Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test - A Case study on Moral Victory and Feminine Charm

 

Moral Victory and Feminine Charm

There are some fundamental principles involved in Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test  that needs to be reiterated again and again. One of the most important principle is that the forces that shape what one is, are unconscious and they need not be the suppressed and repressed and hence negative, melevolent. dangerous unhealthy and so forth. Both the benign and malevolent are there and they have powerful influences on what we do,  say and think. Our personality is NOT entirely shaped by the social and environmental  factors though they may contribute somewhat. Every one of us are exposed to many things but we do not select in the same ways.  The way we SEE are also not the same. The same objects  are SEEN differently by different people. The unconscious forces can be that which SHOW  and because of which there is a particular kind of SEEING  and it is this MODE OF SEEING that is peculiar to one that determines the personality. Psychological development cannot be brought about without changing this characteristic mode of SEEING.

Below I want to describe the Baums of a young lady who is SEEING the right way and developing as a beautiful person and because of which  is about to enjoy a life  full of happiness and contentment.

 

Baum A:  A banana tree  with just a few leaves but several bunches of fruits. The leaves are                    peculiar in that the edges are squared off.

Baum B: A coconut tree, rising straight from the ground with a bunch of clean coconuts. The                   leaves have dark streaks with the one rising vertically very small in size.

Baum C: A reasonably large tree with two clean branches tapering towards the crown. The                   crown itself that envelopes the branches is like a large cloud with the branches                         touching the extremities. Right along the branches are small dark fruits. Inside the                     clean trunk are two curls.

Baum D: A clean tree with two pairs of branches right and left. Then some branches radiate                   out from the top ending with diamond shaped fruits with leaves drawn like sparkles.                 At the  lower pair of branches  are bangle-like rings in pairs more on the right hand                   than  the left. The upper pair of branches have fruits and leaves.

The first Baum indicates genuine LOVE, a love that values more care and concern than sexual enjoyment. The second discloses the way she has UNDERSTOOD her boyfriend and the dark streaks indicates some confusion and unhappiness. It may that she has not developed sufficient trust and there are situations where misunderstandings can occur leading to minor quarrels.  The troubles in B carry  over to C where there is moral dilemma, she is wondering whether she too  can mix with other young men just as freely as her boyfriend.  She is in fact contemplating going out with others WITHOUT the knowledge of her boyfriend but with which, however she is NOT happy at all as shown by the dark fruits.

The D indicates a victory over such weaknesses of the mind. She remains steadfast and does NOT succumb to temptations.  She feels that her boyfriend is NOT playing around and is just as sincere as she is. She must learn to trust him and be steady in her feelings even if there are some  minor challenges to this. This steadfastness earns her MORE of the FEMININE qualities as shown by the rings. He begins to LOVE her more deeply as she begins to have a kind of CHARM over him. And also makes her extremely happy as shown by the diamonds.

It appears that LOVE life is full of MORAL dilemmas and ethical conflicts. The intense desire for sexual enjoyment also brings along with it deep moral questions that one simply cannot brush aside. One has to struggle with it and through that develop ethically as well. The special endearing CHARM that captivates men and binds them to some females, appears, at least in this case NOT something won by magic but by moral victory.

Ullaganar

Former lecturer of University Science Malaysia

Edited by Ari Marappan

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and Academic Excellence

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and Academic Excellence

It can be seen that a new concept of intelligence is emerging  in viewing it through the the use of Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test. ( LSBT ) This notion of intelligence also appears to be enshrined in the Asian Psychological tradition but inextricably mixed up with religion and alchemy. LSBT will help in a scientific investigation of this notion and make it shine out as something immensely rational and true.  Later I shall elaborate that there is a notion of intelligence enshrined in the archetype of Murukan, a popular deity among Tamils whose emblem is Njanavel,  the spear of Understanding, knowledge. I shall mention something very briefly here as well.

Among the very young children, intelligence shows itself in their capacity to extricate  themselves from the egocentric world of their own  and understand objective realities as they are in themselves. Their cognitive processes are only incidentally  channeled towards UNDERSTANDING the reality as it is in itself and not  as imagined or fantasized by them.  but gradually success is attained . We can agree here with Piaget who emphasizes assimilation- accommodation processes that he borrowed from biology. In LSBT this capacity is disclosed when they are able to draw Baums that are realistic so that, looking at them, we can identify the Baum as coconut tree, banana tree and so forth.  After functioning for several years along these lines (Piaget's concrete operational Stage) we have the emergence of Abstract Thinking  around the ages of 12 or 13 , sometimes even later. It is this capacity for abstract thinking that constitutes intelligence as such among the early and late adolescents.

