---Introduce yourself---

Hello, glad to join the forum! A little about me, I've been religiously devouring skeptiko podcasts for the last 6 months or so and information on consciousness for about a year starting with Tom Campbells youtube videos. I've dabbled in various spiritual practices with the chaos magic approach (been listening to Gordon the longest) and found some things I enjoy and others I didn't, spiritually I am primarily a hermeticist following the 7 hermetic principles. I'm a hypnotherapist by trade and an artist, a lucid dreamer and an amateur astral projector. I hope to see one day proof through my own experimentation of the 'All is mind' hermetic axiom. Politically I am a classical Liberal. I enjoy dogs, knowledge and altered states of consciousness.

Welcome, LetsEat! :)
 
LetsEat,

I am interested that you are a hypnotherapist. I wonder if hypnotism could be used to explore consciousness in new ways. For example, youd it be possible to hypnotise someone and implant the idea that they would have lucid dreams or OBE's?

Do you think hypnotherapy can tell us something useful about the nature of consciousness?

David
 
LetsEat,

I am interested that you are a hypnotherapist. I wonder if hypnotism could be used to explore consciousness in new ways. For example, youd it be possible to hypnotise someone and implant the idea that they would have lucid dreams or OBE's?

Do you think hypnotherapy can tell us something useful about the nature of consciousness?

David

Definitely, a key component of lucid dreaming is belief and autosuggestion. Hypnotherapy is about belief system altering and enhancing. Many OBE courses like 'learn astral projection in 90 days' by Robert Bruce utilize daily autosuggestion, autosuggestion being a form of self-hypnosis. Many religious speakers utilize Hypnosis techniques as well, such as this renowned meditation teacher -
he clearly uses a form of hypnotic relaxation by focusing on peoples anxieties and relieving them, furthermore he says if a student is stuck on something they will teach them the exact same technique with a different name, in other words, they will sell them a different story if the first is deficient. Channelers also often use a form of progressive relaxation which combined with the purpose of the ritual forms expectation that creates a state of hypnosis. Another is the Austin Osman Spare technique of sigil magick where you 'charge' a sigil by tensing the body up until you can't take it anymore, this creates anxiety and then it is dumped through the state of hypnosis.

I prefer Kappasinian Hypnosis (I'm HMI trained), which is based around the Message Unit Theory of Hypnosis - Everything the mind registers constitutes a message unit, when an overload of message units occur fight or flight activates and a state of anxiety is reached, the subsequent dumping process of these message units is known as Hypnosis and is characterized by heightened receptivity and is thought of as an escape to a primitive version of the mind.

LetsEat,
Do you think hypnotherapy can tell us something useful about the nature of consciousness?
David

With hypnosis theory we see belief being the prime motivator for change [ex placebo and NOcebo] effect, I think this indicates a sort of consensus reality as proposed by Tom Campbell, there is no hard numbers black book of reality, instead its in constant flux as the story we tell ourselves changes.

EDIT: There's a 10 hour free course at Hypnosis Motivation Insitute that goes over the basics of hypnosis that I think everyone should take, its got some great information.
 
Hi there,

my journey into consciousness exploration started very early, probably when I was about 12 or 13 y/o old when I started to dabble in real astrology (not the popular sun-sign astrology) but kind of turned away from it once my teenage life got better and later got into university to study engineering physics. My interest returned and deepened when in 2007 a psychic predicted the next few years of my life. Initially I was a great skeptic about the predictions (at that point I was hard into scientific materialism due to my physics education), but then the predicted events started to come to pass as described by the psychic, including even names of people and under what circumstances I'd be meeting them.

So all these happenings activated a rebellious streak in me - How come my future was predetermined to such a degree? Was the block universe model true? But if the block universe was true the nhow come we could observe it independently like the psychic did? Was I that much of a robot? How come the psychic knew names of people that I had not even met yet at the time the predictions were made? So I grew more curious and more rebellious and started reading about clairvoyance, mesmerism, hypnosis, magick, gnosticism, kabbalah, advaita vedanta, shamanism, Gurdjieff, etc... and so to make a long story short I entered deep into mysticism and became sort of a little mystic myself.

