Chapter 7: An example of how the Feedback Phenomenological (FP) Methodology is used to analyze and understand my religious experience of purgation culminating in mystical union (PMU).

Arlen Wolpert

(Draft of November 26,2006)

Introduction

Normal, everyday, experiences are 100% dominated by extended consciousness. Deep or traumatic or religious experiences are dominated by core consciousness. At the height of purgation consciousness is almost 100% dominated by core consciousness. Consciousness during the 4 to 7 second state of mystical union does not change. It is not dynamic and, therefore, cannot be modeled and simulated. The focus of the FP analysis of purgation, presented in this paper, is on core consciousness. Extended consciousness has been bracketed out. (To more fully sense or understand this second paragraph and the first paragraph, it is necessary to carefully study my narrative of PMU in Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of my book manuscript.)

This deep religious experience of PMU occurred in 1962 when I was 30 years old. My memory of that great experience never fades. It is well known that deep and traumatic experiences, like my religious experience, never fade. They are only repressed. Indeed, every moment by moment detail of core consciousness during that religious experience can be remembered, even now after 44 years. However, an attempt to recall must be made. Most of the time the experiencer does not attempt to recall the experience of PMU. Most of the time he or she is distracted by social or worldly or personal matters.

My FP analysis of purgation proceeded as follows:

• Between 1984 and 1999 I used system dynamics (SD) to mathematically model and simulate core consciousness during purgation. The reason I was able to do this was because the SD methodology structures all systems, in this case my core consciousness system, as a multiloop nonlinear feedback system. This is the same structure as the neurophysiological system underlying core consciousness.
• Then, during the period between 1999 and the present I have been transcendentally grounding the experience of purgation in my neurophysiological system. My work indicates that purgation and mystical union (PMU) are what is experienced during the successful abreaction or release of a trauma. The religious experience (what is experienced in consciousness) and the abreaction of the trauma (the release of cramped or paralyzed heart muscles caused by the trauma) occur simultaneously. Therefore, purgation and mystical union are what one experiences during the successful abreaction of a trauma.
• The work described above indicates to me that my great experience of purgation is the sign of a successful release or abreaction of a trauma that I had experienced when I was 9 or 10 years old. It is a sign to me that the abreaction did not cause my nervous system to degenerate by way of a nervous breakdown.
• However, the development of my heart had been arrested for 20 or 21 years, from the age of 9 or 10 to the age of 30, because of the existence of cramped or paralyzed muscles in my heart during that time. Therefore, after mystical union I had to go through a long religious process that eventually led to the overcoming of my arrested development (see Chapter 4).

PMU is central to all major religions. It is stage 11 and 12 of the fourteen stage religious crisis shown at Table I, below. Table I also gives the names of stages 11 and 12 in the language of a few other major cultures or religions.

FP is a marriage between system dynamics (SD) and Edmund Husserl's phenomenology (Husserl 1982). After 22 years of development, it appears to me that FP is slowly becoming the rigorous, presuppositionless science of philosophy for which Husserl and his teacher, Brentano, strived for throughout their careers in phenomenology, but never attained. I believe FP is becoming the rigorous and presuppositionless science, because the FP methodology uses SD to make a formalized mathematical analysis of my own core consciousness during purgation and because the analysis is testable (see Phase III below). Essentially, the FP method coordinates the SD analysis of purgation with some of Husserl's phenomenological concepts and some of his philosophical ideas. These results are leading toward an integrated six dimensional understanding of a religious experience that is at the heart of all religions. The six dimensions are scientific, phenomenological, philosophical, psychoanalytical, cultural anthropological, and religious.

Analysis

• In the first phase or step, FP uses the powerful SD methodology to structure my core consciousness during the experience of purgation as a multiloop nonlinear feedback system. This produces the flow diagram or noema for purgation shown below in Figure 2 of phase I of the FP analysis. The mathematical model associated with the flow diagram in Figure 2 is shown in section 6 of phase 1. This mathematical model is able to simulate the dynamics of core consciousness for each of the 38 variables of the flow diagram for the deep experience of purgation. Seven of those 38 simulations are shown below in Figure 1 and Figure 3 of phase 1. Husserl would have called the 38 core consciousness variables the noesis of purgation. Core consciousness is the dominant kind of consciousness during such deep and profound experiences. It just so happens that core consciousness is also simpler, and hence easier, to model than ordinary consciousness (Damasio calls ordinary consciousness, extended consciousness). Therefore, the result of this first phase of the FP analysis of purgation is both the structure of core consciousness during the experience and an accurate, simulated description of core consciousness during the experience. This FP analysis of core consciousness during purgation is performed using variables that are labeled in the form of Husserl's natural attitude terminology. For example, the variable, representing the scientific reality during purgation concerning the number of cramped or paralyzed muscles in my heart is called (in the natural attitude) KnotsInHeart. The SD flow diagram or noema uses the natural attitude labeling all 38 variables. As a result, the 38 variables are able to both describe my experience of purgation and represent the feedback structure or flow diagram of core consciousness during the experience of purgation. Among other things the structure aids in identifying the intentional object or objects. For example, in the mathematical model (shown in section 6 below) the intentional objects are represented by the state variables. In the flow diagram the intentional objects are represented by the rectangular boxes, shown in the diagram in Figure 2. In SD these rectangular boxes are called either stocks or levels or accumulations.
• In the second phase of the FP analysis, the analyst uses both the noema and simulations of the 38 variables of the noesis that were generated in phase I to guide him or her toward a penetration to the physical reality underlying core consciousness: to the neurophysiological and behavioristic correlates of core consciousness during the experience. These correlates eventually lead to the very specific neural correlates of core consciousness. At the moment when the neural correlates are determined in the FP analysis, the analyst is finally dealing with something that actually exists (i.e., something that is a material object). I will need a group of neuroscientists to help me with determining these neural correlates, etc.
• In the third phase, these neural correlates of core consciousness during the experience of purgation will be used to test the FP analysis. This test will be done by first predicting, and then verifying by testing, the direction of information flow in the neural correlates. The predicting would be made using the results of phase I and phase II of the FP analysis of purgation.
• Then, in the fourth phase, the FP analyst finally begins to understand the deep experience or the trauma from a broad and more profound perspective. At the end of the FP analysis the analyst has penetrated to the physical reality underlying the experience, understands the delusion associated with the trauma or deep experience, and has a deep, broad, and comprehensive understanding of the origin, reality, and meaning of the experience. For example, I found out to my great surprise that the dynamics of core consciousness during the experience of PMU is reflecting the abreaction or release - at the age of 30 - of a childhood sexual trauma that I had experienced way back when I was 9 or 10 years old. I found out that the releasing or purging of the effects of my childhood sexual trauma, which were the releasing of pent up and cramped or paralyzed heart muscles, is what was occurring in my body during this deep religious experience of purgation that occurred when I was 30. Thus, PMU is what I experienced during the abreaction of my childhood sexual trauma. This releasing or purging of a pent up trauma is the origin and driving force behind the experience of purgation. The understanding of purgation then leads toward an understanding of mystical union.

