Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia \ John C Lilly's Isolation Tank
Experiment Conditions
http://www.cyrus.org/lilly/experiment02x.html
In our experiments, the subject is suspended with the body and all but the top of the head immersed in a tank containing slowly flowing water at 34.5 degrees C. (94.5 degrees F.), wears a blacked-out mask (enclosing the whole head) for breathing and wears nothing else. The water temperature is such that the subject feels neither hot nor cold. The experience is such that one tactuaHy feels the suprorts and the mask, but not much else; a large fraction of the usual pressures on the body caused by gravity are lacking. The sound level is low, one hears only one's own breathing and some faint water sounds from the piping; the water-air interface does not transmit airborne sounds very efficiently. It is one of the most even and monotonous environments I have experienced. After the initial training period, no observer is present. Immediately after exposure, the subject writes personal notes on his experience.
In these experiments, the subject always has a full nights rest before entering the tank. Instructions are to inhibit all movement as far as possible. An initial set of training exposures overcomes the fears of the situation itself.
Stages of Experience
http://www.cyrus.org/lilly/stagesx.html
In the tank, the following stages have been experienced:
(1) For about the first three-quarters of an hour, the day's residues are predominant. One is aware of the surroundings, recent problems, etc.
(2) Gradually, one begins to relax and more or less enjoy the experience. The feeling of being isolated in space and having nothing to do is restful and relaxing at this stage.
(3) But slowly, during the next hour, a tension develops which can be called a "stimulus-action" hunger; hidden methods of self-stimulation develop: twitching muscles, slows wimming movements (which cause sensations as the water flows by the skin), stroking one finger with another, etc. If one can inhibit such maneuvers long enough, intense satisfaction is derived from later self-stimulations.
(4) If inhibition can win out, the tension may ultimately develop to the point of forcing the subject to leave the tank.
(5) Meanwhile, the attention is drawn powerfully to any residual stimulus: the mask, the suspension, each come in for their share of concentration. Such residual stimuli become the whole content of consciousness to an almost unbearable degree.
(6) If this stage is passed without leaving the tank, one notices that one's thoughts have shifted from a directed type of thinking about problems to reveries and fantasies of a highly personal and emotionally charged nature. These are too personal to relate publicly, and probably vary greatly from subject to subject. The individual reactions to such fantasy material also probably varies considerably, from complete suppression to relaxing and enjoying them.
(7) If the tension and the fantasies are withstood, one may experience the furthest stage which we have yet explored: projection of visual imagery. I have seen this once, after a two-and-one-half hour period. The black curtain in front of the eyes (such as one "sees" in a dark room with eyes closed) gradually opens out into a three-dimensional dark, empty space in front of the body. This phenomenon captures one's interest immediately, and one waits to find out what comes next. Gradually forms of the type sometimes seen in hypnogogic states appear. In this case they were small, strangely shared objects with selfluminous borders. A tunnel whose inside "space" seemed to be emitting a blue light then appeared straight ahead. About this time this experiment was terminated by a leakage of water into the mask through a faulty connector to the inspiratory tube
In our experiments, we notice that after immersion the day apparently is started over, i.e. the subject feels as if he has just arisen from bed afresh, this effect persists, and the subject finds he is out of step with the clock for the rest of that day. He also has to readjust to social intercourse in subtle ways. The night of the day of the exposure he finds that his bed exerts great pressure against his body. No bed is as comfortable as floating in water.
John's First LSD/Tank Experience
http://www.cyrus.org/lilly/lsdtankx.html
"Various LSD pushers at N.I.M.H. were insisting that I take it but I didn't until ten years later. I finally took it in the isolation tank in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands with three dolphins there. I took LSD for the first time, in the tank, with three dolphins under it in a sea pool. I was scared shitless. It was 300 micrograms injected intramuscularly. As I climbed over the wall to the saltwater, a memorandum, from N.l.M.H. appeared before me: "Never take LSD alone."
That's when I learned that fear can propel you in a rocket ship to far out places. That first trip was a propulsion into domains and realities that I couldn't even recount when I came back. But I knew that I had expanded way beyond anything I had ever experienced before, and as I was squeezed back into the human frame, I cried.". - JCL
Washington Post Obituary
http://www.cyrus.org/lilly/washingtonPost.html
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES- John Cunningham Lilly, 86, who championed the study of interspecies communications during a career that probed the mystery of human consciousness, died Sept. 30 at a hospital here after a heart attack.
An inventor, author and researcher, Dr. Lilly was a member of a generation of counterculture scientists and thinkers that included Ram Dass, Werner Erhard and Timothy Leary, all frequent visitors to the Lilly home. He never failed to stir controversy, especially among mainstream scientists.
"There were those who thought he was brilliant, and there were those who just thought he was insane. I, of course, thought he was a little bit of both," said Jennifer Yankee Caulfield, who worked on a Lilly-led project in the early 1980s to teach dolphins a computer synthesized language.
Dr. Lilly gained renown in the 1950s after developing the isolation tank. He saw the tanks, in which users are isolated from almost all external stimuli, as a means to explore the nature of human consciousness.
