Traditions:Categories of non-ordinary states of consciousness

The model reproduced here and related experiences, as well as interpretive system which they are expressed through, is from Stormy search for the self, chapter 7, Modern Maps of Consciousness, pp 142-154. This "map" or "matrix for spiritual emergencies" (p.154) was developed by Stan Grof based on his observations of thousands of psychedelic therapy sessions (LSD, then comparing the resulting "cartography" of the experiences of his clients to other "maps of consciousness" from "Western and Eastern Mystical Traditions", and then validating its generalizability to experiences induced by other methods than psychedelic by observing that their "holotropic breathwork" technique (which involves breathing and music but no pharmacological agents) seemed to induce the same experiences in their later clients (see pp. 144-145). Thus, in terms of evidence quality, this is expert opinion and informal case series. This represents a general typology of "altered-states of consciousness", acrosss induction methods such as psychedelics, breathwork, music, etc.: in this sense it is highly interesting for EPRC purposes, because it proposes a general taxonomy of what we call "emergent phenomena". The experiences and phenomena are labeled under the type of experience they are associated with by the Grofs, and the interpretive framework they use, and the explanations they give to account for these experiences, are here placed in the description box of each section. These three categories seem to represent a developmental model, a sequence of increasing depth and refinement of consciousness (p. 145 states that the peri-natal level comes after biographical experiences (which are "the first experiences that are readily available when the unconscious psyche becomes activated"), and represents a "deepening of altered states of consciousness" ; p. 151 states unequivocally "Beyond the biographical and perinatal domains in the psyche lies the transpersonal realm" .) In the previous chapter, they draw inspiration from various traditional systems, p. 142 : "Cultures of all times have shown a profound interest in nonordinary states of consciousness. They developed effective ways of inducing them, and described the different stages of the spiritual journey. " Here, the Grofs' model also builds upon their experience with LSD-assisted psychotherapy, and mobilizes frameworks borrowed several psychoanalytical authors - Freud, Rank, and Young : p. 145 : "The experiential spectrum of non ordinary states of consciousness is extremely rich; however, all the experiences seem to fall into three major categories. Some of them are biographical in nature, related to various postnatal traumatic events from one's life. A second group revolves primarily around two issues: dying and being born. They seem to be deeply connected with the trauma of biological birth. The third large category includes experiences that can be referred to as transpersonal, reaching far beyond the limits of ordinary human experience: they are closely related to the jungian collective unconscious." Hence we can see the biographical-perinatal-transpersonal typology as a developmental and sequential series of deepening experiences related with access to various "strata" of the psyche, with a direct parallel existing between the levels experience and the type of unconscious memories or elements tapped into. Although there is much value in this work, from a scientific or even phenomenological perspective, the Grofs' presentation of various experiences and phenomena is highly interpretative and reflects their classification framework. They give little justification to the ontological judgments and beliefs which are continuously expressed as to the origin and nature of various experiences. In fact, this seems to reflect a shortcoming of various psychoanalytical systems such as Freud's, which have been criticized for their lack of scientificity and somewhat arbitrary nature (ref - Freud's stuff in particular). In any case, if we conceive of this material as expert opinion and case series, this typology can become another datapoint and invites comparison with other typologies, such as the developmental system of the stages of insight, which also describes the deepening of meditative experiences and seem to correlate reasonably well with the 3