Phase I of the FP analysis of purgation: System structure and dynamics of core consciousness during purgation.

Figure 2: The system dynamics model or flow diagram or noema for core consciousness during purgation or dark night of the soul:

1. The architecture of the model in Figure 2:
   The architecture of the model of core consciousness during purgation has a quickly operating (milleseconds to seconds) parallel processing cognitive mechanism in the upper sector that interacts with a relatively slow system (seconds to hours) in the lower sector. The former originates in the thalamocortical system and is nonconscious; the latter originates in the limbic-brain stem and neurocirculatory system and is mostly conscious. Jackendoff (1987) calls the former the computational mind and the latter the phenomenological mind. Communication between these two sectors of the model is provided by about seven transducers or transition variables, six of which are associated with prayer and attention and one of which is a kind of energy within the mind (PsychicEnergyFactor). These transducers are conscious.

   All of the conscious variables in the lower sector of the model are named in what Husserl called the 'natural attitude.' For example, KnotsInHeart is not a thing. It has no reality as such. There are no knots in the heart, but there may be cramped or paralyzed muscles in the heart. Thus, naming the variables in the natural attitude means the name it feels like to the experiencer as he recalls his core consciousness during the 10 hour experience of purgation. It is not the name of what is actually going on in the experiencer's body. Thus, simulating the variables of purgation in the natural attitude gives a moment by moment description of my experience of purgation.

   Thus, the model's representation for my core consciousness (Damasio 1999) is shown in the lower sector. The intentionality of consciousness during purgation is about a somatosensory mental image. This mental image is about the heart opening against a resistance in the form of knots in the heart. This mental image does not exist. Husserl's Transcendental Phenomenology labels such intentionality, 'intentional inexistence.' The mental image is does not exist, because it is not a material object. Further, hearts are not opened and they don't have knots. However, eventually, in the second phase of the FP analysis, the SD-based FP analysis finds that what exists are antagonistic heart muscles. Even though the mental image does not exist, it can be modeled and simulated because there is a one to one relationship between the movement of the heart muscles and the dynamics of the mental image. The mind uses the imagination to convert the movement of the heart muscles to the dynamics of the mental image. That is why it is called a somatosensory mental image. There is a saying that a picture is worth 1000 words. For a person experiencing the incredibly stressful and fearful dark night of the soul or purgation, a mental image is worth 1000 neurophysiological facts. Hence, in the crisis of purgation the mind uses a somatosensory mental image. An image makes it easier and quicker for the mind to comprehend and to act or respond to the essentials of what is sensed within. Variables of the model associated directly with the somatosensory mental image include HeartOpenness, KnotsInHeart, FearDeathDueToKnot, and the set of feedback loops associated with them. ForgivenessResponse, PsychicStress, and OpeningPressure are also associated with this mental image. A simulation of these conscious variables allows us to get a good description - in the natural attitude - of core consciousness and how it is driven, moment by moment, during the stressful and fearful experience of purgation.

   The 11 variables representing the nonconscious cognitive mechanism are located in the upper part of the model, above a semicircle that goes just above KnotOriginInsight, AttentionalFocus, and PsychicEnergyFactor. I invented this cognitive mechanism sector and use it, because it is able to work well with the lower part of the model. Eventually, this cognitive mechanism sector will be replaced by a model developed by scientists in the field of cognitive science. At present we must use my invented model. It incorporates the concept of redundancy from engineering; Miller's (1956) concepts from information theory concerning channel capacity and recoding; Miller's 'magical number seven' used in cognitive science; and the retrieval accuracy of short term memory concept developed by Schouten and Bekker (1967), Wickelgren (1979), and Luce (1986). The concept of redundancy comes into play during mystical union when the primary information processor shuts down and the background information processor takes over in its place. How the model of consciousness operates when time stops during mystical union will be discussed more fully in sections 4 and 5, below.

