24 May 2012

Notes - No question about it / Ameta Cortavena / Ouija board & ideomotor response

         Within thirty minutes of noon. An easy day so far. Brennan took a nap while you and Carol watched last night’s “Revenge”. Then you took Brennan on a walk around the block, as it is cool and sunny. His next feeding will be within the hour. Carol is on the couch reading her Barbara DeLinsky novel and you are in the easy chair facing the front, east window. Interruption from Brennan as it is time for his liquid refreshment.

         I was wondering before sleep last night what kind of system to put heartansoulanmind in relative to an individual of the Homo sapiens, as it appears non-dimensional, ha! Non-denominational.

         You are keeping your humor intact. This is a good thing. – Amorella

         Since you brought it up let’s broaden this to include the two sets of aliens in the Merlyn books, the marsupial-humanoids and the tiny alien Diplomat discovered. She calls herorhim “AC” but classifies herorhim as Ameta Cortavena which translates as “Consciousness-Near-Nothing” or “Heart of Nothing”. Diplomat is attempting to convince the reader of Merlyn’s Mind that she has discovered who is really writing the work within “Pouch Text”. She believes this little character is the writer behind Richard. She thinks, I, Amorella, is this tiny alien character. Below is from Merlyn's Mind, Chapter Eight, Pouch Text.

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I, Diplomat, as a hybrid character in two books, was created by Richard’s mind. The outside-the-book reader, as well as Richard, would certainly agree I was created in his mind before venturing onto the two-dimensional page. As I was created in his mind, I may make reference to it as being one who is continually a part of his mind as he writes, thus, I am in two places at once, one I am on paper, and two I am in Richard’s mind as he types this.

 My mind model is based on the following principles for analogy with Richard’s mind, specifically where the stories originated and are in the mode of being created, written, and proofed. This is my criteria for discovering this super-microscopic alien with a consciousness I have nicknamed the little benign fellow AC. The nickname means Alien (Alternating) Current, since he’s here, then he isn’t, like the self-relative sentence: “When you are reading this sentence I wrote it.” The personification, the alien I, if you will, leaves a trail of words to trail or track back on, either way.

The author, Richard, is relying on the Soki (who he thinks is the personification of his writing process and not an alien life form) to do the writing. He cannot argue what he has not pre-thought.

The Soki is presently in what position related to the mind model? Let’s see, she thought.

            > I, the Soki, am in the south room and exist as the hypothetical and imaginary outer blue walls of that room. I am the sole aromatic oven, the personification of the writing process who pumps the aromas Richard puts into letter and word combinations. I am imagination within reason, created to do the task of unconscious or automatic writing. The blue south pointing walls of the model are hypothetical. They are not alien. The outer walls of the south room are my position relative to the model. That is where I see myself for those who are curious. <

            Imagination is also a disguise to hide behind, thought Diplomat. What a better device for the Soki. A virtual chameleon of poetic devices to hide one’s self in. How like my own mind, she thought. How like any human mind, to hide oneself in her or his imagination. Where is the real heart of the humanity when it may be nothing but imagination in the lowly human beast? The complications of this literary search are great, but I am resolved to finish what I begin. Perhaps the alien in any of us is that we don’t want to admit to. A perfect cover for anyone looking in the mirror and saying, “Who are you really? And then, “why are you here?” No response, or an imaginary one at best. The absurdity is not of life, but is of consciousness instead.           

A Beginning Hypothetical Alien Profile


            I will make this alien a female so as not to confuse her with the male that I made of the Soki. This stands to reason because early on in the books the Soki is referred to by the marsupialese pronoun sheorhe. The alien is a creature who evolved from the size of a single dandelion seed or less. The species became smaller and smaller until one could fit inside a marsupial or human brain.

The alien is from this galaxy. Her species originally lived on a planet and feed from the humidity and carbon dioxide in the air and from the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle from grassy plants. Her remote ancestors had no legs or arms. No eyes. No ears. None of the human senses existed. The species originally lived between the grass blades as a spore might. Then the species developed from a single asexual seed blown in the wind to a higher state of consciousness.

