Ganzfeld Effect Update - Behavior Modification

There's fog everywhere.  I'm walking down to the street from my ground level apartment't front door to the street.  A car I once owned sits idle on the parking lot as I make my way through the dense scenery.  It all seems calm.  No birds chirping, no speeding cars, no people.

Had i been awake, this would have all seemed unreal.  Lucky for me, I'm dreaming.

     After the ganzfeld effect experiments continue, my dream retention has shot up exponentially.  I feel a sense of calm, and the way I think is changing.  Not sure how to describe this as It's still me, but the way I react is different based on how I've behaved on the past.
Going by the past is silly as one can change at a moment's whim.

     I have joined a gym for krav maga, a sort of intense martial arts center.  I am going to Mexico in a few months and had this been a few years ago, I would have had a thought of what I would want to do before embarking on the actual trip.  Most, of course, would have gone untouched and by the time the date for the trip arrived, i would have only had regrets and have been full of "oh man i guess i didn't get a chance to -" then continue to list all the things i had thought about doing before the trip.
This is what I mean by acting different.
     I actually went through with something i had imagined me doing.
Another one of my fantasies is to tell my bosses how undervalued I feel, how many hours i have been placing at work with no pay, and how much work gets done because of me.  Well, this week I did just that.. sort of.

     An intranet page at work allows workers to submit ideas , and mine, was to get paid for overtime pay.  Overtime pay, is something one is to receive if one works over time.  This doesn't happen, and only exists in paper.  It's not that it's illegal, but that there's so much work to do, those of us who care about the work spend hours finishing it after our shift is done just to keep up.  When asked about compensation for over time, my manager at least, replies with "it was not approved" - meaning that officially we're not to stay over time.
     I was called into the office after submitting my idea and was advised to go do something I loved out of work.
The fact that i was having a discussion for overtime pay because of an idea i told  myself to submit is exciting yes, but different.

     Now, I'm not sure if i'm attributing these changes to my birthday coming up in May.  The big 3-0.  I'm not one to pay attention to birthdays, I'm low key and usually stay in.  I don't call friends to hang out on that day and go to work just like any other day.  So to imply that this birthday out of the rest might 'mean' something is not exactly truthful, but subconsciously, I could be playing into it.  I say could, because there's also the possibility that the experiments, where I listen to static while undergoing the hanzfeld experiments (and might I add, during my lunch time at work, I take 10-15minutes listening to static to put me elsewhere in a frame of mind).

It's also possible that I'm behaving differently solely because I'm performing these experiments, thereby pushing myself to behave 'differently' and later attribute this to the experiment itself.

Either way, I'm excited to see the changes.

--Hh

The book I've written in my head.

     I've had the notion that "I will write a book" will turn into "well that was a hell of a  book I've produced" but my mental thoughts have yet to take me to my actions sitting down and writing this massive thing i've been carrying around for years.
I've thought "i will title my book this or that" which often changes every few months or so when I've received some new wealth of information either through personal experience meeting day to day people, on the internet or via movies, seminars i attend or cds i hear.

Today, I had that thought again.

     The persistent thought today was that the general population, at least in my view, has a mis-perception on "great people".  You know who I'm writing about - the Mahatma Gandhi's of the world, the MLK's of the world, the inventor's singer/songwriters, actors, directors, scientists.  Anyone who is 'anyone' in someone's mind.  I think the judgement of WHO someone is in the perceived notion, is hard to remove once there.  The actual person that those very same people grew up next to (whether siblings or neighbors) remember them by their name and how they were while growing up, not their achievements.  They remember them by the stories they have when a kid, rather than how they are perceived now in the lime light.

     I think that when someone grows up, it's not that they 'stop' being who they were while growing up, but that the new label given by many more people overshadows the 'human'.  The mythical form then begins to take shape, and years later the tamper tantrums, the cries, the fights, the disagreements all take a backseat.   What is left, is instead the hollowed out version of what people now perceive.  This hollowed out version is now 'the person' in total.

     I think that when a celebrity, politician or any one else well known has some 'dirt' come up, it's baffling to the general population how a person with the given 'status', could "fall" -from the very same pedestal that was given onto them.  I realize some people are placed on pedestals for societal reasons, but this doesn't take away their humanity.

"what? they had an affair? what they are divorced? what! someone in their family died?!" 

- People are people, no matter which light is given onto them.

