Neurotheology, the God Helmet, and Reality

wrong thread
[edit on 27-6-2010 by Naughty B0B]

[edit on 27-6-2010 by Naughty B0B]

[edit on 27-6-2010 by Naughty B0B]

Originally posted by banyan
i found a video on youtube showing acclaimed evolutionist and atheist richard dawkins trying out persinger's god helmet...

it seems like some hardened [temporal lobes] individuals do not experience god with the god helmet. it does seem like we DO create our own reality in this way. if we are more open to a certain notion, we are more likely to experience it. if we are closed off...we will not. our reality is individually interrupted by our brain.

what exists for me, may not exist for you.

He just needs assistance, and he too could share the journey

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Anyone here familiar with Psychotronics?

As far as I know the Soviets pioneered the technology, but it could go back further possibly to the Germans or even Tesla.

The Soviets approached the issue of Psi from a very different point than people in the West. The Soviets being complete materialists felt that Psi phenomena must originate only from the mind. In the course of their research they engineered technology that could affect the mind.

From what I understand the technology was used to psychoactively stimulate the mind. Basically they were Electronic Entheogens. Entheogens are psychoactive substances that are used in spiritual and mystical experiences. Most are illegal drugs that alter the state of consciousness of the subject. The Soviets basically made devices that could do the same thing but without the use of drugs.

Well from that point of view I would have to say this "godhelmet" is a psychotronic device and Michael Persinger may need to be very careful in his research. He could like others before him be playing with a Pandora's Box and not even realize it.

I find the combination of the OP's post and your's fascinating.

What the Soviet's, and this country, later, were up to, was reseraching the cause and effect, neuroscientifically, of what makes the God Helmet, tick, so to speak, for those wearing it, but without it. The astounding and ever revealing answers to these questions are a relationship between the brain, its consciousness, it's chemical state vis a vis the neurons firing along the myelin neural sheath that transmits the electical firing synaptically and, as mentioned before, the bed of chemicals present at the time: '___', being but one of them, seratonin and others, also present, in different levels to fascilitate this......

Psychotronic effects and weaponized psychotronics take that into effect, but add something to the puzzle: the electromagnetic field present in all nature, called the bioelectrmagnetic field, which is "naturally" occuring and effects every living, and non living, homeostatic, presence on the planet.

So, in a way, one part of the research was local, to the individual's brain and chemical existence, and the other non local, the physical environment and how the two interact and provide nonlocality on a larger, metaphorical and physical scale, from the macro to the micro, and vise versa......

Regardless, this is fascinating stuff. It is also, as you warn, extremely dangerous, is applied in the wrong way, utilizing both the local (human brain) and the interaction and interplay between it and the non local, the physical environment. i.e. the bioelectromagnetic field. What it teaches us, in a larger way, is we affect our environment, as it affects us.......

Fascinating. And I am sure we do not have alll the answers, yet. So, as you stated, it is inherently dangerous, as well.
Tetra50

ETA Thanks for a great OP, Banyan

Originally posted by Sacri

Originally posted by banyan
i found a video on youtube showing acclaimed evolutionist and atheist richard dawkins trying out persinger's god helmet...

it seems like some hardened [temporal lobes] individuals do not experience god with the god helmet. it does seem like we DO create our own reality in this way. if we are more open to a certain notion, we are more likely to experience it. if we are closed off...we will not. our reality is individually interrupted by our brain.

what exists for me, may not exist for you.

He just needs assistance, and he too could share the journey

See my above explanation, and take into account his state of health, as they may very well relate, per his chemical brain composition at this time.

reply to post by tetra50




I suggest this to you my friend that someone who has the ability could quite easily bring him along for the ride if you get my implacation ?


Peace
~sacri~

Originally posted by Sacri
reply to post by tetra50

 

I suggest this to you my friend that someone who has the ability could quite easily bring him along for the ride if you get my implacation ?

Peace
~sacri~
Of course, but that is not my purview....if it were, I would gladly bring him along for that ride.....for it is well worth it......for this can teach "material and relativistic" scientists and the rest of us with that particular "bent," much, much more than what any science could ever.....
thanks for your reply.
Tetra

reply to post by banyan


"The feeling eventually leads the subjects to have religious experiences, such as the feeling of infinite possibilities and the sense that there must be something greater." I reject the notion that either of these two examples are restricted to "religious experiences." Both of these concepts are possible without a belief in god(s). Consequentially, does this compromise the label "god helmet?" Maybe what's actually happening is ill-defined and unusual thoughts and feelings from manipulation of the brain. What that means and suggests is incredibly interesting, but far from any sort of justification - or repudiation - of religion.

I mean, I'm quite confident that if Persinger stimulated the language center of the brain, 80% of the volunteers would experience effects related to their speech and/or understanding of language. It doesn't surprise me that what I take away from this ... that parts of the brain are contemplative ... is the result, like so many of the other areas of the brain we have mapped with a dedicated set of assignments.

I imagine the religiously-inclined to argue that the brain wouldn't have an area that seems, at least partially, manufactured to think deeply (AKA "have a religious experience," apparently) unless it was designed to do so. For them, this would likely prove the existence of whichever god they are partial to because why would we need brain real estate for that if it wasn't real? But, for me, I can contemplate lots of things - my brain is second to none in thinking up weird stuff. That doesn't mean they are real.

Lysergic acid diethylamide‎, ayahuasca, etc. do the same thing, reportedly. You don't often hear them as being justifications for religion, though.

I agree with the OP that it is compelling to consider the concept of perception versus reality. It is an interesting debate to question whether to believe in one's own perception. On the one hand, what else have we got? Everything available to us is filtered by our own perception, by definition. On the other, we know of examples that show us our perceptions are not always trustworthy. It's a cliche, but the Matrix theme of our whole reality actually not being the real reality comes to mind.

Thanks for the thread!

Sacri
He just needs assistance, and he too could share the journey

Some might find that Dawkins is on his own journey, not requiring someone else's and is not the one that actually needs the assistance. Some prefer to share his journey over others.