New Insights into ESP, Hallucinations and ASC

Abstract: From a unique perspective, this paper attempts to make a new interpretation of Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) induced by meditation, mind-altering drugs, hypnosis, or physiological lesion. On the basis of empirical materials, we summarizes four essential phenomena (hallucinations, paranormal phenomena, the more sensitive awareness and mystical experiences) in ASC after an initial clarification. However, the existence of paranormal phenomena, especially extrasensory perception (ESP), has been disputed for more than one century. Therefore, taking ESP as a breakthrough, we firstly propose a novel hypothesis that ESP happens because there are two pathways to affect perception and the essence of ESP is that internal false stimulations are mistaken as external objective stimulations which enter through various senses and external objective stimulations as perceptions which do not result from various senses when one is in deep hallucinations. To support this hypothesis, which is totally different from “quantum entanglement” and “multidimensional space-time”, we then develop an original model of hallucinations: When internal false stimulations and external objective stimulations affect perception together, the changes in the relation of their strength will result in the consistence, breakdown and re-consistence of the five senses, leading to three states of hallucinations (one can distinguish reality from fantasy, one cannot distinguish reality from fantasy, and reality and fantasy are totally reversed). This model can also explain the generation mechanism of out-of-body experiences, synesthesia and many other marvelous psychedelic phenomena in ASC. After that, a new filtering model is presented to explain the more sensitive awareness and its potential value is explored. On such basis, a unified analytical framework will be made to reveal the essence of ASC: The loss of the self results in three mechanisms (the more sensitive awareness, hallucinations and jhāna samādhi) and the relation of them is figured out. Finally, this paper also reveals the essence of the Buddhist deep insight and the mystery of cessation and insight.

Keywords: Extrasensory perception (ESP); hallucinations; paranormal phenomena; altered states of consciousness (ASC); filtering hypothesis

1.     Introduction

According to modern psychology, Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) refer to those mental states induced by meditation, mind-altering drugs, hypnosis, or physiological lesion, which deviates from the normal waking state of consciousness. In psychology, ASC are quite an important, fascinating yet very sensitive field of investigation.

Based on positive philosophy, behavioral psychology once excluded ASC out of scientific investigation. The research on ASC did not revive until the 1960s. There are two paradigms in the mainstream of psychological penetration into ASC: The paradigm of scientific experimentation and the paradigm of theoretical research. The former focuses on the physiological mechanism of ASC from the perspectives of neurophysiology and cognitive psychology, while the latter, embracing a phenomenological methodology, categorizes and describes different states of consciousness so as to comprehensively reveal the relationship among various states of consciousness and its changing rules. But due to the difficulty in approaching subjective consciousness in a positive research and their conservative attitude, their research has failed to make significant breakthroughs thus far.

Different from the above mainstream psychology, non-mainstream psychology, for quite a long time, has been sticking to a “brain-filtering model” to explain ASC.

This model is popularized by Aldous Huxley in his book The Doors of Perception. The origins of the model lie in the work of the French philosopher Henri Bergson, particularly in his book Matter and Memory, and were then refined by Cambridge philosopher C. D. Broad. Huxley, however, moves too far from his predecessors: His focus on filtering consciousness, that is, his “Mind at Large” hypothesis is far beyond the previous filtering memory and external information. Actually, as early as the turn of the 20^th century, Frederic Meyer and William James had set forth similar filtering theories. In their view, existences are independent of consciousness, and the main function of human brain is to filter massive consciousness, including hallucinations, paranormal phenomena, mystical experiences, etc. These are usually called “expanded consciousness”, same as Huxley’s “Mind at Large”. The followers (Robert G. Jahn, Edward F. Kelly and so on) remain within this scope. Even though this “brain-filtering model” seems to be able to give a neat and comprehensive explanation of many phenomena in ASC by focusing on the changes of the filtering function, it has long been excluded by the mainstream psychology. This exclusion has two reasons. One is that its oversimplification in methodology means that the question to be considered becomes a black box, which is difficult to be falsified. The other is that this model breaches the materialist creed and embraces dualism or idealism.

