30 Aug 2010, 12:09 pm
Thanks for posting, both of you. I will need to reread and digest and then perhaps come back with other thoughts and questions.
One thought about the delta state came to my mind; Surya called it a drunken, demented state (paraphrase); I wonder if there's something in it that is desirable, like when deliriant drugs are used. I think that can be an interesting state. When thought doesn't work like it normally does, it's quite entertaining. I'd like to somehow harness that, umm, 'creativity' for want of a better word. It's like my mind is an auto surrealist poem generator.
Funny thing about coming to spirituality and you talking about 'feeling your brain working'. When I meditate, or sometimes just get really into an activity, I can feel certain areas of my brain activating, they almost hum, throb, or vibrate, it's typically something in the front of my brain, and sometimes I also get something in each 'side' or front flank of the brain. They must correspond somehow. Interesting.
Being so into your painting, detached from the world and your own body sounds a little like the descriptions of Jhana that I have read.
I've come across Csíkszentmihályi and his flow theory before, never had the money to buy the book, but it looks very interesting.
Anyway, lot to read now. I'll probably be back. 
30 Aug 2010, 12:25 pm
30 Aug 2010, 1:07 pm
There's a lot of info available which, once you start looking into it, seems to connect together, so a lot of this has to be generalised. I don't really categorise actual people into labels, it's more looking at styles of behaviour, and trying to find patterns. And I don't 'know' this stuff, it's just the patterns that seem to stand out, combining research, personal experiences, and browsing WP etc.
Anyway, that aside. Gamma Waves are a fairly recent 'find', but they do seem to equate to 'flow', and that state seems to me to be very aspie, and could even relate to rdos 'aspie talent/compulsion' categories. But it's also possible to be in flow state whilst dispassionately interacting with the world, rising above it, if you like. In spirituality, the phrase being at one with things is a metaphor of the flow concept. I'm not trying to imply it's aspie-only, just that we can probably get there quite easily, even playing video games (in the zone).
But the Theta state also relates to components of spirituality and creativity, almost in a different way, since it shows in things such as REM sleep, lucid dreaming, meditation. So I tend to think of theta as closer to psychic awareness or closer to the unconscious, but at the same time it is almost the absence of the focus of the gamma state, which could be more of a super conscious state. Perhaps OOBEs are theta state experiences.
But relating it to personal experience, brainwork, information processing, that is flow, my brain is so engaged I can almost feel it working. But painting/drawing, for me, is a different place, I'm disengaged from the world, but I'm also disengaged from myself, and almost unaware of what I'm doing. Not that I'm much of an artist, but it's a nice place to be, and it's a different place. My unconscious mind is a better artist than my conscious mind, and tends to surprise me.
Surya has gone with Delta as perhaps negative, but I think any of the brain wave states can be negative. So I could equate positive delta to 'at peace with oneself', no drives to fulfill, no pressures, not a oneness with the universe, just a oneness with oneself. A calm sensual place possibly. It's also associated with deep sleep, so maybe what I'm trying to describe is the relaxed contentment of sleep whilst still being awake. I do have someone in mind here, who was unique and rather wonderful, like an oasis of calm.
For the most part (except for basic bodily feelings like hunger and pain, which are innate), people are able to decide what they want to focus their attention on. However, when one is in the flow state, he or she is completely engrossed with the one task at hand and, without making the conscious decision to do so, loses awareness of all other things: time, people, distractions, and even basic bodily needs. This occurs because all of the attention of the person in the flow state is on the task at hand; there is no more attention to be allocated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
YES!!..
I hate labels..
like NT, AS.. dyslexia..etc..
But, I am ok when it is talking about the brain and body functions.
We use all parts of it..
The important part is finding that balance..
and if something is NOT balancing, than we need to look at the two sides and see what we can add
or reduce naturally to
balance it all out..
I am so tossing away my information.. oh well
One of the BIG problems I have with the testing equipment
IS that I believe it is designed WRONG!!
There is a flaw that is so big you can fit a cargo plane through it.
My GUTS tell me it is wrong.. because of how everything in nature works..
everything runs in cycles..
In general tested the testing equipment is ran linear.
In my mind, it should NOT be that way..
That is why I went for the tour and such of the synchrotron.
When I have discussed it with physicist they all seem to agree with what I am saying
and have suggested I look at the synchrotron for a way of testing..
in a linear testing pattern.. there is no real way to test if.. from Gamma to Delta smoothly
In heart monitors.. the heart rate goes sky high..
than they can loose a signal. Than it comes back..
what is that signal wasnt ''gone.. but JUST not showing..
and it cannot show on a straight line..
If the equipment was more like..
this will sound oddbut this has been in my head since I was 12 I think.. of how the equipment should be closer to being set up..
Fish sonar on boats.. it is circular
why cant testing equipment be set up like that some how..