   Preliminary definitions of each of these variables are given by the 38 variable (11 in the upper sector, 27 in the lower sector) mathematical model, shown in section 6 below. The constants in the equations and the table functions have been tuned to give an accurate simulation of the 10-hour Dark Night or purgative stage right up to the moment just preceding mystical union. Of the 38 variables, 23 are aspects of core consciousness. All 23 are located in the lower sector. The simulations of these 23 aspects of core consciousness are all simultaneous. For example, simultaneously, the experiencer (myself) was conscious of the dynamics or change of the following aspects of core consciousness during purgation: the rise in the opening pressure on my heart, an opening heart, the presence of a knot in my heart and the removal of a knot, the rise and fall of the intensity of fear of death and psychic stress, the rising intensity and falling intensity of my prayer, the rise and fall of the degree of attentional focus of my mind, etc.

2. Dynamics:
   In my normal life HeartOpenness was stable at 5% of maximum possible openness and there were a stable set of twelve KnotsInHeart. This is shown at Time=0 in the simulation at Figure 1 at section 3, below. (Keep in mind that these numbers are only my best estimates: the initial value of HeartOpenness could have been anywhere from 2% to 10% or 15%; the initial value of KnotsInHeart could have been anywhere between 8 and 15 knots.) However, just after the beginning of the Dark Night or purgation (Time>0), the phenomenological mind undergoes a change in such a way that OpeningPressure jumps from its NormalOpening Pressure of 5% all the way up to 80%. This is reflected by the fact that I have programmed AdditionalOpeningPressure to go from 0 to 75% at Time = 0. To understand the initial dynamics of the model at this point, keep in mind that the flow diagram for the 10-hour experience of purgation shown in Figure 2 has, at present, only two sectors. Eventually, the flow diagram or noema of core consciousness for the entire religious crisis may have 3 or more sectors. Therefore, the step input from AdditionalOpeningPressure is assumed to come from or originate in either a shift in loop dominance (Forrester 1985) or a bifurcation (Strogatz 1994) associated with a projected, but not yet modeled, adjacent sector or sectors. This step input causes limbic-brain stem variables in Figure 2, such as HeartOpenness, PsychicStress, FearDeathDueToKnot, KnotsInHeart and the like, to change or become dynamic, all coordinated by way of the feedback loops in the structure.

   KnotsInHeart, HeartOpenness, and the three memories in the cognitive mechanism are called state variables by mathematicians. In system dynamics terminology they are called stocks or levels or accumulations. Each stock or state variable has the characteristic of accumulation, analogous to a bathtub accumulating water. Using this bathtub analogy, 'How open is the heart at this moment?' is analogous to 'How full of water is the bathtub now?' ForgivenessResponse, HeartUnfoldmentRate, PrimaryInformationProcessingRate, BackgroundInformationProcessingRate, and InnerSensingRate are examples of rates. They act like either the bathtub's inlet faucets or outlet drains. Whether the faucet is an inlet faucet or outlet drain is indicated by the large arrowhead. (Eliminate the darkened arrowhead and use the open arrowhead to indicate the direction of flow of the thing or entity that is passing through the 'faucet'.) The much smaller arrowheads indicate the direction of causation. For example, the arrows coming from PrayerTrueness and PrayerIntensity and pointing at PrayerQuality indicate that the first two variables determine the value of PrayerQuality at any time. Specifically, the mathematical model gives the following definition of PrayerQuality:

   PrayerQuality = 0.5*(PrayerTrueness + PrayerIntensity) ............equation 1

   When PrayerQuality reaches 100%, which is the 'forgiveness threshold', the ForgivenessResponse is triggered and one KnotInHeart is removed in a ratchet-like fashion. (The knot is removed, rather than added, because the undarkened arrowhead points away from the KnotsInHeart stock.) Action then shifts to a negative feedback loop associated with HeartOpenness and PsychicStress: The removal of this one knot begins to unseal the restricted and rigid or tight heart, causing PsychicStress to decrease rapidly, which then causes the HeartUnfoldmentRate 'faucet' to open. This causes HeartOpenness to fill or open further, causing PsychicStress to rise again as the heart begins to encounter the next knot. As a result FearDeathDueToKnot, and then PrayerIntensity, and WillfulAttention, begin to rise again. The rise in fear and attention leads to a shift in loop dominance: Action shifts to the cognitive mechanism, which is essentially a negative feedback loop concerned with solving the problem of the origin of the knot (Ellis 1995). The fear and attention driven PrimaryInformationProcessingRate in the cognitive mechanism speeds up, leading to an increase in KnotOriginInsight. This increasing insight is concerned with the solution to the following problem: What is the particular sin, guilt, or hatred that is at the origin of this next knot? The gradual solution to this problem and my gradual acceptance of this solution leads to greater PrayerTrueness and then greater PrayerQuality until the latter reaches the 'forgiveness threshold,' triggering the ForgivenessResponse again. Then, the next knot cycle begins.

3. A closer look at the knot removal mechanism:
   

   Figure 3: Two-minute simulation of four of the 23 aspects of core consciousness during the Dark Night of the Soul or purgation:

   

   The four simulations in Figure 3 above focuses in on a two-minute period between the 607 and 609 minute marks. This two minute period occurs during the 60 minute unstable period shown in Figure 1, between the 557 and 617 minute marks. This 60 minute unstable period is the period during which all 12 KnotsInHeart are purged. Once all the 'knots' have been purged, mystical union occurs during the 617th minute. My experience of mystical union has enabled me to estimate that mystical union takes anywhere from 4 to 7 seconds.

   Figure 1: 960 minute simulation of four of the 23 aspects of core consciousness during purgation or dark night of soul: (This simulation is the noesis for purgation.)