He later combined that work with his efforts to communicate with dolphins, as well as experiments with psychedelics.
"During a session in an isolation tank, constructed over a pool where dolphins were swimming, I participated in a conversation between the dolphins. It drove me crazy there was too much information, they communicated so fast," Dr. Lilly wrote of one such experience.
Dolphins figured large in the 19 books he wrote including "Man and Dolphin" and "'The Mind of the Dolphin." His work
inspired two Hollywood movies, "The Day of the Dolphin" and "Altered States".
Dr. Lilly, who was born in St. Paul, Minn., was a graduate of the California institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania medical school. He conducted high-altitude research during World War II and later trained as a psychoanalyst.
In the 1950s, he began studying how bottlenose dolphins vocalize, establishing centers in the U.S. Virgin Islands and, later, San Francisco to study dolphins. A decade later, he began experimenting with psychedelics, including LSD, often while floating in isolation.
Encyclopedia \ The Fear Frequancy
This is an article can be found on Guardian Unlimited.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/farout/story/0,13028,1063346,00.html
Have you ever wondered what a ghost sounds like? Engineer Vic Tandy may already know. In the early 1980s, Tandy was working in a laboratory designing medical equipment. Word began to spread among the staff that the labs might be haunted, something Tandy put down to the constant wheeze of life-support machines operating in the building.
One evening he was working on his own in the lab when he began to feel distinctly uncomfortable, breaking into a cold sweat as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He was convinced that he was being watched. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Tandy noticed an ominous grey shape drifting slowly into view, but when he turned around to face it, it was gone. Terrified, he went straight home.
The next day Tandy, a keen fencer, noticed that a foil blade clamped in a vice was vibrating up and down very fast. He found that the vibrations were caused by a standing sound wave that was bouncing between the end walls of the laboratory and reached a peak of intensity in the centre of the room. He calculated that the frequency of the standing wave was about 19hz (cycles per second) and soon discovered that it was produced by a newly installed extractor fan. When the fan was turned off, the sound wave disappeared.
The key here is frequency: 19hz is in the range known as infrasound, below the range of human hearing, which begins at 20hz. Tandy learned that low frequencies in this region can affect humans and animals in several ways, causing discomfort, dizziness, blurred vision (by vibrating your eyeballs), hyperventilation and fear, possibly leading to panic attacks.
A more recent investigation took place in an allegedly haunted 14th-century pub cellar in Coventry, where people have reported terrifying experiences for many years, including seeing a spectral grey lady. Here Tandy also uncovered a 19hz standing wave, adding further evidential weight to his theory.
In an interesting parallel, researchers have recorded that, prior to an attack, a tiger's roar contains frequencies of about 18hz, which might disorientate and paralyse their intended victim. Is this the sound of fear itself?
Mark Pilkington
Thursday October 16, 2003
The Guardian
Part of a letter published by Vic Tandy on a forum called "ORCADIA-L Archives"
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/ORCADIA/2001-06/0993717998
Jeff,
My research involves the effects of infrasound on humans. I believe very low frequency sound can cause folk to feel a presence at one end of the spectrum, to seeing grey objects which can take on, probably, whatever form the percipient wants them to at the other. For some reason 19 Hz seems to be associated with this effect, don't know why, except that it is around the resonant frequency of the eye and can cause hyperventilation. It has also been shown that infrasound can cause chemical changes in the brain but the mechanism is not clear.
Because of the dimensions of maeshowe I suspect it may have a resonance around 19 Hz. My problem, as Sigurd has illustrated, is gaining experiences from people which are not unduly coloured by expectation. In fact comments from locals who are visiting constantly are very valuable. I am also very interested in the phenomena out of doors where there is no enhancement of the sound by resonance. There are normally two components, a chamber which has the appropriate dimensions and a sound source. Wind and sea are both sources of infrasound the chamber acts like a big sea shell enhancing certain frequencies. It follows that the experiences may coincide with weather conditions, if that is the source. If I am right and it is still early days, add some spookiness and you can cause people to have strange experiences. I guess what I am looking for are common experiences like the cove at the Brough of Deerness Sigurd mentioned and the Ringing Rocks from Richard(though I don't have a research budget so they are too far away at the moment).
The ideal situation is like a cellar I investigated a year ago, it was ideal because the "presence" was so accepted that the staff would talk to it every day ... it was almost on the payroll. On investigation we found infrasound at 19 Hz which peaked at the point where several people described experiencing the presence.
As a matter of interest I suspect infrasound and sleep makes for even more bizarre experiences. I am in touch with a chap in South Africa who suffers from night terrors and discovered they are correlated with the level of infrasound produced by a power station.
It is difficult in a formal research setting to gain the information without asking leading questions. In the end though I don't see an alternative, because people will often say..."now you mention it I have often felt X, I just hadn't given it any thought".
So .... I am looking for experiences which seem to be common to a number of people.
I have published a couple of papers on my research which are on my website together with press reports and things, if you or anyone else would like a look the URL is http://193.61.107.61/cyberclass/vicweb/parapsychology.htm
[...]
