The Blissful Brain:neuroscience and The Proof of The Power of MediTaTion

The Music of The sPheres

MoneY reduces TrusT in sMall

GrouPs

is There a PsYcholoGical exPlanaTion for The nde?

ISPECTRUM MAGAZINE

Issue 04/November-December 2013

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Features

03 the BlissFul Brain:NeuroscieNce aNd the Proof of the Power of MeditatioN07 exploring mystical experiences elicited by meditation12 investigating the effect of medi-tation on measurable health out-comes

20the Music oF the spheres24 universal Melody26 the romantic dance between the sun and the earth27 what do Jupiter or Neptune sound Like?28 eternal echoes

30MoneY reDuces trust in sMall GroupsiNterView withGaBrieLe caMera34 what does money do today? 35 the cooperation is supportable in small groups

37is there a psYcholoGical explanation For the near Death experience?42 Psychological theoriesand evidences

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CONTENTS

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Mado MartinezEditorial Director

Editorial DirectorMado Martinezmadomartinez@ispectrummagazine.com

Art DirectorRayna Petrovaraynapetrova@ispectrummagazine.com Copy Editing and ProofreadingMatt Lovedaymattloveday@ispectrummagazine.com

John Simsjohnsims@ispectrummagazine.com

Victoria Klein

Contributing WritersRob Hutchinson

Dr Shanida Nataraja

Paco González

Imagescommons.wikimeadia.org,www.sxc.hu,morguefile.com,NASA image library

editorial

Ispectrum magazine

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How was Halloween? I hope it was creepy! Here at ISPECTRUM MAGAZINE we made it through the tricks and treats and survived the ghosts, witches and zombies so we can offer a new edition. This issue number #4 is full of featured contents. The neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja, author of The Blissful Brain, has proven that meditation has real benefits for brain functioning. She explains to us what effects’ meditating has on blood pressure and depression, through the latest insights of brain imaging studies.Paco Gonzalez, Editor in Chief of Año/Cero Magazine and author of hundreds of articles mainly related with history and archeology, shares with us the amazing music of the spheres. He guides us through the cosmos and introduces us to the sounds of the planets, stars and satellites, as NASA has proved that Pythagoras was right in his intuitions.Don’t miss our interview with Dr. Gabriel Camera, from Chapman University, who conducts research in the field of Economy, and has observed that money reduces trust drastically in small groupsYou will also enjoy reading our expert in psychology, Rob Hutchinson, who in this issue, ponders if there is a psycho-logical explanation for near death expe-riences (NDE).

Thank you very much for reading. Feel free to share your comments and opinions with us!

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by

DR SHANIDA NATARAJA

WEbSITE

WWW.bLISSfULbRAIN.CoM

The Blissful Brain:

he human brain is a mind-boggling feat of neural engi-

neering; a biosupercomputer. Over the last couple of decades, as the experimental tools at our dis-posal have become more complex and more successful at probing the inner workings of the brain, we have been able to define the brain’s involvement in everyday tasks, such as object recognition, the expression of consciousness through language, and even sexual

attraction. However, the less tan-gible aspects of what it means to be human have largely resisted our scientific scrutiny. Not only are we are still trying to define the neu-ral basis of human characteristics, such as creativity and inspiration, but we are also still far from under-standing the exact nature of the relationship between the brain and consciousness.Mystical or religious experienc-es have historically been seen to

NEUROSCIENCE AND THE PROOF OF THE

POwER OF MEDITATION

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NEUROTHEOlOGY REvEAlS HUMANS ARE HARD-wIRED TO HAvE MYSTICAl ExPERIENCES

lie within the domain of Religion, or spirituality, and scientists have shied away from trying to explain why and how they occur and, in many cases, have challenged their validity. However, groundbreaking research around the turn of the cen-tury revealed the brain’s involve-ment in mystical experiences, and this has prompted a growing inter-est in investigating these phenome-na in the confines of the laboratory.

Mystical experiences can be defined as short-lived experiences associ-ated with a different mode of think-ing and perceiving from that of our everyday existence. Because of this, mystical experiences defy explana-tion in terms that can be understood by individuals who have not them-selves had an experience. However, generally speaking, they are associ-ated with a sense of optimism and unboundedness. The isolated ego, “I”, is perceived to be both restricting

and a fabrication of our minds, and this insight brings about an expan-sion of awareness in which the indi-vidual loses the sense of time and space, and the boundary between self and non-self. Although mystical experiences can occur spontane-ously, particularly during and after a life crisis, regular meditation, as practised within countless different disciplines, can also increase the frequency with which these experi-ences occur.

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Mystical experiences were first found to correlate with specific pat-terns of brain activity through the study of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The researcher vilayanur Ramachandran and his colleagues investigated brain activity in these patients, and found that many expe-rienced bursts of activity in their temporal lobe, referred to as micro-seizures. Patients who frequently reported mystical experiences, or who were known to express reli-gious fanaticism, were more likely to have these microseizures than those that did not [1].

Taking this research one step further, Michael Persinger designed a device that would become popularly known as the “God machine”. This simple device – a series of small electro-magnets attached to a motorcycle helmet – delivers a weak electro-magnetic field that can be used to selectively activate distinct regions of the brain. Persinger reported that stimulation of the temporal lobe elicited a mystical experience in about 80% of subjects; stimulation of the right temporal lobe tended to elicit more pleasurable experiences than stimulation of the left temporal lobe.

Although some subjects failed to have an experience when wearing the helmet – most notably Richard Dawkins, the self-proclaimed athe-ist – these observations suggest that the large majority of subjects tested had the innate neural wiring necessary for them to have a mys-tical experience. This led Persinger to suggest that an individual’s pro-pensity to have mystical experi-ences depends on the lability of their temporal lobe (i.e. how prone it is to change). Individuals with a high lability were seen to be more likely to have microseizures, and

Dr. Persinger

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therefore more likely to have mystical experi-ences. Persinger’s early results have been con-firmed in a more recent analysis of more than 400 additional subjects [2].

For some, this research provided the proof that mystical experiences, and even the experi-ence of God, were the result of aberrant neu-ral circuitry, an arte-fact of brain function. However, this view is flawed. Our brains are designed to receive information about our experiences, whether that be the experience of biting into an apple or a mystical experi-ence. Hypothetically, if we were capable of experimentally stimu-lating the specific areas of the brain involved in the perception of an apple, the subject would likely report that they had experienced

an apple. The perceived apple would not be real; it would be, quite rightly, an artefact of brain function. Does the rep-l i ca t ion of the n e u r a l impres-sion of an apple in the lab-o ra to ry call into question whether a p p l e s actually exist in our world? Similarly, the observation that mys-tical experiences can be artificially evoked merely reveals that the neural circuitry of the human brain has evolved to allow it to process the full range of experiences, includ-ing mystical experienc-es. like a radio receives and transmits music, our brain receives infor-mation about all of our experiences, includ-

ing mystical experi-ences, and, in doing so, gives rise to our conscious awareness of these experiences.

