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santa_sangre seems to have a bunch of brainwaves in common with me. I did ask if there was a smoke machine to use, which I used to bloom the light a bit more. But I didn't ask for her to bring metallic mylar sheeting or a metallic outfit, but that led us in some very interesting direction.
Lightpainting details: I painted with my gen3baby board connected to a 1 meter strip of APA102 LEDs over a 30 second exposure. With smoke from a smoke machine.
Shooting Del was my idea. Shooting Del in a bathtub full of bubbles, booze and a toy boat? That was all him. It was one of the first things he mentioned when Laura and I showed up at his place Saturday.
Even the shirt & tie, it was all part of this shot he'd always wanted to do, and was going to send off to his parents as a gift.
And it was an idea I would've, without hesitation, vetoed a few months ago.
Not enough light in the bathroom, too artificial a shot, no way to really test out how to make it work.
But now I've got a digital camera, ho ho ho.
Took me more than a few minutes figure out the flash, apparently it's got all these different settings?
But I did, got what I was looking for, and we worked it out.
Then, middle of this part of the shoot, Del got thirsty, had his BFF Dave hand him a beer.
BRAINWAVE.
This is a totally posed re-creation of that utterly absurd moment.
If only all shoots could be this patently ridiculous. An unabashedly fun.
A Polaroid of Del, all serious, up on the blog: blog.louobedlam.com/post/82809192/del-is-usually-all-smil...
Needs no introduction,although it wasn't until I'd been shooting for half an hour I had a brainwave to check my aperture and as I thought I had left it at f8 since the last time I had used the camera.......but still not bad considering.
184x30 secs
800 ISO
f8 should have been f4 to 5.6 adjusting the shutter speed to set the exposure
:::SOLE::: SA - Brainwave Stabilizer
♦Color♦
Steel Gray / Black
♦3Pack bonus♦
White
Permissions
Modifi / copy / no trans
Rig: Unrigged
Location
I don't like swans. Yes, I know that they are very elegant etc but I have had a couple of bad experiences. The last occurred a few months back on one of my photographic forays.
I was walking along a narrow path, river one side, high brick wall other side. In the middle of the path sat the biggest swan I'd ever seen. Six feet tall, eight feet wide. (This may be a slight exaggeration but you get the picture).
No problem I thought. I'll walk up boldly, it'll get scared, slide into the river and I'll be on my way.
WRONG!
As I approached it stood up, spread its wings and snarled at me. (Well hissed actually, but I'm sure that's swan equivalent for snarling). I got the message..... No Way Hose.
About this time, I remembered that a swan was capable of inflicting severe bodily harm with it's wings. What we had was a stand-off. He was not going to let me pass.
So I had a choice. Climb the wall (but my climbing days are over) or jump in the river.
Now water is not my natural environment, particularly when it is cold and muddy. It is, however, a swan's. So how could I persuade this giant that it would be a nice idea if he went for a swim.
Brainwave! I was carrying a tripod. Extending one leg and the central column, effectively, I had a pole about eitght feet long. So using the tripod I could persuade (poke) the swan until he got into the river. Fortunately this worked and I was able to return home safe and sound.
Now you won't read of this use for a tripod in any photographic book or magazine. It's amazing what you can learn on Flickr. You might like to file this away for future reference.
What started out as a "Sunrise morning", quickly turned into an "is it even worth being here" morning, with extremely dense fog and constant rain... And then we had a brainwave... WATERFALLS!!
Did a lot of hiking today, causing tired legs and an ouchy little toe, but totally worth it.
An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience in which a person seems to perceive the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although the term autoscopy more commonly refers to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppelgänger.Do you want to float around the astral plane without dying first? Are you longing to leave your body at home for a few hours to explore the cosmos? People report out-of-body experiences (OBEs) while dreaming, during near-death experiences, or through relaxation techniques such as meditation. For some people, having an OBE can be like being Alice in your very own Wonderland. Read on to learn how to experience this on purpose.Ready your mind and body. Choose a quiet place you find relaxing. You can be indoors or outdoors, as long as you are comfortable. Make sure you won't be interrupted. OBEs are most common in the morning at 4:00am-6:00am, however trying this at night or when you are tired will probably just make you fall asleep.
Find a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down. Many people choose to lie down on their backs, but be forewarned that temporary sleep paralysis is more likely in this position if you do fall asleep. These may consist of dark figures, ghosts or whatever you fear entering your room. Though this may sound scary, the more you realise they cannot physically harm you for they are your mind's creation, the less scary it is to endure.
Affirm to yourself that you are going to have an out-of-body experience. Say to yourself "Mind awake-Body Asleep" or "I will have a lucid dream." Repeat this several times until it is the only thought left in your mind. Close your eyes and relax. Become less conscious of your external surroundings. Empty your mind of thoughts and ideas. Meditation techniques can be helpful here to maintain an empty mind while still remaining focused and aware. Allow yourself to almost fall asleep. Actually sleeping would defeat the purpose. Instead, let yourself drift close to sleep while concentrating on being conscious of your sensations and mental state. Feel a vibrating sensation in your body. As you relax further, you should become more aware of what's happening inside your mind and body than anything happening in the room around you. Try to feel the vibration of your body, coming from both the larger pulse of your blood and breath to the individual movements of your cells. You may think you hear sounds like a tornado/wind. The urge to move here will be tremendous, especially if it's your first time. Just relax deeper and deeper until the sounds passes, but avoid falling asleep.
Try to slow the vibration. Visualize the movements of your body slowing and the sounds and sensations of vibrations getting fainter. Soon everything will be completely silent and your body will be still. Let your body become paralyzed. Some say it feels like a lead blanket has been placed over you. You may notice all of a sudden that you can't move your arms or legs. Don't panic! If you try to force yourself to move you may wake up. You will, however, be able to move your eyes, mouth, nose, and face, so try moving those slightly instead. Feel your hands grasping an invisible rope. Don't move your actual hands or visualize the rope. The "rope method" relies on the imaginary feeling of the rope, not a mental image. Focus on the texture, thickness and heftiness of the rope. Feel the tension in your arms between the strength of the rope and the pull of your weight. If you have trouble using the rope technique, try imagining a ladder instead. Some people find this easier, especially if they are more accustomed to climbing ladders than ropes.
Use the rope to pull yourself up and start climbing. Feel your muscles contract and your body move upward when you pull. Don't visualize: imagine you are doing this in pure darkness. Keep going up. Soon you will find yourself out of your body, triggering the "projection reflex."
If you experience vibrations in your body as you climb, try to relax more, or else you will only lose more energy and it will become harder.
If you have trouble, try climbing up as you inhale and then resting as you exhale.
The rope method is a more practical variation on the more iconic technique of visualizing yourself floating up. Though floating out of one's body all at once makes for a better image in the movies, it's not as effective in real life.
Open your astral eyes. Once you know you are out of your body, open your eyes. You should be viewing your room from the side of your bed, with your body still lying there still with eyes closed.
If you want, try to open your third eye first, low on the center of your forehead.
Visualize every detail of the space around you. Make sure you get a good look at your surroundings before you lie down. Now try to recall and feel the location and shape of every object in the room, as it looks from where you are resting.
Visualize the space around you as seen from a different point in the room. Once you have the image of the room clear in your mind's eye, shift that perspective to try to see that image as though you were standing over or near your body. In some ways you should already feel like you have left your body.
Rise from your body to the spot you were visualizing from. Stay very relaxed, but be forceful in your will to gently bring yourself to that point. Feel yourself moving up and over to that space, and visualize your perspective changing. Then open your astral eyes.
www.wikihow.com/Have-an-Out-of-Body-Experience
The term out-of-body experience was introduced in 1943 by G. N. M. Tyrrell in his book Apparitions, and was adopted by researchers such as Celia Green and Robert Monroe[3] as an alternative to belief-centric labels such as "astral projection", "soul travel", or "spirit walking". OBEs can be induced by brain traumas, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences, dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep, and electrical stimulation of the brain, among others. It can also be deliberately induced by some. One in ten people have an OBE once, or more commonly, several times in their life.
Neuroscientists and psychologists regard OBEs as dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors.
Those experiencing OBEs sometimes report (among other types of immediate and spontaneous experience) a preceding and initiating lucid-dream state. In many cases, people who claim to have had an OBE report being on the verge of sleep, or being already asleep shortly before the experience. A large percentage of these cases refer to situations where the sleep was not particularly deep (due to illness, noises in other rooms, emotional stress, exhaustion from overworking, frequent re-awakening, etc.). In most of these cases subjects perceive themselves as being awake; about half of them note a feeling of sleep paralysis.
Near-death experiences
Main article: Near-death experience
Another form of spontaneous OBE is the near-death experience (NDE). Some subjects report having had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drownings or major surgery. Near-death experiences may include subjective impressions of being outside the physical body, sometimes visions of deceased relatives and religious figures, and transcendence of ego and spatiotemporal boundaries.Typically the experience includes such factors as: a sense of being dead; a feeling of peace and painlessness; hearing of various non-physical sounds, an out-of-body experience; a tunnel experience (the sense of moving up or through a narrow passageway); encountering "beings of light" and a God-like figure or similar entities; being given a "life review", and a reluctance to return to life.
Resulting from extreme physical effort
Along the same lines as an NDE, extreme physical effort during activities such as high-altitude climbing and marathon running can induce OBEs. A sense of bilocation may be experienced, with both ground and air-based perspectives being experienced simultaneously.
Induced
Chemical
OBEs can be induced by hallucinogens (particularly dissociatives) such as psilocybin, ketamine, DMT, MDA, and LSD.
Mental induction
Falling asleep physically without losing awareness. The "Mind Awake, Body Asleep" state is widely suggested as a cause of OBEs, voluntary and otherwise. Thomas Edison used this state to tackle problems while working on his inventions. He would rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, restoring some of his alertness. OBE pioneer Sylvan Muldoon more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in bed as the falling object. Salvador Dalí was said to use a similar "paranoiac-critical" method to gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake and asleep states is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of sleep which are ultimately helpful when attempting to induce an OBE. By moving deeper and deeper into relaxation, one eventually encounters a "slipping" feeling if the mind is still alert. This slipping is reported to feel like leaving the physical body. Some consider progressive relaxation a passive form of sensory deprivation.
Deep trance, meditation and visualization. The types of visualizations vary; some common analogies include climbing a rope to "pull out" of one's body, floating out of one's body, getting shot out of a cannon, and other similar approaches. This technique is considered hard to use for people who cannot properly relax. One example of such a technique is the popular Golden Dawn "Body of Light" Technique.
Mechanical induction
Brainwave synchronization via audio/visual stimulation. Binaural beats can be used to induce specific brainwave frequencies,[30] notably those predominant in various mind awake/body asleep states. Binaural induction of a "body asleep" 4 Hertz brainwave frequency was observed as effective by the Monroe Institute, and some authors consider binaural beats to be significantly supportive of OBE initiation when used in conjunction with other techniques. Simultaneous introduction of "mind awake" beta frequencies (detectable in the brains of normal, relaxed awakened individuals) was also observed as constructive. Another popular technology uses sinusoidal wave pulses to achieve similar results, and the drumming accompanying Native American religious ceremonies is also believed to have heightened receptivity to "other worlds" through brainwave entrainment mechanisms.
Magnetic stimulation of the brain, as with the God helmet developed by Michael Persinger.
Direct stimulation of the vestibular cortex.
Electrical stimulation of the brain, particularly the temporoparietal junction (see Blanke study below).
Sensory deprivation. This approach aims to induce intense disorientation by removal of space and time references. Flotation tanks or pink noise played through headphones are often employed for this purpose.