Vic Tandy [...]
Encyclopedia \ Music
Industrial Music, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_music
Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of electronic and experimental music. First used in the mid 1970s to describe the then-unique sound of Industrial Records artists, a wide variety of artists and labels have since come to be represented under the "industrial music" umbrella. Depending on whom you ask, this definition may include Avant-garde performance artists such as Throbbing Gristle and Einstürzende Neubauten, noise projects like Merzbow and Whitehouse, electronic acts like Skinny Puppy, or writer William S. Burroughs.
The term was meant by its creators to evoke the idea of music created for a new generation of people, previous music being more agricultural. Specifically, it referred to the streamlined process by which the music was being made, although many people later interpreted the word as a poetic reference to an "industrial" aesthetic, recalling factories and inhuman machinery. On this topic, Peter Christopherson of Industrial Records once remarked, "the original idea of Industrial Records was to reject what the growing industry was telling you at the time what music was supposed to be."
Luigi Russolo's 1913 work The Art of Noises is often cited as the first example of the industrial philosophy in modern music. After Russolo's musica futurista came Pierre Schaeffer and musique concrète, and this gave rise to early industrial music, which was made by manipulating cut sections of recording tape, and adding very early sound output from analog electronics devices.
Also important in the development of the genre was the Dada art movement, and later the Fluxus art movement. Such an antecedent, maybe only by name, was Erik Satie terming his second set of Furniture music Sons industriels ("Industrial sounds", 1920)
Industrial Music was originally coined by Monte Cazazza as the strapline for the record label Industrial Records (founded by British art-provocateurs Throbbing Gristle, the musical offshoot of performance art group COUM Transmissions). The original Industrial Records artists have very little musical connection with most modern industrial music.
Although it was contemporary to punk rock in the mid-to-late 1970s (such as the Sex Pistols), industrial music was harder hitting, conceptual, thought-provoking and seen as more "difficult" (being at its root an experimental genre, not rock-based music). Whilst punk's revolution was to boil rock music down to three chords on a guitar, industrial's rebellion against the music industry refused the need to know how to play any chords at all. Early industrial performances would often involve taboo-breaking, provocative elements, such as self-mutilation, pornography, sado-masochistic elements and totalitarian symbolism.
The first wave of this music appeared in 1977 with Throbbing Gristle and NON, and often featured tape editing, stark percussion, and loops distorted to the point where they had degraded to harsh noise. Vocals were sporadic, and were as likely to be bubblegum pop as they were to be abrasive polemics.
Bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, Factrix and SPK soon followed. Blending electronic synthesisers, guitars and early samplers, these bands created an aggressive and abrasive music fusing elements of rock with experimental electronic music. Like their punk cousins, they enjoyed the use of shock-tactics including explicit lyrical content, graphic art and Fascist imagery. Industrial Records enjoyed a fair amount of controversy after using an image of a gas chamber as its logo.
Across the Atlantic, similar experiments were taking place. In San Francisco, shock/performance artist Monte Cazazza (often collaborating with Factrix and Survival Research Labs/SRL) began working with harsh atonal noise. Boyd Rice (aka NON) released several more albums of noise music, with guitar drones and tape loops creating a cacophony of repetitive sounds. In Germany, Einstürzende Neubauten were performing daring acts, mixing metal percussion, guitars and unconventional "instruments" (such as jackhammers) in elaborate stage performances that often damaged the venues they were playing.
During the early 21st century, perhaps as a reaction to the band and rock-oriented feel of the mid-nineties, industrial music made a radical shift towards computer-generated, one-person acts. Eschewing the explosive stage shows that were commonplace, many performances now consist of a single artist on stage, surrounded by computers and electronic music equipment. The structure itself is opening itself up to even further experimentation, with modern equipment making a number of previously unattainable effects and techniques fair game for anyone with enough computer savvy and patience. Artists include: Mimetic, Tarmvred, Winterkälte, Imminent Starvation, Gridlock and Spin.
As of 2005 there was a considerable amount genre-crossover and confusion taking place within industrial music. Part of the seemingly myriad sub genres of industrial music are caused by the tendency of fans of a particular industrial artist or group of artists to continue to follow those artists even if they begin working in a completely different genre. This change in style is often described as a sub-genre of industrial, even though in content it might be more similar to other genres of music. For example, the genre of neofolk was essentially created when a few industrial and post-punk artists started to make folk music. Many of the fans of these artists are industrial music fans, as opposed to folk music fans. This phenomenon continues to shape the label of industrial music.
Ambient Music, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_music
The term was first coined by Brian Eno in the late 1970s to refer to music that would envelop the listener without drawing attention to itself, that can be either "actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener". Hence, Brian Eno is considered the father of ambient music: his 1978 release Ambient 1: Music for Airports includes a manifesto describing this music. Although having coined the phrase "ambient", he is also quick to reference the works and influence of Erik Satie. Sometimes associated with elevator music and Muzak, it is more often similar to mood music or an ambient background in movie and radio sound effects. Often listeners will forget they are listening to ambient music, which is one of the biggest attractions of the genre. It can be any musical style, including jazz, electronic music and modern classical music.
