Originally published at: https://integrallife.com/virtual-reality-a-technology-of-transformation/
Kent Bye, host of the Voices of VR podcast, talks to Ken Wilber about the many ways virtual reality can bring Ken’s integral map of consciousness to life, exploring how VR’s unique capacity to elicit feelings of awe, empathy, and flow can help it become a uniquely powerful platform of transformation.
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Hello✌,
& greetings from ‘Bris Vegas’ (Brisbane.au), the Planets 2nd largest Hub for Gen_X Culture
We are also working on VR & its application in assisting Human’s to ‘Wake UP!’[… the prerequisite to Growing Up]
I’m interested to hear this discussion, not for what it includes in the teaser excerpt, but for what it Omitts.
And that is the subject of,…
AUGmented REALities
[AR]
As a Developer of new insights & patterns in the fields of Clean Language & NLP (both ‘Codes’), a Roshi [Zen Master], Sifu/Shihan of Oriental Martial comprehensions and so on,… . I perceive that the Future of Tek in accelerating the Evolution of Consciousness(not just Human Consciousness[…let’s not forget about That which is Conscious and iNvolutes iTself(involution)])
… the Future is in streaming live into your Daydream Veiw, a Real_Time feed of what the person would see without the headgear… . Then, utilise VR Object “Over-lays” into the persons Perceptual Feild as they watch both the Outside World, &, a Virtual Overlay of whatever it is that the program is designed to do.
The craze a few years ago of Pokemon had millions of people running around the streets trying to find Virtual(Subtle) imagined objects. If you organize Tek as described above, you can wear a VR Rig as you run around the streets without having to worry about running into people, or getting hit by traffic. Your Conscious Attention is fully engaged & EM.bodied in 2 Realities simultaneously.
If you utilise it for Training using NeuroSOMAtic EN.coding Protocols, such as the type in NLP & Clean Language, the person can ‘RE.member’ the processes they’ve been taught WITHOUT the Tek.
The feild of NLP contains in it the concept of ‘Submodalities’
Humans remember things Psychoholographically
That is, they Project Object Representations of things they are Thinking into their bodies & the physical space around them (objects of consciousness)… . Just like projecting a VR Overlay into a Real_Time video feed on a Daydream View VR Rig (not built yet, maybe next Gen)
VR & Tek is like taking hallucinogenic & psychoactive substances to Evolve your Consciousness, the question is still the same, “Can you REplicate the State you generated with the Tek/Substance on Your Own without it?”
m
… here’s something that people have found useful when first wearing any kind of VR Rig, it’s a “NeuroSOMAtic” Insertion & Orientation Protocol to aid your Central Nervous & Conceptual Mapping Systems to effortlessly adapt to the Shift between ‘Real_REALity’(RR) & ‘Virtual_REALity’ (VR)
The NS-I&O Protocol
- Before placing the headgear on,…
Adjust your feet.
Adjust your knees.
Adjust your shoulders.
Adjust your pelvis.
Adjust your head.
Adjust your posture.
Adjust your breathing.
[… this brings awareness of Mind & Body into The Present {REAL_Time} and integrates them]
-
Close your eyes.
-
Keep eyes closed and put on the headgear.
-
Open your eyes into the VR Environment.
-
Adjust your body again as per step 1.
-
Look up to the infinity point above you.
-
Look down to the same point below you.
-
Look straight ahead to the Horizon and scan the Horizon as you turn around in a Circle 360° back to where You started.
-
Dis-Emersion = close your eyes BEFORE You take off the Rig. (It will stop your head from swimming & any vertigo symptoms)
End
This Protocol will “Map” Your ‘MindSpace’ from RR iNto the VR Reality Space, seamlessly.
It improves Motor Co-ordination & Navigation in the VR Space, and makes it more enjoyable (minimizing the Vestibilar Vertigo effect).
Cheers 
By NLP, do you mean neurolinguistic programming or something else?
Sorry if this is an obvious question. I’m not sure I quite understand the meaning of the capitalizations in your posts. 
Yes, that’s correct. The acronym ‘NLP’ stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming.
Spoken language has verbal stressing to convey ‘Meaning’ and ‘Mark’ certain key words and phrases so they Stand Out. This concept is called ‘Analogue-Marking’ in NLP. And its function is to ‘Mark Out’ certain concepts and Meaning embedded in verbal, non-verbal & in this case written communication.
The capitalizations & odd punctuation are to link and emphasize certain concepts to aid in remembering. Similar to what Ken has done in his novel, ‘Boomeritis’.
For example, the word/concept, “Reality”. The key source concept is, ‘Real’. I capitalise that within the concept REALity to make it unusual, thus it stands out as memorable. People have often commented in other writing that capitalizing parts of words to reflect their root has led to comprehending the proper meaning of words, often making clear a concept embedded in a word that doesn’t occur if you read it in standard script…
Current written DiGiTaL communication is poor at conveying Emotional & Attitudinal Emphasis, thus Emojis. The standard lower case does not allow much room for personal expression of words, and CAPITALISING EVERYTHING is a way to voice displeasure & is considered rude.
