Excerpt from Chapter 5 Evolving and Enhancing Our Minds
By Jonathan Robert Banks
Source: Brain Training for 21st Century

The evolution of life on Earth could be seen as the evolution of intelligence and mind with humanity as the epitome. Therefore the essence of our evolution is the evolution of our intelligence. According to the majority of scientists in the new field of complexity theory our civilisation, with its culture and technology, is evolving according to natural dynamical laws. These dynamics are non-linear (exponential) and our civilisation is about to go through a dramatic and rapid transformation, which involves our conscious participation in evolution itself. Independently other scientists have discovered that we are headed for a technological singularity. A time when our intelligence will create such unimaginable novelty via technology that we will change our world and ourselves in unrecognisable ways. Scientists from the new applied field of neurotechnology claim a major aspect of this change will be the development of powerful neurotechnologies that will give us superhuman mystical/spiritual and mental ability, changing us into a more evolutionary advanced species of human.

Ancient mystics and shamans believed that humanity would evolve to a point where we would dramatically transcend ourselves, changing our minds and our world. Some called this time the shift of the ages. Scientists with a materialistic view believe we will ‘upload’ our minds into computers and exist forever in cyberspace. New Agers believe we will use the subjective practices of the ancients to enlighten ourselves. Christians believe that God or Jesus will defeat evil, transform us into ‘good’ people and create heaven on Earth and/or allow all the good people entry into heaven. Others believe aliens will transform us into something better.

Myself and many scientists believe that there is and will be a convergence of modern science with the ancient knowledge of shamans and mystics––an integration of mystical insight and rational inquiry that has and will produce new technologies of healing and enlightenment. I see this novel ‘emergence’ of ancient wisdom with modern science, as a natural dynamic of the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness.

The momentum of our evolution has brought us to the brink of a major phase transition, where we will evolve into fully human human beings. We are stuck between our animal past, literally hardwired into our brains and our fully human future, which is a natural stage of evolution for sentient beings that produces common human evil in all its forms. We have begun the task to literally engineer ourselves out of this intermediary stage. As frightening as this seems to many it is a path away from and not towards more evil.

The core of this change will be a dramatic alteration of our minds. We will mediate this change ourselves with new kinds of advanced neurotechnology that will re-engineer/evolve/bootstrap our minds in a powerful and natural way. This will unlock the vast potential within us demonstrated by mystics and shamans of the past. With this new technology, we will achieve for everyone in perhaps days or weeks, what took in the past by an elite few, a lifetime of sacrifice, toil and inhuman dedication.

Even though these new sciences, including artificial intelligence and computer science, look like they are putting the last few nails in the spiritual coffin, the reality is they are actually playing a vital role in enabling our spiritual and metaphysical understanding and development. This debate will be played out and resolved in this arena with materialistic uploading competing with metaphysical neurotechnology, as the path to enlightenment.

This re-tuning and re-structuring or bootstrapping of our minds will represent a type of enlightenment and spiritual transcendence similar to the experience of shamans and mystics in the past. This enlightenment will be available to all who are willing to undertake it––a possibility that has never existed before. I believe this transition is an inevitable dynamic of complex adaptive or self organising systems and the trend to complexity, in evolution. This is an evolutionary phase transition or punctuated equilibrium event that is necessary. Paradoxically the evolving of our minds is a result of yet also a catalyst to this event.

We need to literally change our minds and our view of ourselves, our creations and reality itself in order to survive. What is even more fantastic is that all of this could be completed in the next twenty to thirty years. The ancient mystics and shamans, as well as modern scientists predict this timing! Current predictions (2001) for the creation of a molecular assembler are ten to fifteen years, down from the twenty to thirty years predicted in the late eighties! Assemblers are the key to enable full-blown nanotechnology and thus advanced enlightenment technologies. We have models of wellbeing, peak performance and enlightenment from the mystical traditions and also new models from the behavioural and neurosciences to guide our progress.

I have described the coming future but already there is a quiet revolution taking place with neurotechnologies. This revolution is being driven by rapid and startling advances in highly sensitive and ever more powerful computerised brain monitoring technology, like positron emission tomography (PET), fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging ) and quantitative electroencephalograph (QEEG), along with advances in the cognitive, neuro and computer sciences and advances in the applied field of neurotechnology.

These neurotechnologies will enable an incredible increase in the amount of people who could take the full advantage of high quality meditation and mental programming to significantly improve every aspect of their life. Up to now this has proved to be more difficult than expected with traditional techniques. So the process of replacing these ancient techniques with the mass-produced objective and modern technologies has begun. For me this is natural and inevitable. It is an expression of our evolution––the turning of the great wheel of life and exactly what the shamans, yogis and mystics predicted!