Sensory overload, the opposite of sensory deprivation. The subject can for instance be rocked for a long time in a specially designed cradle, or submitted to light forms of torture, to cause the brain to shut itself off from all sensory input. Both conditions tend to cause confusion and this disorientation often permits the subject to experience vivid, ethereal out-of-body experiences.
Strong g-forces that causes blood to drain from parts of the brain, as experienced for example in high-performance aircraft or high-G training for pilots and astronauts.
An apparatus that uses a head-mounted display and a touch that confuses the sense of proprioception (and which can also create the sensation of additional limbs).
Theories of OBEs
Psychological
In the fields of cognitive science and psychology OBEs are considered dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors.Scientists consider the OBE to be an experience from a mental state, like a dream or an altered state of consciousness without recourse to the paranormal.
Charles Richet (1887) held that OBEs are created by the subject's memory and imagination processes and are no different from dreams.James H. Hyslop (1912) wrote that OBEs occur when the activity of the subconscious mind dramatizes certain images to give the impression the subject is in a different physical location. Eugéne Osty (1930) considered OBEs to be nothing more than the product of imagination.Other early researchers (such as Schmeing, 1938) supported psychophysiological theories.[46] G. N. M. Tyrrell interpreted OBEs as hallucinatory constructs relating to subconscious levels of personality.
Donovan Rawcliffe (1959) connected the OBE experience with psychosis and hysteria. Other researchers have discussed the phenomena of the OBE in terms of a distortion of the body image (Horowitz, 1970) and depersonalization (Whitlock, 1978). The psychologists Nandor Fodor (1959) and Jan Ehrenwald (1974) proposed that an OBE is a defense mechanism designed to deal with the threat of death.[51][52] According to (Irin and Watt, 2007) Jan Ehrenwald had described the out-of-body experience (OBE) "as an imaginal confirmation of the question for immortality, a delusory attempt to assure ourselves that we possess a soul that exists independently of the physical body. The psychologists Donald Hebb (1960) and Cyril Burt (1968) wrote on the psychological interpretation of the OBE involving body image and visual imagery. Graham Reed (1974) suggested that the OBE is a stress reaction to a painful situation, such as the loss of love.John Palmer (1978) wrote that the OBE is a response to a body image change causing a threat to personal identity.
Carl Sagan (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) wrote that the OBE experience may be based on a rebirth fantasy or reliving of the birth process based on reports of tunnel-like passageways and a cord-like connection by some OBErs which they compared to an umbilical cord.Susan Blackmore (1978) came to the conclusion that the OBE is a hallucinatory fantasy as it has the characteristics of imaginary perceptions, perceptual distortions and fantasy-like perceptions of the self (such as having no body).[60][61] Ronald Siegel (1980) also wrote that OBEs are hallucinatory fantasies.
Harvey Irwin (1985) presented a theory of the OBE involving attentional cognitive processes and somatic sensory activity. His theory involved a cognitive personality construct known as psychological absorption and gave instances of the classification of an OBE as examples of autoscopy, depersonalization and mental dissociation.[38] The psychophysiologist Stephen Laberge (1985) has written that the explanation for OBEs can be found in lucid dreaming. David Hufford (1989) linked the OBE experience with a phenomenon he described as a nightmare waking experience, a type of sleep paralysis.[64] Other scientists have also linked OBEs to cases of hypnagogia and sleep paralysis (cataplexy).
In case studies fantasy proneness has been shown to be higher among OBErs than those who have not had an OBE.[67] The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to fantasy prone personality (FPP).[68] In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were "more fantasy prone, higher in their belief in the paranormal and displayed greater somatoform dissociation."[69] Research from studies has also suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive-perceptual schizotypy.
Terence Hines (2003) has written that spontaneous out-of-body experiences can be generated by artificial stimulation of the brain and this strongly suggests that the OBE experience is caused from "temporary, minor brain malfunctions, not by the person's spirit (or whatever) actually leaving the body."In a study review of neurological and neurocognitive data (Bünning and Blanke, 2005) wrote that OBEs are due to "functional disintegration of lower-level multisensory processing and abnormal higher-level self-processing at the temporoparietal junction. Some scientists suspect that OBEs are the result of a mismatch between visual and tactile signals.
Richard Wiseman (2011) has noted that OBE research has focused on finding a psychological explanation and "out-of-body experiences are not paranormal and do not provide evidence for the soul. Instead, they reveal something far more remarkable about the everyday workings of your brain and body."[75] A study conducted by Jason Braithwaite and colleagues (2011) linked the OBE to "neural instabilities in the brain's temporal lobes and to errors in the body's sense of itself". Braithwaite et al. (2013) reported that the "current and dominant view is that the OBE occurs due to a temporary disruption in multi-sensory integration processes."
Paranormal
Writers within the fields of parapsychology and occultism have written that OBEs are not psychological and that a soul, spirit or subtle body can detach itself out of the body and visit distant locations. Out-of-the-body experiences were known during the Victorian period in spiritualist literature as "travelling clairvoyance". The psychical researcher Frederic Myers referred to the OBE as a "psychical excursion".[79] An early study which described alleged cases of OBEs was the two volume Phantasms of the Living, published in 1886 by the psychical researchers Edmund Gurney, Myers and Frank Podmore. The book was largely criticized by the scientific community as the anecdotal reports lacked evidential substantiation in nearly every case.
A 19th-century illustration of Robert Blair's poem The Grave, depicting the soul leaving the body
The Theosophist Arthur Powell (1927) was an early author to advocate the subtle body theory of OBEs. Sylvan Muldoon (1936) embraced the concept of an etheric body to explain the OBE experience. The psychical researcher Ernesto Bozzano (1938) had also supported a similar view describing the phenomena of the OBE experience in terms of bilocation in which an "etheric body" can release itself from the physical body in rare circumstances. The subtle body theory was also supported by occult writers such as Ralph Shirley (1938), Benjamin Walker (1977) and Douglas Baker (1979).[85] James Baker (1954) wrote that a mental body enters an "intercosmic region" during the OBE.[86] Marilynn Hughes states that the experiences are the projection of the spiritual body from the physical for the purpose of the soul's purification.[87] Robert Crookall in many publications supported the subtle body theory of OBEs.
The paranormal interpretation of OBEs has not been supported by all researchers within the study of parapsychology. Gardner Murphy (1961) wrote that OBEs are "not very far from the known terrain of general psychology, which we are beginning to understand more and more without recourse to the paranormal".
In the 1970s, Karlis Osis conducted many OBE experiments with the psychic Alex Tanous. For a series of these experiments he was asked whilst in an OBE state to try to identify coloured targets that were placed in remote locations. Osis reported that in 197 trials there were 114 hits. However, the controls to the experiments have been criticized and according to Susan Blackmore, the final result was not particularly significant as 108 hits would be expected by chance. Blackmore noted that the results provide "no evidence for accurate perception in the OBE".
In April 1977, a patient from Harborview Medical Center known as Maria claimed to have experienced an out-of-body experience. During her OBE she claimed to have floated outside her body and outside of the hospital. Maria would later tell her social worker Kimberly Clark that during the OBE she had observed a tennis shoe on the third floor window ledge to the north side of the building. Clark would go to the north wing of the building and by looking out of the window could see a tennis shoe on one of the ledges. Clark published the account in 1985. The story has since been used in many paranormal books as evidence a spirit can leave the body.
In 1996, Hayden Ebbern, Sean Mulligan and Barry Beyerstein visited the Medical Center to investigate the story. They placed a tennis shoe on the same ledge and discovered that the shoe was visible from within the building and could have easily been observed by a patient lying in bed. They also discovered the shoe was easily observable from outside the building and suggested that Maria may have overheard a comment about it during her three days in the hospital and incorporated it into her OBE. They concluded "Maria's story merely reveals the naiveté and the power of wishful thinking" from OBE researchers seeking a paranormal explanation.[93] Clark did not publish the description of the case until seven years after it happened, casting doubt on the story. Richard Wiseman has said that although the story is not evidence for anything paranormal it has been "endlessly repeated by writers who either couldn't be bothered to check the facts, or were unwilling to present their readers with the more skeptical side of the story."
Oneness and One
In 2017, Prince Paul Mamakos summarized the three stages of out of body experience.[94] The first stage being achieving an out-of-body experience and experiencing movement within the environment near the physical body. The second stage being going out and exploring outside ones house, going off planet, going into the planet and meeting other beings. In the third stage of OBEs, a person begins to notice the energy within another being as the same as that which is coming out of their own being. The energy essence of another, is the same as your energy. In the culmination of the third stage, a person experiences a sense of connection with all beings. On a linear range of awareness, if we place personality at a proximal point on a line, a point on the distal end of the line will represent an experience of oneness. Personality and oneness representing opposite extremes of awareness. Further dropping oneness results in the 'it' experience. One.
Studies of OBEs
Early collections of OBE cases had been made by Ernesto Bozzano (Italy) and Robert Crookall (UK). Crookall approached the subject from a spiritualistic position, and collected his cases predominantly from spiritualist newspapers such as the Psychic News, which appears to have biased his results in various ways. For example, the majority of his subjects reported seeing a cord connecting the physical body and its observing counterpart; whereas Green found that less than 4% of her subjects noticed anything of this sort, and some 80% reported feeling they were a "disembodied consciousness", with no external body at all.
The first extensive scientific study of OBEs was made by Celia Green (1968).She collected written, first-hand accounts from a total of 400 subjects, recruited by means of appeals in the mainstream media, and followed up by questionnaires. Her purpose was to provide a taxonomy of the different types of OBE, viewed simply as an anomalous perceptual experience or hallucination, while leaving open the question of whether some of the cases might incorporate information derived by extrasensory perception.
International Academy of Consciousness - Global Survey
In 1999, at the 1st International Forum of Consciousness Research in Barcelona, International Academy of Consciousness research-practitioners Wagner Alegretti and Nanci Trivellato presented preliminary findings of an online survey on the out-of-body experience answered by internet users interested in the subject; therefore, not a sample representative of the general population.
1,007 (85%) of the first 1,185 respondents reported having had an OBE. 37% claimed to have had between two and ten OBEs. 5.5% claimed more than 100 such experiences. 45% of those who reported an OBE said they successfully induced at least one OBE by using a specific technique. 62% of participants claiming to have had an OBE also reported having enjoyed nonphysical flight; 40% reported experiencing the phenomenon of self-bilocation (i.e. seeing one's own physical body whilst outside the body); and 38% claimed having experienced self-permeability (passing through physical objects such as walls). The most commonly reported sensations experienced in connection with the OBE were falling, floating, repercussions e.g. myoclonia (the jerking of limbs, jerking awake), sinking, torpidity (numbness), intracranial sounds, tingling, clairvoyance, oscillation and serenity.
Another reported common sensation related to OBE was temporary or projective catalepsy, a more common feature of sleep paralysis. The sleep paralysis and OBE correlation was later corroborated by the Out-of-Body Experience and Arousal study published in Neurology by Kevin Nelson and his colleagues from the University of Kentucky in 2007. The study discovered that people who have out-of-body experiences are more likely to suffer from sleep paralysis.
Also noteworthy, is the Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire that further illustrates the correlation.
Miss Z study
In 1968, Charles Tart conducted an OBE experiment with a subject known as Miss Z for four nights in his sleep laboratory. The subject was attached to an EEG machine and a five-digit code was placed on a shelf above her bed. She did not claim to see the number on the first three nights but on fourth gave the number correctly.The psychologist James Alcock criticized the experiment for inadequate controls and questioned why the subject was not visually monitored by a video camera.Martin Gardner has written the experiment was not evidence for an OBE and suggested that whilst Tart was "snoring behind the window, Miss Z simply stood up in bed, without detaching the electrodes, and peeked." Susan Blackmore wrote "If Miss Z had tried to climb up, the brain-wave record would have showed a pattern of interference. And that was exactly what it did show."
