Creativity enhancement, personal growth, and healing require courage, will, and surrender.
They may be thought of as a similar course unfolding in different mediums.
Creativity is more than "changing hats" or "thinking outside the box" for when ardently pursued...
the process  changes you.

Vantage Quest Site Contents

Information On This Page

Other Pages on VQ

What Is Vantage Quest?

What Vantage Quest Does

Why Vantage Quest Is Unique

How You Use Vantage Quest

Creativity, Healing, and VQ

The Sciences Behind Vantage Quest

Our Research

Real Audio VQ Sample

Developer's Note

Reviewer's Comments
More to come!

What Users Say

VQ Newsletter Archives

About The Developer

The Vantage Quest Team

How To Order

Other Areas of Interest

Thoughts Beneath The Trees

A "Mini-Ezine" on consciousness, spirituality, nutrition, & creativity

VQ Selects

Featured works from "Creators" who use VQ themselves

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Sound has for millennia been an avenue for inner exploration. When we listen to the lilt of a mountain brook, or the rhythm of a human heart, sound provides us a pathway to the deep reaches of our psyche. Sound transports us to consciousness states where we encounter insight, healing, growth, and our highest creativity.

Vantage Quest synthesizes scientific research, ancient traditions, and modern technology to provide a unique sound experience that induces deep dreamlike states. Whether you Quest for higher creativity, insight and growth, an aid to healing, or the relaxation found at the still point of a turning world, Vantage Quest will assist you on your journey. Vantage Quest is a resounding doorway to the fertile mindscape within your being.

Creating is an act of sharing. Vantage Quest is what I have to share with you. As its developer and researcher, I've heard from hundreds of users who benefit in ways even I never imagined. It works! I want to give you an effective tool you can afford and use.

I know it's easy to fear and pass on a new idea for: "What if it isn't true?"
But I ask you: "What if it is?"

Thanks for your interest,
Carlisle Bergquist

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What is Vantage Quest?

"Vantage Quest . . . is a doorway without dogma."
- - Philip N. Richins, M.Ed.
bulletVantage Quest is a personal transformation tool on CD designed to produce deep relaxation states.
bulletThe sound of Vantage Quest produces unique consciousness states through brain wave entrainment.
bulletVantage Quest is a synthesis of scientific research, ancient tradition, and modern technology.
bulletVantage Quest enhances creativity and generates insights, reflection, growth, and healing.

Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. says of Vantage Quest:

"Over the millennia, sound has been one of the powerful tools used to alter consciousness, and to transform moods and feelings. Vantage Quest follows in this venerable tradition, utilizing cutting edge technologies to provide deep, intense experiences for its users that they can use for enhancing personal enjoyment, evoking mental imagery, identifying bodily energies, and intensifying sensations and perceptions. The number of effects are diverse and potentially beneficial. People who utilize Vantage Quest will find that it challenges their creative potential in a variety of ways."

Renowned psychologist and author Dr. Krippner researches consciousness, parapsychology, and alternative healing. The author or co-author of more than five hundred books and journal articles, his most recent titles, Spiritual Dimensions of Healing, and Personal Mythology, are available at your local bookseller.

Vantage Quest's developer, Carlisle Bergquist, is a co-author with Dr. Krippner of The Magenta Phenomenon, an exploration of a Brazilian healer. The article appears in The Journal of Exceptional Human Experience, 1994. To find out more about these exceptional encounters in Brazil, read Carlisle's on-line essay Creativity, Healing, and Shamanism.  
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What Vantage Quest Does.

Vantage Quest is a doorway to an expanded state of awareness or "reverie" that will introduce you to new parts of yourself. It unleashes your natural creative force. Whether you work in the arts, or work on yourself, seek solutions to a business problem, or search for the healing powers within your being, Vantage Quest is an effective aid.

Creativity is not just the "arts." It is nature at work. All of us experience times when everything seems to flow. We tune-in with the world around us and solutions to problems seem to come easily. These are the moments of true creativity.

Creating is a natural act. A tree doesn't have to think to grow, it just surrenders to the process of nature. Vantage Quest's innovative sound helps you surrender in a similar way and thus allow growth, creativity and healing to occur.

