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MAKING A
STRAY CAT PROLIFIC:
THESAURAL
IMAGING AND REMOTE VIEWING
By
Bill
Stroud, Ph. D.
Copyright
by Bill Stroud, August, 2001
(This article was first published in the August 2001 issue of the HRVG On Target Newsletter)
It has become
a truism among Western philosophers that consciousness is always consciousness
of something. If we accept this condemnation, not just to freedom
(Sartre), but to the reality of some content of consciousness, then every
pause during a remote viewing session plays havoc with the remote viewer.
It becomes the perennial challenge: how does the remote viewer
identify what is target data presented by the Unconscious in contradistinction
to the mind's production of some logical or associative work rooted in
imagination? In the terminology of remote viewing, the challenge is as
follows: how do we distinguish what is authentic target data and what is a
Stray Cat (Analytical Overlay)? And this challenge of distinction
between the two dynamics has relevance to an area that has received little
publication attention among students and trainers within the remote viewing
community, namely, the ideogram.
For instance,
when we produce an ideogram, how do we determine whether it is a legitimate
gestalt proclamation about the target or whether it is simply a production of
a linear reflex, one that quickly gets converted into a Stray Cat/AOL? Put
another way: How do we determine whether an ideogram has ideosyncratic
significance (ideos=image=authentic target data) rather than merely idiosyncratic
significance (idios=personal=Stray Cat), i.e., does it function as a
sign of our arbitrarily designated symbol for a specific target factor (life
form, motion, water, etc.), or is it merely our imagination projected onto the
figure lying before us on the page?
This
challenge concerning the authenticity of images is not new to most remote
viewers. What may be new, however, is a third possibility: that a
Stray Cat, be it in the form of an image chosen by the Unconscious or simply a
projection onto an figure, may represent more than one's imagination and
logical conclusions; i.e., the production of a Stray Cat may not be as
arbitrary and unrelated to the target as one might think. But before we
pursue the possibility of such a third alternative, we will need to explore
some other dynamics which relate to how we approach images that are produced
in a session.
In his
discussion of the paradoxical nature of control in zazen of Zen
practice, Shunyru Suzuki points out how the ancient Japanese artists
"used to practice putting dots on paper in artistic disorder." (Shunryu
Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p. 32. New York: Weatherhill,
1994) "This is rather difficult," he says. "Even
though you try to do it, usually what you do is arranged in some order. You
think you can control it but you cannot; it is almost impossible to arrange
your dots out of order." Suzuki further indicated that the best way
to control various images is, paradoxically, not to try to control them.
"To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to
control him," says Suzuki. (Ibid.)
This approach
to ridding oneself of an imposing dynamic by applying the opposite of the
"natural" response is reminiscent of two other authors, Milton
H. Erickson and Viktor Frankl. Erickson's "utilization" technique of
not resisting resistance (Milton H. Erickson, The Nature of Hypnosis and
Suggestion. New York: Irvington Publishers, Inc., Vol. I, p. 416 ff.), and
Frankl's use of paradoxical intention in inviting a feared symptom to
actualize itself operate on this same principle (Viktor E. Frankl, The
Doctor and the Soul: An Introduction to Logotherapy. New York:
Alfred a. Knopf, 1963, p. 207). When Erickson encountered a client
who said, "Dr. Erickson, I bet you can't hypnotize me!" he would
look directly at the person and say something like "You are absolutely
right. I can't hypnotize you, but, as you will notice, your arm is
getting lighter and lighter as we speak." Similarly, to someone who
always blushes upon the occasion of getting up to speak in public, Viktor
Frankl would recommend that he, on the next occasion for public speaking, try
to make his face as red as possible (paradoxical intention). The dynamic
is simple, although paradoxical: resistance to a resistance compounds
that resistance.
In therapy
this dynamic is often used with clients exhibiting behavioral problems. If I
were using hypnotherapy to assist in resolving a problem of obesity, I would
not suggest to the client that he will not be hungry. This could catapult the
client into a more ravenous appetite. Or, as the alcoholic once said,
"Telling me that I should be a teetotaler makes me want a drink."
I could be much more successful in weight loss therapy by suggesting
that the client will become very thirsty every time he sees food. This
actually implies that I want him to ingest something. You should always
go for something, not against something! If he fills his
stomach with water, how much food can it hold? If a client is suffering
the pain of withdrawal from nicotine, I could suggest that he visualize the
agonizing pain of withdrawal as the result of his body's work of cleansing his
lungs and circulatory system. Now he can actually invite the pain as
something positive and not as something to fight. Fighting the enemy
builds the enemy's strength.
Some trainers
of controlled remote viewing appear to have incorporated this dynamic into
their training programs. Lyn Buchanan's structure for documentation of
the remote viewing process entails a line that is captioned SA (Set Aside).
Buchanan instructs the student to "set aside" (SA: . . . . .) any
initial preconception or hunch about target identity that spontaneously arises
at the beginning of a session (POCA: Preview of Coming Attractors), with
a personal commitment to giving it attention before concluding the session.
