Ordinary and non-ordinary states of consciousness

There are a large number of fields belonging to scientific psychology that have not yet been studied in depth, and yet they influence and in many cases determine our daily lives. One of these fields is that of consciousness and its non-ordinary or expanded states. Its study should be a priority, since it will allow understanding at a higher level not only the pathological variations of consciousness that end up generating disabling or maladaptive disorders, also their function when they occur spontaneously or are induced by practices or substances. This understanding would make possible a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and risks of these states, from both humanistic and neurobiological or biochemical perspectives.

In this hypothesis proposal, a possible explanation of the historical need for access to these states will be presented. This aims to continue exercising the work of reflection and push the wheel of knowledge a little, to thus encourage other authors to publish their hypotheses and one day, hopefully, be able to meet the definitive.

In this study of Online Psychology we will analyze the ordinary and non-ordinary states of consciousness to better understand our mind.

Index

1. Use of psychedelic drugs
2. Effects of psychedelic drugs on consciousness
3. Negative effects of psychedelic drugs on the mind
4. Family and friend relationships
5. Scientific debate on states of consciousness
6. Different types of state of consciousness
7. Why are psychedelics used
8. Nosto-transcendence hypothesis
9. Mechanisms
10. Need for expanded states of consciousness
11. Conclusions

Much of this text will focus on the use of psychedelic drugs, and this will serve as a starting point for the hypothesis, because if we want to address the issue of ordinary and non-ordinary states of consciousness, these tools and their effects are presented as study models ideals.

All use of psychoactive substances begins when an individual decides at a given moment, for some reason, to consume a substance. This decision is given by a need to satisfy, a need that, surprisingly, has not disappeared in thousands, rather millions, of years of history. The question is, then, what is the urgent need that throughout our history has led us to consume these substances. To delve into this question, it would first be convenient to briefly describe the effects that most psychedelics have.

On the one hand we have the effects that are relatively frequent in consumers. We are talking for example about alterations in the perception of reality, which range from minor distortions, such as hearing or seeing stimuli that are not present, to major distortions, such as the rethinking of the previous conception of abstract concepts such as the world, nature wave life.

These alterations of reality can be seen, and in fact in many cases actually do so, from two opposite poles. On the one hand it can be deduced that under the effects of a certain psychedelic one suffers visual or auditory hallucinations and quasi-psychotic distortions of reality are suffered; on the other hand it is also known that eThese substances sharpen the senses, and therefore when it were not hallucinations, there would also be these non-pathological variations in the sensory systems.

Regarding the possible rethinking of abstract concepts, in a person with a psychotic predisposition, surely these experiences would provoke a destabilization, unleashing paranoid pictures. However, it is also well known that the opening to new schemes of understanding the environment, through the transcendence of patterns previously believed to be immovable, favors a better adaptation of the individual, in terms of obtaining a greater degree of knowledge of the half.

If we take shelter in the biological definition of intelligence, which describes it as the adaptive capacity of an individual, we will reinforce this proposal, since a study (Kanazawa, 2010) proved the positive correlation between IQ and psychedelic use. The study made reference to the greater capacity of the most intelligent people to interact with new situations. Furthermore, smarter people would be prone to craving an interaction with psychedelic drugs, which in In essence, according to the author, they offer new scenarios in the face of pre-established paradigms in their sociocultural context and educational. This would lead, as has been said, to a better adaptation.

Another frequent effect of psychedelics is the induction of what can be defined as a set of pleasant sensations, such as they are joy, happiness or well-being. It is important to note that a study (Griffiths, 2011) conducted with volunteers who took psilocybin registered positive changes and increases in emotional well-being in his sample up to 14 months after the consumption. From this it follows that these are not just passing and superficial sensations, but rather the experience reaches very deep levels of the psyche, allowing learning and improvement of individual daily life that causes long-lasting states of well-being over time. Specifically, 94% of the sample indicated that the experiences in the sessions increased their well-being and life satisfaction.

It is phylogenetically understandable that we seek what is pleasant to us, but psychedelic experiences go beyond pure pleasures. This happiness is different from that induced by drugs that use other mechanisms of action, such as are cocaine or heroin, which would induce a type of euphoria or temporary evasion more intense.

