Altered States of Consciousness

When we hear the term “altered states of consciousness,” psychedelics tend to flash in our minds.  Whether you have direct experience with psychedelics or not, we think of being swept from one state of consciousness to another state of consciousness that is remarkably different.  Obviously, reading about going to the moon and going to the moon are two vastly different experiences.  The same goes for altered states of consciousness.

So, an altered state, what does that look like?  Our day-to-day lives are stable in terms of how the framework of culture and society function.  We know what to expect from interactions with humans, how we exist within culture and society.  When a person enters an altered state, that framework melts away and everything comes into question.  New possibilities about how reality is designed and the way it functions come into the light.  Typically these considerations have never been in the person’s conscious mind before, they are striking and profound.

The assumption that our day-to-day experience of reality maps directly onto reality as it is, and any state outside of that is altered, is shortsighted.  The scientific community continues to find it acceptable to say that we don’t experience reality directly, as it is, we experience it through the filter of our human design.

The precise formulation and function of consciousness remain a mystery to the human mind; a humble and grounded position to begin any exploration of consciousness from.  With that said, wisdom schools from around the world offer useful insight.  The scientific community continues to contribute to the collection, the study of consciousness slowly becoming acceptable and supported.  Practices like meditation offer individuals a direct experience, an analytical tool of their own for observing consciousness.  And, we can enter altered states of consciousness through breathwork, meditation, various ritual practices, and psychedelics.  I would say that deep contemplation can alter our state of consciousness.  The degree of alteration will vary with the methodology used and a host of variables that make up the person’s consciousness at the time of the practice. 

Why wouldn’t we believe that our experience is reality as it is?  As a child growing up, we wouldn’t know to question our sense of reality.  Being alive, having the experiences we do day in and day out, there wouldn’t be a reason to question our sense of reality.  I would assume it is safe to say that initially, prehistoric humanity didn’t question the nature of reality, however, at some point, the question arose and spread.  Inside humanity is an inquisitive nature, we want to know.  It might be, as this platform will continue to build support for, that the nature of reality is to awaken to itself, a continual awakening process of a greater and greater degree of self-awareness.  Thus, it was always intended for humanity to come to a point of addressing the concept of altered states of consciousness.

The biggest reason we start to question our sense of reality is through the influence of culture and society around us.  We have an abundance of material and people promoting the questioning of reality and our experience within it, the odds of crossing paths with a person, documentary, movie, podcast, visual art, or book is high.  I would also acknowledge that not all people question the nature of reality, our experience of it; even when presented with material or conversation that would challenge them to.

What we experience is undoubtedly a reality, valid to our experiences as such; but it isn’t necessarily the capital “A,” capital “R,” Absolute Reality.  We can acknowledge our experience as a defined reality, we should, it is.  We have something within us that is uncomfortable with uncertainty, it doesn’t like the possibility that we are in an altered state, not in control.  As a seeker of truth, there is great value in becoming familiar with human psychology, knowing our primal biological and sociological programming.  Our perception and perspective are colored by the narratives of primal biology and sociological programming. 

Seeing the coloring or shading, seeing how they tint or influence our perception and perspective is powerful.  The ability to strip those shades of color, the influence, away from our targeted contemplation and view the topic of our analysis without their bias, watch out, we are going places.

Primal biology and sociological programming can be considered altered states of consciousness, functioning on the parameters of their design.  I stand by this, but if you showed up focused on more traditionally accepted forms of altered states this could be pushing the boundaries of your conceptual notion bubble a little hard.  

Gets weird, right?  The deeper into the rabbit hole a person goes the more the phrase “hard problem of consciousness” makes sense.  The hard problem of consciousness comes from David Chalmers in his Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness (1995) paper.