THE DIAMOND BODY: A SOLID STATE MANDALA
A Modern Alchemical View of the Philosopher's Stone
by Richard and Iona Miller (aka Philo Stone), ©1981
V. CONCLUSIONS: THE QUINTESSENCE
A. NEURAL FEEDBACK AND BRAINWAVE TRAINING
"Gentlemen, I have a confession to make - half of what we have taught you is in error; and furthermore we cannot tell you which half it is."
--Sir William Osler
(to a graduating medical class)
A man named Caton first discovered electrical rhythms within the brains of animals in 1875. It was over 50 years later when Hans Berger showed that man also had these rhythms. His original search was in the hopes of finding the physical link between man's mind and his body.
It was this mind/body question which led him to dedicate his life to finding this link. He became interested in the work of Caton and others and set up his own laboratory to further investigate the electrical activity of the brain.
After 20 years of research, he was first able to record the brain rhythms of a human. He spent another 10 years convincing his colleagues that this rhythm came from the neurons of the brain, not from blood flow or connective tissue. His original studies also showed that this rhythm changed with age, was vulnerable to sensory stimulation, and was affected by body chemistry.
World War II broke out and Hans Berger never finished his original work: crack the code of brain rhythms and their link to "psychic functions." Since that time, no one else has either. Later research centered around the more practical applications of the EEG to epilepsy, brain metabolism, brain functions and the levels of consciousness.
1. BASIC METABOLIC RATE (BMR):
Brain metabolism is directly related to body metabolism. One facet of the human body that the EEG will monitor is that of brain metabolism. Such gross metabolic dysfunction as liver and kidney failure are easily seen with the EEG. Epilepsy is also seen as resulting in a metabolic dysfunction within the brain. Because of these and other important factors, the EEG was incorporated into the medical systems of Western society.
The EEG is also a good reflection of how well oxygen is metabolized in the blood. Your body needs oxygen in order to convert food resources into energy. Any deviation in oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output changes the EEG reading. Both hyperventilation and hypoventilation cause the EEG pattern to slow down. The amount of sugar, as a food resource, also affects the EEG.
2. BRAIN ACTIVITY AND THE SOURCE OF ALPHA WAVES
The EEG is considered to monitor "gross" neuronal activity. It does not monitor individual neurons per se, but large groupings. Whenever rhythms are seen in the EEG, it is the net result of many thousands of neurons "in unison."
Because alpha is seen so easily in the EEG, it was originally thought that there must be some kind of intracranial control mechanism (pacemaker) that caused all of those neurons to fire in unison.
Recently two Dutch scientists claimed to have proven the existence of such an alpha-pacemaker. It supposedly was located in the thalamus, located in the brain stem. It was thought to gate impulses from the body (spinal cord) into appropriate locations in the brain. Hand impulses are thus gated into that part of the brain designated as hand. Alpha, then was thought to be a very rhythmic gating of the information from the body to the brain.
This rhythmic gating results in alpha. It is thought to be the result of a very relaxed state. Non-rhythmic gating, resulting in dyssynchronous brain wave activity, was considered a type of coping response to impinging stimuli. Since the pacemaker theory of alpha is still tentative, it has not yet received wide recognition within the scientific community. This is a result of a very complex relationship between autonomic nervous system activity, brain metabolism, age, and a host of other pertinent factors.
3. LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
One of the most important facets of the EEG is that it is an excellent indicator of levels and states of consciousness. Audio or visual inspection can determine whether a person is alert, relaxed, drowsy, asleep or even dreaming. Specific detail and arbitrary limit-points for various levels of consciousness are now defined by EEG parameters. The field of altered states of consciousness (ASC) and exploration and control of consciousness are all a direct result of this very important tool.
It is often through the introduction of these new tools that new techniques and discoveries are made. The tremendous advances in electronics made in the past decade have advanced sophisticated equipment that stimulated psycho-physics and research in new ideas in science. This is especially true in the area of biofeedback and self-control technology.
4. BIOFEEDBACK TRAINING
The technique of biofeedback is based on the fundamental process of instrument learning. A situation gives rise to several variable behaviors. One response is in some way rewarded or reinforced. Learning occurs as this response occurs successively more and more quickly and reliably.
