The following chapter is excerpted by permission from Mr. Crane’s forthcoming book.
What is “R – Tech” (Relationship Technology) and Consciousness Processing Technology? What are the implications for Neurofeedback, Biofeedback, Applied Psychophysiology, the evolution of science, our individual and collective mental health?
August 10, 1994 I had the opportunity to present at the Forum co sponsored by the Wisdom Society and the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center. The Forum was conceived as an opportunity to exchange ideas on “The Place of Science and Technology in our Culture”.
Since I feel that the material that emerged in that presentation may be useful to others and (all things being relative) I feel the evening went well, I would like to offer this edited version of that talk.
We intend to communicate with each other at the highest level we can and to create an atmosphere that is as conducive as possible to individual and group creative thinking. Together we make up a kind of mind field (not mine field I hope). If it is true that the learning is the doing and multi sensory, multi dimensional awareness is part of the technology of consciousness, perhaps we can practice these principles as we work together. Then possibly something altogether unexpected, creative may emerge.
May I suggest that as you read this you experiment with me? You will probably be more comfortable and get more out of this short time together if you scan your body, notice if you are holding your shoulders up, look for unnecessary muscle tension, breathe normally, deeply and comfortably. Be aware of all that you can in the room. Loose your belt if it is too tight. Breathing should be relaxed and deep and your stomach should be free to move in and out. If you have eaten or you are tired and feel like taking a nap or even meditating and you close your eyes, be as aware as you can of what is going on around you and within you.
As you are able, please watch the thoughts and feelings that arise inside you (and outside too) as we work together in a spirit of play. To paraphrase Marshal McLuhan, “Those who think education and entertainment are two different things probably do not understand either one very well”. Parts of this discussion may be difficult, controversial, even fun. What is most important is to watch your feelings arise and change.
I would like to examine one of the greatest (depending on how you define technology) perhaps the greatest challenge humanity faces.
In October of 1970 one of my best friends died of cancer. Tom was only 41. Afterwards I took a long weekend at our little country house in Rhinebeck, New York. I had spent a rather dreamy day sitting by the lake contemplating The Big Picture. Dagne, my wife, suggested that I read a magazine article entitled “Alpha, The Wave of the Future”. I promptly read it because I had learned that she had an uncanny way of planting very good ideas in my mind at just the right time.
During the next twenty four-hours I had a kind of classic creative experience. Decades of contemplation and thought seemed to converge with a euphoric, laser like intensity. It seemed as though one of the greatest scientific and spiritual stories of our time was creating itself before my eyes. And I was being invited to immerse myself in an almost unimaginably great work.
The next day I entered full time into what has turned out to be an astonishing, scientific art form, a business and a series of adventures leading me to this discussion here with you. I sold my old business and plunged headlong into the strange, paradoxical, controversial field soon to be called by inadequate terms like Biofeedback, Applied Psychophysiology and Instrument Assisted Transactional Psychophysiology. I like to think of it as.
More Info : The Marriage of Technology and Consciousness
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