Dr Julian Isaacs PhD, researcher and neurotechnology clinician believes it will allow us to emerge into our fullest evolutionary potential. A golden age of technological consciousness enhancement is what Denis Campbell, peak performance expert, foresees. They are part of a natural evolutionary trend, argues, Michael Hutchinson, in his book Mega Brain Power. Dr Siegfried Othmer PhD, neurotechnology inventor, researcher and clinician, sees revolutionary implications for our intellectual and spiritual journey. Dr James Hardt PhD, neurotechnology researcher consultant and clinician, believes neurotechnology will accelerate the evolution of humanity. Dr Gary Schummer PhD, neurotechnology researcher, asserts neurotechnology will allow us to transcend our present limited consciousness. Dr Les Fehmi PhD, pioneering neurotechnology researcher and clinician, predicts global healing and creation of wisdom.  Dr Thomas Budzynski PhD another pioneer in the field, believes ¹ we are in a period of ‘extraordinary breakthroughs’ in the area of neurotechnology and its application to peak performance. Dr Joe Kamiya PhD, pioneering neurotechnology researcher and clinician, asserts that neurotechnology can be used to remedy the problems of our entire social system.

Let me now introduce these neurotechnologies. An amazing and incredibly simple technology is brainwave entrainment, which I mentioned in Chapter 4 in connection with Robert Monroe. Audio entrainment is as old as mankind and has been used extensively by all cultures for healing, spiritual inspiration, meditation and entertainment. Imagine the rhythmic pulsing of a bullroarer, digereedoo, chanting or drums and you have an idea of entrainment.  When I hear an Australian digereedoo I hear delta (.5 to 4 hz) and theta (4 to 8 hz) entrainment.

Audio entrainment uses specially modulated frequencies within the range of brainwave patterns. A frequency cycling at say ten cycles per second will drive the brainwave frequencies around the 10 hertz range, increasing the amplitude of the 10 hertz waves. The amplitude represents the height of the waves. If you ever have been to the beach you may have experienced being hit by a wave and feeling that it has a certain amount of energy in it that can push you. If another wave comes along that is a bit higher you would notice that it had more energy and would knock you harder. Wave mechanics tell us that a doubling of wave height creates a quadrupling of its energy. So entrainment increases the height of certain brainwave output and thus increases the energy of that particular brainwave. If it were 10 hertz then an increase in 10 hertz would result in what many would refer to as an alpha state, as alpha is represented by 7 to 12 hertz brainwaves. An alpha state produces a state of physical, mental and emotional relaxation, very much like meditation. In fact some forms of meditation are alpha states. Audio entrainment affects mostly the temporal lobes, however it can also have a global effect on the entire cortex.

I have developed an entire series of what I call Neuro-CDs, which use the effects of audio entrainment for relaxation, pain management, healing, anxiety reduction, peak performance, personal and spiritual development. Produced in a modern recording studio, these CDs are made from layers of entrainment frequencies using synthesizers. Some of the frequencies are pure tones at say 14 hertz that are inaudible but you can feel them. Other frequencies are produced from what is known as the binaural beat effect. This is where one oscillator is fixed at one hundred hertz and the other at one hundred and ten hertz, for example. One frequency is recorded in the left channel and the other in the right channel. The left brain hears one hundred hertz, the right brain hears one hundred and ten hertz and the mid-brain hears the difference (10 hz), known as the binaural beat. The experience is of a ten hertz throbbing sound that seems to have a phase effect. The binaural beat has a tremendous mesmerising effect and when combined with ambient synthesizer music the effects are profound. Alpha/Theta frequencies will rapidly guide a person into deep medative states. If the frequencies are in the beta range of 15 to 22 hz, audio entrainment can also be used to stimulate.

Another powerful technology is brainwave biofeedback, where you control a computer game or the size of a DVD screen with your brainwaves. Known as neurotraining or neurotherapy it can remediate the entire range of psychophysiological disorders, for example ADHD, depression, anxiety, PTSD, epilepsy, substance abuse and general stress, with an effectiveness that is miraculous by normal standards. Re-tuning the brain in this way enables people to live happy more productive lives and to successfully learn traditional meditation practices, which is almost impossible with a de-tuned brain, hence the high failure rates.

Professor Frank Duffy MD, Harvard Medical School states. “The literature, which lacks any negative study of substance, suggests that EEG biofeedback therapy should play a major therapeutic role in many difficult areas. In my opinion, if any medication had demonstrated such a wide spectrum of efficacy, it would be universally accepted and widely used.” ² Dr Katie Campbell Daley MD, Department of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School stated in regards to alternate treatments of ADHD, “The therapy most promising by recent clinical trials appears to be EEG biofeedback (neurotraining).” ³ Professor John Gruzelier of the Imperial College London stated neurotraining “can positively influence the cognitive performance of healthy individuals.” ⁴ When people have completed the remediation/healing stage or for others who are ready, it is enabling the rapid learning of meditation, accessing them to personal development, peak performance and spiritual enlightenment.

Alpha/Theta training mimics meditation, deep relaxation or self hypnosis. In this situation the trainee lays back in a comfortable position with eyes closed and receives sound and/or vibration feedback, when they are producing a certain amplitude of alpha (7 to 12 hz) or theta. In other training regimes feedback is obtained when the hemispheres of the cortex are synchronised or when there is a certain combination of alpha and theta frequencies called crossover. The trainee using feedback and operant conditioning, is able to learn to produce certain amplitudes of alpha and/or theta on command. Neurotraining makes the task of learning meditation far easier than conventional techniques, as the trainee receives constant feedback during each session, after each session when they analyse graphs of the session and also across sessions, as the computer analyses and graphs their progress. You can see exactly how you are progressing.