Neurology and OBE-like experiences
There are several possible physiological explanations for parts of the OBE. OBE-like experiences have been induced by stimulation of the brain. OBE-like experience has also been induced through stimulation of the posterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus in a patient.[106] Positron-emission tomography was also used in this study to identify brain regions affected by this stimulation. The term OBE-like is used above because the experiences described in these experiments either lacked some of the clarity or details of normal OBEs, or were described by subjects who had never experienced an OBE before. Such subjects were therefore not qualified to make claims about the authenticity of the experimentally-induced OBE.
British psychologist Susan Blackmore and others suggest that an OBE begins when a person loses contact with sensory input from the body while remaining conscious. The person retains the illusion of having a body, but that perception is no longer derived from the senses. The perceived world may resemble the world he or she generally inhabits while awake, but this perception does not come from the senses either. The vivid body and world is made by our brain's ability to create fully convincing realms, even in the absence of sensory information. This process is witnessed by each of us every night in our dreams, though OBEs are claimed to be far more vivid than even a lucid dream.
Irwin pointed out that OBEs appear to occur under conditions of either very high or very low arousal. For example, Green[109] found that three quarters of a group of 176 subjects reporting a single OBE were lying down at the time of the experience, and of these 12% considered they had been asleep when it started. By contrast, a substantial minority of her cases occurred under conditions of maximum arousal, such as a rock-climbing fall, a traffic accident, or childbirth. McCreery has suggested that this paradox may be explained by reference to the fact that sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-arousal. He proposes that OBEs under both conditions, relaxation and hyper-arousal, represent a form of "waking dream", or the intrusion of Stage 1 sleep processes into waking consciousness.
Olaf Blanke studies
Research by Olaf Blanke in Switzerland found that it is possible to reliably elicit experiences somewhat similar to the OBE by stimulating regions of the brain called the right temporal-parietal junction (TPJ; a region where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe of the brain come together). Blanke and his collaborators in Switzerland have explored the neural basis of OBEs by showing that they are reliably associated with lesions in the right TPJ region and that they can be reliably elicited with electrical stimulation of this region in a patient with epilepsy.[114] These elicited experiences may include perceptions of transformations of the patient's arms and legs (complex somatosensory responses) and whole-body displacements (vestibular responses).
In neurologically normal subjects, Blanke and colleagues then showed that the conscious experience of the self and body being in the same location depends on multisensory integration in the TPJ. Using event-related potentials, Blanke and colleagues showed the selective activation of the TPJ 330–400 ms after stimulus onset when healthy volunteers imagined themselves in the position and visual perspective that generally are reported by people experiencing spontaneous OBEs. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the same subjects impaired mental transformation of the participant's own body. No such effects were found with stimulation of another site or for imagined spatial transformations of external objects, suggesting the selective implication of the TPJ in mental imagery of one's own body.
In a follow up study, Arzy et al. showed that the location and timing of brain activation depended on whether mental imagery is performed with mentally embodied or disembodied self location. When subjects performed mental imagery with an embodied location, there was increased activation of a region called the "extrastriate body area" (EBA), but when subjects performed mental imagery with a disembodied location, as reported in OBEs, there was increased activation in the region of the TPJ. This leads Arzy et al. to argue that "these data show that distributed brain activity at the EBA and TPJ as well as their timing are crucial for the coding of the self as embodied and as spatially situated within the human body."
Blanke and colleagues thus propose that the right temporal-parietal junction is important for the sense of spatial location of the self, and that when these normal processes go awry, an OBE arises.
In August 2007 Blanke's lab published research in Science demonstrating that conflicting visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality could disrupt the spatial unity between the self and the body. During multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front of them was their own body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a position outside their bodily borders. This indicates that spatial unity and bodily self-consciousness can be studied experimentally and is based on multisensory and cognitive processing of bodily information.
Ehrsson study
In August 2007, Henrik Ehrsson, then at the Institute of Neurology at University College of London (now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden), published research in Science demonstrating the first experimental method that, according to the scientist's claims in the publication, induced an out-of-body experience in healthy participants. The experiment was conducted in the following way:
The study participant sits in a chair wearing a pair of head-mounted video displays. These have two small screens over each eye, which show a live film recorded by two video cameras placed beside each other two metres behind the participant's head. The image from the left video camera is presented on the left-eye display and the image from the right camera on the right-eye display. The participant sees these as one "stereoscopic" (3D) image, so they see their own back displayed from the perspective of someone sitting behind them.
The researcher then stands just beside the participant (in their view) and uses two plastic rods to simultaneously touch the participant's actual chest out-of-view and the chest of the illusory body, moving this second rod towards where the illusory chest would be located, just below the camera's view.
The participants confirmed that they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it from that location.
Both critics and the experimenter himself note that the study fell short of replicating "full-blown" OBEs. As with previous experiments which induced sensations of floating outside of the body, Ehrsson's work does not explain how a brain malfunction might cause an OBE. Essentially, Ehrsson created an illusion that fits a definition of an OBE in which "a person who is awake sees his or her body from a location outside the physical body."
Awareness during Resuscitation Study
In 2001, Sam Parnia and colleagues investigated out of body claims by placing figures on suspended boards facing the ceiling, not visible from the floor. Parnia wrote "anybody who claimed to have left their body and be near the ceiling during resuscitation attempts would be expected to identify those targets. If, however, such perceptions are psychological, then one would obviously not expect the targets to be identified." The philosopher Keith Augustine, who examined Parnia's study, has written that all target identification experiments have produced negative results. Psychologist Chris French wrote regarding the study "unfortunately, and somewhat atypically, none of the survivors in this sample experienced an OBE."
In the autumn of 2008, 25 UK and US hospitals began participation in a study, coordinated by Sam Parnia and Southampton University known as the AWARE study (AWAreness during REsuscitation). Following on from the work of Pim van Lommel in the Netherlands, the study aims to examine near-death experiences in 1,500 cardiac arrest survivors and so determine whether people without a heartbeat or brain activity can have documentable out-of-body experiences. As part of the study Parnia and colleagues have investigated out of body claims by using hidden targets placed on shelves that could only be seen from above.Parnia has written "if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are illusions or false memories".
In 2014 Parnia issued a statement indicating that the first phase of the project has been completed and the results are undergoing peer review for publication in a medical journal. No subjects saw the images mounted out of sight according to Parnia's early report of the results of the study at an American Heart Association meeting in November 2013. Only two out of the 152 patients reported any visual experiences, and one of them described events that could be verified. The two NDEs occurred in an area were "no visual targets had been placed".
On October 6, 2014, the results of the study were published in the journal Resuscitation. Among those who reported a perception of awareness and completed further interviews, 46 per cent experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death that were not compatible with the commonly used term of NDEs. These included fearful and persecutory experiences. Only 9 per cent had experiences compatible with NDEs and 2 per cent exhibited full awareness compatible with OBEs with explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' events. One case was validated and timed using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest. According to Caroline Watt "The one 'verifiable period of conscious awareness' that Parnia was able to report did not relate to this objective test. Rather, it was a patient giving a supposedly accurate report of events during his resuscitation. He didn't identify the pictures, he described the defibrillator machine noise. But that's not very impressive since many people know what goes on in an emergency room setting from seeing recreations on television."
AWARE Study II
As of May 2016, a posting at the UK Clinical Trials Gateway website describes plans for AWARE II, a two-year multicenter observational study of 900-1500 patients experiencing cardiac arrest, with subjects being recruited as August 1, 2014 and a trial end date of May 31, 2017.
Smith & Messier
A recent functional imaging study reported the case of a woman who could experience out of body experience at will. She reported developing the ability as a child and associated it with difficulties in falling sleep. Her OBEs continued into adulthood but became less frequent. She was able to see herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling in the horizontal plane. She reported sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving "real" body. The participant reported no particular emotions linked to the experience. "[T]he brain functional changes associated with the reported extra-corporeal experience (ECE) were different than those observed in motor imagery. Activations were mainly left-sided and involved the left supplementary motor area and supramarginal and posterior superior temporal gyri, the last two overlapping with the temporal parietal junction that has been associated with out-of-body experiences. The cerebellum also showed activation that is consistent with the participant's report of the impression of movement during the ECE. There was also left middle and superior orbital frontal gyri activity, regions often associated with action monitoring."
OBE training and research facilities[edit]
The International Academy of Consciousness (IAC) is a global organisation, with training centers in California, New York, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, several other cities around the world and a research campus in Portugal. The research campus features specialised laboratories, including a spherical lab dedicated exclusively for the practice and research of out-of-body experiences.The IAC offers courses online and in person, including their signature course the Consciousness Development Programme (a comprehensive 40-hour course covering OBE techniques, with practical classes, as well as many other para-psychic themes related to the practice).
The Monroe Institute's Nancy Penn Center is a facility specializing in or out-of-body experience induction. The Center for Higher Studies of the Consciousness in Brazil is another large OBE training facility. Olaf Blanke's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience has become a well-known laboratory for OBE research.
Astral projection
Main article: Astral projection
Astral projection is a paranormal interpretation of out-of-body experiences that assumes the existence of one or more non-physical planes of existence and an associated body beyond the physical. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane.
Advantage of working with another photographer: you end up getting pushed into taking better photos.
Laura and I had both been shooting Katie for a good few minutes, when Laura had herself a brainwave, positioned Katie just right and started shooting away. We both knew these were gonna be some awesome shots, you can just tell, knowing how good Laura is, knowing how the poses are gonna look because we know how she shoots, how Katie looks under certain circumstances.
Sometimes you can just see the pictures ahead of time.
And they were gonna be oh so nice.
Damn her!
I was well into a calm groove that day, nothing special, just enjoying the park, all the various places we could shoot there, the great grey weather.
But after that, I started looking around, just a wee bit frantically, looking for inspiration.
Because now I had to come away with something special.
And that is a great place to be, with my mind actually working on the "problem".
This shot...oh man, it's early, so forgive me, this shot was my Solution.
I crack myself up.
Another advantage of working with another photographer (as well as Laura At Work) up on the blog: blog.louobedlam.com/post/75870987/another-advantage-of-sh...
via KrakyLand.net BrainWave Tuner Brainwave sessions Free Download IPA Full Version www.krakyland.net/2015/12/brainwave-tuner-brainwave-sessi...
”Okay after countless hours of hard work and countless cups of coffee I think I finally made something that may work!” Amadeus says.
“Great! How does it work?” I ask.
“After studying Bruce’s brainwaves compared to the Hulks I managed to find a way to use Bruce’s brainwaves to track down the Hulks. Just focus on the emotion and the device should show you where the Hulk is.”
“Sounds good, let’s try it out.” Fixit says.
Amadeus reaches behind him and pulls out a big metal helmet and puts it on my head.
“I call it…The Leader!”
“Wow a name that isn’t stupid!”
“Hey, you try making names for inventions!”
“Calm down, I’m kidding! Anyways, let’s try it out.”
I close my eyes and focus on intelligence, I see a green glow in my mind and the device says into my ear Walk two feet forwards.. I then open my eyes and walk forwards two feet to where Fixit is.
“Looks like it works, did you put a GPS in the helmet?”
“Yeah of course! What did you think was gonna tell you where to go?”
“I don’t know, I just didn’t think of a GPS.”
“Well if we got what we need let’s go find us a Hulk.” She-Hulk says.
“Well I have been feeling something strong since I’ve had this helmet on. It’s almost an olive green, it almost feels savage. I don’t know how we haven’t heard anything about it.”
