Psychomantium Mirrors - Past, Present, Future?

[Gaby]

I found an article that explains almost everything that C's said about psychomantium. And the explanations are just remarkable.

It's fascinating research, from December 1934! They were doing amazing things back then. I ran the article on pubmed to see citations. Phew! Enough there to write various theses. Materialists trying to research consciousness are seemingly having some fun with the subject.

This might be of interest:

Effect of frequency and rhythmicity on flicker light-induced hallucinatory phenomena

Effect of frequency and rhythmicity on flicker light-induced hallucinatory phenomena

Flicker light stimulation (FLS) uses stroboscopic light on closed eyes to induce transient visual hallucinatory phenomena, such as the perception of geometric patterns, motion, and colours. It remains an open question where the neural correlates of these hallucinatory experiences emerge along...

journals.plos.org

This "vision center" is fascinating.

 

[Persej]

It's fascinating research, from December 1934!

Yes, I was expecting to find some information from modern articles, but instead I found it in that one which is almost 90 years old! And it's so full of nice explanations, and it confirms everything that the C's said!

They were doing amazing things back then.

Yes, but not only then. Since this 10 Hz flicker can be created with candles or oil lamp, that means that people in Middle Ages, or even before that, in Roman Empire or whenever, could have used this method. And who knows what kind of knowledge they acquired with it.

This "vision center" is fascinating.

Yes, and we might just start to unravel the mystery of it.

 

[Persej]

Here is another article that confirms the usefulness of 10 Hz flicker for reducing the visual distractions:

Furthermore, the finding that this effect was specific to the 10-Hz entrainment condition suggests a particular sensitivity of the occipital cortex to alpha frequency rhythmic visual input. Through further research, it might be possible to use this knowledge to better understand low-level perceptual deficits in patient populations or to enhance attention in cognitively demanding settings. Second, previous research on this topic has focused on impairing the perception of target stimuli, and until now, it has remained uncertain whether this effect could be translated to the inhibition of distracting visual information. Our finding that distracting information can also be compromised by 10-Hz visual entrainment notably strengthens the notion that the gating of information seen with alpha entrainment begins at visual perception. Interestingly, our findings also introduce the possibility of using alpha entrainment to positively modulate performance on selective attention tasks by decreasing the negative effect of distracting environmental inputs. (...)

Despite these limitations, this study provides new insight into the effects of alpha entrainment on visual perception and also suggests that these signals might be used to enhance selective attention function in the presence of visual distractors. This is essential knowledge, which could potentially be leveraged to enhance selective attention abilities in cognitively taxing environments.

Alpha Frequency Entrainment Reduces the Effect of Visual Distractors

Abstract. Numerous studies have linked alpha frequency (∼10 Hz) visual entrainment to the inhibition of incoming visual information. However, although these studies have provided key evidence for the intrinsic sensitivity of the human brain to incoming alpha frequency signals, they have only...

direct.mit.edu

And here is something about the changes in brainwaves depending on where do we look. The C's said:

A: We suggest you direct your gaze ahead and a little to the left!

I haven't yet decoded why exactly would be looking up and to left be good for this procedure, but I have found an article that confirms that it does make a difference:

Our findings suggest that the focal alpha increases described here may be a signature of an inhibitory biasing process in the spatial domain in preparation for attentive processing of an expected stimulus at another location.

In this study, the noncued location was always in a mirror-symmetric position across the vertical meridian from the cued location. It is possible that the effects described reflect collosally mediated competitive interaction between hemispheres, which has some retinotopic specificity. In this case, the increased alpha over one hemisphere would be a byproduct of the deployment of attention in the opposite hemisphere.

Anticipatory biasing of visuospatial attention indexed by retinotopically specific alpha-band electroencephalography increases over occipital cortex - PubMed

Alpha-band (8-14 Hz) oscillatory EEG activity was examined with high-density scalp electrical recording during the cue-stimulus interval of an endogenous spatial cueing paradigm. In different blocks, cued spatial locations (left or right) were in either the upper or lower visual field, and...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

So if I understand this article correctly, and also this one, looking up and to the left would increase the activity in the right hemisphere, which would increase the alpha waves in the left hemisphere, because the left hemisphere would be suppressed, because we would not be using it for visual attention.

 

[Persej]

I think I found why the suppression of the left hemisphere would be good for psychomantium. It improves the suppression of analytic processes in the brain.

Expert archers and shooters have consistently demonstrated a quieting of left hemisphere activation (predominantly over the anterior-temporal cortex of the brain), as inferred from greater EEG alpha power, during the final few seconds before shot release (Hatfield et al., 1984; Hatfield and Landers, 1987; Landers et al., 1994; Haufler et al., 2000; Janelle et al., 2000). Such reactivity of EEG alpha power is indicative of an economy of cortical processing (Haufler et al., 2000) and has been taken to reflect a reduction in verbal and analytic processes before shot release (Hatfield et al., 1984; Hatfield and Landers, 1987).

