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    P H EN O M EN O LO G I C A L M A P P I N G :A M E T H O D F O R D E S C R l B M G A N D -COMPARING STATES O FC O N S C I O U S N E S S

    Roger WalshImine. Culifomiu

    INTRODUCTION

    States of consciousness have long been a central concern of trans-personal psychology . Indeed. the field arose out of the recognitionof 3 family of traqersanal states in which the sense of selfexpmded beyond (trans) the individual person or personality toencompass wider aspects of life and the cosmos. Such experienceshave been highly valued across cultures and cenhxies--ow ownbeing a notable exception--and some have even been regarded as experiencesthe summwn bonum, the highest good and highest goal of exist- highlyence. valuedacrossThe prevalence and importance of altered states of consc iou~n ess cultures(ASCs) may be gathered from B our guip oo's (1973. p. 1I) h d i n g undthat some 90% of culturcs have institutionalized forms of them. centuriesShe concluded that this is "a striking finding and suggests that weare, indeed. dealing w ith a man er of ma jor imporlance, not merelya bit of anthropological esoterica."One of the early avumptions that was ofleu made about alteredstate inducing practices was that hey exhibited quifinality. Thatis, many authon, including this one, mistakenly assumed thatdiffering techniques such as various meditations, contemplations

    The a h r rrba m bank iheA m c m Aadrmy oiRrllgIon s d Jcrnny Tarcbofor prmc;sloo 0ilu he m c l c udb b hslk y r r publlrhcdas a k v or h eprucnt m c l e T h d s a h B o m c L'Al lm for bcr uonwd aulrtanceand to

    7'hc Journa l of Tronrpersonol Pr.vchology, 1995. Vol . 27 . No . 1 25

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    and yogas necessarily resulted in equivalent states of conscious-ness. Tlus largely reflected our ignorance o f the broad range o fpossible AS Cs that can be deliberately cultivated (Cole man, 1988).For example. consider the varieties of ASC (hat have been identi-fied n Indian meditalive and yogic practices alone. These includehighly concentrated states such as the yogic samodhis or Buddhistj h s ; w itn es s- co nsc io usn es s sla te s in w h i c h c q u a ~ m j r y s s osmong that stimuli have linle or no effect on the observer; and stateswhere exo.cmely refined inner stimuli become the o bjects of atten-tion such as the faint inner sounds of shobd yoga or the subtlcpseudonirvanic bliss of Buddhist viparsona meditation (Goldstein.1983; Coleman, 1988). Then too there m nitive states in whichthe sense of separation between self and world dissolves; there areothers in which all objects of phenomena disappear such as inBuddhist nirvana or Vcdantic n i n l k a l p s a m a dh i : and statcs inwhich all phenomena arc perceived as expressions or modifica-tions of consciousness. e.g. sahaj samadhi (Wilber, 1980, 1995;Fm o b 1985). Of coursc this is not to deny that certain statesmay display s ig di ca nt functional and experiential comm onalities.Asian meditative and yogic slates m now recognized as distinctstarcs suigeneri r Lhat may exhibi t a variety of u ~ q u ehenomeno-

    distinct logical, perceptual. elecuophysiological, and hormonal changesstare. (Shapiro, 1980; Sbap iro& Walsh, 1984; Wilber, Englcr 8r Bro u n ,su i 1986; Coleman, 1988). Until reladvcly recently, however. lhese

    gmcr i s Asian meditative and yogic slates were often regarded as patho-logiwl and their practitioners were regarded a s neurotic at best orpsychotic at wo nt (Group for h e Advancement of Psychiauy,1976). Th us one textbook of psychiauy c oncluded that

    The obvious similarities bcw ccn schizophrenic regressions and thepractices of yoga and Zen mercly indiwtc that the gcncral mnd inoricnul c u l m is to wilhdmw inlo tht self from an ovcrbeannglydifficult physical and social rcalily (Alcxandcr & Selcmich. 1966, p.457).

    The rcasons for this long history of the conflation and patholo-gizing of religious states are probably several. Most notably,Western psychology, philosophy, and culture arc predominantlymonophasic. mea ning that their world view is drawn almost exclu-sively from only one state of consciousness. namely the usualwaking m t c . This conuasts with man y other cultures and disci-plines, e.g., Vedantic p hilosophy, Buddhist Abhidharma psychol-ogy, and Jewish Kabbalah wh c h are polyphasic, i .e.. drawing theirworldview from multiplc statcs including contcmplativc anddram states (Laughlin et d.. 992, 1993). A majo r goal of trans-personal psychology h as been to move our culture and psychologyfrom monophasic to polyphasic.