A few years forward and here I am now - I practice remote viewing (sort of clairvoyance with a protocol), although I am trying to develop to a level to be able to use it even without a protocol like the great psychics do it. I also practice some exercises from Mesmerism and NeiGong (Mesmerism was really great IMO and it shouldn't have gotten displaced by hypnosis). I'm also able to put animals in trance states

(like Kanzawa Sensei -
)

and also able to do it independently of distance. This was a known exercise in concentrated intention/will-power in Mesmerism and many teachers used to give it to students.

However, even though I've gained some "power", the essence of Reality is stll not revelaed before me and probably never will. Namely - the meaning of things and why things are is still a mystery to me. Why am I human, why am I this particular human, why I have free will or the illusion of free will? Is it really free will when we're all interconnected? From my psychic endeavours I know that _all_ is there. All is known. If a person A must get killed by person B, then both of them already know it unconsciously and if they never recognize that consciously, then the events will come to pass as "required", as if both of them have agreed to play out their roles. So is there free will or we're merely actors in a large dream of Consciousness and are "being lived" like some philosophers within Advaita would claim? I also notice that astrology does work to some degree, but I can't still isolate the exact degree to which it acts.

I'm very happy that real skepticism, unlike the typical skeptical scoffing, has a place on the Internet. Any honest person who has had experiences in the realms of Consciousness already knows that, like Bernardo Kastrup says, materialism is baloney.

Cheers to all!
 
Hi there,

my journey into consciousness exploration started very early, probably when I was about 12 or 13 y/o old when I started to dabble in real astrology (not the popular sun-sign astrology) but kind of turned away from it once my teenage life got better and later got into university to study engineering physics. My interest returned and deepened when in 2007 a psychic predicted the next few years of my life. Initially I was a great skeptic about the predictions (at that point I was hard into scientific materialism due to my physics education), but then the predicted events started to come to pass as described by the psychic, including even names of people and under what circumstances I'd be meeting them.

So all these happenings activated a rebellious streak in me - How come my future was predetermined to such a degree? Was the block universe model true? But if the block universe was true the nhow come we could observe it independently like the psychic did? Was I that much of a robot? How come the psychic knew names of people that I had not even met yet at the time the predictions were made? So I grew more curious and more rebellious and started reading about clairvoyance, mesmerism, hypnosis, magick, gnosticism, kabbalah, advaita vedanta, shamanism, Gurdjieff, etc... and so to make a long story short I entered deep into mysticism and became sort of a little mystic myself.

A few years forward and here I am now - I practice remote viewing (sort of clairvoyance with a protocol), although I am trying to develop to a level to be able to use it even without a protocol like the great psychics do it. I also practice some exercises from Mesmerism and NeiGong (Mesmerism was really great IMO and it shouldn't have gotten displaced by hypnosis). I'm also able to put animals in trance states

(like Kanzawa Sensei -
)

and also able to do it independently of distance. This was a known exercise in concentrated intention/will-power in Mesmerism and many teachers used to give it to students.

However, even though I've gained some "power", the essence of Reality is stll not revelaed before me and probably never will. Namely - the meaning of things and why things are is still a mystery to me. Why am I human, why am I this particular human, why I have free will or the illusion of free will? Is it really free will when we're all interconnected? From my psychic endeavours I know that _all_ is there. All is known. If a person A must get killed by person B, then both of them already know it unconsciously and if they never recognize that consciously, then the events will come to pass as "required", as if both of them have agreed to play out their roles. So is there free will or we're merely actors in a large dream of Consciousness and are "being lived" like some philosophers within Advaita would claim? I also notice that astrology does work to some degree, but I can't still isolate the exact degree to which it acts.

I'm very happy that real skepticism, unlike the typical skeptical scoffing, has a place on the Internet. Any honest person who has had experiences in the realms of Consciousness already knows that, like Bernardo Kastrup says, materialism is baloney.

Cheers to all!

I'd love to get a book list from you. Have you had any successes with your remote viewing or other practices?
 
I'd love to get a book list from you. Have you had any successes with your remote viewing or other practices?

