State (of mind)

A person in a psychedelic state can perceive much more in other human beings than
when he is in his everyday mind.

A walk in nature with its variety of sensory experiences, seems to be conducive to
positive or even ecstatic emotional states.

All who have taken LSD know that there are levels of consciousness of which we know
nothing in our normal state.

Altered states of consciousness appear to be the way to development of creative and
intellectual faculties.

Altered states of consciousness seem to be doors to ways of using the mind that are better
than those most of us follow most of the time.

an experience or state of consciousness called moksha or “liberation”—Indian philosophy
is primarily this experience.

An inconceivable beyond, “without conception,” there flashes forth from its unknown
depths the state of consciousness which is called divine.

An individual who has experienced transcendental states has a strong feeling of cosmic
identity.

Are they outlawed because we fear drugs or because we fear the social effects of altered
states of awareness, religious intensity, and mysticism?

Artistic and scientific insight requires a touch of the same kind of loose thinking or
craziness that is found in altered states of consciousness.

As the phenomena gains in richness, colors stream and mingle at the edges of things and
colored objects stand revealed in all their characteristic drug-state vividness.

Astronauts could be using these substances for preparation of altered states of
consciousness in space exploration.

Because of the unique nature of the psychedelic state it is impossible to reach a real
understanding of its quality and dimensions unless one directly experiences it.

Certain people are increasingly changing interests, from possessions to states of mind or
from endurance to intensity of experience.

Contemplation is that condition of alert passivity, the immanent and transcendent
Godhead, the state of union with the divine Ground of all being.

Cultures of all times have shown a profound interest in nonordinary states of
consciousness.

Drugs, intelligently used as tools to enter other states of consciousness, are potentially
beneficial.

During the psychedelic session the nervous system returns to that state of flux and unity-
chaos of infancy.

During unusual states of consciousness, one can make beneficial visionary journeys to
other realms and dimensions of reality.

Education has focused almost entirely on developing the cognitive skills of our ordinary
state. We should be aware that this is a policy decision, not a necessary “given.”

Enriched by a consciousness perspective, liberal education can extend freedom and
mental refinement far beyond the parochialism of single-state learning.

Eternity should not be confused with an infinitely long period of historical time. It is a
state where linear time is experientially transcended and ceases to exist.

Every process in the universe that one can observe objectively in the ordinary state of
consciousness also has a subjective experiential counterpart.

Everything is brilliantly illuminated, shining from within and a riot of colors is intensified
to a pitch unknown in the normal state.

Experiences of oceanic ecstasy and cosmic union seem to be deeply related to the
undifferentiated state of consciousness that an infant experiences.

Experiences of the consciousness of particular, stable, immutable and durable substances
are perceived as being high spiritual states involving an element of sacredness.

Facing the drug state once it sets in is usually easier than dealing with all the fantasies as
to what the experience will be.

How many of the current ideas of eternity, of heaven, of supernatural states are ultimately
derived from the experiences of drug-takers?

Ideas acquire a strong emotional component, thinking and feeling being hardly separable
in the LSD state.

If, as we believe, the drug-state distortions are manifestations of tendencies found also in
“normal” perceptions, then they afford opportunities for studying the perceptual process.

If this state of consciousness could become more universal, the pretentious nonsense
which passes for the serious business of the world would dissolve in laughter.

In altered states of consciousness, one gains the ability to interpret his perceptions in new
ways.

In high states, users have reported that they can perceive connections and associations of
ideas that were not accessible to them in the non-high state.

In non-ordinary states, the boundary we ordinarily see between myths and the material
world tends to dissolve.

In the LSD state, the sensitivity to external factors and circumstances is intensified to a
great degree.

In the oceanic state of mind, the world appears to manifest indescribable radiance and
beauty. (oceanic ecstasy)

In the psychedelic state, our mind seems to exist outside the scope of ordinary rational
consciousness.

In this special state of consciousness, the subject becomes aware of certain intra-psychic
processes ordinarily excluded or beyond the scope of awareness.

In this state, all the sensory pathways are wide open and there is an increased sensitivity
and enjoyment of the perceptual nuances discovered in the external world.

In this state of cosmic unity, we feel that we have direct, immediate and unlimited access
to knowledge and wisdom of universal significance.

In this state of knowledge of God, the mind is enlightened from out of the depths of
divine wisdom which defy our scrutiny.

In this state the categories of space and time are transcended and subjects can perceive
themselves as existing outside of the usual space-time continuum.

Intuitive flashes are transient, spontaneous altered states of consciousness consisting of
particular sensory experiences or thoughts coupled with strong emotional reactions.

Irrational or exaggerated ambitions, as well as cravings for money, status, fame, prestige
and power appear in this state as childish, irrelevant and absurd.

It is noteworthy that most of the world’s highest religious and philosophical thought
originated in altered states of consciousness.

It makes sense to experience and study altered states of awareness to learn about the
nature of our world by directing attention to aspects of it that usually remain peripheral.

It’s a state of wholeness in which the mind functions freely and easily without the
sensation of a second mind or ego standing over it with a club.

Jesus did not say that this higher state of consciousness realized in him was his alone for
all time. Nor did he call us to worship him.

Jesus showed us the way to a higher state and called upon us to realize it, to make it real,
actual—individually and as the race.

Leary is a super-salesman of evolution who deploys his talents to sell a more advanced
state of human consciousness.

Literary genius is the near-magical use of words to bridge as far as possible the gulf
between the normal state of existence and the world I was then in.

LSD subjects in this state experience powerful currents of energy streaming through their
bodies.

Many of the states that psychiatry automatically categorizes as symptoms of mental
disease are actually important and necessary components of a profound healing process.

Many states that mainstream psychiatry considers bizarre and incomprehensible are
natural manifestations of the deep dynamics of the human psyche.

Most nonordinary states of consciousness are considered pathological and are treated
with traditional psychiatric methods such as suppressive medication and hospitalization.

Nonordinary states of consciousness certainly change dramatically the relationship
between the conscious and unconscious dynamics of the psyche.

“Normal” ordinary consciousness and/or awareness is a state in which one is at least half
blind, deaf, and alive.

One can connect with a state that feels eternal, understanding that one is at once the body
and also all that exists.

One could look at a pebble for days, and in a sufficiently enlightened state of mind, there
would always be more to be learned.

One of the most interesting aspects of LSD research is the relationship between the
psychedelic state and the creative process.

One of the top overriding values of these altered states is that they bestow direct
experience of phenomena usually apprehended only in abstraction.

Our academic community is predominantly consciousness-naive. Studies of human
nature and the human mind which omit non-ordinary states are clearly incomplete.

Our ordinary state of consciousness is a semi-arbitrary construction. This is true of our
perceptions as well as our thoughts and actions.

Our ordinary state of awareness is merely a fragment of what is possible. The human
psyche is capable of extraordinary states that are accessible under certain conditions.

Our Western culture makes virtually no use of altered states of consciousness and tends
to regard all of them as pathological states.

Paradise refers to a state of metaphysical ecstasy, a sanctuary of eternal youth, gardens of
incredible beauty, roads paved with gold. (eyes closed)

People repeatedly report that these states of consciousness have a brilliant, numinous,
mythical quality.

Psychology in general has failed to keep pace with personal explorations in altered states
of consciousness.

Shamanism is nearly universal. Shamanic cultures attribute great value to nonordinary
states of consciousness.

Some of the observations from non-ordinary states would require not only revision of our
ideas about the human psyche, but of the traditional beliefs about the nature of reality.

Specialized training of the therapist, which includes first-hand experiences of psychedelic
states of consciousness, is an important element in LSD psychotherapy.

The archetypal longing for a state of harmony with self, fellow beings, and environment
seems to me to be generally programmed into us.

The activated psyche can be called upon to remember states which to us seem to be
unconscious.

The atomic structure of matter is known intellectually but never experienced by the adult
except in states of intense altered consciousness.

The basic mystery of the eidetic images (eyes closed) will deepen along with the drug-
state levels.

The basic structure of experience is given by our sense of space and passage of time.
Both are profoundly altered in psychedelic mystical states.