Now with young adults ,  people roughly in the age group 18 to 30, and  the pre-senile active adults say from 30 to 50 or thereabouts, the workings of intelligence becomes very complicated because it takes a variety of forms. I shall describe only the most salient and that too in a general sort of way. Here we also meet with the Yantra concept of Tantric Psychology so important as elements of worship in Tantric Buddhism and Hinduism, that C.G Jung made a special point of studying. Though still tentative, I have a lot of confidence, for the subjects concerned have been  studied quite closely across several years. And being an academic in a university, practically all the subjects studied happen to be people of this age group and the sample size is large.

One notable feature that distinguishes them from the earlier groups is that there is a strong pressure for sexual mating, seeking a life partner and establishing a family. Academic interests appear to be contrary to these and therefore there is inner battle between the two: seeking a life partner and attaining academic excellence. It appears only those who manage to REGULATE the sexual demands turn out to be academically successful.

Their Baums consists of the following:

1. a hexagon enclosed  by a circle  sometimes elongated a bit so that it is oval in shape. In some exceptional cases there is also a large square enclosing the circle with hexagon inscribed within.

2. A large triangle either on its own or stacked up one on top of the other, sometimes empty within but sometimes with flower-like decorations

3.  A  large trunk with squares within and triangular shaped fruits  hanging on the branches.

 

These are the most salient personality characteristics of such individuals.

a. Not only they are sharp in thinking but also less biased and more open towards the new and possibly different from their own cultural elements.  Such students also end up frequently as PhD candidates and produce dissertations of considerable originality.

b. Interest in philosophy and metaphysics seems very natural to them.

c.  The young lady who started drawing such Baums at the age of 18 and  who is now  21 and a medical student is the top student in her class  and stands to win a coveted scholarship.  Though quite attractive with numerous admirers,  shows no interest in romance saying that the time hasn't come though she is not averse marriage as such later. Even when the parents encouraged it, she declined to get involved saying that it will interfere with her studies.

d. Another married lady in her late twenties refused to have children of her own despite strong social pressures saying that she prefers to lead a life of intellectual pursuits and service to humanity forms of life that she prefers to the normal. She is also good singer and writer.

Now most of these Yantra Baums emerge only in C and D. But there are exceptional individuals whose Baums from A to B are variations of these. Such individuals, are very rare and they can be called the genius in the Kantian sense: poets, philosophers and thinkers of outstanding creativity and productivity.

Before I close this discussion I want to draw the attention of the readers to the following:

1. Such Yantras always come associated with the representations of Muruka archetype  as well as the abstract art forms.

2. In terms of Tatvas we can see the circle as that of Bindhu (Yin) and the triangles, squares, hexagons and so forth that of Natham (Yang)

3. It is triangular forms of Natham, even on its own, that stands for high intelligence. The circular forms of Bindhu (Yin) on its own stands for worries and psychological miseries of various kinds.

4. The Yantra with the hexagon inscribed inside the circle annuls sexual pressures and allows an individual to lead the life of bramacaaria or what's the same mANavan, one concerned with gaining illumination after illumination and through that furthering understanding.

Ullaganar

Former lecturer of University Science Malaysia.

Editing by Ari Marappan

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and why students fail in exams.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and why students fail in exams.

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I now want bring to your attention the occurrence of secondary school children who, while excelling in their studies earlier, but as they reach the age of  17 or thereabouts slowly begin to decline for reasons unknown to themselves or even the teachers. Sometimes the matter becomes so serious for the caring parents that they seek  even psychiatric help.  

The  subjects that  I have isolated for mention here are  usually very bright and are capable of very intelligent conversation but who slowly decline. This problem is also seen to occur among both the boys and girls with typical characteristic Baum features of their own. I came about this finding after years of my research using Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test.

The girls tend to draw the following type of Baums particularly in Baum C and D.

As you observe the Baums from A to D, you can see a general TREND where the portion above the ground becomes LESS and LESS while that BELOW the ground become  MORE and MORE prominent. Finally the whole Baum goes underground with globular fruit-like things hanging on creepers BENEATH the ground.

The boys, on the other hand while going completely underground  they tend to draw a set of  branching roots with  elongated tubers  along the roots.

 

These students while being very intelligent initially but decline because they slowly lose their capacity to pay attention to what is being taught by the teacher. They have the habit of SWITCHING OFF halfway and let their mind wander into a world of fantasies. Their cognitive processing is dissociated from classroom context and gets trapped into the inner world of ideas that quite often, the subjects are aware but are unable to do anything about. They feel helpless. They suffer from some kind of mental paralysis. Their preoccupation with the inner world as opposed to the outer world becomes almost an obsession.  Because of this there comes to prevail DISINTERESTEDNESS in classroom interactions and other social activities. They tend to withdraw from both the physical and social world because of their ENCHANTMENT with the inner world  of fantasies. 