“The remaining Hulks must be smart, if they’ve been able to hide for this long.” Fixit says.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s find him!” Despair yells.
“Alright you guys go, there’s an earpiece in the helmet so we can communicate well you guys are looking.” Cho says.
“Okay, let’s go.” I say.
=================================================================================================
Mr. Fixit, She-Hulk, Despair and I all walk out from the sewer and into my car, I then close my eyes and think of the savage Hulk, The GPS then speaks into my ear and tells me to go out to the countryside.
We drive for maybe about 20 minutes until we arrive at an old farm with a classic red barn and a yellow two story house. We all get out of the car and look around the barn, no animals or people. We then walk up to the house, but the door is wide open. I walk inside, to my right is an old, but oddly clean kitchen, the lights are on the water is still running into the sink. The kitchen then leads into the living room, the TV is on and there’s a half drunken beer on the coffee table. I signal the others to come in, we all look around and then we here a crash come from the upstairs. Fixit and I run to the stairs and start to walk up them. But then a huge olive green monster comes crashing through the roof, in his massive hand is an old man who looks as though he was literally sucked dry.
“It’s the Savage Hulk! He must have been feeding off the nasty, mean people.” She-Hulk says.
“SMART GIRL. THE CITY FEEDS ME, PEOPLE THERE HAVE BECOME SO…SAVAGE, SO VAIN, ALWAYS ONLY THINKING OF THEMSELVES. THEY’VE MADE GOOD SNACKS, BUT I’M STILL HUNGRY. BANNER IS THE MAIN COURSE.” Savage Hulk says.
“Bruce, run!” Fixit says. As he points towards the back door.
“YOU PROTECT PUNY BANNER? WE MAY HAVE CAME FROM HIM BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO HIM. MY POOR SISTER AND BROTHERS, HAVE YOU REALLY BECAME PUNY SHEEP LIKE HIM?”
“I’ll show you who’s puny!” She-Hulk says as she runs at the giant Hulk.
She grabs him by the foot and swings him into the kitchen, but it doesn’t seem to hurt him in the least. He just gets back up and runs at her.
“Don’t hurt MY FRIENDS!” Despair cries.
He jumps in and grabs Savage Hulk, smashing him through the wall. She-Hulk then runs in after them, while Fixit forces me outside. Just as we get through the door Despair and She-Hulk are sent flying back, they’re covered in blood.
“NOOOOO!” I yell as I try to run back in.
Fixit grabs my shoulder and pulls me back, and we just watch as the Hulks fight, destroying the house as they go. After a couple minuets I realize that they don’t stand a chance, I try to run to help but Fixit just pulls me back again and I fall into the mud.
“There’s nothing we can do, we have to let them fight so we can escape.”
“How can you be so heartless?! They’re gonna die! And you want to just let it happen!?”
I shove Fixit aside and run towards the Hulks and yell at them to stop. Savage Hulk looks at me and then picks up the other two, throwing them into me. We’re sent flying and we land in the crops. Savage Hulk then jumps in after us and picks me up from the rubble.
“BRUCE BANNER, YOU WERE SO FOOLISH THAT YOU CAME RIGHT TO ME. DID THIS LITTLE METAL CAP TELL YOU I WAS THE STRONGEST THERE IS? I REPRESENT YOUR STRENGTH AND THE MEAN SIDE OF YOU. AND ONCE I ABSORB WHAT’S LEFT OF YOU NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP THE HULK!”
Just as Savage Hulk is about to absorb me we hear a huge crash, dirt, soil and wood go flying everywhere. The from behind me a booming voice speaks.
”YOU MAY BE STRONG, BUT YOU ARE NOT THE STRONGEST. I AM PURE RAGE AND FURY. AND I WILL BE THE ONE TO HAVE BANNER.”
“It’s the Red Hulk…the Mindless Hulk…” Mr. Fixit says.
The Cloud-table is my favorite, altough it's not really table-touch-proof.
As in: it falls apart when you look at it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
Amsterdam Metro train and some trees, reflected in a puddle.
The title must have been subconsciously implanted into my brainwaves by the very loud Bob Marley music that I am listening to while posting this...he's still the Big Cahuna when it comes to real roots rock reggae music :)
Marco Bischof's widely acclaimed book has already sold some 30'000 German-language copies (9th printing) since its publication in March 1995, and the success is continuing. It is the first comprehensive book on the world market for the general and scientific public on one of the hottest fields of frontier science which is about to lead to major conceptual breakthroughs and many useful applications in biophysics, biomedical science, biology, biotechnology, environmental science and food technology. Thousands of medical doctors, scientists, and interested laypersons in Germany, Switzerland and Austria who from the many newspaper and magazine articles and from several TV features in the last couple of years were aware of this development of potential breakthroughs in a number of scientific disciplines and wanted to obtain more precise and broadly accessible information have been waiting for this book that will remain the definitive publication on the topic for many years to come. Russian and Chinese translations are in preparation. The book has been awarded the 1995 Book Price by the Scientific and Medical Network (U.K.) and the Swiss Award 1997 by the Swiss Parapsychological Foundation.
What are biophotons ?
Biophotons, or ultraweak photon emissions of biological systems, are weak electromagnetic waves in the optical range of the spectrum - in other words: light. All living cells of plants, animals and human beings emit biophotons which cannot be seen by the naked eye but can be measured by special equipment developed by German researchers.
This light emission is an expression of the functional state of the living organism and its measurement therefore can be used to assess this state. Cancer cells and healthy cells of the same type, for instance, can be discriminated by typical differences in biophoton emission. After an initial decade and a half of basic research on this discovery, biophysicists of various European and Asian countries are now exploring the many interesting applications which range across such diverse fields as cancer research, non-invasive early medical diagnosis, food and water quality testing, chemical and electromagnetic contamination testing, cell communication, and various applications in biotechnology.
According to the biophoton theory developed on the base of these discoveries the biophoton light is stored in the cells of the organism - more precisely, in the DNA molecules of their nuclei - and a dynamic web of light constantly released and absorbed by the DNA may connect cell organelles, cells, tissues, and organs within the body and serve as the organism's main communication network and as the principal regulating instance for all life processes. The processes of morphogenesis, growth, differentiation and regeneration are also explained by the structuring and regulating activity of the coherent biophoton field. The holographic biophoton field of the brain and the nervous system, and maybe even that of the whole organism, may also be basis of memory and other phenomena of consciousness, as postulated by neurophysiologist Karl Pribram an others. The consciousness-like coherence properties of the biophoton field are closely related to its base in the properties of the physical vacuum and indicate its possible role as an interface to the non-physical realms of mind, psyche and consciousness.
The discovery of biophoton emission also lends scientific support to some unconventional methods of healing based on concepts of homeostasis (self-regulation of the organism), such as various somatic therapies, homeopathy and acupuncture. The "ch'i" energy flowing in our bodies' energy channels (meridians) which according to Traditional Chinese Medicine regulates our body functions may be related to node lines of the organism's biophoton field. The "prana" of Indian Yoga physiology may be a similar regulating energy force that has a basis in weak, coherent electromagnetic biofields.
Background
First discovered in 1923 by Russian medical scientist Professor Alexander G.Gurvich (who named them "mitogenetic rays") and in the 1930s widely researched in Europe and the USA, biophotons have been rediscovered and backed since the 1970s by ample experimental and theoretical evidence by European scientists. In 1974 German biophysicist Fritz-Albert Popp has proved their existence, their origin from the DNA and later their coherence (laser-like nature), and has developed biophoton theory to explain their possible biological role and the ways in which they may control biochemical processes, growth, differentiation etc. Popp's biophoton theory leads to many startling insights into the life processes and may well provide one of the major elements of a future theory of life and holistic medical practice based on such an approach. The importance of the discovery has been confirmed by eminent scientists such as Herbert Froehlich and Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine. Since 1992, the International Institute of Biophysics, a network of research laboratories in more than 10 countries, based in Germany, is coordinating research in this field which promises rapid development in the next decade.
Aims of the book
To date the few books about biophotons have been highly technical and written mainly in German. Not even among these, there was any single book integrating all that is known today about this fascinating field of science which is likely to become soon a much discussed topic also in the English-speaking world. The author, who in 1994-95 has served as Managing Director of the International Institute of Biophysics at Neuss (Germany) and still is a member of the Board of Directors of this institute, has closely followed biophoton research since 1977 and so was predestined to write the first comprehensive account of the subject ever made. His aim was to reach a wider public among scientists, medical doctors and the scientifically aware. The book which embeds the more technical parts in a popular treatment of the historical antecedents of the concept of "energy bodies", "life energies" and biolectricity, and to the ages-old scientific controversy between vitalistic and mechanistic trends in biology and medicine, also appeals to a general readership interested in new developments in the biological and physical sciences and in medicine and in their interplay with consciousness research and new age ideas.
1. Elements of a physics of the living
What are photons ? / What are biophotons ? / What is the origin of biophoton emission ? / The coherence of biophotons / Regulation by the biophoton field / The network of light metabolism / The present state of the discussion / Biophoton theory and alternative medicine / Biophoton theory as a basis for a scientific theory of life appropriate to nature / The new concept of the cell / The big network / From the molecular to the field perspective / Significance of the new concept / Will biology turn out to be more fundamental than physics ? / Possibilities of misuse / Which philosophy will prevail ?
PART I. Prehistory
2. The Aura
The concept of nonmaterial "energy bodies" / Subtle bodies of light / "Mana" and "inner fire" / Indian, Tibetan and Chinese concepts / Visionary concept of the "essential light" of man / Paracelsus' "archaeus"
3.Electrobiology and vitalism
Bioelectricity / The vitalistic tradition / Romantic medicine: illness as a developmental crisis / Claude Bernard's homeostasis: self-regulation of the organism
4. Scientific Medicine
At the origin of modern electrophysiology: the injury current / The Berlin school of physiology: the "overcoming" of vitalism / The "Bernstein hypothesis" of the membrane potential: paradigm of the new "scientific medicine" / The link between electricity and life energy is severed / "Scientific medicine" conquers the US and the world / Ehrlich's "receptor theory"
5. From Mesmer to Reich
Mesmer's "animal magnetism" / Baron Reichenbach's "odic force" / Wilhelm Reich's "orgone"
6. The inconquerable aura
Kilner's aura screens / Albert Hofmann: the aura is subjective / A contemporary description of the aura / The biophysical basis of the aura
7. Electromagnetic man
Blondlot's "N-rays" / Hofmann finds "head and hand rays" / An early Swiss pioneer of electrobiology / The beginnings of modern electrobiology: Burr's "electrodynamic field" / Electromagnetic field structure at the beginning of embryonic development / Electrical determination of ovulation / The connection between electrodynamic field and the psyche / Electrical indications of illness / Robert O.Becker rehabilitates Matteucci's injury current / The body's own electrical regeneration system / Successful electrical stimulation of bone repair / The discovery of the "perineural DC system" / Brain and nervous system: a combination of analog and digital information coding ?
PART II: Beginnings
8. Alexander Gurvich and mitogenetic radiation
The onion root experiment of 1922 / Cells emit light at birth and at death / Cellular radiation and cancer / The theory of the biological field / The "unequilibrated molecular complexes" / Gurvich as a pioneer of modern biophysical concepts / The fate of mitogenetic research / The two schools of biophoton research / The reasons for the ending of Western mitogenetic research before World War II / After World War II
9. Fritz-Albert Popp: How a physicist came to the light
The riddle of cancer genesis / Light in the organism ? / The Kaznacheev experiment / The foundations for biophoton theory are laid
10. ....and there was light !
