As a kid, I used to have sleep paralysis all the time. I have often wondered if I had been on the verge of astral projection, reading some accounts. I used to feel and hear a powerful vibration, which was like a wind ripppling my bedsheets. I would always stuggle to waken from the paralysis. I had also
hypnagogia for years. I found York overwhelming the first time, endless images of blueprints of Gothic cathedrals unrolling in front of my eyes. Once I had the sense of something squatting on my chest, but no sense of panic. Even with the paralysis I never had any sense of any presences. I woud love to hear your opinion on this, Dok.
I use the term "astral projection" but I can't say I like it as it's another label that sets in stone an aspect of us that can't really be pinned down. With your sleep paralysis there are numerous elements that it was "astral projection" - the strong vibration and the difficulty waking up and even moving.
Your York account is interesting. Hypnogogia is similar I think to what I was saying about Entoptic vision, spinning off it into waking dreaming. But it came upon you in York - an involuntary experience.
Going more "twilight zone", we could contend that the architecture in York is stunning, amazing place. Yorkminster, for example. Those buildings were meant to be spiritual (presumably) and so every aspect could have been geared to that - stained glass windows, the stone carvings. Built a long time ago. Could it be that the very geometry of the place can have an almost psychotropic effect? The acoustics too.
There was a small group of scientists looking into the acoustics of Stonehenge and other ancient monuments. They became convinced that such places were designed acoustically to bring on altered states.
We'd imagine Christian places of worship didn't do that... but how do we know?
With the "something" squatting on your chest, that's another fairly common phenomenon. Scary to many. But the best policy is not to fear and to try and stop self-talk (as that is what induces fear). That experience is part of the sleep paralysis phenomenon.
With psychology and science, of course, they like to make things material in scope. That's find. I understand that - though one might also mention that academics have peers and you can't go too far off the narrative as your career and income depends on it.
Plus, get into Quantum Mechanics and Plasma Physics and we are far, far away from the material. But with those two disciplines, the good thing is we don't have to bring in occult ideas - which can be as dogmatic as some academia.
If anything, I'd go with the idea of altered states. Not that that tells you much. But it's a non-dogmatic start. We might also get into the visions of shamans, though with them we have to bring in there own peer and societal pressures... again that shapes reality.
Perhaps my position is that I neither believe nor disbelieve anything (from Robert Anton Wilson). And that it is all experience and information. The important thing is to be able to operate successfully in this apparently material reality while also being able to experience altered states. In essence not to worry about odd, paranormal type phenomena!
And also, if you're into it, do your own experiments with the nature of reality! Haha.
Also, you only have to go back say 1200 years in Britain to find a totally different model of reality to what we have today. And it wasn't primitive at all in my view. The concept of Wyrd, for example, plus the notions about what we humans are - a fylgja which could leave your body and the idea that your luck followed you and was a "thing" in itself. In those days, society was organized around these kind of believe - and they had stability (save for conflicts and wars) in their communities. Shared belief... though perhaps not quite like the religions we know.
A fascinating reply. I saw the progarmme on the psychoacoustics of Stonehenge a while ago, and found it amazing. I love Orkney, and recall reading in Orkneyjar, a website devoted to orcadian lore, that a neolithic tomb I visited was believed to possess psychoacoustic properties. When certain notes were held, those in the tomb felt a sensation of flying etc. http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/tombacoustics.htm. Of course, there are other issues, such as were these techniques employed by a shamanic elite to control the populace, or was this a genuinley communal phenomenon? I recall having seen a video about ghostly phenomena in the London underground, being related to infrasound. There's so much that we ( stilll) don't know.
Interesting that you mention the Anglo-Saxons; I have been reading several books about Anglo-Saxon magic lately, and it is evident that a lot of these views are similar to many if not most in the pre-modern world. A great book there is Onians: The origins of European thought, which explores ideas about the body and the mind. Highly recommended, if only to dip into.
Ah, yes, control... very good point. We see it all now on steroids. Was it so very different long ago? It could have been. Equally a priestly come shamanistic elite might well have kept the populace under their sway... early, sophisticated psy-ops.
Paul Devereaux got into the whole acoustic phenomenon. I think he might have been in the excellent documentary you saw... I saw that too.
I also saw the London Underground video about possible infrasound and the reports of ghosts.
From a slightly different angle there's this book from the 1990s on EMF and paranormal phenomena.