In my conversations with them I also learned that such subjects are AWARE of  such developments within themselves  but feel they cannot do anything about it except to worry . Frequently they also feel frightened because of loss of control over their own thought processes. They feel they are being trapped into a strange world of fantasy but are unable to escape from  it.

Now the central question is : Why is the slow disappearance away from the open world ABOVE the ground into the hidden  world BELOW the ground? 

Unless we get an adequate explanation of this change in cognitive processing of the affected individual, we cannot  solve the problem and help the students to recover what they have lost.

I have dealt with it extensively and rather technically in the paper 'Tantric Psychology, Personality Types and Siddha Medical Science' but I shall mention the central notions here briefly. 

The  human psyche  is always being pulled  by fundamental metaphysical entities of Natham (Yang) and Bindhu (Yin) separately and jointly. The psychic pressures established by Natham brings about cognitive processes of the  thinking and analysing type (Ida kalai Nadi) and that of Bindhu, the feeling and emotional type (Pingkalai Nadi). The joint functioning of both  Natham and Bindhu brings about cognitive processing of the ILLUMINATING TYPE that also simultaneously destroys the IGNORANCE already there.(Suzi munai Nadi). Here I must mention that the Idakalai are enunciated by Natham (YANG) and Pingkalai  by Bindhu (YIN )  and suzimunai by their joint presence.

Now when the Baums gradually go underground, it means their psychic functioning is pulled deep into the  PINGKALAI i.e. to the exclusive dominace of Bindhu which on its own breeds the cancer of the cognitive: the uncontrollable and excessive production of ideas and fantasies. The Natham (Yang) is that which CONTROLS and  regulates and puts an ORDER or LOGIC into thinking. One can link up this with Freudian  REALITY principle. When the STRONG presence of Yang, the Animus is eliminated for some reason or other, we have BAUMS of the above type with what can be called the cancer of the cognitive.

The treatment then consists in doing something that would RESTORE the presence of NATHAM (Yang) in their psychic functioning. This consists in creating situations in which the courage and bravery  of the subject are put to test and he/she is made to respond AGGRESSIVELY. Such induced aggressions serve to restore Natham and hence the Masculinity that comes along with it.

Ullaganar

Former lecturer of University Science Malaysia.

Editing by Ari Marappan

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and Sexual Fantasy.

 Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and Sexual Fantasy.

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Now people are asking, looking at the widespread interest that dream analysis has aroused: How can I benefit in a similar manner when I cannot dream or even if I dream, I cannot recall it? Well it is for people like this that Access Tests such as Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test ( LSBT ) and Loganathan and Sivakumar's Family Portrait Test ( LSFPT )  have been developed and well tested over the last ten years with thousands of people. 

These tests bring out the SAME mechanisms that produce the dreams and hence what dreams communicate can be captured in another way through these Access Tests. The problem ,of course, is how to interpret the drawings  and this is where my expertise come in. I have published many articles on this subject so that with the help of these rules of interpretation, anyone can administer the Access Tests on himself and interpret the Baums himself and learn more about his own unconscious.

Now I publish another case study that may be of use to parents, teachers and counsellors. A young Chinese girl, 19 years of age, for some reason or other is involved with sex fantasies so much so that she could not socialize normally with the boys. This is  also a phobia of a kind that resulted in poor performance in the school.

The Baums are as follows:

A. A ghost-like tree with broad trunks and claw-like roots visible and on the ground. The branches develop from a central point but with those on the left growing downwards almost touching the ground. The right side branches are normal with bunches of leaves and mango-like fruits. Overall there is an envelope  with the left side coming down and joining the branches.

 

B. Similar to A but  the left side extended  too far to the left so that it is beyond the square frame. But they have been lifted up. Definitely it's a mango tree for bunches of mango can be seen. There is one branch behind the others but shaded so that it is dark. More claw-like roots with right side darkened with strong shading.

C. Entirely different from A and B. There is a short and broad trunk but as if standing on strong pillar-like roots. The crown is hairy, grass-like and dark. Right in the center there is bird’s nest with two birds and eggs.

 

D. Very clean tree with a round and clean envelope. Alternating branches in pairs (two of them) with a variety of fruits hanging on them. There is a bird on each one of  the top branches.

What does all these mean? 

Well the left branches extended and falling to the  ground indicate a preoccupation with sexual thoughts. It may be related to over-development of the right hemispheric functions of the brain concerned with sexuality, fantasy, dreams,  religion and so forth. The claw-like roots also indicate this sexuality associated with fear. Each time she meets a young man, sexual thoughts are aroused within her and because of which she develops a phobia about boys. She refused to join a co-education school because of such fears.  The Baum B also shows similar tendencies only that it is more intense as disclosed by the claw-like roots. Baum C discloses the nesting instinct, unconscious desire to mate with somebody and maintain a nest, i.e. home.  The Baum D is a healthy one, there is now no more the unconscious fear, she mixes with boys in  a  normal way . She overcomes the fantasy and learns to interact with them normally.

