William James often inhaled Nitrous Oxide while he wrote. He felt that our normal state of conciousness was just one of many that humans can feel.
I have taken many different drugs and they will definetely make it seem like your in a different realm of conciousness (ecspecially hallucenigens like LSD and Mushrooms). But are there really different realms of consciousness or do drugs just give the user a feeling of being in a different realm of consciousness when no other realms of consciousness actually exist?
It depends what you mean by “realm of consciousness”, I really can’t tell. Do you mean that it seems that you perceive the world through different senses or something else?
Though I’ve generally tried to keep away from mind-altering drugs, I’m in the process of reading a great book on the point you’re raising. If you haven’t heard of it already, look up ‘The Doors Of Perception’ by Aldous Huxley. In it, Huxley describes his experiences in the spring of 1953 when he took part in a psycological study of the affects of a drug called mescalin on mental processes. (specifically, perception) He sits down one morning, takes a dose, and explains how the external world was altered to his consciousness. He extends the questions raised by this one chemical process to the theory that we may have multiple levels/ways of perceiving the world. It’s worth the read.
I can’t see how there could be different realm’s of consciousness, more a move into the self, your own sub-consciousness which is aware of everything you could know. On magic mushroom’s i thought i was in a computer game; the only thing that comes to mind is sleep paralysis(when you wake up in a dream and can’t move) that match’s it’s weirdness.
It’s quite suprising that coffee is popular drug and movement’s of powerful nation’s were well intergrated with how much, and what drug’s they were taking, but coffee is more a physical drug then a psychological drug, like pot.
I think current research proves that you do feel different states of consciouness because they heighten the abilities of certain parts of the brain and restrict the functioning of others. I think you might want to check out Marshall and his son Eric Mchulan’s communication tetrads, which discuss the concepts of enhancement, reversal, retreival, and obsolescence for a more “humanistic” approach to the whole thing.
i think you enter different relms of conciousness. if you look at a brain not on drugs and take a look at its current chemical state, you could say that is state A, and when you are on drugs, there are obviously new chemicals in your brian that are changing your brains chemical state. i think we can agree the two are correlated, and since i believe that conciousness is a chemical process, i think ya could say that it is a different concious state.
It would depend on the drug. Drug A might enhance a sensation; drug B might enhance awareness of spacial reality; drug C might enhance the mental process’s coherent in dreams (or subconscious.) All would somehow change the normal state of biochemical phenomenon in someway But must still be coming from the same psyche, just on particular drugs the sense of yourself (or “i”,) disappears like when unconscious, as you slip in and out of different conscious extremes.
(its magic mushroom season soon i cant wait for some mind warping experiences to be posted - perhaps )
— I like the comment about drugs releasing subconscious thoughts. I personally rarely do drugs, believing that stoical moderation is a good thing. They do induce altered states, but heavy use can damage your cognitive equipment.
— theoryofexist, hi long time no see, is that Marshall Mcluhan?, the dude who wrote the Gutenberg Galaxy?
Considering each brain is unique and that the blend and ratio of chemicals in each brain is unique then each person’s ‘realm of conciousness’ is unique.
Maybe the state one individual reaches when taking mushrooms is anothers ‘normal’ waking state. (extreme example)
I believe this is why Canabis can be fairly harmless to one individual, but to another who has a tendancy for ‘mental Illness’, it can push them over the edge, becuase they were that much closer to it in the first place.
Im not really sure what you mean by other realms of consciousness. But I often somke weed and it does make me feel different. But I dont think that it brings on a different realmof consciousness. I know that it is just chemicals reacting in my brain that make me feel different. I think it brings on another state of consciousness. But this state is pruley physical.
— Welcome to the forum Zak! Sounds like dialectical materialism. It may be physical, but it also results in an emotional state as well, something like two aspects of the same thing.
Zak- realms and states id place them both in the same league. Levels of consciousness in terms of alertness and responsiveness are related with chemicals and electrical activity of the brain waves. This can be done with equipment and other empirical advices that may monitor through waves and volts and there variation, but this doesnt explain consciousness it just maps it out, the map isnt the land its showing–it is the Self is necessary in order for there to be a unified empirical self-consciousness. Consciousness “the perception of what passes in man’s own mind”-- Locke
I smoke pot from time-2-time and ive find im watching myself, almost some introspection. Sometimes i can be logically adding up about 6 things at once ie. theres one big idea or two and many other ideas making causal relations between them. Im having magics on friday so…
i spent a good part of my youth in the fifth dimension
that was my mental state and personal perspective
though i learned alot in all those experiences
and tried to push myself toward spiritual growth
i dont believe that i was in another concious state
i do think my conciousness was exagerated
its hard to explain unless you have been there
I think we are naturally designed to work in a way that lets us have spiritual experiences / mind trips when all aspects of our being are in harmony, ie, in a state of relaxed meditation or at certain points in a life. I believe drugs “opens the gateway” but kinds of skips the bodies natural saftey messures and thus possibly gives taker things to think about that naturally they are not ready to think about, risking creating a kind of un balance in that person.
That’s just what I think. I have tried drugs but have no place for them as I’ve kind of mastered “opening the gateway” at will. Experience with no side effects. That’s got to be more healthy hasn’t it?
The east has definitely mastered this mind over body thing more than we have. When Indian Fakirs can slow their heart rate to 1 beat per minute, that’s quite an accomplishment. It’s good that you have ways to find your spiritual center.
I’ve been in that “different realm” I though of it as a higher level of life.
And yes, I was on mushrooms…but it was like…I knew all. I could make sense of everything. I understood the concept of the difference between wet and dry so well it was unbelievable. Then everyone could read my mind and i could read thiers. We had a 2 hour conversation just by reading our thoughts. I want to know how to get there without drugs. It has to be real…not just a “trip” because it wasn’t just one person experiencing it. It was all real.
i cant wait for some mind warping experiences to be posted - perhaps 
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