Mystical Aspects of Pendulum Patterns
Entry into the Image (Part 4 of 6)
Let's assume that thought-forms, form constants and pendulum patterns are essentially the same thing - images created with vibrations. How do these images work in altering consciousness? The method seems to involve an entry into the image. Michael Hollingshead, who introduced Timothy Leary to LSD, briefly explains this as follows:
"As we became more sophisticated with the use of drugs and studied the mystics we could deal with the images. We saw them as mandalas, as screens of energy. By suspending analysis we were able to pass through the screens. We noticed that in the centre of all these images is a black hole, the vortex of mystical works. By focusing on this swirling, sucking void we moved through its entrance to the other kingdom. The blind spot in the centre of each mandala is recognised by Tibetan monks as a device to reach transcendence" (Ref 11).
This idea of entering the image is echoed in the timeless culture of the Aborigines of Australia.
"The Karadji's [Aboriginal mystic] recognition of the sacred mandalas and his 'entry' into one of them...is a universal image of contemplation and spiritual renewal...entry into one of these will precipitate contact with the realm of the Spirit...the karadji finds himself 'raised' by the angelic orders into the very heart of that rarified spiritual realm of Baiami" (Ref 12).
I recently showed one of my spiral prints to my Aboriginal friend, Clair. She looked intently at it for a while and then said softly "it's like dying". A common experience of many, but not all, near death experiences is that of a dark tunnel.
During a near death experience (NDE) the person can experience being "drawn rapidly into a dark space, usually (but by no means exclusively) described as a 'tunnel'. Occasionally it is called a 'funnel', a 'cave', a 'tube' - even a 'sewer'! One subject described found herself 'in a tunnel - a tunnel of concentric circles'" (Ref 13).
The idea of the dead being drawn into a spiralling tunnel is not a new one. The fifteenth century Flemish artist Hieronymus Bosch depicted such a scene in his oil on panel painting Ascent of the Blessed in the Ducale Palace, Venice, Italy (reproduced at http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bosch/bosch27.html).
References
(Amazon book link)
by Michael Hollingshead. Chapter 5 at
http://www.psychedelic-library.org/holl5.htm