TMI Journal 2012 No. 1

Journal TMI Journal 2012 No. 1 A Research and Educational Publication of The Monroe Institute INDUCTION OF EXPANDED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS USING IN THIS ISSUE SPATIAL ANGLE MODULATION™ AUDIO SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY Induction of Expanded States of By F. Holmes “Skip” Atwater Consciousness Skip is a retired military officer who served as the Operations Officer Using Spatial Angle Modulation™ of the US Army counterintelligence Audio Support Technology.............1 and human intelligence collection effort within the greater Department of by F. Holmes “Skip” Atwater Defense STAR GATE remote viewing program. He has also been a college instructor, scientific investigator, and human behavioral engineer, specializing Different Thematic Approaches in the design and application of techniques for cultivating propitious states of consciousness for over thirty-five years. to the Study of Consciousness...........7 After retiring from the military, Skip served in the roles by Cam Danielson, MA of research director, executive director and president of The Monroe Institute over the last twenty-five years. As research director he published technical research on methods for expanding consciousness. Now, working closely with his co-inventor, Mike Book Review: The Myth of the Turner, he is further developing the Spatial Angle Modulation™ (SAM) audio technology and is the principle designer of SAM- Great Ending: based educational materials and programs. Why We’ve Been Longing for the Background End of Days Since the Beginning of Time. I n 2008 The Monroe Institute began to investigate a complementary method of producing the consciousness-altering effects of Hemi-Sync®, a safe by Joseph M. Felser ..........10 and effective essential component of our educational programs for decades. We were looking for an audio by Matthew Fike, PhD support technology that would extend the range, scope, and flexibility of our seminar programs and educational materials. The new Spatial Angle Modulation™ (SAM) technology was developed to meet those requirements. SAM will not replace existing Hemi-Sync® products or programs, but will hopefully provide the platform for future seminar programs and educational materials. Next Page TMI JOURNAL 2012 Rather than Hemi-Sync’s binaural beating to achieve its effect, SAM uses a single frequency tone digitally movement-modulated for presentation in a stereophonic field. Using stereo headphones or speakers, the spatial angle of the apparent sound source moves more rapidly than the brain can process as a Doppler shift anomaly. As a result, the brain produces a modulation or change in the tone—a tremolo effect similar to binaural beating. It is this tremolo effect coupled with the size and orientation of the movement arc produced that give SAM its ability to influence regional brain activity and changes in states of consciousness. The Induction of States of Consciousness When a person’s ordinary baseline state of consciousness is active and stable, it is said to be immersed in a pattern of supportive psychological functions in spite of environmental changes (Tart, 1975). Stated another way, an individual’s everyday baseline state of consciousness tends to continue functioning as the individual moves through his or her day. Inducing the transition to an altered state of consciousness is seen as requiring disrupting and patterning stimuli to begin the induction (stage 1). When the disrupting stimuli are successful in breaking down the organization of the baseline state, a transitional period occurs and the disrupting stimuli are not as important and can be subjugated by the now more important patterning stimuli (stage 2). The patterning stimuli must then encourage the now isolated psychological structures from the baseline into a new construction, so that an innovative, self-stabilized altered state of consciousness forms (stage 3) (Tart, 1975). Within the context of the SAM audio support technology, this is referred to as the three-stage process of disruption-induction-stabilization. During the “disruption” stage, certain specific SAM movement-arc oscillations act to disrupt the listener’s baseline state of consciousness, while others provide stimuli encouraging the listener in the direction of the desired altered state of consciousness. During the formal “induction” stage, disruptive stimuli fall away and state-specific SAM movement- arc patterns become dominant. Once the desired altered state of consciousness is fully achieved, the “stabilization” stage begins and SAM arcs are adjusted to simply support the preferred state. Once the altered state of consciousness is stabilized, it effectively becomes a new baseline. To return to the original baseline state, the three-stage process