The first rigorous proof for the existence of the cell emission / Enormous enhancement of chemical reactivity / Experimental proof for Prigogine's theory
11. A stony way to knowledge
The "imperfection theory" / Lossless circulation of light in the cell / Is plant and animal tissue transparent for light ? / A challenge to laboratory physics / Recognition comes
12. From chaos to order : Prigogine's "dissipative structures" and Froehlich's "Bose-condensate"
The biochemical world picture / Dissipative structures / Coherent electromagnetic interactions
13. The bio-informatics of electromagnetic interactions
Our radiation environment / Ionizing radiation / Non-ionizing radiation / UV radiation / UV light and the immune system / The visible light / The role of the pineal / Antagonistic effects of colored light / How light enters into the body / Fundamental light sensitivity / High-frequency radiation / Electromagnetic pollution / Two opposite views on biological communication / ULF, ELF and VLF (low frequency) radiation / Weather radiation / The correspondence between weather radiation and brainwaves / On the search for a new explanation of radiation effects
14. A scientific revolution
Meaningful event or blind mechanism ? / The Berlin and the Goettingen schools of thought / An antipode of molecular biology: Georges Lakhovsky / A pioneer of the new thinking: Vladimir Vernadsky / Presman's revolutionary concept / New approaches come to prevail only very slowly / Non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the principle of least effort / The two currents in science: mechanists vs. vitalists / Quantitative power thinking versus the wisdom of non-violence / The intelligence of nature
PART III . Fundamentals
15. The ecology and the physiology of light
The radiation of the sun and the self-regulation of "Gaia". Photosynthesis / Skin and eyes as "light valves" / The role of melanin in the transduction of light
16. Organisms as light stores
Coherent sunlight / The cavity model / Hyperbolic decay / Organisms are biological lasers
17. DNA: Light storage in spiral molecules
Replication / Repair / Transcription / Translation / DNA hyperstructures / The ethidium bromide experiment / DNA the most important source of biophoton emission / The exciplex model of DNA / DNA as lasering matter / The origin of Schroedinger's "order suction" (?) : Bose-condensation in DNA / Photon-phonon-interaction / DNA as a pulsating "light pump" / A hierarchy of light-active molecule systems / Molecular and cellular pulsations / Melanins as collaborators of DNA ? / DNA predestined to be the central control of the biophoton field / The antenna geometry of DNA
18. Coherent states: Organisms at the threshold between Yin and Yang
The bioplasma concept / The biological laser field: dynamic stability at the laser threshold / The peculiarity of biological coherence / The Dicke theory and "Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics" / Actual and potential information / Biological consequences
19. The genesis and development of life in the biophoton field
Matter consists of vibrations / Particles and fields originate from the "void" / Quantum physics treats reality according to acustical laws / Jenny's "cymatics" as a model of morphogenesis / The basic mechanism of morphogenesis: Interference / The importance of frequency / Light as the organizing principle of matter / Material structures as antennae for radiation / Evolution in the radiation field / The communication experiments / The residual light amplifier makes biophotons visible for the first time / When blood cells communicate / Evolution as the expansion of coherent states
20. The biophoton field as morphogenetic field: The development of the embryo
Field properties of organisms / The field description of the cleaving process shows harmonical laws / Holographic properties / Further stages of embryonic development: The dialectics of internal and surface cellular fields / The transition from cleavage to gastrulation: From point symmetry to axial symmetry / The genesis of partial fields / The phase of the genesis of germinal layers: a sensitive stage
21. The three germinal layers
Germinal layers as energy systems / Dissimilar degree of coherence of the three systems
22. The regulation of differentiation and growth by the biophoton field
Properties of organisms that are not determined by genetic activity / junk genes ? / The "c value paradoxon" / Non-genetic role of DNA ? / The exciplex model of DNA solves open problems in biology / The complementarity of growth and differentiation / The electromagnetic model of cell differentiation and growth confirmed experimentally
23. Biochemical regulation
Coordinated and ordered biochemical activity through the biophoton field / The biochemistry of the cell in a new light / The role of photon frequencies and of the particle geometry / Dynamical structuring of the regulating field / Are biological rhythms controlled by the biophoton field ? / Homeostasis through light-controlled entropy gradients / The entire metabolic work accomplished by biophotons ?
24. Harmonical structures
Mitotic spindle ordered by cavity waves ? / Microtubuli as optical waveguides ? / Cell skeleton built up by light ? / The role of water / Order and water metabolism in the cell are linked / Vibrating musculature / A complex resonance structure makes the organism react very sensitively / States of tension / Biophotons in the nervous system / Holographic biophoton fields in the brain / Altered states of consciousness / A coupling between the nervous system and other oscillators in the organism ? / Our odorous aura
PART IV. Applications
25. Illness and health
Health as a coherent state / Illness as a developmental crisis / Stages of illness / Immunological resistance and effectiveness of substances explainable through biophoton field
26. Regulation forms and types of illness
Polar ordering of regulation systems / Reactive types and the proneness towards certain illnesses / Yin and Yang illnesses / Pischinger's "Basic regulatory system" as a basis for all regulations
27. Cancer: Loss of coherence and of the ability to store light
Cancer tissue has different emission / The tumor is the symptom, not the illness / A fast and cheap tumor test
28. Homeopathic principles as a "guiding line" for modern medicine
Holistic regulation through vibrations / High potencies improve the coherence of the organism and are effective on the causal level / Homeopathic effects not explainable biochemically / Electromagnetic fields can substiute substances / The memory of water / Coherence therapy
29. Urine, blood, and breath tests; smoking test
The luminescence of urine indicates illnesses / Has blood radiation a diagnostic value ? / Blood and urine of smokers show stronger emission / Luminescent breath
30. A test for determining immunological resistance
Radiant phagocytes / A Tibetan drug under test / Biophoton measurements on the flu remedy Echinacine
31. Food quality analysis
In fact we eat sunlight / A concentration of the sunlight towards DNA / ATP as a light carrier / Not the caloric but the information content determines the quality of foodstuffs / The light storage capacity of the "living macromolecules" / Fats and sunlight / A test system for Popp's hypothesis / Free range eggs clearly distinguishable from battery eggs / Is it possible to discriminate biological from conventional foodstuffs ? / Different production and fertilization methods as well as contamination by pesticides and heavy metals engender different biophoton emissions / Bacterial contamination in beer can be detected at an early stage / Biophoton method is superior to biochemical analysis in some essential aspects / The result in the controversy about biological products / Detection of oxidative degradation of organic substances
32. Agriculture
Improvement of quality and yield through "resonance stimulation" by laser light / Bad quality and low resistance of glass-house products due to lack of UV light / Electromagnetic stimulation of growth (electroculture) / Acoustic stimulation of plant growth
33. Water research and "biological activity"
Water - an enigmatic substance / Water structures - facts and speculations / The memory of water / Are biological experiments and biophoton measurements more adequate than other methods of investigation ? / Is the structural aspect of water overemphasized ? / Different types of water can be differentiated / The discrimination of natural and synthetic substances based on their "biological activity"
34. Environmental pollution
Gaseous pollutants / Biophoton emission as a measure of the Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) of ionizing radiation / Synergetic mechanisms of damage
35. Dying forests
Water lentils as bio-indicators / Nuclear plants and dying forests: is there a connection ? / Electrochemical smog and dying forests
36. Methods of bioelectronic diagnosis
1. The Bioelectronic Test according to Vincent / Bioelectronic measurements of body fluids to assess Claude Bernard's "terrain" / Cancer prognosis possible ?
2. Electroacupuncture / Electroacupuncture according to Voll (EAV) / Electroacupuncture according to Croon ("Electroneural diagnostics") / The "Ryodoraku method" of Nakatani / The AMI method of Motoyama
3. The bases of acupuncture / A possible participation of meridians in the formation of embryonic organs / Meridians may be not material channels but node lines of the biophoton field / Acupuncture points electrically distinguished / A new method shows if someone is healthy or ill / The stimulation of acupuncture points / Biophoton research furnishes bases for electrodiagnostics
4. Kirlian photography / Between bioelectrical measurement and biophoton measurement / Distribution of electrical charge on the skin is fundamental / Diagnostic evaluation still in its beginnings / New technical developments / Use for quality analysis of foodstuffs and liquids
5. Whole body biophoton diagnostics / The biophysical basis of the aura / The works of Gulyaev and Godik / Thermoregulation diagnostics / Biophoton measurements on humans / "Hand radiation" and healers / The whole-body biophoton diagnostics project
37. Methods of bioelectronic therapy
1. MORA and radionics
2. Electrotherapy / An old tradition / Electrotherapy in the 19th century / High-frequency AC therapy / ELF therapy
3. Chromotherapy (Therapy with colored light) / Ghadiali's chromotherapy / Beginnings of modern light therapy / The actual situation of chromotherapy
4. Laser therapy / Soft-laser applications with weak light / The work of Inyushin / Laser stimulation of tissue regeneration / Laser stimulation of acupuncture points / The mechanism of soft laser therapy / Resonance stimulation of the biophoton field
PART V. Outlook
38. The biophoton field - mediator between body and soul ?
Biophotons - to be analysed in the framework of current science / Is there an even more fundamental level of the organism "behind" the biophoton field ? / The rebirth of the "ether" / The zero-point energy of the vacuum / Bearden's "scalar fields" / Wheeler's "quantum foam" / Bohm's "implicate order" / Burkhard Heim's six-dimensional world model / Photons as mediators between matter and spirit ? / The consciousness-like aspects of matter / Coherence as a bridge to the realm of consciousness / Biophoton theory and the vacuum field / Organisms may control their own space structure and flow of time: Dubrov's theory of "biogravitation" / Pulsation between space and "counter-space": biological space and the ether in the anthroposophical doctrine / The polarity between levity and gravity / The pulse of life
Marco Bischof
522 pp., more than 160 illustrations, 5 color plates, extensive bibliography and index.
German publisher: Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt.
Publication date: March 1995
Actual edition (May 1998): 9th printing
Total number of copies sold in German-language market: 27'000
ISBN 3-86150-095-7
World rights: Zweitausendeins.
showcase Exquisite...Vitrine Exquise: Avec la participation de Art Orienté Objet, James Lee Byars, Jimmie Durham, ExtraLucide, Olivier Mosset, Matt Mullican, Rebecca Purcell, Dana Sherwood, Morgane Tschiember, Robert Williams et Raphaël Zarka. Commissariat : Sarina Basta
This past winter I was digging into my archives and posting shots of mountain meadows and flowers when my Flickr Friend, janiecakes, requested an archival food shot. Around the same time, I had just discovered how to blend two images using Adobe Photoshop and I was going nuts blending everything in sight. I'd been experimenting, blending this pelican with all sorts of landscape shots when I got a brainwave: wouldn't it be fun to find an archival food shot for Janie (an awesome Photoshopper with a great sense of humour) and blend in this pelican coming in for a landing on it?
In the spirit of fun, here it is.
The French Toast shot is one of my first photos taken with my then new (and first ever) digital camera of a lovely breakfast my partner made for me (French Toast, made with homemade French Bread, topped with slices of fresh summer peaches and blueberries from the market, with a slight drizzle of maple syrup and a light dusting of icing sugar). The Pelican shot was taken from a boat near Long Beach Harbor, California.
Déja Vu vs DoYa View: Do You Experience Such Coincidental Alignments Of Random Things? - IMRAN®
Have you ever had one of those oddly timed coincidences that feels too precise to ignore? I experience a lot of those. Not the type of déjà vu brainwave—of having experienced that exact moment before and knowing exactly what would unfold in the next few seconds—but actual verifiable alignment of various unrelated things, despite total randomness.
