An interesting conversation developed in the comments to a recent post which I wanted to bump up into the mainstream here. Ted talks about how after reading Buckminster Fuller late into the night, he subsequently spent a major portion of the evening asleep and dreaming fitfully, as though he were “downloading” a massive quantity of information directly into his brain.
I’ve often experienced something similar to this. I might break the phenomenon off into two different elements, myself. First of all, what I call a “problem-solving dream”, which is usually based on some project or concept which I’m working hard on, where after I fall asleep, some part of my brain continues to work on it feverishly. I remember when I was learning how to program in ASP, I would have dreams that I was programming my alarm clock using ASP to hit “snooze” over and over again. The same thing used to happen with Photoshop, where I would be zoomed in to 1600%, editing pixel by pixel.
But the “downloading information” one seems to be a somewhat different phenomenon. It’s almost as though you’ll receive bursts of information in highly dense packets of information, which you sort of have to turn and turn to unlock and sort of “decode” the contents of. I’m curious to hear about other people’s experiences with this sort of thing, if any. I know there are some excellent fictionalized accounts by Philip K. Dick where he talks about being unable to sleep and receiving something along the lines of hundreds or thousands of images of what looked to be abstract paintings. He theorized that the Kremlin was beaming images into his brain via microwave. I’m not sure I follow that sci-fi explanation for this kind of thing, but it’s someplace to start the conversation anyway…
- END -
ASSOCIATED CONTENT @TMBCHR (Auto-Generated)
- Brain Hemispheres and Rule-Following
- Narby on the Brain
- Transformer
- Tuning the Brain Radio
- Why Beliefs Don’t Die
27 Comments
BTW, I forgot to mention I have a socket on the back of my head, and last night as I was falling asleep I could sense an angel or somebody putting a plug in there.
No, really. Seriously.
Wild, I’ve never experienced anything like that, although one time on mushrooms, I distinctly had the sensation that I had grown antlers…
Incidentally, this is pretty closely connected - in my perception - to what I was talking about in terms of “mathematically getting caught up in ecstasy” and distributed intelligence, or whatever I was calling it. My impression of all this is something like: a bunch of people of a certain background/frequency or who have certain neurotypical characteristics or whatever may tap individually into the same collective “information source” (Philip K. Dick’s VALIS?). And it’s almost as if the SOURCE requires multiple vessels in order to download itself into our manifested reality. Each source “crunches the numbers” it downloads in a slightly different way, and acts on those things in different ways. And then when vessels interact with one another and compare and contrast their downloaded information packets, the source communication or whatever grows and expands and morphs and spreads to others…
In regards to Ted’s comment on the original post, about no one being at the helm, and the universe wanting someone to step up to the plate, did anyone read Zac’s new post over at alchemically braindamaged? He talks about how western society is lacking any sort of growing-up rituals, and how were living in a society of people who largely feel like they’re still children. I can see the spread of childishness being the bad side of a situation that is also creating people who are actively searching for ways to be at the helm, right when the universe needs people there to do so.
I also see connections here between what Ted mentions (on his blog), about globalism being allowed to exist by the universe for a certain purpose. Globalization being the means for these people who are actively searching within themselves to meet and compare notes, and more importantly, to to be able to understand each other when they do. A positive side effect of the mono-culture we find ourselves in.
Tim, this plays into your idea of distributed intelligences, the way certain people are downloading information and comparing their views on it, almost as if the idea that is trying to born is too large to be given to one person. And, if I’m reading you right, this idea changes and grows as more and more people get in touch with it.
I sometime have a sense of downloading information too. I’ll just wake up in the middle of the night, or I’ll be sitting on the subway, or at my desk at work, and an idea will pop into my head. And I know the entire idea at once, but I have to grab my notebook and start scribbling in order for me to make any sense of it.
I think PKD and Bucky are examples of other people who have opened doors within themselves to this space/idea/conciousness, among many others (Jung, Lao Tse, Jesus, Buddha, etc etc), and that they serve as wellsprings for those of us who are trying to do the same. It’s like we are all doors to this, and when we find the opening someone else made into it, we are able to open our more as well.