begins again, this time targeting a return to what is usually the normal waking state. Many times, simply quieting the SAM “stabilization” stimuli can be enough to bring the listener back to the normal waking-state baseline. SAM can be used in conjunction with music; pleasing natural background sounds, e.g., surf, rain, wind, etc.; artificially produced background sounds, e.g., pink sound, brown sound, etc.; and verbal guidance in the form of narrative inserts strategically placed to enhance the three-step induction process. The use of these additional components traditionally enhances the effectiveness of audio induction procedures. This process is particularly effective when combined with other sensory-information techniques (such as sitting in a darkened room), social-psychological conditioning tools (such as intra-group affirmation, affinity, and/or communion), and educational curriculum (in which new cognitive, “consciousness expansion” skills are learned, i.e., breath work, visualization, etc.) such as are provided within The Monroe Institute’s many educational programs. Binaural beats, monaural beats, and isochronic tones have been said to “entrain brainwaves,” yet there has been no physiological mechanism proposed that would explain such entrainment. This notion of entrainment is a post hoc ergo propter hoc, Latin for “after this, therefore because of this,” offer of proof. It is a logical fallacy implying that since changes in brainwaves followed the introduction sound (e.g., binaural beats), the changes in brainwaves must Next Page 2 TMI JOURNAL 2012 have been caused by the sound. This post hoc ergo propter hoc offer of proof is also sometimes referred to as false cause, coincidental correlation, or correlation not causation. Post hoc is a particularly tempting error because the intrinsic temporal sequence appears to be integral to causality. The fallacy lies in coming to a conclusion based solely on the order of events, rather than taking into account other factors that might rule out the connection. From a neuroscientific perspective, these audio stimuli are being neurologically routed to the reticular formation (Swann et al., 1982) and simultaneously volume conducted to the cortex, where they can be objectively measured as a series of EEG-evoked potentials (Oster, 1973; Smith, Marsh, & Brown, 1975; Marsh, Brown, & Smith, 1975; Smith et al., 1978; Hink et al., 1980), not brainwave arousal associated with states of consciousness. The traditional neuroscientific community says that changes seen in global brainwave arousal (differentiated from an EEG-evoked potential response discussed above) are functions of the extended reticular-thalamic activation system (ERTAS), which regulates brainwave activity (Newman, 1997). The reticular activating system interprets and reacts to information from internal stimuli, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs as well as external sensory stimuli (i.e., audio input) by regulating arousal states, attentional focus, and levels of awareness (Empson, 1986; Tice & Steinberg, 1989). This well-understood ERTAS mechanism may explain the objective measureable changes in brainwave arousal noted with binaural beats, monaural beats, and isochronic tones, where “entrainment” fails to do so. But the first-person experience of consciousness is much more than just arousal states, attentional focus, and levels of awareness. The cognitive content of the experience gives it meaning to the individual and provides clues to understanding the underlying mechanisms behind such perceptions. Studying the qualitative aspects of altered-state experiences (the cognitive content) over the last three decades led The Monroe Institute to the understanding of further neurological mechanisms involved in those who have deep, meaningful experiences in extraordinary states of consciousness. Such experiences would appear to involve nonlocal (in the “quantum nonlocality” or “quantum coherence” sense) perceptions of reality and the universe. For such perceptions to emerge, consciousness must necessarily extend beyond the physical body. Presumably, the brain organ must be somehow quantum entangled with information beyond the simplex concept of arousal states, attentional focus, and levels of awareness. If mind-consciousness is not confined to the brain organ within the body, why then does science relate states of consciousness and mental functioning to brainwaves? The question can be answered in terms of an instrumentation exemplar. There is no objective way to measure mind or consciousness with an instrument. Mind-consciousness appears to be a field phenomenon that interfaces with the body and the neurological structures of the brain (Hunt, 1995). This field cannot be measured directly with current instrumentation. On the other hand, the electrical