DREAMING IN THE HOLO-NET: DREAMS AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN A HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE PDF

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DREAMING IN THE HOLO-NET: DREAMS AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN A HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE A thesis presented to the Faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Psychology by B. Katherine Mohr Oakland, California December, 2018 © 2018 by B. Kather...

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DREAMING IN THE HOLO-NET: DREAMS AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN A HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE

A thesis presented to the Faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Psychology by B. Katherine Mohr

Oakland, California December, 2018

© 2018 by B. Katherine Mohr

Approval of the Thesis

DREAMING IN THE HOLO-NET: DREAMING AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN A HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE

This Thesis by B. Katherine Mohr has been approved by the committee members below, who recommend it be accepted by the faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of

Masters of Arts in Psychology

Thesis Committee:

Jacquie Lewis, Ph.D., Chair

Date

Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.

Date

ii Abstract

DREAMING IN THE HOLO-NET: DREAMING AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN A HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE

B. Katherine Mohr Saybrook University

Historically, models of dreams and dreaming have been situated either in the physiology or the psychology of the dreamer, that is, the physical or psychological state of the dreamer is generally thought to be the ground from which dream imagery springs, either arbitrarily or by design. Few models, however, take contemporary models of the universe into account in describing the function and process of dreaming. This model of dreaming, which I will call the holo-net model, attempts to situate the dreamer and her dreams within Bohm and Pribram’s holographical models of the universe and brain. The holo-net model is rooted in the connectionist net theory but differs in three essential ways: (a) the network of available imagery extends into the holomovement of the universal hologram, (b) dream images are highly individual, and (c) there is two-way communication between the consciousness of the dreamer and the holomovement.

Dedication To those whose dreams have become the foundation of our evolving awareness.

iii Acknowledgements Firstly, I wish to thank my committee members, Drs. Jacquie Lewis and Stanley Krippner for their hours of assistance and patient support. Special thanks is also owed to Drs. Ruth Richards and Bob Schmitt for their guidance in consciousness studies. More generous professors, I feel certain, cannot be found. I offer my heartfelt gratitude to my eagle-eyed proofreading team—Mary Gibson and Vicki Mohr—without whom this text may look much like the literary equivalent of a Dali painting. I also deeply appreciate the artistic talents of Jack Hodges whose digital illustrations help elucidate many of the trickier aspects of the theories noted in this paper. I could not have completed this thesis without the contribution of each and every one of them.

iv Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: THE QUANTUM APPROACH: BOHM AND THE HOLOMOVEMENT .......... 5 What is a Hologram? ...................................................................................................................... 6 Archetypal Imagery ................................................................................................................ 10 Attributes of Energy................................................................................................................ 10 Bohm’s Holographic Model ......................................................................................................... 12 Implicate and Explicate Orders ............................................................................................... 12 The Holomovement ................................................................................................................ 15 Manifest and perceptual orders ......................................................................................... 16 A brief note about consciousness ...................................................................................... 17 The Super-Implicate Order.................................................................................................... 18 Quantum Physics of the Mind....................................................................................................... 19 Randomness ............................................................................................................................ 19 Chaos................................................................................................................................. 20 Thinglessness .......................................................................................................................... 20 Inseparability........................................................................................................................... 22 Quantum Reality and the Self as Observer ............................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 3: ELEMENTS OF A SOUND DREAM MODEL ................................................. 255 Contextualization .......................................................................................................................... 26 Anomalous Dreaming ................................................................................................................... 27 Continuity of Dreaming and Waking Experiences ....................................................................... 28

v Dimensions of Human-ness .......................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 4: THE HOLOGRAPHIC BRAIN: AN IMPLICATE ENFOLDED WITHIN THE IMPLICATE ................................................................................................................................. 31 Pribram’s Research ....................................................................................................................... 32 Fourier Transforms ................................................................................................................. 32 Elements of Pribram’s Model ....................................................................................................... 33 Superposition .......................................................................................................................... 33 Slow Wave Potentials ............................................................................................................. 34 Optical Filter ........................................................................................................................... 35 Neural Processing ................................................................................................................... 36 The Brain: A Hologram within a Hologram ................................................................................. 36 Of Energy, Waves, and Particles ............................................................................................ 38 Unfolding and Enfolding Elements of the Implicate .................................................................... 39 The Interplay between Individual and Universal .................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 5: THE ROLE OF FAITH AND FOCUSED ATTENTION................................... 433 Faith: A Required Element in Creation or Manifestation ............................................................. 43 The Power of Rapport ................................................................................................................... 46 Establishing Faith.................................................................................................................... 47 Mind over Matter .................................................................................................................... 47 Dissociation............................................................................................................................. 48 Guidance ................................................................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER 6: THE CONNECTIONIST NET THEORY OF DREAMING ................................ 50 Dreaming....................................................................................................................................... 51

