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Invisiblemjshroomer
Sage
Registered: 07/21/99
Posts: 13,774
Loc: gone with my shrooms
Ralph Metzner's Latest Course in Alternate States of Consciousness
    #5749970 - 06/14/06 03:15 PM (17 years, 7 months ago)

What are Altered States of Consciousness? For over 25 years I’ve been teaching a course on Altered States of Consciousness, and their role in psychotherapy and spiritual practices. I’ve extended the paradigm of catalyst-set-and-setting from research with psychedelics, to consideration of all altered states, including dreams and sleep, hypnosis and creativity, mystical and ecstatic states, pathological states, NDEs, OBEs, non-ordinary, shamanic, etc... I’ve tried to meliorate the vague discomfort that people feel toward “altered states”, by pointing out that alterations of state of consciousness are as normal and ubiquitous as the daily cycle of sleeping, dreaming and waking consciousness. Nevertheless, some discomfort lingered, in my mind also. I think I’ve finally come to understand my own lingering discomfort with the concept of altered state, besides the fact that it disguises the distinction between ordinary and non-ordinary states. It has to do with the passive construction “altered”, which suggests that something was done to you by an external agency. A drug-induced state seemingly supports this view. But we have to remember – the individual chooses to ingest the drug (except in certain morally reprehensible and illegal situations) for a certain purpose, with the intention to alter consciousness. Similarly, a person goes to sleep with a conscious intention toward rest and restoration of energies. We may also intentionally incubate a dream for problem solving. The important thing about states of consciousness, I think, is to recognize and identify the state one is in, and learn how to work with them if positive, or navigate beyond them, if negative. I wrote these reflections up in a brief essay for the AHP (American Humanistic Psychology) Perspectives journal (http://www.ahpweb.org). It’s also in the attachment above.

What role do altered states play in the Metzner Alchemical Divination practices and training? In most forms of divination, there is some procedure — such as laying the Tarot cards, casting the runes, looking up the I Ching, calculating the horoscope – that gets us out of the ordinary rational mind, in order to bring in non-rational perspectives, in order to address our problems by “thinking outside the box”. In shamanic practices with visionary plants, or rhythmic drumming, a state of consciousness outside the usual time-space framework allows the seeker to find answers to their questions of healing or guidance. In the alchemical divinations, we use yogic light-fire and breathing meditations, to bring about a light, intentional expansion of awareness for the same purpose. They key technical processes are navigation and divination. For a detailed description of the training program, see http://greenearthfound.org/madbrochure.html.

The next Metzner Alchemical Divination training workshop will be held Aug 1 to Aug 6, in Petaluma, Northern California.
It is called Janus and the Gateway of the Heart (Janus is the bi-directional Roman deity of passages and transitions).
It includes the following divinations: - Finding your Orientation and Inner Direction, Identifying and Releasing Blocks to Opening the Receeptive and Dynamic, Connecting and Reconciling with the Ancestors, The Cross of Being and Becoming. Participants will also learn the following alchemical energy practices: - Transmutation of the Elements in the Cave of the Heart, Purifying and Nourishing the Three Essence Chambers, Four-Fold Clearing of the Energy-Field. Participants will experience the divinations for themselves and practice guiding them for others in dyads and triads. The program also includes artwork for integration, and breathing and movement practices.

The cost of this training workshop is $1750.00, which includes tuition and room and board (shared occupancy). A $500 deposit saves you a place. If you apply and register by June 15, there is a discount of $150 off the total cost.
For application and registration forms see: http://greenearthfound.org/MAD_training.htm

Reflections on the concept of altered state of consciousness
Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.