This research therefore merely suggests that most of us possess the innate neural circuitry, or hard-wiring, allow-ing us to perceive and make sense of mystical experiences when they occur.

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ExPlORING MYSTICAl ExPERIENCES ElICITED BY MEDITATION

The investigation of artificially evoked brain events is clearly far from ideal. This fact led the researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d’Aquili to attempt to study mystical experi-ences elicited by medi-tation in the laboratory. Experienced Buddhist

meditators were asked to meditate and, when they felt they were access-ing an altered or mysti-cal state of awareness – sometimes referred to as the transcen-

dent or peak moment of meditation – they were asked to pull on a string. Radioactive tracer was then inject-ed into the meditator, through an in-dwelling catheter, and the bind-ing of this tracer in the brain visualised using SPECT (single photon

emission comput-ed tomography). Active regions of the brain have a greater blood supply and can therefore be expected to bind more of the radioactive trac-er. In this man-ner, information about the activity

in the meditator’s brain at this transcendent moment was captured and visualised.

From these pivotal experiments, Newberg

and d’Aquili demon-strated that meditation triggered two impor-tant changes in brain activity. Firstly, there is an increase in activity in the frontal cortex, in the area of the brain known to be involved in sustained attention – referred to as the atten-tion association cortex. Increased activity in this association cor-tex leads to decreased activity in the surround-ing regions of the brain that are responsible for complex cognitive processing. This is the consequence of innate circuitry that filters out redundant information in order to maintain sustained attention in the face of continual distractions. The more attention is held on a single focus, the eas-ier it becomes to sus-tain that attention. The

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r e s u l t s confirm that

sustained attention elicits defined changes in the activity of the fron-tal cortex that trigger the unfolding of the meditative experience. Many meditators also report a dissolv-ing of the boundary between self and non-self and an expansion of awareness that brings a sense of unboundedness and transcendence. This so-called mystical experience can also be understood in terms of changes in brain activity, with medi-tation switching off the circuitry in the parietal lobe involved in gen-erating our perception of time and space, and our position within it, as well as the self/non-self boundary. Furthermore, the indescribability of mystical experiences can also be explained by the reduced activity in the parietal lobe, as this part of the brain also houses the neural circuit-ry that confers the ability to express our experiences in language.

key feature of this first step is a shift in brain activity from the left to the right hemisphere, as attention is predom-inately a right-hemisphere function. The implications of this are discussed below. Secondly, the increase in activity in the frontal cortex drives a decrease in activity in the parietal cortex. This houses two important association cortices; the orientation association cortex and the verbal-conceptual cortex. The former gives rise to our sense of orientation in space and time, and contains the neural circuitry that defines the boundary between self and non-self, whereas the latter confers the ability to relay our expe-rience in words. A decrease in activ-ity in the parietal cortex therefore leads to a decreased awareness of space and time, as well as an inabil-ity to describe the experience using language [3].

The findings of this research therefore mirror our current subjective under-standing of the mystical experienc-es elicited by meditation. Sustained attention is pivotal to all types of meditation, and these experimental

Newberg and d’Aquili demon-

strated that meditation triggered two important changes in brain

activity

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In the discussion above, we saw that meditation, through sustained attention, elicits a switch between left and right-hemisphere activity. This switch is a crucial component of the process leading to the mystical state of awareness often experienced as a result of meditation. In order to understand the implications of this, it is impor-tant to first examine the functions of the two hemispheres. Our under-standing of the different roles of the two hemispheres largely stems from split-brain surgeries performed in the 1960s in patients suffering from particularly severe epilepsy. By sev-ering the connections between the two hemispheres, the two sides of the brain can be essentially isolated from each other. Following one of these surgeries, a split-brain patient was blindfolded and given a tooth-brush to hold in their left hand. As the right hemisphere controls the left-hand side of the body, the toothbrush was sensed by the right hemisphere. The patient was there-

fore a b l e

to mime what a toothbrush would be used for (i.e. they under-stood the toothbrush’s purpose); however, they were unable to name the object. Both the term “tooth-brush” and the ability to vocalise this term lie within the left hemisphere. Observations in these split-brain patients prompted the neuroscien-tists, Jerre levy and the now Nobel prize winning Roger Sperry, to sug-gest that the two hemispheres have inbuilt, qualitatively different, and mutually antagonist modes of cog-nitive processing [4].

MEDITATION AS A NEURAl PROCESS DESIGNED TO UNlOCK THE INNATE POTENTIAl OF OUR BRAINS

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perception of ourselves and the world. Experiences that fit our world view and “boost our ego” are cap-tured, whereas those that challenge our world view and “undermine our ego” are ignored. The right hemi-sphere, on the other hand, captures the whole experience and therefore, during meditation, when the practi-tioner has access to the right hemi-sphere, often long-forgotten memo-ries can surface in full Technicolor or solutions to unsolved problems or dilemmas can emerge.

Meditation therefore provides the practitioner with a method through which to switch between the two modes of thinking and perceiving conferred by the two hemispheres. we have seen that the expansion of awareness often reported dur-ing mystical experiences elicited by meditation can be partially explained by decreased activity in the neural circuitry conferring our sense of orientation in space–time, as well as our self/non-self boundary. This expansion of awareness can also, however, be partially explained by the fact that meditation triggers a shift from left-hemisphere activity to right-hemisphere activity, and thus a shift towards a more holistic, abstract mode of cognitive process-ing that reveals the interrelatedness

The left hemisphere houses the neural circuitry that mediates ver-bal and written language, as well as being home to many of the cogni-tive processors that give rise to the intellectual functioning of the human mind (i.e. our ego). Accordingly, the left hemisphere is often considered to be the dominant hemisphere, and many of us spend much of our exis-

tence cultivating and using the left-brain mode of cognitive process-ing. During meditation, the practi-tioner accesses the functioning of the right hemisphere, and therefore can gain insight from the right-brained mode of cognitive process-ing. Experiments suggest that the right hemisphere captures a much more truthful representation of an experience. Our left hemisphere has a tendency to filter our experiences so that they fit into our established

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awareness or the “awakened mind” state – involves comparable levels of alpha and theta brain waves to the meditative level of conscious-ness, but also includes beta brain waves, indicating a return of higher cognitive functions. Unlike the beta brain waves seen during the every-day waking level of consciousness, which occur predominantly in the left hemisphere, the beta brain waves seen in the “awakened mind” level of consciousness are balanced across the two hemisphere. Optimal brain functioning, and indeed higher states of consciousness, are thus seen to stem from balanced left and right-hemisphere cognitive function-ing [5].

of all things, as well as the restric-tions of the ego-centred mode of cognitive processing.

