Introduction to Dr. Persinger's work:

At Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, a team of scientists under the leadership of Dr. Michael Persinger is investigating certain common perceptions of the mind such as near-death experiences, sensed presences, and aural hallucinations.  

Persinger: "Basically, any given time, all experience is due to those portions of the brain that are most metabolically active.  If we can stimulate that by applying complex meaningful electromagnetic fields to the brain, we can also induce those experiences."

His experiments are testing the idea that mystical perceptions and paranormal experiences can be turned on at will.  Not by hypnosis or shamanic drumming, but by a scientist, stimulating nerve activity in the brain.  

The volunteer sits blindfolded in a soundproof chamber.  This sensory deprivation allows the mind to focus on electromagnetic patterns transmitted across the brain through a modified crash helmet.  They're able to simulate the exact same brain patterns that occur, for example, in near-death experiences.

"After a while I remember feeling that there was someone else in the room with me, almost looking over my left shoulder."

"I sensed a female sitting next to me in a black dress."

"I saw a bright room and people talking but couldn't understand what they were saying."

Persinger: "You stimulate the deep portions of the temporal lobe so you get very vivid imagery and the emotional sensation that something profound, real, cosmically real is happening."

"What we've been doing recently is generating words as electromagnetic patterns.  And even though the person isn't hearing them, the brain is interpreting them, so they're actually having fragments of experiences as if they're hearing it when in actual fact they can't be."

These experiences are so strong they're utterly real for the person who has them.  They can be profound as a religious conversion yet they can be generated with a machine.  These mind games are shedding their secrets.  The scientist becomes the shaman.  But where are the limits?  What else can people be made to believe?

Persinger: "One thing is very clear: you can control a person's experiences and they don't know they're being controlled.  That's why this technology is a potentially powerful one and a two-edged sword."

As a tool of science this technology may bring us valuable new understanding of the obscure depth of the human mind, but in the wrong hands, could it become an instrument of power?  If we're not careful, will mind games one day become mind control?


Questions


Do we have your consent to use the material we shoot today in a short promotional video for the documentary project?

What would you say is the connection between science and art? How can art benefit from science and vice versa?

What medium or form do you prefer to express yourself creatively and why?

How would you describe the theme that governs the majority of your work these days?

Have you ever attempted to portray a mystical experience in your art?

Would you consider yourself religious, spiritual, or atheistic?

Are you a member of a religious organization?  If so, which one(s)?  If not: why does this not carry any appeal for you?

How would you describe your form of spirituality, if any?

Have you ever had a spiritual or mystical experience?  How did it affect you?

If you are familiar with a state of mind that seems spiritual, what about it appeals to you?  What frightens you?  

How does this spiritual state compare to your state of mind when you’re intensely focused on making art?

Why do you find this project interesting?

You’re willing to subject your brain via electrodes to an electromagnetic pattern that supposedly generates a spiritual experience.  What do you expect from this experiment?

What questions do you hope this experience might answer?

What are your thoughts on the idea that spirituality could be reduced to nothing more than an artifically reproducable experience?  Could mystical experiences become commodities?  In your opinion, what would the consequences be?

How do you experience nature?

How important are conditions in your environment for your state of mind?  (For example: lighting, colors, number of people, noise, smells, etc.)  How does the “wrong” environment affect your creative process?

Have you ever heard of the HAARP Project?  

The HAARP project is funded by the United States government.  At the lab site in Alaska, they have built powerful electromagnetic transmitters that transmit this energy into the stratosphere to investigate atmospheric patterns.  How do you feel about this in light of Dr. Michael Persinger's claims that he can control a person's experiences without them knowing it?