The counselling was done individually at first and later with the permission of the client, her parents and her auntie were involved. The sex phobia was real enough. The moment she meets a young man she immediately imagines sexual assaults of all kinds and withdraws interacting with him normally. Generally she isolates herself from boys for fear of some kind or other. 

An intense dialogue followed in which her parents told her about their observations and their opinion. The young girl, 19 years of age, tried to justify her attitude by defending herself in many ways.  Finally after many incidences where she was wrong was pointed out to her and how unjustified and irrational her actions were, she became quiet and began to see things in a different way. I added my weight as a psychologist about her fantasies and advised her  to mix with boys in a normal manner .

It is difficult to point out the ORIGINS of this fear. It may be related to childhood sex experiences. Another girl a bit older, whom I definitely know was involved in active sex play with a young man considerably older than her ( by her own admission) drew similar Baums  but the phobia was not that strong. She ended up in the university and after graduating got married and is leading now a normal family life. But whatever the origins, the phobia-like fear was overcome when she was forced to CONFRONT the unconscious origins of her rather IRRATIONAL behaviour.  Only when she UNDERSTOOD what’s the problem with her that she was cured and  learned   to interact with boys in a normal manner.

Ullaganar

Former lecturer of University Science Malaysia.

Editing by Ari Marappan.

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Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and Abstract Thinking

 Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and Abstract Thinking

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Most people, especially the educators are familiar with Piaget's final stage of cognitive development i.e. the Formal Operational Stage. According to Piaget, the stages of cognitive development come to a close with the attainment of this stage which consists in being capable of the 16 binary operations of propositional logic such as that of Russel and Whitehead. 

Atomic propositions are combined into molecular propositions in terms of conjunction distinction and negation and when all combinatory possibilities are considered exhaustively by the child and hence is able to identify logical contradictions in his arguments, he is said to be formal operational. The onset age for the Genevan children he studied was around 12 to 13. 

When several years ago I investigated the same among secondary school children in Malaysia I found that a large percentage of  children even  around the ages of 16 or so were not  Formal Operational yet. Furthermore I also noticed that Abstract Thinking as such is DIFFERENT from formal operational thinking and is more INCLUSIVE.  I found that it is children who are abstract thinkers who are good learners and a large percentage of them end up in the institutions of higher learning.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test helped me considerably in the systematic investigation of such abstract thinking. Here it is necessary to distinguish TWO stages.

 

1. Early adolescence say children around the ages 13 to 15.

2. Late adolescence say children around the ages 15 to 18 or so.

The presence of the capacity for abstract thinking among the early adolescence is shown by Baums of the following description:

Pillar-like trunk opening up at both ends and absolutely clean  i.e. without any strokes or shading inside and outside. There is globular envelope covering completely the open ended top of the trunk. Inside the crown are ball-like fruits just globular with stick-like stems but just hanging in the air.

For the late adolescence it is somewhat different and more differentiated. We have the same clean trunk opening up at the bottom but at the top now we have radiating branches each ending with its own cloud-like envelopes.

These Baums were found to occur  mostly in A and B; very rarely in C and D.

I have named them 'KalaivaaNith tharu' Baums indicating the presence of the Goddess of learning, KalaivaaNi or Saraswathi.  The whiteness and clarity is common to both; KalaivaaNi is always seen to wear WHITE  garments, sit on WHITE  lotus  and the vehicle is annappaRavai, also Pure White in colour.

I noticed  the following intellectual capacities among such children no matter boys or girls:

1. Normally such children are described by teachers as 'BRIGHT"( notice the mataphor here) and QUICK to understand whatever presented in the class.

2. There is penetrative GAZE and along with it a PERCEPTUAL ACUMEN which I think is the central cognitive factor in abstract thinking. They listen attentively , digest quite fast whatever presented and extract the ESSENCE from it all and lodge them in their memory all in good speed so that they can FOLLOW the teacher and provide the correct answers when demanded of them by the teacher.

3. They may not spend much time pouring over books but spend considerable amount of time on THINKING about the lessons which they may do even while playing.

4. Not only they learn in a systematic and organised way but also are self-disciplined and well behaved. They have more control over their emotions than  an average child  of their age group.

5. On the whole they are inclined in the direction of science and mathematics and when streaming  into the arts and sciences begins , as it does in Malaysia around the age 16 or so, they tend to be put in the science stream though a small number also end up in the arts.

