This is something I have been thinking about a lot in recent months. I’d like to know what other people think, or other insights about this.

There are times when interacting socially with others when my thoughts flow free and I express them without filtering, not the typical “what he/she will think of me if I say this” that makes you not express yourself authentically. All the times when I am in this state the response I get from others is very good, people enjoy my company. I would say the emotion behind this state is “love”, cause you are just enjoying and sharing your ideas, your views of the world, etc. without expecting nothing in return from others. I’d say you are “giving value”. I think really sociable people is in this state most of time.

Other times it’s the opposite. I am more worried about wanting the other one to like me than expressing my ideas, and that interferes in my communication. Maybe I don’t talk much, or I don’t say what I think cause I am afraid they’ll think it’s silly. I’d say in this state the subjacent emotion is “fear” (fear of not being liked) and you are “taking value” from others cause you are waiting to feel accepted to feel good about yourself. Most shy people must be in this state most of time.

It is true that I am happy when I look back at myself 5 or 10 years ago, when I was really shy, I am able to see the improvements. But I was wondering if that state could be considered an “altered state of consciousness” (I mean: as a state wich is not the one where you are usually) and if entering in that state voluntarily would be possible.

It is not the same as the state when you are meditating (no thoughts). In the state I am talking about you are relaxed but you have also a lot of energy and really willing to share (thoughts, values, ideas, etc.) to others (expecting nothing in return). After meditating, usually I feel so relaxed that I am happy just being silent, no need to talk or interact socially. It’s different.

English it’s not my native language, sorry if some things I try to express are not clear.

I feel that every time we overcome fear we have a breakthrough. And every time we achieve a state of LOVE we get encouraging feedback (internally and externally)
In my opinion FEAR and LOVE are in fact alternate states of consciousness. There are different levels of effort required and very different feedback received. Different thoughts and feelings experienced, and different qualities of intent involved in .
We define who and what we are every moment with every thought, word, decision and interaction. We do have the power to learn through feedback and modify our choices. We affect every situation we encounter (for better or worse) whether we know it or not, through the quality of our choices. There is no stasis and there are NO neutral parties. We are all, always, either growing or decaying. The fundamental process is always at work

_________________
LOVE is the answer

peace
patrick

Willy,
Dr. Charles Tart's book, Altered States of Consciousness, might be just the thing for you now. I understand it is out of print these days, but happily you can sink the whole thing online, right here:

http://www.druglibrary.org/special/tart/soccont.htm

Thanks a lot for your replies.

I am gonna check the book about States of consciousness, it looks interesting.

By the way, I remember in first book of MBT (where Tom explains his biography), the part where he talks about his investigations about altered states with Bob Monroe, in wich he says they discovered a lot of altered states of consciousness, and some were useful for some kind of things and not for others. The only ones I know are Focus 10 and Focus 12 (from the Gateway Experience).

Anyone knows more information about different kinds of states of consciousness, and could elaborate?

Hi ,
this may sound wierd but maybe somebody else feels it this way. When I am fearful my feelings of that are deep within me. When I loose that fear its as though my conciousness and i guess optimism is situation about 6 inches out of my physical body. Its the only way i can describe it.

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Andy Wright

I think states of consciousness are personal and subjective. The Monroe Institute has based all of their structure of the states of consciousness on what Bob Monroe developed. You can use that structure as a tool if it is useful to you. But just know that there is nothing fundamental about them.

Interesting to read this.

I've always suspected the Monroe Institute's perspective wasn't fundamental, so I decided to learn more. I joined their email list which recently announced their latest research effort, Spatial Angle Modulation. This effort is in association with Stuart Hameroff. I've read some of Hameroff's stuff but wasn't clear on it, so I took the opportunity to read the Monroe pointers to his work.

Upon closer reading it's plainly not fundamental, even though it's fair enough to say it's a 'new frontier in brain/mind science', as Hameroff asserts on his site.

It may once again be the limited nature of the written language causing some confusion here. (for me) But I am comfortable with Toms description as to what is FUNDAMENTAL, Consciousness and Evolution.

Everything else is just a result of, an expression of, or a path of exploration of, the 2 fundamental things (as proposed by Tom) at work.
Consciousness as it relates to the "physical" brain, and SOUND, as it interacts with the "physical" brain and individuated consciousness seem to be just as valid a form of study (in terms of exploration of consciousness) as is the study of quantum non-locality (as related to consciousness systems).

As Tom points out, there are, in fact, PHYSICAL changes that occur within the brain caused by thoughts, behavior, or INTENT. (remember the example of the sheep adopting orphaned sheep)
And Tom, himself, began his exploration of consciousness with the use of sound

From the article posted above as an example:
“. . . trained Tibetan meditators had baseline increases in gamma synchrony and amplitude, suggesting long-term changes in their brains from years of meditation. One might say they are more highly conscious in a baseline state, achieving even greater intensity of consciousness during meditation.”

This may imply that any benefits gained may cause physical changes to the brain and, {edit here to remove reference to Tom} we may even have the capability to alter our own DNA.
The underlying message to these studies may be that EVERYTHING in this "virtual" reality is influenced by and can be altered by consciousness

_________________
LOVE is the answer

peace
patrick

I recall Tom speaking of altering our brain structure perhaps developing our empathy more so actually evolving new structures, like that, but not of us changing our DNA like that.
Love
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

To me it is REALLY "mind" over (virtual) "matter" , In all cases with focused INTENT everything is possible. It may be oversimplified to say "change your mind and change the world" but maybe its just my perceptions of the world that need to change

_________________
LOVE is the answer

peace
patrick

Maybe true but DNA does not determine everything, we can alter its function with our thoughts and environmental conditions.Have you heard of epigenetics?

Also there's the whole issue of protein folding,which is really important but not well understood.I have recently read in the book "The Quantum Brain" that there may be quantum effects taking place in protein electron configurations implying that their optimal paths may be calculated nonlocally,similar to what has been found in photosynthesis. I wouldn't be surprised at all if our thoughts were shown to have an effect here too. Many neurotransmitters are proteins.

http://www.drsteverosman.com/sitebuilde ... -21-07.pdf

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 081315.htm

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26421/

I was just saying I had not heard Tom talk abut DNA in the same context he had been said to have talked about it. I have my own experimental design for the reincarnation hypothesis involving DNA, and I probably would have remembered if Tom had mentioned DNA in the context that I responded to here.
Love
Bette

_________________
All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Sorry for being off topic-I'll quit after this post

Hey Bette,
Sounds really interesting,could you PM me a short summary of your idea? Have you heard of Shanti Devi?

Hi all,
this is via Martin Peniak and is an interesting video about Athenes work It is though ' very PMR 'denying the metaphysical but he does talk about brain plasticity and how we can change neuronal structure with emotions
Also afterwards a bit of his own take on quantum physics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbh5l0b2 ... =autoshare

_________________
Andy Wright

Bette,
I cannot remember where I read that (about DNA) or heard it, but if it turns out that I cannot locate it, simply strike it from the record. Or maybe I will edit my comment and remove the reference to TOM speaking of "altering our DNA".
It does fit into my understanding though. We can cause all kinds of "physical" changes within this VIRTUAL reality with the use of our conscious intent.
After all "virtual mind" is consciousness, and "virtual matter" is just a construct of consciousness, within the digital or binary information, fractal, data stream, its all just information, and information can be distorted by perception (intentionally or unintentionally)
And if our "reality" is based entirely upon our level of belief, knowledge, experience, and awareness, then reality is subject to change as we change and grow.

_________________
LOVE is the answer

peace
patrick