As Galileo Galilei needed a telescope to explore the heavens and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek a microscope to explore the world of microorganisms, one needs an “innerscope” to explore the inner landscapes of one’s own consciousness. Throughout history, different civilizations, societies, and cultures have used different innerscope technologies for bypassing the brain’s attention filters, thereby gaining awareness of non-local knowledge about the underlying nature of reality. In the next paragraphs, I list some of these technologies. I am not an expert in any of them, so the descriptions below are limited and intended merely as a quick reference. This is not a guide for reaching non-ordinary states of consciousness, or a guide of any other sort for that matter, and it does not contain advice, instructions, recipes, formulae or procedures of any kind. Readers interested in any particular technique should do further research before attempting to use it, for there are inherent risks associated to the use of each one of them. The proper evaluation of the suitability of each one of these techniques for one’s purposes and circumstances, and the eventual application of these techniques, both require thorough background research that cannot be limited to the information provided below. Finally, the list below is also admittedly incomplete, which reflects my limited knowledge of the subject rather than personal favoritism or prejudice against any particular approach.
Meditation, in its countless forms, is the quintessential and time-proven technology of awareness expansion. It has been practiced for millennia both in and out of a religious context. The goal of the practice is to steer our thought processes from the reactive, reflexive mode in which we live most of our waking lives, to a more relaxed state of inner awareness and receptiveness. Meditation generally involves techniques for disciplining one’s thoughts and attention mechanisms. For example, the technique used by one of the best-known schools of meditation in the West, the so-called school of “Transcendental Meditation,”1 comprises the mental repetition of a sound called a “mantra,” which aims, among other things, at focusing one’s attention. Particle physicist Dr. John Hagelin, a life-long meditator and alumnus, like me, of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), has proposed that deep meditative states bring one’s awareness in direct contact with a unified, non-local, underlying field of consciousness at the basis of all reality. He went on to identify this field of consciousness with the “unified field” entailed by the grand-unification theories of physics,2 one of which is of his own co-authorship.3
A thorough review of 75 scientific studies on meditation has identified non-ordinary states of awareness as one of its main psychological effects.4 It is this very effect that has been sought after and leveraged by mystics of all ages for the achievement of enlightenment and for accessing universal knowledge. However, it should also be noted that the same study has identified potential psychological side-effects of meditation, including relaxation-induced anxiety, disorientation, and mild dissociation. Therefore, despite our natural inclination to consider inconsequential a technique that entails purely the self-manipulation of one’s attention mechanisms, meditation clearly seems to work and, thus, should be approached with earnestness.
Meditation can be practiced by itself or used in combination with other technologies of awareness expansion, as listed below. In general, most – if not all – effective attempts at non-ordinary states of consciousness are likely to entail meditation in one form or another. After all, regardless of the other technologies potentially being deployed, some degree of intentional control over one’s own attention is essential in any thoughtful exploration of nature, objective or subjective.
Another technology of awareness expansion closely related to meditation is visualization. It entails more deliberate control of one’s own mental imagery and feelings. While meditation tends to be more passive and receptive, visualization entails the very active and purposeful control of one’s stream of thoughts. Visualization has been a foundation technique for the achievement of mystical insight in traditional schools of Esotericism, like the Rosicrucian school. In a now rare book titled “Messages from the Celestial Sanctum,”5 French Rosicrucian Raymond Bernard walks the reader through his visualization technique. He also illustrates the results achieved by articulating and reporting the “messages” – that is, the insights – he received through the application of this technique. The key to the technique is the use of one’s focused imagination to create and project onto the screen of one’s own mind a dreamed up scenario conducive to receiving the kind of guidance or knowledge being sought. Like a designed dream, at the pinnacle of the visualization process one is meant to become so immersed in the scenario chosen that the process becomes autonomous, no longer requiring active effort. It appears that it is at this point that a knowledge influx is received.