    26 The Journol of Transpersonof Psychology. 1995, Vol. 27. No . I

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    One cause and effect of the prevailing Western m onop hasia hasbeen a general bias against accepting the very existence o f cert ai naltered states; witness the nineteenth-century surgeons who ob-served appxcntly painless amputations performed under hypnosisand concluded that the subjects had been bribed to pretend thcy fe llno pain ( T a t 1986). Related to t h ~ ss thc limited range of W es temcategories for states other than w aking. sleeping, and pat hol ogi ca lones.This limitation do ubtless plays a role in the widely observe d bi as inclinical psychiany and psychology to pathologize unusual experi-cnces (Jung, 1957; Maslow. 1968; Noll, 1983). This b ias c an beparticululy important in cross-cultunl studies because "anthro-pologisU sometimes fail to distinguish clinic and culture" (O pl er ,1961). Relatcd to this is what Michael H m e r (1990) calls "cogni- ,,c o g n i c e n h r n "cenmsm," the tcndency to assume that one's own usual slate isoptimal.A final reason for the cod3tion and pathologizing of religiousASCS is that most researchers have had little diuccl experience ofthe states they investigate. Yet clasical dscriptions. psychologi-cal and philosophical arguments Fat, 1983; Walsh . 1 989d). andpersonal reporls by Western h io c d r c sw ch cn who have cxperi-e n d l t d states (e.g. Globus, 1993; Hamer, 1990; Tart, 1986,R;un Dass. 1990) suggcst that it may be difficult t o Fully. co mp re -hend and differentiate alternate states without direct expe rienc e ofthem.However a number of phenomcnologid. clinical, psychometric.physiological, chemical, and theoretiwl comparisons h v c indi-cated significant differences bchunn meditative-yogic slates onthe onc hand and thosc of psycholo~cal is turhanm, includingschkophrenia. on the other (Kornfield, 1979; Shapiro, 1980;Walsh, 1980; Wilber, 1983; Wilber, Englcr & Brown, 1986).Lndeed, several hundred studies now atlest to potential therapeuticbenefits of these practices (Shapiro. 1980; Shapiro & Walsb, 1984;Murphy & Donovan. 1989) and. as Ken Wilber (1980. p. 78)concluded, mditative-yogic sta ks and pathological states "can bcseriously qu a te d only by those whose intellectual inquiry goes nofurther than superiicial impressions."So Western academic evaluations of the alternate slates of con-sciousness induced by Asian m edib tivc and yogic disciplines haveundergone a marked shifl. Many initial evaluations assumed thatthey werc pathological and regrcssivc w he ru s mo re recent arscss.ments havc a chow ledge d thcir uniqueness and potential benefits.The purposc of this paper is I) to examine whether a similarreevaluation may be appropriate for another tradition for whichaltered states appear to be c c nw l . m c l y sham anism . 2) to em-

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    ploy a new phenomenological approach that allows m ore precise,multidimensional description, mapping, and com parison of statesof consciousness, 3) to map shamanic states, 4) to then compareshamanistic s t a b with olher states which some authors haveclaimed are identical, 5) to point out the possibilities of this newpheoomenologicd method for comparing states a) across disci-plines, b) wirhin a given discipline. and c) during m ah m tio n o f aparticular practice.

    Dejinin g ShamanismShamanism is now going through a period of su rprising popularityin the West, and shamanic workshops and books arc multiplyingrapidly. At the same time there is a gowing appreciation of thecendity of alternate s tates of consciousness in shamanism. In-deed the definition of shamanism seem s to be changing to reflectthis appreciation.E arly d e f ~ t i o n sf shamanism focussed on the shaman 's ability tocontact and control "spirits." Thus Shirokogoroff (1935, p. 269)claimed that the term "shaman" r c f m to "persons of both x x c swho have mastered spirits, who at their will can innoducc thesespirils into hemselves and use h ei r power over the spirits in theirown interests, particularly helping other people, who suffer fromthe spirits."However, contempormy anthropologists seem less imprssed by

    brmd the importance of spirits than by the altered states in which they areexperienced and definitions sccm to have shifted accordingly lonomow focus on these states (Walsh. 1990; Nipinshy-Nayon, 1993).

    dejn, , ionr Within this definitional class there are broad and narrow defini-tions . B road de f~ t io n such as those of P c tm and Price-Williams(1980. p. 408) stipulate that the "only defining attribu te is that thespecialist enter into a controlled ASC on behalf o f his community."N m w definitions on the other hand stipulate a specific categoryof ASC s, most often stafc s in which sham aaic journeying or soulflight occurs (Eliade, 1964; Noll, 1983; Wdsh , 1989% 1990). andMichael Harncr (1990) has anem pfcd to describe and d efine sha-manism in terms of a single specific state.

    The definition uscd here is a narrow one. Shamanism is defined aa family of traditions whose practitioners focus on voluntarilyentering altered states of consciousness in which they experiencethemselves. or their "spirit(s)," h v c li n g to other &s at ill,and interacting with othcr en ti ti s in order to serve their comm unities.While no single definition will satisfy all researchers, this one hasseveral advantages. First. it dcsn ibc s a group of practitioners that

    28 71re Joumol of Trumpersonal Pg c h o lo ~ , 995, Yo1 27.No. I

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    almost all research cn would view as shamans. Second. because ofits specificity and narrow ness, the defin ition is able to differentiatethis tradition from other traditions and practices, e.g.. mediums.pricsts. and medicine rum. as wcll as from various psychopath-ol og ic~ , ith which shamanism has been confuscd (Walsh, 1990).