The production of these states has all of the positive affects of well executed meditation or self hypnosis. Biofeedback researchers Elmer and Alyce Green of the Meninger Foundation pioneered the first EEG biofeedback studies, inspired by Japanese research on Zen monks,⁵ reported in (Zoren Psychologia 12:205-225 1969). They used healthy subjects and taught one group (with EEG Biofeedback) to mimic the Zen monks (who during meditation were able to systematically increase alpha that reduced in frequency until it sank into theta) while a control group just tried to relax. They discovered that the theta group often reported memories of long forgotten childhood events, which weren’t ‘remembered’ but ‘relived,’ had life altering insights that lead to profound changes in their life and increased their psychological health, becoming more poised, more accepting of self and others, less rigid and conforming and more creative. What surprised the Greens the most, writes Hutchinson ⁶ was that they didn’t get sick anymore, while the control group had no change in their physical health.

Neurotechnology researcher and Houston clinician William Beckwith stated that increased alpha and theta frequencies with cross lateral brainwave synchronisation, “…is often accompanied by spontaneous surfacing of previously inaccessible memories, often from early childhood,” which produces ‘profound’ alterations in a person’s mood and behaviour, as well as the, “…seemingly miraculous resolution of complex psychological problems.” In what looks like “…a sudden reordering of the entire personality.” ⁷ Working independently on theta research, biofeedback researcher and clinician Thomas Budzynski, found that theta states made subjects ‘hypersuggestable’ (as if in a hypnotic trance) to suggestions for positive changes to their behaviour and attitudes and they were able to learn languages and other information much faster, writes Hutchison.⁸

Alpha training has been demonstrated to increase creativity and reduce anxiety, reported Hardt.⁹ He conducted a small trial with seven volunteers, who were scientists at the Stanford Research Institute and a control group of age matched executives from Silicon Valley . Both groups were given pre training stress tests (physiological stress response––measuring galvanic skin response, muscle tension [EMG], skin temperature, heart rate and respiration rate and subjective stress questionnaire the Signals of Stress inventory [SOSI]) and a creativity inventory. The two groups were well matched on all three groups of tests. The alpha group did alpha EEG biofeedback training once per day and the control group went about their normal routine. At the end of five days the tests were repeated for both groups and Hardt found that the physiological stress (emotional stress and auditory startle stress) in the alpha group was significantly reduced but the control group had risen slightly. The subjective measure of stress (SOSI) showed an average of 56% decrease for the alpha group and the control group had a 5% increase. The alpha group had a ‘dramatic’ increase in their Ideation Fluency scores, which Hardt described as ‘highly’ significant. He concluded that alpha training holds the promise of reducing anxiety and increasing creativity in a ‘wide’ range of people.

Isaacs points out the phenomenology of mysticism is accessed in altered states created by alpha-theta neurotraining. Hardt, who has done some work on comparing yoga and Zen meditation to alpha/theta training, asserts that mystical experience and alpha/theta feedback experience share many, if not all ‘basic dimensions,’ an observation made by many other clinician/researchers. Based on my personal and professional experience I believe that EEG biofeedback is an effective and legitimate tool for meditation training and the accessing of mystical states.

I have personally used all of the technologies on clients and myself I have discussed. I have also sold hundreds of AVS units and Neuro-CDs. I have trained elite and professional athletes, CEOs, highflying entrepreneurs, professionals, housewives, truck drivers, students, children and Vietnam veterans for a wide range of disorders and for peak performance. I have personally witnessed what would be considered in mainstream medicine, psychiatry and psychology, as impossible and miraculous.

References

1. The New Frontier Megabrain Report The Journal of Optimal Performance Vol.2 No.4 p58-65
2. Clinical Electroencephalography (2000).
3. Current Opinion in Pediatrics.
4. Financial Times 2003.
5. Kasamatsu, A and Hirai, T. An Electroencephalographic Study of Zen Meditation. (Zoren) Psychologia 12:205-225 1969
6. In his article The Brainwave Investigation Megabrain Report The Journal of Mind Technology Vol.2 No.3 p6-13
7. Ibid p9
8. In his article The Brainwave Investigation Ibid p6-13
9. In his article A Tale of Self Discovery p14-28 Megabrain Report The Journal of Mind Technology Vol.2 No.3

By Debra Burdick

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?It-Works!-Why-You-Should-Try-Neurofeedback&id=4827599 ,
see also http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debra_Burdick

Here will be posted information, news, resources, and tools of interest to clinical and corporate clients, web visitors and other health professionals. It will be of special relevance and value to anyone interested in the Mental Health Clinic located in Fremantle , Western Australia.

I hope you find it useful and subscribe to our WholeLife Lines enews to be kept informed on Clinical PsyBlog news being added to this and the other PsyBlog websites that I publish.

Denis McCarthy

http://www.int-a1.com/dm
Fremantle, Australia
dm[@]int-a1.com
614 0402 0242
0404 0202 42