• AP Magazine

    An alternative way to explore and explain the mysteries of our world. "Published since 1985, online since 2001."

  • 1
Alternate Perceptions Magazine, August 2017


Some Who Go Never Come Back, Never Come Back...
Nervous System Linkage and Altered States of Consciousness
Chapter Two

by: Stan Morrison



It's true. Some who go never come back to a normal, mentally healthy life. Some are doomed because of disease, some because of physical brain injury (including drug abuse), and some because of what I call “Inner Space Entrapment,” due to very close encounters with the paranormal. Intentional altered states (ASCs) research and direct explorations are in the latter category. Even the professionals can become the clientele of the psychiatric system.

This illustration, or diagram, has been published a couple of times in magazine articles. One title was, “The 'X' Realm,” with the subtitle, “The Strange Actions of UFOs Prove That there Is a Fifth Dimension. Now a Shocking New Theory Says We Can Actually Enter Into...The X Realm.” It was a Fall 1989 piece in UFO Universe. It basically shows ones position in space and time as he/she travels forward in the physical world. Precognition is the focus, or perceiving future events before they occur. This illustration was done during The Fifth Process, and, based on participatory observations, reveals the dynamics of not only precognition but retrocognition.

One would probably be surprised how many amateur metaphysicians/occultists are residents of mental hospitals. A lot of these people would have had outstanding, promising futures had they not fallen prey to one of the problems mentioned above.

A lot of the symbology and dynamics of the hallucinatory data attained in psychonautic ventures in the early days supported ESP and other new psychological ideas, such as the “collective unconscious”, as outlined by Carl Jung. Also, in the published data pre-1980, analysis resulted in other interesting findings. Some of the hallucinatory images seemed to resemble actual “brain structures.” These reports, by Ph.D's, M.D.'s, etc., are hard to come by, since professionals do not like to openly publish their participatory observations while under the altering influence of hallucinogens, such as LSD, DMT, etc., and other substances used by other cultures. They also do not like to mention paranormal experiences, at least openly. This data is there, and is really not that difficult to research.

Next to the complex hallucinatory phenomena of brain structure and universal symbols, the content is primarily religious. Even in some other countries besides the West, the hallucinations are Judeo-Christian, and mostly play along with our understanding of God and the Devil. This can't be denied. It is universal. But don't get me wrong. I have not been a psychonaut entrenched in a large extreme spiritual system where the belief is non-Judeo/Christian. From what I've understood (based on participatory observations), the symbolic basics are the same, or universal. Demons are demons, devils are devils, and the Lord is Lord.

I don't want to bore the reader with references to Spielbergesque Hollyood movies. But there were some splendid synchronistic examples contained in Tobee Hooper's “Poltergeist” (1980), that revealed the deeper levels of paranormal close encounters. For my purposes now, we'll take a look at one of the major entity manifestations towards the end of the flick, the entity that was labeled the “Beast.” That manifestation, or entity, was not totally unique. My experience with one like it disclosed aspects relating to this chapter's message – there are qualities of the apparition that are uncannily identical to physical aspects within us all.

The whole story of this “Beast” will be explained in detail in a later chapter, but for our reasons now, it will be shown how the manifestation meshes with our internal biology, and specifically with our brain's processes.

As with the hallucinations that resembled brain structure, the manifestations of this frightening entity (and others like it), reveal actions and structure also, even though it appears independent. They are indeed projections from a very deep part of our being. I'm hoping the illustration will greatly help in understanding my conclusion.

In 1980, my uncle Kenny Munds, a Christian minister and country music singer and song writer and I watched “Poltergeist” on the big screen at a walk-in in Oklahoma City. “Hey, there's your photographs!” Kenny pointed this out when the ectoplasm stretched and inched its way throughout the livingroom of the poltergeist house. He was specificallty referring to my collection of apparitional, ectoplasmic photos. Most of these were from family members, and a few were extremely good and formed images. The experts at the Psychic Observer commented on how they resembled other photos obtained during “voodoo” rituals. Now, we were seeing the phenomenon in a fictional Hollywood movie, though one quite well done and accurate.