    S H A M A N I C E X P E R I E N C E S

    While there is now grcaler interest in sh amm ic ASCs an d a begin-ning appreciation that they may be specific. it is still commonlyassumed in bath anthropology and psychology that shamanic statesm d thosc who expcriencc thcm are pathological OOky. 1982;Noll. 1983). Indced , the "expe rience of the shaman has beenlikened to almost every psychopathology" ITeten & Price-Will-iams, 1980. p. 394). The shaman has b a n called. among otherthings, mentally deranged, m oubight psychotic, 3 veritable idiot,a charlatan, epileptic. and. ~ r h a p s ost of ten, an hysteric or parhologicalschizophrenic (c.g. Devereux. 1961; Wissler. 1931; Radim, 1972). a n d

    popula rOn the other hand a n op posite but equally extreme view seem s to comparisombe emerging in the popular literature. Here shamanic states arebeing identified with those of Buddhism, yoga o r Christian mysti-cism. Thus, for example Holger Kalweit (1968, p. 236) claims b tthe shaman "experiences cxistential unity--the som adhi of theHindus or what Western spiritualists and mystics call enlighten-me nt illumination. uniomystics." Likewise Gary Doore (1988, p.223) claims that "shaman s, yog is and B uddhists alike are accessingthc same state of consciousness."Unfortunately there seem to be s cr io u deficiencies with tbcsecomparisons. Almost u n i v e d y they app cy to be bared on grosssimilarities rather than on careful phenomenological mapping andcomparison (Walsh, 1990).One sip ific an t m d important exception is the work of RichardNoll (1983). Noll did a careful phenomenological comparisonbetween shamanic journey states as described in the traditionalliterature and thc smtcs ofschizophrenics as docummted in theAmerican Psychiatric Association's ( 1 980) Diagnostic and Sfofis-tical Manun l o/Menral Disorders. Noll was able to demonstrate,contrary to decades o f assumptions. that there arc clear phen'om-enological differences b e twa n schizophrenic and shamanic cxpe-rienccs m d that the two could not be rcgardcd as dmtical.For example, Noll demon strated major difierences on the dimen-sion of control. He pointed out that shamans are generally able to

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    induce and terminate their ASCs at will and modulate their experi-ences to some extent. while schizophrenics are almost entirelyhelpless victims of their m t e s and experiences. As w ill b e s h o ~ mlater, comparisons on several other phenomenological dimensionsalso demonstrate sigtuficant differences.O f course it must be noted that Noll focussed on s ha ma nic journeystates and not on the earlier life period of the sh am an ic initial callwhich may sometimes constitute a major life crisis with consider-able bizarre behavior (Elide, 1964; Grof & Grof. 1989). Conse-quently Noll's data does not fully rule out the possibility thatshamans may once have been disturbed or even schizophrenic butsubsequently recovered.However to Noll's comparisons can be added several other obser-vat ions. The fis t is that the clinical picture of the initial crisissuggests significant differences from schizophrenia (Grof & Grof.1986, 1989; Walsh, 1990). Th e second is that the shaman is said tooflen function as one of the most effective mem bers o f the ttibc,displaying superior energy, concentration. memory. knowledge.and leadership (Eliade, 1964; Hmer. 1990; Reichel-Dolmatoff,1987; Ro gen . 1982), qualities that are hardly consistent with thechronic deterioration common in schizophrenia. Taken together.these facts constitute a strong argument against the facile equationof shamm ism and schizophrenia.Noll's work points to new possibilities an d standa rds for diagnostic

    new and com pan tive assessment of shu nv lic states. Henceforth it willno longer be adequate simply to conclude on the basis of supcfi-an d cial similarities h i t shamanic stales of consciousness arc equiva-

    srandards lent to other m te s such as those found in either various fonn s ofpathology or in other traditions such as Buddlusm or yoga. Ratherwhat will be necessary is a careful multidimensional map ping ofs h d c tates of consciousness and h e n an equally careful mul-tidimensional compariso n of these states with those of other popu-lations. AAer all. as Huston Smith (1987. p. 558) pointed out."Claims for similarities or differences spin their whee ls until theyget down to ~wysnd degrees in which Lhings dilTer o r x e allkc."This article aims to expand Noll 's work by providing a moredetailed (yet still preliminary) mu ltidimensional, phenom cnologi-cal map of shamvlic states of consciousness and comparing thiswith the pathological states of schizophrenia on one hand and withthe meditative states of Buddhism and yoga on the other. W hat willbecome apparent is that all these states show significant differ-ences and tha t equating Ulem can no longer be justified. Hencefortheach type must b e regarded as a distinct class of sh te s which differon multiple sigmficant dimensions.