vi Limitations .............................................................................................................................. 53 Wake-Dream Continuum .............................................................................................................. 54 Repetition and Continuity Principles ............................................................................................ 55 Permeability of Consciousness Borders........................................................................................ 57 CHAPTER 7: EXPANDING THE NET: THE HOLO-NET MODEL OF DREAMING ........... 59 What Happens in Dreams: Overview of Physiological Processes ................................................ 61 Dreaming within the Holo-Net ..................................................................................................... 65 Implications of the Holo-Net Model ............................................................................................. 67 Imagery as Information ........................................................................................................... 70 Interconnectedness .................................................................................................................. 71 Chaos and Attractors ............................................................................................................... 72 Synchronicity .......................................................................................................................... 75 Archetypes .............................................................................................................................. 77 Human Capability: Telepathy and Precognition ..................................................................... 78 The Seemingly Bizarre or Random Nature of Some Dreams ................................................. 80 CHAPTER 8: DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 82 The Quantum Realm as Transpersonal ......................................................................................... 83 The Transformation of Consciousness.......................................................................................... 86 Regarding Dreaming ............................................................................................................... 86 Individuation ........................................................................................................................... 87 Final Thoughts .............................................................................................................................. 88 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 90

vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Technology used in the creation of a hologram .............................................................. 7 Figure 2: The whole of the original image appears in every as well as any fragment of a hologram ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 3: Elements of Bohm’s holographic model of the universe .............................................. 12 Figure 4: The holomovement in action ......................................................................................... 46 Figure 5: “Feed-forward” v autoassociative processes ................................................................. 51

1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION [The] stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears as an accidental intruder into the realm of matter; we are beginning to suspect that we ought rather to hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. (Sir James Jeans, 1932, p. 186) Historically, dream theorists have tended to view dreaming as a function of the mind or brain activity, and their theories have gone some way toward discovering and describing the physiological and psychological processes involved in dreaming. These theorists have also, however, left a great deal of data either unexplained or completely ignored. In a world we are now coming to learn is far more broadly, and yet intimately, interconnected than ever before imagined, these upward causation theories (Crick & Mitchison, 1983, 1986; Foulkes, 1985; Hobson, 1988, 2002, 2005; Hobson & McCarley, 1977) simply won’t suffice. Among others, the connectionist net theory of dreaming is one such limited (and limiting) theory. Briefly stated, the core belief of the connectionist net theory is that dream imagery is formed due to firings of units of information in the brain. The so-called strength of the connection between said units determines the probability of certain imagery appearing in one’s dreams on any given occasion, with the most practiced material having the strongest connections (Hartmann, 1998). This is a fine theory, so far as it goes, and it includes helpful neuropsychological evidence to support it. But it doesn’t extend far enough into the deeper realms of humanness, the transpersonal aspects of the dreamer. It does not account for the spiritual dimension of the dreamer—therefore, the complete person—any more than it accounts for the quantum physical universe in which the dreamer, her psyche, and the dream content lie. Properly situated, a sound model—a representation, possibly graphic in nature, to demonstrate a concept (see VandenBos, 2016)—of dreaming and consciousness should take into

