In this issue, the reader will be able to appreciate a range of different aspects of conscientiology and different styles of research and writing.
The first paper, by Sassoli de Bianchi, presents, in a rather interesting way, arguments about complex topics such as reality. Presented in an engaging Socratic dialogue style, the article expands the discussion on elements that are deeply engrained in the language of science and in the scientific approach to several essential concepts including certainty, identity, evolution, energy, non-locality, participative research, and others. The 'dialogue' develops in such a manner that a more clear realization of the complexities involved in the consciential paradigm emerges. A long yet worthwhile read, this article is divided into two parts. It is continued in the next issue of the JofC , where further concepts are addressed.
The following contribution is a discussion of concepts and conclusions that the author, André Gomes, raises based on a continuous conscious out-of-body experience he had. According to Gomes, in his experience he could manifest in the mental dimension and communicate via Conscientese. Thus, due to the type of projection experienced - mentalsoma projection - some discussions on cosmoconsciousness and associated themes are presented.
Eliana Manfroi, the third contributor of this issue, introduces a number of arguments to establish her hypothesis that there exists a type of consciential attribute that would develop upon overcoming adverse existential situations. The identification of this attribute, which she calls interassistantial resilience, was inspired by the proposition of resilience in psychology. With the help of case studies, Manfroi carried out investigations on the topic, proceeding to adapt it to the field of conscientiology.
A fellow projector and long-term member of the IAC, Michael Ross, presents us with his personal account of a series of projections in which he experienced the perception of 'traveling through a tunnel' at the moment of departing from the physical body. Being that it is a sensation more common in near-death experiences, Ross contributes with case history of occasions in which this effect occurs during regular out-of-body experiences.
We hope you enjoy reading these ideas and experiences. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that your opinions on the topics presented in this or in any other issue of the JofC are welcome. If you wish to contribute your views about the ideas published in the Journal, please send your comments in the form of a letter addressed to the editor at journal@iacworld.org.
The Editor
This paper is written as a Socratic dialogue between a lecturer and a student. In a non-technical style, it presents some elements for an operational description of reality. Following a brief introductory discussion about the main characterizing ingredients of a scientific approach to reality, the reader is introduced to a number of important, but unexpectedly puzzling, concepts which are at the roots of our scientific language. More specifically, using a number of simple examples, the dialogue explores the meaning of concepts such as: experimental test, property, attribute, actuality and potentiality, entity, state, certainty, identity, evolution, classical and quantum probabilities, energy, space and non-locality, and many others as well. The old questions of determinism and dualism will also be addressed, and the role played by the participatory consciousnesses in our operational understanding of reality considered. Note: This paper is the first half of a dialogue which is to be continued and concluded in the next issue of JofC .
The author reports the experience of a continuous lucid projection of the consciousness through the mentalsoma, in the mental dimension, and communication with other consciousnesses in conscientese. This experience made him reflect on the concepts of lucid projection, cosmoconsciousness, mental dimension, mentalsoma, precognitions, retrocognitions, and the theory of the serenissimus.
This article proposes the hypothesis of the existence of the strong trait of interassistantial resilience, an attribute of the consciousness that is developed through the self-overcoming of existential adversities. This study utilized the case study method (case history) and a bibliographic review on the subject of resilience in Psychology and Education, proposing its extrapolation through the science of Conscientiology. Among preliminary conclusions, this attribute stands out as a powerful parapedagogical resource and interassistantial tool.
Keywords: resilience; interassistantiality; exemplarism; parapedagogical resource.
Having been fortunate enough to experience many "average" out of the body experiences, over many years. In recent months, I found it absolutely exhilarating to experience three overwhelming incidences of "tunnel effect" projections which usually occur during "Near Death" experience or visions.
The first occurred one evening after I had indulged in my usual practice of trying to encourage an out of the body experience by using an affirmation "I will remain conscious" prior to going to sleep.
After falling asleep, I woke up to find myself rising in the air (I had fallen asleep on my stomach) with an enormous roaring sound echoing all around. It sounded like being in the midst of a thunderstorm. I was fully conscious and naturally thrilled to be experiencing yet another out-of-body experience.