    3 0 77Ir Journal o f T ro mp erso no l P ~ c h o l o ~ ,995. Vol. 27, No. I

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    The Varieties of Sha man ic Slates of ConsciousnesrLn makmy these comparisons i t is important to acknowledge thatthere is not one single state of consciousness Ihat is invariablysought and used in sh am an is m b ut m y . S h a m may inducealtered states by a variet)r of means including fasting, solitude,dancing, drumming, and drugs (H m e r , 3973, 1982; Dobkin deRios 6; Winklema n. 1989; Walsh. 1989b). Major classes ofshamanic altered states include possession. drug and journeystates. Shamanic possession states refcr to swtes in which theshaman's consciousness is experienced a being taken over tovarying degrees by an ego-alien entity, usully believed to be as pi ri t. Fo r d is cu ss io ns o f s h s d c possession slates, see Petersand Price-Williams (1980) and Walsh (1990).Drug swtes encompass a remarkably wide variety of slates. Fordiscussion of the varieties of drugs used, se e On (1993); for thefamilies of drug slates and lheir classification, see Gmf (1980,1988); for their relationship lo shama nism, see Harner (1973); forthe relationship o f drug states to non-drug induced religious states,se e Smith (1964); and for n theoretical explanation of this relation-ship, see Walsh (1990). This is not lo deny that there may besignificant overlap or functional equivalence betwan some ofthese states (Peters. 1989), but nther to say that there seems noreason to assum e a single shamanic slate.This paper will focus on mapping the states occurring during the mappingshamanic journey. The journey has bcen chosen for several tea-sons. F irst, it is one o f the key. som e would say one of thc dcfinjng, ocmhchm cter istic s of shamanism (Eliade. 19@: H m e r . 1982; Noll, dunng1983). In addition we have many descriptions of it, and the intcnse (heimagery which occurs & it h a ften bcen confused wilh schizo. shaman;cphrenic hallucinations (Noll. 1983. 1985). journeyEven to say that there is only a singlc state of consciousnesspossible in thc sham an's journey niay be an ovcnimplificahon. Asanyone who has done multiple shaman ic journeys knows. the slatemay vary perceptibly from journey to journey, and therc arc prob.ably significant individual differenc es betwecn practitioncrj. Ofcours e this is not to deny that there ar e cormnonalities amo ng lhesestates and experiences. However it is to point out that considera blevariation may occur and that even the concept of a "state ofconsciousness" is a som ewhat arbitrary and static crystallization o fwhat is, in living experience, a multidimensional dyn amic flow ofexpcriencc. For the. sake of simplicity, in rhis paper I will some.times use the term "shamanic state of consciousness" to refer toshamanic journey statc(s), but the abovc caveats should be kept inmind.

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    N A T U R E OF THE S H A M A N l C J OUR NEY STATE O FCONS CIOUS NES S

    Trance StatesThe sham anic state of consciousness d uring journeys is oftenspoken of as a trance stale. Th e term "trance" seem s to be widelyused but imprecisely defined. Indeed it is usually so impreciselydefined that some researchers Iq to avoid ir "partly because ircarries negative connotations, partly because it has never beenc l m l y en ou gh d e f i n e d (Tart. 986, p. 70). 11 seems to have k e nused broadly to cover all waking ASCs and more narrowly toindicate an A SC marked by focussed attention (Peters 9i Price-Williams, 1983: Winkleman, 1986). Ln this paper the term will beused only in this latter sense.Definitions o f focussed attention uan ccs tend to includ e the criteriaof engagement in an inner world accom panied by reduced aw are-ncss of, and responsiveness to, the environm ent (Pa mso n, Kahm &Hurd, 1986). Th is is probably uscful as a first step, but it m a y bethat the definition and differentiation o f tranc e state s can be takenconsiderably Funher. The following is an initial attempt to beginthis process.1 would suggesr that the key defining cha racteristic o f 3 trance state

    the is a foc usi ng of attention with rcduced a w m nc ss of the expcrien-definition tial context (objects, stimuli, or environment outside this focus).a n d The focus of the constricted attention may be either internal or

    differenriotion external. Whm it is internal, then there is the possibility of rich,of intense images and fantasy including journeys of the s h a n i cwonce type.Of coursc shamans would argue for the objective reality ofstarer their reaims and exp eriences md deny that they are merely images(Harncr, 1984, 1990).

    Given the Tact that the shamanic state of consc iousness is a form ofuancc, can we g o Further and ask. "what type of ac e ? ' ' In otherwords, to what extent can we differentiate and m ap tranc e states?Vaious maps of s lates of consciousness have been proposed formillennia. Anc ient Asian systems include the Bud dhist Abhi-d h m N ya na po nik a. 1 97 6) an d y og ic c h o b o sy st em s (Tart,1983). Recent Western suggestions include maps based on syste mstheory (Tart, 983), the level of arousal (Fischer. 1986). inducingvK ia bl s (Ludwig, 1968). developmental stages (Wilber, 1980),and phenomenological dimensions (Clark. 1983). However thism a f study is in its infancy, and none of these maps appear fullyappropriate to the plllposes of this paper. Consequently the phe-nomenological dimenzions examined here are based on the he-quency with which these dimensions are described. and the im-portvlu they arc accorded in descriptions of the states to be

    32 n e Journal qr' Tompe r sono 1P ~ h o l o ~ ,995. 95.01 27 . No.

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    considered. Based on these criteria the following dime nsion s Seemparticularly relevant.

    K q Dimemiom for A4npping .4l/ered SlarerI . Degree of reduction of awareness of the experie ntial context

    or environment: ranging from c0m p)etc 10m j h ; l l Or none.2. Ability to commIIIIicate3. Co nc enm tion : important factors here Lnclude:

    a. The degree of concentntion andb. Whether the anention isfiedimmovably on a sing le

    (e.g.,Buddhist h a s and yogic =madhi states) o+momen_ran. or h i d where attention is dlowcd to shift b e h e e nselected objects (e.g.. in sharnanic joumcysJ.