Hi, yes I've had some significantly succesful remote viewing sessions with bilocation-like clarity. Not always... some sessions are not good at all, but some were surprising even for me as a beginner with very accurate visual, auditory and kinesthethic information (the remote viewers call such result "8 Martinis" and there's even a remote viewer magazine with that name - http://www.eightmartinis.com/) As mentioned, the other "siddhi" I am developing is basically the opposite of remote viewing - remote influencing. It's using concentrated intention and will-power to change stuff and so far it seems the easiest things to change are living systems. CHanging living systems with concentrated intention is the base of Mesmerism (the forefather of hypnosis) and in Mesmerism it has been used mainly for healing. It's also part of some schools within QiGong/NeiGong. Non-living systems can also be changed (e.g. check Princeton Enineering Anomalies Research Lab's research about changing the probabilities of quantum random event generators). I'm also developing a "state" which can be described as "Presence" in the most broad sense... In Mesmerism it's called Presence, in Yoga and related schools it's usually called Mindfulness. Gurdjieff calls it Self-Remembering. Basically it's a state with very heightened awareness on the here and now. I guess it's the best thing I will ever get from my endeavours in the psychic world, but it's the least impressive for outsiders. Basically, it's a state in which I'm remote viewing the here and now... but such explanation is probably best understandable after a person has experienced non-dual awareness and knows that Attention exists outside of the time-space continuum. :)


So some books.. I started remote viewing without any books. THe most MOST important thing is to allow for the possibility for ESP to be true and to not start the process prejudiced. Doubts and prejudices will counter-act. There are many RV tutorials online.

As for remote influencing and Mesmerism, the greatest online resource on Mesmerism is this one: http://www.iapsop.com/ssoc/
and IMO one of the best books there is Ochorowicz - Mental Suggestion as Ochorowicz was quite a skeptic when he started. It also includes a good portion on distant influence.

In our day and age 'remote influencing a living system' is also known as DMILS (Direct Mental Interaction With Living Systems) and there are some books about it (L.L.Vasiliev or Broud) and there are many scientific experiments that confirm it, e.g. http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/psi/delanoy/node5.html

Some other very good books IMO:

General ESP (clairvoyance, remote viewing and influencing), dreams:
Harold Sherman - How to Make ESP Work For You
Finley - Sorcery
All Wilson Colins' books about mysticism and the occult (IMO, the best one is Beyond The Occult)
Dunne - An Experiment With Time
Targ - Limitless Mind (this one is mostly for RV)
Osborn - The Future Is Now: The Significane Of Precognition

Introduction to Gurdjieff:
Red Hawk - Self-Observation: The Awakening of Conscience
Red Hawk - Self-Remembering

I also derive gleat pleasure from reading biographies of psychics:
Dykshoorn - My Passport Says Clairvoyant
Browning - The Psychic World Of Peter Hurkos

Practical Yogic Mysticism and Dissolving the Ego:
Sivananda Saraswati - MIND: Its Mysteries And Control
Sanchez - Take Me To Truth: Dissolving The Ego

Theories about Reality:
Nehrer - The Essence Of Reality
Giorbran - Everything Forever: Learning To See Timelessness

and this is without all the hypnosis, magick and shamanism books...

Cheers!
 
Hi, yes I've had some significantly succesful remote viewing sessions with bilocation-like clarity. Not always... some sessions are not good at all, but some were surprising even for me as a beginner with very accurate visual, auditory and kinesthethic information (the remote viewers call such result "8 Martinis" and there's even a remote viewer magazine with that name - http://www.eightmartinis.com/) As mentioned, the other "siddhi" I am developing is basically the opposite of remote viewing - remote influencing. It's using concentrated intention and will-power to change stuff and so far it seems the easiest things to change are living systems. CHanging living systems with concentrated intention is the base of Mesmerism (the forefather of hypnosis) and in Mesmerism it has been used mainly for healing. It's also part of some schools within QiGong/NeiGong. Non-living systems can also be changed (e.g. check Princeton Enineering Anomalies Research Lab's research about changing the probabilities of quantum random event generators). I'm also developing a "state" which can be described as "Presence" in the most broad sense... In Mesmerism it's called Presence, in Yoga and related schools it's usually called Mindfulness. Gurdjieff calls it Self-Remembering. Basically it's a state with very heightened awareness on the here and now. I guess it's the best thing I will ever get from my endeavours in the psychic world, but it's the least impressive for outsiders. Basically, it's a state in which I'm remote viewing the here and now... but such explanation is probably best understandable after a person has experienced non-dual awareness and knows that Attention exists outside of the time-space continuum. :)


So some books.. I started remote viewing without any books. THe most MOST important thing is to allow for the possibility for ESP to be true and to not start the process prejudiced. Doubts and prejudices will counter-act. There are many RV tutorials online.

