The Scope of Deep Trance Meditation
The following is an unpublished article by Robert Appel, a Canadian-based author, who has followed Douglas's career for three decades. Anyone interested in scientific research of Deep Trance Meditation (DTM) will find this article illuminating. Note that the opinions expressed are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of Douglas James Cottrell. The Scope of Deep Trance Meditation In 1982, for example, Douglas signed on as "consultant" to a film project then in the works entitled Lorne Greene's Atlantis, a docu-drama on the lost continent, hosted by the famous TV Western star. To understand how this came about, you need to recall the context of the day. Author Jeff Goodman had just completed his fascinating work on the use of Remote Viewing to assist in finding lost artifacts on archeology digs [Goodman, J. Psychic Archeology: Time Machine to the Past. Berkeley Publishing Group, 1980], and the book had been surprisingly well received by the media of the era. Even better, unlike other so-called "intuitive" phenomena, this form of experimentation produced easily verifiable results. If a psychic or viewer said, "dig here to find a 12-inch golden widget," and digging in that precise spot revealed such a widget, then the value of the technique was clearly hard to question. This series of circumstances also enabled us to push Douglas, and the DTM, to limits never tested before. For example, during the film project, published best-selling author David Zink [Stones of Atlantis, and others] was preparing a book about an individual who, under hypnosis, regressed to a past life and claimed to speak "Atlantean." Zink was intrigued with Douglas's ability and asked for assistance. The tapes were first passed to a professor of linguistics at the University of Toronto, who concluded, in writing, that the language was "not glossallallia" (i.e. not "fake") and had roots in both proto-Semitic and Native American dialects. Still, no one could make sense of the tapes. When these tapes were played to Douglas in DTM, however, he claimed to be able to translate them from Atlantean to English! [Students of eclectic pseudoscience will want to note that Douglas, in DTM, specifically said that the dialect or accent on the tape was considered to be "low-caste Atlantean, not well educated." A check with Zink later revealed that his hypnotic subject claimed to have been a low-ranking soldier/guard, stationed at one of the farthest points of the empire!] In another experiment, Douglas, in DTM, was directed to locate an individual who, at the precise time of the reading, was holding in his hand a printed facsimile of the strange, indecipherable glyphs then (and currently) on file with the official government Archives in Rio de Janeiro [Manuscript No. 512, Biblioteca Nacional]. The glyphs were recorded by a 1734 Portuguese expedition into the Matto Grosso of Brazil. The survivors of the trek claimed to have discovered a "lost city" with peculiar markings on the buildings. These glyphs were also the inspiration for the "lost" expedition led by Colonel Percy Fawcett almost two centuries later, in 1925, when he set to rediscover that same city [aside: the Harrison Ford character in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was based on the life of Col. Percy Fawcett]. In the DTM, Douglas claimed to be able to translate these glyphs. He said they were essentially "building names" but written in "different languages" because the lost city in South America from which they came was a "melting pot" for "ancient cultures from both the Atlantic and Pacific areas." Although Douglas was given no warning before the session, this dove-tailed with comments of scholars who had previously studied these glyphs and came away confused, because, even though they supposedly all came from the same "lost city," the language was not consistent from one to the other - giving rise to speculation that the Portuguese adventurers, who had barely made it out of the jungle alive, were "delirious," or had made the whole thing up. In another instance of "pushing" the DTM, a very educated and intelligent woman came to Douglas for a dream interpretation. As was the case with Cayce, Douglas cannot only interpret dreams via the DTM, but does so with specific reference to the singular and specific "archetypal library" of the individual being read. That is quite a feat all by itself. In this particular case, however, the client had forgotten the ending of the dram and was frustrated. This writer was present during the session and, on a hunch, suggested that Douglas locate the "record" of the dream, based on the arcane notion that even thoughts can, in theory, leave a residue on the universal parchment, or those mysterious "Akashic Records" that Cayce himself had referred to. Douglas then proceeded to fill the missing ending of the "forgotten" dream, which the woman agreed was fully accurate. After filling in the blanks, Douglas proceeded to interpret the dream which, in this particular instance, was quite anticlimactic. And then there is the "sound and feel" of the DTM. It can be unsettling, even to a seasoned experimenter. Douglas' natural tone, grammar, and syntax all sharpen up significantly. Even more extraordinary is the speed at which information leaves his lips (lips which, given his low respiration and heart rate, should not be able to talk at all). While today, aspiring toastmasters and speakers consider themselves lucky if they can get through a dinner salutation without an "um" or "err," Douglas, in the DTM, dumps information on the listener in an almost non-stop, contiguous fashion, pausing only to breathe. And for those who choose to attend the DTM in person and discourse with him (they don't have to, of course), there is the