Essential to this learning process is the receiving of information in a feedback loop, similarly to servo systems. This can be done via visual or auditory stimuli, which tell us when we have made the correct response or moved closer to our goal.
This is made possible by using electronic feedback loops (such as those provided by an Electroencephalophone or EEP) and a psychological technique called operant conditioning. The first successful attempts were attributed to Joe Kamiya in the late 1950's. Essentially, his technique gave a signal when he achieved specific levels of consciousness. Its full potential has yet to be realized.
Behavior has traditionally been divided into two categories:
1. Voluntary control, such as walking, writing, muscular activities;
and,
2. Autonomic control, such as heartbeat, blood pressure, brain-wave
production, visceral body processes.
We learn to guide our behavior by receiving feedback on the results and then making appropriate adjustments. This is the place where the voluntary and involuntary behavior differ. While we can receive feedback in our writing, we do not have such access to those from the visceral activities.
If provided with this absent (bio)feedback via electronic means, it has been shown conclusively that we can learn to exert a "voluntary" control of\over inner bodily functions. Yogis have done it for centuries, taking years to learn the disciplines of mind control, self-hypnosis, and autonomic regulation.
Recent research into control of heartbeat, blood pressure, body temperature, brainwave production, and pain control indicates that conscious control is possible. Research into control of brainwaves through the use of biofeedback techniques has centered around alpha waves, and more recently, theta. Some of the more well-known researchers are Kamiya, Kasamatsu, Brown, Hart, Peper, Mulholland, Stoyva, Green, Walters and Green.
In discussing biofeedback research and results, one runs into a problem of semantics. It is the idea of learning to "control" one's brainwaves. It must be emphasized that in using these techniques, a person is not learning to directly control the neuronal electrical activity of action potentials and synaptic events in the cerbral cortex. One learns to control the subjective or mental event associated with the presence of alpha or theta.
Like self-hypnosis it requires not-doing or letting it happen. Very typically people "try" to enter alpha; then they "try not to try"; finally, they simply learn how to let go into the state. The experience may be different for each person each time depending on their frame of reference.
Changes in brainwave patterns, or blood pressure, body temperature and deep muscle tension are "physiological correlates of psychological processes that the subject learns to control."
5. BRAIN WAVE PATTERNS
The pattern of neuronal activity in the cerebral cortical section of the brain can be recorded electrically. This is done by measuring the electrical potential difference between two points on the scalp. The record is known as the electroencephalogram (EEG). Brain waves manifest themselves as oscillating voltage. They have two main dimensions: the frequency of oscillation and the amplitude.
The frequency predominantly determines the amplitude of the brain wave, but there can be fluctuations of amplitude at a given frequency. Brain waves are broken up into four main categories, determined by the frequency of the wave. The borders of these categories are more or less arbitrary. The following table is therefore only approximately correct:
[Brainwave Table]
Beta: This is the brainwave of normal waking consciousness. It is characterized as the state of being awake, alert, and concentrating. If this state is maintained for a prolonged period, it becomes associated with feelings of tension, worry, fear, or anxiety. Lower brain states are necessary on an occasional basis to maintain the alert aspect of this state. A visual-identification in the mind's eye occurs, a state where image are identified with form and specific objects.
Alpha: This is also a conscious state, but identified with the mental experience where images are not identified. It has come to be associated with feelings of pleasure, pleasantness, tranquility, serenity and relaxation. It can also imply a relaxed concentration. It is also a place of light sleep and dream states.
Theta: This state is traditionally labeled unconscious by western medicine. In recent years, however, people trained with autogenics can achieve this state and retain consciousness, similar to meditators. Theta has come to be associated with such things as hypnogogic imagery, day dreaming, sleep, and creativity. It has also been shown as the state where healing and regenerating of tissue occurs.
Delta: This state is predominantly associated with non-dreaming sleep or deep sleep. There are some reports of individuals achieving this set of brainwave patterns and still retaining consciousness. If it is achieved while maintaining a conscious state, "out-of-body" experiences (OOBE) are subjectively experienced and reported.
