The Science of Deep Trance Meditation (cont'd.)

vi. Legacy of Deep Trance

So, can anyone do what Douglas Cottrell does?

Seems a simple question, but it is not. The correct answer is "Yes... and no!" The more detailed answer....

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.

- R.A.

Return to Article