To sum up, much more efforts in modern psychology are to be made to investigate ASC, and there is a long way to go to reach an agreement on the essence of ASC. This paper attempts to make a whole new interpretation of ASC. On the basis of empirical materials, we summarizes four essential phenomena (hallucinations, paranormal phenomena, the more sensitive awareness and mystical experiences) in ASC after an initial clarification. However, the existence of paranormal phenomena, especially extrasensory perception (ESP), has been disputed for more than one century. Therefore, taking ESP as a breakthrough, we firstly propose a novel hypothesis that ESP happens because there are two pathways to affect perception and the essence of ESP is that internal false stimulations are mistaken as external objective stimulations which enter through various senses and external objective stimulations as perceptions which do not result from various senses when one is in deep hallucinations. To support this hypothesis, we then develop an original model of hallucinations: When internal false stimulations and external objective stimulations affect perception together, the changes in the relation of their strength will result in the consistence, breakdown and re-consistence of the five senses, leading to three states of hallucinations (one can distinguish reality from fantasy, one cannot distinguish reality from fantasy, and reality and fantasy are totally reversed). This model can also explain the generation mechanism of out-of-body experiences, synesthesia and many other marvelous psychedelic phenomena in ASC. After that, a new filtering model is presented to explain the more sensitive awareness and its potential value is explored. On such basis, a unified analytical framework will be made to reveal the essence of ASC: The loss of the self results in three mechanisms (the more sensitive awareness, hallucinations and jhāna samādhi) and the relation of them is figured out. Finally, this paper also reveals the essence of the Buddhist deep insight and the mystery of cessation and insight.

2.     An Initial Summary of the Empirical Documents

There are four document sources for this research: the discussions of LSD-caused experiences by Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and so on, the descriptions of meditation by Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Maha Boowa and so on, the research on hypnosis by Irving Kirsch, Steven Lynn and Marin Orne, and the physiological lesion cases of Jill Taylor, etc. A close reading reveals two main rules governing these documents:

One is that all kinds of ASC (caused by meditation, mind-altering drugs, hypnosis, physiological lesion and so on) have one point in common: starting from the loss of the self. That is to say, the loss of the self is the direct reason for ASC, while other causes are different ways for one to attain the loss of the self.

The other is that all kinds of ASC have four essential phenomena: hallucinations, supernatural phenomena, the more sensitive awareness and mystical experiences.

According to the experiential descriptions, hallucinations are the most common phenomena in ASC; paranormal phenomena or PSI include ESP, out-of-body experiences, psychokinesis and so on; the more sensitive awareness demonstrates itself in the improvement of hearing, observation, sense of touch, etc.; mystical experiences happen in what people usually call jhāna samādhi.

Among the four essential phenomena, the existence of paranormal phenomena, especially ESP, is the most controversial: On the one hand, the scientific consensus rejects ESP due to the absence of a convincing experimental evidence base and the lack of a theory which could explain ESP; on the other hand, there are so many anecdotal reports supporting the notion that genuine ESP do occur. To get out of the dilemma, we firstly propose a novel hypothesis instead of “quantum entanglement” and “multidimensional space-time” to interpret ESP.

3.     A Novel Hypothesis of ESP

By definition in modern psychology, hallucinations are perceptions that occur in the absence of external objective stimulation, namely, perceptions by internal false stimulation. Therefore, perceptions can occur in two ways. One is that external objective stimulation affects perception through sensation, while the other is that internal false stimulation directly affects perception.

Accordingly, here is our hypothesis: when internal false stimulation is far stronger than external objective stimulation, ESP happens because internal false stimulations are mistaken as external objective stimulations which enter through various senses and external objective stimulations as perceptions which do not result from various senses.

To support this hypothesis, we then develop an original model of hallucinations.

4.     A Original Model of Hallucinations

When internal false stimulations and external objective stimulations affect perception together, the changes in the relation of their strength will result in the consistence, breakdown and re-consistence of the five senses, leading to three states of hallucinations: “elementary hallucinations” (one can distinguish reality from fantasy), “deranged hallucinations” (one cannot distinguish reality from fantasy) and “complete hallucinations” (reality and fantasy are totally reversed). Generally, the consistence of the five senses makes one feel calm, while the inconsistence of the five senses makes one feel uneasy.

1.       “Elementary hallucinations”

When internal stimulation is far weaker than external stimulation, one is in “elementary hallucinations” in which the five senses originating externally are consistent. Therefore, when hallucinations occur, he can detect that the internal stimulations are not in accordance with the external objective scene, and determine that such stimulations are hallucinations.

2.      “Deranged hallucinations”

The shift from “elementary hallucinations” to “deranged hallucinations” happens because internal false stimulation becomes stronger enough to break the consistence of the five senses originating externally. Since internal stimulation is almost equal to external stimulation, the five senses are inconsistent in this condition. This would result in the confusion among the five senses, making it difficult or impossible to determine which is real.

Moreover, the inconsistence of the five senses can also explain the generation mechanism of out-of-body experiences and synesthesia. According to Henrik Ehrsson’s experiment, the inconsistence of vision and touching would result in the illusion of being out of body; and in “deranged hallucinations”, it is very easy to cause the inconsistence of vision and touching. Seeing a sound or hearing a picture results from the mismatch of the two pairs of five senses: For instance, when the external hearing is much stronger than its counterpart and the external vision is much weaker than its counterpart, one will naturally mismatch the objective hearing and the false vision, that’s, experiencing synesthesia.