Retrospectively, some of the works of the 20th century French composer Erik Satie, today best known for his Trois Gymnopédies suite, can be regarded as predecessors of modern ambient music. He referred to some of his music as 'furniture music' (or more literally, 'music for the furniture') and 'music to mingle with knives and forks', referring to something that could be played during dinner and would simply create an atmosphere for that activity rather than be the focus of attention. The invention of the theremin in the early 20th century is also considered an important influence on the later development of ambient music. Similarly some of the works of the French composer Edgar Varèse, who used the theremin extensively in his compositions as well as atonal techniques and non-standard time signatures, can also be viewed as predecessors of ambient music.
Early albums from the 1970s by Tangerine Dream, such as Phaedra (1974), have greatly influenced the genre. Also the album Sonic Seasonings (1972) by Wendy Carlos has been important. Other early artists such as Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis in the 1970s and Ray Buttigieg, Ray Lynch and Mannheim Steamroller in the 1980s, all of which were considered New Age or Space Age, also influenced the growth of ambient electronic music.
Purely ambient music is traditionally beatless. In the late 1980s and early 1990s ambient music underwent a resurgence with the reconciliation of rhythm with the dreamy, meandering reverb of the first (late 1970s - 1980s) wave of ambient music. Under the guise of various styles, ambient electronic music (sometimes referred to as ambient techno or ambient dub) saw the birth of a new wave of electronic music in the works of artists like The Orb, Aphex Twin and the Irresistible Force.
Breakcore, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakcore
Breakcore is a loosely defined electronic music style that brings together elements of jungle, hardcore techno and rhythmic noise, into a breakbeat-oriented sound that encourages speed, complexity, and maximum sonic density.
The style began to emerge at the peak of rave in years of 1993-1994. In Berlin and Cologne, the Bass Terror Crew provided a harder version of breakbeat by playing records on 45rpm instead of the intended 33rpm. At the same time, former hardcore techno DJ Tanith started a series of parties with 'breakcore' in bold fat letters on the flyer.
As hardcore techno artists were feeling a staleness in the Roland TR-909 and Roland TB-303 drum machine-based sounds, the commercial "childish" elements in Dutch gabber and the overall assaults of speedcore began to be adapted. Others felt an urge to take the ideas of early 1990s jungle and acid one step further. Artists began to incorporate more breakbeats (especially the Amen break), taking the conceptual extremity of hardcore and harsh industrial music and applying it to the drum and bass template. Straining out much of the "rave" influence on hardcore and adding a degree of complexity, breakcore was a more palletable genre for music fans who were turned off by the rave scene, and so there is something of a crossover audience for fans of extreme music of all types, including grindcore, harsh industrial music, noise music and "IDM". This advance in "complexity" was made possible primarily by the proliferation of cheap computers and it is worth noting that the majority of breakcore was produced on cheap computers using free software, especially trackers.
There is no one clear point of generation, but some key locations include Berlin, South London, Newcastle, New South Wales, Rennes, France, Ghent, Belgium and the Midwestern US (including Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Winnipeg, Manitoba and Minneapolis, Minnesota). The first widely-known efforts did probably come from Force Inc / Riot Beats and Digital Hardcore Recordings. Breakcore as it is currently known has many of its origins on the internet, specifically around mailing lists like c8 and can be traced back to early efforts by the Bloody Fist camp in Australia; Ambush, Praxis, DHR and others in Europe; and Addict/Drop Bass/History of the Future/Low Res in the Midwestern US. And there is the KID606 Label Tigerbeat6 in San Francisco.
Some established artists that typify the style include Venetian Snares, DJ Scud, Christoph Fringeli, DJ /rupture, Drop The Lime, Somatic Responses, Society Suckers, Shitmat, Hecate, Doormouse, Patric Catani, Sickboy, Enduser, Aphasic, Eiterherd, Abelcain/Davros, Bombardier, Cdatakill, KID606, FFF, Parasite, Bombardier, Geroyche, atomly, Fanny, Minion, Duran Duran Duran, Donna Summer (Jason Forrest), Xanopticon, Bong Ra, Knifehandchop, Stunt Rock and Axiome .
Breakcore related artists tend to bunch together and form labels among their friends. Some more widely known Breakcore labels include: Bloody Fist Records (one of the oldest break related underground labels), Praxis, Zhark, Suburban Trash, System:Corrupt, Peace Off, Addict, Low Res, Planet Mu, Kool.Pop, Ad Noiseam, Cockrockdisco, Mirex, SickMODE Networks, and many others. Many hardcore/gabber, noise, breakbeat, and other experimental labels also have breakcore artists and releases in their rosters as well.