Unlike these, psychedelics promote a type of well-being based on growth and self-analysis, in mechanisms that allow lasting changes. They are tools that, as is commonly said, offer a happiness that comes from within and not from without, although a priori it seems that it is not. Very likely they would also be addictive if the very source of well-being were the substance, however it is not.

Just as these substances are capable of causing experiences that take us to heaven, they are also capable of taking us to hell, paraphrasing Huxley. Although as seen in the last decades, visits to hell are really rare, occurring only when it exists anxious or depressive symptoms prior to the consumer, or when the environmental conditions in which it is consumed are not adequate.

Even less frequent are bad experiences that cause a cessation of consumption, since, apparently, difficult experiences with psychedelics are also learned, and valuable life lessons are obtained; Some authors even say that with these difficult experiences is when you learn the most, but in the end this depends on too many factors.

The best example of this is rituals with major psychedelics, such as peyote or ayahuasca. The vast majority of Amazonian indigenous people who have been interviewed on these matters report very hard ceremonies or "jobs", full of pain, vomiting, unpleasant visions, etc., and even so they continue to consume, since the experience allows them to access a series of learnings that they are not willing to give up.

Psychedelics they also frequently influence social aspects of the person. For all that has been said and other aspects, these experiences also generate or enhance aspects such as empathy, altruism or the feeling of belonging. In the Griffiths study cited above, the scale of positive social effects derived from the consumption of psilocybin was one of those that still showed high scores after 14 months.

In other substances in particular, in addition to explanations based on experiential factors, we can find biochemical explanations of this fact. This is the case with MDMA. This causes the release of oxytocin, which has not only been related to the generation or reinforcement of affective bonds, but also with the ability of an individual to feel more supported by those around him (Heinrichs et al., 2003).

The social area of ​​the person also includes family and work. In Griffiths' study, an increase in the quality of family relationships was also observed in his sample after the experience. In another small study (Oña, 2012), in which a sample of regular ayahuasca consumers was analyzed, it was observed again that at least in the relationship with parents, 73% of the sample experienced positive changes important.

These changes were due, according to the subjects, to the understanding and integration of past conflicts, in a renewed capacity to feel love towards them, to a more fluid emotional communication, or simply to a higher level of acceptance. Regarding its use, in the same study 77% of the sample also reported important changes from the consumption of ayahuasca. These changes were verbalized from a humanistic perspective, emphasizing that after drinking the drink they perceived the I work as an opportunity to do what they liked and thus grow as people, and not as a simple source of money. Among the sample collected there were many subjects who had left their work to do what they had wanted all their lives.

As is obvious, with the consumption of psychedelics too non-ordinary states are induced or expanded consciousness. It is difficult to define this concept objectively, but I will refer to one of the simplest and most clarifying definitions:

“A state of mind that can be subjectively recognized by an individual (or by an objective observer of that individual) as different, in psychological functions, from the 'normal' state of the individual "(Krippner, 1980).

This definition refers to all observable variability of consciousness, so we would understand that when any qualitative change in the common functions of our normal consciousness, we would be entering a non-ordinary state of consciousness. It seems to me particularly accurate to describe them from this point of view, since we must take into account that each individual, due to their characteristics genetic, psychological, physiological or biochemical among many others, lives in a certain state of consciousness, which can be more or less expanded.

These states are commonly understood from a psychopathological perspective, since in many disorders we find an altered consciousness, and clinically this symptom is understood as an indicator of some pathology.

There is a scientific debate, at least absurd in my opinion, that revolves around the possible classification of states of consciousness that differ from the most common, that is, the waking one emitting beta waves. Stanislav Grof, for example, a psychiatrist of Czech origin, has always defended the existence of non-ordinary non-pathological states of consciousness, with the exception of sleep. And it is that when we analyze in depth the states induced by psychedelics we find that:

1. In the state of psychedelic ecstasy there is a lack of hostility, which does preside over psychotic emergencies;
2. Ecstatic contents contain knowledge experiences, while psychotic experiences are characterized by delving into extravagant or stereotyped concepts;
3. The lucidity, understanding, and joy experienced in psychedelic states contrasts with the horror and dullness that characterize psychotic crises;
4. The fundamental experience in psychedelic ecstasy is happiness, while in psychotic experience it is perplexity and self-reference.

