You are now entering stage four of your preliminary training as an
empath. As far as the information part goes, we are leaving the familiar
waking world of Beta and are entering into the classical domain of "the
Empathic." If I were to discuss Beta and Alpha as territories I
would describe Beta as the outermost rim of the territory, the external
world, and Alpha as the vast expanse of your interior landscape.
Alpha
is the internal world of your psyche. It is the place of dreams, imagery,
memory, myth, emotion, and shadows. Where Beta is the bright yellow
light of the Sun enclosed by the four sides of a square,
Alpha is the light reflected from the surface of the Moon, symbolized in a silver crescent. The silver crescent is an excellent symbol for Alpha the unconscious.
The Moon reflects the light of the Sun but is covered in partial darkness from a shadow. The partial Moon light of the crescent represents the partial consciousness of Alpha and the shadow over the Moon suggests the presence of the unconscious.
An Alpha state occurs when you slow your brain waves down to around 8 to 13 cycles per second. This can be done by closing your eyes and relaxing. Visualizing a peaceful scene and taking a few deep breaths will take you even deeper into Alpha. Alpha is just under the surface of your waking mind and is always available to you.
A common, yet outdated , term for Empathic ability is "the sixth sense." This implies one more sense past the five primary senses. In fact we really have more than five primary senses. In addition to sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, we have a kinesthetic sense which detects movement and body orientation.
There are even subtler senses within the body. All of these senses form a ladder that extends down into the unconscious levels of the mind. For now, I will keep the primary senses lumped into the first five of Beta and refer to Alpha as the sixth sense.
Alpha as the sixth sense acts like a compass or divining rod within your body/mind. It generates vague or undefined information that can create a sense of a push or a pull within you. A pull would be a desire to move toward something, a push would be a reaction to move back from something or someone.
Remember my story about the bank robber? In Dreamtongue the Beta message was " a man in the Laundromat," but within that Beta signal was an Alpha message as well. The Alpha message was a pushing away, a desire to get away from that man. It was an Alpha message because it did not come with explicit instructions or explanations.
I did not get a Empathic news flash saying, "Attention. Attention. That man has a gun and is dangerous. He is about to rob the bank next door." Instead my body translated the Alpha message of something wrong into a Beta message of a sense of heaviness and constriction in my body. Here you can see how Beta and Alpha work together.
As you advance through this training you will learn how all five levels are not at all separate and distinct. They are really a continuum, a ladder of consciousness. You are learning each one separately in order to strengthen your understanding of each level.
In the language of Dreamtongue Alphas are hunches, intuitions, general feelings, inclinations, unexplained reactions/responses. If an Alpha message is strong enough it will push its way up (or out) through the body and become a Beta message.
Whether a Empathic message is heard as an Alpha or a Beta depends upon two things:
(1) You as an individual. Are you more aware of your feelings or your body states, or both?
(2) The intensity and importance of the message.
You are continuously receiving Alpha messages throughout your day. Not all of them are important enough to signal you through your body, unless you are an extremely sensitive to your body states. If you are a person who tends to not really pay attention to your body states or feelings, then you may not be noticing Alpha or Beta messages.
Have you ever walked in to a place and thought, "I have a bad feeling about this?", or , " I have a good feeling about this?" If so, then you were acknowledging an Alpha message.
Alpha is the level of Empathic impressions. These impressions are usually not very clear or distinctive and therefore require interpretation. It is in the process of interpreting Empathic impressions that many people lose the message or reach inaccurate conclusions.
In this chapter I will provide you with information that will help you work in a focused way with Alpha messages. Some of this information will require that you practice certain skills. How often you practice will be determined by your desire and your schedule. Needless to say, the more you practice the better the results.
Alpha is also the "emotional level," in the same way that Beta is the "physical level." Empathic messages come in through emotional responses. The distinction between a normal emotional reaction and an Alpha message depends on what is occurring around you.
If you get upset because someone is yelling at you then that is a normal emotional reaction. If you think of something upsetting and then you get upset, that is a normal emotional reaction. If you are talking to friend and enjoying yourself, and then for no apparent reason you get upset - that could be an Alpha message.