The “devil” in this illustration was personally observed. Close encounters with such “spirit beings” seem to contain an outer manifestation of fascinating “points and pinpoints of light.” What are they? Some apparitions, including evil spirits, lack these points of light. But the “devil” types often do. I firmly believe, after looking at one of these “devil archetypes” for an extended time, that these points and pinpoints of white light are revealing neuronal and synaptic firings of our brains. What has to be understood is that this does not mean these entities are not external. They are. At that level, external and internal are represented simultaneously.

The one fact is that we as human beings certainly are firmly established as a top biological species, and are continually dealing with the very real manifestations of “spirit,” and psychic phenomena (psi) in our daily existence. We may not understand it or recognize it as it is occurring, but realizing the mechanics and dynamcis of it all may prove useful and helpful. We shouldn't ignore or be afraid of the truth.

In metaphysics, the idea that we are all “connected” is not new, but fairly ancient.

In contemporary times with modern scientists, Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., is one of the great minds, as a biologist, who saw such a connection in the early 1970s. He was bold enough to call such bio-connections fields or “morphic fields.”

Currently, scientist Dr. Bruce Lipton, with his concept of “epi-genetics”, and writer-researcher Penney Peirce (and a lot of others) are responsible for the beginning of our understanding of “frequencies,” and how they relate to us as human beings.

Dr. Gregory Mishlove is the only scientist who obtained his Ph.D from an acredited University that was specifically a doctorate stating “parapsychology.” Even today, this has not happened again. Some may recognize Dr. Mishlove as the host of a terrific show on PBS called “Thinking Allowed,” which covered a large area of metaphysics.

I think the whole idea of bandwidths and frequencies was recently summed up by Dr. Mishlove. We are more like radios or radio receivers than a life force or bio-being where the “life force” comes from our inner core. It seems humans are not life forms going through a “spiritual” experience, but are “energy” or “spiritual” intelligences going through a biological existence. We are life forms that are part of a univeral energy spectrum, a spectrum that exists from the collective “life” that makes up our living planet. The Earth is alive, and conscious. We just happen to be on top now as a species. We are sharing bandwidths with the rest of the planet, and this can be seen when one takes a close look at paranormal manifestations.

We are a very medium-sized planet on the very outskirts of a very medium-sized galaxy. To understand this, one has to be very humble. We cannot think of us as the center of the Universe. We are so far from that in reality that it is almost pathetic that we have thought so. On the cosmic scale, it is not at all that big of a deal if we as a species were to go extinct. It is simply a fact, a scientific probability if one looks at the numbers.

Clearly, we can no longer polarize our mind-sets or politics/religions. Both poles (right-left) are intrinsically within us all, biologically. Let's believe that presently we are on the right transitional track; let's hope we can graduate into a species that can mobilize around our hell-bent direction of regression and retrogression. Only awareness of our cosmic position and a deep trust will assure that this doesn't happen. The inception and evolution of the Worldwide Web is playing an all-important role, and individual “internal” or “psychonautic” efforts have, and will, be the most consequential actions that can secure the welfare of our future generations. It's an action that I'm sure is not unique to our case.

Whether you call it “nervous system linkage,” “morphic field” linkage or the “collective unconscious,” it's all the same. We are joined as a people due to energy. It has to be said, however, that the deep, individual recesses of a person's brain holds entire domains of reality only relative to him or her. The energy hasn't changed, it's only how the great interior of our brains manage that electrical energy. Subjectivity rules that individual's “world.” In rare cases, as far as I can tell, such subjective states can objectify, being mixed with the energy of the paranormal.

But merely because we live with an energy bandwidth that plays a large part of our being, does not mean that there is no such thing as the independent “spark” of life that sustains us. Our “natural” energy seems to be on the same wavelength as the “paranormal band.” At times, we can be psychic beings. Mediums and psychics seem to always be on that wavelength. And sadly, people suffering from the brain diseases, such as schizophrenia, are overwhelmed and ruled by the paranormal band, subjectively and objectively.