disturbing phenomenon of having to interact with someone who not only knows more about most things than you do; but, to an uncomfortable degree, knows more about YOU than you do. [Often, when doing the DTM with the client in the room, Douglas will demur from the written questions the client is nervously reading from, and instead move ahead, offering to answer "the question held in the mind of the questioner."] And finally there is the fact that Douglas, as did Cayce, handles the DTM entirely in the first person plural. The explanation for this? Here is an "urban legend" popular within the para-psychological community - and one which is probably based in fact. A man spends years learning to acquire a deeper and deeper trance state to experience "freedom from attachment." One day, with his wife and friends in the room, he achieves his goal. His wife then asks him, in the trance, if he has a message for her. He opens his mouth to speak and then seems to get "stuck" with his mouth wide open. This lasts for several minutes, until his worried spouse panics and brings him out of the trance. When awake, she asks him what happened. The fellow remembers the whole event (itself fairly uncommon, as most trance practitioners do not remember anything of the experience) and explains, "I tried to say the words I LOVE YOU, but there was no word for I." When you clear the mind of ego, there is no word for I! So what can we learn from Douglas and the DTM? Perhaps the solution to the riddle is not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but rather do what we can with the information the readings provide. Over the years, quietly, without fanfare, Douglas has done about 25,000 viewings on health and disease. What emerges from these is an approach to human well-being which is refreshingly clear and unfettered with dogma. Take arthritis for example. Here is a condition that tortures millions, yet which, like most major illnesses, is listed in the literature as "idiopathic" (meaning "cause unknown"). On the condition itself, Douglas is typically succinct: "...the body tends to store toxins or sediments in every nook and cranny. They can be placed on the shelf, so to speak, out of the way of the important organs and the endocrine system. The affected individual is unable to secrete or otherwise eliminate these; therefore the body does the next best thing. In order to protect the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, etc., the body inserts these into spaces between the joints. The waste then tends to adhere and harden onto the bone, and ultimately encase the joint. This is rheumatoid arthritis." For a young woman who suffered from a constant ringing in the ear, another medical mystery, Douglas offered an explanation that had nothing to do with the ear: "The answer lies in an examination of the lymph system. There is a degree of movement of (lymph) fluid in the inner ear. Understand that vibration or sound travels better through fluid than through air. Therefore, a blockage anywhere within the system, whether in the chest or the throat or the inner ear, makes the lymph fluid "grind" its way through the nodes. Assuming additional congestion within the ear, or at the base of the brain, this is again amplified, and causes the ringing." Nor, as we have already seen, do Douglas's viewings need to be client-centric. Here, for example, his view of how the body works "at the cellular level" can provide us with invaluable insights of benefit to a very wide audience: "Crack and cocaine toxify the system and decrease the functioning of the immune system. Residues are left in the cells and in the bone. Ultimately the body will react negatively to more and more things in the day-to-day environment. Joint pain, reproductive difficulties, respiratory problems and weak hearts, cardiovascular troubles will develop early in life. Mental health, sanity, will suffer. Expect also hair loss, reduced vision, loss of smell and taste as well. Definitely premature aging. Life-span will be shortened considerably." When asked if aluminum causes Alzheimer's disease, Douglas, in DTM, opined on more than one occasion: "There are many causes. If you would regard all the causes as a pie, and you would cut that pie into three equal slices, then aluminum would represent two of the three slices. The body is conditioned to deliver elements, minerals, directly to the brain to assist in the electrical processes which take place there. Unlike other, beneficial substances, aluminum, once it reaches the brain, is not dissolved by normal processes. A residue remains, which is toxic to the cells, causing, if you like, a short-circuiting of the electrical processes. This residue eventually pollutes not only the brain matter, but even the bone of the skull itself. If you were to test for aluminum in the bone of people with this condition, you would find aluminum present." Concerning Alzheimer's specifically, scientists have noted peculiar scarring in the brain matter of advanced patients, but have no explanation. Douglas does: "The "holes" in the brain that are seen in the pathology of [Alzheimer's patients] are the result of the decomposing brain tissue, caused by the deposits of aluminum. At the cell level, aluminum causes these tissues to actually be "burned" away over a period of time - but this is figure of speech only, as the brain cannot feel pain." Today there is an ongoing controversy about the effect of power transmission grids on the local community. On this topic, Douglas had this to say: "There are disturbances that go about and along these wires. The electrical current that is transmitted does not, in fact, go "through" these wires, but rather spirals around them. Any curve or bend in hydroelectric wires will cause some distortion or leakage into the