In the late 1970s, Maxwell Cade, a prominent psychophysiologist, pro-posed that there were five differ-ent levels of consciousness (dream-ing sleep; hypnogogic/hypnopompic [i.e. between waking and dream-ing]; everyday waking; medita-tive; and lucid awareness), and that these different levels of con-sciousness correlate with specific patterns of electrical brain activity. During meditation – considered by Cade to elicit a higher level of con-sciousness than the normal, wak-ing consciousness (equated to the aforementioned ‘mystical’ or ‘medi-tative’ state of awareness) there is a prominence of alpha brain waves, associated with relaxed wakeful-ness, and theta brain waves, associ-ated with the creative subconscious mind.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, there is also a decrease in the beta brain waves that are associated with active thought. The highest level of consciousness – referred to as lucid

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In our left-hemisphere dominated society, in which achieving and succeeding are valued over being, medita-tion offers us a method of switching into the right-hemisphere mode of thinking, there-by re-addressing this imbalance. Meditation also elicits brain wave changes associated with higher states of consciousness than our everyday, waking state, and therefore provides the key to unlocking the innate potential of our brains. By observing the changes in brain activ-

The growing body of evidence supporting the role of meditation in triggering mystical experiences or mystical states of awareness, together with the evolv-

ity underlying some of the main features of mystical experiences elicited through medi-tation, we have there-fore not only gained a better understanding of the involvement of the brain in convey-ing mystical experienc-es and eliciting mysti-cal states of aware-ness, but we have also gained a more com-plete picture of the role that meditation plays in eliciting these changes in brain activity, and indeed, the role it plays in optimising the per-formance of our brains.

ing view of meditation as a potential meth-od of optimising brain performance, have prompted researchers to explore the effects of meditation on the

health and well-being of the practitioner. This research reveals that meditation may play an important role in modern healthcare.

INvESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF MEDITATION ON MEASURABlE HEAlTH OUTCOMES

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Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a technique developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn for use in patients, includ-ing those with chronic pain, depression, can-cer, heart disease and anxiety. Based on the Buddhist practice of mindfulness, but essen-tially independent of any esoteric tradition,

MBSR trains the practi-tioner to become more aware of their moment-to-moment thoughts. Rather than modifying these thoughts, prac-titioners are taught to modify their attitude to these thoughts. MSBR also involves the prac-tice of seated medita-tion, together with a body-scan relaxation technique and some yoga postures. A num-ber of studies have shown that MBSR has a measurable impact on the well-being of patients suffering from chronic pain. In one of these studies, conduct-ed by Kabat-Zinn, more than 65% of patient who had failed more conventional meth-ods of pain manage-ment responded to a 10-week programme of MBSR. Patients not only reported an improvement in their level of pain, but also an improvement in the mood disturbances

precipitated by chronic pain [6].

Furthermore, in can-cer patients, particu-larly those with hor-mone-dependent can-cers such as breast and prostate cancer, MBSR can lead to significant improvements in qual-ity of life. In a study conducted by Michael Speca and colleagues, MBSR was shown to elicit a 65% improve-ment in mood and a 35% improvement in symptoms of stress [7]. In a recent meta-anal-ysis of studies of MBSR, Paul Grossman and col-leagues concluded that MBSR was an effective stress-reduction meth-od that was associated with clear benefits in terms of both overall health and the ability of patients to cope with their illness. The size of the effect seen is dependent on both the frequency and duration of practise [8].

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Meditation’s impact on stress underlies many of its proven physi-cal health benefits. In some patients, regu-lar meditation is asso-ciated with a reduced risk of cardiovascu-lar disease, as well as decreases in blood pressure, both of which are likely to result from better stress manage-ment. Regular meditation also confers psychological benefits, such as reduc-ing anxiety and depres-sion, improving coping mechanisms (both with disease and chronic pain), and addressing addictive behavior , all of which are again, at least in part, mani-festations of stress. In a world in which the levels of stress appear to be continu-ally escalating, medi-tation appears to offer a therapeutic antidote that can, at least to a certain degree, lessen the impact of stress

and stress-related dis-ease on both the indi-vidual and our health-care systems.

Despite the growing body of evidence sup-porting the effect of meditation on measur-able health outcomes, orthodox medicine still largely approaches

meditation with scepti-cism. This is largely the result of the failure of medi-tation to demonstrate statistically significant results in large-scale meta-analyses. In 2007, the authors of a technology assessment based on research con-ducted by the University of Alberta Evidence-

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lines for trial report-ing to ensure that their data are viewed in the most favourable light. Secondly, it remains questionable whether studies of meditation should be forced to meet the rigorous stan-dards devised for clini-cal trials of investiga-tional drugs. Meditation is not a substitute for conventional treatment approaches; it is an alternative therapy that can, in some patients, provide added ben-efit. whereas failure of an antihypertensive could lead to consider-able patient morbidity and mortality, failure of meditation to improve a patient’s clinical situ-ation has few draw-backs.

The value of medita-tion as a healthcare intervention is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that, at an increas-ing number of medical

based Practice Center (EPC) under contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) stated that “firm con-clusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare cannot be drawn based on the available evidence”. As acknowledged by the authors, this negative finding results from the low quality of the included studies and the diversity of types of meditation studied, methodology used and

enrolled patient popu-lations [9].

This example high-lights a number of important issues. Firstly, there is a clear need to standardise the methodology used when studying medi-tation and to, wher-ever possible, conduct randomised controlled trials. Furthermore, researchers study-ing meditation should strive to adhere to the CONSORT guide-

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struggling to cope with the ever-expanding pool of patients,

this trend suggests that meditation can play

a key role in effec-tive patient man-agement, and may well offer a much-needed solution to the growing health-

care crisis in the west.

