Extrasensory Situational Awareness

[wiesiek]

hi Doc,
My shot for your post:
As friendly shaman explained it to me once-
- different starting level is some kind of the POOf for the reincarnation .
Spiritual path is quite long, each of us has different tasks to fill during the present possession of the body.
Next,
Possession of the material body, in earthly sense, brings additional border/s/ - our senses are tailored for "material word",
so ,
for ex.:
You unable to see atoms, or to sens, that in the fact "atom" isn`t something what you can touch, it is vibration aka -energy.
However,
we are able to learn, and use imagination
but
this is spiritual path, and travels here is much longer than one life span process .
During our long way we learn lot of different things with our own peace, some of them has to be polish longer than ones life,
we are reborn with knowledge, however hidden to the degree of personal achievement.
This is the main reason , that particularly gifted individuals are between us...

[Doc Stier]

I definitely believe that a formal study of time tested ways of reprogramming the deep subconscious mind can be a tremendous aid in acquiring effective psychic skills. Such studies could include an exploration of meditation, contemplative prayer, self-hypnosis, mental visualization, verbal affirmation, mantra recitation, and so forth. These and other similar techniques are truly 'internal arts' of the highest order.

Those who have a natural predisposition for capability in these methods are believed by many to be expressing the fruits of past karmic efforts via reincarnation, while others perceive such talents as a gift from God, or merely the reception of same as part of their genetic inheritance.

In any case, these paranormal psychic abilities require a degree of inner mindfulness and sensitivity which is oftentimes either disbelieved or dismissed out of hand as impossible and non-existent.

[Doc Stier]

This thread topic has touched upon a number of different aspects to this subject over the past many years. Although comments and contributions have been few, the material presented on this thread has been viewed by a large number of people. As such, I am curious to know whether some of you have personally explored any of the methods or means of development referred to in previous posts and, if so, what the results of your research and practice has been, especially as this may relate to your overall situational awareness as a martial artist, particularly when you are out and about in public. Thanks in advance for any feedback you're willing to share here.

[BruceP]

Good to see you back, Doc. Hope all is well.

Might post something later. Just wanted to say, hi!

[klonk]

This thread topic has touched upon a number of different aspects to this subject over the past many years. Although comments and contributions have been few, the material presented on this thread has been viewed by a large number of people. As such, I am curious to know whether some of you have personally explored any of the methods or means of development referred to in previous posts and, if so, what the results of your research and practice has been, especially as this may relate to your overall situational awareness as a martial artist, particularly when you are out and about in public. Thanks in advance for any feedback you're willing to share here.

It has been an interesting ride. I have viewed it with some skepticism. You are Orthodox, as I recall. (I am Anglican, which is less dissimilar than some suppose.) The risk of deceiving one's self--prelest in Russian, or plani in Greek--is uppermost in my mind when I think of extrasensory awareness.

That said, most people (including myself, sometimes) do not function at half the situational awareness they are capable of, and a developed habit of meditative mental quiet seems to sharpen awareness of one's actual surroundings.

What are one's actual surroundings? It is a mistake to say they are only what you can see and smell and hear, for there is an unseen realm of existence as real as our own; I would argue it is more real, but that would be esoteric.

[klonk]

At that, I suppose that for a Christian of any stripe, it is a good idea to pray for awareness of anything one needs to be aware of. One can learn things that way that might have escaped one otherwise. It can include being informed of one's mistakes, which is why, I suppose, more people don't do it.

[Doc Stier]

An extrasensory awareness of spiritual source energy, i.e. the so-called discernment of spirits, is more relevant to deep meditation and contemplative prayer practices, imo, than to the use of extrasensory situational awareness regarding an internal advanced warning capability relative to unexpected personal assault or other potentially harmful hidden dangers in one's immediate environment. However, the distinction may very well simply be a difference in application of the same phenomenon. What do you think?

[Peacedog]

It can be both.

Most forms of what people call qi gong work with the sensory gate associated with the sense of touch. In Bardon's school of Hermetics this is related to the water element and over time results in the development of a kind of empathy. Functionally this extends out a few feet around the practitioner. This makes most people who do this hyper reactive to the emotions, intention and thoughts of the people around them. As a result, people who have developed this tend to dislike large crowds and living in urban areas. They can become quite reclusive.

Keep in mind this is not the self help/SJW definition of "empathy". It is physical, tactile and makes it easy to confuse your thoughts/emotions with those of others. It can also turn you into a completely judgemental/wrathful prick as it gives you way more insight into the internal process of people around you than you ever wanted. The whole "you are the six people closest to you" thing takes on real meaning here. As one of my teachers once told me "it is what we don't know about others that allows us to work with them."

The fix is breath retention. Breath retention re-establishes the proper wei qi barrier while maintaining the heightened sense of awareness. Hence its almost ubiquitous presence in Hatha Yoga via pranayama, Tibetan practice via trulkhor, the Taoist explosive breath practices, etc. Even in most schools of Hermetics a four part breath is used, two of which involve breath retention.

The other form involves the spirits harnessed to a practitioner of evocation giving them a heads up. This can be your Holy Guardian Angel if you are a Christian who has completed the Ritual of Abramelin the Mage, a Buddhist Deity you have engaged in deity fusion with over time, or even a familiar if you are of a more sorcerous/animist bend.