This alien ancestor sensed the material world through a cone that goes inward from the top of the seed. The actual seed surface or skin continually flaked onto the grassy stems which allowed it to lodge itself within as a small mollusk might lodge itself in an empty shell. The winds blow these dandelion seed size creatures from place to place within the planet’s environment. These intelligent creatures learned to roll in pieces of dead grasses and adjust by bobbing and rolling the dead blade of grass so the wind might catch them so they might raise themselves higher and higher into the sky and become more conscious of height, width and depth.

Much later, aliens, such as the marsupials, landed on their grassy and environmentally friendly world from time to time and some of the fully conscious (as in human and marsupial consciousness) seedlings attach themselves to the marsupial and/or other ships piloted by yet other aliens of consciousness in the galaxy.

These tiny creatures further refined themselves smaller and smaller because it was to their benefit of survival, down until they were the size of self generating amoebas, only one of their species might then needed on any planet for further propagation.

Eventually through divine design or evolution their outer shell becomes a transparency that can be seen through like clear glass. Because it would at times reflect sunlight it would seem to be a sparkle in the air when airborne and then be gone. A little sparkle of reflected light as hardly a speck of dust perhaps, and thus the minute alien still easily and neatly disguised itself and kept safe from harm.

As these tiny amoeba-like creatures traveled the galaxy they became smaller and smaller as their adaptive minds became larger and larger. Eventually they become microbe small, but the mind stays its original size. It is my contention that this alien masking as the Soki, who is, in turn, masking as the writing process personified, the one in Richard’s head, is less than a hydrogen atom in size, but its mind is the same size it always was, or even perhaps a bit larger because its awareness of proper hosts and environments in which to survive as a single member of a vast species.

 This sub-microscopic creature can move to whatever shape she desires within her host. All she needs is a whiff of carbon dioxide and oxygen in her food and air supplement cycle. She is very efficient little creature.

This may not be complete accurate as a hypothesis, but it allows her fits the intelligent profile needed for such a small alien species to exist undiscovered within a marsupial or human host.


Carrying this profile further, let’s say the one disguised as the Soki, was left on Earth when the marsupials first landed in 1988. It could not divide on Earth because it has nothing left to divide into. The alien species had reached its cul-de-sac of evolution. She is one of a kind on this planet, a unique species that has found herself in the head of the author, Richard. She can do nothing of herself, nor does she need to for survival, as long as she has a host, who could be any human being or marsupial. She can only make herself known to her host telepathically through her own mental consciousness.

The Soki, the personified writing process, is, meanwhile, completely telepathic within the confines of his host. He needs nothing else to survive as an alien consciousness either. Knowledge to survive his environment is also gathered from the brain of his host. Both make complete sense as atom-sized intelligent parasites.

This particular little alien who disguises herself as the Soki (whom the author considers a product of his imagination) can exist for a very long time on Earth as long as she has a human host. If she happens to be in a host who is more than likely to be killed then she must transfer. She must therefore prefers to be in urban areas, where ironically, she finds herself in a more dangerous environment, but there are a greater amount of hosts available. And, since the eye socket seems to be of some significance, perhaps the transfer is through the eye stem directly into the brain. This is all supposition of course, but I feel it is plausible under the circumstances.

Here is the scenario I have devised as to why she might choose to risk her disguise for her survival’s sake. Earth is a dangerous world for the little creature. Her greatest fear is having everyone die off like early on in the first book in 1988. Only four people left. Not very good odds of surviving. To increase these odds, and after having been hosted by a marsupial before coming to earth.

The alien’s electron-sized brain easily disguises the Soki’s immediate human environment, a mental presence, in the brain, of a personification of the writing process within the host. The Soki, as a presence of mind through the interaction with the brain, becomes her front and back yard so to speak. And, as with a self relative sentence, when she (the alien) is observed in the brain, she disappears as something else again, and reappears only when the observer is not looking.