It appears to be that the essence of abstract thinking consists in being able to establish a psychic fissure between self and the sensory stimulations that one gets bombarded with always. It is this  fissure that enables them to SEE objectively whatever that is presented in the class and EXTRACT the essence and throw away the non-essential. In this way they manage to put more information into their long term memory compared to children who are incapable of this and hence unable to RETAIN much of what is presented during instruction.

It appears to be me, on the basis of such studies, in order to make a student a successful learner we have to train his perceptual acumen, the way he SEES things. The development of intelligence belongs to the phenomenology of perception, of making the child SEE with a penetrating GAZE. 

This has a very interesting implication for educational technology that I shall not venture into at the moment.

Ullaganar.

Former lecturer of University Science Malaysia.

Editing by Ari Marappan.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and The Intelligence of Children.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test  and the Intelligence of Young Children

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Dear Friends,

Lately there has been  very interesting comments by Mani M. Manivannan from the USA  and Dr Jeyabarathi of Sungai Petani on the inadequacies of the various kinds of psychometric testing of intelligence currently in use all over the world. Most of these are of questionnaire type which in opinion do not bring out contents of the unconscious due to its bias nature. I will write on that subject in another paper. 

Prompted by these observations I decided  to write a series of simple articles about using Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test ( LSBT ) as a way for 'measuring' human intelligence. There is no quantitative, statistical analysis here but only the identification of symbolic elements indicative of the presence of high analytical acumen . The theoretical framework for explaining all these hinges on the notions of Natham and Bindhu or Yin and Yang or Anima and Animus of Analytical Psychology and which is also rendered as the Moon and Sun principles in the alchemical traditions both in the East and West. What I mention are only the summaries of research reports written after extensive research done by Prof Kimio Yoshikawa and associates in Japan  and by myself in Malaysia.

Piagetian-like Stages of Development and Baum Test.

In the book "The Tree Drawing Test and Cross Cultural Psychology" written jointly by Prof. Kimio Yoshikawa and myself there is an  outline of the theory of intelligence through the study of the image forming cognitive processes of children in many countries all over the world. A general pattern indicative of cognitive functioning emerges through such studies. The test consisted asking the children" Draw a tree bearing fruits" which now in the Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test ( LSBT ) is only the first instruction for Baum A. However using thousands of such drawings of children all over the world Yoshikawa was able to draw a chart indicative of stages of cognitive development as follows.

The drawings were classified into :

1. Adult Forms.

2. Adolescent Forms.

3. infant Forms, and 

4. Infantoid Forms. 

The Adult Forms are the natural looking trees, drawings which allow us to identify the tree is quite clearly. The adolescent forms are quite close to that but look like a patch-up work with geometrical shapes put together. The infant forms are incomplete in a way with only indications of branches. The infantoid forms are more like scribbles consisting of lines and circles.

It was found that the onset age for adult forms is around   6 years and goes on till 9 or 10. It was also found the infantoid forms of children around the ages 3 to 4 are universal, quite the same all over the world. Working on this I postulated a psychic operation: that of assimilation in which a child who begins with his egocentric representation of a tree,  slowly modifies it to resemble the natural. This postulate was based on a longitudinal study  of a few children over a number of years. In further studies, conducted by some of my  students, this stage was also seen to correlate with Piaget's concrete operational stage.

Such children were also found to be better learners than others. They are less egocentric and because of that are able to UNDERSTAND better what is presented to them either at home or school.

Another study that I conducted with Prof. Shripathi Upadhyaya, from the medical school of University Science Malaysia,  USM  ( Penang ) disclosed that those children with IQ less than 100 and hence treated INCAPABLE of normal learning and hence treated as special children lacked a particular ability: if they draw the crown, they cannot draw the trunk; and if they draw the trunk then cannot draw the crown

It is this and the fact that the infantoid forms quite often assume the shape of circle sitting on a rectangular trunk that led me  to postulate the workings of Natham and Bindhu. It looks as though the JOINT workings of these principles are necessary for normal functioning, just to be  ordinary learners.

Another study undertaken along with the above children,  indicated that  the drawings of children with hearing impairment and speech impairment are overall statistically indistinguishable from those of children who are classified as slow learners in the primary schools. These children are normal in that they can hear and talk but in their brain functioning they are similar to the ones with hearing and speech impairment. Parts of their brain are not functioning at all and therefore they are not able to process cognitively ALL the information presented to them in the class. Special attention has to be paid to make them understand what the average child understands in a single presentation.

Now after the modification of standard Baum Test into Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test where there are now FOUR Baums to be drawn, I found the ability to draw the COCONUT TREE  has something to do with analytical thinking. Such children are normally said to be  quite intelligent by the teachers. Now coconut tree is, in its structure, is  very close to the SUN because from the top of the trunk, the branches radiate out like the rays of the SUN. This led me to think that it is the  strong presence of the SUN principle (Natham, Yang, Animus etc) that correlates with analytical intelligence and perhaps also something related to the LEFT hemspherical dominance in cognitive functioning.