What?! Gandhi said what about which group of people ?! (link@)

Mother Teresa did what with her money?!  (link@)

Did Martin Luther King Jr  really slept with who?! ((link@)

     -- the guy down the street has done these things various times but when people are 'idolized' , it's as though no sin can be committed... and when it happens, boy is there hell to pay.

When will people start realizing that no matter what people do or what they don't do, they are still human beings.  It's, i believe, a way to disassociate from the great potential that lies in everyone's reach.  It is a way for the average Joe to look back and say "they are the chosen few to do those things, not me" --and also works great when psychopaths and killers go on rampages "oh man i could NEVER do such a thing" - we disassociate, and demonize those who do wretched things because ... well, it's not something we want to associate with nor aspire to be near.

This is why countries demonize other countries, why government officials demonize others, and why terrorists become the scum of the earth to some, while at the very same time become god-like to others who follow their ideology.

Dehumanizing humans has become so 'work as usual' that people don't consciously realize it's happening.  Samantha Smith (wiki) visited Russia during the cold war and stated "They're just like us!" -as her ideology, and that of many, was so prevalent in our differences, that people had almost forgotten how human and connected we really were.

Ganzfeld Effect Update 3 - Red Light Bulb and Static

So,

as everyone who is into the ganzfeld effect, a red light is necessary.  I ventured into this project thinking a regular ammount of light, low light or no light would cause little if not any difference.  Well, aside from the fact that I fell asleep most of the times, yes there was little to no variance.

Went online to troll the thousands of forums to see what I could dig up -and turns out a red light is extremely necessary.  You see, the red light as viewed from the perspective of someone wearing half ping pong balls over one's eyes, activates the brain just enough to stay awake.  The brain, thinking that it's about to get some sensory input, is perplexed when no input is received.  So what does it do? the lil bugger decides to create its own show.

The brain, being addicted to stimulus, must absolutely positively create its own in order to keep with the status quo.  Seeing the red light reminds the brain that activation is due - and this (according to everyone who raves about it on the innennets), is when the hallucination happens.

Seems fairly easy right? -WRONG!  You might say 'YES! -if you're one of these anonymous internet users who claims that all is peachy. but for this insignificant amateur wanna-be hallucinatory scientist, this is not the case.  My brain is so wired to receive stimulus, that while under the preferred settings, it craves and makes up its own thoughts. "hey what time is it" , "i think i want to go to the restroom", "i'll move my leg right... right now... k, now... NOW... ok i'll do it again" -it's non stop.

Usually, I end up going to sleep, but after having purchased the red light bulb from my local hardware store (which by the way has been diminishing in strength ever since day 1), i've had little to no success in having my dilated eyes do anything.

Will I try again tonight? hell yes! Has this worked? Hell no!  Tell you what tho, what is of significant note worthiness, I've been slightly inclined to listen to static.

Doesn't that sound weird?  It does, and I know it.  I've been carrying around my mp3 player, putting it on local radio stations, then tuning off by a few stations so that there's only static coming through.  That's what I listen during my lunch hour for a good 10-15 minutes.  When i listen for about 5 minutes, I manage to calm my thoughts, when I listen for a good 15 minutes, m whole body reacts by getting me in a soothing mode.  This is extremely helpful in an office setting when all you do is go go go.

More to come! (but still, listening to static? I'll note if anything develops in that department.)

Ganzfeld Effect update 2 -swirls

     Swirls. I believe i saw swirls.  Blobs of, not even color, but of heightened .. color?
y'know when you see oil on water? it's kind of rainbowy? well, that's what i saw.

     The perception or field of awareness began to glow and rise in color.  Can't attribute this to anything
else other than my mind.  I began wanting to pay attention to anything that was a bump, a noise, a pipe,
someone slamming the door.. anything.  As i heard something outside of the static earphones, i wanted to check it out but realized it was nothing more than my mind wanting to receive more outside stimulus.
Didn't see any forms, didn't see any people or places.

     When i breathed in and out i had the perception that the bottom of my field of awareness was rising up and down.  almost as if the thing i was watching was a part of me and i was making this world in front of me rise and fall -In retrospect, of course it's a part of me, my mind was creating it.

     My mind however was THINKING wildly, going from idea to idea, or setting to setting.  However, i do not attribute this to hallucination, i attribute this to a busy mind.

Unaware for how long the experiment ran.

Will try again tonight.

--Hh
p.s.
I did a quick run through google of 'swirls of color' only to realize that everything online was purely fictional made by some computer.  The colors are entirely too lively and the settings are unreal.  The swirls i saw were much more calm.

Ganzfeld Effect update 1.