The entire study of consciousness, the religious experience itself, remains in a state of
medieval ignorance and superstition.

The healing potential of ecstatic states is of such paramount significance that it suggests
an entirely new orientation in psychiatric therapy.

The historic role of states of consciousness in the humanities, arts, and sciences is
neglected in current education.

The intimate relationship between the experiences of the inorganic world and spiritual
states can convey an entirely new understanding of ancient teachings.

The individual gains experiential access to the unitive states. This tends to change the
way of being in the world and the basic approach to life.

The literature on creativity clearly indicates that true artistic, scientific, philosophical and
religious inspiration is mediated by nonordinary states of consciousness.

The LSD state is, in essence, one of greatly heightened suggestibility, with environmental
cues sensed most exquisitely.

The mystical experience is neither a particular state of mind nor mere blankness of mind.
(It’s not a “particular” state of mind which can be described.)

The new state is one in which we can reorganize or re-imprint our nervous system for
higher functioning.

The nonordinary state of consciousness suspends the traditional ways of thinking that
prevent a solution and allow a new creative synthesis.

The normal state of consciousness in our culture is both the context and breeding ground
for mental disease.

The observations of nonordinary states of consciousness have important implications for
many fields of research.

The open cortex produces an ecstatic state, the nervous system operating free of learned
abstraction.

The phenomenal world that we observe in our ordinary state of consciousness represents
only one aspect of reality.

The power of substances to produce altered states of consciousness is understood by
Western scientists in biochemical rather than supernatural terms.

The psychedelic state, and other forms of altered consciousness are worthy of serious
study if the act of human creation is to be better understood, guided, and encouraged.

The psychedelic state is an immensely powerful one for obtaining insight and
understanding through visual symbolism.

The psychedelic state is not a “toxic psychosis” but a “journey into the unconscious or
superconscious mind.”

The psychedelics’ special effectiveness for mental illness is closely associated with their
capacity to release ecstatic religious states.

The spirit, interiorly in a state harmonious to the celestial concourse, will be invested
with a spiritual body.

The state of consciousness of the Self-realized individual is characterized by joy,
serenity, inner security, a sense of calm power, clear understanding and radiant love.

The subject in this state feels that he has access to direct insightful knowledge and
wisdom about matters of fundamental and universal significance.

The time of dreams is different than the time of waking. The time of mystical or
psychedelic states is different again.

The true and deepest value of the experience is that it offers a “tangible vision” of a better
state. (It’s the highest or best state of being.)

The visionary and the mystic wait upon inspiration in a state of wise nonverbal
passiveness, of dynamic vacuity.

There are realms of experience, modes of self, and states of consciousness far our day-to-
day experience or our traditional cultural and psychological models.

There can be experiences of merging with another person in a state of dual unity, without
losing sense of identity.

There is no question that altered states of consciousness can heighten aesthetic
sensitivity.

These drugs produce ecstatic states from which new learning, a shift in values, or
subsequent behavior change purportedly ensue.

They describe the state as definitely not blank or empty but as filled with intense,
profound, vivid perception which they regard as the ultimate goal of the mystic path.

They would return through psychedelic drugs to a lost state of innocence, a time before
time, when creation was fresh and the earth a paradise.

Throughout history, most cultures had a great appreciation for nonordinary states of
consciousness. They highly valued the positive potential of such states.

Traditional psychology makes no distinction between psychotic reactions and mystical
states.

We have hardly scratched the surface in understanding fully the facets and functions of
altered states of consciousness.

We must discover new mental energy sources for overcoming our society’s psychological
inertia and anachronistic state of mind.

We perceive things in a state of hypnosis, not as they are, but as we are told to see them.
(LSD fixes that.)

Western literature had almost no guides, no maps, no texts that even recognize the
existence of altered states.

A visionary will recognize the possibility of discovering from mind, in some of its
extraordinary awakened states, a truth, or a collection of truths, which do not become
manifest in his every-day condition.

Albert Einstein discovered the basic principles of his special theory of relativity in an
unusual state of mind; according to his description, most of the insights came to him in
the form of kinaesthetic sensations.

An individual having a peak experience feels a sense of overcoming the usual divisions
and fragmentations of the body and mind and reaching a state of complete inner unity and
wholeness; this usually feels very healing and beneficial.

Another kind of reality exists, that we can call internal or nonordinary reality. It is
precisely that aspect of reality we are unconscious of when in the ordinary waking state,
and the unconscious mind is precisely that part of the mind that pays attention to it.

Because of their clarity and vividness, transcendent states frequently feel more real than
“ordinary” reality; people often compare the discovery of these realms to awakening from
a dream, removing opaque veils, or opening the doors of perception.

Before taking LSD, I never stayed in a state of sexual ecstasy for hours on end, but I have
done this under LSD. It heightens all of your senses and it means that you’re living the
sexual experience totally. Each caress or kiss is timeless.

Can we not see that this voyage is not what we need to be cured of, but that it is itself a
natural way of healing our own appalling state of alienation called normality? In other
times, people intentionally embarked upon this voyage. (Some always will.)

Certain drugs can produce in otherwise normal individuals deep mystical and religious
states. Matrices for such experiences exist in the unconscious as a normal constituent of
the human personality.

Clients who experience psychological death-rebirth and/or feelings of cosmic unity tend
to develop a negative attitude toward the states of mind induced by alcohol and narcotics.
This has proved extremely useful in the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction.

Could the drugs help us who are now located between the animals and the angels, to one
day leave our larval state and become butterflies? With all my heart I wanted to believe in
our potential to evolve, to emerge from our brutish past.

Dominating this ecstatic state is the feeling of intense love. You are a joyful part of all
life. The memory of former delusions of self-hood and differentiation invokes exultant
laughter.

During some spiritual states, one sees the ordinary environment as a glorious creation of
divine energy, filled with mystery; everything within it appears to be part of an exquisite
interconnected web.

During the psychedelic session the subject’s nervous system is in a state of disorganized
flux closely analogous to that of infancy. (This isn’t infantile. It’s very high level of
maturity.)

Encounters with the divine regions are extremely healing. Reaching them, one often
feels positive emotions such as ecstasy, rapture, joy, gratitude, love, and bliss, which can
quickly relieve or dissolve negative states such as depression and anger.

Experiencing the profound psychological changes produced by LSD is a unique and
valuable learning experience for all clinicians and theoreticians studying abnormal mental
states.

Hallucinogenic drugs give people who lack the gift of spontaneous perception the
potential to experience this extraordinary state of consciousness and thereby to attain
insight into the spiritual world.

Human beings have a profound need for transpersonal experiences and for states in which
they transcend their individual identities to feel their place in a larger whole that is
timeless.

In advanced industrial societies, “paranormal” states of consciousness are readily
disparaged as “abnormal” or pathological, indicative of a deeply ingrained prejudice
against certain varieties of experience.

In altered states of consciousness this new perception of the world becomes dominant and
compelling. It completely overrides the everyday illusion of Newtonian reality, where we
seem to be “skin-encapsulated egos” existing in a world of separate beings and objects.

In experiences that have transpersonal dimensions, the individual has the sense of having
transcended his or her own identity and ego boundaries as they are defined in the
ordinary state of consciousness.

In non-ordinary states, archetypes may appear in forms that we perceive through inner
sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, or the virtually palpable sense of a presence. (eyes
closed)

In our emphasis on rationality and logic, we have put great value on the everyday sober
state of mind and relegated all other states of consciousness into the realm of useless
pathology.

In our present primitive state, we have industries devoted to the production of the state of
consciousness which I call emotional stupor. (This refers to alcohol and getting drunk and
this society is still in a primitive state.)

In such states, the subject has a revelation of the significance and interrelationships of
many dimensions of life; he becomes aware of many levels of meaning simultaneously
and “understands” the totality of existence.

In the spiritual and mystical literature of all ages, one can find numerous descriptions of
spectacular physiological changes in the body or seemingly impossible achievements of
people in various extraordinary states of mind.

In this state of mind, it becomes clear that the ultimate measure of one’s living standard is
the quality of one’s life experiences and not the quantity of achievements or material
possessions.