"Vantage Quest is a powerful resource for women with poor body images. Through accessing the deep consciousness states, women are able to re-establish the vital connections between their mind and body that are so often disconnected by negative body perceptions. The deeply relaxed state the brain wave frequencies induce can be a helpful tool for women to begin healing these connections and assist them in channeling their creativity and growth potential toward greater body satisfaction."
Monica A. Dixon, PhD., R.D.
Author, Love the Body You Were Born With, Berkeley Books, 1996

The best way to understand the usefulness of Vantage Quest is to try it for yourself, as a tool for "applied reverie". The results for each individual are qualitatively different, as you'll see by reading what users have to say.

Let your own experience speak for itself.

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Why Vantage Quest is Unique.

Vantage Quest is not a motivational tape, a set of problem solving techniques, nor is it music embedded with subliminal messages. It actually alters consciousness. There are many products on the market that generate shifts in consciousness using a technique called "binaural beat." Binaural methods generate a phantom oscillation by feeding slightly out of tune audio signals into opposite ears so that the brain's neural firings (brain waves) follow it. Though this method works, we believe it is essentially like asking the brain to synchronize distortion, that is, it tries to tune what is out of tune.
bulletVantage Quest produces the synchronization effect through a process we developed called Harmonic Matrixing. This process is unmatched in any other product. It does not use subliminal messages or binaural pulses to produce the entrainment effect.
bulletIt works safely, effectively, and quickly. You are not required to go through a lengthy training; yet, extended use leads you to ever deepening states of awareness.
bulletVantage Quest requires no expensive special equipment. There are no peculiar eyeglasses or processors to buy. You need only your home stereo CD player, and a good pair of headphones.
bulletUnlike other trance-inducing products that stimulate Theta and Alpha brain wave activity, Vantage Quest excites a broad range of brain wave frequencies with its Harmonic Matrix. This produces an exceptional state of clarity along with the deeply relaxed state.
bulletThe soon to be released Vantage Quest System includes 12 CDs designed to entrain different Harmonic Matrices; thus, you can select the appropriate one and "tune" your experience as desired.

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How You use Vantage Quest.

Use Vantage Quest with headphones just as you would listen to a favorite CD (compact disc).
bulletUse Vantage Quest at a time of your convenience each day, or as often as you can.
bulletFind a time and place without disturbance. No cat in the lap. No phone calls. Don't try to listen while you do other things. Vantage Quest's sound stimuli are subtle, so outside distractions will override the experience. Set aside some time just for yourself that you can look forward to each day with Vantage Quest.
bulletSit relaxed in a comfortable position and just listen to the tones on the CD. Use a good pair of headphones. If you lie down you may fall asleep.
bulletTake a few minutes to regain a more alert state of consciousness before returning to your normal activities.
bulletCAUTION: Do not use Vantage Quest while operating an automobile or any dangerous equipment. Vantage Quest is not suitable for your use if you suffer from a seizure disorder, due to the strong sound stimuli that may affect you.

Vantage Quest does not use any subliminal messages or hypnotic suggestions to produce its effects. Thus it is easily adapted for several different uses. Each Vantage Quest CD contains 3 tracks. Track #1 has a brief guided imagery induction leading into VQ's Harmonic Matrix and then an awakening at its end. Track #2 contains only the Harmonic Matrix. Track #3 contains just the awakening. Track #2 may be used when you no longer need the vocal induction to relax or when you wish to repeat the track for a longer experience. Track #3 is just to bring you back home again.

Click here to listen to a Real Audio VQ Sample

Specific Applications of Vantage Quest.

The instructions above should be followed for all uses of Vantage Quest. Now here are a few ways you might specifically apply the process.

Visualize (or sense) a mental symbol of your creative task. Something simple that represents what you are trying to create. As you listen to Vantage Quest hold that image in your mind and let it be carried off by the tones. Then pay attention to the symbols that appear in your mind while you are listening and especially afterwards. Your dreams may also become very vivid. Pay attention to the subtle flashes of insight that come. Write them down even if they don't seem to relate to your creative task and watch what develops.

bulletCreativity Enhancement
bulletPersonal Growth

Vantage Quest often stimulates powerful and surprising memories. These may be very pleasant. Sometimes though it evokes unresolved issues that you need to work on. When this happens talk about the memories with a close friend, or your personal therapist. You might also use Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) along with Vantage Quest to reprogram the effects these memories have produced in your life. Keeping a journal of your memories and experiences using VQ will provide you a rich opportunity for personal growth. After all, YOU are your most important creative project.

bulletHealing

Vantage Quest is not a substitute for responsible medical treatment. However it is a useful compliment to medical care. Research in psychoneuroimmunology shows that imagery aids the healing process. The sound of VQ can further vivify the healing process by inducing mental states rich in imagery positively directed toward the healing area.

