
- Butler, Tom. “Two-Mind Solution to the Survival Hypothesis.” Etheric Studies. 2021. ethericstudies.org/two-mind-solution/.
- “Idealism.” The Basics of Philosophy. philosophybasics.com/branch_idealism.html.
- Butler, Tom. “Etheric Fields.” Etheric Studies. 2014. ethericstudies.org/etheric-fields/.
- Butler, Tom. “The Cosmology of Imaginary Space.” Etheric Studies. 2014. ethericstudies.org/cosmology-imaginary-space/.
- Monroe, Robert. Far Journeys. New York: Main Street Books, Doubleday, 1985. ISBN 0-385-23182-2.
- Butler, Tom. “Organizing Principles.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/organizing-principles/.
- The Urantia Book. Urantia Foundation, urantia.org/
- Butler, Tom. “The Monroe Way.” Association TransCommunication. 2008. atransc.org/monroe-way/.
- Stewart Alexander. stewartalexandermedium.com/.
- Butler, Tom and Lisa. “Stewart Alexander.” Association TransCommunication. 2011. atransc.org/stewart-alexander/.
- Jane Roberts Learning Center. sethlearningcenter.org/.
- Mügge, Kai. “Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT).” Felix Experimental Group. 2008. kaimuegge.com/sorrat/.
- Solomon, Grant and Jane, Solomon. “Paranormal Apports Phenomena Evidence.” The Scole Experiment. thescoleexperiment.com/.
- Sheldrake, Rupert PhD. “Morphic Resonance and Morphic Fields.” Rupert Sheldrake. sheldrake.org/research/morphic-resonance/introduction?.
- Butler, Tom. “Morphic Fields.” Etheric Studies. 2018. ethericstudies.org/morphic-fields/.
- von Lucadou, Walter and Zahradnik, Frauke. “Predictions of The Model of Pragmatic Information About RSPK.” PennState CiteSeer. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=9485febe04c46dd72b052ff311849b5719026909
- Miller, Glenn M.D. “Voyager Syndrome.” Glenn Miller, Glenn M.D. glennmillermd.com/voyager-syndrome/.
- Carpenter, James C, Ph.D. First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Everyday Life. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4422-1392-0 (ebook).
- Butler, Tom. “About First Sight Theory.” Etheric Studies. 2018. ethericstudies.org/first-sight-theory/.
- Butler, Tom. “Mind as Storyteller.” Etheric Studies. 2019. ethericstudies.org/mind-as-storyteller/.
- Merrill, David W. and Reid, Roger H. “The Social Styles model: communicate better with this powerful theory.” Bitesize Learning. 2017. bitesizelearning.co.uk/resources/how-social-styles-can-help-you-to-achieve-your-communication-goals.
- Butler, Tom. “The Razor’s Edge–Katha Upanishad.” Etheric Studies. 2016. ethericstudies.org/razors-edge/.
- (Translator) Panoli, Vidyavachaspati V. “Katha Upanishad.” Vedanta Shastras Library. shastras.com/upanishads-krishna-yajur-veda/katha-upanishad/.
- Butler, Tom. “Glossary of Terms.” Etheric Studies. 2014. ethericstudies.org/glossary-of-terms/.
- Moskalenko, Sophia. “Many QAnon followers report having mental health diagnoses.” Neuroscience News. 2021. neurosciencenews.com/mental-health-qanon-18124/.
- Butler, Tom. “Mind as Navigator.” Etheric Studies. ethericstudies.org/mind-as-navigator/.
- Butler, Tom. “The Creative Process.” Etheric Studies. 2014. ethericstudies.org/creative-process/.
- (Translator) Everard, John. “Emerald Tablet: The Everard Annotated Translation.” Hermetic Fellowship. 1640. hermeticfellowship.org/Collectanea/Hermetica/TabulaSmaragdina.html.
- Butler, Tom. “Prime Imperative.” Etheric Studies. 2017. ethericstudies.org/prime-imperative/.
- Malkowski, Edward. “Before The Pharaohs: The Evidence for Advanced Civilisation in Egypt’s Mysterious Prehistory.” New Dawn. 2013. newdawnmagazine.com/articles/before-the-pharaohs-the-evidence-for-advanced-civilisation-in-egypts-mysterious-prehistory.
- “Weaving Together Knowledge and Knowing.” Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). noetic.org/about/.
- Welss, Claudia. “Creating a Global Mind Change Movement.” Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). 1988. noetic.org/blog/global-mind-change/.