It is an ecstatic state, characterized by the loss of boundaries between the subject and the
objective world, with ensuing feelings of unity with other people, nature, the entire
Universe, and God.

It is important to prepare the client for the fact that the dimensions of the experience will
probably be beyond anything that he or she has ever faced before or could even imagine
in the usual state of consciousness.

It is not unusual for people in non-ordinary states of mind to accurately portray material
that precedes their conception or to explore the world of their parents, their ancestors, and
of the human race. (eyes closed)

It’s an utterly amazing, fascinating state of finding yourself a pleasant part of an endless
vista of color that is soft and gentle and yielding and all-absorbing. Utterly extraordinary,
most extraordinary.

Liberation is the nervous system devoid of mental-conceptual activity. The mind in its
conditioned state, that is to say, when limited to words and ego games, is continually in
thought-formation activity.

LSD patients who had experienced profound feelings of cosmic unity frequently
developed a negative attitude toward the states of mind produced by intoxication with
alcohol and narcotics.

LSD subjects sophisticated in mathematics and physics have repeatedly reported that in
their psychedelic sessions they gained illuminating insights into a variety of concepts and
constructs that are not imaginable and visualizable in the ordinary state of consciousness.

Mathematicians and physicists reported remarkable experiential insights into various
problems related to astronomy and astrophysics that can be expressed in mathematical
equations, but cannot be fully intuited in the ordinary state of consciousness.

Nonordinary states of consciousness make it possible for unconscious material with
strong emotional charge to emerge into consciousness. This process is an expression of a
powerful spontaneous healing potential and should be supported.

Observations from LSD research clearly indicate that in various states of mind, the bliss
of paradise and ecstatic raptures of salvation can be experienced with a degree of
vividness and a sense of reality that surpass our everyday perceptions.

One of the most fascinating by-paths of the history of religion is the one that traces the
use of chemicals in various religious traditions for the purpose of changing the state of
mind and producing enthusiasm, the sense of God within.

One of the most important changes most people experience through non-ordinary states
of consciousness involves a new appreciation for the role of spirituality in the universal
scheme of things.

One transcends the ordinary distinction between subject and object and experiences a
state of ecstatic union with humanity, nature, the cosmos, and God. This is associated
with strong feelings of joy, bliss, serenity and peace.

Parts of the scientific community have difficulty accepting data from other states of
consciousness, just as our ancestors found it hard to accept observations from the
telescope and microscope.

Perhaps they reveal the “normal” state. To many people, the states of awareness that are
experienced are not “abnormal,” but rather, familiar territory that had been lost in some
primal amnesia. These states are the human heritage.

Pleasure, like mystical insight itself, must always come unsought. Pleasure cannot be
given unless the senses are in a state of accepting rather than taking. Pleasure as
ordinarily pursued is never a true fulfillment.

Religious, mystical, visionary states are powerful and wonderful—they open the doors of
perception, polish our sensory lenses, shake up our autonomic nervous system, and get
our hormones swinging—but they’re intimate and precious.

Some researchers would hold that all phenomena occurring in altered states of
consciousness should be labeled “psychotic.” (I would hold that any researchers who
believe that should be labeled “psychotic.”)

The ban on emotional expression, especially in Anglo-Saxon cultures and especially
among men, makes the enthusiasm and wonder arising from drug-induced states readily
understandable.

The conventional wakeful state in which awareness is hooked to conditioned symbols,
flags, dollar signs, job titles, brand names, party affiliations and the like, is the level that
most people, including psychiatrists regard as reality; they don’t know the half of it.

The esoteric core of the great religious and spiritual traditions could be seen as roadmaps
to higher states of consciousness, and some of the most profound material in these
traditions became especially clear and meaningful during psychedelic sessions.

The experience of the phenomenal world and what we call usual states of consciousness
appear to be only very limited idiosyncratic and partial aspects of the over-all
consciousness of the Universal Mind.

The experiencer, when he opens his eyes, sees the outer world transfigured, sees it as
glowing with an intensity of light and significance and life, which is something he simply
does not see at all in his ordinary state.

The experiential insights from unusual states of consciousness suggest the existence of
intangible and unfathomable creative intelligence aware of itself that permeates all realms
of reality.

The highest point of the experience is a moment of transcendence in which the user
passes out of the everyday world into a paradisiacal egoless state in which he believes he
has attained some ultimate revelation about the nature of mind and the universe.

The outer divorced from any illumination from the inner is in a state of darkness. We are
in an age of darkness. The state of outer darkness is a state of sin—i.e., alienation or
estrangement from the inner light.

The overcoming of the usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great
mystic achievement. In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we
become aware of our oneness. This is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition.

The richness of opportunities for deep dramatic shifts and transformations that is
characteristic of psychedelic states seems to make LSD a very special adjunct to
psychotherapy.

The sacred scriptures of the great religions—the Vedas, the Torah, the Bible, the Koran—
are inspired writings that were channeled to their authors during non-ordinary states of
consciousness.

The study of psychedelic-stimulated states of consciousness is, in principle, not opposed
to science and reason. On the contrary, the refusal to study them is both unreasonable
and antiscientific.

The unusual states of consciousness induced by LSD can generate important insights,
facilitate problem-solving and lead to valid intuitions or unexpected resyntheses of
accumulated data.

The vision-producing drugs have a long history. As far back as knowledge of man exists,
there have been stories of herbs, roots, brews and potions to be eaten, drunk or smoked to
change in some way the state of consciousness.

There is a state of consciousness in which the erotic no longer has to be sought or
pursued because it is always present in its totality. In this state all relationship and all
experience is erotic.

There is the intense feeling of compassion for those who, for whatever reason, make it
impossible for themselves to get anywhere near the reality revealed by the drug—the
reality which is always there for those who are in the right state of mind to perceive it.

Their visionary states tend to take them farther and farther back—through their own
history and the history of humanity, all the way to the creation of the world and the
original state of paradise. (Yes, you can go ALL THE WAY back, during an LSD trip.)

These states of mind can be extremely beneficial, often leading to physical and emotional
healing, profound insights, creative activity and permanent personality changes for the
better.

Thou shalt evolve to a higher state of being and ultimately return to the Godhead which is
your very self, your ever-present Divine Condition prior to all conditions, names and
forms.

Transformative experiences associated with positive emotions, such as feelings of
oneness with humanity and nature, states of cosmic unity, encounters with blissful
deities, and union with God, have a special role in the healing and transformative process.

Unusual states of consciousness, similar to those produced by LSD, occur spontaneously
in many dying individuals for reasons of a physiological, biochemical, and psychological
nature.

Various objects in the surroundings can lose their usual forms; they seem to pulsate and
be in a state of strange instability and flux. During this process, they frequently appear
grossly disproportional, distorted and transformed.

We want a passionate life lived in a state of ecstasy, a life of intensity and deep emotions.
An existential life in which every moment counts. A real life. But we’re not allowed to
have that. Because if we did…we would be free.

All of creation—people, animals, plants and inanimate objects—seems to be permeated
by the same cosmic essence and divine light. A person in this state suddenly sees that
everything in the universe is a manifestation and expression of the same creative cosmic
energy and that separation and boundaries are illusory.

ancient and Oriental religions and philosophies—It has become increasingly clear that
these systems of belief reflect profound understanding of the human mind and of unusual
states of consciousness, embodying knowledge that deals with the most universal aspect
of human existence, and thus is highly relevant for all of us.

As prime conditioner of his fellow man, the psychologist or educator must be an
exemplar—calm, serious, controlled, sensibly cynical, smugly pessimistic and above all,
rational. To study the unconditioned state, to produce pleasure in his subjects and to act
in a natural, hedonic manner would lead to his excommunication.

Enlightenment remains unrealized so long as it is considered as a specific state to be
attained and for which there are tests and standards of success. It is much rather freedom
to be the failure that one is. This freedom is the basis of all mental and spiritual
wholeness, provided that it seeks no result.

Every human being is born with an innate drive to experience altered states of
consciousness periodically, in particular to learn how to get away from ordinary ego-
centered consciousness. This drive is a most important factor in our evolution, both as
individuals and as a species.