Pre-shot EEG alpha-power reactivity during expert air-pistol shooting: a comparison of best and worst shots - PubMed

The aim of this study was to examine the proposal that pre-shot occipital electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha-power reactivity would not only associate with, but also have a causal role in, the relative success of performance outcome in expert air-pistol shooting. Six expert air-pistol shooters...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Gaby]

So if I understand this article correctly, and also this one, looking up and to the left would increase the activity in the right hemisphere, which would increase the alpha waves in the left hemisphere, because the left hemisphere would be suppressed, because we would not be using it for visual attention.

I think I found why the suppression of the left hemisphere would be good for psychomantium. It improves the suppression of analytic processes in the brain.

Yeah, this is the stuff that is covered by Iain McGilchrist in his book "The Master and His Emissary".

'The master and his emissary' and 'The matter with things' by Iain McGilchrist.

I wonder if any one has had chance to read "The Master and His Emissary" by Iain McGilchrist? (cf. at Amazon: __www.amazon.co.uk/The-Master-Emissary-Iain-McGilchrist-ebook/dp/B003ZSHUG6) Why is the brain divided? Iain McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent brain research, illustrated...

cassiopaea.org

 

[Persej]

It seems that my idea of using a squeeze-ball is not so silly after all. And it follows the same principle as looking at your left side of visual field.

Following the notion of relative importance of the right hemisphere (RH) in creative thinking, we explored the possibility of enhancing creative problem solving by artificially activating the RH ahead of time using unilateral hand contractions. Participants attempted to complete the Remote Associates Test after squeezing a ball with either their left or right hand. As predicted, participants who contracted their left hand (thus activating the RH) achieved higher scores than those who used their right hand and those who did not contract either hand. Our findings indicate that tilting the hemispheric balance toward the processing mode of one hemisphere by motor activation can greatly influence the outcome of thought processes. Regardless of the specific mechanism involved, this technique has the potential for acting as a therapeutic or remedial manipulation and could have wide applications in aiding individuals with language impairments or other disorders that are believed to be related to hemispheric imbalances.

Unilateral muscle contractions enhance creative thinking - PubMed

Following the notion of relative importance of the right hemisphere (RH) in creative thinking, we explored the possibility of enhancing creative problem solving by artificially activating the RH ahead of time using unilateral hand contractions. Participants attempted to complete the Remote...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Using electroencephalogram (EEG), the broad alpha band and its asymmetry between hemispheres before, during, and after hand contractions were analyzed. During contractions, significant bilateral decrease in alpha amplitudes (indicating cortical activation) emerged for both hands around sensory-motor regions. After contractions, alpha amplitudes increased significantly over the whole scalp when compared to baseline, but only for the left hand. No modulation of hemispheric asymmetry was observed at any phase. The results suggest that unilateral hand contractions produce a state of reduced cortical activity after their termination, which is more pronounced if the left hand was used. Consequently, we propose that the reduced cortical activity (and not the persistent activation asymmetry) may facilitate engagement in subsequent behavior, probably due to preventing interference from other, nonessential cortical regions.

Unilateral Left-Hand Contractions Produce Widespread Depression of Cortical Activity after Their Execution - PubMed

The execution of unilateral hand contractions before performance has been reported to produce behavioral aftereffects in various tasks. These effects have been regularly attributed to an induced shift in activation asymmetry to the contralateral hemisphere produced by the contractions. An...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The aim of the current study was to test whether it is possible to enhance novel metaphor comprehension through an easy, efficient, and non-invasive method - intentional contraction of the left hand's muscles, to activate the motor and sensory areas in the contralateral hemisphere. One hundred eighteen neurotypical participants were asked to perform a semantic judgment task involving two-word expressions of four types: literal, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors, or unrelated, while squeezing a rubber ball with their right hand, left hand, or not at all. Results demonstrated that left-hand contraction improved novel metaphor comprehension, as participants were more accurate and quicker in judging them to be meaningful. The findings of the present work provide a simple and efficient method for boosting right hemisphere activation, which can be used to improve metaphoric language comprehension. This method can aid several populations in which right hemisphere function is not fully established, and who struggle with processing figurative language, such as adolescents and individuals on the autistic spectrum.