Please DO NOT GENERALISE these to adolescents and adults. They have DIFFERENT ways of showing their intelligence and are much more complicated. The onset of sexuality changes the whole thing. But roughly we can say that only adolescents and young adults who can re-channel their sexual libido into the intellectual through the exercise of self control are good learners. This can be related with the notions Icca Sakthi ( Desires ), Kiriya Sakthi ( capacity for action) and Njana Sakthi ( capacity for intellectual accomplishments) and the observation that it is through the TRANSMUTATION of  Icca Sakthi into Njana Sakthi that a person  can be highly productive and creative.

More articles on such notions with concrete studies will be posted later.

Ullaganar.

Edited by Ari Marappan.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and the symptom of diseases.

 Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test ( LSBT ) and the symptoms of diseases. 

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While there are many uncertainties and the matter stands to be investigated  further but there is enough confidence to make a claim. Furthermore this information in itself does no harm to any body, on the contrary it may be helpful, may even save lives.  Using the LSBT  I have  met with these symptoms already on several occasions, and  in one case at least, with considerable in -depth study.

The Symptom 1:

The ROOTS of any one of the trees drawn in the LSBT being crossed along with dark shadings.  The roots are below the ground but there are definite dark patches.

This is the common kind of features I met with among cancer patients and an SLE case. The SLE patients are those who have some problems in blood so that there is production of large quantities of blood proteins, and where the body  reacts against the persons own tissues. A pamphlet I obtained describes it as: The disease varies considerably from person to person with improvement or remission (total disappearance  of symptoms) occurring between periods of active disease. Occasionally, the disease can become a threat to life when the kidneys, brain or other vital organs are involved. later I found out that this is an autoimmune disease.

The patient was young lady 19 years of age and who was brought to me when the kidneys were already affected and her lips were terribly infected. The following morning the LSBT was given before she was taken to the hospital for intensive attention. All the Baums drawn were sickly looking, frail, broken etc but Baum B had the features as above: the roots crossed as if cut off with dark patches everywhere, only that it was not excessively as it was with cancer patients. While in cancer patients it is extensive, it was so with SLE cases such as the one I happened to study.

Suspecting that the disease may be psychical, something due to the psyche being attacked by GIGGOSUM, the Anava Malam of the Siddhas that in astrology is recognized as the SANI, I recommended a series of acts of psychic purification like going to the temple regularly etc etc. The medical attention and this kind activities of psychic purification resulted in fast recovery and the subject is now being treated with the allopathic medicines to arrest the further deterioration of the kidneys. At least the subject was brought up to this level, something that was not possible initially.

Sympton 2:

There are  symptoms that show themselves  in LSBT is spike-like or knive-like formations on the trunk. This is a sign that the subject is suffering from acute hypertension that may lead to severe heart attacks. One subject who was warned of this possibility  in fact died a few weeks later precisely in the manner indicated.

Some Theoretical Considerations

While I do not want to be over confident and claim for LSBT  what it cannot in fact offer, nevertheless I believe, and in this I have the whole of the Siddha Medical System behind me, that there are many diseases that the Siddhas called Kanma Noy that medicine, surgery and so forth cannot cure but only religious rituals that are directed at purifying the soul. When the soul is attacked by the GIGGOSUM, the Anava malam, death-bringing diseases both physical and psychical are suffered. No amount of medicine can cure such diseases for they do not reach the soul deep enough . This matter has been discussed extensively by Arunandi in his IrupaIrupathu. Furthermore the GIGGOSUM as observed by them is NOT the kind of stuff that allows to be dislodged from the psyche through pharmacological treatments.  The soul cannot be purified by medicines but only rituals of the religious type that are concerned with installing the divine archetypes in the soul again. It is the strong presence of positive archetypes in the soul that can dislodge the GIGGOSUM from the soul and save the person from death. The Siddha medical system emphasizes this aspect very strongly. The believe that there are limits to medical treatment and where they fail, religious rituals of the purification type is the alternative available for cure.

Whether you believe it or not , I leave it to you.  But I must mention that there is growing disenchantment with Western Medical System  even in America (correct me if I am wrong) and Siddha Medical System is being favored again at least for some kind of diseases. It may be possible that  this form of Medical System can benefit immensely by incorporating LSBT as an integral part of medical diagnosis.

I must also confess that what are available as SYMPTOMS are in fact metaphors of a kind : the person is communicating that his ROOTS are cut off meaning the sources of psychic nourishment are not anymore available to him. The GIGGOSUM by its very strong presence in that area where KUNDALINI is produced PREVENTS its flow into the body system making it defenceless against the attack of the viruses of various kind. The Siddhas mention that this happens when the GIGGOSUM is lodged inside the spinal cord that links the brain to the sexual organs. Religious rituals are unavoidable for dislodging the ANAVAM not only from the Spinal Cord but perhaps from anywhere inside  the soul. I invite the readers to think about these matters further with reference to comments the Siddhas have made about these matters.