   

   Please note that in Figure 3 and Figure 1 I am showing the simulations of variables such as Time, FearOfDeath, etc. with 5 place accuracy (e.g., 607.84 minutes, 87.2%), but obviously I can not recall consciousness during my experience with such accuracy. What I am actually doing is making these kinds of simulations and then stepping back and evaluating if this simulation compares well with my memory of the actual experience. If it does not compare well, I either change a constant in the mathematical model shown at section 6, below, or, if the situation calls for it, I change the structure of the model shown in Figure 2. Then, I resimulate until all the simulations of variables simultaneously match the experience. Please bear with me on my use of 5 place accuracy. Engineers do things like this; scientists don't like it. The engineer is focused on the first 2 or 3 digits. He is thinking: "Maybe the 4th and 5th digit can be used when converting from hours to minutes to seconds, etc. It wouldn't hurt to use 5 digits." This iterative process took me many, many months, but it was a labor of love. During this iterative process I was recalling the sacred and fascinating experience of purgation and mystical union in finer and finer detail.

   Thus, Figure 3 above shows a simulation of an intense two-minute period of the Dark Night of the Soul or purgation during which the 5th, 4th, and 3rd knots in the heart were purged. For example, the 4th from the last knot is removed at the 607.84 minute mark as shown by curve 1. Then begins the 3rd from last knot removal period, a 47 second period from the 607.84 to the 608.63 minute mark, during which curve 4, FearDeathDueToKnot, rises because of rising PsychicStress caused by the heart opening against the knot restriction variable, MaximumBearableUnboundedness (see Figure 2). This fear and trembling associated with a rising FearDeathDueToKnot leads to a rise in PrayerIntensity. Note: when a rising PrayerIntensity is approaching 100% it is like the prayer intensity of a drowning man, when he is about to go down for the last time. PrayerTrueness is insightful, focused prayer. When PrayerTrueness is approaching 100%, it is like the trueness one feels when a rackety complex machine is carefully adjusted by a skilled mechanic and begins to hummm or run true. (PrayerTrueness's simulation and PrayerIntensity's simulation are not shown in Figure 3.) PrayerQuality, shown as curve 2, is made up of both PrayerIntensity and PrayerTrueness (see equation 1 on the previous page).

   At the end of this 47 second period, just before the removal of the 3rd from last knot at the 608.63 minute mark, is the culminating point of the 3rd knot removal period when, in fear and trembling, the mystic-to-be accepts in the depths of his heart the deep insight into his sin, hatred, or guilt. This high value of PrayerTrueness is what is needed to bring PrayerQuality to 100%, the 'forgiveness threshold,' and trigger the ratchet-like action of the ForgivenessResponse, causing the removal of the 3rd from last knot at the 608.63 minute mark.

   Then FearDeathDueToKnot drops suddenly from 87.2% of maximum all the way down to around 1% of maximum. At that relatively peaceful and blissful state of core consciousness there is extreme thankfulness to the Lord. This extreme thankfulness comes about because the blessed Lord has answered his earnest prayer, granted forgiveness, and thus saved the pilgrim from impending death due to the stress, anxiety, and fear caused by the third from last knot.

   "Forgetful of myself,
   My head reclined on my Beloved,
   The world was gone
   And all my cares at rest,
   Forgotten all my grief among the lilies."
   (from the 'Dark Night' by John of the Cross).

   Then the 2nd or next to last knot period begins, as the cycle repeats itself in this purgation or dark night of the soul. Meanwhile, TruenessOfMind (curve 3) is rising inexorably as the knots are purged, leading eventually to mystical union after the last knot is removed.

4. Dynamics associated with mystical union:
   The flow diagram or model in Figure 2 incorporates the controversial idea that mystical union cannot occur by WilledAttention alone. To do that, it brings into play what I am calling NaturalAttention. It works like this: At the end of the purgation all twelve knots had been purged from my heart and the heart was opening, paced by the HeartAdjustmentTime. Because there were no longer any KnotsInHeart now, PsychicStress and hence FearOfDeath and hence WilledAttention had all dropped to zero. AttentionalFocus was increasing now only because of a rise in NaturalAttention. The rise in NaturalAttention had resulted from a pure, knot-free heart (KnotsInHeart = 0) that had caused TruenessOfMind to go into an exponential rise. The rise in TruenessOfMind was exponential, rather than sudden, because of the smoothing factor (Forrester 1961) in the equation for TruenessOfMind (see its equation in the mathematical model in section 6, below). The resulting powerful and increasing NaturalAttention and then increasing AttentionalFocus caused a steady decreasing of the RetentionTime in short term or working memory. As the RetentionTime decreased, RetrievalAccuracy associated with short term memory decreased until it eventually reached the 'insufficient accuracy' shutoff point. This triggered the PrimaryInformationProcessor in the cognitive mechanism to shut down. (See the equation for PrimaryInfoProcRate in the mathematical model shown in section 6.) However, because of redundancy built into the cognitive mechanism, cognition immediately switched over to the BackgroundProcessor. The shutdown in the PrimaryInformationProcessor caused the cessation of all inner sense, including the inner sense of time, the ability to think, imagine, will, and make immediate recall. My conjecture here is that these are all associated solely with the PrimaryInformationProcessor. This conjecture is based on my experience during the moment of transition from purgation into mystical union. During the 4 to 7 seconds of shutdown I found myself in the timeless state of mystical union. This is indicated when the value of the artificial output variable, ReadinessForUnion, goes off to infinity.