Everything seen by those who visit the mind’s antipodes is brilliantly illuminated and
seems to shine from within. All colors are intensified to a pitch far beyond anything seen
in the normal state and at the same time, the mind’s capacity for recognizing fine
distinctions of tone and hue is notably heightened.

Few of the drug-state phenomena are more perplexing, fascinating and potentially
valuable than is the subject’s participation in mythic and ritualistic dramas which
represent to him in terms both universal and particular the essentials of his own situation
in the world. (eyes closed)

From a cognitive perspective, different states of consciousness are, among other things,
radical reorganizations of information-processing systems and strategies. Different states
of consciousness also provide different “strategies” of perception, abilities, memory,
emotion, etc.

I never suspected that the ancient spiritual systems had actually charted, with amazing
accuracy, different levels and types of experiences that occur in non-ordinary states of
consciousness. I was astonished by their emotional power, authenticity, and potential for
transforming people’s views of their lives.

If properly handled, a psychedelic crisis has great positive potential and can result in a
profound personality transformation. Conversely, an insensitive and ignorant approach
can cause psychological damage and lead to chronic psychotic states and years of
psychiatric hospitalization.

If we understand that straight and stoned are descriptive terms for ways of using the mind
rather than labels for people who do or do not use a particular means of entering other
states of consciousness, we can use these terms profitably, for they indicate an important
choice between different kinds of thinking.

In a great many ways a variety of objects may be used to help the subject break through
the barriers he has erected around persons and ideas and feelings; barriers which,
moreover, may block him from moving on to deeper drug-state levels, where the
inhibitions and values structure may be confronted and re-examined.

Individuals experiencing mystical consciousness of this type have a sense of leaving
ordinary reality, where space has three dimensions and time is linear, and entering a
timeless, mythical realm where these categories no longer apply. In this state, eternity and
infinity can be experienced within seconds of clock time.

It is a revelatory insight into the essence of being and existence. This is typically
accompanied by feelings of certainty that such knowledge is ultimately more real and
relevant than our concepts and perceptions regarding the world that we share in a usual
state of consciousness.

It is clear that psychedelics have the potential to cut through whatever blocks stand
between us and higher experiences, magically letting us enjoy, if only temporarily,
transcendent states. I hope it is not necessary to belabor the point that this potential is
realized if only set and setting support it.

It is important to realize that the subjective experience of time is radically changed in
nonordinary states of consciousness. Within seconds of clocktime, one can experience a
rich and complex sequence of events that last subjectively a very long time, or even
seems to involve eternity.

It is significant that those who have been surprised by a mystical experience seldom fail
to feel that their experience is religious. Intuitively they become aware—at least
subjectively— that their state of mind somehow links them with the saints and prophets
of the ages. This is the case even with atheists.

Jesus was aware of himself as a finished specimen of the new humanity which is to
come—the new humanity which is to inherit the earth, establish the Kingdom, usher in
the New Age. His mission and his teaching have at their heart the development of a new
and higher state of consciousness on a species-wide basis.

LSD subjects sophisticated in mathematics and physics have occasionally reported that
many of the concepts of these disciplines that transcend rational consciousness can
become more easily comprehensible and be actually experienced in altered states of
consciousness.

Metanoia is that profound state of consciousness which mystical experience aims at—the
state in which we transcend or dissolve all the barriers of ego and selfishness that
separate us from God. It is the state of direct knowing, immediate perception of our total
unity with God.

Of great relevance for the creative process is the facilitation of new and unexpected
synthesis of data, resulting in unconventional problem-solving. It is a well known fact
that many important ideas and solutions to problems did not originate in the context of
logical reasoning, but in various unusual states of mind.

Often, there is an actual experience of truths, they are KNOWN to be truths, which, when
presented in conceptual terms to the mind in its normal state, seem incomprehensible and
absurd. Such propositions as “God is love” are realized with the totality of one’s being
and their truth seems self-evident in spite of pain and death.

Once a person has experienced a visionary state of mind, one can no longer confuse the
lie with truth. One has seen where one comes from and who one is, and one no longer
doubts what one is. There is no emotion or external influence that can divert one from
this reality.

People not capable of coping with a drug experience of their own are not likely to be able
to cope with the experience of a subject either; and thus the sessions of the guide-to-be
may serve the additional purpose of helping to eliminate from a training program
candidates too disturbed or anxious about the psychedelic state.

Professional as well as public tradition has omitted serious consideration of creativity,
religious development and problem solving during reveries, daydreaming or other
unusual conscious states. In fact, there is a basic disinterest in the fields of psychiatry and
psychology as regards the entire topic of consciousness.

Spiritual literature and traditions of the world over validate the healing and
transformative power of such extraordinary states for those who undergo them. Why,
then, are people who have had such experiences in today’s world almost invariably
dismissed as mentally ill?

The ancient and pre-industrial societies have held non-ordinary states of consciousness in
high esteem and used them for a variety of purposes—diagnosing and healing diseases,
ritual, spiritual, and religious activity, cultivation of extrasensory perception and artistic
inspiration.

The best researchers, when confronting problems and riddles that had defied all solution
by ordinary methods, did employ their minds in an unusual way, did put themselves into
a state of egoless “creativity” which permitted them to have insights so remarkable that
by means of these they were able to make their greatest and most important discoveries.

The critical issue here is the ontological status of non-ordinary states of consciousness—
whether we see them as pathological conditions that should be indiscriminately
suppressed or veritable alternatives to our everyday states of consciousness that can
contribute to our understanding of the psyche and have a great therapeutic potential.

The descriptions of heaven, hell and the posthumous adventures of the soul were
misunderstood—frequently not only by critics of religion, but by clergy and theologians
themselves—as historical and geographical references rather than cartographies of
unusual states of consciousness.

The historic role of states of consciousness in the humanities, arts, and sciences is
neglected in current education. A truly liberal education should teach students about this
part of themselves and our civilizations, and should also give them rudimentary
experience with selected states and their resident capacities.

The individual in this state becomes deeply aware of his or her unity with other people,
nature and the entire universe and with the ultimate creative principle or God. This is
accompanied by an overwhelming positive effect that can range from peace, security and
bliss to an ecstatic rapture.

The language of cultures with ancient spiritual traditions that are based on experiential
self-exploration have a rich and sophisticated vocabulary describing various mystical
states of consciousness. However, even then the terms adequately convey the meaning
only if we can relate them to a personal experience.

The remarkable thing about the LSD experience is that you see the broad range of the
underconsciousness without losing consciousness, a state wherein you are aware of all
things in the conscious mind and at the same time aware of all things in the
underconscious mind.

The sensation of leaving one’s body is quite common in drug-produced states and can
have various forms and degrees. Some persons experience themselves as completely
detached from their physical bodies, hovering above them or observing them from
another part of the room.

Theoretical speculations in Western academic psychology and psychiatry are based
exclusively on experiences and observations made in the ordinary states of
consciousness. The evidence from the study of non-ordinary states of any kind are
systematically ignored or pathologized.

These experiences have been known for millennia. Descriptions of them can be found in
the holy scriptures of all the great religions of the world, as well as in written documents
of countless minor sects, factions and religious movements. They have also played a
crucial role in the visionary states of individual saints, mystics and religious teachers.

Transpersonal experiences involving entities and realms that are not objectively real
according to the Western worldview can convey absolutely new information. For
example, in nonordinary states, many people have encountered deities and mythological
realms specific to cultures about which they have no personal knowledge. (eyes closed)

Under appropriate conditions the psychedelics could considerably speed and facilitate the
process of working through psychological blocks. Material inaccessible in an ordinary
state could be brought into awareness, sometimes producing dramatic transformations
including death/rebirth experiences and alleviation of symptoms.

We were on our own. Western psychological literature had almost no guides, no maps, no
texts that even recognized the existence of altered states. We had no rituals, traditions or
comforting routines to fall back on. We avoided the sterility of the laboratory and the
sick-man atmosphere of the hospital. (That was Timothy Leary.)

When the non-ordinary states are opened up to them, even scientifically cautious and
highly intelligent people of our own time and culture find these experiences deeply
moving and personally meaningful, providing them with dramatic breakthroughs in their
beliefs.