For over 25 years I have been lecturing, writing and teaching courses, at CIIS and elsewhere, on altered states of consciousness (ASCs) and their role in psychotherapy and spiritual practices. I came to think of ASCs as one of three paradigms for the psychological study of consciousness, the other two being stages of consciousness development, and levels or worlds of consciousness. In working with this paradigm of ASCs, I have learned from and been influenced by the research and writings of several colleagues, who are also friends, including Charles Tart, Stanley Krippner, Stanislav Grof, Kenneth Ring, Andrew Weil, Michael Harner, as well as other anthropologists studying cross-cultural variations in consciousness, students of Asian systems of yoga and meditation, and psychiatric researchers in the field of dissociative states.
The concept of altered states came into prominence in Western psychology in the 1950s and 1960s, primarily due to two paradigm breakthroughs. One was the discovery of rapid eye movements (REM) during dreaming sleep, which was the first time a recordable physiological variations could be reliably correlated with a subjective state of consciousness. The second breakthrough was the discovery of LSD and other psychedelic, “consciousness expanding” drugs, which meant that profoundly transformed and transforming states of consciousness, hitherto accessible only to a few individuals, could be induced with fairly high probability in larger numbers of people, given the right preparation, safeguards and set and setting. These discoveries of correlations between variations in neural functions and variations in subjective states of consciousness stimulated an enormous upsurge of research, which continues to this day, with profound applications in fields as diverse as health, learning, creativity and psycho-spiritual growth. One could argue that this approach – the study of associations between brain states and mind-states – has become the dominant paradigm in the scientific study of consciousness.
In my courses using the ASC paradigm, I have found it useful to distinguish between the content of a state of consciousness (the thoughts, images, feelings, perceptions and so forth), which can best be understood by looking at the set-and-setting, or intention preceding entry into the state; and the trigger or catalyst that brings about the shift into a different mode of functioning. Well-known catalysts or triggers of ASCs are drugs, hypnotic inductions, meditative practices, shamanic drumming, music, nature, sex, and others, as well as the normal cyclical variations of brain chemistry that catalyze us into “falling asleep” or “waking up”. It’s also extremely useful to apply the ASC paradigm to understand psychopathological states that are contractive, fixated or dissociative, and have negative and toxic consequences for individuals, families and communities – including drug or behavioral addictions, fear (panic attacks), rage (fits of temper), psychotic breaks or episodes, depression, mania and others.
One issue that produces uneasiness in most people when considering or discussing the concept of an “altered state”, is the seeming implication that “altered” is itself abnormal. How then could we talk about ASCs being therapeutic, creative, or spiritual growth enhancing? In my courses, I’ve attempted to overcome this cognitive prejudice by pointing to the fact that all human beings are extremely familiar with the normal, life-long, profoundly altered variations in state we call sleeping, waking and dreaming.
Some writers have attempted to overcome the negative presuppositions associated with “altered states”, by proposing terms such as “alternate state”, or “non-ordinary state”, or (as in a recently published APA handbook) “anomalous experiences”. But this educational strategy disguises the point that some alterations of state are extremely ordinary, usual and familiar. Should “dreaming” be considered a “non-ordinary state”? How about being “drunk”, or “depressed” – aren’t those rather ordinary states. There is a whole spectrum of states of consciousness, from the familiar to the anomalous extreme, and this is true for both positive, expansive, health and knowledge enhancing states, as well as negative, contractive, unhealthy and destructive states. Whether the state or is normal or abnormal is, in any case, a culturally and historically relative judgement imposed on experience, and thus, an academic question of no particular significance.
I’ve finally come to understand my own lingering discomfort with the concept of “altered state”, besides the fact that it disguises the distinction between ordinary and non-ordinary states. It has to do with the passive construction “altered”, which suggests that something was done to you by an external agency. A drug-induced state seemingly supports this view. But we have to remember – the individual chooses to ingest the drug (except in certain morally reprehensible and illegal situations), for a certain purpose, with the intention to alter consciousness. A person goes to sleep with a conscious intention toward rest and restoration of energies. We may also intentionally incubate a dream for problem solving.
In order to use the expansive, positive states constructively for our own well-being, creativity and growth, we need to be able to recognize the state we’re in, and how to navigate through it in order to learn. For example, shamans learn to use the shamanic drumming journey state for the purposes of obtaining knowledge for healing, problem solving and guidance. Yogis and meditators practice their skills in order to gain insight. I believe that this is how Buddhist mindfulness training may be understood. With the negative, contractive states, our main concern, for ourselves and for others with whom we may be working, is to identify the state we’re in, recognize how it’s affecting us (our thinking, our perception, our behavior), and how we can navigate our way through it and beyond it into healthier, life-affirming states. I believe such an attitude would be consistent with William James’ insightful aphorism: “my experience is what I choose to attend to.” By becoming more conscious (mindful) of the nature of the state we’re in at any given moment, we can deploy attention in different ways, and thus enhance the range of choices we can make, and more fully take responsibility for the impact of those choices on others and in our world.

Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. has been involved in the study of transformations of consciousness for over 40 years. He has been teaching at the California Institute of Integral Studies since 1975, where he was also the Academic Dean for ten years. His books include The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self , Green Psychology, Sacred Vine of Spirits and Sacred Mushroom of Vision. He has developed a training program in Alchemical Divination – a meditative method of obtaining intuitive knowledge, from inner spiritual Source for healing, problem solving and guidance. For information see www.greenearthfound.org; or write: ralph@greenearthfound.org

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mj


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