5. The background processor:
   The kind of consciousness that is associated with what I am calling the background Processor is a timeless and unchanging state. This state has been known by all people who have experienced mystical union, samadhi, etc. Thus, this state of consciousness has been known of for millenniums: Hindus have called it the purusha or saksin; ancient Greeks have called it nous; Spinoza called it 'that part of the mind that is eternal.' Husserl appears to have called it the pure ego, but I am not sure of that. The cessation of operation of the primary information processor during mystical union left the pilgrim without the sense of inner time and the ability to think, imagine, will, and make immediate recall. However, during this state of mystical union the background processor - working automatically - allows the pilgrim to timelessly and consciously be aware of the unsurpassable greatness for a duration that lasted anywhere from 4 to 7 seconds. Awareness of this unsurpassable greatness is my idea of the knowledge of God. The background processor processes and records that observed information into LongTermMemory2. Later, when the experiencer (who is now what I define as a mystic) descends from the state of mystical union and correspondingly the primary information processor returns to operation, the mystic can use the primary processor to recall the information recorded by the background processor about mystical union. That is because information processed and stored in long term memory by the background processor during mystical union is preconscious. That is, the information is permanently available for conscious recall.

6. Mathematical model for purgation:
   
   • HeartOpenness(t) = HeartOpenness(t - dt) + (HeartUnfoldRate) * dt
     INIT HeartOpenness = 5
   • HeartUnfoldRate = (OpeningPressure-AveragePsychicStress)*((100-HeartOpenness)/100)/HeartAdjustTime
   • KnotsInHeart(t) = KnotsInHeart(t - dt) + (- ForgivenessResponse) * dt
     INIT KnotsInHeart = 12
   • ForgivenessResponse = IF (PrayerQuality is greater than or equal to 100) THEN (1/DT) ELSE 0
   • LongTermMemory1(t) = LongTermMemory1(t - dt) + (PrimaryInfoProcRate) * dt
     INIT LongTermMemory1 = 0
   • PrimaryInfoProcRate = IF (STMRetrieveAccuracy is less than or equal to 0.5) THEN (0) ELSE (ShortTermMemory*STMRetrieveAccuracy*RecodingFactor/STMRetentionTime)
   • LongTermMemory2(t) = LongTermMemory2(t - dt) + (BackgroundInfPrRate) * dt
     INIT LongTermMemory2 = 0
   • BackgroundInfPrRate = InnerSensingRate-PrimaryInfoProcRate
   • ShortTermMemory(t) = ShortTermMemory(t - dt) + (InnerSensingRate - BackgroundInfPrRate - PrimaryInfoProcRate) * dt
     INIT ShortTermMemory = 7
   • InnerSensingRate = 4200
   • AdditionalOpenPress = 75
   • AttentionalFocus = (WilledAttention+NaturalAttention)*.025
   • AveragePsychicStress = SMTH1(PsychicStress,25)
   • CognitAbilityFactor = 1
   • InformationProcessingRate = IF (STMRetrieveAccuracy is less than or equal to 0.5) THEN BackgroundInfPrRate ELSE PrimaryInfoProcRate
   • HeartAdjustTime = 240*HeartRigidityFactor
   • KnotOriginInsight = .1*PrimaryInfoProcRate
   • MaxBearableUnboundedness = 10/SealmentOfSoul
   • NaturalAttention = TruenessOfMind + 36
   • NormOpenPressure = 5
   • OpeningPressure = NormOpenPressure + AdditionalOpenPress
   • PrayerIntensity = FearDeathDueToKnot
   • PrayerQuality = .5*(PrayerIntensity+PrayerTrueness)
   • PrayerTrueness = KnotOriginInsight
   • PsychicEnergyFactor = (100+HeartOpenness)/100
   • Rapture = HeartOpenness
   • Ratio = UnboundednessOfSoul/MaxBearableUnboundedness
   • ReadinessForUnion = .00001/(STMRetentionTime-(1/600))^2
   • RecodingFactor = (PsychicEnergyFactor*CognitAbilityFactor*((LongTermMemory1/140000)^(2/3)))+1
   • STMRetentionTime = (4/60)/AttentionalFocus
   • TruenessOfMind = 50/SMTH1(KnotsInHeart,1)
   • WilledAttention = FearDeathDueToKnot
   • FearDeathDueToKnot = GRAPH( (PsychicStress))
     (0.00, 0.00), (10.0, 0.00), (20.0, 1.00), (30.0, 5.00), (40.0, 20.5), (50.0, 85.5), (60.0, 97.0), (70.0, 98.0), (80.0, 98.5), (90.0, 99.0), (100, 99.5)
   • HeartRigidityFactor = GRAPH(KnotsInHeart)
     (0.00, 0.05), (1.20, 0.05), (2.40, 0.05), (3.60, 0.06), (4.80, 0.07), (6.00, 0.11), (7.20, 0.17), (8.40, 0.28), (9.60, 0.44), (10.8, 0.67), (12.0, 1.00)
   • PsychicStress = GRAPH(Ratio)
     (0.00, 0.00), (0.1, 1.00), (0.2, 4.00), (0.3, 9.00), (0.4, 16.0), (0.5, 25.0), (0.6, 36.0), (0.7, 49.0), (0.8, 64.0), (0.9, 81.0), (1, 100)
   • SealmentOfSoul = GRAPH(KnotsInHeart)
     (0.00, 0.0001), (1.20, 1.70), (2.40, 3.20), (3.60, 5.50), (4.80, 8.40), (6.00, 12.0), (7.20, 19.0), (8.40, 29.0), (9.60, 44.0), (10.8, 66.0), (12.0, 100)
   • STMRetrieveAccuracy = GRAPH(STMRetentionTime)
     (0.00, 0.00), (0.00167, 0.00), (0.00333, 0.005), (0.005, 0.01), (0.00667, 0.02), (0.00833, 0.04), (0.01, 0.115), (0.0117, 0.275), (0.0133, 0.47), (0.015, 0.61), (0.0167, 0.725), (0.0183, 0.8), (0.02, 0.84), (0.0217, 0.87), (0.0233, 0.895), (0.025, 0.92), (0.0267, 0.94), (0.0283, 0.955), (0.03, 0.965), (0.0317, 0.968), (0.0333, 0.971), (0.035, 0.974), (0.0367, 0.977), (0.0383, 0.981), (0.04, 0.984), (0.0417, 0.987), (0.0433, 0.99), (0.045, 0.993), (0.0467, 0.996), (0.0483, 0.999), (0.05, 1.00)
   • UnboundednessOfSoul = GRAPH(HeartOpenness)
     (0.00, 0.022), (10.0, 0.023), (20.0, 0.027), (30.0, 0.044), (40.0, 0.11), (50.0, 5.20), (60.0, 49.0), (70.0, 100), (80.0, 100), (90.0, 100), (100, 100)