Words like hallucination and psychosis were loaded; they implied negative states of
mind. The psychiatric jargon reflected a pathological orientation, whereas a truly
objective science would not impose value judgments on chemicals that produced unusual
or altered states of consciousness.

Work done by those who refused to take drugs does not demonstrate greater objectivity
than that of persons who have had the drug experience; and doubtless, refusal to
experience the psychedelic state is a product, in some cases, of anxiety about the person’s
ability to cope with that state.

You are right about the hopelessness of the “scientific” approach. Those idiots want to be
Pavlonians not Lorenzian Ethnologists. Pavlov never saw an animal in its natural state,
only under duress. The “scientific” LSD boys do the same with their subjects. No wonder
they report psychosis. (Aldous Huxley wrote that in a letter to Timothy Leary.)

A person in the psychedelic state can perceive much more in other human beings than he
can when he is in his everyday mind. The voyager may see his companion at different
ages of life, at different periods of history, and as different persons. At one time or
another, during the psychedelic session, the voyager looks at his companion. Often it is
an overwhelming discovery.

Altered states of consciousness enrich man’s experiences in many areas of life. The
intense aesthetic experience gained while absorbed in some majestic scene, a work of art,
or music may broaden man’s subjective experiences and serve as a source of creative
inspiration. There are also numerous instances of sudden illumination, creative insights,
and problem solving occurring while man has lapsed into altered states of consciousness.

America is an irrational, materialistic, intolerant, religious state. General Motors is a
religious institution that worships mechanical power and money. Harvard University is a
religious institution that worships intellectual power and dogmatically clings to academic
taboos and empty rituals. Science itself is a religion defending its superstitious rites. The
American government is a monolithic religious structure.

Emotions are caused by biochemical secretions in the body to serve during a state of
acute emergency. The person in an emotional state is an inflexible robot gone berserk, a
blind crazed maniac and is turned off sensually. (This really refers to negative emotions
during normal waking consciousness, not the positive emotions which are part of the
LSD experience.)

Exploration of the human psyche with these powerful catalyzing agents has shown
beyond any doubt that the biographical model developed by Freud’s “depth” psychology
barely scratches the surface of mental dynamics. To account for all the extraordinary
experiences and observations in psychedelic states, it was necessary to develop a vastly
expanded cartography of the human mind.

If a man believes that he is happy and hilarious and grooving on everything around him,
the only sane description of his state is to say he’s euphoric, not to say that he imagines
he is euphoric. What the skeptic really seems to be claiming is that he knows what the
subject feels better than the subject knows—i.e., that the subject doesn’t feel what he
feels but feels something else.

If mystical experiences are integrated into the personality, they are highly therapeutic.
Single-state scholars and theoreticians are hard-pressed to explain this therapeutic value.
Denial is easier. But if an enlarged map of reality includes altered states of consciousness,
then experiencing such states logically leads to a fuller view of reality, and therapists tell
us that a fuller view of reality is therapeutic.

In an LSD state, the old conceptual frameworks break down, cultural cognitive barriers
dissolve and the material can be seen and synthesized in a totally new way that was not
possible within the old system of thinking. This mechanism can produce not only striking
new solutions to various specific problems, but new paradigms that revolutionize whole
scientific disciplines.

In nonordinary states of consciousness, visions of various universal symbols can play a
significant role even in experiences of individuals who previously had no interest in
mysticism or were strongly opposed to anything esoteric. These visions tend to convey
instant intuitive understanding of the various levels of meaning of these symbols and
generate a deep interest in the spiritual path. (visions seen with eyes closed)

In this state, the subject finds it difficult to see any negative aspects in the world and in
the very structure of the cosmic design; everything appears perfect, everything is as it
should be. At this point, the world appears to be a friendly place where a childlike,
passive-dependent attitude can be assumed with full confidence and with feelings of
complete security.

Individuals in nonordinary states of consciousness who tune into these experiential
realms participate in dramatic, usually brief, but occasionally complex and elaborate,
sequences that take place in more or less remote historical periods and in various
countries and cultures. These scenes can be experienced from the position of an observer
but more frequently from experiential identification with the protagonists. (eyes closed)

It has been shown that LSD experiences of death and rebirth and mystical states of
consciousness can change patients’ concepts of death and life and alleviate their fears of
dying. Psychedelic therapy has proved to be more than an important tool in the control of
mental and physical pain, it has contributed greatly to our understanding of the
experience of death.

It is amazing that people who in nonordinary states “visit” various archetypal realms and
encounter mythological beings residing there can often bring back information that can
be verified by research into the mythology of the corresponding cultures. This led Jung to
the idea of the collective unconscious and the assumption that each individual can gain
access to the entire cultural heritage of humanity. (eyes closed)

Most of our colleagues in the psychology department couldn’t take the brain-change
work seriously. They couldn’t admit that our new subject matter even existed. Altered
states of consciousness simply didn’t exist as a category in the psychology of that time. It
was the familiar tunnel vision that has always narrowed the academic mind. (That was
Timothy Leary at Harvard.)

Nonordinary experiences are vital to us because they are expressions of our unconscious
minds, and the integration of conscious and unconscious experience is the key to life,
health, spiritual development, and fullest use of our nervous systems. By instilling fear
and guilt about altered states of consciousness into our children, we force this drive
underground, guaranteeing that it will be expressed in antisocial ways.

Our personal boundaries may appear to melt and we can become identified with other
people, groups of people, or all of humanity. We can actually feel that we have become
things that we ordinarily perceive as objects outside of ourselves, such as other people,
animals, or trees. Very accurate and realistic experiences of identification with various
forms of life and even inorganic processes can occur in transpersonal states.

Psychiatrists use their diagnostic jargon of mental pathology for states of consciousness
which many of them have never even bothered to experience. (They are no more
enlightened than the theologians who refused to look into Galileo’s telescope claiming
that they already know how the universe is ordered and that if the telescope showed
anything different, it would be the doings of the Devil.)

Since the psychedelic experience includes so many elements not a part of the nondrug-
state experience the guide never will be able to understand the subject or communicate
with him adequately unless the guide himself has first-hand knowledge of the drug-state
and its phenomena. This point has become controversial, but we see no sound reason why
it should be.

The average Westerner is naive about nonordinary states of consciousness and has many
misconceptions and prejudices about some of the experiences that are potentially the
most healing. We try to convey a clear message that such phenomena as death-rebirth
sequences, archetypal visions and states of cosmic unity are absolutely normal and that
having them in no way implies pathology.

The experience of cosmic consciousness provides important insights for deepening our
understanding of the highest forms of creativity. The literature on creativity is filled with
examples of extraordinary artistic, scientific, philosophical, and religious inspiration that
came from a transpersonal source and that occurred in non-ordinary states of
consciousness.

The individual is flooded by light of supernatural beauty and experiences a state of divine
epiphany. He or she has a deep sense of emotional, intellectual and spiritual liberation
and gains access to breathtaking realms of cosmic inspiration and insight. This type of
experience is clearly responsible for great achievements in the history of humanity in the
area of science, art, religion and philosophy.

Those who argue that LSD-induced spiritual experiences cannot be valid because they are
too easily available and their occurrence and timing depend on the individual’s decision,
misunderstand the nature of the psychedelic state. The psychedelic experience is neither
easy not a predictable way to God. Many subjects do not have spiritual elements in their
sessions despite many exposures to the drug.

To be able to face all of the challenges of psychedelic therapy, the therapist has to have
special training that involves personal experiences with the drug. Because of the
extraordinary nature of the LSD states and the limitations of our language in describing
them, it is impossible for the future LSD therapist to acquire deeper understanding of the
process without first-hand exposure.

Transpersonal psychology has emerged as that branch of psychology specifically
concerned with the study of human consciousness. It attempts to expand the field of
psychological inquiry to include such human experiences as those induced by
psychedelics, as well as similar states attained through the practice of meditation or other
disciplines.

We find drug subjects with little or no scientific training describing evolutionary
processes in some detail, spelling out the scenery of microcosm and macrocosm in terms
roughly equivalent to those used by the modern physicist, empathizing with primal states
of matter and energy and then recounting this experience in terms more reminiscent of
Heisenberg than of a hallucinatory state.