In the clinical setting, medita-tion can undoubtedly alleviate some of the burden currently placed on our healthcare systems, as well as empowering the individual patient to play a pivotal role in the manage-ment of their condition. Meditation’s adoption into mainstream society, however, requires another sub-stantial shift in thinking. Our fast-paced, adrenaline-filled lives draw

institutions in the US and Europe, training courses in medita-tion are being offered to a diverse range of patients. More than 16,000 patients have u n d e r g o n e MBSR train-ing at the Massachusetts Medical School, Center for Mindfulness, since it was founded in 1995, and the feed-back from healthcare profession-als and patients involved is over-whelmingly positive. Furthermore, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, patients are now routinely offered a variety of sup-port programmes, including cours-es in meditation, to help them to better deal with their illness and its consequences. In the UK, the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University offers training courses in mindful-ness to both healthcare profession-als and patients, and strives to pro-mote the use of mindfulness in the clinical setting within the National Health Service (NHS). In a climate in which our healthcare systems are

training courses in meditation are being offered to a diverse range of patients

DEFINING A ROlE FOR MEDITATION IN OUR MODERN, EvERYDAY lIvES

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and their motivation to instigate lifestyle changes that promote good health and well-being.

Meditation offers a potential strat-egy through which an individual can cultivate and maintain a state of good health and well-being. long-term stress can have damaging effects on the body long before these effects are manifest as poor health or disease. Not only does medita-tion reduce stress, but it may also prevent or delay the onset of stress-related diseases, as well as reducing risk prone behaviour triggered by stress, such as smoking and the use of recreational drugs. Furthermore,

our attention away from our health and well-being, and often promote unhealthy lifestyles. western medi-cine is largely responsive rather than preventive; by the time most individuals seek medical help, they have established disease requiring active intervention. There are obvi-ous benefits of diagnosing disease in its early stages, or even preventing it before it can develop. The achieve-ment of this, however, depends on both the individual’s awareness of their state of health and well-being

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there is an abundance of anecdotal evidence suggesting that medi-tation can be associ-ated with the following subjective benefits: a boost in energy levels and a decreased need for sleep; an increase in productivity and creativity; increased self-acceptance, which often translates into an increased acceptance of other people and thus improved interpersonal relationships; a great-er ability to express emotions; fewer bouts of irritability and impa-tience, or emotional or behavioural out-bursts; an improved and expanded sense of identity; and a greater

understanding of which situations, individu-als and behaviour are constructive and which are destructive. This evidence provides a strong rationale for the inclusion of meditation in our everyday lives.In addition to confer-ring health benefits, the insights gained for our investigations into the effects of medi-tation on the brain reveal that meditation is also an important tool that allows us to access higher levels of consciousness. These higher levels of con-sciousness are asso-ciated with optimised brain functioning, and their attainment is

conducive to personal growth. Through med-itation, it is possible to harness the innate power of both our left and right hemispheres, and reap the benefits afforded by using the complementary modes of cognitive process-ing offered by them. Meditation, and the mystical states associ-ated with meditation, appear to be part and parcel of what it means to be human, and reg-ular practice promis-es to allow us to fulfil more of our potential, both as individuals and a society as a whole.

Dr Shanida Nataraja is the author of The Blissful Brain: Proof of the Power of Meditation (Gaia, £7.99). For more information, please see: www.blissfulbrain.com

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[6] Kabat-Zinn, J. An outpatient program in behav-

ioural medicine for chronic pain patients based on the

practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical con-

siderations and preliminary results, General Hospital

Psychiatry, 1982: 4(1):33–47.

[7] Speca, M, Carlson, lE, Goodey, E, Angen, M.

A randomized, wait-list controlled clinical trial: the

effect of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduc-

tion program on mood and symptoms of stress in

cancer outpatients. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2000:

62(5):613–22.

[8] Grossman, P, Niemann, l, Schmidt, S, walach,

H. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health

benefits: a meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic

Research 2004; 57(1):35–43.

[9] University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice

Center/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Evidence Report/Technology Assessment Number 155:

Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research.

AHRQ Publication No. 07-E010, June 2007.

references:

[1] Ramachandran vS, Blakeslee S. Phantoms in the

Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind.

Harper Perennial, 1999; Chapter 9.

[2] St-Pierre lS, Persinger MA. Experimental facilita-

tion of the sensed presence is predicted by the spe-

cific patterns of the applied magnetic fields, not by

suggestibility: re-analyses of 19 experiments. Int J

Neurosci 2006; 116(9): 1079-96.

[3] D’Aquili, E, Newberg, AB. The Mystical Mind:

probing the biology of religious experience, Augsburg

Fortress Publishers, 1999.

[4] Sperry Rw. Hemispheric specialization of men-

tal faculties in the brain of Man. Advances in Altered

States of Consciousness & Human Potentialities,

volume 1. A Psychological Dimensions, Inc. (PDI)

Research Reference work. Barber Tx (Ed). PDI, 1976.

[5] Cade, M, Coxhead, N. The Awakened Mind: bio-

feedback and the development of higher states of

awareness, Delacorte Press/Eleanor Friede, 1979.

Dr Shanida Nataraja has a BSc (First Class Hons) in Human Science and Neuroscience and a PhD in Neurophysiology, both from University College London. Her research thesis focused on learning and memory and she continued researching in this field, holding a post-doctoral research position at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. After five-years in research, Shanida aban-doned the isolation of the laboratory for the relative comforts of a career in medical communications. Shanida is currently Scientific Director at a medical

education agency producing materials in the field of neu-rology, cardiology, oncology, psychiatry and women’s health. Shanida has many years of experience in both Christian mantra meditation and Buddhist mind-fulness meditation, and has received basic instruction in a variety of other contemplative practices, including Tai Chi, Chi Gung and Iyengar yoga.

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by

PACo GoNZáLEZ

WEbSITE

WWW.fACEbooK.CoM/PACo.GoNZA-

A

The Music of The spheres

In 2004, a NASA satellite discovered that the interaction between the Sun’s solar winds and the atmosphere of its depend-able planets’ produces harmonic vibra-tions which, in turn, create incredible sounds.

Does this mean Pythagoras was right?

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

Scientist involved with the NASA satellite remarked

that our Sun behaves like a musical instrument. NASA’s evidence sug-gests that the Sun is expelling har-monic vibrations caused by oscil-lations on its surface, acting in the same manner as an internal mem-brane of a speaker.

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By contrast however, some quite stunning NASA images from 2009 show an impressive nebula, the form of which looks like a Butterfly. The picture was taken by the Hubble Telescope and today has become one of the most beautiful visual examples of our living Universe.

The Cosmos is alive. Both sounds and images offer us an insight into a harmonic, moving cosmos image. Our most advanced, 21st Century technology, it would seem, is now beginning to confirm the ancestral legacy that was first mooted and stoically defended and explained by Pythagoras, Kepler, Kircher and many others, hundreds of years ago.

From where did Pythagoras gain this knowledge? was there another before him that passed the infor-mation on? Or did he ordain this information all on his own? Indeed, if he did learn of the phenomena by himself, how was he able to grasp something that we today have only discovered through the means of precise technology in the early 21st Century?