Thus, her built in defense system is extremely miniscule, remote, and self-referential. She is the most efficient piece of conscious life in the universe, and it is nearly as old. She has no harming capacities of any kind because she needs conscious life to co-exist with. She is an almost perfect alien form as far as basic survival of a consciousness or self-awareness is concerned.

            I will call this alien, thought Diplomat, Ameta Cortavena which translates as Consciousness-Near-Nothing or Heart-of-Nothing, because when she is one, then she is not the other. No one knows which this tiny benign alien is at any given time for when observed she becomes the other. A perfectly constructed defensive system built in. If there is a plausibility of an intelligent alien at all this fits her profile description.

From: Orndorff’s Merlyn’s Mind, Chapter Eight. Section III: Pouch Text

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         Diplomat really got into her proofs of an alien writing the books forgetting that from the reader’s perspective she is an alien too. I like the humor, but then, I would. No one gets this stuff, Amorella. I had a really good time writing these first three books. I was on a mission.

         Like the “Blues Brothers” – we’re on a mission from God. – Amorella

         Not quite, Amorella, but that was funny too. I loved the movie at the time, in fact I have the DVD version, but over the years it has lost some of its charm. No mission from G---D, Amorella.  – This is a trick statement isn’t it?

         So, how are you going to get out of it? – Amorella

         Here’s what I don’t like. Everyone and his sister and brother thinks sheorhe is on some sort of mission from G---D. Talk about arrogance. It doesn’t even make sense to me. Manifest Destiny. The self-pride jumps right out at me, right along with Predestination, which is in conflict with Free Will, at least in my mind. People can think what they want but when anyone starts thinking sheorhe is on a mission for G---D social problems compound themselves into economic problems and somewhere out there someone invents a scapegoat, usually secretly siding with the devil. In this day and age it is a no-win for anyone in the long run. I’m not an existentialist for nothing. Anyone who thinks sheorhe is on a mission from G---D can leave me out of it. – rho

         Truly spoken words, orndorff. No question about it. Understanding where you are coming from this makes complete sense. You want to get back to business but I need a break. Be back in a bit. Post. – Amorella

         I can’t remember the last time you needed a break, if ever. That’s fine with me. I could use a nap.



        1642 hours. I did have a nap. Brennan is up and has just finished his bottle. He is ‘baby-playing’ in his little rug area just north of my feet on the floor. Back to the tiny alien “AC” for short. Alien Current or Alternating Current – so shocking a thought. This is so bad. I don’t know where my mind is. ‘lie’ sets between a and n. That should tell me something. Similar to ‘evil’ with a ‘d’ in front. I better stop while I’m ahead.

         Word play has always been fun for you because of its inherent possibilities for a new combination of thoughts – somewhat like a built in Ouija board. – Amorella

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From Wikipedia:

The Ouija board also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" and "goodbye" and various symbols and graphics. . . . It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. Participants place their fingers on the planchette and it is moved about the board to spell out words. . . . Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond on July 1, 1890, the Ouija board was regarded as a harmless parlor game unrelated to the occult until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.
Mainstream religions and some occultists have associated use of the Ouija board with the threat of demonic possession and some have cautioned their followers not to use Ouija boards.
While Ouija believers feel the paranormal or supernatural is responsible for Ouija's action, it may be parsimoniously explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect. Despite being repeatedly debunked by the efforts of the scientific community and denounced as a tool of Satan by conservative Christians, Ouija remains popular among many people.

History

One of the first mentions of the automatic writing method used in the Ouija board is found in China around 1100 AD, in historical documents of the Song Dynasty. The method was known as fuji 扶乩 "planchette writing". The use of planchette writing as a means of ostensibly contacting the dead and the spirit-world continued, and, albeit under special rituals and supervisions, was a central practice of the Quanzhen School, until it was forbidden by the Qing Dynasty. Several entire scriptures of the Daozang are supposedly works of automatic planchette writing. Similar methods of mediumistic spirit writing have been widely practiced in ancient India, Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe.
Academic

The Ouija phenomenon has been criticized by many scientists as a hoax related to the ideomotor response. Various studies have been produced, recreating the effects of the Ouija board in the lab and showing that, at least under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the planchette involuntarily. Detractors have described Ouija board users as 'operators'. Some critics noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects.

