NEWS: Analysis & Commentary Making A Stray Cat Prolific THESAURAL IMAGING AND REMOTE VIEWING by Bill Stroud, Ph.D. It has become a truism among Western philosophers that consciousness is always consciousness of something. If we accept this condemnation, not just to freedom (Sartre), but to the reality of some content of consciousness, then every pause during a remote viewing session plays havoc with the remote viewer. It becomes the perennial challenge: how does the remote viewer identify what is target data presented by the Unconscious in contradistinction to the mind's production of some logical or associative work rooted in imagination? In the terminology of remote viewing, the challenge is as follows: how do we distinguish what is authentic target data and what is a Stray Cat (Analytical Overlay)? And this challenge of distinction between the two dynamics has relevance to an area that has received little publication attention among students and trainers within the remote viewing community, namely, the ideogram. For instance, when we produce an ideogram, how do we determine whether it is a legitimate gestalt proclamation about the target or whether it is simply a production of a linear reflex, one that quickly gets converted into a Stray Cat/AOL? Put another way: How do we determine whether an ideogram has ideosyncratic significance (ideos=image=authentic target data) rather than merely idiosyncratic significance (idios=personal=Stray Cat), i.e., does it function as a sign of our arbitrarily designated symbol for a specific target factor (life form, motion, water, etc.), or is it merely our imagination projected onto the figure lying before us on the page? This challenge concerning the authenticity of images is not new to most remote viewers. What may be new, however, is a third possibility: that a Stray Cat, be it in the form of an image chosen by the Unconscious or simply a projection onto an figure, may represent more than one's imagination and logical conclusions; i.e., the production of a Stray Cat may not be as arbitrary and unrelated to the target as one might think. But before we pursue the possibility of such a third alternative, we will need to explore some other dynamics which relate to how we approach images that are produced in a session. In his discussion of the paradoxical nature of control in zazen of Zen practice, Shunyru Suzuki points out how the ancient Japanese artists "used to practice putting dots on paper in artistic disorder." (Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p. 32. New York: Weatherhill, 1994) "This is rather difficult," he says. "Even though you try to do it, usually what you do is arranged in some order. You think you can control it but you cannot; it is almost impossible to arrange your dots out of order." Suzuki further indicated that the best way to control various images is, paradoxically, not to try to control them. "To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him," says Suzuki. (Ibid.) This approach to ridding oneself of an imposing dynamic by applying the opposite of the "natural" response is reminiscent of two other authors, Milton H. Erickson and Viktor Frankl. Erickson's "utilization" technique of not resisting resistance (Milton H. Erickson, The Nature of Hypnosis and Suggestion. New York: Irvington Publishers, Inc., Vol. I, p. 416 ff.), and Frankl's use of paradoxical intention in inviting a feared symptom to actualize itself operate on this same principle (Viktor E. Frankl, The Doctor and the Soul: An Introduction to Logotherapy. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1963, p. 207). When Erickson encountered a client who said, "Dr. Erickson, I bet you can't hypnotize me!" he would look directly at the person and say something like "You are absolutely right. I can't hypnotize you, but, as you will notice, your arm is getting lighter and lighter as we speak." Similarly, to someone who always blushes upon the occasion of getting up to speak in public, Viktor Frankl would recommend that he, on the next occasion for public speaking, try to make his face as red as possible (paradoxical intention). The dynamic is simple, although paradoxical: resistance to a resistance compounds that resistance. In therapy this dynamic is often used with clients exhibiting behavioral problems. If I were using hypnotherapy to assist in resolving a problem of obesity, I would not suggest to the client that he will not be hungry. This could catapult the client into a more ravenous appetite. Or, as the alcoholic once said, "Telling me that I should be a teetotaler makes me want a drink." I could be much more successful in weight loss therapy by suggesting that the client will become very thirsty every time he sees food. This actually implies that I want him to ingest something. You should always go for something, not against something! If he fills his stomach with water, how much food can it hold? If a client is suffering the pain of withdrawal from nicotine, I could suggest that he visualize the agonizing pain of withdrawal as the result of his body's work of cleansing his lungs and circulatory system. Now he can actually invite the pain as something positive and not as something to fight. Fighting the enemy builds the enemy's strength. Some trainers of controlled remote viewing appear to have incorporated this dynamic into their training programs. Lyn Buchanan's structure for documentation of the remote viewing process entails a line that is captioned SA (Set Aside). Buchanan instructs the student to "set aside" (SA: . . . . .) any initial preconception or hunch about target identity that spontaneously arises at the beginning of a session (POCA: Preview of Coming Attractors), with a personal commitment to giving it attention before concluding the session. He likewise has the student do the same for anticipated distractors, i.e., anything anticipated as possibly interfering with the session as it progresses (POCD: Preview of Coming Distractors). He suggests that the remote viewer actually verbalize and write down what he intends to do to neutralize such distractions. Likewise, upon the eruption of an image anticipating the nature of the target, Ed Dames trains his students to write down the image as an AOL (analytical overlay) and then ritualistically lay aside the pen to symbolize that it is has been placed out of mind for a fresh start, as if beginning from that point on a blank slate. This author would humbly suggest (with an emphasis on humility, since he presently is in an ongoing program of study with Buchanan!) that at this point within the structure, a "Set Aside" attempt may actually brand the distraction into the mind of the trainee by the very act of trying to get rid of it! (Or as Erickson would remind us: a negative suggestion brings about the opposite effect. (The injunction "Don't think about a white elephant for the next ten seconds" will invariable bring the white elephant to mind!) Dealing with mindsets and Stray Cats/AOLs as possible interference of the controlled remote dynamics could take another--or at least an added--form: a procedure whereby the Stray Cat/AOL is not resisted but invited in to be part of the dynamics of remote viewing, a point, incidentally, not overlooked by Buchanan. My personal technique, however, accentuates this paradoxical intention: when I do a Set Aside of some POCD, I accept the anticipated distraction as something to use. I may tell myself, for example, that the anticipated distraction of the ticking clock in the room will serve as a constant background reminder that at any moment--even on the next moment ticked off--some impression might appear to me in a surprising way, one that will be related to the target. In summary, I don't kick Cats. I gently pick them up and place them in my pocket. And many times I find that although they may not be a literal portrayal of the target, they very often express some aspect of it in a cryptic way. In fact, I have found it very helpful to add an exercise that I call Thesaural Image Deconstruction. As a Thesaurus presents many distinct words that act to express a core meaning--and yet have shades of difference--similarly I find that listing a singular Stray Cat and adding additional images by association often produces a pleasant surprise. Making A Stray Cat Prolific Page 2 Privacy Statement Copyright © 2001, H.R.V.G. All rights reserved.

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