What happens to me when I sleep? Continued from Previous Post

"Ok, you can ask me about that question you wanted to but did not as we got interrupted," Prof Earlshaw said. "Certainly, Prof, I was interested in the copy of the external space that you said seemed to present itself in the mind-space."

"Of course," he responded, "But you must remember I did not use the word, "seemed". I really experienced it. Yes, I did see a copy of the external space in the mind-space. But it's so difficult to convey the same. I don't know if you are really getting at it. It's not like as if the external space had a boundary and it fit into the mind-space as a subset. You know what I mean?"

"Yes, I know. It is analogous to what is done in mathematics, in a branch known as Differential Topology, but let's me not get into that," I replied.

"Is it so? I know that you refer to that because you feel it clarifies things. Perhaps you could teach me a bit of that you know, some semi-technical stuff I could appreciate. Anyway from your look I can see that you are following what I am saying. Well, I did find my mind-space extending and enveloping the copy of external space."

"Prof Earlshaw, this could be utterly confusing to anyone who reads it. For, whoever heard of someone examining space in the way you are doing? How did your students respond to it?"

"You must understand we did this as a team. We drew conclusions only after all four of us, me and my three students had individually and independently verified and correlated our experiences. We all came to a common consensus. Also, there is nothing odd about what we did. We merely extended the spirit of experimentation and inquiry into the domain of the mind. Normally one hesitates to do such a thing. That is because no one has really tried consistently and persistently as a team. One here and there might have done it. But that is not sufficient to build a scientific theory or model. What we found was that we could begin a process of inquiry and experimentation of the mind as similarly as we do of the external world. I wonder if this has ever been attempted before. Prof. Kunneth says that it has been done with great thoroughness in an Indian work known as the Yoga Sutras. But I don't know much about that. Next week I am meeting him on Skype. In fact, he is working on a new translation of that work from a cognitive perspective. If you wish you can join. I can drop him an email once you confirm."

"Oh, that's really interesting to me. I am aware of the Yoga Sutras. I just did not want to bring that into the picture because though it is profound in the real sense of the term, I would like to go into it further only after carrying on independent investigations into the mind. Too many people would like to hastily correlate modern inquiries with that ancient work. So I have kept it on hold."

"So, you wouldn't like to join me?"

"Not at the moment, Prof. You can please meet him and tell me about it later."

"Well, let's continue our conversation, then..."

What happens to me when I sleep? A conversation with a neuropsychologist. Part 1: Continued from previous post

"Prof. Earlshaw," I continued, "now that you are back from your trip to New Zealand," I want to ask you whether you want to continue our discussions."

 "Documenting them you mean," he laughed. "We are having discussions anyway. But how much of that can we ventilate? Well, let's sketch out what we would like to. Shall I put it down on this paper napkin?"

"Sure," I agreed. 

"Last time we were about to speak of a distance in the mind-space. Am I right?"

 "Yes, certainly," I nodded. "Mathematicians call it a metric. So the question is whether we can introduce a metric in mental-space. And then there arises the issue of a geometry in that space..."

 "I wish you wouldn't bring mathematics into it. We could get lost in the details and miss the essentials," he pointed out.

 "I am not bringing mathematics into this. I merely wanted to clarify that mental-space being like any of the spaces we study in mathematics, it could perhaps be instructive to find whether we can measure and not merely estimate distances. After all in your work you mention that the form, shape and size of a mental object has an effect on the emotions experienced by a person..." I countered.

 "Yes, yes, that's right. But we wouldn't want to prompt mathematicians to pick up these half-precise statements and take off on a tangent."

 "I am sure there is no such danger," I went on. "Anyway let's get to the point. You mentioned that in your OBE you actually felt the mind to be distinct from the body. If I may point out, in what manner is it different from a hallucination?"

 "Oh, that's no problem. My students and I have precise tests to distinguish perceptions from hallucinations. Shall I tell you about them now or would you have them later?" "Perhaps we could come back to it a little later. At the moment I will take you on faith."

 "Sure, let me know when you feel the need." he replied. "Yes, as I said, in my OBE I experienced a distance-like feeling. I could almost carry a scale around there. And I am sure if I tried measuring things there I would be able to do it just like in real space. But I think, mark you, I think, not experienced, that a copy of the real space gets carried over into mental space. Since we represent all our perceptions in that space. I am curious to find out the extent of this copy. I mean, the question is, "is all of real space represented in the mind-space? What is only a finite extent is?""

"Prof, that would be going into thinking!" I laughed. 

"Yes, yes, thinking. But can we really avoid it now. The pleasures of thinking! Let's go into it a bit. Just a little to quiet our curiosity. In a snap we can return back. I promise, after this I will give you only experiential stuff!

"Well, that's just fine. It is your game we are interested in primarily here. So have your flights of thinking," I laughed.

"It's like a cup of tea to me," he laughed in turn. "How about me taking such tea breaks between?'

"That's a great way to put it," I agreed....