The most natural criticism against visualization as a technique for exploration and discovery is that it may embody an obvious form of self-deception. After all, one may be creating, through active application of the imagination, the very “knowledge” that one believes to be receiving. However, the premise is that the imagery being visualized simply dresses, clothes the knowledge being received in forms and symbols that can be recognized and interpreted by the rational mind, the underlying knowledge itself coming from outside the brain. As Bernard explains, at the culmination of the visualization one must let go of all intentional effort, becoming passive and receptive to the influx of impressions. This influx can last anywhere between a fraction of a second and several minutes, or even longer. In all cases, however, it seems that it is only after the completion of the intuitive influx that one is able to begin articulating the knowledge received according to regular brain processes and language structures.
The technologies of awareness expansion discussed thus far entail no more than the purposeful manipulation of one’s own mental processes. Therefore, in principle, they can be practiced anywhere, fairly inconspicuously. That said, doing it in an environment of sensory deprivation seems to be by far the easiest way to achieve an unambiguous influx of impressions. Distractions in the form of light or noise can make it very difficult to tune in to those signals. In my own experience, meditation and visualization, when used for the purposes discussed here, are best practiced in isolation, in a quiet and dark room. An even more effective alternative, when one has the means to do so safely, may be to practice these techniques out in nature, in an isolated place, at night.
Another technology for achieving non-ordinary states of consciousness that naturally requires silence and darkness is lucid dreaming. Dreams are, in themselves, non-ordinary states of consciousness. Psychiatrist Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, saw dreams as a way to access the collective unconscious.6 The latter, he described in the following way: “In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature […], there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals.”7 Clearly, the collective unconscious is somewhat related to the idea of a universal memory of qualia. To the extent that dreams can tap into the collective unconscious, they could entail a state of consciousness suitable for accessing knowledge unavailable to objective perception. Moreover, a careful scientific study, carried out in 2004 by Harvard University’s Dr. Daniel Wegner and collaborators, shows that dreams seem particularly effective at bringing to awareness mental content that has been suppressed in ordinary states of consciousness. In the conclusion of their paper, Dr. Wegner wrote that “suppressed thoughts apparently assert themselves in dreams whether they are about wished-for targets or not. The rebound of suppressed thoughts in dreams may be interpretable in terms of the influence of changes in brain activation during REM sleep on mental control processes. The relative deactivation of prefrontal areas associated with executive control that occurs during dreaming could undermine the effectiveness of the suppression operating process.”8 So the dream state in general seems promising as a vehicle for subjective exploration, given the “mind at large” hypothesis formulated in the previous chapter. What makes a lucid dream even more interesting is that, in it, the dreamer: is perfectly aware that he or she is in a dream; preserves his or her ability to reason logically and critically about what is being experienced; and can even exert control over the unfolding of the dream through visualization. It is these features that allow one to make purposeful and critical use of the dream state as a tool of subjective exploration. Lucid dreams seem also to be less difficult to remember afterwards, an important advantage over regular dreams when one plans on extracting lasting conclusions from the experience.
Though lucid dreams can happen spontaneously, they can also be purposefully and systematically induced. As such, they can be initiated either from a normal dream (“Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream,” or DILD) or directly from a regular waking state (“Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream,” or WILD). Drifting into a lucid dream directly from a waking state, without any loss of awareness in between, can be both very disconcerting and highly gratifying; one may suddenly find oneself already fully immersed in an alternative reality, while in full possession of one’s reasoning and analytical skills. This, in my view, is a truly unparalleled, confounding, and ecstatic experience. It provides an unambiguous demonstration of the power of the psyche to create a coherent, seemingly autonomous reality for its own experience. People who have never had a clear lucid dream may be skeptical about it. It may then be interesting to note that lucid dreams have been scientifically demonstrated to be a fact.9
Psychophysiologist Dr. Stephen LaBerge has been an influential researcher and educator in the field of lucid dreaming. He is the founder of “The Lucidity Institute,” an organization dedicated to the research of lucid dreams, the development of techniques for inducing them, and the education of people interested in attempting lucid dreaming. Dr. LaBerge has written many articles and books on lucid dreams, exploring their main characteristics, potential risks, and techniques for achieving lucid dream states. A thorough guide for anyone interested in the subject is his book “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.”10
Unlike meditation, visualization, and lucid dreaming, Yoga is not a purely mental practice. It is a time-honored technology of awareness expansion that entails breathing techniques and the performance of specific physical movements and postures. In Western society, it has been often used as a mere physical exercise for its widely recognized health benefits, including psychological ones.11 However, for the spiritual seeker, yoga is a physical aid to the practice of meditation. It helps the meditator reach non-ordinary states of awareness by, for instance, conditioning the organism in such a way that mental or physical distractions do not become an impediment to introspection. As with any physical activity, caution and medical orientation are advisable when practicing yoga, in case of pre-existing medical conditions.