Probably the most common shared experience by those who seem to be on a borderline between “real and unreal,” or “internal and external,” are veridical meanings or coincidences. Sometimes people don't think they are coincidences. They are only coincidences to the experiencer. Then, on the other hand, many of the coincidences can be seen – mostly in retrospect – as genuine psi synchronistic or strange coincidences.

It was described in Chapter One [last issue] how I had some very objective close encounters grouped together in a short period of time. In fact, the 1973 UFO, the “strange creature” bluff or rushing attack, the “hagging” experience from some sort of evil being, and the other bizarre Chino enigmas, all happened within a two year period. Is that all just coincidence and chance mathematical obscurities? Or, is there something else afoot? Personally, I believe it to be the latter, since one thing I found as a certainty is that such concentrations of phenomena are not directly related, but can be traced to our biological makeup. We are the source or agent of such seeming connections between fortean and paranormal phenomena.

I've had some interesting participatory observations of the “schizoid” or psychotic, or “schizophrenic” world. Such close meetings with those living in that realm can be scary, outrightly shocking, or trigger an emotion of empathy for their “altered state” position. I must admit, I can relate.

Several years ago, I went to a coffee shop where there was free internet access, and strong coffee of all varieties (not free). After about ten minutes, I met an individual while sipping my java. He insisted I meet a friend of his, who was also sipping his coffee while engaged in surfing the Net. He was an attractive young man, probably around 25-years-old. As I shook his hand, he immediately and firmly announced, “Hi, I'm an angel!” The way he stated this was so matter of fact that it was clear he was not kidding. How do you handle such a declaration? I simply accepted it, albeit a tad uneasily. He was not frightening, so I went ahead and sat at a chair at his table. Most of his statements were clear and cognizant. I noticed he had a copy of the King James version of the Holy Bible sitting next to his laptop, among other publications. We ended up talking about metaphysics and Christianity. He was very bright, and made sense concerning Christian theology. I think we were talking about something in the Old Testament when he stood, showing me a certain verse, and revealed: “This is the section that talks about me!” He was serious, I could see, so I continued our conversation, ignoring his claim, and soon left. It was the combination of the price of the coffee and the lapses in his sanity that prompted my exit from the establishment.

The only thing that I find universal with all the “altered states,” whether they be negative or positive, is the synchronicity factor. This finding may not be some huge curative observation, but is revealing the inner workings of our bipolar or bicameral brains, and explains how coincidences are created and manifested. The main factor that keeps delusional schizophrenics in their state of “insanity” seems to be meaningful synchronicities. One can't convince an individual that something is not happening when it really is, if it is relative or “meaningful” to them. Understanding the biological mechanisms, however, could be a good start towards rescuring the victim from their state. And comprehending the bipolar or bicameral aspect of ourselves could be “the” epiphany.

For some, the coincidence could be an idea that appears in a book soon to be read. Or, for others, the synchronicity manifests as a UFO encounter, a monster encounter, a strange spirit encounter, etc., compressed in time where they all seem directly related. Again, as I stated previously, and as will be illustrated in detail, these conjunctions can be traced to our biological mechanics. It all just depends on what type of altered state is occurring and what mechanism is involved. As will be shown later, one can even determine, or create, the synchronicity during a controlled psychonautic voyage.

I once asked a “spirit-filled” minister in Oklahoma how it is individuals can become possessed by an evil spirit or demon. Next to literalty asking for it or opening doorways, there were physical head injuries caused by accidents (car wrecks, etc.)

Ray Terrel was a great guy, a Pentecostal minister who evidentally worked daily and directly with people, and the Holy Spirit. (Ray and my association with him will be detailed in the next chapter) Besides the many “gifts of the Spirit” he possesses, he is a genuinely loyal man to someone experiencing the paranormal, and did not avoid the fact that many obsessed, oppressed, and possessed often were dealing with direct medical issues concerning the brain. This fact did not alter or effect his Christian faith, but only confirmed his spiritual beliefs. He possessed the classic gifts of clairaudiance, clairvoyance and divine mediumship.

