STAGE II

      A.  Concept:

         Stage II presents to the viewer's cognition signal line data relevant to physical sensory input. The classic explanation of this is that such data are exactly equivalent to "sensations the viewer would experience were he physically present at the site." In effect, this allows the viewer to come into closer contact with the signal line through recognition and objectification of sensory facts relevant to the site. This information centers around the five physical senses: touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste, and can include both temperature (both as a tactile "hot/cold to the touch" sensation, and/or a general environmental ambience) and "energetics" (i.e.g, magnetism, strong radio broadcasts, nuclear radiation, etc.).

      B.  Definitions:

         1. Sense: Any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which man perceives stimuli originating from outside or inside the body.

         2. Sensory: Of or pertaining to the senses or sensations.

         3. Tactile: Of, pertaining to, endowed with, or affecting the sense of touch. Perceptible to the touch; capable of being touched; tangible.

         4. Auditory: Of or pertaining to hearing, to the sense of hearing, or to the organs of hearing. Perceived through or resulting from the sense of hearing.

         5. Dimension: Extension in a single line or direction as length, breadth and thickness or depth. A line has one dimension, length. A plane has two dimensions, length and breadth. A solid or cube has three dimensions, length, breadth and thickness.

      C.  Site Requirements:

         Sites for Stage II training are selected for their pronounced manifestation of sensory information. Examples: sewage treatment plant, airport, pulp mill, botanical garden, chocolate factory, steel mill, amusement park, etc.

      D.  Clusters:

         Stage II responses tend to come in groups or "clusters" of words--usually 3-4 words, though sometimes more--pertaining to different aspects or gestalts of the site. If for example a body of water and an area of land are present at the site, a group of sensory Stage II words might be produced by the viewer relating to the land, then another group relating to the water. This is particularly noticeable in sites whose ideograms product two or more "A" and "B" components. Stage IIs will tend to cluster in respect to the "A" and "B" components to which they relate. Stage II responses cluster in another sense as well. Frequently, types of sensory responses will come together. For example two or three tastes, smells, colors, or textures may cluster together as the viewer objectifies his perceptions on the paper.

      E.  "Basic" Words:

         True Stage IIs are generally simple, fundamental words dealing directly with a sensory experience: i.e. rough, red, cold, stinging smell, sandy taste, soft, moist, green, gritty, etc. When objectified words go beyond the "basics" they are considered "out of structure" and therefore unreliable.

      F.  Aperture:

         After a proper Stage I Ideogram/A/B sequence has been executed, the aperture (which was at its narrowest point during Stage I) opens to accommodate Stage II information. Not only does this allow the more detailed sensory information to pass through to the viewer, but it is accompanied by a correspondingly longer signal "loiter" time--the information comes in more slowly, and is less concentrated. Towards the end of Stage II, and approach the threshold of Stage III, the aperture begins to expand even further, allowing the acquisition of dimensionally related information. (see below.)

      

    G.  Dimensionals:

         As the viewer proceeds through Stage II and approaches Stage III, the aperture widens, allowing the viewer to shift from a global (gestalt) perspective, which is paramount through Stage I and most of Stage II, to a perspective in which certain limited dimensional characteristics are discernable. "Dimensionals" are words produced by the viewer and written down in structure to conceptualize perceived elements of this new dimensional perspective he has now gained through the widening of the aperture. These words demonstrate five dimensional concepts: vertical-ness, horizontal-ness, angularity, space or volume, and mass. While at first glance the concept of "mass" seems to be somewhat inappropriate to the dimensional concept, mass in this case can be conceived in in dimensionally related terms as in a sense being substance occupying a specific three dimensional area. Generally received only in the latter portion of Stage II, dimensionals are usually very basic--"tall," "wide," "long," "big." More complex dimensionals such as "panoramic" are usually received at later stages characterized by wider aperture openings. If these more complex dimensionals are reported during Stage II they are considered "out of structure" and therefore unreliable.

      H.  AOL:

         Analytic overlay is considerably more rare in Stage II than it is in Stage I. Though it does occasionally occur, something about the extremely basic sensory nature of the data bits being received strongly tends to avoid AOL. Some suppositions suggest that the sensory data received comes across either at a low enough energy level or through a channel that does not stimulate the analytic portion of the mind to action. In effect, the mind is "fooled" into thinking Stage II information is being obtained from normal physical sensory sources. The combination of true sensory data received in Stage II may produce a valid signal line "image" consisting of colors, forms, and textures. Stage II visuals or other true signal line visuals of the site may be distinguished from an AOL in that they are perceived as fuzzy, indistinct and tending to fade in and out as one attempts to focus on its constituent elements rather than the sharp, clear, static image present with AOL.

      I.  Aesthetic Impact (AI):

         Aesthetic impact indicates a sudden and dramatic widening of the aperture, and signals the transition from Stage II into Stage III. In normal session structure, it occurs only after two or more dimensionals occur in the signal line. On occasion, however, AI can occur more or less spontaneously in Stage II, especially when a site is involved with very pronounced Stage II elements, such as particularly noisome chemical plant. AIR is the viewer's personal, emotional response to the site: "How the site makes you feel." It can be a manifestation of sudden surprise, vertigo, revulsion, or pleasure. Though some sites seem to consistently elicit similar AI responses in any person who remote views them, it must still be borne in mind that an AI response is keyed directly to the individual's own personality and emotional/physical makeup, and that therefore AI responses can differ, sometimes dramatically so, from viewer to viewer. AI will be more fully discussed in the section of this paper dealing with Stage III.

      J.  Drills/Exercises:

         To promote flexibility in producing Stage II responses, an exercise is usually assigned viewer trainees. This consists of producing a list of at least sixty sensory response type words, dealing with all the the possible categories of sensory perceptions: tastes, sounds, smells, tactile experience, colors and other elementary visuals, and magnetic/energetic experiences. When giving the assignment, the trainer emphasizes reliance on "basic" words as described above.

      K.  Format:

         Following is a sample Stage II format:

(FORMAT FOR STAGE II)


Name
Date
Time

(Personal Inclemencies/Visuals Declared)

(STAGE I -
Coordinate)
(Ideogram) A across angle up angle down angle across angle down
solid
    B Structures
(STAGE II -
Sensory Data)
S2 white
warm
unclean smell
      AI Break
Smells  Gross!

AOL Break
Smells like
dirty air

(STAGE I -
Coordinate)
(Ideogram -
   multiple)
A Up angle across angle down
Solid
    B Structure
    A Angle across angle down
Solid
    B Structure
    A Flat
Hard
    B Land
(STAGE II) S2 grey
white
rough
noisy
densely populated - S4 (note this
        as Stage IV, not II)
warm
smell of fumes
      Confusion Break
"Thud" or scraping sound.
Can't tell.
(Stage II - Dimensionals)   tall     [Note: this is the start
          of dimensionals]
high
solid
wide
      AI Break
Man! This
thing is
really BIG!

Return