As a kid, I used to have sleep paralysis all the time. I have often wondered if I had been on the verge of astral projection, reading some accounts. I used to feel and hear a powerful vibration, which was like a wind ripppling my bedsheets. I would always stuggle to waken from the paralysis. I had also
hypnagogia for years. I found York overwhelming the first time, endless images of blueprints of Gothic cathedrals unrolling in front of my eyes. Once I had the sense of something squatting on my chest, but no sense of panic. Even with the paralysis I never had any sense of any presences. I woud love to hear your opinion on this, Dok.
CharlesR
I use the term "astral projection" but I can't say I like it as it's another label that sets in stone an aspect of us that can't really be pinned down. With your sleep paralysis there are numerous elements that it was "astral projection" - the strong vibration and the difficulty waking up and even moving.
Your York account is interesting. Hypnogogia is similar I think to what I was saying about Entoptic vision, spinning off it into waking dreaming. But it came upon you in York - an involuntary experience.
Going more "twilight zone", we could contend that the architecture in York is stunning, amazing place. Yorkminster, for example. Those buildings were meant to be spiritual (presumably) and so every aspect could have been geared to that - stained glass windows, the stone carvings. Built a long time ago. Could it be that the very geometry of the place can have an almost psychotropic effect? The acoustics too.
There was a small group of scientists looking into the acoustics of Stonehenge and other ancient monuments. They became convinced that such places were designed acoustically to bring on altered states.
We'd imagine Christian places of worship didn't do that... but how do we know?
With the "something" squatting on your chest, that's another fairly common phenomenon. Scary to many. But the best policy is not to fear and to try and stop self-talk (as that is what induces fear). That experience is part of the sleep paralysis phenomenon.
With psychology and science, of course, they like to make things material in scope. That's find. I understand that - though one might also mention that academics have peers and you can't go too far off the narrative as your career and income depends on it.
Plus, get into Quantum Mechanics and Plasma Physics and we are far, far away from the material. But with those two disciplines, the good thing is we don't have to bring in occult ideas - which can be as dogmatic as some academia.
If anything, I'd go with the idea of altered states. Not that that tells you much. But it's a non-dogmatic start. We might also get into the visions of shamans, though with them we have to bring in there own peer and societal pressures... again that shapes reality.
Perhaps my position is that I neither believe nor disbelieve anything (from Robert Anton Wilson). And that it is all experience and information. The important thing is to be able to operate successfully in this apparently material reality while also being able to experience altered states. In essence not to worry about odd, paranormal type phenomena!
And also, if you're into it, do your own experiments with the nature of reality! Haha.
Also, you only have to go back say 1200 years in Britain to find a totally different model of reality to what we have today. And it wasn't primitive at all in my view. The concept of Wyrd, for example, plus the notions about what we humans are - a fylgja which could leave your body and the idea that your luck followed you and was a "thing" in itself. In those days, society was organized around these kind of believe - and they had stability (save for conflicts and wars) in their communities. Shared belief... though perhaps not quite like the religions we know.
A fascinating reply. I saw the progarmme on the psychoacoustics of Stonehenge a while ago, and found it amazing. I love Orkney, and recall reading in Orkneyjar, a website devoted to orcadian lore, that a neolithic tomb I visited was believed to possess psychoacoustic properties. When certain notes were held, those in the tomb felt a sensation of flying etc. http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/tombacoustics.htm. Of course, there are other issues, such as were these techniques employed by a shamanic elite to control the populace, or was this a genuinley communal phenomenon? I recall having seen a video about ghostly phenomena in the London underground, being related to infrasound. There's so much that we ( stilll) don't know.
Interesting that you mention the Anglo-Saxons; I have been reading several books about Anglo-Saxon magic lately, and it is evident that a lot of these views are similar to many if not most in the pre-modern world. A great book there is Onians: The origins of European thought, which explores ideas about the body and the mind. Highly recommended, if only to dip into.
Ah, yes, control... very good point. We see it all now on steroids. Was it so very different long ago? It could have been. Equally a priestly come shamanistic elite might well have kept the populace under their sway... early, sophisticated psy-ops.
Paul Devereaux got into the whole acoustic phenomenon. I think he might have been in the excellent documentary you saw... I saw that too.
I also saw the London Underground video about possible infrasound and the reports of ghosts.
From a slightly different angle there's this book from the 1990s on EMF and paranormal phenomena.
https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Electric_UFOs.html?id=LW9UGwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Very, very good.
I've just got hold of an ebook copy of Onians' book. Shall read that one.