Matrix Meditation Algorithm for Self-Metaprogramming (SMP) - A Learning, Productivity, and Mind-Focusing Tool

Visual Brainwave Entrainment Prototype 2015

Created by Keenan Brugh

“Believe you can and you're halfway there.” -Theodore Roosevelt

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." -Marcus Aurelius

"In the province of the mind what one believes to be true, either is true or becomes true within certain limits. These limits are to be found experimentally and experientially." -Dr. John C. Lilly, author of Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer

Our biological neural systems are naturally amazing at pattern recognition, and this simple algorithm takes advantage of that. Used as a tool, running this Python (version 2) script allows you to program your own mind - in a way. This particular form of "self-metaprogramming" and brainwave entrainment works by using text in a terminal as a matrix of pixels precisely stimulating the eye's visual field at a specific brainwave frequency (in Hz). This relatively simple neurohacking program involves rapidly cycling a flow of random character generation to provide a stark contrast for the user-defined meditation string. All the characters will be scrolling up the screen quickly, and your brain will repeatedly recognize your meditation from the background noise of random characters. Such console printing can be used simply to set a useful mental frame such as creating a deep state of focus, or more expirimentally as some variety of linguistic self-metaprogramming .

Start down the proverbial rabbit hole by first opening a terminal, then navigating to the script-containing directory, and enter:

  python2 matrix_meditation.py

This tool serves as a nice way to:

1.) Set a focused mental intention (meditation)

2.) Entrain towards a desired brainwave frequency

3.) Create a set period of learning, relaxation, or productivity via the timer.

(To cut a session short of the entered time, use Option + c to perform a keyboard-interrupt)

To be on your way, enter these three parameters through raw_input:

Full example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ovB_ImIVc Feel free to watch this brief screen capture for an example of the Matrix Meditation Algorithm used in a terminal alongside Junaid Kalmadi and Adam Hewett's new Brain.fm service for audio entrainment (a highly recommended service, by the way: https://brain.fm/vip-access/?i=516 - this team makes far better brainwave-entraining music than what is commonly found on youtube by queries of "binaural beats" etc)

In designing your meditation string, it is suggested you use short, present tense, positive, personal and specific statements. Questions are also highly effective as they prompt your mind to search for an answer. If you go longer than a short sentence, try to make all the words fit appropriately enough any which way as your brain may be reading the words in a random order, depending on how fast you set your frequency setting.

The Frequency Setting is measured in hertz (Hz), or print cycles per second. The brain operates with many wavelike processes on different levels, though on the macro level, there are bands of frequencies that can be measured by EEG (electroencephalography). These frequencies are reproducibly measurable and can be accurately associated with different conscious states and experiences, such as restfulness and alertness. These waves are directly connected to what a person is doing, thinking, or feeling. By using a time_delay variable that's tied to the user-defined Hz, the entire screen becomes a series of character pixel components to either remain in their current state or change to the opposite state, multiple times per second. The hypothesis is that such regularly timed visual stimuli will elicit a frequency following response, i.e., inducing brainwave entrainment. (It's also called a photic driving response in some journal articles.)

For a starting guide of brainwave ranges, the general outline of these bands is as follows:

Delta (.2 - 3 Hz): Deep Sleep. Headache relief, Reduced Anxiety, Improved Sleep.

Theta (3 - 8 Hz): Relaxed/Light Sleep. Reduced Anxiety, Hypnotic Induction, Zen Meditation.

Alpha (8 - 12 Hz): Awake/Relaxed. Pain Relief, Stress/Anxiety Reduction, Memory Improvement, and Meditative States.

Beta (12 - 27 Hz): Wide Awake. Verbal/Reading Skills, Academic Achievement, Reduced Fatigue.

Gamma (27+ Hz): Wide Awake. This state has evidence of cognitive-enhancing effects: Information Processing Speed and Visual Motor Coordination, Freedom from Distractibility, Visual Short-Term Memory and Sequencing Ability, and Arithmetic/Number Ability and Short-Term Memory. Also shows strong potential for migraine therapy as 53% of subjects in one study reported decreased migraine frequency.

