posted on Oct, 24 2004 @ 12:39 PM
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Great topic.
It would seem to me that almost any of the human senses can be used as a "bridge to unity."
Touch, as in Tantra.
Smell, stimulated by incense.
Sight, as in mandala or internal visualization.
Taste, as in Eucharist.
And of course hearing. Hearing is one of the most interesting, as it takes so many aspects: koans, mantras, hymns, chanting, drumming,
bell-tones--the list is long. My personal favorite is a more presumably modern technique of brain entrainment using binaural beats.
Here is quote from Holosync, one of several venders of this technology:
Each time you listen, this technology will give your nervous system a very specific audio stimulus through each ear, affecting a part of your brain
called the olivary nucleus, and taking you into a state of super-deep meditation. In order to process and handle this stimulus, your brain will create
new neural pathways between the left and right sides of the brain, until over time it has created a new structure that can easily handle the stimulus
you're giving it.
The intention being to encourage a more "whole-brain" form of thinking.
In general, I would say that the ancients were pretty smart. They used the tools that they had at hand, whether that was stone to build with or the
senses that God gave them. When people talk about lost knowledge of the ancients, the use of sound is one of the first things that I think of.
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