Survival of Bodily Death
An Esalen Invitational Conference
February 11 - 16, 2000

Transmission Theory
Michael Grosso

History of T theory

Grosso began with a historical overview of some prominent philosophers in the West who have maintained that the human body and brain act as transmitters of our conscious experience. In Plato’s dialogues, for example, Grosso pointed out there is the persistent theme that only after death do humans obtain full knowledge. The body is portrayed as a limiting factor on conscious experience, and the practice of philosophy is an intentional act to disengage one from those constraints. In ancient Greek the word epiteudes meant to free the mind from the constraints of the body. In this view human conscious experience is not derivative of the body but rather limited by it. Grosso thinks there is an implicit form of T theory in Plato’s works.

Turning to more recent times, Grosso quoted from Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Resaon (1781):

"The body would thus be not the cause of our thinking but merely a condition restrictive thereof. Though essential to our sensuous and animal consciousness, it may be regarded as an imposition to our pure spiritual life."

Grosso acknowledged that although a negative attitude toward the body comes across in both Plato and Kant, T theory does not necessarily entail such a view. In other dialogues by Plato, such as the Phaedo, Grosso pointed out that there are passages that celebrate the human body and earthly existence. It is only a narrow and simplisitic reading of Kant and Plato that leads scholars to think that they thought the body was "bad." Instead, within the framework of T theory, the brain and body are understood to be the limiting filter on our conscious experience.

Grosso turned next to the work of F.CS. Schiller, the British author of The Riddle of the Sphinx, published in 1891. In this book, Schiller articulated a version of T theory and substantiated it with empirical evidence. For example, Schiller noted that it is more accurate to say that brain injuries impair the transmission of our conscious experience rather than the actual production of it. Schiller was aware (as modern brain research has confirmed) that when one part of the brain is damaged, other parts can compensate so that a lost function is restored. Schiller believed this robust restoration ability lens more support to a transmission theory of consciousness, as opposed to a strictly production theory. Historically, Schiller played an important role in the development of T theory, because he was the first modern writer to cite and critique such evidential cases.

Grosso briefly mentioned the work of Frederick Myers, a contemporary of Schiller’s, whose writings show an implicit expression of T theory. Myers’ often spoke of how the contents of each person’s subliminal mind are "filtered" by the brain. Although he does not use the word "transmission," the idea of the brain acting as a transmitter is implied in Myers’ model.

According to Grosso, it was during William James’ 1898 Ingersoll lectures on immortality that the clearest public articulation of T theory occurred, although James did not self-consciously perceive himself as the originator of a distinctly new view of consciousness. When describing this view, James often quoted the transcendentalists and Romantics as forerunners. Emerson, for example, wrote that "we lie in the lap of immense intelligence which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity." And the Romantic poet Percy Bysse Shelley, whom James was fond of quoting, said, "life is like a dome of many colored glass that stains the white radiance of eternity."

Acording to James each human is a tripartite being:

* we are a body * we are an individuated consciousness with specific memories * we are pure spirit or the undifferentiated oneness

Grosso said there are three advantages to James’ version of T theory:

1. It accounts for "influxes from the larger world," such as prophetic visions. 2. It fits well with G.T. Fechner’s idea of the psycho-physical threshold, in which the brain and body act to block out the full range of consciousness experience. 3. It iscompatible with psychic phenomenon.

James’s French contemporary Henri Bergson was another well-known proponent of T theory in the early 20th century. Bergson was known for calling the brain "the organ of attention to life." Like James, Bergson believed that the brain served as a filter for consciousness.

Covering the post-World War II era, Grosso mentioned a paper presented by John Beloff at a conference in Utretch in 1972. In it, Beloff noted the work of C.D. Broad and M.M. Moncrief, whose book, The Clairvoyant Theory of Perception, developed the T theory of William James and Henri Bergson.

Grosso summarized 3 main points from Beloff’s work:

1. It incorporates psi effects and dreams into a fuller theory of consciousness. 2. It argues that T theory could account for the decline effect often noted in psi experiments. 3. It proposes that T theory could account for a connection between subliminal perception and ESP. For example, Beloff writes, "as with SP so with ESP, success is achieved not by effort of will but by relaxing and then concentrating on whatever impressions supervene." In other words, as we relax, we open our consciousness so that our brains may transmit more experiences.

The last name Grosso mentioned was Charles Honorton. Honorton used the word "detect" when describing the mechanisms of ESP and psi phenonmena. Instead of thinking that in psi phenomena something is traveling toward the person who is receiving the information, Honorton believed that the information is already "here" and that we merely detect its ubiquitous presence. Honorton thought that the main effect of concentration practices like meditation is to reduce our mental distractions and thereby allow us to detect what is here all the time. In support of this view, Honorton noted in his review of over 80 psi experiments that psi improves when the practitioner’s senses are deprived (e.g., in a sensory deprivation tank).

Grosso summarized his presentation by listing the data that fits well with T theory:

1. Experiences of panoramic memory 2. The plasticity of the brain (particularly compensation for damaged areas) 3. The great variety of transpersonal and mystical experiences 4. G.T. Fechner’s psychophysical threshold 5. The psi declining effect 6. The psi conducive syndrome 7. The data from psychedelic research Response

In response to Grosso’s presentation, Michael Murphy said that it is important to realize that the whole body and not just the brain acts as the filter of our consciousness. Charles Tart added that our bodies not only filter but shape the very nature of our conscious experience in quite specific ways. Tart mentioned that reports of extended out-of-body experiences reveal that consciousness increasingly transcends the filtering limits of the body and brain. Translating T theory into Buddhist terminology, Richard Baker Roshi remarked that the term "Great Functioning" describes a practitioner who has achieved a state of awareness in which all filtering has ceased.

In conclusion, Grosso reminded everyone that the word "transmission" is only a metaphor and that in some instances it is misleading because of its mechanistic overtones. Although it is not the best replacement, Grosso suggested that "manifest" might be a better metaphor to describe the varieties of expanded experiences available to the human mind.