LOW-FREQUENCY UPDATE: While the idea of visually inducing Delta and Theta patterns may be desirable, recent evidence may suggest that such a pace of rapid flashing may not be the most useful way to do so, as 5 hz is still 300 flashes per minute and that may be too rapid and too stimulating compared to the relaxation state desired. Further research is required, but for now, it might be recommended that you stick with the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma ranges.

Study Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/52446 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9623880 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16515710 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11377833 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26727023 http://www.transparentcorp.com/research/Huang-PsychologicalEffectsBrainwaveEntrainmentPDF.php http://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-7-21 http://jtoomim.org/brain-training/brain%20wave%20entrainment%20and%20WISC.pdf

The core concept comes from combining diverse inspirations ranging from ancient cultural traditions (repeating mantras), the pioneering work of Hans Berger on electroencephalography, and the esoteric neurological-programming models of Dr. John C. Lilly to some concepts from neurolinguistic programming (NLP), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and modern research on neuroplasticity.

I'm constantly trying to find peer-reviewed neuroscience journal articles that might relate to this subject. If you know of any, please feel free to share.

One more experimental use has been eliciting lucid dreaming. A decade ago, I would have written the prompt, "Am I awake?", in a text editor in order to cut & paste it some ten thousand times in an effort to further train my brain to ask such a seemingly obvious question (while awake) and inspiring my mind to do the same reality check at night by habit, and thereby induce more lucid dreams. For anyone interested in learning more about the science and practice of lucid dreaming, the work of Dr. Stephen LaBerge comes as a highly recommended place to start. Cutting and pasting worked. Matrix Meditation works better, though it's far from any complete solution. While this tool is useful, it is still crude. The future of neurotech is promising, however, so let's keep hacking to improve consciousness.

========== WARNING especially to people with known photosenitive epilepsy: running this script irresponsibly could result in seizures. It is a power tool, and power tools can be dangerous, so please talk to your doctor, do your research, and be careful.

This author and this program do not make any medical or therapeutic claims. Rather, the goal is to provide a small contribution, a new tool for meditation, learning, and experimental self-improvement.

Ancient meditation practices, neurolinguistic programming and brainwave entrainment have been studied with intriguing scientific results. That said, certain products out there may or may not be as "effective" as some of their proponents have claimed. Some people are just trying to sell something, and such incentives can sometimes skew science in different ways. Some critics have accurately refuted certain claims of charlatans, however, an outright dismissal of all potential by labelling everything as "pseudoscience" in a reactionary, unsophisticated way ignores the history of disruptive scientific discovery. We'll all try our best and pursue science, of course. Knowledge can come from seemingly unscientific sources, however, and newly discovered scientific realities don't always fit neatly within existing paradigms.

Additionally, at the very least we know placebos ARE a verifiable reality. That fact itself is completely fascinating and worthy of more attention.

Personally, I have always been (and continue to be) a loyal fan of the scientific method. However, when it comes to neurohacking and advancing practical neurotechnology, let's all just admit we are still in the early stages of gathering knowledge, trying things out, and pursuing through further exploration and experimentation. Yes - this algorithm and the scientific understanding underpinning its design are currently incomplete. Though why preclude the development of potentially paradigm-shifting tools just because we're still in the early stages of learning? If I were to entertain a perspective counter to the popular scientific method, it would be influenced by the interesting ideas of epistemological anarchism. The basic idea is that there are no useful and exception-free methodological rules governing the progress of science or the growth of knowledge. It holds that the idea that science can or should operate according to universal and fixed rules is unrealistic, pernicious, and detrimental to science itself. As the contrarian idea's founder, scientific philosopher P.K. Feyerabend, says in Against Method, becuase there is no one, fixed "scientific method", it's best to have an "anything goes" attitude toward methodologies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemological_anarchism

That said... when we say "science rules", that science can include an understanding of such methodological pluralism, so if you'd like to share something relevent here ("scientific" or "not") and/or have ideas on how to improve the programming and functionality, please feel free to contribute!

This is my first "Hello, World" type program made while first starting to learn the Python programming language. Thanks for reading about it!

Python2 Python3 NOTE: if you want to make this version applicable to Python3, simply change "print" to its newer function form, "print()". Also, Raw_input might be replaced with simply "input" - I might test it here soon, but it's only 12 lines of source code, so it should be easy enough to debug if anything else unexpected pops up.