Altered mental states

Press, 29 October 1981, Page 18

Altered mental states

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At a time when much of our scientific curiosity has focused on outer space, a fewdedicated scientists have turned in the opposite direction.

They have journeyed within the collective mind of man. and have found mysteries as deep and provocative as those of the cosmos itself. What is consciousness?

On one level, of course, it is the rational, waking state of mind which enables us to function in our daily lives.

But what altered states of consciousness exist? Dreams? Hallucinations? The perceptions of the madman? Are there other states of consciousness, contained perhaps in the two-thirds of the human brain for which science has. to date, found no purpose? What is memory? Why and how do we summon glimpses of the past from the billions of stored particles in our personal computer banks? We know that the essence of life is transmitted from generation to generation through the chemistry in our genes. Perhaps 'memory is transmitted, as well, the way we pass our skin pigmentation, physical characteristics and survival instinct to our heirs. If so, how far back do such memories go? Do we have the capacity to revisit our primal selves or travel even further, recalling the life forms from’ which we

evolved before the so-called dawn of time? Many scientists believe that the answers lie in altered states of consciousness. If their speculation is confirmed, it will pose fresh questions.

Once having embarked on a journey to our own origins, what will we find? And will we change — anatomically and biologically — a question raised by the altered brain waves of psychedelic researchers and the changed appearance of schizophrenics from lucidity to madness. It has been proven that total isolation — achieved through immersion in a sealed tank of water, at a temperature and viscosity where the body experiences minimal gravity — can bring on an altered state of consciousness. So, too, will a host of substances, such as the “sacred mushrooms” of Central America. In the novel, “Altered States,” Paddy Chayefsky assimilated this vast body of x knowledge and took the experimentation to its next fascinating . and frightening stage. Ken Russell's film by the same name is based on that book. -

Under laboratory conditions, Eastern mystics have suspended such vital functions as blood pressure, body temperature and even pulse rate to the point of simulating death. William James, a dean of

American psychiatry’, experimented with nitrous oxide and peyote and wrote in 1929 of "potential forms of consciousness . . . parted from our normal waking state only by the flimsiest of screens."

Following similar experiments. the author and scientist. Aldous Huxley, wrote "The Doors of Perception.” in which he described “visions which were more real to me than the imperfect images of everyday life."

During a four year apprenticeship with a Yaqui "brujo”

— a shaman or medicine man — in north-western Mexico, the anthropologist. Carlos Castaneda, was indoctrinated into ancient religious rites involving psychotropic mushrooms. He later insisted that he had “left his body" to assume other animal forms, including those of our primal ancestors.

“Altered States” is a story of one such experiment.