Great food for thought! I see what appears to be a similar pattern to the mysterious apprehension of de ja vu going on with that 6th sense you have that you are being watched, even when the person or animal watching you is nowhere near your field of vision, as in they are literally at your 6-o'clock, yet you turn around and sure enough, someone was watching you.
Thoroughly enjoying the recurring reference to, and exploration of, Whitehead! One of the most severely underrated and IMO under-appreciated philosophers of the 20th century. Thank you for writing.
I remember reading about some experiments in undergrad psych, too many years ago, about extrasensory experiments (probably in the 60s, although I can't remember when these were done). In one experiment the subjects were a class of first year psych students (as are so many studies!) who had to guess the 'attitude' of certain people who would be walking in the auditorium, up the back. The subjects had to face forward and could not see who was coming in the room, nevertheless they had to take note of the attitude of whoever came into the room. It turned out statistically significant the correlation with the guesses and the actual attitude the person had (admittedly acting or feigning) when coming into the room (angry, happy, disgusted, etc).
Much more recently there's been some incredibly interesting work done on the sensitivity of the heart to such extrasensory perception. I must write about some of this. I don't recall anything about deja vu, but certainly about an intuitive sense and even premonition.
I see it as important that this sort of subject be brought up. It brings us a step closer to reevaluating our assumptions about human experience and life in general.
I like to mention NDEs because these have become very common and there are many well-done interviews about them, along with some academic work. A typical NDE includes a period of time when the person can see their own body in the operating room (or wherever), hear what people are saying, etc. I know this as "being exterior." It is well worth noting that their perceptions in this state are more or less full. That means that the being ("the spirit") is capable of a wide range of perception totally independent of whatever the body is capable of. This includes telepathic and related abilities.
It seems that most of us are "lazy" and rely totally on perceptions received through the body when we are attached to one, even though we could expand our repertoire of perceptions if we really wanted to. People who communicate with animals telepathically show us that being in a body does not prevent us from bypassing body perceptions in certain situations.
I would hope that any thinking person could work out the ramifications of the observation that we are capable of "going exterior." I am waiting for someone out there to come to some realizations about this. My whole understanding of life and existence has changed as a result of the work of a few researchers who took the exterior being seriously and decided to explore the ramifications of this discovery more thoroughly.
Hubbard himself has mentioned an early NDE in his own life (during a dentist visit) that alerted him to these possibilities. I personally am not interested in waiting to have an NDE myself to verify the findings of those researchers. I am willing to trust their reports of what they discovered. And I think such reports are very much worth discussing.
Great food for thought! I see what appears to be a similar pattern to the mysterious apprehension of de ja vu going on with that 6th sense you have that you are being watched, even when the person or animal watching you is nowhere near your field of vision, as in they are literally at your 6-o'clock, yet you turn around and sure enough, someone was watching you.
Thoroughly enjoying the recurring reference to, and exploration of, Whitehead! One of the most severely underrated and IMO under-appreciated philosophers of the 20th century. Thank you for writing.
I experienced insane levels of synchronicity when dealing with a pack of ravenous psychopaths (before I really understood them).
I have two explanations, one spiritual and one neurobiological. And I'm not sure which one is correct. Maybe both simultaneously.
RD Laing used a similar technique in his psychotherapy with schizo patients.
He said that schizos speak the language of synchronicity.
Smart people have been saying this stuff for a while now. But to little effect it seems. We live in a decidedly iron and material age.
So very interesting!
I remember reading about some experiments in undergrad psych, too many years ago, about extrasensory experiments (probably in the 60s, although I can't remember when these were done). In one experiment the subjects were a class of first year psych students (as are so many studies!) who had to guess the 'attitude' of certain people who would be walking in the auditorium, up the back. The subjects had to face forward and could not see who was coming in the room, nevertheless they had to take note of the attitude of whoever came into the room. It turned out statistically significant the correlation with the guesses and the actual attitude the person had (admittedly acting or feigning) when coming into the room (angry, happy, disgusted, etc).
Much more recently there's been some incredibly interesting work done on the sensitivity of the heart to such extrasensory perception. I must write about some of this. I don't recall anything about deja vu, but certainly about an intuitive sense and even premonition.
Anyway, good piece as always Harrison.
I see it as important that this sort of subject be brought up. It brings us a step closer to reevaluating our assumptions about human experience and life in general.
I like to mention NDEs because these have become very common and there are many well-done interviews about them, along with some academic work. A typical NDE includes a period of time when the person can see their own body in the operating room (or wherever), hear what people are saying, etc. I know this as "being exterior." It is well worth noting that their perceptions in this state are more or less full. That means that the being ("the spirit") is capable of a wide range of perception totally independent of whatever the body is capable of. This includes telepathic and related abilities.
It seems that most of us are "lazy" and rely totally on perceptions received through the body when we are attached to one, even though we could expand our repertoire of perceptions if we really wanted to. People who communicate with animals telepathically show us that being in a body does not prevent us from bypassing body perceptions in certain situations.
I would hope that any thinking person could work out the ramifications of the observation that we are capable of "going exterior." I am waiting for someone out there to come to some realizations about this. My whole understanding of life and existence has changed as a result of the work of a few researchers who took the exterior being seriously and decided to explore the ramifications of this discovery more thoroughly.
Hubbard himself has mentioned an early NDE in his own life (during a dentist visit) that alerted him to these possibilities. I personally am not interested in waiting to have an NDE myself to verify the findings of those researchers. I am willing to trust their reports of what they discovered. And I think such reports are very much worth discussing.