Ullaganar

Edited by Ari Marappan.

Note by the editor : LSBT is not to be construed as a diagnosis tool in diagnosing medical conditions yet. In our research, which is still ongoing, it is showing some interesting findings and it may take years before we come to a more concrete conclusion. There are some research papers which see some correlation with psychological conditions such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression and so on with Baums drawn. At best, for now, it can supplement other more established diagnosis methods. For any medical conditions please consult your healthcare professional. 

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Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test, it's application and the essence of Hermeneutic Counseling.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test, it's application and  the essence of Hermeneutic Counseling.

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By counseling we mean here, the attempt of a person X, who can be the counsellor or psychologist, to bring about the reduction of IGNORANCE of the self of a person Y, the client and thereby solve the personal problems  through facilitating the gaining of LUMENS ( illumination ) about himself or herself. The lumens are gaining visions about one's own unconscious and through that LIGHTING up the deeper recesses of the mind that has remained unaccessed hitherto.  

When a person is depressed, anxious, troubled beyond normal control, he seeks counseling from another person with the hope of  redeeming himself from such disturbing and somewhat annoying  ways on Being.  

Access Tests such as 'Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test', ( LSBT )  and Loganathan and Sivakumar's Family Portrait Test', ( LSFPT ) which I have developed along with Freudian and Jungian types of studies indicate that the sources of psychic disturbances remain, for the most part, UNCONSCIOUS and it is the duty of the counselor or psychologist to unearth in an archeological way these hidden elements so that  a real UNDERSTANDING of the sources of the problems is gained by the person.  The person is helped along to gain consciousness of these hidden and concealed factors and through that GAIN A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING of the self itself. This necessitates the use of Access Tests, interpreting for the person, alert him about the unconscious factors that are the root causes of his problems and thereby gain a better understanding of the MEANING of EXISTENCE and so forth. 

 We shall illustrate this through the application of  'Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test', ( LSBT ) and how through that a person was helped to overcome the psychological disturbances and discomfort that interfered with normal functioning. 

The person involved is a young Indian woman, an undergraduate student, 22 years old  when she came to see me with her problems. Neeta ( false name of course ) did the LSBT as per the specific instructions. 

We must mention here that the 4 Baums in their sequence A to D, captures the HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING of the person, i.e. how he understands the past , the present and projects into the FUTURE. While Baum A is definitely about the past and D about the future, B and C overlap  with respect to the present. The possibility of gaining an understanding  of what lies AHEAD for the individual can easily mislead a person into thinking that Baum Test is akin to some pseudo sciences. It must be noted that  definitely this is NOT THE CASE in LSBT. 

What this test brings out is the hidden future possibilities that lies ahead of the person and which are RELATED to what he is doing right now. The FUTURE of the historical understanding that the LSBT captures has NOTHING TO DO with the star clusters and the configuration of the planets in the heavens. It also appears unrelated to the lines on the palms though I have not looked into this possibility systematically to say anything definite. The future that lies ahead and about which the person is dimly aware is determined by what he is DOING RIGHT NOW just as much as what he is right now is determined by the actions he did in the past, influenced of course by unconscious factors at work without his knowledge. One important  consequence of this view is that the FUTURE that lies ahead as distinct possibility for oneself, can be avoided if found NEGATIVE and UNSAVORY by changing the present modes of behavior to which it is related. A person has in a way control over his own future and is not entirely at the mercy of the stars and planets. The actions of a person become of paramount importance in determining the mode of existence of oneself. 

Hermeneutic Counseling centers on this and invites a person to ponder over his/her  own actions and change them, if necessary, to change the FUTURE that awaits him/her.

The LSBT is an important tool in the task of unfolding the course of actions of a person and what lies ahead, perhaps unknown or only dimly known, to the subject himself. The LSBT, let me repeat here, captures the HISTORICAL understanding of a person i.e. how he interprets the past, understands the present and projects into the future. This historical understanding which determines his attitudes, values and actions, is actually the root cause of  the miseries he may be suffering now. Though interpreting the BAUMS and make him aware of own historical understanding, how he SEES and hence BEHAVES, we help him to reformulate it so that a more authentic understanding comes to prevail. Where the understanding is MORE AUTHENTIC or closer to the TRUTH, i.e. free of prejudices, illusions, fantasies and so forth, the miseries also disappear. 

It is apprehension of TRUTH that serves as the medicine to cure the ills of the soul and this is what Hermeneutic Counseling  is concerned with.