   Use a DT of .005 minutes.

(Phases II, III, and IV, below, are presently being revised or are under construction and organization. Below is the latest draft of these phases of the ongoing analysis.)

Phase II of the FP analysis of purgation: Neurophysiological correlates, behavioristic correlates, and neural correlates of core consciousness during purgation.

A. Neurophysiological correlates:

1. By using the phenomenological concept of intentionality, I am finding that my experience of purgation is about the dynamic mental image of my heart opening against a resistance in the form of knots in my heart. Notice that hearts actually, or physically, don't open and they don't have knots, but that's what it feels like during purgation. As a result my consciousness conveyed that feeling to me during purgation by way of such a mental image. Husserl came up with the term, 'the natural attitude,' for the lucid way core consciousness conveys such feelings to the experiencer.
2. In phenomenology such a mental image is said to have intentional inexistence: That means the mental image does not exist. The image is not a physical object. What exists is some sort of dynamic or moving part within the experiencer's body. The key is to find out what that moving part is.
3. Sherrington (1906) stated that:

   "the contractions of particular sets of muscles in the heart must entail the suppression of activity of other muscles for coordinated movements of the heart to emerge."

4. Now, put together the following: firstly, Sherrington's statement, above, about how muscles in the heart operate; secondly, the simulated dynamic mental image of knot removal in Figure 3, modeled in Figure 2; and, thirdly, how the experiencer is conscious that the heart is opening against a resistance in the form of a knot in the heart in Figure 3 and Figure 1 has led me to the conclusion that the dynamic or moving part in my heart during purgation is antagonistic heart muscles. These heart muscles, working together with my imagination, produced the mental image in my core consciousness. This dynamic mental image is called a somatosensory mental image. Even though this somatosensory mental image does not exist, it can be modeled and simulated because there is a one to one relationship between the changes in the mental image and the movement of the antagonistic heart muscles.
5. Thus, the FP analysis of purgation finds this moving part is located within the heart and it moves just like two antagonistic muscles would move. It is like a two muscle assembly, each of the two muscles working against each other. The muscle or muscles associated with KnotsInHeart are controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system and the muscle or muscles associated with HeartOpenness are associated with the sympathetic nervous system. Because this moving assembly is in the heart, the feelings are very sensitive to it.
6. Working with the imagination, the antagonistic muscles drive the mind to produce a mental image in the 'natural attitude.' That is the kind of mental image that the mind can work with when it wills, prays, imagines, etc. during purgation.
7. It is a commonplace that 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' Now, as the emerging field of consciousness studies develops scientists in that field will begin to say that 'a somatosensory mental image is worth a thousand neurophysiological facts.' The mind of a person operating in the world of action cannot deal with all the neurophysiological facts underlying core consciousness and be effective. It can only deal with things like mental images, etc. As I have explained above, Husserl termed this very efficient joint operation of the mind and its imagination, 'the natural attitude.' It conveys in a very simple way to the experiencer - via his core consciousness - important and vital information that is relevant to what is going on in his body.
8. The three points I will be making, below, are informal. I am not listing neurophysiological correlates. I am just making preliminary conjectures on how the whole neurophysiological system operates: During purgation my mind, in the 'natural attitude', appears to have worked in the following way: Once the somatosensory mental image had established its presence in my consciousness, my ego, imagination, and will were able to proceed as follows:
   • My ego used the mental image to inform or tell my hard working imagination about another job that had to be performed: to begin to deal with the removal of the 'knot.' Speaking metaphorically, my ego system told my imagination, in some incredible neurophysiological way, the following instructions: 'This knot is keeping my heart from opening and, as a consequence, is causing me great stress, anxiety, and fear of death. A scenario needs to be generated in which I can keep myself busy using my memory, imagination, and will to alleviate this stress, anxiety, and fear. I'd feel less anxiety and fear and I'd feel more in control, if I could keep busy in such a useful way. If you could do this, dear imagination, it will save me from going crazy or save me from having a nervous breakdown.'
   • My imagination then began its brilliant work. Using my memory, it generated a scenario in which a particular guilt or sin or error or hatred from the past is represented by this particular knot. On top of that my imagination then generated some simple prayers to 'the Lord' that would 'remove' the knot. These prayers were made part of the scenario.
   • Then, my will, my imagination, and my long term memory - like a band of brothers - performed the prayer to the Lord with great intensity and integrity, asking forgiveness concerning the source of the guilt, etc. This scenario kept my mind and heart and spirit sharp. It kept me busy and in control and it also kept me from panicking during purgation (see paragraph 13 in the Summary at section 2 of Chapter 5).
9. Summary for the neurophysiological correlates for Figure 4: (I need to learn much more neurophysiology before I can use the diagram of the CNS in Figure 4, below, to summarize the insights of items 1-8 of section A.)