Leading up to the 1980s, I was experiencing an almost debilitating nervous condition. Because of this, I had to live a life of double-time, or exerting twice the energy, stamina, and inner strength than one normally should. Even though it made me strong in my younger years, it had its downside. I was never an overly nervous guy. It seemed starting in the middle and late seventies, there was something wrong.

“So you can't 'get it up' when you are with a girl, huh?” This was the response from the “counselor” at a local (Baldwin Park, California) “behavioral health center” when I sought help for the nervous disorder I had developed. I had merely told him I had become extremely nervous, and that it was more pronounced around others, and social situations. I had mentioned my extreme displeasure when this concerned those of the opposite sex. I saw that the counselor was going the wrong direction in his inquiry and assumptions. I left and never went back. Wit

h no answers or solutions from the “experts,” I just went on with my life, my metaphysical studies, and journalism. I guess I was serious and made sense, since, as a freelance writer, I published nationally in magazines and newspapers. I was only 16 or 17, but maintained a mature attitude when it came to articles. Virtually all of these were on UFOs or psi. My nervous condition didn't change, but I became pretty good at adapting to it.

The good news is that after forty years I learned of the physical cause of my problems concerning nerves, and have come to realize, amazingly, the biological nature and causes of the phenomena that was yet to come, and things that had already occurred. Of course, this is in my personal case, but revealed were important insights into other manners of altered states of consciousness, and psychic phenomena. This is no great discovery by me, as such things have been known for years on the margins of psychonautics, parapsychology, paraphysics, or psychotronics.

Based on the neurology reports, my medical condition revealed to me the biomechanics that led to a state where the (my) brain and nervous system became seriously enmeshed with the psychic/spirit world. This fact and the paranormal occurrences – which I believe are directly related medically – still puzzles me, though, since I can only understand it as a fluke of nature. All of it was due to an argument (resulting in serious injury) over a small sandwich of “green fried tomatoes” which was, evidently, initially responsible for my condition. Unless it is all pure synchronicity, which I think might be stretching it. Simultaneously, and over the years, my research and efforts focused on techniques on entering “altered states” and following guidelines on using non-causal phenomena (psychokinesis) for ultimate positive effects. The specifics, including the neurology reports, will follow in due time.

Dr. John C. Lilly, whom I've mentioned briefly and earlier in this chapter, is certainly the pioneer of “Inner Space” explorations, and was a medical physician not afraid to disclose he used LSD as merely a tool to reach altered states. As a medical doctor, and a trailblazing psychonaut, he held back on nothing if he felt data attained was useful and valuable.

In his autobiography, The Center of the Cyclone (1972), Lilly wrote in detail about the risks and dangers of “experiential” psychonautics. In Chapter Two of Cyclone, “Near Lethal 'Accident': No Experiment is a Failure,” described is his very close encounter with death, that yielded an altered state experience that he felt was an important and perhaps ground-breaking, personal event. It was this experience, and others, that convinced him of the reality of “other intelligences” and the accurate nature of death.

In Cyclone, Dr. Lilly writes how he accidentally, while injecting himself with an antibiotic drug, almost “kicked the bucket.” It was discovered that the syringe Lilly had used contained traces of a detergent residue. In short, he injected himself with tiny bubbles of foam which sent him ultimately into a coma. This was a critical condition. Psychonautics is not for the untrained and inexperienced, as Lilly would have confirmed. His mistake was actually a real accident, having nothing to do with an altered state endeavor. It turns out that in the end a great lesson was learned concerning future journeys to “other states of consciousness,” and the true nature of human awareness.

In his coma at the hospital, Dr. Lilly seemed to have had more of an OBE (out-of-body experience) than previous psychonautic involvements. According to his memoir, he encountered two external beings which he called the “Guardians.” His description was of intelligences of pure light. It was a very personal encounter and quite a revelation. During the experience, inner visions transformed from insightful and meaningful images to a phenomenon I've had experiences with, and which played a major role in my own significant, deep altered voyages.