It's the morning after i advised I would be taking part in the experiment.

My findings:
First of all - i didn't get to sleep until 2:30am..
     * Reasoning 1 - I kept feeling fidgety, i felt every inch of my skin move, i felt that when i breathed in and out, the shirt would rub against my skin making me pay attention to that.  Mind you, this happens to all of us but manage to shut it out because it happens so damn much.
     * Reasoning 2 - drinking lots and lots of tea right before was a bad idea.  I interrupted the experiment twice to relieve myself.
     * Reasoning 3 - i couldn't find the right 'static' -the static i kept finding on the radio would fluctuate and I would pay attention to that instead of paying attention to the task at hand.  Finally , I was able to find a monotone static station *pheww

I wasn't able to see squat - and first of all, does anyone know if the participant is to be staring at the ping pong balls or having one's eyes closed? i didn't know which was what so i ended up falling asleep.  Right before hand tho, i got to a point where i wasn't sure if i had my eyes open or closed. nice.

This morning as soon as I woke up i packed my things and tried for another try.  I managed to 'see' static.  This is odd.  Y'know the cliche picture of static from a tv? well, I saw it... I believe i did because, well, I was listening to static to fine tune me into the mood.  After the static, it all became 'gray' (which is best how i can describe it) -after the gray, i 'got back' to realizing i was staring at the pingy pawngy balls which lost its trick and here I am.

A friend checked in on me to see if i wasn't brain dead yet but alas, I'm not -or did i merely wake up dead and haven't realized?! *dun Dun DUN!

I will be trying more experiments as the day goes on.

--Hh

So i recently heard of a BRAND NEW THING called -well not really really brand new.. It's called the Ganzfeld Effect.... and it sounds straight out of a sci-fi book.

The experiment:
Placing balls over your eyes, err... half of a ping pong ball over your eyes.  Get your ears to some fine static tune, and if you want an extra kick, shine a light to your eyes while the ping pong balls do what they do best, shield your eyes from seeing anything.
Next, take some gloves so that when the sensory deprivation gets a goin, you also lose feeling of having limbs, and so you end up with the feeling that you just are this lump sum of.... MASS... i guess.

The effect:
Straight to the point, you'll see trippy shit.  I'm talking LSD trippy shit - no wait you know what? i don't buy it, but what i do buy, is that your mind will feel that since there's no sensory input it'll have to come up with its own.  The same effect i feel will be in par with dreaming.

Anywho, the guys over at gawker wrote about it here.

So after work, i went to wally world, bought some pingy pawng balls, went to my buddy's house to do it! but instead we ended up watching the kroods.

So it's just past midnight and i'm about to try this at home.  I'll be updating more as I continue to experiment.

My goal:
See if i am able to interact with whatever it is that i see.  Example, if i'm hallucinating that I'm in the woods, will i be able to walk around? If i hallucinate that i'm in the middle of a crowd, will I push the guy in front of me for being a d-bag and not letting me closer to the concert? Will I remember to do all of this while it's happening!?
So many unanswered questions *to me at least*

-but for now, I go to my slumber chambers!

--Hh

Necessary tools:
Earplugs
Ping Pong balls (be careful when cutting these, use scissors for a much easier time)
Mp3/radio to listen to some continuous static
Gloves (optional, you can embrace your own hands as well)

Wiki article here

Avocado

     So recently I found out that the Hass Avocado is an avocado which was cultivated in the early part of the 20th century from unknown seedlings.  Per wikipedia's report, the person which planted it did not exactly know where the original seed came from or if it was cross-cultivated:

"Hass avocado trees have been grown from ... a seed bought by Rudolph Hass in 1926 from A. R. Rideout of Whittier, California. At the time, Rideout was getting seeds from any source he could find, even restaurant food scraps. The subspecies of this seed is not known and may already have been cross-pollinated when Hass bought it."

     So wtf kind of seeds are they? *shrugs* but they shore tastes goods!

     This is straight from the paradise grove plantation website :

"The Persea americana (avocado) originated in South-Central America between 7,000 and 5,000 B.C., but several millennia passed before the Aztecs cultivated it. They named it ahuacatl.

The Spanish, who had difficulty pronouncing the word, changed it to aguacate, which eventually morphed into avocado in English."

Tell me again how the word "ahuacatl/aguacate" morphed to avoado?

     Where the hell does the V come from? The spanish word for "agua" didn't morph to "avo" so... OH WAIT LET'S NOT GIVE A FUCK

*flips table over