Perhaps the answer lies with the contemporary writers of the time; their disciples and the neo-Pla-tonists. Maybe their area of knowl-edge and expertise was closer to

One of the most mysterious voic-es in world history, Pythagoras is understood to be the first name that records knowledge of the music of the spheres. we do not have any original manuscripts by him though, and very little is known about his life.

PYTHAGORAS THE AlIEN?

Pythagoras

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Pythagoras’s own than we ever have been – not only in the chrono-logical sense but in a literal sense.

Our new findings mean things we have always thought to be invented fantasies and myths could be revisited through new eyes. why? Because Pythagoras was often regarded as a God by

his peers. Some of them wrote that even Apollo could have been his Father, a view derived from a consensus that Pythagoras literally ‘gleamed’ with a super-natural glow. A bright-ness. Some scholars even purport that he had a golden thigh. An extraterrestrial pros-thesis perhaps?

It was said also, that Arabis once visited him aboard ‘a golden arrow’. An extraterres-trial visit?

Almost certainly the strangest occurrence(s) supporting the theory is that Pythagoras was continually reported to be seen in numer-ous different places at the same time. This is known in paranormal

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terms as bilocation or multilocation.

was Pythagoras an alien? And if he was – presumably a being endowed with precious wisdom and knowledge – why did he travel to so many different locations in order to study under different ‘Masters’?

It would not be the first case in history of a being seemingly beyond that of mere mor-tals. Jesus Christ, of course, was born of a Human but possessed inner abilities far beyond that of man. But again, it is believed that he – like Pythagoras – studied under dif-

ferent ‘Masters’, if we refer to the Apocryphal Gospels.

It is believed that many of the potential learn-ing’s received by these anomalies descend from ancient Egypt. A place that could hold an indecipherable link between the two beings, and is it any coincidence then, that Egypt is the cradle of one of the most signifi-

cant and ancient civili-sations of world histo-ry? The secrets that lie in the origin and con-struction of the colos-sal Pyramids are even now a suggestive trace of an unveiled mystery. How did the ancient Egyptians manage to build such perfect monuments with pre-sumably no technology whatsoever? The ques-tion has been discussed at length, but there is no definitive answer. However one of the most popular beliefs is that the Pyramids were built with the aid of extraterrestrials. How else could they achieve something that is so far beyond the reaches of modern man? That is, of course, if they really did build them.

HISTORY REPEATING

25

UNIvERSAl MElODY

Pythagoras was perceptive enough to study the musical sounds and their relation-ship with Mathematics. He maintained that the orbit of the ‘heavenly bodies’ – a term given to all matter of Space: Planets; Stars; Asteroids etc - and their accompanying sounds were in harmony with each other. The result was a beautiful, perpetual universal melody.

Iamblichus wrote of Pythagoras in his book entitled ‘Protepticus’:

‘He used a divine, ineffable and undecipherable power. That is how he could concentrate and listen to the sublime symphony of the spheres. He was able to under-stand the universal harmony and the concert of the spheres and the Heavenly bodies’.

So it seems that Iamblichus attrib-uted to Pythagoras a special power – a divine power – one that was indicipherable. He is held as some-one with skills far beyond our own.

Plato d e s c r i b e d in ‘Timeus’ how the Demiurgus forged the world divid-

ing the main ‘substance’ in

harmonic inter-vals. His conclusion,

through Epinomis’s voice, was that ‘the heavenly bod-ies play the best of the songs’, and if we read a little further…

‘This harmony produces a music much more beautiful and intense than the worldly music’.

whether Pythagoras was the first to be aware of this Interstellar Orchestra or not, it would seem that the comparison between the Cosmos and a huge musical instru-ment has been assumed from the Middle Ages right through to the present day.

26

SINGING FROM THE SAME HYMN SHEET?

Kepler was a famous Mathematician and Astronomer. He attributed a musical note to each planet and affirmed that the angular speeds of each heavenly body produced sounds. According to Kepler, the sounds would be of a higher pitch if the movements were faster. In his own words:

‘The Heavenly movement is a con-tinuous song for several voices. These voices can only be perceived by intellect, not the hearing. This music leaves its trace in the flow of the time’.

The British Alchemist Robert Fludd was very interested in the cor-respondence between the plan-ets; the different parts of the

human body; Angels and the music itself. He thought that the Universe was a ‘monochord’ universe where the ten melodic ranges evoked by Pythagoras’s theorem translated the harmony of the creation.

The ‘gene in hermetic philosophy’, Athansius Kircher, is well known for his famous maxim:

‘Heaven above, Heaven below; Stars above, Stars below; all that is above thus below’.

He wrote an illustrated book titled ‘Musurgia Universalis’ where he explained music as a reflection of mathematics and the essential pro-portions of creation.

If we look back we find many more traces, many famous names, and many sages who recalled the ancient legacy of Pythagoras, such as Plinius; Boecius; Ptolomeus; Newton; Pico Della Mirandola; Jean Phillipe Rameau etc… It seems that today – centuries after these philosophers, our contemporary Science is finally converging with these fascinating theories.

Kepler

27

THE ROMANTIC DANCE BETwEEN THE SUN AND THE EARTH

A satellite called ‘Transition Region and Coronal Explorer’ (NASA) discovered that the Sun sounds and behaves like a musical instrument. This sophis-ticated and ultraviolet observatory studies the solar corona. The solar explosions generate Plasma rings or elec-trified gas that causes sound waves. These are

propagated from arc to arc:

‘The sound is very simi-lar to the one you obtain while plucking the gui-tar’, said Robert von Jay-Siebenburgen – Head of the Solar Physics and Research Centre, in a statement for BBC Television. Releasing the equivalent energy of millions of Hydrogen

bombs, the solar explo-sions send the acoustic sounds through these ‘arcs’ at dozens of kilo-metres per second:

‘We can now say that these are acoustic waves and these waves are excited by explo-sions at the foot points of these loops’, said the Mathematician Youra Taroyan of the University

28

dance. These events however do not confine themselves to just our Star…

Professor Donald w Kurtz from the Astrophysics Centre at the University of lancashire (UK) states:

‘All the Stars in our Galaxy produce har-monic vibrations pro-ducing a kind of celes-tial melody’.

NASA has promoted some laboratory experi-ments in order to syn-thesize the sonic oscilla-tions and they obtained surprising results. By accelerating the sounds three or eight times, you would be able to say

wHAT DO JUPITER OR NEPTUNE SOUND lIKE?

of Sheffield in the UK, in an edition of New Scientist Magazine.

