March 09
Discovery: Combining Research and Consciousness Exploration at TMI
The challenge is on! Show the world (and yourself) that consciousness expansion is real and can be scientifically validated.
This past December a group of intrepid explorers gathered at The Monroe Institute to meet this challenge and make a contribution to the advancement of human scientific knowledge. They were remarkably successful.
Preliminary results demonstrate the great potential of this type of program for both research purposes and benefit to participants.
Discovery is a 5-day/6-night residential program held at TMI. It combined simultaneous EEG data recording from 16 participants with exercises in remote viewing (RV), out-of-body experience (OBE), and lucid dreaming (LD). The challenge for the participants was to describe the remote (hidden) targets designated for each session.
Participants were helped into psi-conducive states through audio exercises including SAM sounds composed by TMI’s director of innovation Bob Holbrook specifically for the program. Then, they were provided individualized EEG feedback after each session from Mind Mirror EEG practitioners led by Judith Pennington from the Institute for the Awakened Mind. Surveys and target reports were collected from the participants, and the target reports were judged for accuracy by an independent group of TMI staffers who were trained by world-class remote viewer Joe McMoneagle.
In addition, a random number generator (RNG, aka REG, random event generator) was collecting data for the entire period of the program. RNG's have been used in research with groups engaged in focused activities, with results suggestive of a local "field" appearing under certain conditions. Our Discovery program RNG results were intriguing, and we will have more to say about this in a future blog post.
Preliminary results demonstrate the great potential of this type of program for both research purposes and benefit to participants.
Another participant produced the most amazing drawing of an OBE target—accurate in every respect—from two different angles, listing of the colors, and not one piece of superfluous or incorrect data.
This was not a group of trained RV or OBE experts, but overall they scored 38 first-place target matches in 110 attempts, for a probability of 0.0066 in achieving this level of success by chance alone.
EEG was acquired in all the RV and OBE sessions, and now the EEG practitioners are combing through this data to see if there is a correlation between EEG patterns and success at the psi task. We had some indication there is a correlation from one of the participants, who was spectacularly unsuccessful until the third day of the program when his EEG evolved into one of the desired Mind Mirror EEG patterns. In the remaining three sessions he scored a first-place hit and a tied first/second place hit. One could hypothesize that the audio exercises, EEG feedback, and encouragement from the group all combined to provide an atmosphere for his eventual success.
There were several other riches coming out of this group. One of the participants scored six first place hits in eight sessions and produced several remarkably accurate drawings of targets. Prior to the program, he did not realize he had this level of RV ability. We now have his EEG data contrasting a string of successes to a couple of misses. Another participant produced the most amazing drawing of an OBE target—accurate in every respect—from two different angles, correct listing of the colors, and not one piece of superfluous or incorrect data. Did her EEG differ in some respect in this session compared to her less successful sessions? This is just scratching the surface of the data from this program, and we haven't even looked at the RNG data yet.
One of the hopes inherent in running a large-scale EEG program is to catch a bona fide OBE or expansive mystical state experience in an EEG recording. One of these occurred during the December Discovery program …
Of great interest in the consciousness research world is the issue of the origin of mind. Is it generated by the brain, as believed by materialists, or is mind irreducible and we are "more than our physical bodies?" One of the hopes inherent in running a large-scale EEG program is to catch a bona fide OBE or expansive mystical state experience in an EEG recording. One of these occurred during the December Discovery program, and it was preceded by an EEG that briefly showed a significant reduction in brain activity in the cerebral cortex, almost a flatline. Could this indicate the brain is "getting out of way" and allowing a larger consciousness to prevail, as if the brain-as-filter were opening up? The participant's report was of a profound experience, not what one would expect from a flatlined brain. We hope to gather more of these episodes in future Discovery programs.
In addition to all the fun with EEG electrodes and remote targets, it was a joy to be engaged in this effort with such an eclectic crew of explorers. Folks from all walks of life and locations were present, from trance medium to police detective and everything in between. They were more than up to the challenge, and the research world has benefited from their efforts. TMI will be reporting on further results from the program as the data analysis proceeds.
More Discovery programs are in the works at TMI as well, so if you are up to the challenge, come and join us!
Can the mind operate independently of the brain?
Participate in generating verifiable data!
Discover how your brainwaves react during expanded states of consciousness.
Register for the 5-Day/6-Night Discovery Course.
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Learn MoreRoss Dunseath, PhD
Monroe Research Coordinator