He likewise has the student do the same for anticipated distractors,
i.e., anything anticipated as possibly interfering with the session as it
progresses (POCD: Preview of Coming Distractors). He suggests that the
remote viewer actually verbalize and write down what he intends to do to
neutralize such distractions. Likewise, upon the eruption of an image
anticipating the nature of the target, Ed Dames trains his students to write
down the image as an AOL (analytical overlay) and then ritualistically lay
aside the pen to symbolize that it is has been placed out of mind for a fresh
start, as if beginning from that point on a blank slate. This author
would humbly suggest (with an emphasis on humility, since he presently is in
an ongoing program of study with Buchanan!) that at this point within the
structure, a "Set Aside" attempt may actually brand the distraction
into the mind of the trainee by the very act of trying to get rid of it!
(Or as Erickson would remind us: a negative suggestion brings
about the opposite effect. (The injunction "Don't think about a
white elephant for the next ten seconds" will invariable bring the white
elephant to mind!)
Dealing with
mindsets and Stray Cats/AOLs as possible interference of the controlled remote
dynamics could take another--or at least an added--form: a procedure
whereby the Stray Cat/AOL is not resisted but invited in to be part of the
dynamics of remote viewing, a point, incidentally, not overlooked by Buchanan.
My personal technique, however, accentuates this paradoxical intention: when I
do a Set Aside of some POCD, I accept the anticipated distraction as something
to use. I may tell myself, for example, that the anticipated distraction
of the ticking clock in the room will serve as a constant background reminder
that at any moment--even on the next moment ticked off--some impression might
appear to me in a surprising way, one that will be related to the target.
In summary, I
don't kick Cats. I gently pick them up and place them in my pocket. And
many times I find that although they may not be a literal portrayal of the
target, they very often express some aspect of it in a cryptic way. In
fact, I have found it very helpful to add an exercise that I call Thesaural
Image Deconstruction. As a Thesaurus presents many distinct words that
act to express a core meaning--and yet have shades of difference--similarly I
find that listing a singular Stray Cat and adding additional images by
association often produces a pleasant surprise.
For instance
in a recent practice exercise, I had a notation: "Stray Cat:
Ball." At the end of my session, I went to that singular Stray Cat
and listed my extended associations (Thesaural Imaging). My finished
notes had the following:
Stray Cat:
Ball.
To initiate
the process, I say to my self (concerning the Stray Cat): " It is like
��" and then I add other images which come to mind. The results were
as follows:
"Ball.
It is like �[Thesaural Imaging]:
Sponge
Pillow
Teddy
Bear"
I then try to
determine what constitutes an Essential Overlay, i.e., any aspect common to
all the images:
Essential Overlap: softness, cuddly, roundness
The target
picture was a small polar bear lying on the back of its mother, who was lying
on snow-covered ground.
Incidentally,
It should not be overlooked that this associative attention is done at the end
of the session. Giving reinforcement to the image immediately after it
arises could, I surmise, catapult the image into a Castle Building frenzy
(that dynamic whereby one gets so focused on an initial image that it
essentially controls the conscious mind obsessively, with every new image
being an extension of the original one).
Such
associations could hardly be more Freudian in illustrating the way the
Unconscious cryptically expresses itself by what is known as free association.
This dynamic often will appear, not only in a single image, but in the
cluster of diverse--yet overlapping--ones, and they can depict an aspect
(essence) which flows through the multiple images.
Often listing
every Stray Cat and every image produced in a session helps me determine the
essential message that the Unconscious is sending by way of multiple images.
For this purpose I use an Essentializing Matrix for organizing the data
produced. Example:
*Note
1: The target might not be an airplane, a bird, nor clouds.
Note
2: The exercise is primarily a rational process and usually is not done
in
a
remote viewing mode. It should be viewed as a tool per the nomenclature
set
forth
by Lyn Buchanan.
After
completing a recent remote viewing of a practice target, I found myself facing
notational descriptions of the following images which had presented themselves
to me:
"athletic
workout"
"person
in fighting pose"
"one
opposing obstacle-like challenge"
"one
rebounding in response to offensive move"
"someone
escaping, getting out of something"
Placed in an
Essentializing Matrix, these would be arrayed as follows:
The feedback
picture was the depiction of a scene in the movie Pearl Harbor, in which
subjects were running for their life during the bombing event. Part of
my summary report had the following statement:
"I feel
the scene is some competitive venture between opposing sides, like tennis or
more intense sport (war?)."
If other
remote viewers find Thesaural Imaging and the Essentializing Matrix exercise
helpful--or damaging to remote viewing dynamics--I trust they will share their
comments with me.
Bill
Stroud, of Clearwater, Florida, has an extensive background in three
areas: theology, philosophy and psychology (B.D, Th.D., Ph.D). Although
semi-retired, he is active as a speaker, freelance writer and a workshop
presenter for educational and service agencies. He is currently in
training in the theory and methodology of remote viewing under the tutelage of
Lyn Buchanan of Alamogordo, NM. http://www.crviewer.com
Address
comments to mailto:
drstroud@verizon.net For other writings, see website: http://www.drbillstroud.com
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