Stage I is the most important stage in the CRV training program. Stage I is also the most difficult to train. Stage I is the basis for the entire CRV process.
Stage I – Major Gestalt: In Stage I the viewer is trained to provide a quick-reaction response to the reading of geographic coordinates by the interviewer. The coordinates are expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds when possible. The response takes the form of an immediate, primitive “squiggle” on paper. This “squiggle” is known as an ideogram. The ideogram captures the overall feeling/motion of the gestalt of the site (e.g., fluid /wavy for water). This response is kinesthetic and not visual. In Stage I visual images are noted and labeled as AOL.
[McNear, Tom. Coordinate Remote Viewing Stages I–VI and Beyond. February 1985, DIA]
Stage I – Concept: Any given site has an overall nature or “gestalt”, as it is referred to below, that makes it uniquely what it is. In Stage I, the remote viewer is taught to acquire the signal line, attune himself to it, and proceed to decode and objectify this site gestalt and the major pieces of information that pertain to it.
A properly executed Stage I is the very foundation of everything that follows after it, and it is therefore of outmost importance to maintain correct structure and achieve an accurate Stage I concept of the site. All CRV sessions begin with Stage I.