I have been told it is completely possible by people that build the stuff..
but it comes down to cost and training
NO.. far from being negative.. I do not believe in anything being purely negative or positive
I said
I do NOT see those as pure negatives.. So do not think that I do..
I actually see them as much more then what most in society sees them as I believe..
Many times, it is those 'traits' that are more pure.. free flowing..:
A 'interverted' drunk is more social
Deliriously happy..
dementia.. revisiting happy times as a child.. playing on the swings..
schizophrenic.. seeing wonderful amazing things.. that many can not.. or will not ever see.. John Nash is able to view and see this amazing wonerful things.. that so many on this planet would never be able to se..
So yea..
don't ever assume that I see these as negatives.. That.. would be seeing.. well.. myself as a negative and I do not do that.. and I do not label myself. But society , western society has labelled me many things over the years.. I tend to rip them off of myself pretty quickly though
It may have been worded poorly.. BUt as I have said, many times.. I see visually.. and process visually..
words are not my natural ..first language or processing .. and to have to do them.. in a order, is hard.
You should see my notebooks
When stressed.. or excited.. it gets worse, because everything inside speeds up.. and it speeds up a LOT!
YES.. of course there is..
30 Aug 2010, 1:58 pm
Hi Surya
This is all very interesting.
It's tricky keeping up with, reading, thinking, posting when sometimes I think I could talk about this stuff for weeks. I agree, sometimes things leave a very uneasy sense, but I still hope that's not the case. I'm not ready to label everyone bad guys, just a minority who don't do anyone any favours.
It's hard not to generalise in order to be succinct, so where I said positive as opposed to negative, I didn't quite mean that, more along the lines that a seizure is also a brain state, and it might not be a good one to be in, whereas a similar state in someone else might be very enjoyable. I was mentally contrasting 'drunk and confused' with a state of calm, and only really referring to that. Hope that makes sense. Sorry if it came across badly, I was the one wording it poorly I think.
I had a few other ideas tickling my brain at the same time, about states which could be considered negative, even though the person experiencing them wouldn't think so. Haven't really thought it through, but I was just wondering whether certain pathologies would generate flow states.
Read some interesting research on brain chemistry and wiring, how social acceptance/rejection actually causes pleasure/pain, and how gain/one-upmanship trigger significant dopamine release in some subjects. And, of course, cognitive dissonance and the rethinking commonly undertaken to reduce it. And all these different things build up a picture.
We may have different angles of approach, and different sources, but we're on common ground I think. The easiest way to think of it is as pooling information.
But you're not tossing yours away I hope, just having a research discussion on a forum.
I can't help being interested, but it's only personal to me, apart from the fact that I hope some ideas which might be of benefit will actually pop up. Like you with your visual brain, mine is a compulsive pattern matcher, it's just been doing its own thing - I can't stop that, I don't have an off switch, so it's nice to have an outlet. My problem is that I keep making new connections and having new ideas, just by trying to write a few posts!
30 Aug 2010, 5:36 pm
This is all very interesting.
It's tricky keeping up with, reading, thinking, posting when sometimes I think I could talk about this stuff for weeks. I agree, sometimes things leave a very uneasy sense, but I still hope that's not the case. I'm not ready to label everyone bad guys, just a minority who don't do anyone any favours.
It's hard not to generalise in order to be succinct, so where I said positive as opposed to negative, I didn't quite mean that, more along the lines that a seizure is also a brain state, and it might not be a good one to be in, whereas a similar state in someone else might be very enjoyable. I was mentally contrasting 'drunk and confused' with a state of calm, and only really referring to that. Hope that makes sense. Sorry if it came across badly, I was the one wording it poorly I think.
I had a few other ideas tickling my brain at the same time, about states which could be considered negative, even though the person experiencing them wouldn't think so. Haven't really thought it through, but I was just wondering whether certain pathologies would generate flow states.
Read some interesting research on brain chemistry and wiring, how social acceptance/rejection actually causes pleasure/pain, and how gain/one-upmanship trigger significant dopamine release in some subjects. And, of course, cognitive dissonance and the rethinking commonly undertaken to reduce it. And all these different things build up a picture.
We may have different angles of approach, and different sources, but we're on common ground I think. The easiest way to think of it is as pooling information.
But you're not tossing yours away I hope, just having a research discussion on a forum.
I can't help being interested, but it's only personal to me, apart from the fact that I hope some ideas which might be of benefit will actually pop up. Like you with your visual brain, mine is a compulsive pattern matcher, it's just been doing its own thing - I can't stop that, I don't have an off switch, so it's nice to have an outlet. My problem is that I keep making new connections and having new ideas, just by trying to write a few posts!
Yes.. the visual.. is all in patterns.. umm.. oi it is soo hard to explain..
and I am also.. getting ready to do the major shuffle from CND to your area.. and YES.. I can talk about this for years..
Because it has been boiling inside since I was very young..
hmm..
I have a thought..
give me a bit..