As for remote influencing and Mesmerism, the greatest online resource on Mesmerism is this one: http://www.iapsop.com/ssoc/
and IMO one of the best books there is Ochorowicz - Mental Suggestion as Ochorowicz was quite a skeptic when he started. It also includes a good portion on distant influence.

In our day and age 'remote influencing a living system' is also known as DMILS (Direct Mental Interaction With Living Systems) and there are some books about it (L.L.Vasiliev or Broud) and there are many scientific experiments that confirm it, e.g. http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/psi/delanoy/node5.html

Some other very good books IMO:

General ESP (clairvoyance, remote viewing and influencing), dreams:
Harold Sherman - How to Make ESP Work For You
Finley - Sorcery
All Wilson Colins' books about mysticism and the occult (IMO, the best one is Beyond The Occult)
Dunne - An Experiment With Time
Targ - Limitless Mind (this one is mostly for RV)
Osborn - The Future Is Now: The Significane Of Precognition

Introduction to Gurdjieff:
Red Hawk - Self-Observation: The Awakening of Conscience
Red Hawk - Self-Remembering

I also derive gleat pleasure from reading biographies of psychics:
Dykshoorn - My Passport Says Clairvoyant
Browning - The Psychic World Of Peter Hurkos

Practical Yogic Mysticism and Dissolving the Ego:
Sivananda Saraswati - MIND: Its Mysteries And Control
Sanchez - Take Me To Truth: Dissolving The Ego

Theories about Reality:
Nehrer - The Essence Of Reality
Giorbran - Everything Forever: Learning To See Timelessness

and this is without all the hypnosis, magick and shamanism books...

Cheers!

Going through that mesmerism book right now and wow you were right, its very interesting! Thanks for the big list mate.
 
Just a quick introduction... been a longtime fan since the start of the show, don't think I've found one yet I passed on (came close with the 'Deplorable' guy though lol). I'm basically an academic in the area of Islamic Studies & Islamic mysticism and the influences of Greek thought/Syriac Christianity (really useful at dinner parties ha!) on Sufi groupings.

Have a long time interest in esotericism, particularly Gurdjieff and Magical systems (definitely NOT with a 'k') and am currently researching hypnagogic experiences with a stroboscopic lamp - The Lucia No.3 light machine - that induces altered states and sometimes DMT/NDE analogues. Actually the inventors of this lamp Dr Englebert Winkler and Dr Dirk Proeckl might make great guests for the show... Englebert is a Neurologist who had an NDE himself and was thus inspired to build this lamp to try to replicate effects.

Anyway, hi everyone! Looking forward to reading the threads here, is great to see such considered and rational discussion on a forum of this sort. Only sorry I am late to the party!
 
Just a quick introduction... been a longtime fan since the start of the show, don't think I've found one yet I passed on (came close with the 'Deplorable' guy though lol). I'm basically an academic in the area of Islamic Studies & Islamic mysticism and the influences of Greek thought/Syriac Christianity (really useful at dinner parties ha!) on Sufi groupings.

Have a long time interest in esotericism, particularly Gurdjieff and Magical systems (definitely NOT with a 'k') and am currently researching hypnagogic experiences with a stroboscopic lamp - The Lucia No.3 light machine - that induces altered states and sometimes DMT/NDE analogues. Actually the inventors of this lamp Dr Englebert Winkler and Dr Dirk Proeckl might make great guests for the show... Englebert is a Neurologist who had an NDE himself and was thus inspired to build this lamp to try to replicate effects.

Anyway, hi everyone! Looking forward to reading the threads here, is great to see such considered and rational discussion on a forum of this sort. Only sorry I am late to the party!

Welcome.
 
Why is the price of the machine such a mystery? How much does one cost?

I don't think it's a mystery as such. They are expensive, about 18k I think. Many people see that as exclusive or some sort of negative aspect to it but I think there aren't many such machines about and it's not really intended as a mass-market device. The aim is to offer the experience to many people and all the machine-owners I know offer the experience for free very often - unless it's an ongoing part of a therapy situation which is the main application in a way.
 
