Notes on Sensory Awareness, Consciousness and Intuition
By Patrick Marsolek
Not it any particular order of significance!
- “Cultivating the intuition means deliberately practicing methods of investigation that pay attention to the feelings and images that arise in the course of systematic encounters with natural processes, leading to an experience of wholes and their qualities.... That practice requires both keen observation and the use of methods akin to meditation, emptying the mind of preconceptions so that the intuition can work freely with sensory experiences and organize them into meaningful wholes.”
- (David Abram - ‘The Spell of the Sensuous’, 1996)
Intuition is a natural human ability. But it takes practice. Also, we have to learn to accept it meaningful! Then we can utilize it and access it consciously. I propose that any self-awareness and sensory perception exercise will enrich your self ability to use intuition more easily and reliably. An understanding of different ways of perceiving and thinking can be very beneficial to learning to utilize psi. Developing flexibility is a key. Can you recognize the shift from; perceptual to analytical awareness, right to left brain thinking, being passive to active? Becoming familiar with these different aspects of awareness will increase your flexibility and clarity. You can be aware of the shifting between different states of consciousness and be able to ascertain which states are more conducive to your intuitive perceptions.
The difference between psi/perception and imagination/memory:
Psi - perceived then thought about fast, elusive changing, moving, allowing, subjective-experienced, it enters into you as it is experienced
Imagination - thought then perceived - an act of will - clearer, static, repeating, willing, objective - seen from without - conforming to what is already known
Differences between psi, hypnagogia, dreams, daydreams are largely of set and setting. Are you now engaged in psi thinking? Then the results of your internal perceptions will be meaningful within a psi framework. Your mental set, your intent helps to determine the meaning of the information in your awareness. This intent may not be conscious.
Modes of Awareness adapted from ‘Hypnagogia’ by Andreas Mavromatis
Action mode - Normal cognitive awareness:
• Muscle system and nervous system dominant.
• EEG shows beta waves - muscle tension increased.
• A state of striving.
• Psychological manifestations:
Focal attention.
Object-based logic.
Heightened boundary perception.
Meanings and symbols preferred over direct perceptions.
Receptive mode - “Extended capacities”
• Sensory-perceptual system is dominant.
• Parasympathetic systems more prominent.
• EEG tends toward alpha - muscle tension decreased.
• A state of allowing and passivity.
• Appears fully functional in the infant state.
• Psychological manifestations:
Diffuse attending.
Paralogical thought processes.
Decreased boundary perception.
Dominance of sensory information over meanings.
Are you familiar with these differences? In an intuitive practice we learn through experience to strike a balance between observing but being not concerned - like watching a movie. It is a state of allowing while extending intent. This allows the directing of events, asking of questions, movement, etc. - which is critical to advanced intuitive work. With practice this state can be accessed directly without physical relaxation, mental focusing or other techniques. Remember riding a bicycle? Even now you can access the sense of moving into balance again... You simply pay attention in the way you are already familiar. With intuitive experience there is a felt sense that you pay attention to.
Right now, take a moment and see what is in your awareness. What has the attention of at least some part of your awareness? Refer to the image below. All these levels of stimulus can be present at different levels. What are you sensing now? Go through each sense. I call this an ecology check, it helps to develop the observer stance. You can simply notice what you are sensing without needing to respond to it. Just be aware and notice.
This is essential for remote viewing practices and more importantly for general self-awareness. See Jean Millay’s book Multidimensional Mind for a more comprehensive list of factors that can grab our attention.
In order to really do an ecology check you have to shift away from reading for a moment. What did you notice? Physical sensations, perceptions, mental or emotional states? The more you do this it will make you more conscious of what is always going on inside you. You will also shift your mode of attention. When reading we are usually using a narrow-objective awareness, focused on the words, something outside of us. When we stop to sense, we shift to a narrow immersed sense, focusing inside on one specific sense or another. Then if we stay with our senses we may even shift into a diffuse immersed sense, one where our attention is spread out.
Dr. Les Femhi, a psychologist and neurofeedback researcher from Princeton feels this shifting of the way we attend to things is critical to relieving stress and general well-being. I believe this practice also allows a greater access to intuitive awareness.
Many of us are stuck in a chronic Narrow-Objective mode of attention that is the cause for many stress symptoms. We have been taught so thoroughly to attend to what is outside of us and to focus on ‘the task at hand’ that we have trained ourselves in a rigid mode of attention. This creates stress and fatigue. Think of holding your fist tight for a whole day. Staying in this narrow objective awareness has the same affect on our bodies and our minds. See www.openfocus.com for more information on the health benefits of Dr. Femhi’s attentional flexibility training.
Dr. Femhi describes an ideal state of Open Focus where a person is able to shift from one mode to the other spontaneously. Think of a cat. When resting, it is completely relaxed and content, immersed in it’s experience. Yet when a mouse shows up, the whole of the cat’s attention is focused on the mouse and the whole body springs into motion. If the mouse gets away the cat is vigilant for a few minutes then returns to it’s restful state. It is able to focus completely when it needs to, but it doesn’t stay there when the need is past.
What is important is to be flexible, to be able to shift from one mode to the other as need arises.
We can develop this open focus state through sensory awareness practices, intuitive exercises and even shifting between the action and receptive modes mentioned above. The greater flexibility we have in our attention styles allows us to be receptive and responsive to any stimulus that we encounter. This becomes very important in Remote Viewing when a visual or tactile sensation may take us spontaneously into an emotion or even a memory. Being able to respond and be present more clearly to whatever we experience will allow us to filter out a lot of the noise that is so typical in RV sessions.
So now experience it and see. Even as you are reading, can you imagine the space in between your eyes and the back of your head? Pause a few moments and do this. Can you imagine the space in between you and the wall behind you? Pause... Engage yourself with this sense, can you really imagine this? Can you focus on this sense of space while paying attention to the words on the paper? Can you be aware of the space between the words as your mind engages in the meaning?
So wherever you are inside, whatever you are experiencing, enjoy the process, allow yourself to engage with what intrigues you, what captures your attention. You may notice that as soon as you start imagining space you start to relax. Shifting attentional styles will do this. Experiment with breathing, faster and slower - this will also change your attention and relaxation levels.
Learn to allow this shifting between modes, back and forth. Be spontaneous. This fine tunes our receivers - mind and body. In an RV session, learning to allow this spontaneous shifting - between modes of attention, between the senses, between allowing and directing - is a way of naturalizing the system to the information that is being received. When we are so attuned to the ‘signal’ it is easier to describe accurately without being pulled out of the experience or too deep into personal identification with the information.
Also, when you can allow the spontaneous flow in from several sensations, several modalities, this opens the door to sudden insights or gestalt knowings! This is a key significance to doing this intuitive training. It extends the potentials for each of us within a larger framework of an expanding culture and consciousness. All of the skills may be mundane at one level, but we are learning subtler skills as well, skills of the spirit.
These ideas might be good for an overall guide for altering consciousness, but by no reason limit yourself to it. You might just jump into an internal receptive mode and be there - no effort, no thought. In terms of brainwaves, your beta might just stay the same, but perhaps you’ll also have a surge of alpha. As you map the pathways to your own felt sense of - connection, input, information, intent - whatever it is, you can simply go right there!
One last thought, it is always good to integrate the experiences from these states by coming fully into an awake and physically aware state, even activating the action mode. This helps to build the bridge and facilitate the transition between these two modes, blending them together. So get up and stretch, take a deep breath experience the world again!