An Analytical Framework for Altered States of Consciousness

Abstract

Altered states of consciousness (ASC) induced by meditation, psychedelic drugs, or impending death are quite a fascinating and important field of investigation. This paper argues that ASC essentially have nothing to do with consciousness, but a story about perception. Our study starts from summarizing four essential phenomena (hallucinations, paranormal phenomena, mystical experiences and enhanced awareness) in ASC. Then we propose an original model for hallucinations as a breakthrough: When false internal stimulations and external objective stimulations affect perception together, the changes in their relative strength will result in the consistence, breakdown and re-consistence of the five senses, leading to three basic states of hallucinations (one can distinguish reality from fantasy, one cannot distinguish reality from fantasy, and reality and fantasy are totally reversed). As an implication of this model, the third state of hallucinations suggests a novel hypothesis to interpret extrasensory perception (ESP): the essence of ESP is that false internal stimulations are mistaken as external objective stimulations which enter through sensory organs, while real external objective stimulations are mistaken as perceptions which do not result from sensory organs when one is in deep hallucinations. Moreover, in the second state of hallucinations, the inconsistence of the five senses can also explain various marvelous psychedelic phenomena in ASC in combination with the amplifying function of enhanced awareness discussed later and the mechanism of out-of-body experiences. Mystical experiences occur in Samatha. Based on the experiential description, it can be inferred that the essence of Samatha is perception shutting down to activate a new mode of apperceiving, one totally different from the usual five sense mode of perception. Hallucinations also disappear because perception shuts down. Compared with above phenomena, enhanced awareness is often neglected when discussing ASC. However, it is highly significant. In ordinary conditions, perception has a natural threshold for its sensitivity for the purpose of biological survival. But in non-ordinary states, awareness becomes more sensitive because the perception-filtering function gets weakened to allow the influx of more details, resulting in various unusual capabilities, one of which is Buddhist Vipassana. On the basis of above research, we develop a universal framework comprising two dimensions (three mechanisms and three stages) to study ASC. By figuring out the complex relationship among them, we reveal the mystery between Buddhist tranquility and insight: Vipassana after Samatha is the path to attain enlightenment.