I prefer not to delve further into this topic, but I wanted to briefly justify my position before continuing, as I will write under the conviction that there really are non-ordinary states of consciousness, such as those produced by the consumption of psychedelics in healthy people, that are not pathological.

The main capacities or traits related to non-ordinary states of consciousness are many, and some authors have tried to write a large number of them. I will refer to the most outstanding of the work carried out by Agustín de la Herrán, which will illustrate in detail the attributes basic conditions of psychedelic states, provided that they occur, yes, in an appropriate way, in suitable environments, and in subjects appropriate.

1. Feeling of unity. As one advances in non-ordinary states of consciousness, this feeling of union with what subjects can describe as the cosmos, life or nature becomes evident. Some authors refer to this experience as cosmic union, and it is characterized by a sudden realization, similar to to the eureka phenomenon, which provokes in the subjects the feeling of being part of a great network that makes up the universe whole. In Chardin's terms, multiplicity becomes diversity, diversity becomes unity, and unity becomes uniqueness, and this becomes universality.
2. Wellness. When the state of consciousness is greatly expanded, the subjects show a greater facility to have less need for attachment to well-being, insofar as the person's center of attention revolves around less self-centered and deeper interests and generous. So the well-being that implies global or social well-being is sought, and the concept of well-being is changed. as a form of centripetal satisfaction, to be seen from consciousness or fullness self-fulfilling.
3. Serenity. People who have lived through or are under these psychedelic states have calmed down internally. We should not confuse, however, this inner serenity with the term serenity simply, since this The latter depends solely on impulse control, and the former comes from the state of consciousness or maturity; although it can manifest itself with behaviors typical of ordinary emotional serenity.
4. Attention. Non-ordinary states of consciousness imply a focusing of attention directed inward. These states are in principle opposed to dispersal, thus facilitating other common processes such as introspection.
5. Loneliness. The fact of reaching these states is related to "traveling alone" or longing for less frequent needs. As A. Maslow: "In the most advanced stages of development, the person is especially lonely and can only rely on himself." It should be added that the concept of loneliness also changes. It is a positive experience, understood as an absence of models, the reencounter with oneself, internalization, self-constructive and generous creativity, etc.
6. Love. The experience of psychedelic states is associated with more capable affective states and gradually higher states of love. By states of love is understood the capacity, depth and altruistic awareness of the loving behavior with the loved one, whose purpose is joint education. Thus, the evolutionary process of increasing complexity of consciousness, with which humanization can be summed up, could amount to the non-egocentric process of "amorization", according to Chardin.
7. Nature. The higher the state of consciousness, the more in tune with nature. The subject feels more participatory of it. He knows her better sensitively and aesthetically, he appreciates her more, but curiously he always focuses on the whole nature, that is to say, by the wild and by the created by man, or as the Greeks said, by the "crude", and by the "Cooked".

At this point we can get an idea of ​​what it means to meet these states of consciousness and the content of the experiences that they trigger. As we have seen, they mostly allow us to work on areas of the person that have probably never been worked on. One can speak of a humanistic, integrative, personal fulfillment work that can lead the individual to an authentic and permanent state of personal and social well-being.

Now that we have a clear idea of ​​the effects that all psychedelics produce to a greater or lesser degree, we can ask the initial question again: What inherently human need prompts us to consume them? It is a question that can hardly be given a definitive answer, but we can at least formulate plausible hypotheses from verifiable data.

The truth is that from an anthropological point of view, drugs, psychedelics for the most part, they are our evolutionary companions. More than 90% of cultures throughout human history have tirelessly searched for substances or methods to reach these states. We are talking about substances in the case of the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Siberia, of hemp in India or of mescaline cacti in Mexico; and we talk about methods referring to different processes or techniques created to obtain the same states visionaries without the need for ingestion of substances, which have been refined over centuries and millennia.

