The Women Warriors

[RawMahdiyah]

Sensory & Extra-Sensory Perception

The descriptions of sensory and extrasensory perceptions, typically occuring during the rites of initiation, are another area in which similarites are found among the most varied indigenous cultures.
For example, subjective experiences of light, heat, fire and burning in the course of attaining cosciousness are so widespread that Eliade has spoken of these light perceptions ("illuminations") as an integral component of the spiritual experience "of archaic humanity back to the most distant ages" (Ecstasy, p. 62). A dialog carried on by a medieval Sufi/Arif (d. 1300) with his teacher concerning the student's experience of light points out both of the well-known aspects of mystical experience simultaneously: the fleetingness, combined with the through-and-through transformative effect:

Nafasi said, "Oh Shaykh [teacher], anyone who has reached this Sea of Light will be drowned in it and after that never see himself again. All he will see is the Sea of Light."
The Shaykh said, "This vision is not permanent."
Nafasi asked, "Oh Shaykh, what is it that is permanent then? Is it the vision or beholding the vision?"
The Shaykh answered, "The vision is not permanent but beholding it is."

The Quranic "Light upon Light" (24:35) is described by Eliade in terms of the shamanic traditions as "a mysterious light which the shaman suddenly feels in his body, inside his head, whithin the brain, an inexplicable searchlight, a luminous fire" (Ecstasy, p. 60). Achterberg quotes an Inuit healer: "Every real shaman has to feel an illumination in his body, in the inside of his head or his brain, something that gleams like fire..." (Imagery, p. 34). On the basis of her investigations she comes to the conclusion that the voluntarily produces rise in body temerature ("fire, burning"), which is also objectively measurable, is not to be attributed to a redistribution of blood volume from the central body to the periphery:

The yogins and shamans have apperently found a means to continue an indefinite heat exchange, which means they have the ability to regenerate those chemicals involved, for a long time. We can only conclude that a powerful ability to self-regulate the thermal response is apparent, and note additionally that those who involve themselves in such affairs regard the internal heat as a pathway to knowledge (*1).

References to experiences of vibration and trembling, which can take on convulsive proportions, are also not confined to Far Eastern (Kundalini and Irfaan (*2) etc.) literature. Achterberg describes this phenomenon as a spiritual diagnostic technique of the Navajo healers:

Trembling, or motion-in-the-hand, is induced during the appropriate ritual. The trmblings eventually lead to great body shudders, and the diviner enters into another state of consciousness. These are power states, and in them, the symbols for healing are visualized by the trembler (*3).

In this connection there have been some interesting cross-culturally carried-out investigations according to which there exists a close connection between the so-called "temporal lobe syndrome" (epilepsy-like attacks, spasm-like jerks, muscle twitches, and so on) and psycho-spiritually altered states of consciousness (Winkelman, p. 11). In many of the cultures investigated, this syndrome is deliberately induced, for example, through temperature extremes. These epilepsy-like episodes lead to long-term or permanent changes in the central nervous system, changes that make the affected individuals more susceptible to further attacks of the same kind, this also making altered states of consciousness more accessible (p. 98 ). There is no room for pathological interpretations, since the individuals so trained - for example, native healers - are generally the healthiest members of their community form a psychological point of view (p. 97). Furthermore, investigations show that the "temporal lobe syndrome" is accomplanied by certain positively valued personality changes: deeper emotional experiences, increased interest in philosophical and religious questions, hyposexuality, automatic writing and a strong empathy for the community (p. 98 ). Evidently these methods lead to the lasting psycho-social and physiological alterations that go along with spiritual transformation.

Another widespread phenomenon of spiritual paths of instruction in all different sorts of traditions is the subjective experience of existing one's physical body. According to Achterberg (p. 28 ) this experience is caused by the cross-cultural techniques of sensory deprivation or overload, or both, by repeating monotonous stimiltation. Shamans make use of this "mystic flight," that is, "sending out of the body," to relocate in "lost souls" (Elaiade, Ecstasy, p. 288 ). Priests of the Far Eastern religions also act on all different sorts of "planes of being" (Motoyama, personal communication with Ozelsel, 1992), even while they physically remain on this material level all the while. Interestingly enough, EEG tests show that the physiological parameters that go along with "out-of-body experiences" represent a "physiological anomally" (*4) because they connot be classified either as one of the various stages of sleep, nor as "stage one" (sleepy), nor as a waking state (Tart/Achterberg, Imagery, p. 27).
Western scientific investigations, however, are only equipped in a very limited way to investigate the anomalies associated with spiritual experiences. For one thing, the only out-of-body experiences (OOP) accessible to Western research labratories are characterized by certain uncontrollability (*6) whereas corresponding shamanic states of consciousness are summoned up at will. Furthermore, it has been possible to show that reactions to sensory deprivation are culture-specific (Suedfield, quoted according to Achterberg, Imagery). However, since most Western investigations of these kinds of consciousness alterations are not targeted towards researching transcendent experiences and do not take place within any spiritual context, the results admit of only very limited generalization (Achterberg, p. 28 ).




*1) J. Achterberg, Imagery in Healing, p. 35.

2) See Fihi ma fihi (In It What is In It) by Jelaluddin Rumi

3) J. Achterberg, Imagery in Healing, p. 49.

4)Motoyama describes this "physiological anomaly" in Shinto terms: When a practitioner enters a state of meditation or samadhi, his Kundalini is awakened at the astral dimension, and he experiences a phenomenon called "astral projection" in which he actually rises out of his physical body. Once he has left his material body behind, his being expands and permeates his immediate area, sometimes stretching out and embracing the mountains and the valleys, and occasionally integrating itself with all creation. Although he ascends higher and higher, when he looks back at himself his body remains physically unchanged. But can this kind of meditative experience be dismissed as simple hallucination? Furthermore, if it is not a delusory experience, had the practitioner's being actually expanded in a certain dimension?
Astral projection does not involve a change in the practitioner's physical state. In other words, a levitation of the physical body occurs even though the kundalini has animated the individual's astral body and it has departed the physical being and risen into the astral dimension (Superconsciousness, pp 53, 91).
Highwater traces the difficulties that Western scientists have in dealing with "physiological anomalies" back to their limiting definition of reality: "[In the Wast] it is still exceedingly difficult to speak of any kind of extraordinary event, appearance, or action without apologizing for it by calling it a dream or a hallucination." (J. Highwater, Primal Mind, Vision and Reality in Indian America, New York, 1982, p. 79).
See also: M. Winkleman, Shamans, Priest and Witches: A cross-Cultural Study of Magio-Religious Practitioners.

5) S. LaBerge, Lucid Dreaming.



RawMahdiyah
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"Cast down what is in your right hand. It will swallow up what they have wrought. Verily they have wrought only a sorcerer's stratagem; and a sorcerer does not succeed (no matter) from whatsoever (skilled group) he may come." (Quran-20:69)