We were not to be limited by the pathological point of view. We were not to interpret
ecstasy as mania, or calm serenity as catatonia; we were not to diagnose Buddha as a
detached schizoid; not Christ as a exhibitionist masochist; nor the mystic experience as a
symptom; nor the visionary state as a model psychosis. (That was Timothy Leary and
Aldous Huxley agreeing.)

Western scientists view their own particular approach to reality and psychological
phenomena as superior and “proven beyond a shadow of doubt,” while judging the
perspectives of other cultures as inferior, naive, and primitive. The traditional academic
approach takes into consideration only those observations and experiences that are
mediated by the five senses in an ordinary state of consciousness.

When we experience identification with the cosmic consciousness, we have the feeling of
enfolding the totality of existence within us, and of comprehending the Reality that
underlies all realities. We have a profound sense that we are in connection with the
supreme and ultimate principle of all Being. In this state, it is absolutely clear that this
principle is the ultimate and the only mystery.

When we set out to study consciousness and such elusive altered states as ecstasy, there is
the observer’s “subject matter” and there is the subject’s “reality” and usually these have
no relation. The psychiatrist may see psychosis, while the subject may be experiencing
hedonic ecstasy. The outside observer has an entirely different view from the
experiencing person. (The psychiatrist must be experienced with LSD or it’s a joke.)

With the Hebrew-Christian universe, God, the Absolute itself, is good as against bad and
thus to be immoral or in the wrong is to feel oneself as outcast not merely from human
society but also from existence itself, from the root and ground of life. To be in the wrong
therefore arouses metaphysical anxiety and sense of guilt, a state of eternal damnation.
(This, of course, is absurd brainwashing, a vicious con game.)

If the human potential that Jesus demonstrated is understood to be within us, if the
capacity to grow to godlike stature is directly experienced by all Christendom as the key
to the Kingdom, then Christianity will fulfill its purpose by encouraging people to evolve,
to transform themselves, to rise to a higher state. (That means the LSD state of cosmic
consciousness. Do phony idiots such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson understand
that?)

Systematic study of non-ordinary states has shown me, beyond any doubt, that the
traditional understanding of the human personality, limited to postnatal biography and to
the Freudian individual unconscious, is painfully narrow and superficial. To account for
all the extraordinary new observations, it became necessary to create a radically
expanded model of the human psyche and a new way of thinking about mental health and
disease.

All matter is energy in temporary states of change and there’s no structure.
Altered states of consciousness can heighten aesthetic sensitivity.
Altered states of consciousness have a clear potential for positive psychic development.
Another state of reality is realized.
Certain states are real attainable, and worth spending time in.
Consciousness “ascends” to the eternal state.
Einstein—Structure becomes process. Matter becomes a transient state of energy.
He returns to the state of infancy. (That’s maturity, not regression.)
If I could perpetuate this state I should have found upon this earth the joys of heaven.
In the psychedelic drug-state, mythologies abound. (eyes closed)
In this state of consciousness, everything is the doing of gods.
In this state, realization of the “ultimate truth” is possible.
It is a multipotential state.
Language fails to convey the essence of this state.
LSD tends to intensify the actual psychic state.
Music produces emotional states.
Mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge.
Next to this state, ordinary reality is like a cheap parlor trick in a grimy hotel.
Other forms of intellectual development may await us in other states.
Our “normal” state of consciousness is a constructed reality.
Our sensory experiences are states of our nervous system.
Personal religious experience has its root and centre in mystical states of consciousness.
Recognize the importance and value of other states of consciousness.
Remember, man’s natural state is ecstatic wonder, ecstatic intuition. Don’t settle for less.
Sensory input in this state feels very fresh and intense.
The actual experience of this state is not of nothingness but of everythingness.
The divine state simply IS, here and now and does not have to be attained.
The drugs induce valuable states of self-transcendence and mystical unity.
The ecstatic and unitive states represent the very essence of true healing.
The experiential spectrum of nonordinary states of consciousness is extremely rich.
The intellect in the drug state remains unimpaired.
The knowledge acquired in altered states demands new kinds of scientific theory.
The mind discovers its natural and unconfused state.
The natural state of man is ecstatic wonder. We should not settle for less.
The perceptions seem more real than the ordinary state.
The state of liberation is not away from the state of nature.
The state of mind associated with dying can be experienced during life.
The state of mind is a delightful calm of complete significance.
There is no future beyond this state of mind, no state of mind beyond this one.
There is no language for describing states of awareness.
These states have tremendous evolutionary and healing potential.
They stepped beyond the restrictions of their usual state of awareness.
This is the ultimate state.
This primordial state is characteristic of the deeper levels of the psyche.
This sense of oneness is a natural state, the only true natural state for man to be.
Throughout the ages, visionary states have played an extremely important role.
Traditional approaches tend to pathologize mystical states.
Transcendental states are the very gist of religion.
Under the influence of LSD, one is not insane but is in a special state of consciousness.
Visionary states can provide valuable information about the self and reality.
When all lesser things and ideas are transcended, there remains a perfect state.
With the cognitive mind suspended, the subject is in a heightened state of suggestibility.

Even when I returned to my usual state of consciousness, I had the feeling that this
experience would have a lasting effect.

For the first time, the word ecstasy took on real meaning. For the first time, it did not
mean someone else’s state of mind.

He trusted his experience of having entered into a state of more, not less reality, of
hypersanity, not subsanity.

I became vividly aware of the fact that what I call shapes, colors and textures in the
outside world are also states of my nervous system, that is, of me.

I had reached a state of “wakefulness” when the brilliance of light on a window sill or the
color of blue in the sky would be so important it could make me cry.

I saw deep parallels between various mathematical concepts and altered states of
consciousness.

In that illuminated state, I felt completely boundless and free, surrounded and filled with
brilliant light and washed by an enormous sense of peace.

It occurred to me how strange it would be if some inkling of this state drives one mad as
if the mad person knows this state exists and not being in it drives him mad.

My state of consciousness underwent a process of purification and became absolutely
pristine and radiant.

No saint ever saw more glorious or joyously beautiful visions or experienced a more
blissful state of transcendence.

The feeling was: I was home. That’s really the feeling of it…It was a bliss state. Of a kind
I never experienced before.

The only way I could describe this state of ultimate cosmic ecstasy was to refer to is as
“diamond consciousness.”

There was the awareness of unutterable bliss coupled with the conviction that this was the
only real and eternal state of being.

There were many dimensions that were far beyond anything that one could produce in
fantasy in a usual state of mind.

We all felt that we have achieved the state of ultimate fulfillment; we have reached the
source and the final destination, as close to Heaven as I could imagine.

We danced in the golden light of space, seemingly into eternity, in a state of bliss
understood only by those who have experienced euphoria.

After they had discovered and experienced feelings of cosmic unity in their sessions, they
realized that the state they had really been craving for was transcendence and not drug
intoxication. (Drug intoxication means narcotics and alcohol, not psychedelics.)

By my calculation, the state lasted about 300 years, for the sensations which followed one
another were so numerous and pressing that any real appreciation of time was impossible.
The rapture passed…I saw that it had lasted just a quarter of an hour.

Completely unrelated events became intrinsically connected in my mind. (Those “events”
were never “completely unrelated” and were always “intrinsically connected” regardless
of whether a person is ever consciously aware of that.)

He remarked upon a gathering emotional intensity, expressing his surprise that such an
emotionally charged psychical environment also could be experienced as a “state where all
that is happening is good and supremely in one’s best interests.

He was directly aware of “all the operations of vitality which, in our ordinary state, go on
unconsciously” and he could “trace the circulation of the blood along each inch of its
progress.”

His emotional state was one of “tranquility, a quiet kind of happiness and a security
coming from the knowledge of having accomplished something enormously worthwhile,
of having made some very great advances.”

I was no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined to a body,
but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed
in light and in a state of exaltation and happiness impossible to describe.

Old things have passed away, all things have become new. It was like entering another
world, a new state of existence. Natural objects were glorified, my spiritual vision was so
clarified that I saw beauty in every material object of the universe.