Vantage Quest is ideal for clinical and individual healing work. It is applicable in psychotherapy for its relaxing quality, its assistance in memory recall, and its non-threatening format that allows therapeutic intervention.

Sound therapists will find it a powerful addition to any psychoacoustic delivery system. Individuals working with Toning will find VQ's Harmonic Matrix a useful adjunct as they liberate their own voice.

bulletHypnosis

The Harmonic Matrix is a very conducive sound making it a potent induction for hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis. Track #2 may be used in concord with other clinical practices to facilitate deep trance states. If you wish to work on various issues through self-hypnosis use Track #2 along with a briefly stated self-suggestion. Your suggestion should be a positive statement phrased in as few words as possible. Then repeat -- chant -- the phrase vocally in a soft voice, or in your mind, while immersing yourself in the lush VQ sound field.

Vantage Quest is a "doorway without dogma." No specific spiritual creeds are used or implied on the CDs though once you pass through the doorway you step closer to the worlds often discovered in spiritual practices. Enter this domain as you would with your personal spiritual practice, with reverence and positive intent. VQ's Harmonic Matrix allows you to still your mind quickly and pursue your meditation, prayer, or other spiritual endeavors. It does not impose a new belief system.

bulletSpiritual Practice
bulletRelaxation

Vantage Quest evokes deep relaxation in everyone. Interestingly, several women users have reported highly aroused sensual states leading to sexual release and profound relaxation.
Use Track #2 while lying down at bedtime for a great nights sleep. Track #1 and a comfortable chair will give you a short respite anytime during a busy day and bring you back refreshed and ready to go.

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Creativity, Healing, and Vantage Quest.

Thomas Edison said, "Creativity is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." We know where the perspiration comes from but, though many psychological theories have been presented, the source of inspiration continues to elude us. Healing is much the same. We perform the hard work of treatment, but the actual healing "RE-CREATES" health at some other level of the spirit - mind - body connection we can not observe. In both creating and healing our job is to cooperate and allow these higher powers to work.

Vantage Quest facilitates states of consciousness that help you cooperate with the creative cycle. Creativity and healing - creating health - are both enhanced by allowing the mind to relax and enter the deep meditative EEG states that VQ's psychoacoustic sound strategies induce.

The complete Vantage Quest System will include twelve CD's with twelve different tones. Users will be able to further tune their experiences by listening to these various tones.

To learn more about the creative process see: Thoughts Beneath the Trees, a collection of essays on creativity by Carlisle Bergquist.

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The Sciences behind Vantage Quest.

Vantage Quest has three strong roots in scientific research, ancient traditions, and modern technology. These roots are distinctly different and contribute to Vantage Quest's diverse applications.

Scientific Research

Research studies on the brain and its functions have made dramatic advances in the last two decades. One area of research has focused on the brain's electrical activity and the states of consciousness associated with various frequency ranges of that activity commonly called brain waves. The ranges of brain wave activity are divided into regions called Delta (below 4 cycles per second, or Hz.) associated with deep sleep, Theta (4-7 Hz.) associated with pre-sleep and vivid imagery, Alpha (8-13) a calm relaxed state, Beta (14-35 Hz.) our day to day alert consciousness, and Gamma (above 35 Hz.) which seem to be associated with peak performance. Evidence has also been found of very high frequency waves that may be associated with the special abilities exhibited by some healers and psychics. Research in these subtle energies is still developing. Research has also demonstrated a harmonic pattern across these various regions of brain wave activity.

Carlisle Bergquist, developer of Vantage Quest, extended this research with further studies applying it to creativity enhancement. The research focused the brain's frequency following effect, or tendency to entrain with rhythmic stimuli, and thereby alter consciousness states.