Use in creation of literature

Ouija boards have been the source of inspiration for literary works, used as guidance in writing, or as a form of channeling literary works. As a result of Ouija boards becoming popular in the early 20th century, by the 1920s many "psychic" books were written of varying quality often initiated by Ouija board use. . . .
In 1982, poet James Merrill released an apocalyptic 560-page epic poem entitled The Changing Light at Sandover, which documented two decades of messages dictated from the ouija board during séances hosted by Merrill and his partner David Noyes Jackson. Sandover, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983, was published in three volumes beginning in 1976. The first contained a poem for each of the letters A through Z, and was called The Book of Ephraim. It appeared in the collection Divine Comedies, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1977. According to Merrill, the spirits ordered him to write and publish the next two installments, Mirabell: Books of Number in 1978 (which won the National Book Award for Poetry) and Scripts for the Pageant in 1980.
Edited from Wikipedia – Ouija board
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         You do not remember reading this before though you have mentioned such things in the blog. Below you have Wikipedia’s “Ideomotor response” article and you feel you know this exactly as this is a good definition of what I, Amorella, work through within your physical and mental systems.

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Ideomotor response
            Hypnosis            

The ideo-motor response (or "ideo-motor reflex"), often abbreviated to IMR, is a concept in hypnosis and psychological research. It is derived from the terms “ideo" (idea, or mental representation) and "motor" (muscular action). The phrase is most commonly used in reference to the process whereby a thought or mental image brings about a seemingly "reflexive" or automatic muscular reaction, often of minuscule degree, and potentially outside of the awareness of the subject. The cognate term "ideo-dynamic response" (or "reflex") extends to the description of all bodily reactions caused in a similar manner by certain ideas, e.g., the salivation often caused by imagining sucking a lemon, which is a secretory response. Here, "ideo-dynamic" means "the power of an idea (over the body)". In the Victorian psychological terminology from which this concept derives, an "idea" may include any mental representation, e.g., a mental image or memory, etc. The ideo-dynamic response became the original neuro-psychological theory of suggestion in hypnotism.
History

The term "ideo-motor reflex" or "ideo-motor response" was introduced in the 1840s by the eminent Victorian physiologist and psychologist William Benjamin Carpenter. Carpenter was a friend and collaborator of James Braid, the founder of hypnotism.
Braid soon assimilated the ideo-motor theory into hypnotism and it became the central theory of hypnotic suggestion. In The Physiology of Fascination (1855), Braid writes,
“In order that I may do full justice to two esteemed friends, I beg to state, in connection with this term monoideo-dynamics, that, several years ago, Dr. W. B. Carpenter introduced the term ideo-motor to characterise the reflex or automatic muscular motions which arise merely from ideas associated with motion existing in the mind, without any conscious effort of volition. In 1853, in referring to this term, Dr. Noble said, “Ideo-dynamic would probably constitute a phraseology more appropriate, as applicable to a wider range of phenomena.” In this opinion I quite concurred, because I was well aware that an idea could arrest as well as excite motion automatically, not only in the muscles of voluntary motion, but also as regards the condition of every other function of the body. I have, therefore, adopted the term monoideo-dynamics, as still more comprehensive and characteristic as regards the true mental relations which subsist during all dynamic changes which take place, in every other function of the body, as well as in the muscles of voluntary motion."
Braid coined the term "monoideo-dynamic" to express his theory that hypnotism functioned primarily by concentrating attention upon a single (mono) "dominant idea", which he believed amplified the ideo-dynamic or ideo-motor response.

The ideo-motor reflex. Diagram from Carpenter's The Principles of Mental Physiology (1874).

