IUBio

Perceptual Structure

Ian Goddard igoddard at erols.mom
Tue Sep 5 04:05:08 EST 2000


      
 (graphics: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/paranorm.htm) 

  NEUROLOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES

  (c) 12/21/99 Ian Williams Goddard

  Paranormal experiences that transcend the perceived 
  confines of the body, such as out-of-body experiences, 
  may be seen as evidence of the existence of a "spiritual 
  body" that can exceed the confines of the physical body. 
  The following, however, provides a simple neurological 
  explanation for such paranormal experience.

  THE INTERNAL WORLD MODEL

  Looking at the computer screen before you, you assume 
  the screen you're seeing is external to you. However, 
  because all that you perceive is in fact data that have 
  already entered the interior of your skull, what you 
  perceive as external is a neurologically constructed 
  model inside your brain of the real world outside your 
  brain. (graphic: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/paranorm.htm)

  You never perceive the external world directly, you 
  only perceive second-hand "messages" sent via photons 
  and sound waves that have already struck your sensory 
  apparatus and sent information about the external world 
  into your brain where it was processed into the three-
  dimensional model of the real world that you see. The 
  things that you perceive as being the genuine articles 
  "out there" are actually simulations of them inside your 
  brain. (see: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/paranorm.htm) 

  Amazing as it seems, this means that what you think of 
  as your body is actually a simulation body walking around 
  your brain's model of the world! So long as your internal
  model is exact, you can interact with the real world 
  without problem. However, if and when the accuracy of 
  your internal world model is compromised, paranormal, 
  insane, or unsober experience is the result.

  Because the perceived parameter of your body is a 
  computational construct of your brain, it can be 
  altered by abnormal brain activity. For example, the 
  neurological program that places you, the observer, in 
  one location in the model could just as well place you 
  at any other location in the model, thereby creating 
  an out-of-body experience. Or the location of your 
  consciousness could appear to expand and engulf the 
  entire world-model, resulting in a "cosmic consciousness" 
  experience. Or, inside your brain's program, experiences 
  like pain could be placed in a location outside your 
  simulated body, such as in the perceived location an 
  amputated leg used to be, resulting in a "phantom pain" 
  apparently outside your body. In each example, only the 
  parameters of a simulated body inside the brain are 
  transcended, and thus the evidence of a spirit body 
  disappears like a ghost. 

  CONCLUSION: In comprehending the nature of out-of-body 
  expereinces there's one thing we can know for sure: the 
  fact that all observed data have already entered the 
  skull of the observer leaves no room for doubt that the 
  world you perceive including your perceived body is a 
  simulation inside your brain of the real world outside 
  your brain. The real world is thus never directly 
  perceived. One explanation for out-of-body experiences 
  is that the observer, or consciousness, moves outside 
  the physical body via a spirit body. However, the physical 
  evidence indicates that the spirit-body theory rests on 
  the illusion that the observer's perceived body and 
  environment are the real thing rather than a model inside 
  the observer's brain, wherein, as a result of neurological 
  anomalies, an observer can transcend the limits of his 
  perceived body without actually transcending the limits 
  of his real physical body. 
 
************************************************************ 
Visit Ian Williams Goddard --> http://www.erols.com/igoddard 
------------------------------------------------------------ 
(+)  Something can come from nothing, if, and only if,  (-) 
(-)  that something is equal to nothing ((-)+(+) = 0).  (+) 
____________________________________________________________ 
"[I]n any closed universe the  negative gravitational energy 
 cancels the energy of matter exactly. The total energy, or 
  equivalently the total mass, is precisely equal to zero." 

- + - +  Dr. Alan Guth (The Inflationary Universe)  + - + -

 






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