Re: Tools for Mind Exploration

Gregory Houston (vertigo@triberian.com)
Mon, 07 Apr 1997 14:23:01 -0500


Crosby_M wrote:

> I was recently browsing the online catalog of Tools For Exploration at
> http://www.tools4explore.com/default.htm
> wading through the New Age fluff trying to find something that might
> actually be useful for 'mental discipline' (better, non-mystical term?)
> exercises.

I just ordered a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) meter from Tools For
Exploration. By the way. There has been a recent thread on this listserv
about Dianetics and Scientology. The main tool used by Scientologists is
a GSR. It is what they use to measure their engrams. Jung and his
colleagues were the first to use the GSR for this purpose, though
Hubbard didn't give Jung (or anyone else for that matter) credit for the
discovery. Many psychotherapists (non-scientologists and non-jungians)
employ the GSR in their clinical practice today. It is effective in
measuring stress levels via the amount of moisture present in the skin.
The GSR is actually measuring your bodies electrical resistance. Its
really pretty amazing if you ever get the opportunity to use one.

Jung and Hubbard would run through a list of words with a patient and
when the GSR meter reading increased they knew they were on to
something. They would then use word associations and other technigues to
further localize and reveal the source of a person's psychological
problems. Once the source of the problem was fully remembered, the
memory could be "discharged" so as not to have further neurotic
effect/affect on the individual. A clear would be a person without any
of these "negatively charged" repressed memories.

> Does anyone have any experience with the sound and light machines that
> are purportedly useful for brainwave control;

I used to own one, and found it somewhat helpful in attaining theta
states. The discipline was in reaching and sustaining the state without
losing consciousness. You have to keep your mind entertained while
reducing the metabolism of your thoughts. The entrainment devices are
definitely relaxing, but there's really not a lot to them yet. The thing
about them is they do not require much from you. They entrain you.
Personally, I'm more interested in bio-feedback.

Explore and play!

-- 
Gregory Houston                 Triberian Institute of Emotive Education
vertigo@triberian.com           http://www.triberian.com 
phone:    816.561.1524          info@triberian.com
cellular: 816.807.6660          snail: PO Box 32046 Kansas City MO 64171

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