Furthermore, for some unknown mechanisms, the inconsistence of the five senses makes it possible to integrate internal and external stimulations together in this condition. The integration (not simple superposition) of internal and external stimulations, especially visual and tactile stimulations, combined with the amplification along with the more sensitive awareness which will be probed in next chapter, would bring about various marvelous psychedelic phenomena in ASC.

3.       “Complete hallucinations”

The shift from “deranged hallucinations” into “complete hallucinations” happens because internal false stimulation becomes further stronger to form a new consistence of the five senses originating internally. In this condition, different kinds of stable, complete and vivid imaginary scenes would be formed so that one is totally lost in fantasies and the external objective world is usually ignored. 

However, some external objective stimulations could become stronger at times. At this moment, since the five senses originating internally are consistent, he can detect that such external stimulations are not in accordance with the imaginary scenes.

In this situation, since he regards all internal false stimulation as real and actually has no idea of what is real or false, one would naturally treat the inconsistent and “unexplainable” external stimulation as information acquired through psychic abilities such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, telepathy or precognition, that’s, extrasensory perception. This is opposite to the previous “elementary hallucinations”. The former is the stronger external against the weaker internal while the latter is the weaker external against the stronger internal. We can call it “the real is the false when the false is treated as real”. Obviously, it is a wonderful experience to watch the real world from another imaginary world.

Especially, the interpretation of external tactile sensation for one in “complete hallucinations” is much more fancy and subtle. When somebody or some objects in the real world collide with him, since he cannot find the counterpart in the imaginary world, it would induce the illusion that forces could act on an object without contact. We do think that it is the source of believing psychokinesis for some people.

4.      Conclusion

For convenience of further discussion, we define “deranged hallucinations” as the first stage and “complete hallucinations” as the second stage of “deep hallucinations”. According to the experiential descriptions, the so-called paranormal phenomena usually appear in “deep hallucinations”. However, the above analysis suggests that there are no paranormal phenomena in ASC at all, and they are simply illusions which happens along with “deep hallucinations”. But many people who claim to have experienced them, firmly hold that they are real. The reason lies in that waking from “deep hallucinations” is essentially different from waking from dreams. In dreams, the sensation of five senses shuts down and all the stimulations perception receives are internal and false. Therefore, one can easily determine that he was dreaming after waking. However, in “deranged hallucinations”, both internal and external stimulations affect perception and their strengths are similar. As a result, once waking up, one cannot clearly determine what parts were reality and what parts were hallucinations. Furthermore, in “complete hallucinations”, since reality and fantasy are totally reversed, it seems that ESP “truly” happened. Consequently, once waking up, one would wrongly believe that he really has the psychic abilities in that state.

5.     A New Filtering Model and the More Sensitive Awareness

In ASC, awareness becomes more sensitive, for instance, much more sensitive vision (detecting more features and details than usual), much more sensitive hearing and much stronger memory (even recalling the memory in infancy). But compared with hallucinations and mystical experiences, the more sensitive awareness is often ignored. Actually, it is of great significance in ASC. In this chapter, we will build a new filtering model to explain the phenomenon.

Among the numerous documents, the original discussion of memory and perception by Henri Bergson may be a good starting point: “Each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and of perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe. The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful.” (C. D. Broad)

We can deduce from Bergson’s discussion that perception has a natural threshold for its sensitivity in ordinary conditions and that perception becomes more sensitive in abnormal conditions when the brain-filtering function gets weakened to allow the influx of more details.

On this basis, we can extend our analysis: To make biological survival possible, the increase of external information and internal memory does not always mean better, and being more aware of various internal feelings, thinking and instincts/intuitions does not always mean better either. When the brain-filtering function gets weakened, the internal awareness also becomes more sensitive. And this is our new filtering model.

Even though the cores of both the new model and the old “brain-filtering model” are the filtering mechanism, the former studies how the brain-filtering mechanism allows parts of the information of both the internal and the external to attain consciousness, while the latter discusses how the brain filters “expanded consciousness”. It is obvious that they are distinct from each other.

It is also needed to point out that the filter model of attention or selective attention theory (Donald Broadbent) in modern psychology discusses the filtering mechanism related to the immediate target and purpose of survival. However, our new model focuses on the filtering function related to the purpose of survival at any moment.