Activating the Right Hemisphere Through Left-Hand Muscle Contraction Improves Novel Metaphor Comprehension - PubMed

The neurotypical brain is characterized by left hemisphere lateralization for most language processing. However, the right hemisphere plays a crucial part when it is required to bring together seemingly unrelated concepts into meaningful expressions, such as in the case of novel metaphors...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Kay Kim]

It seems that my idea of using a squeeze-ball is not so silly after all. And it follows the same principle as looking at your left side of visual field

Haha, I am going to try your method of squeezing balls, that just using my left hand, and see if that really works. So, I just ordered Squeeze balls from Amazon.

 

[Persej]

Q: Can you give me any advice about the psychomantium? I try to not try and it is pretty hard. I mean, my eyeballs fall out of my head. Should I change my breathing?

A: Meditate, do not anticipate.

Q: When you say that, do you mean that I should not anticipate being able to SEE something?

A: Yes.

Q: Well, I feel pretty stupid doing that. I mean, the obvious reason one goes into a dark room with a mirror and a candle is to SEE something! It's kind of hard to sit there and NOT think about seeing something when you are in a room that is obviously designed to SEE something!

A: No. Meditate; clear head.

Session 14 May 1998​

It really is awkward to go into the room with a mirror designed to see something and do not anticipate to see something. However, it is interesting to think about the phenomenon of brain visual activity from the point of view of non-anticipation. Because when you look above and to the left, you automatically do not anticipate to see something below and to the right. And that shuts down areas of your brain related to those parts of your visual field.

Attending to the right visual field (e.g. positions 1.30 and 4.30 h) resulted in alpha-increases over the right hemisphere, i.e. contralateral to the unattended space, and idem for leftward orienting (e.g. positions 7.30 and 10.30 h). Furthermore, attending to the lower visual field (positions 4.30 and 7.30 h) produced a more ventrolateral alpha-enhancement, whereas attending to the upper visual field (positions 1.30 and 10.30 h) led to a more dorsomedial increase in alpha-activity. Because the cortical representation of the visual fields in visual areas is left–right reversed over the two hemispheres and the lower visual field is mapped more dorsally than the upper visual field, these results would suggest that alpha-increases occurred in areas tuned to the visual field quadrant diagonal to the attended position. That is, when attending laterally upwards, alpha-increases appear to occur in areas tuned to the lower portion of the unattended hemifield (dorsomedial alpha-distribution) while, when attending laterally downwards, these increases occur in areas processing the upper portion of the unattended hemifield (ventrolateral alpha-distribution).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05278.x

So when you look above and to the left, you suppress your left hemisphere and your dorsomedial part of the brain. But what does suppressing dorsomedial part of the brain do? From what I could gather about it, I think that it suppresses the self-focused attention and increases externally-focused attention.

 

[Persej]

Scottie's little TENS gadget can also increase the brain alpha waves. But in most studies with transauricular vagus nerve stimulation they are putting both electrodes in the ear.

 

[Persej]

Now, one thing that comes to mind is what should be the ideal shape of the mirror? And when we look at some esoteric sources, they recommend the concave shape over the flat shape. And the reason they give is that the concave shape is better for collecting and reflecting some kind of "magnetism" of human body, which is then used to activate the mirror.

But what about the size of such mirror? Well, some sources say that it needs to be nine inches or more in diameter.

At other times a bright mirror nine inches or more in diameter is used for looking at oneself with something on the mind. After seven days and nights a god or genie will appear, either male, female, old, or young, and a single declaration on its part discloses automatically what is occurring at that moment a thousand miles away.

Chinese sun and moon mirrors - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Persej]

Another potentially useful information:

More important to the specific hypothesis under investigation, both alpha activity and beta activity differed as a function of nose or mouth inhalation. Alpha activity changed its hemispheric distribution during nose versus mouth breathing [F(I,19) = 8.20, p = .009], showing reduced left hemisphere alpha during nose inhalation and mouth exhalation.

Brain and odor: IL EEG activity during nose and mouth breathing - Psychobiology

Previous investigations have suggested that low, undetectable concentrations of odor chemicals alter central nervous system (CNS) activity. Since there can be no odor-free environment, room air also may alter CNS activity. To examine this hypothesis, EEG data were recorded from 20 subjects while...

link.springer.com

So if we want to increase left hemisphere alpha, that means that we should inhale through mouth and exhale through nose?

Also, instead of squeeze balls, perhaps you could use baoding balls.

Activating Your Left and Right Brain by Using Baoding Balls - BaodingBalls.com

The use of baoding balls to improve health is widely known. The effects on the meridians of the hands and the physical benefits of doing the exercises are often discussed when talking about the balls. However, I recently listened to a doctor discuss his experience with using baoding balls in…

www.baodingballs.com

Q: (Andrian) Do the baoding balls...

(L) What the hell are baoding balls? [Laughter]

(Andrian) ...have health benefits?