Earlier in this chapter I mentioned the paranormal phenomenon of “pinpoints of light,” and how they may relate to brain structure. During Lilly's coma, he internally experienced this phenomenon which played such an important part in my efforts. Even though he was in clinical coma, John Lilly, as he records, was conscious during the event:

“...there was a swarm of insect-like points of light...which moved across the visual field. I found I could program their direction of flight and their speed. When I thought they would move in a particular direction, later that swarm moved in that direction.” (1)

In Lilly's case, there was a hesitation of the phenomenon to move on demand. In my case, it was relatively instantaneous. I don't believe this was due to the particular differences in the brain problems or damage, but due to the perception understanding of the observation.

Dr. Lilly pulled out of his coma, but was left with issues concerning his sight. They weren't major, and he felt the learning experiences made up for the accident. In fact, he learned so much from this “close call” that his explorations of Inner Space were modified from the event.

The actual fact is – I believe – John C. Lilly is the first scientist to lay down from participatory observations the paradigms and directions for psychonauts bold enough to venture into the internal psychic realms of our species. He not only invented the isolation tank, but lent objectivity to a field much in need of scientific credibility. What was once only the working realms of shamans, Lilly brought the field into a type of mainstream. We now had a roadmap for Inner Space. All current psychonauts from various backgrounds, such as those associated with the Monroe Institute as one example, would concur.

It was in 1974, while living in Rowland Heights, California, that my condition changed from only a “nervous condition” into a serious medical issue. At the time, I had done some artwork for MUFON field investigator Ann Druffel, as an unsolicited courtesy for providing me corroberating UFO cases I used for the article(s) documenting my close encounter in 1973. Ann used this artwork as visual aids for an abduction case she was investigating. Her regular reports on this case appeared in FATE magazine and other publications at the time. I understand these renderings were used also at MUFON conferences. One of the color drawings was published in her book, How to Protect Yourself Against Alien Abductions, which was published in the late 1990s.

Not long after the “hagging” experience at the Rowland Heights condo, I had a major grandmal seizure. My brother called the ambulance, and I ended up in downtown Los Angeles at the County Hospital, USC. It was clear that the focus was on my mental/psychiatric state rather than the convulsion. Since I was then writing and researching on the paranormal and UFOs, my temporary fate was sealed, as far as the doctors were concerned – I was a mere basket case. After a couple of weeks of observation, I was able to return to the condo. All of my research data, including a rather lengthy book manuscript, had been thrown out. There was really nothing I could do but accept my fate and keep silent. Dr. Lilly wrote about this sort of thing in Cyclone. When he awakened from his coma, he reported to the attending physician some of the experiences/observations he had had during the coma, and the reply was, “Oh, so you need to see a psychiatrist!” I think it sort of scared him, so he completely kept quiet about the altered state perceptions he had while in coma.

In 1975 and 1976, the conclusions of a great deal of experts (from anthropologists to psychiatrists, to veteran paranormal researchers to physicists and cosmologists) felt our species probably has reached its zenith as a civilization; unless something is done to change its course into the future. This train of thought had been brewing for some time. Only now, more professional scientists agreed and expressed their opinions openly and in publications.

One of the best writers/scientists to publish in the 1970s has to be Julian Jaynes. Even though this was the only book this scholar published, the thesis presented was a paradigm regarding humankind that changed or modified the thoughts of a great many relating to the history of the evolution of consciousness.

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976), though controversial, not only summed up our psychic/physiological past, but I believe is entirely accurate concerning the nature of the brain and what occurs with psychic phenomena today and yesterday. One should read the volume to realize the significant empirical research supporting the thesis, but I'll try and greatly condense it in a very basic manner.

Julian Jaynes, through many years of academic study, clearly saw the nature of our evolving mythologies and how they pertain to our present brain structure. What I found troubling at first was that Jaynes placed our consciousness change only 3,000 years ago. Even though other research would place this much, much further back in time, one must agree with Jaynes, based on his expertise and the parapyschological phenomena I've observed first hand.