I believe you. I had a similar experience but only once and I don’t know if it was positive or negative. I don’t think I’m cool enough to have a permanent socket like you but something very powerful held may head from the back by a plugged in tube while either pouring liquid down my throat or draining liquid from me.
Normally something like this would scare me but it didn’t. It didn’t feel good or bad, just neutral.
Well I am really cool…
I think tribal societies are related to this phenomenon. Because I read, some anthropological account where all the tribe would sleep together in a hut literally touching each other. Then when they woke up they would compare notes on their dreams. They all would have the same dream, but in pieces and from different perspectives. So they would compare notes and piece it all together. Like for example someone had a dream about a big flower and others would have dreamed about where it is, then it turned out it was some flower that had just bloomed and they would go find it.
What it is I think is we are becoming a big globally interconnected tribe.
Right, exactly.
Totally.
There are a variety of ancient sources, esoteric and encoded mystical texts which describe something very similar. It’s referred to as a second birth, and I think has to do potentially with some kind of hormonal/chemical outflow which allegedely triggers something akin to a “second puberty” which can’t be reversed. I was researching this for a long time, but the trail went cold for me when I realized that learning how to live in the moment was enough for me, whether or not I ever uncovered the Holy Grail of esoteric techniques…
The best explanation of what I’m referring to comes from a book called The Body of Myth, which analyzes Greek and Bible myths and correlates them to these physical processes. But, I never finished reading the book (inter-library loan), although I was in contact with the author for quite a while over email, and he was helping direct my search forward, without just handing over the answer. I’ve always been curious to go back and delve into this subject again.
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Myth-Mythology-Shamanic-Geography/dp/0892814098
Another trail here may be the Hui Ming Ching, which uses some similar imagery and metaphors as the author mentioned above uses - though he said he never read it.
http://shapeless.org/huimingching.html
I also found some Sanskrit terms which correlate as well, but I forget what they are. They are undoubtedly buried somewhere amidst my data trail, for the intrepid investigator to uncover.
Thanks! I think these links will lead me somewhere good. I’ve always wondered why I felt this to be a natural process and not some sort of alien attack.
I think it has something to do with tongue and mouth position and completing an energy circuit within the body.
Do you see any correlation between living in the present moment and this downloading of information from the source? Perhaps the source is what gives this moment it’s present-ness…
That is, the more in tune you are with the present moment, the more in touch you can become with this source, and the more information you can become aware of?
That makes a certain sense: it’s like a deluge of information coming at you at once as you become more and more aware of the present moment. Unconscious connections become more and more conscious as synchronicities increase - but these are really the sensorium becoming aware of itself and of its ability to filter and re-pattern its perceptions through habit and ritual. As you become more “in the moment” your awareness maybe takes a sort of quantum leap forward, evolves an order of magnitude and opens up enormous vistas of possibilities where none existed before. It’s at that point where events seem to flow as if by themselves, and you’re more and more a musician learning to play your part as you go along, and there’s no real wrong note you can play, but you can become very skilled if you put yourself to it, a master of the moment, a servant to the source.
yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking… being present is a more immediate, albeit less mystical, version of the downloading information thing. You no longer have to connect to the source, the source is right there within you. Information arrises in conciousness as it is needed, no longer something that you have to store in the mind to recall later.
And the whole thing about erasing personal history has to do with “emptying your cache” on a regular basis, so that you don’t cling to any particular image of yourself.
Perception, in turn, becomes correctly recognized as a feedback loop - into which positive or negative information (through habituation: ie, practice) may be consciously fed to impact one’s experience of one’s own existence.
As perception of the body and it’s workings becomes activated, the body borrows imagery connected on an associative level (through flash-frozen moments of original learning or imprint in the past) to particular sensations of increasing self-awareness (proprioception). So you get sensations which can be described poetically (if not actually - this is another matter) like a an angel plugging something into your head, or a sword being pulled out of one of your chakras, or of antlers growing out of your head:
http://www.df9ic.de/tech/antenna/antenna_large.JPG
Beware the name on the antenna, because you can use it to tune into any station (any subtle frequency, any channeled energy signature) you like, is the point.