I decided to see how I looked in my bedroom's dressing table mirror. I saw myself dressed in pyjamas and a dressing gown and I was considerably shorter than in real life. I was conscious that this was yet another example of "astral plane distortion" which frequently occurs during projections.
Finding myself staring down a tunnel whose walls consisted of vivid black and white squares. At the opening of the tunnel there seemed to be a swastika shape. Then I found myself moving backwards through this tunnel at an enormous speed with all the sensation of a roller coaster being present. This was an extremely enjoyable feeling and I wished that it could have continued for hours.
Then I decided I would like to visit a scene of a former home approximately thirty miles away. I immediately found myself floating above the street of my former home and after a few seconds found myself moving at great speed along the road leading back to where I currently live.
I then had a semi-conscious projection (and was aware of it as such) with various members of my family acting out surreal situations. My arms were crackling and sparkling with blue sparks and I had the sensation that they had some sort of power, after which I found myself back in my physical body. As usual, I noted the time and proceeded to write up the report of my astral journey, in a diary, I keep for that purpose.
A few weeks after this episode I woke up one evening with a strange "tingling feeling" in my head. I became aware, looking down a tunnel with strangely coloured walls. It was decidedly zigzagged, disjointed, and not as clearly patterned as the previous example. At the opening of the tunnel there was a window, where a lot of what can only be described as massive television like "snowy interference" was occurring. There was a shape of some being, like a Catholic Priest or Pope behind the window. Accompanying this was an indistinct fuzzy sound. I found myself unable to move and then remembered to use a "spinning technique" and then found myself spinning round towards the floor and then rising to look at my slightly distorted bedside clock face. I noted the time and then found myself in the midst yet another semi-lucid projections which entailed members of the family acting out incidents which had correlations with things they were at that time and earlier on during the day busily involved in.
I "awoke" in my astral body again and I told myself to lift my astral arms and hands (para-arms and para-hands) so that I could see them. I was excited to note that they were transparent and I brought them together to clap, and experienced this in slow-motion, as if my parahands were moving through treacle. Then I tried to speak to my wife who was fast asleep beside me and whom I could see perfectly normally. My voice sounded like I was speaking through a container of water - all bubbly, slow and indistinct. Again, I used the spinning technique so that I could move - succeeding, I noticed the time and found myself looking at the world from my physical body.
The third example of a tunnel effect during an astral experience happened when I found myself waking up with the predominance of all sorts of spinning sensations. Instead of a clearly defined tunnel there was a strange pattern of wavy and bending white lights in the corner of my bedroom. I decided to raise my legs (which were facing in that direction) and noticed with some excitement again, that they were transparent and rather slow in motion, like the previous experience. I then raised my astral arms and hands and found that they were identical in texture and appearance as before. Noting the time on my bedside clock which, again, had a slightly distorted shape, I "woke up" in my physical body and checked that the time was the same as from my astral viewpoint - which it was- and then I proceeded to note this down in my "astral diary".
I have pondered for some considerable time to try to understand why these tunnel visions had occurred. The possible causes were my usual attempts, prior to sleep, at attaining an astral projection by trying to programme myself to wake up and find myself in my "astral mode". I had used, various meditation/concentration techniques sporadically, that were outlined in Robert Monroe's book "Journeys Out of the Body", whereby one concentrates prior to sleep on an imaginary point between the eyebrows.
I had also used examples of techniques given in V Van Dam's "The Psychic Explorer" such as imagining a spinning triangle. Israel Regardie's meditation technique as outlined in "The Middle Pillar" was also used. However, I feel that these practices were not very well done or consistently applied.
As meditators will readily admit, it is extremely hard to keep up these periods of concentration. The mind persistently wanders and I feel that I am a particularly good case of a bad meditator! I am increasingly aware of such "tunnel effect" visions occurring and being reported by many people in all sorts of contexts.
Michael Ross
Peterhead, Aberdeenshire
Scotland