One of the most intrigu-ing aspects of these solar sounds is that despite Human Beings not being able to hear them (they are of a frequency 300 times lower than those we can hear); they pro-duce peculiar effects on our planet, causing it to vibrate in sympathy with the frequencies.

In this context, we can propose that the Solar System is a cosmic cho-rus with equilibrated and h a r m o n i c me l -

odies, since these ultra-sounds are played out in a 100 milihertz fre-quency every ten sec-onds.

At NASA, a multidisci-plinary team from the ‘Ulysses’ mission has discovered that these pulses from our Solar Star can be detected in Submarine cables, seismographs etc. More fascinating still are the discoveries of the inves-tigators David Thomson and louis lanzerotti from the Hiscale pro-gram in the Ulysses mission. They conclud-ed that different sounds

generated by the Sun not only reach

our planet; but the earth also gene ra t e s rigid move-ments in r e s pon se to the ultra-s o u n d s ,

b r i n g i n g on a kind of

romantic cosmic

the Sun sounds and behaves like a musical

instrument

29

that you are hearing the waves of the ocean; such is the simi-larity, or the song of whales and dolphins. It depends of course on the intensity of each electromagnetic field as well as the grade of manipulation. And, of course, the imagination.

we highly recommend our read-ers make a search on the internet so they can hear these amazing sounds.

Donald A. Gurnett is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of IOwA (USA) and he is one of the pioneers in the classifica-tion of the sounds of the Universe. This scientist’s investigations have actually inspired musicians to introduce these peculiar signa-

ture sounds into their

composi-tions.

Pythagoras may have been the first to become aware of the phenome-non. But who was the first to have the privilege of actually ‘listening’ to the music of the spheres? we have to travel back to the 1930’s, when the young physicist Karl Jansky, from Bell’s laboratories, discov-ered that some radio waves gener-ated static interferences that came from the centre of the Milky way. with merely an old radio-receptor and an antenna assembled on his Ford T chassis, he was the first man able to audibly distinguish the music of the stars.

ETERNAl ECHOES

Jupiter

Neptune

Ultimately, whatever the origin, we can see that this musical struc-ture in the Cosmos is not limited to the ‘Pythagorean School’ of knowl-edge, nor does the knowledge of it end with Kepler. whether through ancient wisdom or contemporary science, our models for explaining the nature of the Universe continue to overlap; very wide of a rigid or exclusive solution for the world.

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The Milky Way,NASA

Karl Jansky

31

by

MADo MARTINEZ

WEbSITE

G abriele Camera, Fullbright Scholar, holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Iowa (USA) and is current-ly Research Profesor of Economics and Finance, in the Economic Science Institute at Chapman University in California. He

WWW.MADoMARTINEZ.CoM

has held previous positions at Purdue University (USA), the University of Iowa (USA), and the University of Basel (Switzerland).

inTerVieW WiThGaBriele caMera

MONEY REDUCES TRUST IN

SMAll GROUPS

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G.C. I want to get the words straight and correct you a little bit in terms of language. In economics, selfishness and altruism are very precise con-cepts, so I prefer not to use those types of words, though in com-

G.C. Definitely. The point here, and the prece-dence here, is that we did a laboratory experi-ment, so all you can get out of the data is some intuition for how behavior might be rep-

mon language you can use them. Basically indi-viduals tend to be coop-erative with others, that is, they tend to sustain personal costs to help others when money is not involved, and as soon as money gets

licated outside the lab so it gives us a point, a way to think about behaviors in society, but you’re right. So what we found in the experiment is that people were able successfully, to a certain

M.M. Are we more selfish when money is involved?

involved, this tendency to try to cooperate with others, over time, is greatly diminished. So if you want to call it self-ishness you can think of it in that way it’s more self-interested.

extent, but not fully to a certain extent they were successful, at dispelling social norms of mutual support, cooperation, as you say, or reciproc-ity, in a certain sense, when there was no way

M.M. It’s very interesting what you’re saying because in Spain (where I come from), people are suffering a very big economic recession at the moment, but at the same time there is much growth of solidarity. Do you think that can be related to your theory?

to obtain high pay-offs otherwise, when there was nothing they could exchange for a favor, or for help. whereas when we introduced this object that had no cash value, it had no refer-ence to outside curren-cies, basically it was just a symbolic object, people started to be in a sense, and I use quotes around these

words ‘greedy’ in the sense and they would not help others unless they received compen-sation. That is they switched behavior from norms of mutual support to norms of exchange, in which I want to be compensated immedi-ately for some benefit that I provide to you. So it is reasonable to believe that in situa-

tions in which jobs are lost, as is the current situation in Spain and in many other coun-tries, unfortunately, when people do not have access to liquid-ity, to money to pay for the things they need, it is natural for groups of people to come togeth-er and rely on norms of mutual support.

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M.M. I guess you have tried to compare this information with colleagues in other fields like psychology, sociology, etc. why is money able to change the way we behave?

well, so far we have some hypotheses that have to be tested, of course, in order to give at least an initial intu-ition, an initial answer, but it’s not proof from an experiment, it pro-vides an intuition, and it has to be replicat-ed many times to have some sort of more sci-entific validity, but the idea is this: consider the many differences among the individu-als in a large group of people, individuals that do not know exactly each other’s behavior, they may not help each other, as it is in modern societies, large societ-ies. In these types of societies, if you want to create norms of mutu-al support, you really have to rely quite a bit

on the others, but if you help someone today, or if you’re given help, then someone else will help you in the future, so there is this give and take.

Creating these norms requires that the groups of people that engage in such norms of mutu-al support are able to punish, or enforce, deviations from coop-eration. The theory is

that if there is some-one who does not help, as everyone else does, the entire group has to punish these individu-als. These types of pun-ishment norms are very

hard to enforce, and in particular there must be some sort of coordina-tion at the group level. The larger the group, the harder it is to coor-dinate on this type of punishment scheme. So

G.C.

35

the problem is not that people do not under-stand the benefits of cooperation, the prob-lem is that people do not understand how to generate behaviors that eliminate opportunism, that’s the complicated part. How do I punish individuals? How do I make them responsi-ble for what they have done?