This weekend, on October 10, 2025, I grabbed another handful of unread magazines from my piles of thousands that I’m working to browse and send to recycling at my Long Island home. Among them was a July 2018 issue of GQ, which I placed on my dining table in New York to browse during dinner and dispose of.
I’d owned it for over seven years but never flipped through it—mostly because I’d been spending so much time in Florida. An artist named Zayn Malik was on the cover.
The name Zain is of personal significance to me in another not-so-secret, precious part of my life. But I didn’t recognize Zayn. I’ve never followed One Direction and had no prior awareness of him in the band or as a solo artist. Still, something about his Pakistani heritage caught my attention, so I looked him up.
Here’s the weirdness: that same day—October 10, 2025—he released a new single. So the moment I finally engaged with a seven-year-old magazine cover featuring someone I’d never heard of, he happened to drop new music. It was so random that if it were in a movie, the audience would laugh at it as one of those “yeah, sure, like that type of coincidence happens in real life.”
No algorithm prompted me. No playlist suggested him. Just a perfectly timed sync between a forgotten magazine and a new release from someone I had literally just learned existed.
This Zayn “moment” wasn’t serendipity. I have no direct connection to him or even his music. But it was one more entry in a long list of strange, well-timed coincidences that seem to follow me. Do you have similar experiences and stories to share?
© 2025 IMRAN®
"Mama… I don't understand," Joar asks, wiping the tears from his eyes, shivering even with his two large winter jackets on. "Why? Why am I different from you and papa? Why am I not like everyone else?"
Lily, the boy's mother, places a box into the back of her truck, biting her inner cheek as she turns to her son. "Joar…" she says, thumbing away his tears, "I… do not know."
Sofus, the boy's father, takes a knee beside him, placing a hand atop his shoulder. "That does not matter, Joar," he says, smiling a wobbly smile. "We are going to go far from here, somewhere that doesn't make you feel so different."
"But… this is h-home!"
Lily pulls the boy into a hug, tears of her own falling. "Home is not a place, Joar."
"It is the people you care for," Sofus concludes, joining the hug."
"Go ahead," the overweight southerner chuckles, licking his lips as he places his cards onto the table, "play 'ya hand, Wiz."
Every Thursday at eight o'clock pm, Joar Mahkent finds himself at the same table, in the same bar, surrounded by the same faces. The ISA, The Injustice Society of America, though no longer an active force of villainy, continues its weekly meetings. While their base of operations had long been destroyed, the remaining members of the team chose the New Warriors, a hole in wall attempting to bank off the Warriors success, as their new gathering place.
Though, the meetings never go to plan.
Henry King, Brainwave; one of the most brilliant men in the world, now bound to a wheelchair, forced to wear glasses, and a hearing aid, all of which being side effects of his mental-based powers.
Steven Sharpe III, the Gambler; the ISA's snake who's luck had run out, forcing him to take up a walking cane, as well as developing diabetes.
Isaac Bowin, the Fiddler; a man who had gone deaf years back, now with severe carpal tunnel from decades of playing the violin.
William Zard, the Wizard; a once great and powerful sorcerer, now relegated to a sad, cowardly man plagued by delirium.
Finally, sitting at the head of the table, is Shiro Ito, the immortal known as the Dragon King. Ito, unlike the rest of Joar's colleagues, has been alive for centuries, dating back to the dark ages. Having grown fond of the team in their years spent together, Ito has taken upon himself to care for the ISA until their time comes.
Joar is also an oddity among the villains. Through all his years as a criminal, he never had powers to harm himself overtime and made sure to never rely entirely on a piece of technology. He took every precaution possible, staying in peak shape and developing protective gear to combat his technology, saving him from the fate of his friends.
"Will…" Bowin whispers, tapping Zard on the shoulder.
Zard jolts at the contact, head snapping forward. Sweat rolls down his face as he stares at his cards, currently upside down. "Ah… yes, my cards…" he shivers, slowly turning them over, before his eyes go wide and he throws them across the table. "I-I fold… just keep that woman away from me!"
Ito tilts his head, scooping up the cards. "William, have you been skipping your medication?" he asks, hiding a frown beg and his hood as he showcases the queen of hearts. "You should not be ignoring your prescription, or your condition will worsen, as will the severity of your symptoms.
"Ah, let him do what he wants," King mumbles, raising a finger to place down his cards. "Who cares if he-"
"Doctor King," Ito interrupts, his voice showing clear signs of dissatisfaction, "you are not to use your abilities for such trivial tasks. They are to be used for emergencies only."
"Yeah yeah, 'I'll get a migraine,' sure," King mocks, bringing his palm into the air, the table and everything on it following suit. "I am just fine, thank y-AGHG!"
In an instant, the table fell to the ground, knocking over chairs and sending all the cards and drinks flying. Ito rushes to King, pulling a needle from his belt pouch, one likely filled with painkillers. Sharpe is in the floor, having fallen over in the commotion and now struggling to stand. Zard is curled into a ball, chanting his old shielding spells as he rocks back and forth. Bowin holds his hands over his ears, shaking in his seat.
Joar sighs, staring at his former teammates, watching as each seethes in their own undoing. "I uh… I think I'm gonna call it a night," he musters, standing up from his chair.
"Joar," Ito grunts, having forcefully stuck a needle into the bulging vein of King's temple, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Would you like me to have any hoods escort you home? It can be dangerous at this hour."
"Thanks, Ito, but I'm fine," Joar waves, turning his back to the man and swinging open the bar's door. "I need a bit of alone time anyways."
Knowing Ito, the man surely wants to protest, but Joar knows he can't, not with the issues of his former team. So he takes the chance, slipping outside into the cool, February air. The street is empty, like it always is when he walks home after an ISA meeting, but it feels different now. The abundance of supervillains as well as lanterns has dropped to a record low following the apocalypse. It made for… more quiet nights. No rampaging villains, no heroes soaring through the sky… just calm.
Its quiet moments like these that Joar likes most, moments where he can reflect as the moon shines down on him.
Moments to look back on his mistakes.
He wonders if being Cameron's father caused the pain to hurt worse or less; if the feeling of heartbreaking betrayal made the pain linger… or if it faded away into forgiveness. He wonders if he did ever care about the boy before his goals and aspirations warped him. He wonders if he even deserves to care. Does he deserve the chance, not to be forgiven, but to apologize?
Before he knows it, Joar finds himself at his front door. Before stepping inside, he looks out at the shining moon above him, as if it was staring back.
"How do I atone?" he asks, praying in his mind the moon will answer back. "Can I?"
The moon never answers back.
-^-
"Inmate 1886?" the head guard of Belle Reve's Y-wing calls, unlocking the cell door and stepping inside, hand on his belt. "You got a letter."
The inmate inside doesn't look up to the man, instead keeping his head down. "1886" they call him. A number, never his name.
"Name…" he mumbles, refusing to respond to the man.
"Your name?" the guard chuckles, tossing the letter onto the ground. "I'm not calling you that dumbass name, Wyck."
The inmate grimaces, tugging on the apparatus around his neck. "Name… my name," he grumbles, his other hand scratching his cheek.
"Hey!" the guard shouts, pulling a small device from his belt and flipping the switch. A blast of cold air causes the inmate to cry out, falling off the bed and onto the ground beside the letter. He claws at the collar, nails digging into his skin.
"Inhumane!" the inmate shouts, tears building up behind the light blocking goggles strapped around his eyes. "I'm human!"
"I don't give a damn what you are," the guard says, slamming the door of the cell behind him. "While you're here, you're a number."
The inmate seethes on the ground as guard walls away, the cold air continuing to shoot from the collar. Like an animal, a monster.
Not a human.
-^-
"Dad, Dad!"
"Not now," Joar says, dismissing his son without taking his eyes off his work.
"B-but dad…" Cameron mumbles, strapping I side the lab, "it's mommy."
"Cameron, I said I'm busy, damnit," Joar scowls, clenching his fist as he continues working on the calculations.
"No, dad, her machine!" Cameron pleads, grabbing onto his father's arm. "It's making weird noises, I think it's broken!"
"Then she should've thought of that when she bought it!" Joar shouts, yanking his arm away and finally looking the seven year old in the eye. "Now, out."
Cameron stands still, head aimed towards the floor. "You're stupid work…"
"What!?"
"I said your stupid work!" Cameron shouts, tears running down his face. "Mommy is hurt, but this is all you care about! I hate it!"
Joar's expression darkens as he stares at the boy. Feeling anger build up, his hand raises towards his son.
"STOP!"
Joar jolts awake, screaming iwth his eyes blown wide. He pants, watching as his icy breath fills the room. He surveys the room as he trembles, the walls are frozen solid and shards of ice hang from the ceiling. He sits up, letting his feet hang off the side of the bed. He's still shaken, running his fingertips over the frozen droplets of sweat along his body. His eyes lock onto a blue man, his reflection on the ice.
Blue skin… the power of ice. The shared metagene passed down through generations of the Mahkent family… the metagene that had been lying dormant inside him. Through decades of trying, years of experimentation and failures, he'd done it. He accomplished his singular obsession that plagued his life, his family. He thought finally achieving his goal would thaw his frozen heart… but it merely made the ice that much colder.
"I… I just don't know anymore," Joar says, sitting at the counter of New Warriors. The bags under his eyes hang low, as does his head. "Everything I dreamed about, everything I ever wanted is mine… everything I thought I wanted, at least."
"I feel as if your struggle is… difficult to understand," Ito replies, sitting beside Joar, arms folded on the countertop. "I know when I finally accomplish a goal of mine, no matter the size, I tend to feel better about myself. Long term goals like your own even more so."
"Yeah… s'what I thought too, but even now," Joar pauses, swirling his glass of scotch around before freezing it solid. He stares at the frozen liquid, seeing shining blue eyes stare back. "I'm just… empty."
"Perhaps treatment is required?" Ito inquires, taking the frozen glass from Joar and inspecting it in the light. "I do have a doctorate in psychology," he places the glass back down and looks at Joar, "I believe you may be depressed."
"I don't think it's… Ito would you…" Joar pauses once more, biting the inside of his cheek as he thinks back the monster he was- is, "would you believe me if I… if I said I missed my son?"
""I would… find it a bit strange," Ito's cloth shifts, signifying a cocked brow. "I don't recall you ever being very fond of Cameron. At least not beyond-"
"Yeah…" Joar nods in agreement. "Even so…"
"You regret your past actions?"
"I was so… clouded," he grits his teeth, feeling a tingling sensation in his hands. Without realizing it, he freezes the entire countertop, eyes widening as his breath becomes a visible mist. He turns to Ito, who'd slid his stool back a few feet to avoid the ice. "I never saw the monster I was becoming. I didn't help my dying wife… and used my sick, dying son as a lab rat for my experiments…"
Ito stays silent.
"I wish I could tell him sorry, that I could make up for every ounce of hurt I caused," Joar mumbles, turning his head to stare at his reflection on the counter. "No… the monster I am doesn't deserve the possibility of forgiveness."
Ice crackles as Joar's feet touch the floor. He takes slow steps across the frozen ground, still unable to balance properly on the icy terrain. Slipping, he barely catches himself on his dresser, cursing under his breath. His hand finds the drawer's knob, which he pulls on roughly. The coat of ice over the wood shatters, giving him a view inside.
A small, silver picture frame sits inside. Joar reaches his hand inside, but pulls away harshly as his fingers begin to spread frost on the frame. "Damnit!" he shouts, slamming his fist into the wall, creating shards of ice on impact. He peers down at the picture, his lip quivering not due to the cold.
Children were huddled together, all laughing with large smiles on their faces. The photo was from Cameron's 7th birthday, a day that felt like a millennia ago. Joar had missed the party, "more important matters" he'd say. Every year, every birthday, holiday, or celebration… it was always the reason.