The new filtering model indicates that the brain has greater potentials in every aspect, but in ordinary conditions, they do not show themselves, and that moderation and harmony, instead of perfection, is the best strategy to make biological survival possible. But in certain conditions, they can demonstrate their unusual capabilities because of the more sensitive awareness. In this sense, many geniuses are unusual people who have uncommon control over perception. This also means that, different from the common sense, the unusual capabilities are not related to the unconsciousness, but to the more sensitive awareness in consciousness.

6.     On Jhāna Samādhi

It is still unknown to the generation mechanism of jhāna samādhi. But according to the experiential descriptions of plenty of people who have such experiences, thinking activities halt due to the obliteration of the self in jhāna samādhi. At the same time, perception shuts down to activate a new mode of apperceiving, one totally different from the usual five-sense mode of perception. One feels that he and the universe assimilate each other and everything in daily life, even himself, disappears. Such experiences are so-called mystical experiences. At this moment, both consciousness and the unconscious disappear, which we call a state of super-consciousness and super-perception.

7.     The Essence of ASC

The loss of the self results in three mechanisms: the more sensitive awareness, hallucinations and jhāna samādhi. The first one belongs to consciousness, the second to the unconsciousness and the third to super-consciousness. The first two mechanisms are related to perception, while the third is a mechanism of super-perception.

Then, along the line of the process of loss and recovery of the self, we will give a unified analytical framework, which is also based on the empirical documents of the experiential descriptions of various ASC, so as to reveal the relation of the three mechanisms.

1.      The process of loss of the self

In the process of loss of the self caused by various factors, two mechanisms must simultaneously happen. One is that, as the new filtering model holds, the brain-filtering function weakens to make awareness more sensitive. The other is that hallucinations happen. In this process, one is in “elementary hallucinations”.

The two mechanisms affect each other. On the one hand, the more sensitive perception enforces hallucinations. On the other hand, hallucinations interfere with awareness’s being more sensitive (especially the internal awareness), which is often ignored.

2.      The obliteration of the self

As the loss of the self goes on, hallucinations are constantly gaining momentum and awareness is more and more sensitive until the threshold of the obliteration of the self is almost reached.

When Buddhists meditate into jhāna;
When one lies dying;
When drugs overwhelm an addict;
……

After that, for some unknown reasons, only in a few conditions can one obliterate the self to attain jhāna samādhi, while in most conditions one enters and stays in “deep hallucinations” where the self still remains.

Timothy Leary ever rewrote The Tibetan Book of the Dead into The Psychedelic Experience: A manual based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a guidebook for people to take psychedelic drugs, such as LSD. Actually, The Psychedelic Experience and The Tibetan Book of the Dead have a shared theme: How to get rid of “deep hallucinations” to attain “jhāna samādhi” when and after the threshold of the obliteration of the self is reached? Moreover, what Timothy Leary called “The Period of Hallucinations” is what we call “deranged hallucinations”. In this situation, the amplification along with the more sensitive awareness makes psychedelic phenomena much more intense.

3.      The process of recovery of the self

 After a research on the experiential descriptions of coming out of jhāna samādhi by Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Maha Boowa, etc., we hold that, for some unknown reasons, hallucinations are temporally inhibited after one comes out of jhāna samādhi, the result of which is that the more sensitive awareness of the internal and the external can fully demonstrate itself in the process of recovery of the self after jhāna samādhi.

The process of recovery of the self after “deep hallucinations” is similar to the mutual effects of the two mechanisms in the process of loss of the self.

8.     The Essence of Deep Insight and the Mystery of Cessation and Insight

To move one step further, we can find that the Buddhist concept, deep insight or vipassana is just the more sensitive awareness caused by the weakening of the brain-filtering function. When the internal awareness becomes more sensitive, one can be aware of every feeling, every thought, every instinct/intuition and so on. All of these cannot come into our awareness in ordinary conditions. To make a comparison, the internal awareness in ordinary conditions is like watching an ordinary film, while the more sensitive internal awareness is like watching a slow-motion version of the above film. According to the Buddhist doctrines, after the deep insight of the five skandhas, the realization by attainment of wisdom is made. Therefore, the more sensitive internal awareness is of vital importance to the Buddhist practice.

In other words, the essence of deep insight is not the greater concentration of observance, but the more sensitive awareness of the five skandhas. Actually, the more sensitive awareness appears in the process of loss of the self before jhāna samādhi, but the simultaneous hallucinations interfere with it. As a result, only in the process of recovery of the self after jhāna samādhi when hallucinations are temporally inhibited, can deep insight be possible. This is so-called insights coming after cessation, wisdom born of samādhi. It is because of this that, after attaining the highest formless jhāna or arupha jhāna, the penance of the Buddha is still fruitless even though after another six years. The final realization by attainment of wisdom of the Buddha comes from the deep insight after jhāna samādhi, which is also his real original thoughts.

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