Altering consciousness: multidisciplinary perspectives

839 Pages·2011·5.03 MB·English

by  Etzel Cardeña

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Altering Consciousness
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Altering Consciousness
Multidisciplinary Perspectives
Volume 1: History, Culture, and the Humanities
Etzel Carden˜a and Michael Winkelman, Editors
Copyright2011byABC-CLIO,LLC
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina
review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Alteringconsciousness:multidisciplinaryperspectives/EtzelCarden˜aandMichael
Winkelman,editors.
p.;cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313–38308–3(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–38309–0(ebook)
1. Consciousness. I.Carden˜a,Etzel.II.Winkelman,Michael.
BF311.C2773 2011
154.4—dc22 2010054086
ISBN:978–0–313–38308–3
EISBN:978–0–313–38309–0
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface: ExtendingOurKnowledge of Consciousness ix
Charles T. Tart
Chapter 1 AlteringConsciousness:Setting Upthe Stage 1
Etzel Carden˜a
Chapter 2 AParadigm forUnderstandingAltered Consciousness:
TheIntegrative Mode of Consciousness 23
MichaelWinkelman
Part I:Historical Perspectives
Chapter 3 Consciousness AlterationPractices in the Westfrom
Prehistoryto Late Antiquity 45
Yulia Ustinova
Chapter 4 SpiritPossessionandOther Alterations of Consciousness
in theChristian Western Tradition 73
MosheSluhovsky
Chapter 5 AlteredConsciousnessfromthe Age of Enlightenment
ThroughMid–20th Century 89
Etzel Carden˜aand Carlos S. Alvarado
Chapter 6 Reconceptualizing theFieldof AlteredConsciousness:
A50-Year Retrospective 113
Julie Beischel,AdamJ. Rock,and Stanley Krippner
vi Contents
Part II:Cultural Perspectives
Chapter 7 EasternApproachesto AlteredStates of Consciousness 139
JonathanShear
Chapter 8 Shamanismand theAlterationof Consciousness 159
MichaelWinkelman
Chapter 9 AlteredConsciousnessin Society 181
CharlesWhitehead
Chapter 10 SpiritualTechnologiesand AlteringConsciousness in
Contemporary Counterculture 203
GrahamSt John
PartIII: The Humanities
Chapter 11 AlteredConsciousnessin Philosophy 229
JenniferM. Windt
Chapter 12 AlteredConsciousnessin Religion 255
AntoonGeels
Chapter 13 ColoredInklings: AlteredStates of Consciousness
andLiterature 277
Wendy E. Cousins
Chapter 14 AlteredConsciousnessin Performance:Westand East 301
PhillipB. Zarrilli
Chapter 15 AlteredConsciousnessand Modern Art 327
MarkLevy
Chapter 16 TimeIs theKey:Music and AlteredStates
of Consciousness 355
Jo¨rg C. Fachner
About theEditors 377
Advisory Board 379
About theContributors 381
Index 385
Acknowledgments
We want to acknowledge first the forebears of these books, the men and
women who across many thousands of years have descended into dark
caves, led community rituals, and explored consciousness-altering plants
in order to encounter anew the world and their selves. We recognize our
pioneers in Plato in the West, Pantanjali in the East, and other exemplars
offirst-rateintellectswholaidthegroundworkforintegratingtheinsights
ofalterationsofconsciousnessintoourviewsofreality.Amongthefound-
ers of modern psychology and anthropology there were notables such as
WilliamJamesandAndrewLangwhoarticulatedandincorporatedaltera-
tions of consciousness into their theories of human mind and behavior.
Even during the decades-long exile of consciousness by behaviorism,
some brave souls dared to engage in research on altered states, among
them Stanley Krippner, Arnold Ludwig, Robert Ornstein, and Jerome
Singer in psychology, E. E. Evans-Wentz, Erika Bourguignon, Michael
Harner, Joseph Long, and Charles Laughlin in anthropology, and Albert
Hofmann in pharmacology. Among those who helped to point out the
importance of studying alterations of consciousness as a basic element of
human experience, the leading figure in establishing them as a legitimate
areaofscientificinquirywasCharlesT.Tart,anerstwhileengineeringstu-
dent turned psychologist.
Our two volumes are dedicated to these and the many other pioneers
of inquiry into consciousness who provided the foundations for the per-
spectives developed here. We thank Debbie Carvalko, the senior acquisi-
tions editor who made Altering Consciousness possible, and our many
contributors,withoutwhomthesevolumeswouldnothaveseenthelight
of day. We especially would like to thank Julie Beischel, Cheryl Fracasso,
viii Acknowledgments
David E. Nichols,and MosheSluhovsky, who cameto therescue whenit
lookedas if wemight not be able to includesomeimportant topics.
Wearealsoveryfortunatetohavebeentherecipientsofthegenerosity
of Anna Alexandra Gruen, who gave us permission to use the extraordi-
nary images of Remedios Varo in our covers, and of Judith Go´mez del
Campo, who madeit happen.
Dedications
Michaeldedicatesthesevolumestothenextgenerationofinvestigators
whowilltakethefoundationsofamultidisciplinaryscienceofalteredcon-
sciousness described here and produce a more comprehensive
paradigm for understanding these inherent aspects and potentials
of humannature.
EtzeldedicatesAltering Consciousnessto:
Mydeardeparted,Ma(MayBuelnadeCarden˜a),Blueberry,andNinni-
fer, whose livingpresencewill accompanymeto my dyingbreath.
And to mybeloved princesaholandesa Sophie:
“...somos ma´s que dos piezas de rompecabezas, le dijo la arena al
mar,somosalgo nuevo y distinto.”