    4. Degree of control.Here there arc two irnpo nvlt +s Of con uol:a. Ability to enter and leave the ASC at will;b. Ability to control the content of experience while i n

    ASC.

    6.~~~~ef ~ h .his refers to more lhan low arousal, whchrefers simply to the level of activa tion, since al so hplieslow levels of agitation and distractibility (Nyanaponik a.1976).7. Sensitivity or subtlety of sensory perception. This rneither reduce& as in hypnotic anesthesia, or d a n c e d ,ay beinBuddhist iosight meditation.8. Nature of the sense of self or identity.9. Affect: especially whether the experience is p~easurabl, or

    painful.10. Out ofbod y expmience (M3BE).khe subject experienc eperceiving fm m a point that seems olltsidc the bod y?I I . Conlent o f inner experience:H~~ many further differentiations can be made such as: 1, thecontent formlcss or with form?a. ~ ~ ~ ~ j c s s ,.e., without differentiation into spci l ic objectsor fornu;, c.g., an experience of undiffe~ntiated ight

    clear space in the Buddhist jhanm.

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    b. With form. differentiated, having specific objects, e.g.,visual images. If the content is differentiated, then it m d thestate of consciousness can be divided along seven1 sub-divisions. Critical subdivisions include:1) Degree of organization2) Modality of the predominant objects. e.g., auditory,visual, somatic,3) Intensity of tbe objects.3) Psychologicd "level" of the objects. e.g.. personal or

    archetypal imagery.12. The developmenwl level of the swte. In some disciplinesdifferent ASC s emerge in a fixed sequence of swges, e.g.. the

    formless somadhi na tes of yoga emerge afler earlier swge s inwhich ancntion is focussed on specific images (Wilber, 1980:\Yi1yjlber el al.. 1986) . There does nor seem to bc c l w v idencein the literatureof a distinct developmental progression ofstates in shamanism and so tlus dimension is not discussedfun her in lhis paper.

    These p m e t e r s are obvious ly broad and pre liminary and com-more pyed to the exquisite subtleties of the Buddhia Abhidharma aresensirive relatively insensitive. Doubtless they will be refined by further

    pheno men a- research. Yct even at this stage they allow si-enific3ntly mo relogical sensitive phenomenological comparisons than have been the normcampar i som previously. In addition, the vcry breadth of these etic categoriesmay c onf er significant advantages inasmuch as they should easilyencompass the relevant emic descriptions from &verse popula-tions.

    M A P P I N G S H A M A N l C JOURNEY STATES

    With this p r e l h h m y delineation of importm t experiential dimen-sions of ASCs we Can now turn attention specifically to theshamanic journey state and its attendant experiences. The follow-ing description of the state is based on thre e sources of information.Th e first is the description of journeys in the lite nhlr e (e.g.Shirokogoroff, 1935; Eliade. 1964; H m e r . 1982; Noll, 1983;Peters 8; Rice-Williams, 1980). The sccond is interviews withnative Balinese and Basque practitioners and with W este me n w hohad undergone intensive long-term (minimum one year) shamanicapprenticeship and !mining in native South American, Huichol,and Nepalese traditions.Undcrsmding these descriptions was fscilitated by a third sourceof information. namely. se ven 1 y e a n personal experience withsham anic journeys. T raining for these wa s obtained primarilyundcr the tutelage of Michael Hamcr. formerly professor ofa nd uo -

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    pology at the New School for Social Research. who has synthe-sized his life-long study of, and study w ith, shamanic pn ctition crsfrom diverse cultures into courses on what he calls "core sha man-ism," which focus significm tly on sharnm ic journeying. I mentionthe personal experience because there is gowing evidence that.due to state specific learning. understanding of alternate states maybe significantly enhanced by direct experie nce of them (Tart, 983,1992). Space limitations obviously preclude giving detailed ac-counts of the many individual journeys oblained fm m these severalsources, some of which are already available in the litenture. butthe general profiles ar e as follows.The sh a n i c j o u m e y is always undertaken for a specific purpose,such as to obtain information or power with which to solve aproblem afflicting someone in the m be. T he shaman first enters analtered state with the assistance of practices such as preparatoryfasting, sleep deprivation, and ritual. followed by aids such as genera/drumming. ancing. and singing. Onc e establjshed in the ASC, the p r o j l e sshaman experiences separating from the body, largely losing ofawareness of the body and environment, and h v el in g as a free soul shsmanicor free spirit, to one of the three worlds of h e shamanic cosmol- journeysogy-the upper. middle, or lower worlds. The sham an's attentionis fixed on the appropriate world, which is experienced vividly inmultiple sensory modalities, i.e.. visual, auditory, tactile, etc. Inthis world the shaman may fint call his or her personal spirits(spirit helpers, power animals) for assistance. The shaman thenroams at will in search of a source of relevant information orpower, experiencing a wide range of emotions depending on thespecific experiences that occur, and having found the source,ancmpts to bring the d or m ah o n o r power back. Reentering thebody the s h m m erminates the ASC and comm unicates the infor-mation or tmnsmits the power to the person(s) in need, perhapsprescribing a particular medication, ritual. or c o u m of actionintended to alleviate the problem for which the journey was under-taken. With this general outline o f h e ourney we can now m ap theshamanic journey state on ou r experiential dimensions as follows.The shm an ic ourney state is u s d l y one of reduced awareness ofthe environment. That this reduction may be incomplete is sug-gested by the fact that some sham ans communicate with spec tatorsduring their journeys (Peters & Price-Williams, 1980; Harner,1982).Concenhtion is said to be increased. This concentntion is mo-mentary rather than fixed, since the shaman's attention movesFreely from object to object.Shamans usually maintain good conuol of the state. They areusually able to enter and lcavc h e ASC a1 will and also able to

