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By Ben, on August 17th, 2010%
Note: every Tuesday I take a question from my logs or from my emails and throw it up on the site as a point of discussion. If there’s something you’d like to see discussed, send your question here. Thanks!
Today’s discussion question is a great one and touches on the sneaky relationship between different states of consciousness.
Here’s the big Q:
“Is dreaming like tripping?”
I think the answer is simple:
yes, there are definitely similarities between the two states.
In my own experience studying and working with my dreams, including taking drugs (mushrooms, etc) inside a dream in order to “dream trip”, and my own experience . . . → Read More: Is Dreaming Like Tripping?
By Ben, on August 20th, 2008%
I’ve been fascinated with the thought of floating around in an isolation tank ever since I first saw the film Altered States ten years ago.
Um – what is an isolation tank, you ask?
“An isolation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water at skin temperature. They were first used by John C. Lilly in 1954 in order to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Such tanks are now also used for meditation and relaxation and in alternative medicine. Isolation tanks were originally called sensory deprivation tanks. Other synonyms for isolation tank include float tank, floating tank, . . . → Read More: Isolation Tanks and the Potential For Lucid, Trippy, Self Transformative Experiences
By Ben, on November 5th, 2007%
My thoughts after seeing Waking Life:
“Holy shit – this movie really is all about lucid dreaming!”
“What the fuck was that guy talking about?”
“This is really awesome and yet sometimes really boring.”
“This guy talking about how turning on or off a light in a dream and how it won’t work – I love this scene. And 360 vision – hell yea!”
“This crazy animation style is going to give me a headache!”
“I need to watch this movie again and take notes.”
This isn’t a normal movie with character development, a climax, and so on – it’s more like a philosophical look at dreams, . . . → Read More: Dreaming While Awake: Thoughts on the film Waking Life
By Ben, on August 29th, 2007%
My wife casually asked the other day:
“Why do I want to have Lucid Dreams?”
“What’s the point?”
I had the hardest time trying to answer her in a way that would convince her. It got me thinking about it and so this post is my own answer to these two questions…
My Gut-level response:
“What do you mean? The feeling of becoming consciously aware that you are dreaming, while you are dreaming, is fucking awesome!!”
My elegant response:
Imagine whatever it is you’re doing right now – look around at the people near you, the walls surrounding you, your hands – and think of what it would . . . → Read More: What’s the Point of Lucid Dreaming?
By Ben, on August 5th, 2007%
I recently came across this article titled “Brain Electrodes Help Man Speak Again” at Forbes.
In sum, this guy has been a vegetable for 6 years until doctors stimulated his brain with electrodes. Now, he’s able to talk, express emotion, watch movies, and eat on his own without a tube.
Basically…
it sounds like he’s become a person again.
What does it say about who we are when a brain-dead man comes back to life after having parts of his brain electrically stimulated?
Isn’t this pretty strong evidence towards a materialistic understanding of personal identity and the self?
What does this mean then when I ask:
Are you . . . → Read More: Brain Electrodes Help Man Speak Again
By Ben, on August 5th, 2007%
This is a great 7 minute video connecting dreams, near death experiences, and out of body experiences.
It comes from Penn & Teller’s popular show, kindly known as Bullshit.
(That should give you a hint about what sort of opinion they have about NDE and OBE.)
If that puts you off, at least check it out the centrifuge test experiment videos! It looks like something from Clockwork Orange or maybe some secret CIA torture research. WTF!
Too bad Penn’s voice is annoying and he always sounds like an asshole, even those times when he might be right.
Best quote from the video:
“Near Death Experiences are just . . . → Read More: Skeptics Penn and Teller on Near Death Experiences, Dreams, Out of Body Experiences
By Ben, on July 28th, 2007%
This is a fascinating 6 minute video into the research of Michael Persinger, inventor of the “God Helmet.” His research into out of body experiences, alien abductions, ghosts, and other “paranormal” phenomenon is predicated on the idea that these experience take place in the brain i.e. they’re an illusion and do not take place in physical reality.
To this end, he has invented a technique to stimulate the temporal lobes of the brain via magnetic pulses. The resulting device is known as the “God Helmet”, and in his lab people wearing it have experienced all sorts of wild and paranormal sensations . . . → Read More: Wearing the God-Helmet for Out of Body Experiences and Alien Abductions
By Ben, on July 18th, 2007%
Tonight I attended a Buddhist meetup discussion on the concept of the mind, and how the mind is actually seperate from the brain. Here’s some thoughts I jotted down while I was there. Please add your comments.
Note: Meetup allows you to organize events based around a common interest. Anyone can start or attend a meetup. There’s topics for everything, everywhere. Check it out.
….
I was disheartened by the discussion on reincarnation when it was referred to as a bottleneck to get through to progress through Buddhist principles.
Despite what someone might think by visiting this blog and seeing . . . → Read More: Some Thoughts on Buddhism
By Ben, on June 14th, 2007%
In A Psychonaut’s Guide to the Invisible Landscape: The Topography of the Psychedelic Experience, author Dan Carpenter makes many startling claims based on his experiences with the dissociative psychedelic DXM. (Yep, dextromethorphan – the stuff of cough syrup!)
He’s not simply having a subjective journey inside his mind; DXM actually takes him to an objective realm with other beings – some of which are the souls of recently departed friends and associates!
Yes – he’s talking about meeting the dead!
Along the way, he has out of body experiences, witnesses the seat of dreaming and memory, interacts with strange beings, lost souls, and other . . . → Read More: Part I: A Psychonaut’s Guide to the Invisible Landscape: Joining the Hive Mind, Seeing Your Dreams, Crushing the Ego and… Meeting the Dead?
By Ben, on June 14th, 2007%
All the questions brought up in this book answer to a bigger question, perhaps the biggest question of all:
Can we trust our own subjective experiences?
This innocent-sounding question is one of enormous implication.
At times when I read his words I thought to myself that if I accept what he says, than by the same standards, I should accept the words and experiences of those who profess many other subjective experience, many of which contradict each other. (For instance, the prophets of various religions all claiming that theirs is the only truth and everyone else is wrong.)
On the flipside, if we can’t trust . . . → Read More: Part II: A Psychonaut’s Guide to the Invisible Landscape: Can We Trust Our Own Experiences?
By Ben, on June 14th, 2007%
The book is at its best when, instead of merely being a log of his trips, the author expounds on their philosophical and spiritual implications. In other words, What does it all mean?
While he does get into this a bit, occasionally using quantum physics to help makes sense of the experience, unfortunately this book is more of a collection of trip reports, like those found on Erowid, rather than a full book about what he learned.
Near the end, he boldly writes that “exploration with psychedelics must be the exploration of death in the final outcome,” and tops it off by saying . . . → Read More: Part III: A Psychonaut’s Guide to the Invisible Landscape: Parting Words, Parting Sorrows
By Ben, on May 21st, 2007%
“Dreaming is perception unconstrained by sensory input. And vice versa, what is perception is what we’re doing right now; dreaming, constrained by sensory input.”
Stephen LaBerge, interview, captured in DVD series . . . → Read More: Stephen LaBerge quote on dreaming and perception
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