A: Yes

Q: (Andrian) If so, what would be the optimal material of which the baoding balls are to be made?

A: Jade.

Session 25 February 2023​

 

[Persej]

Light must be placed properly so as to illuminate black depth sufficiently. And no seams or ripples must be evident in reflection.

I think that the best solution for this would be to project candlelight on a black projection screen.

What is an Ambient Light Rejecting Screen?

Choosing the right projection screen is the first step to getting the most enjoyment from your home entertainment system. This article will explain light rejecting screens and the two types of ambient light rejecting screens, the ALR and CLR.

www.benq.com

The alternative would be to paint that side of the wall in black, or just use something to straighten the fabric used for projection.

Now, when it comes to the candlelight, since we don't need light all over the room, but only on the screen, we could use this kind of naval lantern: SET of 2 Port and Starboard Red-green Lamp for Christmas Nautical Anchor Ship Oil Lantern Decorative Hanging Lantern for Housewarming Gift - Etsy

I would choose the red color, since the red color is better for entrainment of alpha waves. Of course, the light source would have to be modified because it doesn't flicker by default.

 

[Persej]

Now, when it comes to the background, you don't want any reflection. So in that case you want to have some kind of light absorbing material. You can find online such cloth which is used for photography. You can also find frames for cloth, either 2D or 2.5D or full square for wedding parties in 10x10ft size.

Here is how one such cloth looks like:

 

[Persej]

The original research about the brainwaves showed that looking at the uniform visual field produces the same alpha brainwaves as when the eyes are closed. However, there were several modern studies done about the activity of the brain in darkness with the eyes opened and the eyes closed. And the results show that the areas of the brain which are active differ between those two states. Namely, there are two different states of mental activity: an “interoceptive” state with the eyes closed, characterized by imagination and sensory activity, and an “exteroceptive” state with the eyes open, characterized by activation of attentional and ocular motor structures.
Which means that you cannot emulate looking in darkness with closing your eyes, because that will activate different parts of your part.

Eye closure in darkness animates sensory systems - PubMed

Single subject and group analyses (n = 12) showed that the eyes-open and eyes-closed states in complete darkness considerably and consistently differ in the patterns of associated brain activation in fMRI. During nonchanging external stimulation, ocular motor and attentional systems were...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Eye closure enhances dark night perceptions - PubMed

We often close our eyes when we explore objects with our fingers to reduce the dominance of the visual system over our other senses. Here we show that eye closure, even in complete darkness, results in improved somatosensory perception due to a switch from visual predominance towards a...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Also, body posture is important, not just for the overall brainwaves, but also for the brain hemisphere activity. That is, the left hemisphere is more active when upright. So you want to be in a reclined position to suppress the left hemisphere.

Posture Used in fMRI-PET Elicits Reduced Cortical Activity and Altered Hemispheric Asymmetry with Respect to Sitting Position: An EEG Resting State Study

Horizontal body position is a posture typically adopted for sleeping or during brain imaging recording in both neuroscience experiments and diagnostic situations. Recent literature showed how this position and similar ones with head down are associated to reduced plasticity, impaired pain and...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[Persej]

There is this interesting view about having opened eyes during the meditation in the sitting position:

When I was in Dharamshala, I met every day with a monk named Gelek, who was a great teacher of mine. Monk Gelek and I discussed almost everything that has to do with Buddhism and life.

One of the discussions we had was about the correct method to use in a sitting meditation practice. I confess that monk Gelek offered me great insight, which helped me with my meditation practice.

One of the startling things he said, was that the eyes should stay open during meditation. He explained that in the West, we are mostly taught to close our eyes while meditating, which is not advisable in the Buddhist tradition.

According to Tibeten Buddhist tradition the correct way to meditate is to look downward, as if we are looking down to our nose or the floor. Our eyes should point down at a 45 degree angle.

Monk Gelek elaborated and offered me a further explanation of why meditating with half-opened eyes is of benefit.

Firstly, when we open our eyes, we are less likely to fall asleep or doze off. It is a helpful technique for people who are prone to falling asleep during meditation.

Secondly, when we close our eyes during meditation, it is easier for the mind to create mental images. Monk Gelek described this sensation as “dark” and “dull.” With our eyes closed, our mind instantly becomes a place for active, destructive thoughts. However, opening our eyes lessens the activity of mental images, thus creating a better condition for a fruitful meditation.

Plot Twist: Why we Should Meditate with our Open Eyes. | elephant journal

Opening our eyes helps us merge our meditation practice with our daily routine. We won't be splitting meditation from our activities.

www.elephantjournal.com

Now, knowing what we know about alpha waves, we should also be looking at the uniform visual field with eyes opened. Or with some appropriate flicker. So looking down is good for meditation, looking up for psychomantium.