Noise Music, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_music
Noise music is music that uses sounds regarded as unpleasant or painful under normal circumstances. "Noise" music is regarded by some as a contradiction in terms, because "noise" is generally defined as unwanted and undesigned or unintentional sound and music as the opposite. However, "noise" in a more general sense refers to any extremely loud or discordant sound, and that these sounds are often the basis of noise music. Secondly, as famous noise musician Masami Akita said, "If by noise you mean uncomfortable sound, then pop music is noise to me." Noise music is not necessarily "noise" to the listeners, although it is certainly "noisy" in the more general sense of the term.
Noise music is loosely related to industrial, sharing its DIY ethos, independence and ethic of using "non-musical" sources. It also shares with early, Throbbing Gristle-era Industrial, a fascination with the hypnotic, and magical qualities of sound. Often punishing and abrasive, Noise music can be difficult listening, ranging from the free-form extreme electronic music of Merzbow, and Masonna to the more sculptured sounds of Otomo Yoshihide and Aube, to the cold haiku sound-scapes of Ryoji Ikeda or Toshimaru Nakamura.
Experimental Music, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_music
Experimental music is any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is. There is an overlap with avant-garde music. John Cage was a pioneer in experimental music and defined and gave credibility to the form.
As with other edge forms that push the limits of a particular form of expression, there is little agreement as to the boundaries of experimental music, even amongst its practitioners. On the one hand, some experimental music is an extension of traditional music, adding unconventional instruments, modifications to instruments, noises, and other novelties to orchestral compositions. At the other extreme, there are performances that most listeners would not characterize as music at all.
Encyclopedia \ Iszoloscope References
Phobos & Deimos, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos
In Greek mythology, Phobos is one of the sons of Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus). "Phobos" is Greek for "fear", the root word of "phobia". Phobos is the largest and innermost of Mars' two moons.
In Greek mythology, Deimos is one of the sons of Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus); "deimos" is Greek for "panic". Deimos is the smaller and outermost of Mars' two moons.
Eternity, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity
While in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existing for an infinite, i.e., limitless, amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside of time. There are a number of arguments for eternity, by which proponents of the concept, principally, Aristotle, purported to prove that matter, motion, and time must have existed eternally.
Augustine of Hippo wrote that time exists only within the created universe, so that God exists outside of time; for God there is no past or future, but only an eternal present. That position is accepted by many believers. And one need not believe in God in order to hold this concept of eternity: an atheist mathematician can maintain the philosophical tenet that numbers and the relationships among them exist outside of time, and so are in that sense eternal.
Near-death experience testimonies typically speak of eternity as a timeless existence by stating that portions of experiences in the eternal world lasted, say, "an hour or a month, I don't know. There was no time."
The modern theory of relativity provides a physical description of the universe in which the past and future may exist alongside the present. Some scientific theories of consciousness such as space-time theories of consciousness propose that the space-time continuum permits consciousness.
The physics taught in most schools describes the universe in terms of Galilean relativity in which only the durationless present exists. This concept is known as presentism and is widely believed although questionable.
Schizophrenia, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder denoting a persistent, often chronic, major mental illness primarily affecting thinking, with attendant difficulties in perception of reality, which in turn can affect behavior and emotion. The term schizophrenia comes from the Greek words σχίζω (schizo, split or divide) and φρενός (phrenos, mind) and can be translated as "shattered mind."
The primary sign of schizophrenia is considered to be fragmentation of basic thought structure and cognition. This disorganization is thought to result in formal thought disorder, and the inability to distinguish between internal and external experience. People with schizophrenia may report hallucinations or be observed responding to them and may express clearly delusional beliefs. Social or occupational dysfunction, a number of secondary signs, and the lack of organic brain disorder may be used to confirm the diagnosis.
Mainstream research has suggested that both biological and sociocultural influences are important contributing factors, with current research often focusing on the influences of biochemical and genetic factors on the neurobiology of the brain. The status of schizophrenia is considered controversial by some, who claim there is a lack of objectivity in the stated diagnostic criteria.
In spite of its name, schizophrenia does not involve a 'split personality', and should not be confused with disassociative identity disorder as it often is in literature, film and other forms of popular culture. There is also no association of schizophrenia with a predisposition toward aggressive behavior. And, not all people with schizophrenia are psychotic, although it is such a state which usually brings a person with schizophrenia to the mental health community.
Shamanism, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism
Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices that involve the ability to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause human suffering by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits. Shamans have been credited with the ability to control the weather, divination, the interpretation of dreams, astral projection, and traveling to upper and lower worlds. Shamanistic traditions have existed throughout the world since prehistoric times.
Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits that affect the lives of the living. In contrast to animism and animatism, which any and usually all members of a society practice, shamanism requires specialized knowledge or abilities. Shamans are not, however, organized into full-time ritual or spiritual associations, as are priests.
Shamanistic practices are thought to predate all organized religions, and certainly date back to the neolithic period. Aspects of shamanism are encountered in later, organized religions, generally in their mystic and symbolic practices. Greek paganism was influenced by shamanism, as reflected in the stories of Tantalus, Prometheus, Medea, Calypso among others, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and other mysteries. Some of the shamanic practices of the Greek religion were later adopted into the Roman religion.