Modern communication is being emoji’ised & abbreviated, so there is a shift to conveying Meaning in multiple forms. Written analogue marking is a method to turn standard script into a Glyphic form. Making them memorable as Pictographs. A picture conveys more meaning than a single word.
The word 'Neurosomatic" (…of the Mind & Body) is changed in this manner and conveyed as, NeuroSOMAtic… Neuro (Brain/nervous system). Soma (Body). … in the state of “I am-ness” Ken describes here, it is the Body that’s processes our sensory perception, thus is primary. Though in our culture writing it, Somaneuro doesn’t make sense. So the SOMA is primary, thus emphasized by capitalizing it inside the word to demonstrate this.
These are consistent conventions in the way I write which have been refined & integrated over a number of years. And those who correspond regularly with me have picked it up in varying degrees to respond with… When introducing new concepts sometimes it pays to monkey with the way people see it so you don’t have the old unuseful connotations of the word attached.
Anyhow, thanks for asking
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… here’s a further example that occurred to me whilst reading Ken & Alan Watkins book ‘Wicked & Wise’,…the concept/word “Coherence”.
CO = together
Here = the place you are now
-ence = suffix
- forming nouns:
2.denoting a quality or an instance of something
Thus,… CO.here.nce
Literally,… things happening together here & now
CO.here (Cohere),… together, now.
Written this way, the ‘here’ stands out as does the ‘Co’, relating the two sub-contexts of the word Visually & Distinctly.
SYM.pathy
SYM.metrical
SYM.bol
SYN_Thesis
ANTI_Thesis
ENthus.iastic
EM.bodied
PSY.Co-holo.Graphic
… ways to Add information in to the digital written form of language to shift or convey other than usual meanings.
It is also a little artistic. A way to Personalise your digital written communication to convey personal style. You can do that with a pen. But not a keypad… .
Thank you for your explanations!
I wonder if this “analogue-marking” technique has been studied with folks who have synesthesia or other forms of atypical neurology.
Really interesting conversation between Kent Bye and Ken Wilber. Related: I’ve been thinking about the enormous potential Augmented Reality glasses e.g. Magic Leap have to assist Dream Yoga daytime practices in which you reflect on the illusory/dreamlike aspects of everyday life. VR also has a strong role to play. Here are some quotes from Andrew Holecek’s book on Dream Yoga about some practices that I think could be assisted by VR/AR technology:
“Put up sticky notes around your house that remind you, ‘This is a dream’ or ‘You’re dreaming.’ Place them inside cabinets, drawers, or other places to help you flash on the illusory nature of things.”
“Experiment with inexpensive prismatic, or reflective, lenses, the kind they often hand out at Christmas light shows. These lenses, especially when worn at night, create halos and rainbow-like images around objects that are very dreamlike.”
“Go to magic shows…Look at surrealistic art…Almost any nonrepresentational artist can help you look at reality in new and illusory ways. I also find that optical illusion books are great at tricking the mind into surreal states.”
“Say ‘This is a dream’ aloud, not just mentally. Saying it verbally strengthens it. Set your watch to beep every hour and use that signal as a reminder to say ‘This is a dream’.”
“Watch dreamlike movies…a good movie will suck you into it just like a good non-lucid dream…movies and video games are wonderful modern analogies of illusion…Watch yourself get pulled into a movie, then step back and become lucid to what’s happening. Wake up.”
~ Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep, https://www.andrewholecek.com/dream-yoga-book/
[source of image: http://dzogchen.gr/en/news/world-news/dream-yoga-in-baja/]
Hi Coda,
as a fellow curious Being with backgrounds in Science, Education & Music also I would like to source that kind of information too, but there’s none that I’ve found, …so far.
The concept of SYN_es.Thesia is an interesting one. And, they can be ‘Built’ utilising the NeuroSOMAtic EN.coding aspects of Classic Code NLP. It’s a matter of Association of 2 or more Sensory Impressions.
In Typically organised Beings, the input from sensory channels is organised to reflect the Beliefs people have. [The word ‘Delusion’ means 'a mistaken ‘Belief’. The word ‘Hallucination’ means mistaken ‘Perception’. Thus Beliefs & Perception are directly correlated. When Guatama Siddhartha (The Buddha) spoke about ‘Maya’ (The Veil of Illusion), this is probably what he meant {Delusion + Hallucination = Illusion}].
I’ve found, the lower down in Stage Development an individual is, the more Concrete or Literal their sensory processing is. A table is a table. A spoon a spoon. A sound of a bell ringing is a bell. And as someone who has taught State development processes for a few decades, the greatest barrier to attaining 'Samadhi or ‘Satori’ is this Basic-ness in the way people learn to process or make meaning of their sensory input.