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    partly determine the type of imagery and experiences. Thi s partialconb.01 of experience is similar to that described in lucid d r e m in gstates (dreaming in which one rec og iz es that one is dreaming) (LaBcrge, 1985. 1993) and to a number of psychotherapeutic visual-ization techniques. These techniques includc guided imagery.guided meditation, "waking dreams." Jungian active imagina-tion. and a variety of other visualization strat egie s (Noll. 1983;Vaughan. 19953, b; W al sh 19 8 9 ~ . 990').S h y n v l s m ay be yo use da nd algifatcd during theirjoumeys. This ishardly surprising since they may experience themselves traveningsh an ge worlds, placating angry gods, and banling fearsom e spirics.Calm is not a word that would usually be applied to shamans'journeys. Theu ffect is variable, depending on the typ es of experi-ences they undergo.

    shamans'2s

    "SOULS " or"spiria ''

    freedfromth ebody

    Shamans usual ly c o n h u e to expcriencc themselves during jow -neys as se pa nte ind ivi du ls but now as "souls" or "spirits," freedfrom the body. As such they feel able to navel through or betweenworlds, to xe and intcract with other spirits, and to intercede withth e e sp ir it s on behalf o f thei r pcoplc . The s h a m i c journcytherefore b c m similarities to the out-of-body experiences de-scribed (hroughout tbe world. in spontaneous, learned, lucid drwm.or nea rde ath experiences (Monroe, 1971; Moody. 1975, 1988;Ring, 1980,1984,1986, 1993; Irwin, 1985) . 11 ma y b e that spon ta-neous out-of-body experiences such a s these provided the inspira-tion for their voluntary mastery and incorporation into a set ofpractices and rituals that b c u m e the basis for the tradition ofshamanism (Walsh, 1989~. 990).Similar journey experience may 'also occur in other traditionsincluding Judaism, Taoism, Islam, yoga. and T i b e m B uddhismalthough the journcy is not as c c n d al practice as in shamanism(Evans-Wen% 1958; Siegcl & Hirschrnan. 1984; Baldrian, 1987).For example, onc of the earliest Jewish spiritual disciplines com-prised the Merkabah or chariot practices in which pnctitionmti e d to recreate Ezekiel 's vision of the divine chariot. Atte r rigor-ous prayer and discipline, practitioners would experiencc tbem-selves ascending th ou gh the seven heavens and confronting fear-ful guardians unti l they were finally p l e d a vision o f t he h n eo f God. Cha riot practices flourished dluing the fin1millennium ofthe commo n era buf as in many other parts of the world. thesesham anic practic& were eventually replaced by other disciplines(Idel, 1988; ki pl an , 1982; Scholem, 1961).Of co urse all this is not to imply that these exper iences necessarilyinvolve a separation of consciousness from the body. Though thisis indecd thc intcrprctation of shamam, most Western researchers.

    36 72c Journal o /Tr a~ pr~ son ol q r k o l w , 1995, Yol. 27. No. /

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    but not all, u*ould regard them as imaginal rather than as trulycxosomatic.The experiential content of the sham anic journey is complex andcoherent. The images or phenomena encountered are remarkablyrich, multimo&l (e.g., visual and auditory), highly muc tur ed .meaningful, consistent with the shaman's learned cosmology andthe purpose of the specific session. and under partial volunrarycontrol.

    CO.UPARATIVE M A P P I N GUntil now com parisons between different states of consciousness,such as between those of shamanism and schizophrenia, have beenrather superficial. All t w often people have simply concluded. o nlhc basis of very imprecise comparisons, that these states were comparingidentical or that they were different. Multidimensional phcnom- srverolenological mapping allows us to move beyond such simple claims, dimenriomto comp are several dimensions of experience, and to say on which ofdimensio ns states arc similar and on which they differ. In short. this q x r i e n c rapproach allows us to move from unidimensional lo multidimen-sional comparisons and to more sensitively compare and distin-guish between slates using a multidimensional grid analysis.We can now us e this approach to compare shamanic states withthose that occur in other conditions. Since it has been claimed thatshama nic slates are the same a hose of schizophrenia, Buddhism.and yoga, let us map these states on the dimensions of experiencethat we have used lo map sha mm ic slates and then compare them.Schizophrenic SlatesMany pcople who claim that shamans are schizophrenic and thatshamanic and schizophrenic states are equivalent seem to assumethat there is only one shamanic altered state and one schizophren icstate. Yet we have alrwdy seen that there arc probably multipleshamanic states and the same is cer(ainly bue o f s c h i z o p h r e ~ a(American Psychiatric Association, 1994). To simplify things w ewill focus here on the state that occurs in an acute schizophrenicepisode since it is this that hxs probably been confused most oftenwith shamanic expcricnces.An acute schizophrenic episode can be one ofth e most devastatingexperiences any human being can undergo. Psychological disorga-nization is extrem c and d i m p u affect. cognition. perception, an didentity. Thou@ there are significant variations within and be-