air. That is why the towers are laid out in a straight line; to minimize these effects. Notice that when you drive under hydro lines with your radio on, you will find a spot of severe interference. This is the spill-over. These waves, similar in many respects to sound waves, will affect the cells of people who expose themselves to them. Specifically, some of the normally more active cells are slowed down, while other, more inactive cells are speeded up. The effect of this imbalance, generally, is a lowering of the immune system, permitting a greater likelihood of disease and susceptibility to viral conditions. Cancers are a direct result of these distortions." And finally, as was precisely the case with Edgar Cayce, a "cosmic" sense of humor may invariably pop up, even within the complex cosmology of a DTM reading. For example, when doing a session on a long-term client who had "broken all the rules" by allowing mental depression to aggravate his physical problems (at the time of the reading, the poor fellow needed a cane simply to get from the bedroom to the bathroom), the session commented almost absently, "the body doesn't need a recovery, it needs a rescue!" The Legacy of Deep Trance Meditation Yes. And in fact, the readings do insist on this, over and over. The ability to contact the High Mind, as taught in many esoteric religions (Huna being the clearest) is available to everyone; and, in fact, we are all in touch with this portion of our mind on a regular basis, although - compared to the clarity of Douglas's connection - the "robustness" of the link, to use modern computer lingo, is perhaps not what it should be. No. No, for the same reason that Bill Gates is Bill Gates and the rest of us are not. Each time you adjust the Preferences in any computer program you own, or adjust a Control Panel in Windows, you are essentially repeating the very same skill that made Bill Gates the number one richest man in the world. Except that, in all probability, you will not attain the same lofty heights he did. Why? Drive, ambition, circumstance, timing - these are all factors. In the case of Douglas, he was "tipped" at an early age, by a credentialed trance-medium, to the fact that he had a latent talent in this field. Motivated by a powerful desire to save his child, he then threw himself into a training period that lasted literally years. He persevered. He struggled. He learned to put up with the physical, societal, and emotional stresses involved with "being asleep" for most of his working day, and being called names by critics and fools. He not only tolerated these events but, much as a pearl is produced by "stressing" its host, he used them as an opportunity to improve, and, ultimately, become virtually the best at what he does. None of the above should be taken to say that it is not worthwhile, or interesting, or educational, for each of us to pursue these skills at our own pace, under our own terms. For clearly ours is a society sadly lacking in intuitive, empathetic, or common-sense skills. Were it otherwise, we would perhaps not be aggressively poisoning ourselves and our planet, while at the same time trying to obliterate selected portions of our neighbors. Consider this for a moment: scientists and clinicians use the term "twilight sleep" to describe that portion of the sleep cycle where the "ball is handed," so to speak, from the conscious to the unconscious mind, and then true sleep immediately follows. For the average person, in the average night, this process is both seamless and transparent. However, every now and then - and this has happened to almost each of us at one time or another - we become "aware" of the process itself, and the effect is so jarring and startling that it wakes us up. Generally, if one had to describe the effect to a third party, one would note that the mind was suddenly filled with images or objects or people or events that were "illogical," or (this is the phrase most often used) "I just don't know how that stuff got into my head." Now consider this: that unsettling transitional phase or twilight sleep referred to above, when the reassuring control mechanism of "logic" is removed from our mental processes, and the subconscious takes over, is the very realm - the domain - in which Douglas spends (and has spent) most of his adult life! Those who have studied trance mediums (and the research is scant, and spotty) have suggested that, if the flow of questions to the medium should cease or stop, the process is actually "painful" to the medium because, lacking the conscious thought process associated with the ego, the medium is floating on an "ocean of information," without a clue as to where to swim to next. The very introduction of the next question itself gives purpose and meaning to the process and allows the medium to "breathe" if you will. [Note: Douglas in DTM almost always ends an answer with a request for yet another question. He says "Direction?" There is method to this.] Just as there are those who attempt to emulate Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, you can, with work, possibly achieve some of Douglas's skill on your own. Over the last decades, "schools" that attempt to teach this have come and gone. These organizations effectively teach you how to separate your conscious from your subconscious and, for the most part, their "graduation exercises" generally involve some sort of psychic reading on a total stranger. Interviews with graduates of these programs suggest that the intensive training they offer is useful, and most students, to their own shock and amazement, do pass the graduation exam. However, follow-ups also suggest that, without constant, day-to-day use, these newly learned skills soon atrophy and disappear. Close this window to return to the main site. |