In a society of strangers this is complicated. It requires a lot of coordi-nation at the civic level, in the group or society. what does money do today? Money bypasses all this because the pun-ishment for not cooper-ating, so to speak, in a monetary exchange is that I don’t give you anything. You do not give me what I need; I do not give you money. So it simplifies tremen-dously the large degree of coordination that as social groups we have to undertake in order

to support these norms of mutual support. So that’s really the benefit of money, it bypasses all these problems of coordinating, of think-ing about what you’ve done in the past, how to punish. It’s very sim-ple: you give me noth-ing, I give you noth-ing. That’s why money works, and that’s why it can support these types of interactions. The negative effect, the one that you notice, is that once we decide to coordinate on this type of exchange – I’ll give you something only if you give me something

else – then it becomes problematic because as it happens these days in Spain, in Italy and in certain parts of the US for sure, when I have nothing to give you in exchange for what I need, then what do I do? well, under the norms of monetary exchange I can give you nothing so I’m stuck. That’s really the bad component of this arrangement. It is simple and it is intui-tive, quid pro quo as the latins would put it, but it has this negative component that it dis-places norms of mutual support.

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M.M. Anthropologists tend to find that cooperation is supportable in small groups but in large groups it’s very hard to do. How can we teach people to learn to support each other?

As a matter of fact the experiment is not about teaching how people can mutually support so it is a sort of specu-lative comment that I can make at this point from other experiments that we’ve done, the important thing is to make sure that individ-uals are made in their head responsible, at an individual level, for the actions they’ve taken. So what we’ve found out is that communication among individuals, and in particular, informa-tion about the actions that the individual has taken in the past, can help those who have inclinations to behave opportunistically but is doing something that is not very nice, for per-sonal gain, this type of behavior gets tremen-

dously reduced, but you need to have the bit to first communicate, to know and to talk to each other, directly if possible, and second to have information about what individuals have done. Third, you have to have the possibility of sustaining punish-ment if someone does not behave in a way that is socially support-ive, society has to pro-

vide disincentives, has to remove incentives, from doing that type of behavior.

So anyone seeing the experiments we’ve tried with prisoner’s dilem-mas, anyone who’s been subject to this type of environment in which they can com-municate with others, in which they can track each other’s factions

G.C.

37

and the opportunity of punishing individu-als who misbehaved directly, generally it’s a very, very high coop-eration level. which is why anthropologists, as

you said, tend to find that cooperation is sup-portable in small groups but in large groups it’s very hard to do because information about behavior becomes hard.

Punishing, not just ver-bally, others, become complicated, so this mechanism becomes very difficult.

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M.M. I see that your findings can be applied in many fields. For example, how we behave in a company that uses monetary incentives for their employees?

G.C.

This is interesting, what you say, Mado, because there is some research that looks into the pos-sibility that monetary incentives may actually reduce the effort that workers put into what-ever the firm’s objective is, so the experiment was not designed to test this sort of hypothesis but there is some work which shows that some-times monetary incen-tives in company work environments actual-ly go in the opposite direction because they displace intrinsic incen-tives. For instance, if I’m a baker, I’m allowed to do it because I like to make bread. Or if I am a doctor, I like to help

people with my medical skills. Sometimes pro-viding additional incen-tives to the monetary need removes these intrinsic incentives, so our training does not address that there are other interpretations and other consequenc-es for organizations or work within a firm.

For example if in team-work is very difficult to organize around coop-erative norms, perhaps it is because the team is far apart in the world or team members cannot exactly understand what each other are doing so there’s a contradiction to output. There may be monetary incentives

39

That’s right. we did it at Purdue University, which is a universi-ty in Indiana, a cou-ple of hours south of Chicago, with under-graduate students from that institution. The students ranged in age from eighteen to around twenty-four. I think the median age was twenty. About fifty-fifty men and women. It’s a relatively large international population but of course the stan-dard subject pool was used. It would be inter-esting to look at differ-ent, non-standard sub-ject pools.

M.M. I guess the place you did this research was the United States with Americans?

G.C.

that can be introduced, but I’d be very hesitant at this point to interpret our results in the light of small complete type of groups.

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M.M. what’s the next step now in your research? Do you intend to go further?

G.C.

Definitely more research because this was an initial step. At this point we were inter-ested in understanding what really is the role of money in society from a behavioral perspec-tive and it revealed to us that the behavioral role is very strong. It is even if you can orga-nize society in such a way that everybody has the maximum pay-off. Society cannot do it but

money can help you improve, it certainly manages it in the soci-eties at large.

Now we are looking at other issues, in particu-lar leading to the endog-enous emergence of the systems, how they emerge, and liquidity problems. In the exper-iment, the main reason why the monetary sys-tem that emerged was not a hundred percent

successful in creating supporting cooperation is because sometimes those that needed help could not buy it. That’s what we call these days a liquidity shortage. So we’re looking into issues of this type, whether liquidity shortages can or cannot create prob-lems for society in terms of performance.

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by

Rob HUTCHINSoN

WEbSITE

WWW.ISPECTRUMMAGAZINE.CoM

is There a psycholoGical explanaTion for The near DeaTh experience?

n the last issue of Ispectrum magazine we had a fas-

cinating interview with Dr Eben Alexander, a distinguished neuro-surgeon and sceptic of the near death experience (NDE). He never foresaw that, despite writing a paper discrediting people’s experi-ence of NDEs, he would one day become a believer. After bacteria attacked his brain and put him in a coma for seven days he had his own NDE in a heavenly realm, and he awoke from that coma a changed man, a believer.

I I have always had an interest in NDEs and despite never experi-encing one myself I am a strong believer in them. However, as a psychologist I couldn’t help but delve into the past research and see if there was anything verging on a purely psychological explana-tion for the NDE. Many scientists point to neurobiological evidence, such as a lack of oxygen in the brain as the reason for NDEs, and other corroborating evidence also points to neurobiological factors. In fact, oxygen starvation causing

42

hallucinations is the most popular explanation for the NDE and does have various merits. Although neu-roscience and psychology overlap I am more interested in focusing purely on the psychological aspect as so far this has been largely ignored in favour of neuroscience. It is possible that the NDE fulfils a psychological need, or could even be a psychological defence mecha-nism. In terms of the reports of the NDE itself it is likely that the recol-

lections are subject to psychologi-cal interpretation, so an exploration of psychological mechanisms could shed light on the NDE reports and lead to a better understanding of the NDE itself. Could a psychologi-cal model explain the NDE? And if there is no psychological evidence, where would a psychological theory for the NDE start and what would it need to prove?

