The Embodied Mind: Altered States of Consciousness and Ghost Hunting
By R. Wolf Baldassarro
We live in a time when science has eroded traditional spiritual beliefs so thoroughly that they are mutually exclusive for most people. This modern paradigm of the mind, body, and spirit being completely separate and unaffected by each other has warped our perceptions of the universe around us; but we need a sense of spiritual meaning in both a physical and psychological sense. We’re all familiar with the concept of mind over matter, the belief that the mind is more powerful than the body and can thus affect change and healing within the body. Medical journals are filled with colorful anecdotes and clinical studies involving placebos and faith-based healing.
Dr. Charles T. Tart is an American psychologist and parapsychologist known for his work on the nature of consciousness (particularly altered states of consciousness), as one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology, and for his research in scientific parapsychology. His first books, Altered States of Consciousness (1969) and Transpersonal Psychologies (1975), became widely-used texts that were instrumental in allowing these areas to become part of modern psychology.
Dr. Tart brings modern knowledge of parapsychology, altered states of consciousness, and transpersonal psychology together to show that, properly applied, scientific method actually gives us a strong basis for seeing ourselves as genuinely spiritual beings embodied in a marvelous body and nervous system. Such knowledge provides a needed basis for a general healing of body and mind.
But what can these theories show us as it relates to paranormal research and ghost hunting?
The term “Altered State” refers to any state of consciousness that is different from “normal” states of waking or sleeping. Altered states of consciousness include hypnosis, trance, ecstasy, psychedelic, and meditative experience; and do not necessarily have paranormal features.
Let’s look at how an altered state of consciousness shapes our subjective paranormal experience. When we accept the possibility of another plane of existence, we gain access to an entire level of perception. After all, seeing is believing, right? Our conscious thoughts, feelings, and perceptions influence our interpretation of the things we take in. What we see, hear, and feel is influenced as much by our world view as much as it is by the sharpness of our body’s reflexes.
There are no shortage of meditation techniques out there for centering and calming the body. No serious scientific data is going to be collected if your investigators are as giddy as school girls at a pep rally. Even seasoned investigators get wrapped up in the excitement of an investigation, especially when there is heightened activity. But by employing some simple meditations we can calm that excitement, while at the same time opening our minds, our bodies, and our spirits to perceiving more of the world around us beyond those related to the five physical senses.
Once your investigators are calm and centered they’ll be more acute to the environment. But if we go beyond the person, into a deeper level of consciousness, an entire array of tools opens up to us as paranormal researchers.
Many groups, including my own, have done experiments with Automatic Writing. This is writing done in a dissociated or altered state of awareness that is attributed to discarnate beings manipulating the writing tool of the subject in order to communicate while leaving the writer unaware of what is being written, or that any writing is taking place at all. One thing I’d like to point out is that auto writing has been blasted by skeptics for its highly subjective nature, but a true auto writing session results in a handwriting style that is markedly different from that of the subject. For this reason, someone who is ambidextrous should not be the one chosen as the subject in order to neutralize that x-factor from the experiment.
Scrying is an ancient technique of gazing into an object in order to achieve a heightened sense of awareness or altered state of consciousness. No. Gazing into a crystal ball will not allow you to see clear visions like a movie clip. What it does is focus the eyes and mind onto a single object to facilitate a transition into an altered state. We can use this ancient technique in several ways using modern ghost hunting equipment to enhance our investigations.
The technique of mirror gazing is a simple one. Focus a video camera onto a full-length mirror. It’s best to use a camera that has a large fold-out viewer, but if you have a camera with a single eyepiece that’s fine, make sure either way that you are sitting perfectly still for the duration of the experiment. The goal here is to use the mirror to reflect the camera lens back in upon itself into infinity. This is the focal point. As you conduct your spirit communication, any images that you see will also be recorded in real time and can be analyzed later for validity and clarification. A suggestion is to also use an Ion Air Purifier to spread positively-charged ions into the air.
Explore different techniques and equipment. If you’ve conducted your own experiments with altered states of consciousness, or have a personal experience, please share them below. As always, keep your research, your understanding, and your minds sharp and clear. Thanks for your continued support. See you all next month.
© 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions