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    comparingsharnmic

    j o u r n qa n dschizophrenicstares

    tween individuals, we can map the acute schizophrenic episode interms of ou r experiential dimensionsand compare it to the shaman-ic state as follows:Control may be almost enlirely lo st The victim of an acutc sch izwphrenic episode has little ability to halt the process or modifyexperiences. A w ar cn w of the environment m3y be reduced whenthe person is preoccupied with hallucinations. and cognition maybe so disorganized that thc person may be unable to communicmc.Conccntntion is dnsticdly reduced. and the patient 1s usuallyhighly aroused and agitated. Thc experience is usw lly extremelyunplexanl , and emotional responses YC oRen distortcd.The schizophrenic's experience is usually highly disorganized andincoherent. This disorganization extends even to the sense ofidentity. and schiwphrenics may consequently feel that they aredisintegra ting, dying, and losing the ability to discrimina te what isself and what is not. This d a y occasionally result in a sense ofbeing outside the body, which in these circumstances is calledautoscopy, but thc ex p4 cn ce is brief and uncontrolled (AmericanPsychiatric Association. 1994; Kaplan & Sadock, 1995).

    Com paruon s ojSharnanic an d Schizophrenic SraresOnce both the shamanic journey and acute schizophrenic stateshav e been m apped on these dimensions, then it is relatively easy tocompare them. Table I reveals lhat they differ significantly onseven1 imponant dimensions including concenmtion, control.self-sense. alfect, and content. This comparison makes clev thatthere are major differences between the states of consciousnessfound in shamanic journeys and in aculc sch iwp hrc nia.The other shamanic episode that has sometimes been confusedwith a schizophrenic one is the sharnvlic initiation crisis. A t th etime o f their initial calling a few sharnans-ro-be appear to undergoa major life crisis and exhibit a variety of biwrre behaviors(Shirokogoroff, 1935; Eliade. 1964; Walsh. 1990). These ar e cer-lainly suggestive ofpsychopathology and have bccn given scvcraldiagnoses, including schizophrenia.

    However, this phase is temporary and usually followed by succe ss-ful resolution and even exceptional subsequent functioning. It hastherefo re been suggested that it might be interpreted as an exampleo f a developmental crisis lhat has been variously called a "c reativeillness" (Ellenberger, 1970). "regenerative process" (Pelletier& Garfield, 1976). "rencwal process" (Pcny, 1956) , "memoicvoyage." ' k i s i o q s tate." "myst ical experiencc with psychoticfeatures" (Lukoff. 1985) , "resilience" (Flach , 1988 ). "spiritual

    38 7 l e Journalo/Tmmpersono/ P&o/og): 1995. Yo1 17 , No. I

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    emergency," "spiritual emcrgence," and "transpersonal crisis"(Bngdon. 1988; Grof 6r Grof, 1986. 1989, 1990). For a fullerdiscussion of thc unusual behavior follo uing the initial call and itsvarious diagnostic interpretations. sec Walsh (1990). Sufficc it tosay here that it seems most unlikely that the initiation crisis can bedi ap os ed as a schizophrenic cpisodc and that it occurs in only aminority of shamans. Consequently it is c l w l y inappropriate touse the initiation crisis s reason to diagnose or dismiss a11sha mm s as schizophrenic.Anolher fac tor that must be considered in comparing shamans andschuophrenics is social functioning. It will be recalled that sha-m m s are ofien ou~st lmdingmembers of the community, may dis-play considcnble intellectual, artistic, and lcadership skills, andmake s i p i f i m t contribut ions to their conunun iy. Such ski lls andcontribut ions arc rare among schi zop hrc ~cs .Hrnceforth shamanism and schizophrenia are best identified as shamonirmdistinct phenomena. Although it is understandable that early re- a n dsearchers sometimes labelled shamam as schizophrenic. it is also schizophreniaclear that this practice is no longer appropriate. Of course his is not asto deny the possibility lhat some shamans m ay be psychologically distinctdisturbed. but it is ceriainly lo deny that lhcy a re a11 necessar ily so . phenomena

    Cumpurisonr with Other TroditiumWithin recent years there has b a n a growing tcndency to equateshamans with masters of various contemplative traditions. espe-cial ly Buddhism and yoga. a d o assume that the sbte s of con-sciousness lhat the shaman enters are idcnticd to those of thesepnctitioncrs and mditions.Ye t as wc will see, multidimensional mapping and comparisonsreveal some significant similarities but also sigificant differencesbetween these states. Funhermore. in addition to the evidence ofcareful phenomenologiwl comparisons. there are also significanttheoretical arguments against equivalence. These argumcots canbe outlined briefly as follows:1. .4s was mentioned, th ere a re probably m u ltip le s h W c ta te sof consciousness, e.g., journey, p os se ss io ~ nd drug sates. There-fore, cyeful comparison betwcen traditions involvcs more thanfinding onc shamanic state and claiming it to be identical with astate attaincd in other mdition s. Rather multiple comparisons arenecessary.2. Oth er traditions such as Buddhism and yoga havc ma ny distinctpractices and paths. Buddhism, forexample, h as lit m ll y dozens of