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PSYCHOlOGICAl THEORIESAND EvIDENCES

One of the earliest psychological theo-ries for the NDE was put forward by Grof and Halifax in 1977. They were looking for a psychological expla-nation as to why NDE reports are so univer-sal. Their birth - mem-ory - activation model postulated that a close shave with death trig-gered repressed mem-ories of the process of birth. After all, every-one is born in gener-ally the same way, so

that would explain why there is such consisten-cy in NDE reports. The peace and transcen-dent feelings alongside the advancing through a tunnel is in fact a subjective recountance of being born and trav-elling through the birth canal, with the peace and light at the end representing the feeling of being born into the world. However, there are obviously major issues with this, not least that being born

is a pain-ful experi-ence for the baby. Also, the infant does not have the capacity to remember this experi-ence so it

is highly unlikely that it can remain buried and be activated by the moment of death. No empirical evidence supports this theory, and scientific evidence strongly indicates that infants simply do not have the mental pro-

44

fulfil a psychologi-cal need. However unlikely this may seem, it could be possible to explain the NDE in this way. The theory of crisis intervention sup-poses that patho-logical states can lead to an oppor-tunity for positive growth. This oppor-tunity for growth in crisis involves the person entering a state of disequilib-rium due to great periods of stress. In this period the ego is overwhelmed and the person becomes more susceptible to positive and correc-

tive influences. It is possible that the per-son has a regression to a very primitive level and this return to basic functioning leads them to view their experi-ences (real or imag-ined) in a sense of childlike awe and bliss. In essence, they are

regressing to a prever-bal stage of develop-ment where they had an imbedded trust in the ‘realness’ of their experiences and feel-ings of bliss associated with a time when, as a child, all their needs were readily met. This could explain why peo-ple report feeling so at ease and in awe of their experiences with-in the NDE. But could this regression indicate that the NDE served a psychological need? Greyson (1981) tried to explain why posi-tive personality trans-formations sometimes occurred in those who had attempted sui-cide and experienced an NDE. He concluded that it was possible the NDE reduced the per-son’s suicidal intentions in the future by using psychological mecha-nisms. Some of these psychological mecha-nisms he used for these explanations included

cesses necessary to remember their expe-riences of birth.

Many psychologi-cal theories have shown that our reac-tions, experiences and desires are working to

45

that the NDE represents the death of the ego, providing a substitute for the death of the person, and the life review helps to resolve old conflicts and move on with life.

Could facing death cause a regres-sion in the mind of the individual to a developmental stage of life, thereby allowing psychological mechanisms to kick in , manifesting as the NDE? There is no hard evidence for this and this idea relies a lot on factors that cannot be tested easily. Also, does this happen just to survivors or to everyone at death? If this regres-sion occurred in everyone it would be pointless as the huge majority of people who are dying do in fact

die, so the psychological mechanism would serve no purpose. And, if it occurred just to those who went on to live, how could these mechanisms possi-bly know if the person was going to live or die? On the positive side, it would explain the consistency of the NDE reports, as well as it’s paranormal aspects and why it can have ben-eficial effects on the indi-vidual.

The most promising psychological theories all seem to focus on why people have such a universal expe-rience. There are some academics, such as Grosso, who have pointed to the similarities between the universal experience of those who experience the NDE with that of patients who suffer Delirium Tremens. This disease is caused by withdrawal from alcohol or sedative - hypnotic drugs, such as barbiturates. The symptoms of Delirium tremens include, amongst others, palpitations, convulsions and auditory and visual hallucinations. These hallucinations involve distor-tions of the environment and tactile sensations such as animals crawling

46

on the skin. The interesting part in relation to the NDE is that there is a common ele-ment reported in these hal-lucinations, be it walls mor-phing or visions of rats for example, and that this ele-ment is reported across cul-tures, age groups and personalities. It seems that the common hallucina-tory experience is universal in the same way as the NDE. we know Delirium Tremens is caused by withdrawal from a drink or drug that is usually preva-lent in the body sys-tem, and it is charac-terized by high blood pressure and pulse, increased

breathing rate and sometimes sei-zures. All these physiological chang-

es are rapidly affecting the system, just like the body

may go through sharp changes just before, or during, a person’s NDE. In the case of Delirium Tremens these changes cause hallucinations

that are similar in most sufferers, so why

does it seem so strange to suggest that the simi-

lar experiences reported in the NDE could be caused by the physiological changes that they are experiencing? Many people assume that the NDE is such a special experience because of the common elements reported, but Delirium Tremens shows that it is not unique for people who suffer drastic changes in the physiological components of the body to experi-ence common elements in visions or hallucinations.

The most promising psychologi-cal theories all seem to focus on

why people have such a universal experience.

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So far the evidence for a psychological expla-nation for the NDE is looking pretty thin on the ground. The theo-ries or ideas are there but nothing has been shown to be solid enough to be rigor-ously tested to provide hard evidence. A key factor in all psychologi-cal theories is having a workable model that can be tested, so what would a model for the NDE have to account for and how could it be put to the test? If we assume that the NDE does have some sort of psychological func-tion then a working model would be able to explain it.

A psychological model would have to account for three things in rela-tion to the NDE; the consistency of reports and the universality of those who report them,

the psychological rea-son behind it and the physiological process-es in the brain that occur during the pro-cess. At the moment it is extremely difficult

to construct any kind of model in relation to the NDE as the psy-chological theories are just not robust enough to form the basis of a model. looking back

48

At this moment there seems not be a strong psychological explana-tion for the NDE. There are some loose theo-ries that are difficult to prove but could serve as a starting point for further analysis if a more in depth investi-gative method can be found. However, inter-esting points are raised in terms of explaining the consistency of NDE reports. As for pro-ducing a psychological model, the criteria it would have to explain are clear, but as yet no-one has been able to put forward anything substantial in terms of ticking all the boxes and providing valid results.

points but still remains elusive in terms of pro-viding anything that could lead to concrete results.

on Grof and Halifax’s birth - memory activa-tion model it is almost impossible to test, and in terms of a model based on the regression theory it has more valid

At this moment there seems not be a strong psychological explanation

for the NDE

Physiological evidence on the other hand remains the most solid scientific explanation for the NDE. However, Dr Kenneth Ring, who has committed sub-stantial time and efforts into researching the NDE, feels that with the consistency of the NDE reports and the fact that these reports are across cultures, age groups and different backgrounds, cover-ing such a large spec-trum, that it is hard to explain by just using the processes of the brain. How can it be so consistent across peo-ple from all continents? After all, scientists are still struggling to explain the conscious-ness, itself a key part of the NDE. If scien-tists cannot unravel the intricacies of this piv-otal factor of the NDE, how can they hope to explain the NDE itself? This gives added impor-

tance to a psychologi-cal approach, which, if a testable theory could be developed, would at least focus more on the mind than the biology

of the brain and may lead investigations into a different, more pro-ductive, direction.

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50

W W W . I S P E C T R U M M A G A Z I N E . C o M

‘‘All the Stars in our Galaxy produce harmonic vibrations producing a kind of celestial melody’’- Professor Donald W Kurtz (Astrophysics Centre ,University of Lancashire ,UK)

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NASA