FYI, here are some items found while beachcombing
on the Internet.
Am posting a link, just in case.
People often believe that a guru has special powers
based on special experiences, termed 'siddhis'.
[
books.google.com]
Hungry for Ecstasy: Trauma, the Brain, and the Influence of the Sixties
...Trauma, the Brain, and the Influence of the Sixties Sharon Klayman Farber. Cult-
Induced Ecstasy and Psychosis 159 She rarely thinks about it but finds herself
crying at ... Was it contagious? Many years later I learned that this is what is
known as the Isakower phenomena (Isakower 1992a, 1992b), the joint
participation of ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0765708582
People often give loyalty to groups or gurus
because they experience remarkable, uncanny
experiences.
These experiences are quite vivid, even
real.
So far, psychoanalysts have only been able to
learn of this by interviewing single clients.
Those readers who have been in ashram environments
or yoga groups in which disciples focus their attention
on a single point, such as a guru, or an image, enhance
this with all night vigils, trance like chant -- that
this might undermine distinction between waking state and
sleep and that possible Isakower phenomenon might be
shared, seem to focus on the guru, and lead people to
assume that the guru has special powers.
When this is merely a human phenomenon. If interpreted in
context of a guru centered environment, it seemingly
demonstrates the guru's power, when in the context
of psychoanalysis, it is merely a phenomenon to be
understood -- nothing to justify surrendering one's
autonomy.
Here is a search term:
Isakower Phenomenon.
Some earlier stuff, here:
[
forum.culteducation.com]
When Otto Isakower first noted this, his clients reported
that these episodes tend to occur during onset of sleep -
hypnagogic states.
There is an outside chance that perhaps states of dissociation
induced by trance or trauma could also play a role.
Discussion on this continues.
Isakower refrences
Isakower phenomena were first noted as occurring just before onset of
sleep.
States of trance might possible play a role.
Isakower also examined how evenly suspended attention
between an attuned analyst and client can result
in an exchange of unconscious material, even
uncanny shared perceptions.
An analyst or therapist will have the utmost difficulty
maintaining evenly suspended attention if he or she
is constricted by secret keeping, or feels either
superior to the client or angry or afraid of the client.
Possibly Isakower phenomena may occur frequently in
environments where persons share devotional practices,
especially when such pratices focus on the same image,
whether a picture of Mother Mary, a crucifix or
picture of a guru.
Ancient rituals such as the Hindu aarti, or certain kinds
of music might accelerate mind states conducive
to Isakower phenomenon.
Standing in the Spaces: Essays on Clinical Process Trauma and ...... similar to the trance and fuguelike states preceding major dissociative
episodes. The early literature on the Isakower phenomenon is suggestive in this
regard.
books.google.com/books?isbn=1317714539
The Wandering Mind: Understanding Dissociation from Daydreams to ...hypnotic trance features: dissociation, 13; focal awareness, 12—13, 151; ... in
mental illness, 24—25 Isakower, Otto, 35, 152 Isakower phenomenon, 35, 96,
152; ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=1442216174
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2016 09:27AM by corboy.