Here's an example: Several years ago, I was walking through the mall doing some shopping. It was a nice day and I was feeling carefree. As I was walking, thinking about different stores and getting a bite to eat, a feeling of intense sadness "fell" over me. It was sudden and strong. I had to sit on a bench to try to figure out what was happening.
I reviewed everything that I could think of: was there something worrying me- no, was there a problem I was putting off - no, could I think of anything that was making me sad - no. So I decided I should go home to see if I could determine what was wrong. When I got home I could not find my cat Leto, one of a set of twins. I was very fond of my twin kitties Leto and Ghanima. Eventually I found him dead under the bushes by my house.
There was no evidence of what had killed him. He had been fine before I left that morning. I had felt the time of his death when I was at the mall. The sadness that came over me, unprovoked, was a strong Alpha message. Unfortunately, Alpha messages are not usually clear enough to know what to do. It will be through Theta and Delta that you will learn about the direct and distinctive Empathic messages.
The Alpha level relates to overall Empathic sensitivity. Here I would like to give you a working definition for Empathic sensitivity. This part is a little complicated but very useful to learn. Learning about the nature of Empathic sensitivity will help anyone who feels they have trouble accessing Empathic information.
Normal sensitivity is measured in thresholds. Sensitivity to touch, to temperature, and to pain is measured by how much of each stimulus is needed before a person can feel that stimulus. The point where there is enough pressure or stimulation to feel the touch, heat, pain, etc., is the threshold.
Alpha messages originate from within you due to some distant or unapparent stimulation or pressure. The amount of "internal pressure" required in order for you to recognize a Empathic message is your Alpha threshold. It is your Alpha threshold that determines your level of Empathic sensitivity. This threshold varies throughout the day and can vary from day to day.
Empathic sensitivity can be developed as a skill. You can expand your Alpha threshold which, in turn, increases your Empathic sensitivity. This is the essence of stage four of your training. To expand your Empathic sensitivity you must first learn how to compare Alpha with Beta states.
Beta and Alpha act as mirror images of each other. They are like the Sun and the Moon, with the Moon reflecting the light of the Sun. Beta takes signals in to your body/mind and Alpha receives signals internally from within your unconscious. Beta information is encoded by your senses but Alpha is information not perceived by your senses.
The lack of sensory input is what makes Alpha messages difficult to recognize and interpret. If you cannot see it, hear it, or touch it, how can you know what it is? What is missing is the means for the Alpha message to get encoded into some usable form.
Alpha messages are encoded by associations. Remember from chapter two: the associational centers form the channel between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. This is the place where the small still voice within originates. The dialogue inside this channel is the dream voice, the place where Dreamtongue occurs. Alpha is the whisper of your dream voice. Alpha messages are harnessed by forming associations to other information, especially symbolic imagery.
Forming associations to Empathic impressions is the key skill of the empath. When an Alpha message arises within you and you do not immediately recognize it's purpose, you can make associations with it and discover its meaning. This is done much like the process of what is called "free association." Free association works by having someone present words to you one at a time and you say whatever comes to mind without censoring.
I have used the free association method with students for over thirty years now and have found it to be very effective for developing Empathic sensitivity. I have students stand one at a time before the class. The students remaining in their seats have the task of focusing on the person in the front of the room and allowing whatever impressions to form.
The actual exercise involves speaking out loud, calling out any imagery that forms without censoring. Of course, I recommend some common courtesy and common sense here. I discourage statements of impending doom or statements that are embarrassingly intimate.
What normally happens is people call out one word responses and someone writes these associations down into a list. Occasionally, a sentence, a description, or an image comes through. Then the person who patiently stood in front of the room while everyone "read" them gets to review the list and make comments about the associations/impressions. This is a practice I recommend in Dreamtongue study groups called "echos" (empath circles).
Here is the vital point: the purpose of the exercise is not to extract Empathic information, although that certainly does happen. The purpose is to learn how to make associations readily and at will. You simply open your thoughts up by allowing images, words, descriptors, to come to mind without censoring them.