   Figure 4: Basic circuits of the central nervous system (CNS).
   [Modification of Figure 1.3 from Stein (1982).]

   

B. Behavioristic correlates, conditioned learning, and unconditioned learning or revelation:

1. The flow diagram or noema for core consciousness during purgation, shown in Figure 2, details the autonomous mental imagery, ideation, and mediating processes between a stimulus and a response that provides the mystic-to-be with the conditioned learning needed to become a mystic (compare Figure 2 with Figure 4). There are an estimated twelve cycles of autonomous conditioned learning, centered around the ForgivenessResponse. These twelve cycles of purgation are nested within one cycle of consummatory reinforcement due to mystical union.

   The sensory receptor of the stimulus (see Figure 4 above) is AdditionalOpeningPressure. It sends signals which cause a somatosensory stimulation of heart muscles driven by both the parasympathetic and the sympathetic system. This sympathetic stimulation tends to increase cardiac output (HeartOpenness). The parasympathetic system opposes this tendency (KnotsInHeart). This antagonistic stimulation generates the kind of somatosensory mental imagery and its associated ideation and mediating processes between the autonomous stimulation and the ForgivenessResponse that produces the conditioned learning.

   Perhaps, the most critical of purgation's autonomous ideations and mediating processes revolve around the ForgivenessResponse. For example, the threshold or limen for the ForgivenessResponse is at PrayerQuality = 100%. A rise in PrayerIntensity occurs first, but even a high value of PrayerIntensity of around 80% to 100% of maximum is still subliminal. It does not evoke a response, because the equation for PrayerQuality in the mathematical model indicates that for the ForgivenessResponse to occur there is a need for a summation at the synapse:

   PrayerQuality = 0.5*(PrayerIntensity + PrayerTrueness).............equation 1

   Thus, PrayerIntensity 'sets' the ForgivenessResponse. That is, it is set in the direction of finding a way to remove the knot in the heart. Then comes the increasing subtlety of ideation originating in the central nervous system (CNS), which is associated with PrayerTrueness. PrayerTrueness incorporates ideations of sin, guilt, etc. Such ideation aids in the eventual elevation of PrayerQuality until it reaches the ForgivenessResponse threshold and elicits the response, which is the removal of a 'knot in the heart.'

   Woodworth and Ladd (1911) clarified the above sequence for the case of a cat trying to get out of a cage to get food: (words in brackets show the analogy of the cat's dilemma with the mystic-to-be's dilemma during purgation)

   "The animal [the mystic-to-be or the experiencer of PMU] desires ... to get out and reach the food [removal of knots in heart]. Whatever be his consciousness, his behavior shows that he is, as an organism, set in that direction [PrayerIntensity aimed at removing knot]. This adjustment [set] persists till the motor reaction is consummated [PrayerTrueness rises until PrayerQuality reaches 100% and the ForgivenessResponse occurs], it is the driving force in the unremitting efforts of the animal to attain the desired end [removal of knot]. His reactions are, therefore, the joint result of the adjustment [set, PrayerIntensity] and of stimuli from various features of the cage [problem solving, PrayerTrueness]. Each single reaction tends to become associated with the adjustment [set]."

   The learning is reinforced after the ForgivenessResponse by the reduction in stress (PsychicStress) and fear (FearOfDeath) and the increase of rapture (Rapture). Therefore, conditioned learning occurs for each of the 12 knots removed during the 10-hours of purgation. In addition, a structured memory trace of new neural connections is made (Hebb 1958).
2. Then, after my FP analysis of purgation, I studied the structure of consciousness in 'the natural attitude' during purgation in the flow diagram in Figure 2, together with its simulation (see Figure 3). By this study, I was able to understand the conditioning of my mind that occurred during my religious experience of purgation. It became clear that my conditioning would not have occurred without, first, the successful removal of all the knots in the heart, and, second, purgation's culmination in the state of mystical union. If the culmination had not occurred, no culminating reinforcement to my conditioning would have occurred and, as a result, I would not have been conditioned to forgive, to love God, and to pray to God. However, the fact is I was conditioned:
   • I was conditioned to forgive twelve times, each time a knot was purged, during purgation. Mystical union then provided culminating reinforcement to this 12 cycle conditioning to forgive.
   • I was conditioned twelve times to pray to 'the Lord.' I was conditioned that if prayer is to be successful, it must be performed with all of my mind and heart and soul (PrayerIntensity). In addition, I was conditioned that prayer must be true to the very core (PrayerTrueness). I was conditioned to believe that 'the Lord' would forgive guilt, sin, error, or hatred if I prayed in this way. Mystical union then provided culminating reinforcement to this 12 cycle conditioning to pray.
   • Because of the success of prayer in removing the knot and the blessed thankfulness that followed, I was also conditioned to love God, whom I believed had saved my life (see Chapter 2). Mystical union then provided culminating reinforcement to this 12 cycle conditioning to love God.
   • In this way I believe I was conditioned during PMU to be a person who strives to live a religious life.