Brain entrainment, on the other hand, is a technique to induce the synchronization of brain waves with an external, rhythmic stimulus of a chosen frequency.12 The stimulus usually takes the form of an audio-visual signal generated by a so-called “mind machine.” A mind machine, sometimes also called a “psycho walkman,” typically comprises a control unit, headphones, and a pair of goggles housing light-emitting diodes. Some mind machines are enhanced with sophisticated biofeedback mechanisms that, based on the user’s biophysical responses, adjust onthe-fly the frequency of the stimulus being generated. When wearing a mind machine, one’s perceptions become dominated by the rhythmic pulses played through the headphones and the flashing lights displayed in the goggles. The idea is the following: different states of consciousness, including deeply meditative states, are associated to brain waves of specific frequency ranges; by focusing on the rhythmic sounds and flashing lights of a mind machine, one’s brain waves fall naturally in step with the external stimulus; therefore, when this external stimulus is chosen so as to correspond to the frequency of deeply meditative states, it helps induce such states on the user. Indeed, scientific evidence indicates that entrainment is an effective method for inducing non-ordinary states of consciousness.13
Largely because of our hectic lives in modern society, it can be difficult to successfully entrain one’s brain, in a single step, from a stressed to a deeply meditative state. For this reason, many mind machines come with pre-programmed sessions that take the user, in several, progressive steps, through a sequence of stimuli of different frequencies. Some of these sessions are even programmed to go as far as inducing a nap or sleep – both conducive to lucid dreaming, if one knows what one is doing – and they can be surprisingly effective at it. Initially at least, it may be a good idea to use these pre-programmed sessions, for they are often based on best-practices learned from what seems to work for most people. That said, we are all individuals with unique characteristics. Many mind machines therefore allow their users to program new, customized sessions themselves, with the aid of computer software. This way, you can construct your own sequence of stimuli to optimally take you from your regular state of consciousness to a non-ordinary one. It takes time to learn what works best for you and extensive trial and error may be required, with initially frustrating results. Nonetheless, this may be a case where patience and perseverance ultimately do pay off.
Some of the more advanced mind machines are equipped with special goggles capable of generating the so-called “Ganzfeld” effect.14 The goggles generate a uniform, undifferentiated, featureless field of light that occupies practically the entire visual field of the user. Unable to pick any patterns out of the featureless visual stimulus, the brain switches off the signals from the eyes and starts amplifying internal neural signals instead, in a last-ditch attempt to look for visual cues. These purely internal signals, which would normally be overwhelmed by visual stimuli and remain under the threshold of conscious perception, are now interpreted by the visual cortex as images. The result, as shown by psychologist Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s, is a heightened propensity to visual “hallucinations.” The question, of course, is whether these supposedly hallucinated images are actually real, valid impressions imprinted onto the brain by a non-local field of consciousness, albeit normally falling below the threshold of awareness. Surprisingly, scientific analysis has indeed shown that such possibility is plausible.15 If that is the case, then the Ganzfeld effect could be helpful in accessing valid knowledge otherwise unavailable to our five senses. A mind machine session that initially takes you, through an optimal sequence of different stimuli, from an ordinary to a non-ordinary state of consciousness, and then ends with a prolonged and silent Ganzfeld period, may produce highly rewarding results.
It should be noted that most mind machines expose the user to flashing lights and intense visual patterns. With some people, this can cause seizures.16 It is prudent to always read the accompanying instructions and eventual contraindications before using any mind machine.