There is a strong shamanistic influence in the Bön religion of central Asia, and in Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhism became popular with shamanic peoples such as the Tibetans, Mongols and Manchu beginning with the eighth century. Forms of shamanistic ritual combined with Tibetan Buddhism became institutionalized as the state religion under the Chinese Yuan dynasty and Qing dynasty. One common element of shamanism and Buddhism is the attainment of spiritual realization, at times mediated by entheogenic (psychedelic) substances.
The shamanic practices of many cultures were virtually wiped out with the spread of Christianity. In Europe, starting around 400 CE, the Christian church was instrumental in the collapse of the Greek and Roman religions. Temples were systematically destroyed and key ceremonies were outlawed. Beginning with the middle ages and continuing into the Renaissance, remnants of European shamanism were wiped out by campaigns against witches. These campaigns were often orchestrated by the Catholic Inquisition.
The repression of shamanism continued as Christian influence spread with Spanish colonization. In the Caribbean, and Central and South America, Catholic priests followed in the footsteps of the Conquistadors and were instrumental in the destruction of the local traditions, denouncing practitioners as "devil worshippers" and having them executed. In North America, the English Puritans conducted periodic campaigns against individuals perceived as witches. More recently, attacks on shamanic practitioners have been carried out at the hands of Christian missionaries to third world countries. As recently as the nineteen seventies, historic petroglyphs were being defaced by missionaries in the Amazon.
It has been postulated that modern state campaigns against the use of entheogenic substances are the offshoot of previous religious campaigns against shamanism.
Today, shamanism, once universal, survives primarily among indigenous peoples. Shamanic practice continues today in the tundras, jungles, deserts, and other rural areas, and also in cities, towns, suburbs and shantytowns all over the world. This is especially widespread in Africa as well as South America, where "mestizo shamanism" is widespread.
Many recent efforts have been made trying to link shamanic practice and knowledge with Western, scientific beliefs. Anthropologist Jeremy Narby has proposed that shamans take their consciousness down to the molecular level, working with DNA and viruses that they see as the twin serpents or malicious "darts". The holomovement theory proposed by David Bohm is often seen as an approach to create a scientific foundation for concepts such as parallel worlds and alternative ways to traverse time and space.
Generally, the shaman traverses the axis mundi and enters the spirit world by effecting a change of consciousness in himself, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens. The methods used are diverse, and often are used in conjunction with each other.
Encyclopedia \ Electronic Voice Phenomena
Article on Psychic Stunts about EVP, by Michael Daniels PhD
http://www.mdani.demon.co.uk/stunt/jun97s1.htm
Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) were first discovered by the Swedish artist Friedrich Jürgenson in 1959. Jürgenson was recording birdsong using a reel-to-reel tape recorder. When he replayed the tapes, he heard faint but intelligible voices in the background, even though there was no-one else in the vicinity when the recordings were made. By repeating the procedure, Jürgenson found that the voice recordings could be reliably replicated.
Taking their inspiration from Jürgenson's work, these phenomena were subsequently investigated by the German parapsychologist Hans Bender and by the Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive. Following the publication of Raudive's book on his research (Breakthrough, 1971) these phenomena are now often referred to as "Raudive Voices".
Electronic Voice Phenomena, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomena
Electronic Voice Phenomena, or EVP, refers to the claimed occurrence of "spirit voices" that are said to manifest themselves on audio recordings.
Such "voices" are said to be known for being rapid, faint, and often spoken in grammatically unusual and simplified language—or even multiple languages during the same sentence. The interpretation of such recordings is often highly subjective, and may differ from listener to listener; some listeners may hear nothing at all, while others report hearing specific phrases or sentences.
The alleged phenomenon was first noted by Friedrich Jurgenson who, after playing back a recording of birdsong in the Swedish countryside, is said to have noticed the presence of a faint Norwegian voice talking about 'birds at night'. Jurgenson assumed this must have been a stray radio broadcast, only there was no radio receiver at the remote location where the recording had been made. Whatever the cause, it prompted Jurgenson to make further recordings in his home.
Voices that were not present during the recording allegedly continued to appear on playback. They were said to refer to him (and his dog) by their names and nicknames, predict an incoming telephone call (and name the caller, Jurgenson's wife), and respond to questions and comment on the people and conversation physically present and accountable for in the room.
Since Jurgenson's report, thousands of people all over the world have attempted to replicate the spirit voices phenomenon, claiming success in many cases. They use no special equipment to capture voices such as these, only a microphone and a means of recording, such as a tape/minidisc/CD recorder or a computer, and patience: It is said it can take months of diligent recording before voices appear. Proponents recommend the use of headphones, because the voices are often faint, and a computer for processing the recordings is very helpful.
The quality, volume and durations of recordings are said to be increased by using a sound source placed within audible distance of the microphone during recording. Typically this would be a radio tuned to between stations so only white noise is audible; the theory being that this provides an acoustic basis for the voices to be constructed from, similar to vocoder technology. An alternative explanation is that the white noise provides random sounds that may be interpreted as voices by people who expect or want to hear voices. This explanation is consistent with the theory that the entire "phenomenon" is an example of pareidolia, in which a vague or random stimulus is mistakenly perceived as recognizable.