1. The reinforced conditioned learning about the purgation-based aspects of the religious life: a life based on heart-centered prayer and forgiveness of sin, hatreds, guilt, etc.
2. This conditioned learning is confirmed through consummatory reinforcement by the experience of the unsurpassable greatness during mystical union.

C. The neural correlates:

(.... Needs to be written.....)

Phase III of the FP analysis of purgation: Testing the analysis by predicting the direction of information flow in the neurophysiological system.

Testing of the FP analysis of purgation is analogous to the testing that validated Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. In the famous initial test of the General Theory of Relativity, first Einstein had predicted the gravitational effects of Mercury's mass on the movement of light from the Sun to the Earth during the eclipse of the Sun by Mercury. Then, a successful test confirming that prediction excited physicists throughout the world. As more and more tests confirming various other predictions became available, physicists became more and more confident in the validity of the General Theory of Relativity.

Similarly, as the neural correlates of consciousness for purgation - or the abreaction of my trauma - become more and more refined through the help of neurophysiologists and other neuroscientists, eventually these neuroscientists can predict the direction of information flow in specific neurons at key points in the neurophysiological system of the human body, using the small arrowheads in the feedback loops in the flow diagram in Figure 2. Then the tests are as follows: Neurophysiologists examine both the physical orientation and the direction of causation in critical neurons. Then, if the predictions of direction of information flow in each critical neuron are found to be correct, scientists will become more and more confident in the validity of my analysis of purgation.

Phase IV of the FP analysis of purgation: Understanding the reality underlying the experience of PMU (the essences, meanings, and delusions associated with purgation and mystical union.)

A. Preliminary Insights:

Now, the above comprehension of my experience of purgation is based on my scientific analysis that has been going on from December 1984 to the present time. Figures 1, 2, and 3, above, were generated during the system dynamics (SD) phase of that analysis. That system dynamics-based analysis of core consciousness during purgation finds that the flow diagram or noema for core consciousness during my experience of purgation, shown above in Figure 2, is structured as a second order feedback system (Forrester 1968b). At the present time I am conjecturing that the structure of a second order feedback system is the same structure as that which would result if one were to model the dynamics of the release of cramped muscles. Given the fact that I experienced those muscles as located in my heart, I will assume they were cramped heart muscles. Underlying that conjecture is the fact that muscles act in an antagonistic way. For example, the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system act antagonistically on any muscle pair. So, eventually a detailed, formalized, SD analysis of the release of cramped heart muscles could be performed by a biomedical specialist, skilled in SD. If the biomedical specialist's SD model of the dynamics of muscles is shown to be a second order feedback system, it would indicate there is a high probability that core consciousness during the experience of purgation was transcendentally grounded in the neurophysiology of my heart muscles [look for (Kim 2003) in the bibliography for a link to the writings of the Neokantian philosopher, Paul Natorp, on transcendental grounding].

However, an important question for the biomedical specialist is: Where were the cramped/paralyzed muscles in my heart located? I was an athlete in my youth and in college. Generally speaking, my heart was sound. Therefore, I am conjecturing that the cramped/paralyzed muscles were probably muscles associated with areas of the heart that were not directly related to the pumping action of my heart.

B. Based on the above analysis, here is my understanding of the origin of purgation and mystical union:

1. My FP analysis of PMU, summarized in the above Preliminary Insights section, gives a fairly good basis for conjecturing that when purgation started there were certain muscles in my heart that were cramped or paralyzed (KnotsInHeart = 12).
2. Once I got the insight that is stated in item #1 above, the question that arose in my mind was: How did those muscles in my heart get cramped/paralyzed in the first place? My conjecture is they became cramped/paralyzed during a childhood sexual trauma that occurred in 1941 or 1942 when I was 9 or 10 years old. Am I sure of this? No, but I have no memory of any other trauma but that trauma. (My ability to remember goes back to when I was about 4 or 4 1/2 years old. It is possible my heart was cramped/paralyzed in the womb or in childbirth or during the years between my birth and 4 years old, but my conjecture that it occurred during the childhood sexual trauma is, I think, more probable.)
3. It follows from the conjectures in items #1 and #2, above, that those cramped heart muscles had then been slowly put into more and more tension as my body and the rest of my heart grew during the period when my body matured from the age of 9 or 10 to the age of 30. So, at the age of 30 the tension in the cramped muscles would probably be like the tension in the string of a bow when it is drawn for the purpose of shooting an arrow. Following the conjectures further, during my religious experience the tension in those cramped antagonistic muscles was released, muscle by muscle or knot by knot, in 1962 at the age of 30. As the tension in the muscles was released, knot by knot, potential energy in the tense or stretched muscles was converted to the release of what Freud called 'cathectic or bound energy.' This release of the muscles and their 'bound energy' is central to the experience of purgation and mystical union and the freeing of my cramped heart. (Note: the release occurred during a vacation after having finished a stressful engineering project. It will be useful to read my narrative of that project: I had given all my mind and heart and soul to that project.)
4. Thus, my conjecture is purgation is the sacred experience I underwent in 1962 at the age of 30 during the intense, fearful, but also blessed, release of those cramped or paralyzed antagonistic heart muscles. Mystical union, which immediately followed purgation, is the sacred experience I underwent during - what appears to be - the release of massive amounts of potential energy that had formerly resided in the tense or stretched muscles. For more detail on this conjecture concerning mystical union, please see this link, particularly detail in items 1 and 2 of the link.
5. If these conjectures are true, my experience of PMU is the abreaction of my childhood sexual trauma.
6. These insights about PMU apply also to the key religious experience that appears to be found in all religions (see Table I in the Introduction, particularly stages 11 and 12). This is the basis for the GTR.

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