In most models, there are 5 senses,…
Visual (Seeing)
Auditory (Hearing)
Kinesthetic (Feeling)
Olifactory (Smelling)
Gustatory (Tasting)
But I’ve been studying the human body since I was 5 (mother’s medical text books) and have trained with eastern masters etc for a long time, especially in Martial Arts, and by my research there are 10 Sensory systems that a human being utilises in constructing their experience.
For example,…
The Vestibular Representation System.
This system is responsible for orienting ourselves Spatially as well as for Balance & Equalibrium.
It’s equipment is in the inner ear (inside the Skull). They tell us which way is Up by relating their positions in space to each other & with Gravity. They also are the mechanism by which we locate Sounds (by cross referencing with the direction of Sounds) & Objects (by cross referencing with the position of things we see). A space vehicle has a similar orientation system that uses 2 Gyroscopes.
People use words to describe when processing with this system,…
Balanced
Stable
Centred
Off Balance
Out of Centre
Spun out
Off kilter
& so on.
The Proprioceptive System
(usually lumped unusefully into the general Kinesthetic category with sense of touch & temperature etc)
Between the bones of each joint, and wrapped around the bones, are nerve fibres that send Positioning information to the sensory motor cortex in the brain. This information is cross referenced to the Vestibular system. Thus, all the bones, and their Positions in Space, are related to the Position of the Skull in space.
Some words used to describe experience with this system are,…
Loose
Free
Coordinated
Graceful
Restricted
Up tight
Uncoordinated
Clumsy
Synesthesias can be created between those 2 systems & others,… Consciously.
About 18 years ago my mother had a stroke. She developed a spinning vertigo & lack of movement coordination. She described it as her “head was gone off” (spinning with swimming feeling) and lacked confidence in moving on uneven surfaces.
I asked her,…
“Which way does it spin?” [Direction]
“What Colour could it be?” [Visual]
(I could see by observation her ‘Posture [Proprioceptive Organisation]’)
Then I asked her,…
“What is your favourite colour?”
I then utilised Ericksonian (Hypnotic) language patterns and instructed her ,…
“… as you Spin your head in the other direction, allow it to become your favourite colour until you feel OK again…”
As she did this she stood up straight, her body relaxed, her eyes opened fully and she said she could Think clearly again.
That is an example of building a Synesthesia, and utilising it to achieve some better State of Being.
In jazz music there is the 'Blue Note. That’s also an example of a Synesthesia.
So, depending on the Awareness you have of your sensory input, and capacity to ‘Link’ [or ‘Anchor’ in NLP] one sensory channel to another, the Combinations of Synesthesias you can Build are myriad. Some people just do this Automatically (Unconsciously).
I once stood on a beach in a remote part of this country (Australia) rarely visited by human beings. My nervous system unconsciously translated that Samadhi (State of bliss) into hearing a surround sound Symphony complete with soaring string section.
The relationship between ‘Analogue-Marking’ & Synesthesia is one of Intention.
Skill at teaching [Education] is enhanced when you can Describe your subject in multiple sensory ways. That is because in any class, whether they be adults or children, the participants ALL use different Sensory Input channels to perceive what you are presenting, then code it into memory. Thus, the more Multi-Sensory your presentation, the more effective you can become as a teacher (instructor/ coach/etc).
The standard education system is oriented for success primarily to those who can convert sounds & written words into memory.
For example, those who can Spell well literally See projected out in front of them the word in its entirety, like a Hologram or HUD [Heads Up Display]. Because they can See the whole word, it’s easy. They can also easily spell it backwards, all they do is read what they’ve projected. I taught my niece to do this and she passed her English subject at school easily. (You start with 2 letter words. Then 3. Then 4. And so on)
My brother is a Kinesthetic learner. He can’t easily convert words on a page or informational lectures from a teacher into something he can remember. But he is a star at what he calls “Monkey see, monkey do”. That is, he can Copy or Mimic skills from another person [What we call 'Modelling in NLP]. He is an excellent Tradesman & Martial Artist. And he also has excellent Vestibular and Spatial senses. His trade is Plastering (Drywalling) and he can make an un-square room square just by intuition (Unconsciously).
In one of my posts above in this thread I offered a “VR Immersion Protocol” (as this thread was about VR) … hopefully if you (Ken, or anyone else who reads this thread) will try it, comprehend what I’ve written here and begin to understand that this Technology has a profound capacity to Harm human beings and the way we process reality.
That is my original intention for offering the “VR Immersion Protocol”. … As I stated originally, ‘Bris Vegas’ (Brisbane, Australia) is one of the largest (under the radar) Hubs of Gen_X culture on the planet. And one place that led the early conceptual & tek development of VR… I remember the day I discussed the above NeuroSOMAtic conditions of the Vestibular & Proprioceptive aspects of human sensory systems with some young developers of VR here. They had no awareness of such things. The cutting edge then was VR rooms that projected an environment onto the walls. My suggestion was to develop a sensor that tracked the movements of the human body [Propreoceptive], and converted that into an avatar on the screen. Funnily enough, some years soon after, Sony released a PlayStation that did just exactly that… .
