#262 – A Door into The Unconscious with Jerry Trumbule

Transcript

Jerry Tumbule, M.S, ABD and I have yet another one of our wide ranging conversations, picking up the thread that we left off on SRR # 259.

In the beginning of our conversation I mention three very inspiring documentaries. The three films are: “I Am,” “Happy, The Movie,” and “Genghis Blues.” And Genghis Blues is currently available on Netlix.

Gerald (Jerry) Trumbule, B.S. Univ. of Md. 1965, M.S. Univ. of Pa., 1970, has been a neuropsychological researcher (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and NASA, Univ. of Md.) and Assistant Professor of Psychology, Univ. of Toronto, 1970. Disgusted with academia, he moved to Denver in 1971 where he founded Sebastian High School, a grade-less experiential learning center, founded the Western States Film Institute, with two winners of the Student Academy Awards, and, in 1980, founded Denver’s first computer training center (ECC). Now retired and living in obscurity, he is a videographer and blogger (DenverDirect.tv), where he expounds on local politics and pollution. He continues his life-long interest in the workings of the human brain, exploring his own brain through hypnagogia and REM sleep, and hopes someday to upload the contents of his brain directly to the internet.

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A psychology podcast by David Van Nuys, Ph.D.

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6 Comments

Sami on April 24, 2011 at 10:30 am

Another excellent show, thank you! And it’s always fascinating to listen the chemistry between you and Jerry.

I just wanted to add that some meditators are reporting to be experiencing the discontinuous nature of mental processes directly i.e. the sense of attention (a thought, sensation) may start to flicker in and out of reality. Maybe this is related to brain waves or even to the quantum fluctuations.

Daniel Ingram, MD, has written about his experiences in his book about meditation, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (freely available on his website, interactivebuddha.com). Would make a great guest into your show, BTW.

And welcome to Stockholm. Spring is coming early this year!

Nellig on April 30, 2011 at 1:57 am

Dear Dr. Dave,

Thanks for doing these fascinating podcasts.

Listening to your conversation with Jerry Trumbule, I was really riveted. However, I couldn’t help feeling that whenever he started getting into his stride, and describing his startling experiences, you would interrupt, and the conversation would veer into less interesting territory.

When he comes back for the third session, could you maybe back off a little and let him talk? I’m sure I’m not the only listener who really, really wants to hear (finally) what he has to say.

Thanks again for all your work: through you I’ve found a lot of excellent stuff.

Tenacity on May 18, 2011 at 12:27 pm

I must admit I don’t really understand all of these intriguing conversations with Jerry Trumbule. I get swept away with the enthusiasm and ideas. I do have a few questions for part 3:
What happens if a person is blind? I know that people who had vision once and then lost it often still have visual dreams. I believe that some of my dreams are more sensory than visual and some more auditory. After I had a stroke in 2002 I believe the auditory dreams increased. Often I hear music in my dreams and have no visual imagery that I can remember.
Where does all of that fit into this?

nhoJ on June 2, 2011 at 6:39 pm

Is Jerry familiar with Active Imagination? The processes seem to be quite familiar, and his internal visions and experiences somewhat akin to Jung’s confrontation with the unconscious. Staying on that theme, if I remember from Man and His Symbols, the square quaternity symbol is often representative of the consciously realised Self, yeah?

It’s interesting you see Paisley patterns, Dr. Dave, as I’ve been trying to find the psycho-genesis of this pattern for some time. When I close my eyes, I really just get a sort of… muddy texture (for lack of a better term). My mum said that she’d often see swastika-like patterns when she’d close here eyes, and I read somewhere that this pattern seems to be an effect of the visual cortex – could the Paisley pattern also come from here?

omar on January 16, 2013 at 1:48 pm

i always love to hear dr dave talking to jerry. mr trumbule is like that really cool uncle you had who would open your mind to all these new ideas when all the other ‘grown ups’ would be chatting about the same boring old stuff

Jim on July 5, 2015 at 9:44 pm

It seems to me that Jerry is describing consciously entering the lucid dream state. I’m a little surprised that this wasn’t mentioned. As well “Prisioner Theatre” or something like that was mentioned and I immediately recalled the audio program that one listens to while touring Alcatraz. You hear a prisoner in solitary confinement describing the process that Jerry described in great detail. Surprised neither of you have taken that tour. Great show, you should really let him talk for 4 hours, Coast to Coast AM style. Thanks

Sami on April 24, 2011 at 10:30 am

Another excellent show, thank you! And it’s always fascinating to listen the chemistry between you and Jerry.

I just wanted to add that some meditators are reporting to be experiencing the discontinuous nature of mental processes directly i.e. the sense of attention (a thought, sensation) may start to flicker in and out of reality. Maybe this is related to brain waves or even to the quantum fluctuations.

Daniel Ingram, MD, has written about his experiences in his book about meditation, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (freely available on his website, interactivebuddha.com). Would make a great guest into your show, BTW.

And welcome to Stockholm. Spring is coming early this year!
Nellig on April 30, 2011 at 1:57 am

Dear Dr. Dave,

Thanks for doing these fascinating podcasts.

Listening to your conversation with Jerry Trumbule, I was really riveted. However, I couldn’t help feeling that whenever he started getting into his stride, and describing his startling experiences, you would interrupt, and the conversation would veer into less interesting territory.

When he comes back for the third session, could you maybe back off a little and let him talk? I’m sure I’m not the only listener who really, really wants to hear (finally) what he has to say.

Thanks again for all your work: through you I’ve found a lot of excellent stuff.
Tenacity on May 18, 2011 at 12:27 pm

I must admit I don’t really understand all of these intriguing conversations with Jerry Trumbule. I get swept away with the enthusiasm and ideas. I do have a few questions for part 3:
What happens if a person is blind? I know that people who had vision once and then lost it often still have visual dreams. I believe that some of my dreams are more sensory than visual and some more auditory. After I had a stroke in 2002 I believe the auditory dreams increased. Often I hear music in my dreams and have no visual imagery that I can remember.
Where does all of that fit into this?
nhoJ on June 2, 2011 at 6:39 pm

Is Jerry familiar with Active Imagination? The processes seem to be quite familiar, and his internal visions and experiences somewhat akin to Jung’s confrontation with the unconscious. Staying on that theme, if I remember from Man and His Symbols, the square quaternity symbol is often representative of the consciously realised Self, yeah?

It’s interesting you see Paisley patterns, Dr. Dave, as I’ve been trying to find the psycho-genesis of this pattern for some time. When I close my eyes, I really just get a sort of… muddy texture (for lack of a better term). My mum said that she’d often see swastika-like patterns when she’d close here eyes, and I read somewhere that this pattern seems to be an effect of the visual cortex – could the Paisley pattern also come from here?
omar on January 16, 2013 at 1:48 pm

i always love to hear dr dave talking to jerry. mr trumbule is like that really cool uncle you had who would open your mind to all these new ideas when all the other ‘grown ups’ would be chatting about the same boring old stuff
Jim on July 5, 2015 at 9:44 pm

It seems to me that Jerry is describing consciously entering the lucid dream state. I’m a little surprised that this wasn’t mentioned. As well “Prisioner Theatre” or something like that was mentioned and I immediately recalled the audio program that one listens to while touring Alcatraz. You hear a prisoner in solitary confinement describing the process that Jerry described in great detail. Surprised neither of you have taken that tour. Great show, you should really let him talk for 4 hours, Coast to Coast AM style. Thanks