I don't think it's a mystery as such. They are expensive, about 18k I think. Many people see that as exclusive or some sort of negative aspect to it but I think there aren't many such machines about and it's not really intended as a mass-market device. The aim is to offer the experience to many people and all the machine-owners I know offer the experience for free very often - unless it's an ongoing part of a therapy situation which is the main application in a way.
Do you keep any records of your experiences with the light? Are you will to share some of them?
 
Do you keep any records of your experiences with the light? Are you will to share some of them?

Yes, I have some records but for a while I haven't been engaging in sessions myself - I really should more - but giving sessions to others. I can definitely answer any question you might have about the experience though.
 
Just a quick introduction... been a longtime fan since the start of the show, don't think I've found one yet I passed on (came close with the 'Deplorable' guy though lol). I'm basically an academic in the area of Islamic Studies & Islamic mysticism and the influences of Greek thought/Syriac Christianity (really useful at dinner parties ha!) on Sufi groupings.

Have a long time interest in esotericism, particularly Gurdjieff and Magical systems (definitely NOT with a 'k') and am currently researching hypnagogic experiences with a stroboscopic lamp - The Lucia No.3 light machine - that induces altered states and sometimes DMT/NDE analogues. Actually the inventors of this lamp Dr Englebert Winkler and Dr Dirk Proeckl might make great guests for the show... Englebert is a Neurologist who had an NDE himself and was thus inspired to build this lamp to try to replicate effects.

Anyway, hi everyone! Looking forward to reading the threads here, is great to see such considered and rational discussion on a forum of this sort. Only sorry I am late to the party!
Loving the Terry-Thomas :)
 
Just a quick introduction... been a longtime fan since the start of the show, don't think I've found one yet I passed on (came close with the 'Deplorable' guy though lol). I'm basically an academic in the area of Islamic Studies & Islamic mysticism and the influences of Greek thought/Syriac Christianity (really useful at dinner parties ha!) on Sufi groupings.

Have a long time interest in esotericism, particularly Gurdjieff and Magical systems (definitely NOT with a 'k') and am currently researching hypnagogic experiences with a stroboscopic lamp - The Lucia No.3 light machine - that induces altered states and sometimes DMT/NDE analogues. Actually the inventors of this lamp Dr Englebert Winkler and Dr Dirk Proeckl might make great guests for the show... Englebert is a Neurologist who had an NDE himself and was thus inspired to build this lamp to try to replicate effects.

Anyway, hi everyone! Looking forward to reading the threads here, is great to see such considered and rational discussion on a forum of this sort. Only sorry I am late to the party!

Welcome to the forum!
 
Hi everybody. I have been stalking the forums for some time and thought it was time to join. I am an unorthodox and non fundementalist christian who has had an interest in unusual phenomena for most of my life. I have had a couple of experiences myself, which have left me re-examining my beliefs, including a spooky but very physical poke in the arm. My main interests are consciousness and perception related - such as peak experiences, synaesthesia, sleep paralysis etc. I am a fan of Robert Anton Wilson and have also read and enjoyed Lyall Watson and Colin Wilson. If asked, I suppose I would consider myself a skeptical proponent. :)
 
including a spooky but very physical poke in the arm.
I'd like to hear more - when you're ready, there's no need to rush to do so right now.

I am a fan of Robert Anton Wilson and have also read and enjoyed Lyall Watson and Colin Wilson. If asked, I suppose I would consider myself a skeptical proponent. :)
Of those, Lyall Watson is the one I'm most familiar with. I still keep one of his books at my bedside, though I no longer need to read it after multiple readings over the years.

I've argued before that only 'proponents' are proper sceptics, since we question everything, something which seems beyond the capabilities of self-styled sceptics. Also, this overlaps into Raymond Moody's version of scepticism, where the aim is examine a topic from all sides but to reserve judgement.
 
I'd like to hear more - when you're ready, there's no need to rush to do so right now.
Sure. Shall I post here or is there a better place?


I've argued before that only 'proponents' are proper sceptics, since we question everything, something which seems beyond the capabilities of self-styled sceptics. Also, this overlaps into Raymond Moody's version of scepticism, where the aim is examine a topic from all sides but to reserve judgement.
Many of these "sceptics" seem to operate on a junior school type consensus level ("It's silly to believe in ghosts or God") and often bully people with other beliefs in the same junior school way. Brian Cox is an excellent example of this.
 
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