[klonk]

An extrasensory awareness of spiritual source energy, i.e. the so-called discernment of spirits, is more relevant to deep meditation and contemplative prayer practices, imo, than to the use of extrasensory situational awareness regarding an internal advanced warning capability relative to unexpected personal assault or other potentially harmful hidden dangers in one's immediate environment. However, the distinction may very well simply be a difference in application of the same phenomenon. What do you think?

Some people harbor violence and hate. Do they always show it in ways you can pick up on through your natural perception of things like posture and tone of voice? I would say no, sometimes they come off as nice guys. In like manner, discernment applied in one's duties to the church can be a matter of detecting false inspiration in someone who is outwardly full of piety. Evil, or deception, is a spiritual force before it is an act in the material world. That is why I am lumping together discernment, deception and watching your own back.

Something that may be wrong with my viewpoint is St. Paul indicates that a gift for spiritual discernment is a thing some people have while others have other gifts, (1 Cor 12) all of the gifts being for use in mutual service. On the other hand, Heb 5 speaks of discernment developing with experience, in the context of learning to recognize true godly principles in scripture from false readings of the text. This Wikipedia page speaks of two paths to discernment, one through a gift (charism) and the other through study and reflection, but do they both produce the same sort of discernment in the end?

So I'm not altogether sure I am right. Or at least, what I am saying might not be for everyone.

[klonk]

The reason I want to identify situational awareness with spiritual discernment is that I see self-deception as a danger in extrasensory explorations of any sort. Entering the realm of discernment is some degree of safeguard.

When you go poking about in matters beyond immediate sense data, you may get impressions that you think are legitimate, but they aren't. It would be a fine entry point for pride and deception if you tell yourself you are a hotshot at awareness of hidden things. But it would bring the danger of being mistaken often enough to give you stress problems (and have you acting a bit paranoid).

In practicing discernment, clarity about your own spiritual situation is where you need to start in picking up on other people's states; that is, at least, as I understand the spiritual discernment arena. That clarity is in itself substantial protection against deception.

Here is why I do not think spiritual discernment is only for meditative or contemplative use. Discernment, as practiced in one's church duties, does not always permit time to withdraw for deep rumination, but can require you to pick up on cues in the moment. There are situations where ministers (clergy or lay) need to go with the flow of a situation, steering as best they can by the light they have at the moment. So it is not unreasonable to think of discernment working in the wild, so to speak, outside of the church context.

I may have told this story before. I was down at the courthouse, criminal division, as a juror. I saw some defendants, and as the cops led one of them in, I got a sudden alarmed internal alert that this one was something special, a really, really bad chap. He rang my alarm as the other prisoners had not. He wasn't doing anything threatening, or saying anything, yet my hackles were up immediately. I suppose several explanations are possible, but I got an impression of someone entirely given over to his own passions and ruled by his vindictiveness. And yet he looked quite ordinary.

I wasn't drawn for that case, and I never learned who he was or what he was charged with, but in the moment I got a vivid impression of his soul's disorder. Can anyone explain?

[Peacedog]

All meditative technology can be employed for either purposes of theurgy (unification with God) or thaumaturgy (working of miracles). The Asian systems largely focus on theurgy. The Western systems take no stance on this issue and do not elevate one use over the other.

In the case you described, this is an example energetic based empathy which is largely a function of a person's esoteric sense of touch. As this is the least degraded of the subtle senses (the others being sight via clairvoyance, hearing via clairaudience, etc.) it is usually the first activated in a long term practitioner.

Exercises like building the ball where a practitioner breathes in and out of their skin forming an energetic ball between their hands are pretty typical of this kind of training. It is also why this exercise, or something highly related, usually gets taught first when learning chi gung. Simply put, you cannot manipulate what you cannot sense and the sense of touch is the easiest to develop.

This gradually widens into what Hermeticists refer to as your sphere of sensation and extends several feet around a practitioner. If someone else walks through your sphere of sensation theirs effectively rubs against yours. It's one of the reasons why most people like to maintain the distance associated with "personal space."

As you noticed, this ability is omni-directional. It is also visceral and usually hits people like a bomb the first few times it occurs. The more polarizing the energy of the person the more noticeable it is. In the untrained it results in norming behavior amongst groups over time, which is why the behavior of members of a given profession, for example, tend to follow certain patterns. It is also why it is hard to fake membership in something you are not a part of.


If you've ever been around serial killers or professional criminals it is most noticeable. Even locations can imprint with this kind of energetic residue over time. Places like Saddam Hussein's torture chamber in Abu Gharaib come to mind.

[Doc Stier]

Good points, Peacedog, especially since you touch upon energetic phenomenon which most people have experienced at some point during their lifetime, but in many cases may not have understood relative to your description. Thanks for the input.

[edededed]

Hmm - I am curious if anyone knows why certain people (like me!) are extremely unsensitive, on the other hand.

(E.g. really zero experiences of anything like this, at all!)

This insensitivity probably doesn't help my taiji much...

[Peacedog]

Edededed,

Some people are just better at some things than others. Genetics, karma, social conditioning, nutrition, training and experience in life all work with this.

Most esoteric schools really don't put much effort into training people in the sensory exercises. They generally recruit people with some level of "natural" / pre-existing ability.

That said, if you perform the "building the ball" exercise I described earlier long enough you will get it. It can take up to three weeks if practiced daily for an hour. The sensory gates with vision, and hearing, take longer in most people.

[everything]

Anyone want to write about building the ball, sinking qi to dantian in IMA, but then stopping or not stopping with this area of other things. What was the connection with your IMA or was there no connection, etc.