A mind machine is basically an externally-operating, wearable aid to meditation. There also exist internally-operating, consumable aids called entheogens. These are naturally-occurring, psychoactive substances used for the purpose of chemically inducing, or helping induce, a non-ordinary state of consciousness. They have been used by traditional cultures throughout history and across the world in religious, spiritual, and shamanic contexts. They have also been used as medicines, the effectiveness of such use having been carefully and extensively documented in two scholarly tomes – totaling 728 pages(!) – by Michael Winkelman and Thomas Roberts.17 The traditional use of entheogens entails the consumption of plants or fungi that naturally contain the psychoactive compound. Here are some examples of entheogens: ibogaine, traditionally used in Africa, is a compound contained in the root of the Iboga plant (Tabernanthe iboga); psilocybin and psilocin are alkaloids contained in many different species of mushrooms and truffles traditionally consumed for religious and shamanic purposes, particularly in Central America; Mescaline is the active compound of the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii), legally used in religious rituals of Native American Indians in the USA; DMT is a psychoactive compound naturally present in the human body and in many species of plants. In South America, DMT has a history of traditional use as the main active component of, for instance, the ayahuasca brew – also called yagé, hoasca, and several other names – legally used as a sacrament by some churches in Brazil, as well as by indigenous shamans across the continent.
My limited literature review indicates overwhelmingly that entheogens, by and large, are not physically addictive. In fact, entheogens have been used precisely in the treatment of severe chemical dependencies like heroin, alcohol, and nicotine addiction.18 Although most entheogens were made illegal in most countries starting with the psychedelic backlash of the late 1960s – due largely to their chemical similarity with the synthetic drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) – at the time this book was written there appeared to be countries, jurisdictions, and circumstances in the world in which each of the entheogens mentioned above could be consumed legally. Depending on where one lives and on which entheogen one wants to experiment with, reaching these jurisdictions may require long-distance and difficult travel. This is often discouraging. Therefore, let me state unequivocally here that I do not recommend nor in any way encourage the breaking of the law of the land, not even in cases where scientific studies may contradict the premises of this law. Moreover, even where the consumption of an entheogen is entirely legal, it is my view that legality is no substitute for abundant caution, good judgment, and responsibility when one is considering the eventual use of these powerful substances.
Terence McKenna, an expert in both the phenomenology and pharmacology of entheogens, has suggested that the trypta-mines are the most effective psychoactive compounds for accessing knowledge “that seemed not to be drawn from the personal history of the individual or even from the collective human experience.”19 He referred to the source of this knowledge as the “Logos.”20 Of the list of entheogens mentioned above, the tryptamines are psilocybin, psilocin, and DMT. In the human body, psilocybin is quickly metabolized into psilocin, which is the compound actually responsible for the awareness expansion effects. Therefore, our short list of tryptamines consists simply of psilocin and DMT. Now, psilocin is 4-hydroxy-dimethyltryptamine, while DMT is N,N-dimethyltryptamine. Both are chemically very similar to serotonin, which is 5-hydroxytryptamine. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter in the human nervous system. It is thus thought that tryptamine entheogens perturb ordinary brain function by fitting into the serotonin receptors of brain cells. In a way, tryptamine entheogens are believed to mimic the action of serotonin in the brain, mediating thought and perception like serotonin does, though obviously with different effects. The specific mechanisms by means of which this induces transcendent experiences are not understood, for the mechanisms of consciousness are themselves not understood. Nonetheless, it is a speculative possibility that tryptamine entheogens, when acting in lieu of serotonin, enable a bypass of certain evolved filtering mechanisms of the brain.