Our awareness and our way of thinking was very different pre-3,000 years ago. The evidence clearly indicates, in Bicameral, that we as homo sapiens in a still early structure of civilization, were living in a much more “paranormal” normality than we are today. Today, we, as a species, experience psi, but only as a phenomenon. In millenia past, we “communed with the gods,” and psi was the norm. According to Jaynes, our normal usage of our neocortex was quite different than it is today. Our dominant “brain” was the right hemisphere of the neocortex. Psi in all its forms, specifically forms of or related to “other” beings that told us what to do, ruled mankind.

As we gradually evolved technically and socially, the left hemisphere became the control. The Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods lost their grip on our minds. (Of course, the same thing was happening in the New World.)

Again, this all coincided with the change from the “intuitive right” hemisphere to the “rational left” hemisphere of the neocortex of our brains.

Today, psi, or psychic phenomena, has been relagated to delusion, fantasy and imagination (by mainstream science). At one time, psi ruled our behavior, and gave birth to what today we call “myth” and “superstition.”

Julian Jaynes, at first, studied and considered nature and non-human life forms, and so did anthropologist Rupert Sheldrake during the same period. Instead of historical analysis and mythical evidence relating to consciousness, Sheldrake saw clear proof in today's behaviors of animals and man. In the early 1970s, Sheldrake outlined in his book, The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Memory of Nature, an energy force that is purely biological, and is linked to life on the planet. He called these “Morphic fields,” and the evidence for these energy fields can clearly be found in nature.

I heard recently a metaphysical writer on a radio show refer to an issue that she called the “law of the 100 monkeys.” In reality, what she was talking about was a scientific example pointed out by Rupert Sheldrake affirming the reality of morphic fields. Her concept was correct in that knowledge passed unexplainably from one monkey to others, but the more accurate event was where West African macaques, or rhesus monkeys, on an island off the mainland shared behaviors with those monkeys firmly existing on the African mainland. The population of the monkeys on the isolated island were supplemented by humans in their food course with potatoes. Over a short time, the islander macaques learned that washing their potatoes in the salty ocean tasted much better than the raw tubors, unsalted. It wasn't long before the monkeys on the mainland began the same behavior – washing their potatoes in the sea where they found the salt made the potatoes taste better. Never was there any direct contact between the groups. Somehow that writer got the “100 monkeys” reference from that case. It really doesn't matter, but the “100 monkeys myth” or story is much older than the macaques on the island off of Western Africa.

Telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudiance, clairsentience, and other forms of psi, seem to line up with the concept of “morphic fields.” In fact, it really seems right on if we accept psi as a natural biological function.

If we accept the connection between bioforms as normal and natural, Tom Bearden's parapsychology/psychotronic term “nervous system linkage” applies very well to the psychonautic experience, and sometimes use. This understanding is really what anchors the exploration of “inner space” in physical reality.



FOOTNOTES

1. I remember a friend of mine from back in 1971 who had an unforgettable hallucination while under the influence of an external chemical.

Steve was a good friend, along with his sister Dawn (older sister). He was a very likable and smart fellow. He lived with his mother whose coincidental name was “Twyla.” She brought the boy into a new housing tract, and lived in a “quickie three bedroom, pre-fab house,” far away from the decaying city of Downey, California, where Steve had grown until his adolescence. He was a sophmore (or became a tenth-grader when we were close friends), and I was a popular freshman.

My mom, Twyla, and his mom, Twyla, actually went “out” together on several occasions. Steve's mom was a pretty “grouchy” sort, but it didn't take a genius to see her motives and interests were purely for the welfare of her children. Nonetheless, the kids called her, instead of Twyla, “Twilight zone.”

A few years prior, Steve, for whatever reason, took an entire bottle of “seasick pills.” Rumor had it they could make you loaded, and even have hallucinations. He must have been 13-years-old.

He hallucinated alright, and also became sick as a dog. As he layed on his bed, probably hoping his nightmare would soon end, his middle-aged landlord entered his room, completely naked, and promptly began sweeping up his room with a broom. All Steve could do was watch. The hallucination lasted for quite some time, perhaps three to five minutes.

Needless to say, Steve never again took anything that could induce hallucinations.


Thursday, March 28, 2024