conscious Oobe....It's Real!!, page 7

Hi River Goddess et al:
thanks for the feedback...I was beginning to wonder if I'd made a fundamental mistake posting as someone who's actually had the fortune of having a sleep lab at one's personal disposal for research into OBE, dream telepathy, RV, Lucid Dreaming to augment remote information retrieval etc etc etc, rather than just add an informal response here and there.

So, I'll put in my 2 cents' worth on the rushing sound that is so often reported by OBEers, take it however you like...I never pipe in to change peoples minds or opinions on a subject, since there is no RIGHT answer to these details of the phenomenology of OBE consciousness, only observations and patterns that ---suggest--- an answer.
I just want to get that out there for all to see; I may be quite proud of my ability to have actually studied these things up close and personal in a laboratory setting, using talented people who not only could produce these experiences regularly, but were also extremely good at "self-reporting", but if rather than those thousands of hours hunched over an EEG and whatnot making me some kind of "authority", quite the opposite is true: it's humbled me and reminded me just how little we really know about the Human Experience. So please, R.G. and Group, know that I only want to add to the collective knowledge base on these subjects, not come across as some egotistical jerk who thinks he knows everything, ok people? And if I do occasionally back up my statements or opinions by reminding folks of my scientific experience, please realize that being able to toot one's horn can actually be politically correct when one has been awarded the only such granted degree by an accredited University in any of the States...so it's not bragging.....I worked damned hard to get it and I think I earned the right to say so once in awhile without being accused of using it as nothing more than a club with which to wield in an exchange of opinions on any given subject I might want to comment on.
It worries me that 2 of the threads I responded to, my posts ended the thread (for these 10 or so days since the posting), as if I might BLOW UP if someone wanted to question my posts. If that IS the reason there's been no response, then be advised I LOVE talking to people with opinions or experiences other than my own, ok? And yes, I CAN change my opinion, when confronted with a well stated, documented counter-argument that refutes my own.
Ok, sorry RiverGirl, didn't mean all that to be directed to you....not at all, I'm hoping everyone else reads this and starts to get a feel for who I am and whether or not I'll be good or bad for this forum. To paraphrase that little cutie, Gwen Stephanie...."I'm JUST a GUY!"....and I like to think, a nice one, at that.

All that having been said, here's my opinion on the loud noise frequently reported (and personally experienced in my own OBEs).
Possibility number One:
Since the noise happens (as I found in the lab) in the transition between High Alpha frequency brainwave State, to Low Alpha (from 12 cycles per second to 8 or 9 and a concommitant decrease in amplitude) and since it is known that in that transition there is a predictable and replicatable change in a number of physiological parameters, it is my theory that the best explanation for the rushing noise is our awareness of the sound of bloodflow through the inner ear.
Either that, or, it is the brain's way of interpreting the resonance of the tiny bones of the inner ear, as they "relax" after being stimulated all day and now you're in a quite environment with a subsequent "quiet-ing" of one's inner dialogue....so, we are then able to become aware of these sounds that are there all the time. The difference being a turning of awaress from the WithOut to the WithIn.
Subsequently, as one continues to approach OBE consciousness (high Delta to very low Alpha brainwave frequency) the blood pressure continues to drop, the muscles relax and just as in falling asleep, those areas of the brain (in the hypothalamus, if memory serves) that we use in daily life to interpret outside visual and auditory stimuli, shut off.....so the rushing noise disappears. In your particular observation, River Goddess, I think you'll agree with me that, yes, it might be described as a conscious choice on your part to "end" the sounds, but what might just as likely be happening is that the sounds come and go predictably whenever you go through the above-described transition from one brainwave State to another and you either let the sound "win", forcing you either awake and out of meditation OR, you STOP thinking and paying attention to the sound (which might still actually be there) but your focus of consciousness continues to turn off monitoring the bloodflow through the inner ear and you deepen your trance....seeming to cut off the noise when in reality, it is the inner monitor you actually turn off, and not the noise.
Hope that makes sense....I verbalize much better than I write

So, anyway, next time you face that experience, do yourself and the group a favor and pay particular attention to the experiential aspects of "attention" as you go deeper and deeper into your meditative state, ok? Let's just play with it a little and see if we can't narrow down the possibilities through a process of elimination.
Gotta go....the sun's going down and I have to put in my 20miles on my bicycle....damned holiday weight gain, anyways! After 50, it seems to get harder and harder to shed those extra pounds....damn I hate getting old!
bye for now:
bubbabak
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