Questioning

It is strongly associated with the practice of hypnosis, whereby 'yes' or 'no' answers may be given by indication of a physical manifestation rather than a verbal one; such results are produced by 'pre-suggesting' the correct response and attaching it to either the left or right hand side of the subject's body.
An example of IMR

If you were to be asked to imagine doing up your shoelaces as vividly as possible, your brain would consciously fixate on the task and work through it as vividly and as logically as possible. The theory of IMR would imply that your muscular memory associated with your hands, would then attempt the task physically, but abort the process unless it was truly necessary and curtail the events that would unfold if you were actually willing to send the complete information along your nervous system to your hands. This may therefore involve an involuntary 'twitch' or movement of the associated digits are placed into preparation of function, processed against reality and then given the signal to not actually act.
In hypnosis, this may be circumvented by dissociating the particular thought-process-response-abort of a digit or entire limb; and therefore give control to the unconscious mind to enable (by suggestion) the route of conscious thought-unconscious process-conscious process (of the fact)-conscious response (do not act)- unconscious response (dissociate from conscious)- ignore abortive conscious attempt- unconscious unabort... Which would then display a reaction or response in a physical manner or behavioral context.
Body language may be considered the most commonly visible aspect of IMR, but may also include such unconscious activities as doodling or art - as the conscious thought is sublimated into a different type of activity in unconscious expression.

From: Wikipedia
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         And, from the Skeptic’s Dictionary below:

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            ideomotor effect
The ideomotor effect refers to the influence of suggestion or expectation on involuntary and unconscious motor behavior. The movement of pointers on Ouija boards, of a facilitator's hands in facilitated communication, of hands and arms in applied kinesiology, and of some behaviors attributed to hypnotic suggestion, are due to ideomotor action.
Ray Hyman (1999) has demonstrated the seductive influence of ideomotor action on medical quackery, where it has produced such appliances as the "Toftness Radiation Detector" (used by chiropractors) and "black boxes" used in medical radiesthesia and radionics (popular with naturopaths to harness "energy" used in diagnosis and healing.) Hyman also argues that such things as Qi Gong and "pulse diagnosis," popular in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic medicine as practiced by Deepak Chopra, are best explained in terms of ideomotor action and require no supposition of mysterious energies such as chi.
The term "ideomotor action" was coined by William B. Carpenter in 1852 in his explanation for the movements of rods and pendulums by dowsers, and some table turning or lifting by spirit mediums (the ones that weren't accomplished by cheating). Carpenter argued that muscular movement can be initiated by the mind independently of volition or emotions. We may not be aware of it, but suggestions can be made to the mind by others or by observations. Those suggestions can influence the mind and affect motor behavior.
Scientific tests by American psychologist William James, French chemist Michel Chevreul, English scientist Michael Faraday (Zusne and Jones 1989: 111), and American psychologist Ray Hyman have demonstrated that many phenomena attributed to spiritual or paranormal forces, or to mysterious "energies," are actually due to ideomotor action. Furthermore, these tests demonstrate that "honest, intelligent people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity that is consistent with their expectations" (Hyman 1999). They also show suggestions that guide behavior can be given by subtle cues (Hyman 1977).

From: The Sceptic’s Dictionary online

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         I particularly like the lines: “. . . tests demonstrate that "honest, intelligent people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity that is consistent with their expectations." This is the method Amorella adheres to and it suggests that “Amorella” was/is an unconscious expectation (and, to me, she is a poetic personification of my “automatic writing central”. The post today sooths my way to continue with my experimental writing that focuses on the books and blog. Why not? The only difference is that where “their expectations” exists one can readily see many of the expectations (suggestions) are from Amorella first so it should be (in this blog) “Amorella’s expectations”.

            Later, you had Chinese take out for supper, then you spent most of the evening watching Owen learning to drive his new electrified toy Jeep – an early outdoor fun family twilight time. The ‘family’ of heartsansoulsanminds is the focus for tomorrow. What is the connection between higher consciousness and heartansoulanmind no matter what the physical body appears to be or not to be. Post. - Amorella

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