Here are the guidelines for developing your Empathic sensitivity by practicing Alpha associations.
Alpha
is the internal world of your psyche. It is the place of dreams, imagery,
memory, myth, emotion, and shadows. Where Beta is the bright yellow
light of the Sun enclosed by the four sides of a square, Alpha is the light reflected from the surface of the Moon, symbolized in a silver crescent. The silver crescent is an excellent symbol for Alpha the unconscious.
The Moon reflects the light of the Sun but is covered in partial darkness from a shadow. The partial Moon light of the crescent represents the partial consciousness of Alpha and the shadow over the Moon suggests the presence of the unconscious.
An Alpha state occurs when you slow your brain waves down to around 8 to 13 cycles per second. This can be done by closing your eyes and relaxing. Visualizing a peaceful scene and taking a few deep breaths will take you even deeper into Alpha. Alpha is just under the surface of your waking mind and is always available to you.
A common, yet outdated , term for Empathic ability is "the sixth sense." This implies one more sense past the five primary senses. In fact we really have more than five primary senses. In addition to sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, we have a kinesthetic sense which detects movement and body orientation.
There are even subtler senses within the body. All of these senses form a ladder that extends down into the unconscious levels of the mind. For now, I will keep the primary senses lumped into the first five of Beta and refer to Alpha as the sixth sense.
Alpha as the sixth sense acts like a compass or divining rod within your body/mind. It generates vague or undefined information that can create a sense of a push or a pull within you. A pull would be a desire to move toward something, a push would be a reaction to move back from something or someone.
Remember my story about the bank robber? In Dreamtongue the Beta message was " a man in the Laundromat," but within that Beta signal was an Alpha message as well. The Alpha message was a pushing away, a desire to get away from that man. It was an Alpha message because it did not come with explicit instructions or explanations.
I did not get a Empathic news flash saying, "Attention. Attention. That man has a gun and is dangerous. He is about to rob the bank next door." Instead my body translated the Alpha message of something wrong into a Beta message of a sense of heaviness and constriction in my body. Here you can see how Beta and Alpha work together.
As you advance through this training you will learn how all five levels are not at all separate and distinct. They are really a continuum, a ladder of consciousness. You are learning each one separately in order to strengthen your understanding of each level.
In the language of Dreamtongue Alphas are hunches, intuitions, general feelings, inclinations, unexplained reactions/responses. If an Alpha message is strong enough it will push its way up (or out) through the body and become a Beta message.
Whether a Empathic message is heard as an Alpha or a Beta depends upon two things:
(1) You as an individual. Are you more aware of your feelings or your body states, or both?
(2) The intensity and importance of the message.
You are continuously receiving Alpha messages throughout your day. Not all of them are important enough to signal you through your body, unless you are an extremely sensitive to your body states. If you are a person who tends to not really pay attention to your body states or feelings, then you may not be noticing Alpha or Beta messages.
Have you ever walked in to a place and thought, "I have a bad feeling about this?", or , " I have a good feeling about this?" If so, then you were acknowledging an Alpha message.
Alpha is the level of Empathic impressions. These impressions are usually not very clear or distinctive and therefore require interpretation. It is in the process of interpreting Empathic impressions that many people lose the message or reach inaccurate conclusions.
In this chapter I will provide you with information that will help you work in a focused way with Alpha messages. Some of this information will require that you practice certain skills. How often you practice will be determined by your desire and your schedule. Needless to say, the more you practice the better the results.
Alpha is also the "emotional level," in the same way that Beta is the "physical level." Empathic messages come in through emotional responses. The distinction between a normal emotional reaction and an Alpha message depends on what is occurring around you.
If you get upset because someone is yelling at you then that is a normal emotional reaction. If you think of something upsetting and then you get upset, that is a normal emotional reaction. If you are talking to friend and enjoying yourself, and then for no apparent reason you get upset - that could be an Alpha message.
