Field Survey I

Rethinking Learning
Jan Lundquist

It occurs to me that we are, at long last, in the midst of a paradigm shift in the way we think about human learning.  Much old school learning theory has focused upon discovering individual learning styles, and, admittedly, knowing one’s personal style can be very helpful to a learner. However, this research has been based upon the limiting assumption that learning is an activity that happens in one brain in one head at a time.

The heretical botanist, Rupert Sheldrake, may have been the first to crack this insular thinking, with his idea that the development of any self-organizing system (crystals, cells, organisms, plants, humans, groups, etc.) is guided by information residing in all-pervasive shared memory spaces he called “morphic fields.”  Sheldrake thought the existence of those fields might explain why it was, for example, that all subsequent generations of lab rats got better at running a given maze, regardless of whether their parents had ever run the maze or not.

In Sheldrake’s view, morphic fields are not static and unchanging, but are continually modified by the exchange of information between and among field members in a process he called “morphic resonance.”  However, even assuming the existence of this activity, Sheldrake’s theories still fail to explain exactly “how” the information exchange occurs once this ‘resonance’ is achieved.

Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff may have some helpful ideas in this regard.   They propose that our brains operate in and interact with a sea of photons: packets (quanta) of light, wave-particles that are said to be non-local in space and time.  What one particle knows its companion knows, no matter how great the distance between them.   In their theory of Quantum Intelligence, Penrose & Hameroff propose that when some of these quadrillions of photons collapse (from wave to particle) inside the microtubal structures that connect our brains to the outer world, the event triggers millions of synaptic nerve connections throughout our body’s central nervous system.

It was once thought that the synaptic operations of the central nervous system were entirely driven by a neurochemical processes, but German biophysicist, Fritz-Albert Popp, has completed many studies showing that individual cells communicate through the exchange of particles of biophotonic light.  Groups of healthy cells act as mini-lasers, emitting a narrow and coherent beam of biophotons.   Threatened or weakened cells signal distress by emitting more, but less coherent light.

It has been observed that, within a healthy living body, when a coherence of light occurs in one group of cells, a resonant frequency of it will instantly occur in other cell groupings, located some distance away.   And, though the biophotons themselves are minute when they begin to cohere, they produce a weak energy field that very probably correlates to the auras that some people are able to see.  This energy field can be measured at the surface of the skin as electrical resistance and, in the brain, as specific types of electromagnetic waves:  alpha (8-12 hz), delta (.2-3.0 hz), theta (3-8 hz), beta  (12-30 hz), and gamma (25-100 hz).  Each dominates our consciousness at different times during the course of a day.

When we are in the alpha state, we are awake but relaxed.  It is the state most identified with meditation, day dreams, and “floaty” feelings.  As we drift off to sleep, our brains produce more and more theta waves, indicating that we are falling into an ever deeper state of relaxation.  The theta is also associated with hypnotic susceptibility.  Delta waves mark the periods of deepest, most dreamless sleep, which is perhaps the most necessary for body repair and rejuvenation.

The waves produced during most of our waking moments are beta waves.  Beta is related to cognitive processes and mental work and insufficient Beta activity has been associated with emotional or mental disorders.  Enhancing beta activity improves emotional stability, energy levels, attentiveness and concentration.

Gamma waves (27-100 hz) represent the newest class of brainwaves to be identified and studied.  They have been associated with the formation of ideas and linked to the cognitive act of processing memories.  The rate of the Gamma waves seems to correlate with the speed at which a subject can recall memories; the faster the waves, the faster the recollection.  Increased Gamma has also been associated with lucid dreaming. Hameroff, a practicing anesthesiologist in addition to being a research scientist, has proposed that Gamma waves may be the “wave of consciousness.” They disappear completely while a patient is under anesthesia, but return as the patient transitions back to a wakeful state.

Stimulation of Beta and other frequencies has been shown to provide stress relief, relief of insomnia, migraine relief, and significant improvements in memory and learning.  Such therapy induces a coherence in the target frequency bands to achieve the desired effects.

There are many types of light and sound entrainment software and systems available now for the ordinary user.  They range from free, downloadable audio tracks to systems costing a hundred dollars or more, but the Mindwave App for the Ipad is one of the best. It has several premixed tracks, but also allows users to build their own combinations of therapeutic beats, music, and special effects.

Some of the more expensive systems allow users to choose their preferred entrainment method: binaural (headphones required) or Iscohronic pulses, for headphone free listening.  At least one allows users to overlay a theta track with hypnotic suggestions for changing habits and attitudes.  Because brainwave entrainment is an effective learning and self-help aid that is readily available to the ordinary person, it is likely to become one of the most important tools in the new Learning Paradigm.  When we are able to operate in a state of resonant harmony we grow healthier in emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental directions.

Brainwave feedback technology also shows great promise for those who wish to undertake conscious exploration of the intangible world of Spirit, as brainwave (EEG) devices become ever smaller.   According to their intriguing Kickstarter campaign, the DreamNet system will provide programmable lucid dreaming stimulation through a comfortable, wearable headband connected to a home computer by BlueTooth.

Lucid dreaming is but one way to become an argonaut in the sea of consciousness, which I call The Field.  There are others. It is this sea and this process that I will be talking about in future posts.

References

Are Humans really beings of light?, Walter “Bud” Karas
Brainwaves Overview
DreamNet: The Programmable Lucid Dreaming Headband
Endogenous Light: Nexus Theory of Consciousness, Karl Simanonok Ph.D
Lucid Dreaming, Voss U, Holzmnn R, Tuin I, Hobson JA
Overview of Learning Styles

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Jan’s Archives:

Rethinking Learning
Frequencies and The Field
The Noosphere
Cultivating The Field
Field Medicine and White Crows