Suddenly, without warning, I felt that I was in heaven—an inward state of peace and joy
and assurance indescribably intense, accompanied with a sense of being bathed in a warm
glow of light.

The nonordinary state of consciousness had the remarkable capacity to select and bring
into conscious awareness contents that have a strong emotional charge and are thus
psychologically important.

The psychiatrist asserts it is “fact” that the subject sat in a catatonic state for two hours,
refusing to talk; the subject knows the “truth” to be that he was spinning far out of space-
time into an ecstatic dance of neurons which made words inadequate and irrelevant.

They had felt themselves to be in a rare state of accord and understanding. Much had
been conveyed, they added, by slight gestures and changes of facial expression that had
escaped the guide’s attention.

We had entered the cosmic state. It was divine. It was expansive and harmonious and
beatific and one. I was alive! For the first time in my life I understood what it meant to be
truly alive.

When I read about such visionary states later, I felt especially grateful for my experience
because it seemed that much more authentic and because it gave me a window on the
knowledge of the sages.

I could feel deeply about other people. We felt connected. The side which had been
suppressing emotions did not seem to be the real one. I was in a higher and higher state of
exhilaration and awareness. Things people said had hidden meaning. They said things
that applied to life. Everything that was real seemed to make sense.

I was experiencing an ever-increasing state of ecstasy. This was accompanied by a
clearing and brightening of my perceptual field. It was as if multiple layers of thick, dirty
cobwebs were being magically torn and dissolved, or a poor-quality movie projection or
television broadcast were being focused and rectified by an invisible cosmic technician.

My understanding of mystical teachings, both Eastern and Western, Hindu, Buddhist,
Christian, and Sufi alike, took on a quantum leap. I became aware of the transcendental
unity at the core of all great religions, and understood for the first time the meaning of
esoteric states.

Science states that all things are in motion; that there are no solids; that everything is in a
gaseous state. The molecules of matter are always in motion. This was what I was
actually seeing. The constant motion of the molecules made everything seem alive The
wall, the table, everything had the same sort of aliveness that the human being has.

“This is an experience of life itself, of existence,” I fairly shouted with unintelligible joy
at my state. It was one of exultation, wonder and awe, amazement over Being. I laughed
until tears came to my eyes. “This is fantastic! Beyond words!” That is was—and is—and
ever shall be.

I kept getting visions of this “golden dawning” of consciousness in man which would
enable us to get things whole, to see life’s miracles, to know that indeed all is in
everything from blade of grass to man and woman. It was a vision of some ideal
existence in which there was only the sense of wonder and all fear gone, of a certain state
of being that was there not to be judged, but simply to be.

I realized, “My God, every single second is really eternity.” I felt I’d dipped into eternity
and was experiencing a glimpse of it along with a hint of its vastness. I was blown away
by the enormity of these revelations. By now, I was flying so high, I felt I was in an
exalted state, that I was having a mystical experience of the highest order, something I
always dreamed of.

Being dead was not a problem. I was happy to spend eternity in this state.

I got deeper and deeper into this state of realization.

I was experiencing a state of inner peace and serenity.

My interest in altered states had been awakened.

This self-evidently was the mind’s natural state.

a deep awareness of the fact that such profound transpersonal states reveal authentic
dimensions of existence

a dream-like state marked by extreme alterations in consciousness of self, in the
understanding of reality, in the sphere of experience and marked changes in perception

a euphoric state with its feeling of well-being, contentment, sociability, mental and
physical relaxation

a high state of consciousness in which man finds union with the ultimate reality of the
universe

a primordial emotional state where subject-object relationships no longer exist and one is
part of, not apart from, one’s environment

a radical conversion experience, a transformation of self based on a new state of
awareness, a new state of consciousness—higher consciousness

a single undifferentiated state of mind containing all possible dimensions of human
experience

a state of consciousness in which he experiences directly and vividly what our own
scientists know to be true in theory

a state of consciousness without differentiation of the knower, the knowing and the
known

a state of mind which is experiential rather than intellectual—a kind of sensation rather
than a set of ideas

a state in which the fruits of nature and the potentialities of the human organism may
develop more richly

a transcendental state of consciousness whose impact is to trigger a release of a universal
“inner programming” of higher human potentials

an altered state of consciousness in which the ordinary structures of experience are
broken down

an altered state of consciousness that focuses our awareness on something other than our
ego and intellect

an existence of peace and equanimity, a state of well-being and wholeness—transcending
all fear of death

can pass into paradisiacal states led by heroes, heroines, angels and super-spirits (eyes
closed)

encountered surpassing states of awareness and returned with the conviction that they had
attained the truth

had unitive states in which you melted into the cosmos and felt yourself to be part of an
interconnected web of consciousness

higher levels and states of mind that lead to the realization of one’s divine nature and God
consciousness

look in mirror—image reflected may be determined by the physical or emotional state or
by what he is thinking

more real than the phenomenal world as it is experienced in a more usual state of
consciousness

non-ordinary states of consciousness, an area grossly neglected not just by traditional
science, but by the entire Western culture

non-ordinary states of consciousness which allow us to see the guiding forces of our lives
much more clearly

not a confused state, but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of the surest, where death
was an almost laughable impossibility

pure mind, mind in its natural state, limitless, undifferentiated, luminously blissful,
knowledgelessly understanding

reveals a rich spectrum of dimensions of reality that are ordinarily hidden from human
awareness and are not available in the everyday state of consciousness

state of consciousness in which the individual discovers himself to be one continuous
process with God

states of consciousness that transcend ordinary space/time limitations and operate in a
reality that is more aptly described in the language of subatomic physics

that unitary state of divine harmony, an existence in which only the sense of wonder
remains and all fear is gone

telescope, microscope—aids to perception of external objects, LSD—aid to perception of
an internal state of the nervous system

the challenge that the research of non-ordinary states of consciousness presents to
traditional Newtonian-Cartesian science

the direct experience of the concrete, natural world in its nonverbal and nonconceptual
state

the ego-loss experience being a temporary ending of game life, a passing from one state
of consciousness into another

the healing, transformative and evolutionary potential of nonordinary states of
consciousness

the idea of launching a new discipline that would combine science and spirituality and
incorporate the perennial wisdom concerning various levels and states of consciousness

the irrationality that pervades much psychiatric thinking about drugs and altered states of
consciousness

the knowledge that nothing that is utterable is real because this indescribable state is so
much greater

the mind and senses in the state of open attention, where nature is received in its
unknown reality

the need to discriminate between pathological states that have to be medically treated and
transformative states that have a positive potential and should be supported

the nonduality of the mind, in which it is no longer divided against itself, a state of
profound peace

the realization that one’s true state is “unclassified,” that one’s role is simply
conventional

the recognition that all these radiances are the emanations of one’s own mind in a state of
perfect tranquility and serenity, a state in which the mind reveals its true universal nature

the spiritual state of no-game, no-ego, the ultimate liberation and the very highest forms
of maturity

the very highest form of Bliss, wherein he achieved the state of total identification with
all of reality

to experience a state of egoless freedom, freedom from compulsive ego-centered passions
and desires

to experience the infinite joy of rediscovering the original and blissful state of Universal
Consciousness

to gain insight into the potentials of consciousness and different states of consciousness
of which I am capable

to induce states that would lend extraordinary lucidity and light to the mind’s
unconscious and creative process

to take them higher, to a new realm, to a psychic state they’d never experienced before, a
new land of intensity and passion

the new relationship between religion and science that seems to be emerging from the
study of unusual states of consciousness

this exceptional state of the spirit and of the senses which can be termed paradisiacal as
compared with the hopeless darkness of ordinary daily existence

“transcendental” experiences—a state beyond conflict—often with rapid and dramatic
therapeutic results

transformation into animal forms, becoming inanimate objects or pure energy and
dissolution into the no-body state

various types and levels of experience that have become available in certain special states
of mind and that seem to be normal expressions of the psyche

a sense of merging with another person into a state of unity and oneness, retaining
awareness of his or her own identity (One can also experience being another person, even
someone from ancient history.)