 One more important point about Hermeneutic Counseling. We found that the function of Baum D that discloses the FUTURE  possibilities of a person  is enormous  here. Without any preaching or advising  or philosophizing as such , when a person is alerted as to how the present COURSE OF ACTIVITIES  OF HIS OWN has led to possibility that is disclosed by D, he is also made RESPONSIBLE for his OWN FUTURE, that unless he chooses to correct his own future by reforming himself right now  he has no choice but to suffer the negative possibilities that awaits him. In this way Hermeneutic Counseling makes the person RESPONSIBLE for himself/herself. While the unconscious is attended to, its shaping is related to the ACTIONS of the person and ultimately the WILL of the person.

When Neeta came to see me, she drew Baums that can be described as follows :

Baum A: a moderately thin tree with branches of various thickness branching out  like a fan from a point with more branches on the right hand side. Each branch ends up with large leaves and round ring-like fruits . One such a fruit has dropped and is on the ground. Worm-like lines inside the trunk. Grassy ground.

Baum B. Similar to A but no grassy ground and worm-like  lines inside the trunk. But where the branches branch out there is a round dark patch. No clear  cut leaves but cloudy formations on the branches. The fruits now in the shape of bunches of grapes.

Baum C. Entirely different from A and B. the Baum is a Christmas Tree with cone formations, one inside the other. Ring like fruits again all over. The trunk is a bit broader with  vertical  lines  running right along giving the impression that the trunk is breaking down.

Baum D. Different from C, like a coil of rope raising up like snake. It goes up and then turns down and coils below again like the letter S

The essential meanings are as follows:

The first Baum indicates worries of a mild sort concerned with studies rather than anything else as indicated by the over-development of the right side of the crown and dark ring-like fruits. In Baum B we have bunches of grapes which are indicators of desire for sexual enjoyment , something aroused within here by the steady attention of young man and which became a source of worry and annoyance for as shown by the dark patch on the top of the drunk. Furthermore the attention of the young man was short lived causing worries of a different sort. In Baum C we have a clear indication of anxiety, worries tension and so forth. It is at this point the she came to see me for counseling. When I told her about the several sources of her anxiety: wanting to have boyfriend but at the same time worried about consequent neglect of studies; worried that she is not attractive enough to make a young man love her deeply and so on, she began to realize the enormous complexity of the problems and the real sources of her anxiety. The Baum D is clearly the SNAKE, the arousal of the sexual libido, the Kundalini, the coiled power of the Siddhas. What really frightened her was this sexual arousal and consequent loss on independence to a young man. There was a vaguely felt FEAR of this possibility for which she was psychologically ready. As I related the meanings of Baums she listened attentively agreeing most of the times and disagreeing here and there whenever something negative was mentioned. But I could feel that I was really opening up her eyes to see her now as a young woman about to enter married life that awaits her but for which she is quite ready. Her present concerns and interests are sexual rather than matured love .

Three months later she came for her second LSBT analysis. The second set of Baums indicated that she has overcome the fear of losing freedom in falling love. More confident and with the understanding that having a man as a life-partner is inevitable for her, she now is with a different sort of problem: doesn't know whom to choose among two young men who are attracted to her. Baum D indicated that she is not afraid of falling in love at all and that she knows the difference between infatuation and genuine love. She rejects both the young men  currently interested in her as she feels both of them are interested only in sex and not so much in love. Her third  counseling session was very positive: she finally found a young man who genuinely loves her and is contemplating marriage with him.  With this happy development, the problem is solved and counseling comes to an end, at least for the time being. ( Who can say there will be no problems later?)

With this brief description of the essences of Hermeneutic Counseling , I want to draw the attention to the following features:

i). The counselor is simply a facilitator, helping the subject to UNDERSTAND better the sources of her anxiety which results as a consequence of powerful forces working within and with which she is putting up o loosing battle.

ii). The real source of anxiety is her reluctance to face the sexual side of her  and accommodate herself to it.

iii). She is not clear yet about the relationship between LOVE and Sexual Enjoyment and part of anxiety was related to this

 

The counselor draws attention to these matters and through forcing her to THINK about these issues and make her gain  an UNDERSTANDING about them . This provides a CLARITY with which she is able to make the CORRECT decisions or at least decisions with some confidence.

Because the counseling is essentially concerned with bringing about a BETTER UNDERSTANDING of self, which simultaneously solves the problem, it is called HERMENEUTICAL.

Ullaganar.

( editing by Ari Marappan )

Note : 'Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test' and 'Loganathan and Sivakumar's Family Portrait Test' are both under worldwide copyright protection. Its commercial use is strictly prohibited. For those who want to use it for research purposes, may write in to the editor of the above article for permission, which will be considered on a case by case basis.