Extrasensory Situational Awareness

[DeusTrismegistus]

Dude, color me chill daddy-O. It's just that someone pretty much asked me not to do that, so I had to say something, right? B-)

You aren't doing the internet wrong. It is just the nature of certain topics that to have the most productive discussions certain things have to be accepted a priori. In this case we only need agree that the phenomena described exists and is trainable whether you believe it paranormal, explainable by current scientific thought, or will be explained by future scientific endeavors. The only real a priori assumption for posting on RSF is that St. Sooty rocks Oh and it helps if IMA rock too.

I would also add that I am happy to debate the subject of scientific evidence of "unexplainable" events but I just think it is best done on a new thread.

[Chris McKinley]

Classy way to handle it, guys. We don't have to be disagreeable to disagree, even despite very strong opinions.

[Doc Stier]

The ancient Sages discerned and taught that all consciousness is One, Immortal, Indivisible, Infinite--so finely correlated and continuous, that whatever is perceived by any consciousness is, whether actually or potentially, within the reach of all consciousness, and therefore within the reach of any consciousness.

Excerpt from Commentaries and Interpretation of THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI by Charles Johnston (1912)

[Chris McKinley]

Or as a Polish proverb puts it, "What any fool can do, another can do also". Being part Pollack and a fan of non-mean-spirited ethnic humor, I kinda like this version.

[Doc Stier]

Chris:

I understand your feelings about this subject, as you've made it abundantly clear on other threads. If you can't wrap your mind around this thread topic, don't participate in it.

That being said, I guess it's time to pose the same question to you that you asked of me. Do you actually have anything relevant to add here, or are you just stirring the pot?

[Doc Stier]

Minds are like parachutes. They work best when opened. Unlock Your Mind!

[Chris McKinley]

Sorry, dude....that was meant to be light-hearted and even a bit self-effacing. As to my feelings about the subject, I haven't actually posted them yet, either here or in the thread that spurred this one. I have only expressed a very strong opinion that trying to discuss this particular topic while simultaneously trying to have a serious discussion of real-world tactics to deal with violent assaults is inappropriate to begin with, and even as a stand-alone topic is further fraught with the complications we've seen borne out in this very thread to prove my point.

That being said, fair is fair regarding adding something relevant. I've stayed out of the discussion on this thread so there isn't any notion of me trying to derail it, or shut it down before it gets a chance to be discussed legitimately, or somesuch. My own personal views are a lot more like Dmitri's and Cryptohominid's, though I'm far less dogmatic about it. Even to the point where I not only pursued the hardcore science of neurophysiology partly to determine the actual scientific basis for some of this kind of stuff, TCM, qigong, etc., but even paid my way through grad school practicing TCM and TCM-based bodywork.

There's a lot of leeway I'm willing to take with my own beliefs compared to what I'm willing to cross the line and tell others is actually true. Part of that comes from my discussions with Richard Bandler regarding beliefs in general. Bandler showed me the fun and curiosity of playing with a belief to find its usefulness before necessarily having to permanently adopt it, defend it to the death, or dismiss it once and forever. As such, I take a far more playful approach to subjects such as these. Unlike a lot of folks that swear by X-Files-ish stuff as being the gospel truth, I don't let my identity get wrapped up in it, so if a given modality is ever shown to be pure bullshit, it's okay with me. It doesn't change the fun I might have had with it anyway. Likewise, unlike some of my fellow scientists, I'm very, very willing to use what should be the most common phrase to pass a scientist's lips, "I don't know", or at least, "I don't know yet".

The truth is that full scientific exploration of this topic not only hasn't happened yet, it's not even yet possible with today's existing technology. Neurophysiology is constantly pushing the technological boundaries of what is even possible to measure, nevermind exhaustively explore. For example, due to breakthroughs in technology in the last ten years, we've finally been able to determine that pre-cognitive perception not only exists, it happens continuously to every human being walking the planet at all times. It's not paranormal, metaphysical or supernatural in any way at all, it's simply a function of the neural pathways that govern both the visual cortex and collective proprioceptive information. Kinda disappointing to the wide-eyed child in me, but very intriguing to the scientific explorer in me. It's a whole new world that we're just starting to be able to explore in the same way that the concept of genetics was in the early 70's.

That's why I've got no problem with a legitimate separate discussion of this topic on its own, complete with all of the various arguments pro and con. They all spur more thought on the matter, thought that people might not have put in otherwise.

[Doc Stier]

Thanks, Chris. Good points!

I'm only interested in the science of mental modification and mind control myself, so all of the superstitious, supposedly magical, hocus pocus X-Files stuff isn't the gospel truth for me, either.

[Chris McKinley]

I've always had fun with the weird. Some of the stuff I almost never talk about on this forum is energy medicine. I've studied and practiced a wide variety of methods out there over the years. Do I believe any of it is true? I don't know.....probably ultimately not, from a pure scientific basis, but who cares? I'm careful not to mislead anyone else nor do anything that might cause them harm or prevent them from seeking appropriate medical attention, so heh.....no harm done.

[DeusTrismegistus]

Well I would like to recommend a book that may open up the scientific mind to more possible interpretations. That book is the Physics of Consciousness by Evan Harris Walker. I don't know if it is still in print or not but it is a great book on consciousness and what we know and don't know about it.

[TrainingDummy]

Cool, all interested parties seem to have stated their case. Can we talk about methodology now?

Cross cultural meditation types and breathing exercises we've talked about in other threads. How does one bring the "extrasensory" states of consciousness that come from a dedicated meditation/ contemplation practice into fighting or standard waking states?

[DeusTrismegistus]

Cool, all interested parties seem to have stated their case. Can we talk about methodology now?

Cross cultural meditation types and breathing exercises we've talked about in other threads. How does one bring the "extrasensory" states of consciousness that come from a dedicated meditation/ contemplation practice into fighting or standard waking states?

I think a big part of this is learning to quiet the internal dialogue that most people have going non-stop. This is something that is hard to do at first but over time becomes easier and once it does it starts to overflow into normal life. Another is to recognize when your intuition is telling you something and to listen to it. It is a tool that the more often you use, the more often it works; and conversely the more you ignore it the less it works. If you consistently disregard your intuition it will stop working as often. In addition it helps if you learn to focus without getting tunnel vision. I think tunnel mind would be a better term. When you focus there can also be a kind of background awareness of what is going on around you. This will help you notice things more often but it also puts you in a more receptive state.

[Doc Stier]

[DeusTrismegistus]

A specific meditation that I think is helpful for this. Doing sitting or standing meditation you want to tr to open up all your senses other than sight. Hearing is the easiest to start with. You want to hear as much as possible. However you don't want to let your mind go to or fixate on any one sound but try to take in as many sounds as you can at once and hold them all in your awareness at the same time. You can also do the same thing with your body. What can you feel, the clothes on your skin, the wind, the grass or dirt or carpet beneath you, any bugs that may be crawling on you.

[Doc Stier]

Spending time outdoors in quiet natural surroundings can be helpful to calming a normally busy mind, since there are generally fewer people and fewer sounds of human activity in a such an environment. Thus, regular outings to a local park or nature preserve are usually both physically and mentally relaxing for most people, and therefore helpful in cultivating a calmer and more passive state of mind.