We have the examples of the breathing exercises (pranayama, Bastrikin, the Buddhist "breath of fire", the Sufi breath, the ketjak of Bali, the Inuit of the Eskimos), technologies sounds (percussion, bells, the use of sticks, bells, gongs, mantras), dances and other modalities of movement (whirling dervish, dances of the lamas, the transit dance of the Kalahari bushmen, artha yoga, qigong), social isolation and sensory deprivation (retreats in the desert, caves or mountains, the pursuit of vision), among many others (Grof, 2005).

We therefore accept that there is a historical need for access to these states of consciousness, more than specifically substance use. Consumption would only represent another way or method to access the apparently same states. Before addressing the hypothesis to explain this need, I would like to make a brief stop to talk about an issue that will contribute to the understanding of my proposal, this is human perception.

It is a demonstrable fact that what we perceive as reality is not a reflection of it, since the information and stimuli that come from the environment go through a series of filters that allow their interpretation. Leaving aside the basic processes of perception and stimulus transduction, I have classified these filters into three levels: biological, cultural and personal. The former include all those filters that carry out their work in the brain, once it has received the information from the different sensory channels.

This occurs first in the thalamus, and in successive stages in the frontal lobe and neocortex. This first level of filters is found in each and every one of us, and is unique and exclusive for each individual, since each one has cortical structures and thalamus cortical that have been formed based on its biographical history and load genetics. Cultural filters refer to the society and context in which the individual finds himself, and they are decisive in the whole process of perception of reality. They model it from religion or predominant beliefs, to customs, traditions or ways of interacting with other people. Finally, the personal filters would refer to all the cognitive constructions and patterns that each person has been forging during the friction with life. The personality characteristics, prejudices or learned behaviors would end up filtering everything that is perceived from the outside.

At this point we could add other well-known data to finish confirming that we do not perceive reality as it is, like the ridiculous wavelengths that we perceive, but I prefer not to go further into already known theoretical contents. I think that at the end of the day we have to be grateful for this fact, and not fall into a romantic longing to seek the authentic world or reality naked, since it is thanks to the fact that we are so efficient at filtering information from the world that we have been able to build societies current. After all, it may be healthier to adopt a posture of humility, accepting that it is not possible to grasp the whole of reality.

Having made these clarifications, we will begin to draw the Hypothesis of Nosto-transcendence, as I have called it. This hypothesis rests on four assumptions:

• The human being has a inescapable need for knowledge of the environment. This is due to the fact that a greater knowledge of the environment favors a better adaptation to it, and therefore guarantees a high probability of survival.
• The ordinary state of consciousness of each individual is naturally limited. This occurs with the objective of "taking refuge" before the very complex objective reality. The fewer expendable stimuli for survival we perceive, the more effective we will be in our personal and social practices.
• Non-ordinary states of consciousness allow access to more "reality". This is a fact demonstrated from different disciplines. There is evidence of decreased activity in the thalamus when a subject is administered psilocybin (Carhart-Harris, 2012); subjects under the effects of LSD pass the experiments based on the "empty mask" more successfully than control subjects (Passie, 2008), and a long etc. Ultimately, in these states, the filters that condition the perception of reality, and due to the expansion of ordinary consciousness, access is more fully to the reality.
• The experience of non-ordinary states of consciousness improves coexistence in society and satisfaction with life. As we have seen previously, the correct experience of psychedelic states entails a series of positive effects both for the person and for their society.

Noting that, approximately, for eight hours a day and for most days of our lives we are in non-ordinary states of consciousness, the need for access to said state. However, this hypothesis goes a step further, proposing that one of the reasons for this need is to adapt to the environment.

The mechanisms by which this process is carried out they can be several. In addition to the access to more “reality” mentioned in the third case, which in itself would generate a better adaptation, It is worth mentioning other possible mechanisms that are deeper, and therefore more complex, that would also be acting in this process. It may be that in these states the socio-cultural context in which one finds oneself is much more easily integrated.

Sleep, for example, would be a slow integrative process, whereby the relevant information for this purpose is updated daily. We can also suppose that the expanded states of consciousness induced by substances, when occurring in a much more intense way, and having These are the important component of consciousness, unlike in dreams, this integration process is much faster and effective.