Well, one thing that happened to me was I had a bunch of stuff happen to my vehicle and it wiped out all my cash I was going to use to go to Alaska. So I ended putting the trip off indefinately.
So then all this stuff started opening up here in Madison. Also after the deal with my truck I felt really at peace that I was staying for a while. So I went to a psychic to get some insight.
One of the things she said was that all of my delusions will soon be shattered. Sure enough they were. So I guess that is like emptying my cache. Because I was all thinking there was going to be a Great Depression. I was kind of “heading for the hills” to ride it out.
So anyway, then I was opened up to all these other possibilities like Green architecture, sustainable development. So now I joined the Local Unitarian Unaversalist Church here and am getting involved. The Building was built by Frank Lloyd Wright and they are building a new addition that is in keeping with his vision of being in harmony with the Earth. I have an opportunity to go to a work day and help put a “green roof” on which is grass. There is also an organization I can volunteer at that is similar to habitat for humanity only it restores old houses and makes them energy efficient.
I opened myself up to all this cool stuff that is going on related to a type of green globalization that is occuring.
Another thing Tim, I want to add thats related to the internet. Buckminster Fuller was against Malthus. All these people into “peak oil” and “the crash” are basicaly Malthusian.
So anyway his argumant against all that its “ephemeralization of technology” As population increases technology becomes more ephemeralized, freeing up natural resources for other things. He predicted in 1981 some type of computer the size of a hearing aid that would transcend time and space and connect overyone on the globe. Which now it sounds like Blue tooth or somthing that is no big deal but it was 1981.
This is a pattern that has occured throughout history.
The story of Rene Descartes is legend in this respect. One day in 1619 he had a series of three fevered dreams; when he woke he had single-handedly /invented the scientific method/ …
http://physics.weber.edu/carroll/honors/descarte.htm
The book is excellent btw, exploring the limits of Descartes’ legacy.
is so much nicer than “ego death”.
Also, speaking of freeing up natural resources, did any one see this?
speedbird, learning that Descarte devleoped the scientific method from a dream where it was explained to him (I think I heard this on a Terrence McKenna lecture recording, originally) completely killed off whatever bits of the science-vs-religion dialectic were still fighting in my head. I wonder if anyone the Richard Dawkins types know about this…
I often get that in the morning while laying in bed, or while doing a mindless task, like showering or walking.
There are different metaphors one can use; tuning in, receiving a download.
Ray Bradbury described his “morning voices.”
What is cool is that already when I was 9 or 10 I used to imagine that I could somehow connect my brain to a computer, and I was thinking about the implications of different implementations, like just having a UI link or storing files in my brain.
BTW, totally unrelated: Concerning your 5 day limit for commenting (Or whatever the time limit is) could you somehow change so that it is extended when new comments arrive?
I *could* change it but I have it set to turn off comments after five days because that’s how I like having it run. This way, conversations don’t drag on forever and go off into too far out tangents like they tend to otherwise. Just a personal preference I guess.
Not relevant to the topic but you always make pretty good use of odd pictures.
http://lolmanuscripts.blogspot.com/
I can see two problems with the current system.
1) Discussions can’t keep on going for popular posts. (Which is they way you like it)
2) You can’t comment old posts. In a way you could just as well delete the posts after five days.
To follow up on Julia’s post, here’s another great collection of weird images.
No lolspeak though…
Beautiful pictures.
Don’t delete the old posts yet. I use the links.
I don’t want them to keep going for ANY posts. If people want to keep talking about something, there is an entire rest of the internet for that to happen.
You’re making the judgement that the only value in a post is whether or not you can comment on it, and that the material itself is irrelevant and useless.
i woke up one morning only to find that i could see through the wall of my apartment building and as i focused on what i was seeing i was hit by a beam of energy that slammed me into the bed.
i was paralysed but just drifted back off to sleep and didn`t remember the episode until weeks later.
some make this sort of experience into a religious thing or an alien abduction, for me it was a neuro-chemical something that could have been a download, certainly the energy appeared to come from elsewhere and into “me”, but who knows?
My father didn’t remember his near death experience until months later. The experiences were unveiled to him slowly over the course of some time but maybe a lifetime because he didn’t talk about it very often.