Research results

Creativity is multivariate, and thus no single test addresses all of its aspects. In a study conducted in the Fall of 1994, individuals participated in a pretest/posttest control group design experiment. Participants were given two creativity tests, the Barron Welsh Art Scale, and the Alternate Uses test, at the beginning and again at the end of the study. These two tests measure, respectively, Originence (original thinking), and Divergent Thought production.

The Barron-Welsh Art Scale has been used for over forty years to measure creative ability in many settings and is considered to have high test/re-test stability. The Alternate Uses is equally well-documented as an effective means to measure some aspects of creativity.

After taking the baseline test, participants used Vantage Quest once a day for two weeks. At the end of this period, they took alternate forms of these same tests.

The composite raw scores demonstrated dramatic improvements for most participants.
bulletThe most impressive result was an increase for one individual from a raw score of 27 out of 60 to a raw score of 50 at the end of the study period.
bulletThe mean increase for the entire study group was four points on the Barron-Welsh Art Scale and three points on the Alternate Uses test.

These results are exceptionally encouraging for such a limited study period. Naturally, these results require further statistical analysis before being considered substantial.

A follow-up study was conducted using Biofeedback equipment at the Mennenger Clinic in Topeka, KS using both first time and experienced users of Vantage Quest. EEG reading were recorded while participants listened to VQ's Harmonic Matrix. Participants reported vivid imagery and their EEG recordings demonstrated a concurrent shift in brain wave patterning.

The initial focus of Vantage Quest's research was on creativity enhancement. Along the way various other phenomena have been reported while listening, including temperature changes in the body, pain reduction, feelings of energy streaming, female sexual orgasm, spontaneous memory recall, lucid dreams, and psychological and spiritual insights. Other applications and research are now indicated.

The study has continued informally with several hundred people using the tape and reporting their experiences directly to Carlisle Bergquist.

Ancient Traditions

Sound has for millennia been a locus of enlightenment, a pathway to the deep reaches of our psyche. For twenty thousand years of recorded history, shamans have used sound to venture into other worlds on behalf of their cultures. They are the developers of the early science of consciousness. Before the advances in modern physics that now describe the tiniest subatomic particles as interference patterns of various sound frequencies - "nodes of resonance" - these many myths in some way implicated sound as causal in creation. Sound -- vibration -- grants us such passage because it is the core of our being.

Many religions describe sound in their creation stories, the exploration of consciousness, and healing rituals. The creation stories of the western religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity all say that God spoke and all became manifest. The Chinese religion Taoism speaks of "the Great Tone of Nature." Hindu cosmology tells of Nada Brahma -- sound, the creator God. Similar ideas can be found in the beliefs of indigenous peoples around the globe.

Ancient esoteric traditions also include sound in their teachings. Sufism and the Kabballah both describe humankind as having a core of sound, or a "root frequency." The mystical writings of A. A. Bailey, H.P. Blavatsky, and Rudolf Steiner, along with those of the Rosicrucian Order all describe core frequencies that form the basis of human existence. Shamans have known these secrets for thousands of years and used sound to carry them on their travels into altered states.

Vantage Quest is not a spiritual or esoteric tradition. Thus, Vantage Quest espouses no specific doctrine but, like these traditions, it is based on a premise that we are in essence Resonant Beings. Resonance that provides a pathway to the higher creativity and healing found at our core.

Modern Technology

Recording is both a science and an art. The finest in modern recording technology and talent were used to develop and record Vantage Quest. Angel Balestier, owner of Group IV Recording and ALB Productions, has been engineering and producing hit records since his days with Jimi Hendrix all the way to the opening sequence of the 1996 Olympic Games. Steve Livingston is a music and sound editor for the film and television industry, and a multiple nominee for the prestigious Emmy and Golden Reel awards. Carlisle Bergquist is the former Vice President of Suitewinds Productions and a producer at the Silvery Moon Studios. Carlisle is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice along with researching and writing about the role of creativity in healing. Their combined expertise applied the brains of music to the music of the brain in developing Vantage Quest.

The sound you hear on Vantage Quest is literally hand-crafted and edited using both digital and analog equipment to create the Harmonic Matrix. No other psychoacoustic recordings or devices contain this unique auditory stimulation. Vantage Quest is presented on Brass Foil Compact Disks to better reproduce the complexity and intensity of its audio signals.

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