We are referring to a catalytic process of understanding and absorption of culture. However, following the example of the use of psychedelics, the vast majority of users cross that first threshold, and transcends the values ​​and paradigms of their sociocultural context, to adopt a critical point of view on the same. Therefore, if we speak of subtle variations or extensions of the normal state of consciousness of the individual, we will find the first level of adaptation that has been discussed; that is, the increased understanding of culture, and consequently its ideal adaptation.

If we speak of considerable or extraordinary enlargements in the states of consciousness, we will probably find ourselves with the second level, in which we access what we could call the "genuine human culture", in which the predominant values ​​are nature and its fascination, respect and love towards everything that exists and towards one same, etc. It is important to note that the individuals who are incorporated into this "genuine human culture" do not become marginalized individuals within their culture. properly speaking, since they continue to live in it, and we can say that they even improve it, due to the increase in prosocial capacities that have already been commented.

This transcendence is due to the fact that as higher states of consciousness are reached, a process is born that, progressively, focuses attention on oneself; in this way, one passes to know the outer world to know the inner world. And in the latter, as is obvious, there are not artificially constructed societies, but the human culture that we all possess. That is the significance.

Experimentally, it is very easy to verify the need for access to expanded states of consciousness: simply, let's deprive someone of them to see what happens. For example, we can deprive you of the most common non-ordinary state: sleep. Currently there are more than legitimate ethical limitations that prevent the performance of this type of experiment, however, we do know its consequences, either through the study of people with chronic insomnia, the chronicles of torture based on this procedure, etc.

The consequences do not take long to appear: from the third day without sleep, visual and auditory hallucinations may appear. In addition, symptoms such as depression, anxiety, mood swings, irritability, disorientation, difficulties in concentration, attention and memory gradually appear.

TO priori We will think that these effects are due to the fact that in sleep the brain rests, and that when it does not, it begins to fail. But the truth is that during slow wave sleep, brain activity only declines by 20%, and during REM sleep, it works again at 100% (Hobson, 2003).

With this data we can continue to speculate. And it is that if the brain does not rest during sleep, it could be that the benefits of it come from access to an expanded state of consciousness, and the effects that appear in any individual when he does not sleep for days, are due to the permanence in the state of vigil.

This hypothesis proposes that expanded states of consciousness satisfy elemental human needs decisively. For this reason we have pursued psychoactive substances for millennia, usually from a deep respect and sacralization, as a fundamental part of well-established rituals that accompany consumption, which include fasts, pilgrimages, sacrifices or diets specials.

Unfortunately that respect that surrounded psychoactive substances began to fade at the end of the 19th century, and today it has been almost completely replaced by an irrational taboo from which every “decent” person must move away. It is irrational since the taboo is applied according to criteria of legality of the substance, and not of safety. And it is more than evident that drug legislation is not based, nor has it ever been, on the scientific evidence that exists regarding the drugs that are being legislated. Thus, we have a paradoxical scenario in which substances that have a historical use are punished and that they are pharmacologically safe, while the use of the most harmful drugs known, namely alcohol and tobacco, is permitted, and further promoted.

In addition to methods based on the ingestion of external elements, we have also developed and perfected practices or exercises through which you can access the same states of conscience.

These suppose an improvement for the own satisfaction with the life and for the coexistence in society, as the third assumption stipulates. Leaving aside all the commented aspects that favor these improvements, I would like to expand on a specific factor, and that is that many, if not all consumers of "Older" psychedelics point out that when they are in these heightened states of consciousness, they experience a very particular sense of return, "as if were at home. "

I postulate that for the ideal evolution of our species we had to "move away", in a way, from reality or our nature, which becomes evident if we re-analyze the filters through which the information of our environment. The human brain is a great filtering and processing machine that has allowed us to overcome other species and form more or less safe and stable societies. However, no matter how much we have moved away from our nature or from a broader perception of reality, we are still part of the animal kingdom. In this way, the expanded states of consciousness would represent a tool to temporarily return to what we are and, no matter how hard we try, we will always be.

The name of this hypothesis is partly due to this last reflection, since it tries to emphasize the evolutionary need for transcendence. However, a mere transcendence would mean a access to new knowledge or non-ordinary dimensions that have never been reached before, and in this case it is a transcendence towards something "known" or that is susceptible to being "remembered" (nostos-Greek root meaning return).

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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