There is a more complex form of EVP known as ITC: Instrumental Transcommunication, which is the forming of extended, two-way contacts with the "spirit world" through means such as telephones, televisions, computers, and specialized audio equipment.
In the 1920s, Thomas Edison postulated that if spirits or ghosts were to be contacted, it would be through more sensitive machines than the current methods such as Ouija boards.
A Biography of Dr. Konstantin Raudive.
http://www.paravoice.dk/dr%20konstantin%20raudive.htm
The Latvian born author grew up with two languages, Latvian and Russian. Already as a young man he left Latvia for studies in Paris, Madrid, Edinburgh and later in Uppsala (Sweden) where he studied philosophy, history of literature, psychology and later also became naturalised. He was known in Europe through his literary and philosophical authorship. In 1965 he became acquainted with Jurgensen and his work. Raudive became interested, and after having attended some of Jurgenson's experiments he decided to start his own investigation - and like Jurgenson became so fascinated with this strange phenomenon that he continued his work until his death. It's worth mentioning that Raudive without slightest hesitation took over Jurgenson's postulated spiritualistic interpretation, a rash decision which like Jurgenson's work later turned out to be fatal for any further recognition, not only of his own work but also of the very Voice Phenomenon.
Also Jurgenson's technical methods and apparatus, if one may use this term at all (a microphone and a radio-receiver), were totally uncritically taken over by Raudive. So the often used term "Raudive-Voices" is a misnomer. Raudive never discovered the Voice Phenomenon and the only, small improvement was introduced by one of his collaborators (professor Alex Schneider, St.Gallen, Switzerland) who hit on the idea to connect the simplest possible "radio-receiver " directly to the input of the tape recorder. Such a device, a germanium diode, is principally the same as the well known crystal detector from the days of the very first radio-transmissions. Here it was used without any tuned circuit and when connected to a short antenna received simply every broadcasting station from the long wave to the short wave bands. On some places it gave good results - and equally good chances for confusion.
The voices recorded by Raudive have the same characteristic sound as Jurgenson's and later many others experimentators, perhaps with one exception. As already mentioned Raudive had studied in several countries and mastered several languages, a fact that leave its mark on the most of his recorded voices, which best may be characterised as multilinguistic - I have counted seven different languages in his voice samples, some times three or four in one single short sentence. His voices also normally were shorter and more difficult to understand then Jurgenson's. Also all the shortcomings in many of Jurgenson's voice-recordings - the disturbing background noise, the very small sound intensity, can be found on Raudive's voices. Seen from a pure technically viewpoint there is no improvement at all. But what I feel is the most important difference between Jurgenson' and Radive's voices: The latter is far less critical in his judgement and interpretation.
His last years Raudive spend in Germany where he 1972 wrote another book concerning the voice phenomenon. The third was published posthumous 1975 and I will later refer closer to this two books.
Dr. Konstantin Raudive died 1974.
Encyclopedia \ Spontaneous Human Combustion
Defining Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC), according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_Human_Combustion
Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the alleged burning of a person's body without a readily apparent, identifiable external source of ignition. The combustion may result in simple burns and blisters to the skin, smoking, or a complete incineration of the body. The latter is the form most often 'recognized' as SHC. There is much speculation and controversy over SHC. It is not a proven natural occurrence, but many theories have attempted to explain SHC's existence and how it may occur. The two most common explanations offered to account for apparent SHC are the non-spontaneous "wick effect" fire, and the rare discharge called "static flash fires". Although physically it can be shown that the human body contains enough energy stored in the form of fat and other tissues to consume it completely, in normal circumstances bodies will not sustain a flame on their own.
There are many characteristics that together distinguish alleged SHC from other forms of fire. Indeed, it is a combination of most or all of the following factors in a fire death that leads to allegations of SHC in the first place.
- The fire seems to have been generated spontaneously without any observable source of ignition.
- Fire damage is usually localized to the body of the victim. Furniture and appliances near the victim are usually left untouched. Little or no damage is done within the vicinity of the victim. However, this may be an artifact of the sampling process, since it is possible that in other cases, the fire spreads and causes major destruction of surroundings (especially domestic). This is discussed below.
- The body of the victim is usually more severely burned than in a normal house fire. The burns are, however, not distributed evenly across the body. The entire torso and arms of the victim are reduced to ashes, while the head sometimes survives as a bare skull and the lower extremities of the victims -- the lower legs -- are typically left intact.
- The majority of the cases of alleged SHC have occurred indoors. Again, this may be an artifact of the sampling process.
- The temperature of incineration in cases of alleged SHC is apparently much higher than temperatures achieved in commercial fuel-driven crematoria.
- Due to the high temperature yet localized nature of the fire, hot air exposure can damage objects high above the fire.
- In the overwhelming majority of supposed cases, the victim is elderly.
- Eyewitnesses to the actual combustion process are rare, tending to create suspicion or even confusion about alleged cases of SHC. However It is conjectured (by Heymer) that the recurring circumstance of aloneness, or actual loneliness in alleged SHC victims may be significant. The reason for the rarity of eyewitnesses may, in his view, be precisely because SHC happens to people when they are alone.