a state of which, because there are no longer and God-eclipsing obstacles between
themselves and Reality, they are able to be aware continuously of the divine Ground of
their own and all other beings

the state in which we transcend or dissolve all the barriers of ego and selfishness that
separate us from God, the state of direct knowing, immediate perception of our total unity
with God

Western culture’s preference for consensus reality, lack of a genuine understanding of
altered states of consciousness and strong tendency to pathologize all such states without
discrimination (It is “consensus reality” based on ego that is really pathological.)

the Primordial Tradition: an age-old wisdom of humanity, neglected only where modern
science and secularism rule, its truths revealed to the interior eye in altered states of
consciousness and now, finally, in natural science itself as it reaches its limits and begins
to glimpse something beyond

a blissful, undifferentiated, oceanic state of consciousness
a calm and blissful state
a clear state of mind undistracted by customary thought process
a dreamy state of altered consciousness
a fluid, undifferentiated state of consciousness
a heightened state of awareness
a high-energy state
a higher mental state
a holy state
a lack of real understanding about nonordinary states of consciousness in Western culture
a mental state in which appear fantastic visions, often in the most brilliant colors
a mystical state, the unification of all immediate experience with “God”
a new state of being
a non-game state of ecstasy
a “passive state of mind”
a perfect state of wise Buddha-being
a state escaping definition, and thus immeasurable and infinite
a state of blissful merging and undifferentiated unity
a state of clear consciousness
a state of complete rest and harmony
a state of cosmic consciousness in its totality
a state of cosmic expanded awareness
a state of crystal lucidity and peace
a state of ecstasy of the greatest intensity
a state of exalted joy
a state of exhilaration, well-being and bliss
a state of heightened suggestibility and acute sensitivity to environmental cues
a state of high emotional arousal
a state of infinite possibility beyond good and evil
a state of intenser, more significant experience
a state of moral exultation, an indescribable feeling of elevation, elation and joyousness
a state of non-game ecstasy and deep revelation
a state of perfect clarity and understanding
a state of physical comfort in a contented passive manner
a state of profound peace in which truths were revealed to him in immediate awareness
a state of self-confidence, satisfaction and relaxation
a state of the primordial or unmodified consciousness
a state of ultimacy
a state of utter ineffable bliss
a state resembling prolonged intense sexual orgasm
a timeless and selfless state
a transpersonal state that transcends ordinary limits of human experience
a very restful state
a wider state of consciousness
acquiring real knowledge of the process of life while in the drug-state
altered states of awareness
amazing states of expanded consciousness
an acute, extraordinary state
an ecstatic non-ego state
an ecstatic state of non-ego
an intense stimulation of the imagination and an altered state of awareness of the world
an undifferentiated state of consciousness
concentrating the energies of consciousness in a state of acuteness, of total awareness
deep emotional and spiritual states
“descent” to a “deeper” drug state level
different states of brain function
ecstatic heaven-states
ego-loss state, recognize the process as an end eagerly awaited
encounter with the divine, a powerful, rapturous mystical state
energy in its pure unstructured state, the E of Einstein’s equation
experiences of merging with another person into a state of dual unity
extended awareness of the mystical state of mind
foolishness being a divine state
going beyond or higher than the ordinary mental state
higher states of consciousness
his new state of mind
in a state of breathless wonderment and complete bliss
in his spontaneous natural state
in my dazed and amazed state
inner state of going nowhere in a timeless world
insightful mystical states
insights into nature and varieties of transcendent states
intense, desired states of consciousness
intense transformative states of mind
jet-propelled trips into altered states
Laing’s theory of a mental state as far superior to normalcy as normalcy is to paranoia
LSD the key to the religious or mystical state, could lead to a truer metaphysics of being
my plodding mind, duly recording the doings of a consciousness far beyond itself
nonordinary states of consciousness that mediate access to all other aspects of existence
our present state of spiritual infancy
profound states of altered awareness
psychic realities experienced during altered states of consciousness
rapture states
regions of the mind and states of consciousness hitherto inaccessible
release from one’s habitual state of tenseness, of clinging to false ideas
restores the original state of unitary consciousness
return again to the state of infancy, to spontaneity
soaring states of bliss, heightened spirituality, and a titanic sense of drama and surprise
special states of mind
spiritual eroticism, ecstatic exuberance, mystic altered states
state of enlarged perception
states of consciousness that point to the existence of another kind of reality
states of consciousness where there is no basic separation between the ego and the world
states of expanded awareness
states of mystical intuition
states of psychological awareness
states of rapture, expanded awareness and light
states of spiritual conversion, interpersonal closeness and psychological insight
states of unstructured awareness, direct awareness
taking sacred substances to induce a heightened state
that altered states of consciousness included the highest forms of human experience
that peculiar state of joy and serenity
that state of blissful, energy-infused, intoxicated oneness
that state of calm, passive concentration
that state of intuition
that state of spontaneous innocent curiosity that children are so famous for
the ancient knowledge of nonordinary states of consciousness
the appreciative state
the arrogance of the power-brokers who labeled altered states of consciousness as disease
the bias of our culture against nonordinary states of consciousness
the blissful egoless states a child experiences during the early period of its life
the bringing to consciousness of an eternal state
the clarity, the exquisite beauty of the visionary state
the creative potential of the LSD state
the cultural value and philosophic implications of altered states
the divine state
the ecstatic state
the experience in which eternity takes root in the waking state
the extended state of transcendent consciousness
the fluidity of the LSD state
the gift of illumination received through an altered state of consciousness
the godly state
the healing potential of unitive ecstatic states
the highest state of complete unity and pure egoless energy
the ideal pristine state of paradise
the increased mystery of my state
the inspired state in which beauty is created
the intensity of my experience of the state of love
the intensity of psychedelic states
the intensity of the emotional and physiological manifestations of these states
the magical qualities governing these states
the mystic state of One Single Reality
the mystical nature of many experiences in nonordinary states of consciousness
the perfectly natural state
the potential for rising to a higher state of being
the preternatural activity of sense in the hasheesh state
the relationship between mystical states and morality
the remarkable transformative potential of nonordinary states of consciousness
the psychedelic-mystical state
the radiance of mystical states
the relationship between intrinsic emotional states and healing
the relationship of psychedelic states to creative inspiration
the royal road to these expanded mental states that all mystics seek
the socially conditioned illusion, a dangerous state of hallucination and delusion
the state of absolute bliss
the state of acute sensitivity that the drugs induce
the state of being in pure consciousness
the state of fluid expanded consciousness
the state of “paradise regained”
the state of pearly wisdom
the state of radiant unity
the state of Self-realization or God-realization
the state of the divine mind
the state of total fulfillment
the states of eternity
the suggestible state where new reality programs could be imprinted
the theme of return to a blissful original state in myth
the therapeutic and transformative power of nonordinary states of consciousness
the tranquil state of non-game awareness
the transcendental state of awareness
the transcendental state of enlightenment
the vision of the sacred achieved in ecstatic states
the visionary state
the wordless but all-embracing knowledge attained in the mystical state
these calm, suggestive states
these new states of mind
these states of mind and emotions
these upper states of mind
this “empathic” state
this new state of consciousness
this other, marvelous, limitless state
this paradisal state of innocence
this primordial “eternal” state
this relaxed, uncreated state of mind
this state of great physical ease
this state of mind
this state of mind one of cosmic grandeur
this state of ultimate cosmic energy
this state of unity of the individual self with the universe
this ultimate state
to bring us to a state of Jungian wholeness
to distinguish the clear light of truth from the illusory states of unenlightened existence
to experience the ecstatic unitive states that have the greatest therapeutic potential
to explore mystical realms or higher states of consciousness
to intensify one’s state of mind
to return to the original state of unity
to see and hear and live more fully and completely in a higher state of awareness
to see the realities of which, in his former state, he had seen shadows
transcendental mystical states
truths revealed to the interior eye in altered states of consciousness
unique states of consciousness
unity with this state of perfect enlightenment
unusual states of consciousness of extraordinary intensity and clarity
very high spiritual states characterized by ultimate purity and special radiance
visionary states of a religious and mystical nature