2 account and build upon current scientific findings regarding the nature of the universe. Currently, quantum physics offers an understanding of the structure and operation of systems of energy in the universe—including not only the temporal order, but also the nontemporal order of things, those standing outside of space-time (Wolf, 1994). Naturally, there are various interpretations of findings of quantum studies, a few of which will be mentioned later, but the holographic model proposed separately by Bohm (1980) and Pribram (1971) is the model that, in my opinion, meets the requirements for a solid basis of dream model. This model goes some way toward explaining many phenomena such as telepathy, synchronicity, attractors, chaos theory, and more. Using this model as the basis for understanding how everything in the “one whole and unbroken movement” (Bohm, 1980, p.14) connects and functions, one may easily come to see how the connectionist net links with imagery available in the hidden, enfolded realm of the hologram, Bohm’s “implicate order” (Bohm, 1980). Establishing this powerful, energetic connection is only part of this model I am advancing, which I call the holo-net model of dreaming because it extends the connectionist net into the universal hologram. Beyond the view of the dreamer being located within the universal hologram, the holomovement, as Bohm has it, one must recognize also that the dreamer herself is, as something of a fragment of the hologram herself, a reflection of the universal whole. Bohm (1980) and Pribram’s (1971) findings, taken together, offer a view of dreaming as a process both taking place within the hologram of the brain (a sub-whole of the implicate order) as well as the implicate (the imperceptible) order of the universe itself. This multi-way communication of sorts is immediate, as the various orders of the holographic universe are entangled on a quantum level of no-space, no-time (Bohm, 1980). Jung (1961/1989) was certainly on to something when he wrote:

3 [Man] is indispensable for the completion of creation; in fact, he himself is the second creator of the world, who alone has given to the world its objective existence—without which…it would have gone on in the profoundest night of non-being down to its unknown end. (p. 256) With this quantum complexity in mind, finding the source of dream imagery is, relatively speaking, no problem. Though the scientific findings to which this paper refer are quite modern, allusions to the vast oneness of the holomovement and all it contains can be found in our religions, myths, and literature. In what some believe is a paradigmatic shift in consciousness underway (Grof, 2015; Goswami, 2000; Krippner, Bogzaran, & Carvalho, 2002; Sheldrake, 1995), a move away from mechanistic science and dogmatic tradition and toward more humanistic beliefs and practices has been, perhaps, unavoidable and certainly timely. Walsh (1994) referred to this transition when he wrote: “Indeed the world’s wisdom traditions are in widespread agreement that our usual state of consciousness is not only suboptimal but significantly distorted and dreamlike” (p. 7). The importance of a model such as the holo-net cannot be overstated, for here is a model that demonstrates the personal connectedness between what we may be accustomed to thinking of as separate forces: (what appears to be) individual human consciousness and universal consciousness. Ullman’s (1987) perspective of dream theory seems to have reflected this view when he stated that, “By the feelings they generate and by the information they contain, our dreams can further our effort to live in harmony with a universe of which we are only a very small part…” (p. 389). He went on to state that in dreams we can come to see ourselves more honestly, without our waking concerns or distractions, or perhaps the “muddled thinking” Bohm suggested (Pribram, 1987). The holo-net model addresses and explains our connectedness, the shift in our habitual thinking, and the dream imagery that reflect the whole of our experiences. In

4 the holo-net, we may come to discover more about our true nature and that of the universe and the immediate connection we have with all of its potentialities. Therefore, in this paper I seek to: (a) present the scientific basis for the holo-net model of dreaming, (b) describe the model in detail, and (c) provide an overview of some of the immediate implications of this downward causation model. The chapters herein explore the holographic model of the universe as well as that of the human brain, list requirements for a viable model of dreaming, lay the foundation for the holo-net in connectionist net theory, and discuss the role of faith and focused attention in acts of creation. Wider implications and physics models similar to holographic model, as well as a few examples of quantum understanding already existent in culture, literature, and religion are explored in the chapter titled Discussion.

5 CHAPTER 2: THE QUANTUM APPROACH: BOHM AND THE HOLOMOVEMENT We say that Bohm’s theory cannot be refuted, adding, however, that we didn’t believe it. (Bopp, 1957, p. 51) According to general systems theory (von Bertalanffy, 1981), a system cannot be fully understood only by analyzing its parts. Taken together, the findings of modern physics, psychology, and religious and cultural studies, among other fields, inform our understanding not only of universal consciousness, but also of dreams and dreaming. As with any system, dream study is evolving. At the heart of this evolution is, I believe, an increasing awareness, understanding, and application of quantum reality and our place within it. Whereas once it was thought that there must be some universal substance linking all objects in the universe, science is beginning to show that it is more realistic to imagine instead that the universe as a sea of energy. Replacing notions such as Miche...