Originally posted by JerryB
As far as Crowley is concerned, sometimes he seems to be 'on the ball' and at other times he seems to not make much sense (if one takes into account his work in general and what he seemed to want to do with his ideas).
Amen to that.
Originally posted by JerryB
As for Persinger's work, when has he produced an actuality along the same lines as the sort of things I've described as the 'high gear'?
That's a fair question.
In his paper "Religious and mystical experiences as artifacts of temporal lobe function: a general hypothesis", Persinger describes experiences that:
...exist along a continuum that ranges from "early morning highs" to recurrent bouts of conversion and dominating religiosity.
In particular he mentions: "intense meaningfulness", "peak experiences", "altered body perceptions", "out-of-body experiences", "the voice of a god or a spirit creature giving instructions", "peacefulness", "waves of energy permeating the body", "the special personal significance of chance events", "the conviction that something meaningful and intensely personal has happened", and "convictions of cosmic communion".
He also mentions that "Stimuli that are not typically detected by the person may be registered during [these events]", i.e. greater-than-usual clarity.
One aspect of "higher consciousness" that's been mentioned more than once in this thread (and elsewhere) is an encounter with an Other. Persinger routinely induces in subjects the experience of the presence of an apparently sentient being, as noted by his various papers, e.g. his paper "Experimental elicitation of the experience of a sentient being...". Subjects have variously described the experience as mystical, or a ghost, or even an alien abductor. The description varies across subjects' cultural context and personal history.
In one particular paper, "Experiences of spiritual visitation...", Persinger studied a subject's nightly visitations in their bedroom by an apparently sentient presence which the subject named "the Holy Spirit". The visitations included sensations of the bed vibrating, penetration of the subject's body by the presence, inner bodily sensations, and a sense of an invisible child superimposed on the subject's left shoulder. The experiences correlated with the EM fields leaking from the subject's bedside alarm clock.
Originally posted by JerryB
And has he been able to invoke such a thing without the use of strong EM fields in close proximity to the brain?
He has reported the invocation of such experiences without the use of strong EM. His paper "Experiences attributed to Christ and Mary at Marmora, Ontario" reports on religious experiences of individuals and groups on a particular hilltop over a period of years. The experiences correlated with changes in local weak natural magnetic fields.
Persinger's general hypothesis is:
...that religious and mystical experiences are normal consequences of spontaneous biogenic stimulation of temporal lobe structures.
He notes "A range of precipitating factors exist", including: fatigue, social isolation, peaks or shifts in circadian rhythms, music, smells, rocking, fasting, hypoxia, certain psychedelic drugs, intense pain, direct stimulation of nerves by yoga positions, and two particular life-crises: the anticipation of one's own death, and the loss of a loved one.
He also lists techniques that facilitate the controlled occurrence of the events he's discussing: mantras, repetition of sounds, relaxation, certain dietary changes, nonsense words, foreign languages, special phrases, group camaraderie, and in particular, metaphorical language.
So, not just EM.
Persinger also notes that the experiences he describes can be conditioned, i.e. learned.
Originally posted by JerryB
I think, as I've said, that he's shown how some of the wiring may work, but I don't think he's defined the whole thing down to mechanisms.
With all respect and goodwill, I don't think you can say that without reading his papers. Which I suggest you do if you're interested. I've done all the Persinger explication I care to for the moment. :snore: