Altered States OF Consciousness PDF

Preview

Summary

notes...

Description

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS •

DIMENSIONS OF CHANGED SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCEHISTORY

•

FUNCTIONS OF ASC

•

DEFINITION

•

DIMENSIONS OF SUBJECTIVE CHANGE IN ASC

•

HOW TO INDUCE ASC

•

DREAMS

•

HYPNOSIS

•

SENSORY DEPRIVATION

•

TRANCE

•

MEDITATION

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN HUMAN HISTORY: A Brief Overview ASCs have likely been part of the human cognitive repertoire for at least 100,000 years, if not longer. Entoptically-suggestive art (that is, art composed of motifs indicating sensory deprivation and commonly-associated forms of visual hallucination) can be seen as early as 70,000-100,000 years ago at Blombos Cave in South Africa (Henshilwood et al. 2002). Archaeological evidence for institutionalized ASCs has been found in human societiesacrossthe globe and throughout human history Examples of ASCs in the Archaeological Record • Pre-Columbian Maya society ritually consumed balché, a mead-like drink made with the hallucinogenic plant Longocarpus longistylus. •The Olmec used “hallucinogens such as native tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) or the psychoactive venom found in the parathyroid gland of the marine toad Bufus marinus. Bones of this totally inedible toad appeared in trash deposits at San Lorenzo, while the magnificent kneeling figure known as the ‘Princeton Shaman’ has one of these amphibians incised on the top of his head” (Diehl 2004, 106; Sharer and Morley 1992). • In the South Pacific, Maori religious specialists employed Maori kava (Macropiper excelsum) in religious ritual and Polynesian groups such as the Hawaiians and Tongans used ‘awa (Piper methysticum) as an aid to communing spiritually with ancestors (Kirch 1985, 1988).

1

• Iron Age Indo-European groups such as the Scythians and the Dacians utilized Cannabis sativa and melilot (Melilotus sp.), which have been found charred in vessels and pouches accompanying burials and were described by the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) as part of a consciousness-altering repertoire for spiritual purification (Rudenko and Thompson 1970; Rolle and Walls 1989). • The priestly caste at Chavín de Huantar, a Peruvian site occupied by the pre-Inca Chavín culture, used psychoactive substances such as mescaline-bearing San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi) and vilca snuff (Anadenanthera sp.) in ceremonial contexts. Similar substances and accoutrements have been found at priestly burials in Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Scholars suggest that in a number of pre-Columbian Andean cultures, “social linkage...revolved intensely around cults and shared religious experience” that may often have been brokered by religious specialists who included wakeful hallucinogen-induced ASC as an important part of their spiritual repertoire (Kolata 1993, 272; Burger 2011). Artistic motifs at a number of late Neolithic megalithic ceremonial complexes in northern and western Europe (approximately4000-2000BCE) are thought to have been derived from entoptic hallucinatory imagery. Irish passage tombs or dolmen such as the site of Knowth, County Meath, are likely to have been designed as “multisensorial experiences” in which darkness and acoustic resonance could produce altered states of consciousness These examples represent only a small fraction of the historical and archaeological evidence for institutionalized ASCs. As the scope of archaeological evidence is limited by materiality, these pharmacologically-oriented examples represent only a few of the ways that humans engage in wakeful ASCs. Remains of hallucination inducing substances can be recovered archaeologically or sometimes substantiated through historical texts while other methods of inducing ASCs are difficult if not impossible to capture. Nevertheless, the ubiquity of these practices across time and space in human history suggests that ASCs play a fundamental role in the maintenance of human social fabric and human social-spiritual linkage Bourguignon (1973:6) writes that alternate states of consciousness are characterized by a deviation in the quantity of central nervous system arousal from a baseline state. General characteristics of alternate states of consciousness are: alterations in thinking, disturbed time sense, loss of control, change in emotional expression, change in body image, perceptual distortions, change in meaning or significance, sense of the ineffable, feelings of rejuvenation and hyper suggestibility. Major altered states of consciousness include sleep, hypnosis, meditation, mystical or transcendal experiences, experimental sensory deprivation experiences, states produced by drugs,and highway hypnosis . Functions of ASCs The adaptive functions of ASCs can be classified in 3 categories 1 promoting healing and feelings of well being 2

2 avenue to new knowledge or experience 3 Social functions Promoting healing and feelings of well being ASCs have been used to maintain and improve mental health and feelings of well being, and to relieve or cure physical symptoms that have a psychological basis.eg hypnosis is used in psychotherapy for a variety of psychological problems and for the control of pain, meditation technique are an aid to relaxation and the reduction of anxiety. And of course psychoactive drugs such as tranquilizers, can be helpful when used appropriately. Avenues to new knowledge or experience ASCs have served as avenues to mystical or religious experience and for reaching deeper insight into oneself and ones social relationships. ASCs have been sources of creative inspirations for artists, writers and scientists. And ASCs can enhance aesthetic appreciation of art, music, poetry, and nature. ASCs are sometimes pursued merely for entertainment. Social functions ASCs have been incorporated into religious rituals that serve to promote group cohesiveness, eg spirit possession states serve to reaffirm religious beliefs and promotes group cohesiveness. ASCs social functions are not limited to primitive societies, both alcohol and marijuana serve as social lubricants and group identifiers for certain segments of society in industrialized countries. DEFINITION Altered states of consciousness ASCs may be defined as a temporary change in the overall pattern of subjective experience, such that the individual believes that his or her mental functioning is distinctly different from certain general norms for his or her normal waking state of consciousness. DIMENSIONS OF CHANGED SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE There are several features or dimensions of conscious experience that can change, leading people to conclude that they are in an ASCs. Here is a list of dimensions of conscious experience that can change in ASCs 1 changes in attention- in the normal waking state the internal versus external direction of attention can range widely, from primarily external to primarily internal or it can be mixed internal –external as in when you drive and day dream. In ASCs the normal flexibility is reduced and attention is directed inwardly to an extreme degree, it may also involve heightened tendency to focus attention narrowly on either an internal or external object or event as found in increased attentional absorption in concentrative attention and hypnosis

3

2 changes in perception-perception involves the recognition and interpretation of environmental objects and events. Some ASCs such as drug states may involve changes in the appearance of objects and events. Changes in what we perceive may occur due to changes in the direction of attention rather than changes in sensory perceptual process per se. perceptual illusions in which objects or events are misidentified, may increase in ASCs I some drug states synesthesia may occur, a condition where input in one sensory modality such as auditory may be experienced in a different modality, visual. 3 changes in imagery and fantasy- visual images may be especially vivid in some AScs. Increased image vividness may occur during relaxed daydreaming, but visual images are especially vivid in night dreams. increased image vividness often goes with increased fantasy thought in which people imagine purely fictional stories often of a fantastic nature and usually with themselves as the main character 4. Changes in inner speech- inner speech and narratization may decrease, for example during meditation and sleep. Also people’s inner speech such as volitional thoughts may become less connected to their actions or current environment overt speech may become less coherent than normal, perhaps due to disruption of short term memory. 5 changes in memory- in ASCs people may notice decreased ability to recall information from memory. The ability to recall recent events from short term memory is impaired the ability to recall recent events from long term memory can be disrupted by hypnotic suggestions. 6. Changes in higher level thought processes- in ASCs people may have difficulty making decisions or solving problems, perhaps due to the disruption of short term memory, also the specific decisions that they make may be different from normal, due to either disruptions of thought processes or changes in values or emotions. In an ASCs such as marijuana intoxication people sometimes come up with truly creative solutions to practical or artistic problems, more often their solutions are no better and perhaps worse than normal but in the ASCs they have a delusion that they are more creative than usual 7 changes in the meaning or significance of experiences- a fairly common ASC experience involves the feeling that certain thoughts or events are profoundly important perhaps of great creative or mystical significance. Some people have filled pocket note books with the profound thoughts that they have had while stoned lest they be forgotten and lost before they can benefit human kind yet upon returning to the ordinary state these thoughts usually seem utterly boring or mildly amusing at best 8 changed time experience – the experience of temporal duration may change eg- to someone who is stoned on marijuana, if their friend leaves the room for 5 minutes to get some snacks it might seem that he or she has been gone for a long time thus external time seems to have slowed down

4

9 changes in emotional feeling and expression – wide changes in emotional feeling are common in ASCs. These changes can range from negative emotions of fear anger and depression to positive emotions of humor love and joy people may become highly emotionally reactive, responding to events to which they would not normally react, alternatively people may become emotionally unresponsive, as in a drugged stupor 10 changes in level of arousal- in waking state people’s subjective level of arousal may range widely, from low to high. In ASCs extremes of arousal may be reached, extremely low in deep sleep, very low in the hypnagogic presleep state, extremely high in some drug states and in mystical raptre 11 changes in self control people may become more impulsive doing things that go against their usual social inhibitions or they may become lethargic failing to initiate ordinary actions. The ability to carry out complex motor actions may be disrupted 12 changes in suggestibility in general terms a suggestion is a communication from one person to another that induces the second person to change ones behaviour or beliefs, without any argument or coercion being involved in hypnotic suggestions which involve asking a person to vividly imagine some state of affairs such that the hypnotised persons behaviour will change in a manner consistent with the suggestion 13 changed body image – Changes in perceived body proportions or weight or inner sensory events, are fairly common in ASCs one might feel the body has become very small or very large, sensitivity to pain might decrease, perhaps along with the feeling that part of the body has become numb, disconnected. 14 changed sense of personal identity – as a result of profound changes in a variety of experiential dimensions thinking memory self control body image so the sense of personal identity may change. People may feel that they can no longer control their thoughts or actions, as in some drug states. Mystical experiences in which people lose their sense of self as a separate person and have a sense of unity with all people or with all life or with god are usually felt to be pleasant HOW TO INDUCE ASC The normal alert walking state of consciousness is maintained by certain stabilizing conditions including a sufficient level of physiological arousal a changing array of external stimuli, and an attitude of maintaining attention to them. In order to produce an ASC we first disrupt or destabilize the normal state. Destabilizing of the normal state is accomplished by the induction technique or conditions. After normal consciousness is destabilized certain patterning conditions produce a new pattern of subjective experience through which we recognize that we are in an ASC. There are four different types of events that may induce ASC:

5

Change in external stimulation: external stimulation may change along several dimensions 1,The amount of sensory input might change either in its intensity or its frequency. The amount of sensory input might be increased drastically above normal or it might be decreased severely. 2, the variety of sensory input might change without necessarily changing the amount of input, the same stimuli might recur over and over again 3, the meaning of external stimulation might change Change in physical activity: greater amounts of physical activity produce higher levels of physiological arousal and conversely restricted activity lowers arousal level Change in physiological state: we by changing our brains physiological state with psychoactive drugs, and by chemicals.ASC s might be produced by hypoxia, dehydration, starvation and malnutrition Change in focus if attention: in concentrative meditation people deliberately restrict their focus of attention to a particular object or repeat a particular word or phrase over and over or concentrate on a particular mental image •

DREAMS

Dreams and their meanings have interested people for as long as we have records. In the Bible, Joseph was elevated from prisoner to chief advisor to Pharaoh for interpreting Pharaoh's dreams. Recently, Hobson (1988). a modern brain-oriented sleep researcher, has presented an extensive historical survey of research on dreaming that attempted to use objective methods. Sigmund Freud is by far the best known investigator of dreams. His work was based on the subjective reports of patients and on myths and other literary sources. The effectiveness of his rhetoric (not his data) made his approach dominant for at least a half century. Freud used dreams and their interpretation as a central idea in his development of psychoanalysis. One of his early descriptions of psychoanalytic theory was a book about dreams called The Interpretation of Dreams (1911). Freud proposed that dreaming is a process by which the mind releases extremely unpleasant or dangerous psychological conflicts in symbolic form. According to Freud, everyone has such unpleasant or dangerous conflicts, which are repressed by a mental censor into the unconscious. These conflicts must be released somehow, and dreaming is one mechanism. For this reason, Freud distinguished between a dream's manifest content and its latent content. The manifest content is what a person actually experiences and remembers in a dream. The latent content is the hidden, repressed conflict that the manifest content of a dream symbolically releases. Many other theories about the meaning of dreams have been proposed.

6

Carl Jung, who was initially a follower of Freud, claimed that dreams reflect the primitive, universal unconscious mental activity of humans. In contrast to Freud, who emphasized the hidden meaning about psychopathology in dreams, Jung believed that the meaning of dreams was quite clear. He claimed that they represented a creative process, not a pathological one. Also Jung had a much less physical and physiological approach to dreaming than did Freud. Jung believed that the mind performs many activities derived from the collective unconscious each of us shares with the whole human race. As evidence, Jung pointed to the similarity of dream content among different people and different cultures. He also claims that the same symbolism that appears in dreams also appears in many cultural products: religion, arts, literature, etc. Calvin Hall has proposed that the symbolism in dreams differs among individuals and is much less hidden than Freud believed. Some dreams require no interpretation. Most people can recall dreams in which they did things they would never do while waking. Some dreams have quite clear meaning for the dreamer. Sometimes, however, the dreamer avoids those meanings, because they are too painful. A therapist's role is to help a patient face the meaning of his/her dreams, rather than to interpret them by some universal meaning. The Activation-Synthesis model proposes that REM sleep generates strong random activity, which the brain/mind tries to fit into a person's existing mental structures. Hobson and McCarley (1977) have proposed an activation-synthesis model, based on the physiology of the dreaming state. This model takes some well-established physiological data about REM sleep and uses them to interpret how dreams are generated. It starts with the finding that REM is triggered from the raphe nucleus in the brain stem, which is turned on by the neurotransmitter acetyl choline. Activation of the brain stem trigger makes many parts of the brain very active. At the same time it shuts down sensory input and somatic motor output, which controls body movement. This is why people are harder to wake up and have completely relaxed muscles during REM sleep. According to the activation-synthesis model, the mind creates what we experience as dreams to try to make sense of the intense, random brain activity during REM. The mind appears to create "stories" and imagery around this random activity based on what it already has in it. In other words, it is pure top down processing. Although these stories and images often seem bizarre by waking logic, they do seem to make some sort of sense. The mind may use many things to create its dreams: events of the past day; old memories; wishes and desires, including the very painful unconscious, socially unacceptable desires that Freud believed were so important. The following quotation describes an example of how peoples' personal concerns appear to affect dream content. Note that the meaning of the dreams is quite clear. When I am invited to speak publicly, I often make it a point of asking how many people have had nightmares about nuclear war. If I poll members of peace groups, 7

often about two-thirds of the audience raise their hands. In a group of about twenty citizens at a church in Livermore, California no hands were raised. When I once asked a group of about seventy laboratory employees, two raised their hands Garbage collection Dubbed the "reverse learning" theory, this idea suggests that we dream to get rid of undesirable connections and associations that build up in our brains throughout the day. Basically, dreams are garbage collection mechanisms, clearing our minds of useless thoughts and making way for better ones. Essentially, we dream in order to forget. Dreams help us eliminate the information overload of daily life and retain only the most important data. Consolidating what we've learned This theory flies in the face of the reverse learning theory, by suggesting that we actually dream to remember rather than forget. It's based on a number of studies that show people remember what they've learned better if they dream after learning it. Like Zhang's theory about long-term memory storage, this theory suggests that dreams help us retain what we've learned. The theory is bolstered by recent studies on trauma, which suggest that when people go to sleep right after a traumatic experience that they ar...