Hypotheses regarding Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC), according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_Human_Combustion
At the present day, opinion on SHC remains divided. As with any apparently anomalous phenomenon, there are a number of theories that attempt to explain how SHC happens. These fall broadly into two camps, which might be called the misidentification theorists and the SHC theorists.
General misidentification hypothesis:
This is the hypothesis that all cases of alleged SHC are simply normal fires in which the cause has not been identified. This does not necessarily exclude the wick or static flash fire effects.
The wick effect hypothesis:
The wick effect is a real phenomenon that has been proven to occur under certain conditions, and thoroughly observed. Since both wick effect and SHC would necessarily involve the incineration of bodies, and therefore the melting and combustion of body fat, there are many similarities between the known phenomenon (wick effect) and the alleged phenomenon (SHC).
Using a dead pig wrapped in a blanket and placed in a purpose-built room, The BBC set out to prove the 'wick' theory in its science television show QED. A small amount of petrol was poured on the blanket as an accelerant. After igniting the petrol, the researchers left it to burn by itself. The temperature of the fire was regularly recorded and was only around 800° C (1472° F). As the fire burned through the pig's skin, it melted its subcutaneous fats, which flowed onto the blanket. Bone marrow, which also contains a high amount of fats, also contributed to the burning. The surrounding furniture was not burnt although a television placed above a cupboard had its plastic cover melted. The fire had to be manually extinguished after seven hours. The majority of the pig's body had been burnt to ashes
The static flash fire hypothesis:
This is a condition in which static electricity apparently builds up to such dangerous levels in the human body that a sparking discharge can ignite clothing. A noticeable static electricity shock typically measures 3,000 volts, created by performing certain activities. The charge can build up to much greater levels depending on other conditions such as humidity. Walking across a carpet can create a potential difference of 1,500 to 35,000 volts. Static discharges can ignite petrol fumes at filling stations, and are one suspected cause of filling station explosions which are popularly (but erroneously) believed to be caused by emissions from mobile phones. Seventy percent of such incidents occur in cool dry weather, which favours the buildup of static.
The phenomenon of massive static charges on human bodies was first noted by the late professor Robin Beach of the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. Professor Beach believed that some people could build up a sufficient static charge to ignite combustible materials in contact with their bodies. While putting this forward as a possible cause of SHC reports, Beach did not believe there was a connection to allegedly genuine SHC as no known form of electrostatic discharge could cause the tissues of the human body to ignite. In static flash fire cases, the voltage that builds up is much higher, producing bright flashes capable of illuminating dark surroundings, or shimmering flame-like effects, depending on circumstances. In some cases, the charge is apparently sufficient to ignite dust or fluff clinging to clothing, which may then set clothing alight.
Conjectures regarding Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC), according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_Human_Combustion
Adherents to SHC conjectures hold that the cause of SHC is none of the above, but that it is a discrete and genuine phenomenon in which the flesh of the human body catches fire without any external cause. The field of SHC theories divides into two camps: The supernaturalists and the non-supernaturalists.
The supernaturalists believe that the cause of SHC is almost certainly beyond human knowledge forever. This faction puts forward various conjectures that include poltergeists, divine wrath, etc, which are not considered separately here. The non-supernaturalists believe that SHC is either knowable or will be knowable. There is little or no general agreement between those advocating such SHC conjectures. Moreover, there is little agreement between the SHC non-supernaturalists and the SHC skeptics.
John E Heymer and 'The Entrancing Flame':
Described by Joe Nickell as an "English coal-miner-turned-constable," John E Heymer wrote a 1996 book entitled The Entrancing Flame. This gets its title from one deductive conclusion that he has reached from examining many cases, namely that SHC victims are lonely people who fall into a trance immediately prior to their incineration. Heymer suggests that a psychosomatic process in such emotionally-distressed people can trigger off a chain reaction by freeing hydrogen and oxygen within the body and setting off a chain reaction of mitochondrial explosions. Heymer's theories have won little support. They have also generated misunderstanding: Ian Simmons, in a review of The Entrancing Flame, criticised Heymer thus: "He seems to be under the illusion that [hydrogen and oxygen] exist as gases in the [mitochondrial] cell and are thus vulnerable to ignition, which is, in fact, not the case."
Larry Arnold and the 'Pyroton':
Larry Arnold is a private researcher, who has devoted much time to the SHC controversy. He is director of an organization called ParaScience International. Arnold, in his 1995 book on SHC entitled Ablaze!, theorises that a hitherto-unknown subatomic particle which he refers to as the pyroton is emitted in cosmic rays, usually passing harmlessly through the body like a neutrino, but occasionally striking a cell nucleus and triggering off a chain reaction that destroys the body entirely. Reaction to Arnold's theory has been almost unanimously negative. In 1996, in a Fortean Times article, Ian Simmons said: "There is, however, no independent evidence for such a particle [as the pyroton] and just inventing it to explain SHC is not really a runner”.
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