Joar doesn't even know why he has the picture, he remembers the way he lashed out at his wife when she presented the memory to him. Whatever the reason, he thanks god every single day that he kept it… it's the only time he's ever seen Cameron smile.
"What a nice photograph."
Joar feels a chill run down his spine. It's only now that he feels breathing against the back of his neck, cold breath that rivals his own. Whipping around, he blasts a barrage of ice towards the sound of the voice. The attack causes a thick mist to fill the room, blocking out Joar's vision.
"That is some power you have, Mr. Mahkent," the voice from before says in a thick, proper English accent. "I wonder what you had to endure to achieve it."
From the corner of his eye, Joar sees a silhouette in the mist, prompting him to fire another volley of ice. As it connects, the silhouette disappears, leaving Joar puzzled once more. Before it had vanished, Joar noticed the outline the shadow gave off; a top hat sat on the man's head with a cane in his hand.
"The last brit in a top hat double crossed me and my team!" Joar shouts, icy mist pooling around his feet. "That you?"
"'Brit in a top hat' doesn't narrow it down nearly as much as you think it would," the man says, tapping his cane against the ground, causing the mist to disperse. Now, standing in front of Joar, was a tall, lanky man with a large grin spread across his cheeks. His jet-black slacks contrast with the pale blue, furred trench coat he wears with confidence. His free hand slides his glasses down his nose, revealing silver eyes.
"My name, Mr. Mahkent, is Percival DeChaunce…" he says, his grin only growing wider. "However, as I can call you the Icicle, you may call me…
"The Fop."
To understand the archetypal signature of the rose, it is necessary to suspend one’s intellectual and cultural connections to it and simply be open to the “presence” of the rose. This popular flower has a complicated symbology with paradoxical meanings. It is at once a symbol of both purity and passion, both heavenly perfection and earthly desire; both virginity and fertility; both death and life. The rose is the flower of the goddesses Isis and Venus but also the blood of Osiris, Adonis, and Christ.
The Egyptians early in their history realized the connection of the heart to the pulse. An ancient Egyptian medical treatise of the heart says that it "speaks in the vessels of all the members." It is not suprising then that they believed that the heart held the mind and soul of the individual. Another Egyptian author stated emphatically that "the actions of the arms, the movement of the legs, the motion of every other member is done according to the orders of the heart that has conceived them." It was sometimes said of the dead that their hearts had "departed" because it was believed that . It was the heart which was weighed against the feather of truth in the hall of Ma'at during the diving judgement of the deceased. A heart unburdened with the weight of sin and corruption would balance with the feather and its possessor would enjoy the eternal afterlife. The vital importance of the heart in determining the fate of the deceased in the afterlife lead to a chapter in the Book of the Dead (Spell 30) where the deceased implores his heart not to betray him. In part, it reads: "O my heart which I had from my mother, O my heart which I had upon earth, do not rise up against me as a witness in the presence of the Lord of Things; do not speak against me concerning what I have done, do not bring up anything against me in the presence of the Great God, Lord of the West." Many "heart" scarabs were manufactured in Egypt. These scarabs were designed to be placed over the heart of the deceased. On one side a carving of a scarab was featured. On the other side Spell 30 was inscribed.
During the embalming process, the Egyptians removed most of the internal organs from the body. However, they always left the heart inside the body. The brain was removed using a long bronze hook which was inserted up the nose. The Egyptians were not exactly sure what the brain did, although many believed that its job was to produce snot. According to the priests of Memphis, the god Ptah conceived of all things in his heart and brought them into being by speaking their names.
What is Heart Intelligence? And, what exactly is the difference between Heart Intelligence, IQ, and EQ? In this article, I’ll give you a clear definition of each, and at the end, I will tell you what you can do next to start accessing the intelligence, wisdom and power of your heart. These days everyone is talking about the Heart. Every where you look and listen, people from all religions, cultures, and ages speak about the heart as if was the true center of wisdom: ‘follow your heart’, ‘connect to your heart’, ‘lead from the heart’, ‘speak from the heart’, ‘consult your heart’…
Surely, if Aristoteles were alive today, there would be a big smile on his face! A student of Plato and tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristoteles believed and taught a ‘cardiocentric‘ model of human anatomy where the heart was the true center of human intelligence and not the brain. For the past 30 years Scientist at the HeartMath Institute as well as hundreds of independent researchers, including researchers in the fields neurocardiology, have been speaking about Heart Intelligence, a higher level of awareness that arises from the heart. The human heart has approximately 40,000 neural cells. This means the heart has it’s own nervous system, which actually sends more information to the brain, than the brain sends to the heart! From a biophysical perspective, every heart contraction creates a wave that pushes blood through the veins and arteries providing the energetic signal that helps synchronize all the cells of the body, including the brain. From a hormonal perspective, the heart is a hormone-producing endocrine gland, producing ANF to control blood- pressure, adrenaline, dopamine, and oxytocin (the love hormone). Oxytocin reduces fear, increases eye-contact, and increases trust and generosity. From an electromagnetic perspective, the heart’s electromagnetic field is 5,000 times more powerful than the brain’s! Our heart’s electromagnetic field expands and touches those within 8 – 25 feet of where we are positioned! What science is doing is validating what our spiritual traditions have been telling us for thousands of years: that the heart stands at the center of an intelligence system that gives us access to not only our soul’s wisdom, but the wisdom contained in the entire Universe!
What is Heart Intelligence?
Heart Intelligence (also known as HQ or Heart IQ) is a higher level of awareness that arises when you are able to integrate your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual intelligence.
When fully embodied and integrated, Heart Intelligence gives you the ability to be fully real, present, connected and heart-directed in every area of your life so that you can experience greater levels of performance, creativity, intuition and higher order thinking. What’s the difference between Mental Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, and Heart Intelligence? Physical Intelligence is the natural intelligence of the body and each one of it’s parts. It’s the consciousness or programming behind each cell, our DNA and molecular structure that tells the body exactly what to do and when. This is how physical healing takes place.
Mental Intelligence, also known as IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is the measure of your ability to think and reason. This intelligence is normally associated with the left side of your brain that thinks in terms of logic, and language. Emotional Intelligence, also referred to as EQ (Emotional Quotient), is your ability to identify and assess your emotions and the emotions of others. This intelligence is normally associated with the right side of your brain, that associated with creativity and emotions.
Spiritual Intelligence, also referred to as SQ, is the intelligence or wisdom of the soul. Think of this as the accumulation of wisdom your soul has acquired as it journey through different dimensions and lifetimes. It’s also an intelligence that connects us to the Greater Intelligence system we call God, Spirit, the Universe, the Great Spirit, or simply Life.
For example, there is increasing evidence suggesting that the cardioelectromagenetic field can actually affect human beings in close proximity.These signals are stronger in amplitude when in direct contact, but are still detectable up to several feet away from the source. Through these interactions, the heart transfers energies between human beings. The heart can therefore be characterized as the engine for distributing and controlling energy of the human body.
These extraordinary results illustrate that the heart is not only responsible for blood regulations, but is also a very powerful intelligence system. This made me wonder, could intelligence be distributed through the body in ways we might not expect? Could this information sent to the brain perhaps even influence emotional states? Or provide insight into some of the unexplained links between "mental" and "bodily" diseases
Our current human experience, the everyday life we all seem willing to participate in, takes its toll, and many people feel that living the lifestyles we do, struggling to pay bills and constantly working, is not a natural way of life for the human race. It’s an experience that makes it hard to maintain a “high frequency” or positive state. What makes this unfortunate reality even more perplexing is the fact that it doesn’t have to be this way — we are capable of so much more. At the same time, many people around the world are struggling to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves. The Earth is being destroyed and our time to turn things around seems to be limited. This is a hard truth that we very much need to address, and we have a number of options to choose from that could alleviate these problems. It can be difficult to maintain a positive state of mind when we see so many terrible things happening in the world, but we cannot create the kind of change we’re looking for unless we do so from a positive, peaceful state.
Despite all of the negativity in the world and our individual struggles, many people do manage to find inner peace and moments of joy, and that’s pretty remarkable. It’s all about perspective — it’s seeing the bigger picture and changing the way you look at things. Happiness is no doubt an inside job, but with a human experience that is not resonating with many it can be hard to maintain. This is evident in a variety of different areas where people are starting to stand up and demand change. More and more people are wanting something different, wanting a life where everybody can thrive and feel good about themselves and their place in the world. If one is suffering, we all suffer — that’s the way we feel here at CE and it’s clear that many are resonating with that message. The funny thing about our feelings is that, for the most part, they are a result of our own choices. We can choose to change the way we feel just by changing our thoughts. Negative emotions are usually a result of the thoughts we have about the people, things, or events in our lives. At the end of the day, it’s just a human experience, and all experiences are opportunities for learning and growth. The bottom line is, feelings of love, gratitude, and compassion — any positive feelings whatsoever — have a larger impact than we could have ever imagined. These are all characteristics of consciousness, and as quantum physics is showing us, consciousness plays a definite role in the creation of our reality. If this is true, then how we feel about things must play a role, too, and with the research coming out from the Institute of HeartMath, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest that feeling good might very well be fundamental to creating global change.
“A fundamental conclusion of the new physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality. As observers, we are personally involved with the creation of our own reality. Physicists are being forced to admit that the universe is a ‘mental’ construction. Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans wrote: ‘The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter, we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion. The universe is immaterial-mental and spiritual.’ It have done some amazing work shedding light on the science of the heart.An internationally recognized nonprofit research and education organization, the Institute of HeartMath dedicates itself to helping people reduce stress, self-regulate emotions, and build energy and resilience for healthy, happy lives. HeartMath tools, technology, and training teach people to rely on the intelligence of their hearts in concert with that of their minds at home, school, work, and play.A large portion of their research has investigated heart and brain interaction. Researchers have examined how the heart and brain communicate with each other and how that affects our consciousness and the way in which we perceive our world. For example, when a person is feeling really positive emotions like gratitude, love, or appreciation, the heart beats out a certain message. Because the heart beats out the largest electromagnetic field produced in the body, it can yield significant data for researchers. This is very important work, as it shows how the heart plays an important role far beyond what is commonly known. For instance, did you know that your heart emits electromagnetic fields that change according to your emotions, or that the human heart has a magnetic field that can be measured up to several feet away from the human body? Did you know that positive emotions create physiological benefits in your body, and that you can boost your immune system by conjuring up positive emotions? Did you know that negative emotions can create nervous system chaos, and that positive emotions do the complete opposite? Did you know that the heart has a system of neurons that have both short term and long term memory, and that their signals sent to the brain can affect our emotional experiences? Did you know that in fetal development, the heart forms and starts beating before the brain is developed? Did you know that a mother’s brainwaves can synchronize to her baby’s heartbeats? Did you know that the heart sends more information to the brain than vice versa?
Your heart, when energized, has the capacity to unify, or bring into a state of coherence all systems in your body. This includes not only all your organs but also your intelligences. Doing this will allow you experience a state of flow, or Coherence. Coherence (also known as psycho-physiological coherence), can be understood as the capacity to flow and the capacity to accept things as they happen: accept life and accept the moment-to-moment experience. When we experience coherence, we tend to be in an accepting state that allows us to flow with rather than resist the unfolding of events. Coherence is a fluid state; a state that is relaxed; a state in which you have your full attention on the here and now—you inhabit your moment, your body, and your mind in the most relaxed and joyful way. From this space, you can respond to life from a deeper place of Love, Compassion, and Acceptance which we call the Heart. You can think of Heart Intelligence as the process of integrating the heart, body, and mind so that you can access the Heart behind the heart.
