Levels of consciousness and altered state of consciousness by ronelyn donguines

Consciousness has been defined as awareness of awareness. It has emerged as a field of psychology only in recent times though some of its concerns have their roots in religion, mysticism and occultism. The emergence of the study of consciousness in psychology reflects a change in the mentality of people. Today people are more troubled by existential problems than hysteric symptoms. People are asking questions about self-actualization and the possibility of growth instead of how to get rid of pathological symptoms. Consciousness is also becoming a new approach in psychology, a new way of looking at behavior, based on systems theory and the holistic method. The study of consciousness emphasizes certain areas like dreams, creativity and supernormal experiences. Consciousness has relevance for all science, as it is related to philosophical issues and the model of man. It is empirical, but open to descriptive, theoretical and insightful understanding. In the 21st century psychology may well be redefined as the study of consciousness and all psychology may be rewritten in that perspective. The study of consciousness may also serve to integrate many areas of psychology and other sciences.

LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

by : Sigmund  Freud

Austrian Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud had earlier developed the three levels of consciousness.  These are the conscious, pre-conscious and the unconscious.  He used this levels to better explain a person’s psyche or that which influences the way a person thinks, behaves and personality.

The conscious deals with everyday functions like our feelings, memories or fantasies at any particular moment.  The conscious is what we use when we are fully alert and aware of everything that is around us.

The pre-conscious exists as a middle ground between the unconscious and the conscious.  We have here our stored knowledge, past memories and other data that we can readily access and brought to our consciousness.

The unconscious is a place in our mind that we store shameful experiences, sexual desires, fears, violent motives, repressed memories and other dark thoughts.  According to Freud, access to the unconscious can be manifested through our dreams or slip of the tongue and other unintended impulsive behavior.

Sigmund Freud states that only 10% of our psyche is visible, that being the conscious, while the remaining 90%, the pre-conscious and unconscious hidden or submerged.  This is why, according to him, the mind disguises our hidden wants and desires as dreams because we are not fully aware of the levels of our consciousness.

Three Minds: Consciousness, Subconscious, and Unconscious

The consciousness mind is you awareness at the present moment. You are aware of something on the outside as well as some specific mental functions happening on the inside. For example, you are ware of your environment, your breathing, or the chair that you are sitting on.

The subconscious mind or the preconscious mind consists of accessible information. You can become aware of this information once your direct your attention to it. Think of this as memory recall. You walk down the street to your house without consciously needing to be alert to your surroundings. You can talk on the cell phone and still arrive home safely. You can easily bring to consciousness the subconscious information about the path to your home. You can also easily remember phone numbers that you frequently use.

It is possible that some of what might be perceived to be unconscious becomes subconscious, and then conscious (e.g. a long-forgotten childhood memory suddenly emerges after decades). We can assume that some unconscious memories need a strong, specific trigger to bring them to consciousness; whereas, a subconscious memory can be brought to consciousness more easily.

The unconscious mind, consisting of the primitive, instinctual wishes as well as the information that we cannot access. Although our behaviors might indicate the unconscious forces that drive them, we don’t have easy access to the information stored in the unconscious mind. During our childhood, we acquired countless memories and experiences that formed who we are today. However, we cannot recall most of those memories. They are unconscious forces (beliefs, patterns, subjective maps of reality) that drive our behaviors

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

1. Waking and Sleeping
These two states which are so different are regularly experienced by everybody every day. Some people experience a pronounced hypnogogic state in between waking and sleeping and some people get vivid hallucinations during this state.











2. Dreaming
Dreaming involves a state which is physiologically and psychologically different from deep sleep. Lucid dream is a still different mode of functioning where the dreamer has the awareness that he is dreaming. This state is said to be conducive for gaining insight into and awareness of the unconscious and is a technique in mystic training.

3. Hypnosis

This state is characterized by increased suggestibility and surrender of one's will.









4. Pathological States
The hysteric trance and schizoid states have been studied as altered states of consciousness using the phenomenological approach.

5. Drug Induced States
The notion of altered states of consciousness evolved originally as a result of the study of subjects who were habituated to drugs like LSD. Aldous Huxley's `Doors of Perception' which he wrote on the basis of his experiences with Mescaline is one of the pioneering classics in this area. Many of the effects are due to physiological changes like hypoglycemia. Some of the positive experiences include remembering forgotten painful experiences, ego dissolution, seeing beauty and significance in trivial things, and increase in awareness
while those who do not trust get bad trips characterized by terror, panic and suicidal tendencies. Though there seem to be some similarities between drug induced states and aesthetic and mystic states, the similarities may only be superficial and the drug may be producing these effects by damaging the brain of a person who may not be ready or mature enough for a transformation of personality required for genuine mystic experiences. Therefore most authorities do not recommend the use of drugs for altering consciousness though some think that under expert supervision the drugs may play a useful role in efforts to alter states of consciousness. Drugs like ganja, traditionally used for mystic training produce memory disorders, decrement in complex psychomotor tasks, lethargy, lack of motivation and lowering of testosterone levels. Some develop psychosis.

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