Here's an example: Several years ago, I was walking through the mall doing some shopping. It was a nice day and I was feeling carefree. As I was walking, thinking about different stores and getting a bite to eat, a feeling of intense sadness "fell" over me. It was sudden and strong. I had to sit on a bench to try to figure out what was happening.
I reviewed everything that I could think of: was there something worrying me- no, was there a problem I was putting off - no, could I think of anything that was making me sad - no. So I decided I should go home to see if I could determine what was wrong. When I got home I could not find my cat Leto, one of a set of twins. I was very fond of my twin kitties Leto and Ghanima. Eventually I found him dead under the bushes by my house.
There was no evidence of what had killed him. He had been fine before I left that morning. I had felt the time of his death when I was at the mall. The sadness that came over me, unprovoked, was a strong Alpha message. Unfortunately, Alpha messages are not usually clear enough to know what to do. It will be through Theta and Delta that you will learn about the direct and distinctive Empathic messages.
The Alpha level relates to overall Empathic sensitivity. Here I would like to give you a working definition for Empathic sensitivity. This part is a little complicated but very useful to learn. Learning about the nature of Empathic sensitivity will help anyone who feels they have trouble accessing Empathic information.
Normal sensitivity is measured in thresholds. Sensitivity to touch, to temperature, and to pain is measured by how much of each stimulus is needed before a person can feel that stimulus. The point where there is enough pressure or stimulation to feel the touch, heat, pain, etc., is the threshold.
Alpha messages originate from within you due to some distant or unapparent stimulation or pressure. The amount of "internal pressure" required in order for you to recognize a Empathic message is your Alpha threshold. It is your Alpha threshold that determines your level of Empathic sensitivity. This threshold varies throughout the day and can vary from day to day.
Empathic sensitivity can be developed as a skill. You can expand your Alpha threshold which, in turn, increases your Empathic sensitivity. This is the essence of stage four of your training. To expand your Empathic sensitivity you must first learn how to compare Alpha with Beta states.
Beta and Alpha act as mirror images of each other. They are like the Sun and the Moon, with the Moon reflecting the light of the Sun. Beta takes signals in to your body/mind and Alpha receives signals internally from within your unconscious. Beta information is encoded by your senses but Alpha is information not perceived by your senses.
The lack of sensory input is what makes Alpha messages difficult to recognize and interpret. If you cannot see it, hear it, or touch it, how can you know what it is? What is missing is the means for the Alpha message to get encoded into some usable form.
Alpha messages are encoded by associations. Remember from chapter two: the associational centers form the channel between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. This is the place where the small still voice within originates. The dialogue inside this channel is the dream voice, the place where Dreamtongue occurs. Alpha is the whisper of your dream voice. Alpha messages are harnessed by forming associations to other information, especially symbolic imagery.
Forming associations to Empathic impressions is the key skill of the empath. When an Alpha message arises within you and you do not immediately recognize it's purpose, you can make associations with it and discover its meaning. This is done much like the process of what is called "free association." Free association works by having someone present words to you one at a time and you say whatever comes to mind without censoring.
I have used the free association method with students for over thirty years now and have found it to be very effective for developing Empathic sensitivity. I have students stand one at a time before the class. The students remaining in their seats have the task of focusing on the person in the front of the room and allowing whatever impressions to form.
The actual exercise involves speaking out loud, calling out any imagery that forms without censoring. Of course, I recommend some common courtesy and common sense here. I discourage statements of impending doom or statements that are embarrassingly intimate.
What normally happens is people call out one word responses and someone writes these associations down into a list. Occasionally, a sentence, a description, or an image comes through. Then the person who patiently stood in front of the room while everyone "read" them gets to review the list and make comments about the associations/impressions. This is a practice I recommend in Dreamtongue study groups called "echos" (empath circles).
Here is the vital point: the purpose of the exercise is not to extract Empathic information, although that certainly does happen. The purpose is to learn how to make associations readily and at will. You simply open your thoughts up by allowing images, words, descriptors, to come to mind without censoring them.
Here are the guidelines for developing your Empathic sensitivity by practicing Alpha associations.
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