The numerological elements of the rose are also present in Guild documents and meetings. In general, the rose represents the number five. This is because the wild rose has five petals, and the total petals on roses are in multiples of five. Geometrically, the rose corresponds with the pentagram and pentagon. Five represents the Fifth Element, the life force, the heart or essence of something. In an absolute sense, the rose has represented the expanding awareness of life through the development of the senses. Six-petaled varieties indicate balance and love; seven-petaled varieties indicate transformative passion; and rare eight-petaled roses indicate regeneration, a new cycle, or a higher level of space and time. The rose is one of the fundamental symbols of alchemy and became the philosophical basis of Rosicrucian alchemy. It was so important to alchemists that there are many texts called “Rosarium” (Rosary), and all these texts deal with the relationship between the archetypal King and Queen. We have noted the Rosarium of Jaros Griemiller, an original member of the Guild. Another important Rosarium was prepared by alchemist Arnold de Villanova, who also interacted with Guild members. In alchemy, the rose is primarily a symbol of the operation of Conjunction, the Mystical Marriage of opposites. It represents the regeneration of separated essences and their resurrection on a new level. In the Practice of Psychotherapy, Carl Jung discussed the archetypal underpinnings of love between people in terms of the rose: “The wholeness which is a combination of ‘I and you’ is part of a transcendent unity whose nature can only be grasped in symbols like the rose or the coniunctio (Conjunction).” In alchemy the red rose is regarded as a masculine, active, expansive principle of solar spirit (Sulfur), where the white rose represents the feminine, receptive, contractive principle of lunar soul (Salt). The combination of white and red roses (spirit and soul) symbolizes the birth of the Philosopher’s Child (Mercury). During the operation of Conjunction, the relationship of the masculine red rose to the feminine white rose is the same relationship depicted in alchemical images of the Red King and the White Queen or the Red Sun and White Moon. White roses were linked to the White Phase of the Work (albedo) and the White Stone of Multiplication, while the red rose was associated with the Red Phase and the Red Stone of Projection. The single golden (or gilded) rose is a symbol completion of the Great Work or of some consummate achievement in personal or laboratory alchemy. The Popes used to bless a Golden Rose on the fourth Sunday in Lent, as a symbol of their spiritual power and the certainty of resurrection and immortality. In alchemical terms, the golden rose means a successful marriage of opposites to produce the Golden Child, the perfected essence of both King and Queen. Because Mary is the Christian model of union with God, the rose and the rosary became symbols of the union between god and mankind. Scenes of Mary in a rose garden or under a rose arbor or before a tapestry of roses reinforces this idea. Mary holds a rose and not a scepter in the art of the Middle Ages, which means her power comes from divine love. The rose garden in alchemical drawings is a symbol of sacred space. It could mean a meditation chamber or tabernacle, an altar, a sacred place in nature, or paradise itself. In all these instances, the rose garden is the mystical bridal chamber, the place of the mystic marriage. The rose has obvious connections with sexual energy in alchemy. The “rose colored blood of the alchemical redeemer” or the “warm red tincture” were references to healing effects of purified (alchemically distilled or sublimated) sexual energy. For instance, the Renaissance alchemist Gerhardt Dorn calls rose-colored blood a vegetabile naturae whereas ordinary blood was a vegetabile materiae. In other words, rose-colored blood carries the natural essence or soul, while ordinary blood simply functions on the physical level to supply oxygen to cells, etc. That is the meaning of the alchemical phrase, “The soul of the Stone is in its blood,” or as Carl Jung put it: “The rose red color is related to the aqua permanens and the soul, which are extracted from the prima materia.” The sword and knife, symbols of the Separation operation, carry such power in alchemy partly because of their ability to draw blood. In spiritual alchemy, the single red rose represents the mystic center of a person, his or her heart of hearts – one’s true nature. It also represents the process of purification to reveal one’s essence or the inner “pearl beyond price.” Sufi spiritual alchemist Rumi described this idea when he wrote: "In the driest whitest stretch of pain's infinite desert, I lost my sanity and found this rose." As a symbol of the Mystical Marriage on a personal level, the red rose represents a special kind of love in which one “melts away” into the beauty of another, and the old identity is surrendered for that of the beloved or a higher identity within oneself. In this sense, the rose is a symbol of complete surrender and permanent transmutation. Alchemist Daniel Maier discusses the symbolism of the rose in his Septimana Philosophica: “The rose is the first, most beautiful and perfect of flowers. It is guarded because it is a virgin, and the guard is thorns. The Gardens of Philosophy are planted with many roses, both red and white, which colors are in correspondence with gold and silver. The center of the rose is green and is emblematical of the Green Lion [First Matter]. Even as a natural rose is a pleasure to the senses and life of man, on account of its sweetness and salubrity, so is the Philosophical Rose exhilarating to the heart and a giver of strength to the brain. Just as the natural rose turns to the sun and is refreshed by rain, so is the Philosophical Matter prepared in blood, grown in light, and in and by these made perfect." Because of its association with the workings of the heart, the rose in alchemy has come to symbolize secrets of the heart or things that cannot be spoken or an oath of silence in general. In the folded structure of the rose, the flower seems to be concealing a secret inner core. “Mystery glows in the rose bed and the secret is hidden in the rose,” wrote the twelfth-century Persian alchemist Farid ud-din Attar. During Alchemy Guild meetings, a red rose hung from the ceiling indicates the material to be discussed is confidential for members only and is to be kept secret. On the Guild’s websites and in its printed matter, a red rose icon or the Latin phrase “sub rosa” (“under the rose”) indicates the material is secret. Clicking on this icon on websites will take the visitor to password-protected areas intended for members only. This concept originates in the hermetic tradition of hanging red roses from the ceiling of meetings to indicate that discretion was called for and none of the information discussed should leave the room. The symbol was used in a number of hermetic organizations in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance and was well known to alchemists. For instance, in Sebastian Brant's fifteenth-century alchemical treatise “Narrenschiff” (“Ship of Fools”), the author warns: “What here we do say, shall under roses stay.”
This picture took quite a while. I really wanted a picture with some more depth, so I added some nice big doors. I'm quite happy with how the little look in the kitchen turned out.
I think that furniture-wise, this page is my favorite so far.
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I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
Phieuw. I know, this took a while. Was it worth it? Mhwa. It sure doesn't look as good as it looked inside my head. Anyway, may I suggest that you look at that Cleopatra-lamp? It isn't included in the catalogue, sadly enough.
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I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
Really, am I the first to make the spacegun-is-a-blowdryer-joke?
I can't be, right? I mean, it wasn't thát hard.
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I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
Digital Drugs or Binaural beats or Binaural Tones are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, the perception of which arises in the brain independent of physical stimuli. This effect was discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove.
So Santa Danbo found his sleigh-pulller (thank goodness!) and in the end , he didn't have to look very far at all, for it was his very best friend in the whole world Tiny Ted who helped save the day - and Christmas! He makes a very good Rein-bear indeed! ^_^ Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa is good to you all xoxo
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I present to you the Mercedes-Benz Observation Coach ! Or should that be 'lack of observation coach', if you look at the position of the passengers' eyeline at the rear of the vehicle.
I am not sure if it was actually built like this, or if it was a result of a brainwave by this or its previous operator, Philjo Motors of Wellington, Shropshire. Made to Measure Minicoaches at Stockport, who did the original base conversion, were certainly capable of coming up with something as daft as this, so I wouldn't rule it out, and it must have been done to accommodate a huge boot area, which caused the rear floor area to be raised to compensate. But if you were building it from new, surely you would think to put some extra glazing in the sides, and not just make the rear three rows of passengers sit with their heads in the roof void ? You can clearly see that those headrests reach right up to the tops of the side windows, so there would be no visibility whatsoever.
And it is only on the basic 609D chassis as well, so fully loaded there would be a lot of weight for it to lug about, probably very slowly. Despite all that, it managed to keep going with later owners until 2006, which would be a good length of service for any 609D.
Seasiders Way, Blackpool, 8/10/94
The Singing Butler is a painting by Jack Vettriano.
It is a painting i have admired for some time.
I wanted to get a print of it to hang at home,
but then had the brainwave to recreate it instead.
This was taken on the beach at Blackrock at low tide.
The models are all friends of mine.
It is far more rewarding having a picture on my wall that i created,
with people i know,
rather than having somebody else's painting.
How shy am I? I'm not so shy that I won't ask a cute guy to flex for me, but I am too shy to ask him to whip off his shirt no matter how many brainwaves I send out trying to get him to do just that. Those are the borderlands in which I live...
Tonmoy Sharma, CEO, Sovereign Health Group recently shared his vision for using neuro feedback as a tool for empowering patients who are being treated for substance abuse. In order to do so, Dr. Sharma explains, we start by measuring the four types of brain activity through the use of an EEG (electroencephalograph). The EEG picks up electrical impulses that are generated when we have any thoughts. Just like when we treat high cholesterol by measuring the different types of cholesterol in the body and the ratio between them, we can measure the four types of brainwaves that signify different types of brain activity. We know that people with substance abuse issues have a certain type of brain activity and our goal is to decrease that type of brain activity in relationship to other types of brain activity. We are working with the patient to change the ratio of the different brain activities in order to normalize brain function. After we have used EEG as an assessment tool we employ neuro feedback to help patients get their emotion regulation and decision making back on track. During between 12 and 20 neuro feedback sessions of about 30-40 minutes each we have them look at stimulus such as video or a photo that will evoke a certain emotion. We then train the patient to manage the brain waves so when faced with a trigger they can change their brain waves and resist the craving. This gives them the ability to help themselves by empowering them to take control over their emotions and begin to live day-by-day. Through these neurofeedback sessions, people suffering with addiction can see for themselves that it makes a big difference.
About Tonmoy Sharma, CEO, Sovereign Health Group. During a career spanning 30 years, Dr. Sharma has served as an acclaimed researcher having led countless international mental health clinical research trials, taught and trained students as a neuro-scientist and served as author or co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed published articles and five books on schizophrenia and mental illness. He is dedicated to putting his vast knowledge to furthering the mental health field with insights into pharmacology and cognitive impairment treatment. Dr Sharma recognizes that the substance abuse treatment community is heading towards an inevitable next step in its evolution to ensure it continues to improve the quality of patients’ treatment. Today Dr. Tonmoy Sharma is committed to tirelessly promote and call for measurement-based care (MBC) in the diagnosis and treatment of addiction and mental illness calling for a national standardized measurement scale for assessing, diagnosing and treating alcohol and drug addiction.
For more on Tonmoy Sharma, CEO of Sovereign Health Group go to LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/tonmoysharmaceo
About Dr. Judith Ho. Dr. Judy Ho, Ph. D., ABPP is a licensed and board certified Clinical Psychologist based in Los Angeles. She lends her expertise as a panelist on a variety of national television shows and provides professional services in Psychological Testing and Forensic Expert work. She is a tenured professor of psychology at Pepperdine University.
Here it is finally - my Terror Drome. I've wanted to build one of these for years now, and once I finally got started, it took about half a year to complete, working on and off, and taking breaks to build small MOCs here and there.
The original error Drome is considered by many Joe aficionados to be one of the all-time greatest large toys in the line.
www.yojoe.com/vehicles/86/terrordrome/
I never had a Terror Drome myself, but became well acquainted with them through the G.I.Joe comic, in which Terror Dromes were used for air defense, as a covert source for spreading "paranoia waves" and to house the terrifying Brainwave Scanner.
In the comic and cartoon, the Terror Drome was represented in several different versions, generally larger and more elaborate than the one exemplified by the toy, which should be considered to be a scaled-down and simplified representation of a larger and more sophisticated Cobra base.