Since the 1990s, scientific studies inspired by the potentially beneficial psychological effects of tryptamine entheogens have resumed. The first of these studies was that carried out by Rick Strassman, M.D., at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine. Dr. Strassman administered DMT to sixty healthy human volunteers and thoroughly measured both their physiological and psychological responses. He was surprised with the intense influx of peculiar impressions reported by his volunteers. As he wrote, the volunteers “unquestionably had some of the most intense, unusual, and unexpected experiences of their lives. [DMT] thrust research subjects into themselves, out of their bodies, and through various planes of reality.”21 Volunteers’ reports forced Dr. Strassman to reconsider his reductionist model of the visionary experience. As he wrote, “it is almost inconceivable that a chemical as simple as DMT could provide access to such an amazingly varied array of experiences.”22 He went on to acknowledge the possibility that the impressions received by his volunteers may have indeed come, somehow, from outside their heads and may have been, at some level, ontologically valid – that is, real. In a later work, Dr. Strassman went on to write what, in my view, is a lucid and responsible orientation for those interested in tryptamine entheogens.23
In 2006, another study of tryptamine effects, this time at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins’ Medical School, investigated the efficacy of psilocybin – that is, of psilocin – in treating depression and death anxiety in cancer patients. In their conclusions, the researchers wrote that “psilocybin, when administered under comfortable, structured, interpersonally supported conditions to volunteers who reported regular participation in religious or spiritual activities, occasioned experiences which had marked similarities to classic mystical experiences and which were rated by volunteers as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance. Furthermore, the volunteers attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior that were consistent with changes rated by friends and family.”24
The consumption of entheogens can potentially have undesirable side-effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, accelerated heart rate, elevated blood pressure, anxiety attacks, dissociation, temporary psychosis, etc. Depending on one’s physical and psychological predispositions, existing medical conditions, and the manner and circumstances of consumption, these side-effects can become dangerous and even life-threatening. Possession and consumption of most entheogens is also illegal in most jurisdictions, carrying severe penalties. Therefore, more so than for any other technology of awareness expansion discussed here, caution and extensive background research are indispensible before anyone should even consider experimenting with entheogens.25
Such undesirable facts and circumstances have motivated psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D., together with his wife, to develop a method that could reproduce the non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by entheogens, but without the consumption of the substances themselves. The result of this work is now known as “Holotropic Breathwork,”26 a technique involving group work, intensified breathing, listening to evocative music, a form of focused bodywork, and the drawing of mandalas. The main causal element in the efficacy of Holotropic Breathwork seems to be the intensified breathing, or voluntary hyperventilation. Hyperventilation is known to raise the alkalinity level of the blood and cause constriction of blood vessels in the brain. This, naturally, perturbs ordinary brain function and is a reason why lightheadedness and fainting are sometimes observed in association with hyperventilation. Interestingly, in an article published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, it has been suggested that, through a process related to psychological dissociation, Holotropic Breathwork may reduce the efficacy of certain brain filters, “resulting in disinhibition of previously avoided or ‘suppressed’ internal stimuli.”27 Holotropic Breathwork, like all technologies discussed here, has contraindications and potential side-effects, and should be done under qualified supervision.
There are many other techniques of awareness expansion. Ancient Greeks used to descend into dark caves seeking the sensory deprivation that elicited non-ordinary states of consciousness. Through these non-ordinary states they believed they could access the ultimate wisdom, or “the immortals’ knowledge.”28 Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order use a form of spinning dance that also induces a trance, by means of which they hope to reach the source of all perfection. In the Christian West, it has been known that religious experientialists and people of strong and authentic religious faith seem able to achieve gnosis through intense prayer and other forms of worship. Even hypnosis has been used as a technique for inducing mystical trances.29 There are just too many different technologies to mention here at any length. I hope the incomplete list I have tried to compile serves as a starting point for further research by anyone interested in deepening his or her knowledge of the subject.
When an individual technique of awareness expansion is not effective or sufficient for the achievement of an unambiguous experience, some of the technologies described can, in principle, be combined for enhanced effect. Extra caution and conservatism are prudent in such cases, for the result may turn out to be more intense than one has bargained for. Different techniques, and different combinations, seem to work better for different people. I have known people who, after years of dedicated training and effort, believe to have never truly reached non-ordinary states of consciousness through meditation or visualization; others seem to succeed after the first of second attempt, to their own amazement and surprise, and the envy of their peers. Some people whom I shared my mind machine with have found it extraordinary; others have dismissed it as a nonsensical gizmo. It seems that there are no set rules for what works with each individual.
All the techniques discussed here aim at lowering certain attention barriers in the brain to enable the influx of knowledge being sought. But by doing precisely that, all of these techniques can potentially lower our defenses against our own hidden fears, frustrations, and all manner of buried, negative images, thought patterns, and pathological behaviors, making us temporarily vulnerable to them. Caution and good judgment are indicated.