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    meditation practices (Conze, 1956; Coleman, 19881, m d th e e isno evidence to suggest h a t they induc e identical states. In factphenomenological reports suggest major differences behveenh e m . For exam ple the Buddhist con ceno;ltive states, the. jho nm .differ dnmatiully from the states of the cenml Buddhist Vipas-sana (insight) meditation (Buddhaghosa, 1975). lnde ed the jhnn icconcentrative states y e closer in many ways to yogic somudhis(Goleman. 1988). but thls is hardly surprising given that they wereoriginally derived from yogic concentration practiccs (Nan&,1980).3. Yogic and B uddhist practices evolve through apparently inv3n-ant series of markedly distinct states and stages. e.g.. the ten Zenoxherding pichue s and the eight jhonas of Buddism and the van-ous stages of yogic s o m d h i (Feuerstein, 1989). Therefore, mul-tiple states may exist even within a single practice.In summary, claims that sh am vls and m asters of other traditionsare equivalent and access identical states will need lo make mul-tiple comparisons between multiple states on m ultiple dimensions;something that sim ply has not been done. Thesc theoret ical a r pmen& point to several rcasonswhy it is difficult to make swe epingclaims for identity between sbamanic states and those of othertraditions. Of course this is not to dm y that there may be someexperiential and functional overlap bctween different states inas-much as they may involvc similar processes and aims. such asanentional m in in g and compassionate service (Peters, 1989).Thesetheoretical reservations are supported by data.For when w ea d l y make direct multidimensional comparisons, we find not

    multidimensional identity but rather major differences. Thus. for example, let usc o m p o m n r make a summary comparison in the accompanying table between

    find the prototypic sha mm ic journey state and prototypic states that aremajor likely to occur in a dvance d B udd hist V i p w meditation anddrfferrncer advanced yogic practice. This comparison will be aided by asummary presentltion o f the principles and experiences o f classi-cal yogic and Buddhist insight md ta ti on s. These desmiptions areb e d on classic two-thousand-ywdd teats (e.g. Prabhavarranh& IshenvooQ 1953; Budd haghos a, 1975 ). recent descriptions (e.8..Goldstein. 1983). intern-ew s with advanced Asian and Westernpractitioners. psychological testing (Shapiro & Walsh. 1983;Brown, orte & Dysa rd, 19%. b; Br ow n & Engler, 1986). and twodecades of personal meditative experience (Walsh, 1977, 1978).Classical yoga is a cooccntration practice in which the mind isstilled until it can bc fixed with unwavering anention on im e rexperience such as h e breath. an image. or a mantra (Eliade. 1969;Zimmer. 1969: Feuerstein, 1989, 1990). To d o his, he yogi with-draws attention from the body and oute r world. a technique called

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    pr ag ah ar a, to focus inwards "like a tortoise withdrawing his limbsinto h is shell." As a result, awar eness oft he body and outer world islargely losk and the yogi can now focus undisuactedly on evermore subtle internal objects. Finally all objects drop awa y, and theyogi expRiences s d i hich is an example of the classicalecs wtic mystical union or u nio mysrica (Underhill. 1974; Slace ,1987; Forman. 1990).As previously discussed. Western reseruchers initially tended todismiss yoga and other contcmplativc p ractices LS culture specificpathologies. Such interpreLations still occur occasionally, e.g..Castillo's (1991. 1995) conclusion hat yogic enlightenment with Jacrorsits witness consciousness of the Abnan is a form of dissociation or argu ingdepersonalization. However, scvenl factors seem to argue against againrrthis conclusion. First. these slates are very diff ae nt from cases of cul tureclinical dissociation. Second, studies of deep meditative experi- specificences su gg st that experience of self-transcendence is an indepcn- parhologiesdent dimension. largely uncorrelatcd w ith personality dimcnsionsor disorders (Gifford-May Thompson, 1994). Finally the phe-nomenologiwl analyscs presented here suggest enhanced mentalability rather than pathology Lndeed, pathologizing intcrpretationssuch as dissociation sccm m ore m d more like pathomorphism: thetendency to m isinterpret o r mislabel psychological phenomena interms of pathological cate gorik .W h m lassica l yoga is a concenlmion . p racti ce , Buddhis t in-sight mediwtion is a so-called awareness practice. Whereas yogaemphasizes the development of unwavering anention on inncrobjects, insight meditation cmphasizs fluid anention to all ob-jects, both inncr and outer. Here all stimuli ye observed andexamined as precisely and minutely as awareness will allow. Thcaim is to examine and undmtand the workings of senses, body.and mind as fully 3s possible and thereby to cut rhrough thedistortions and misunderstandings that usually cloud awareness."T o see things is they are" is the moao o f rhis practice (Buddha-ghosa. 1975; Goldstein. 19 83; Go lcm m. 1988).Table I shows that b e shaman ic journey, yogic, and B uddhiststates differ on a number of significant dimensions. Perceptualsensitivity to environmental stimuli (Awareness of Environment)show s h a t i c differences between states. In Buddhist Vip~ ssan ameditation states. both ancient and modem phenomenological re-ports (Buddhaghosa. 1975; Nyanaponika, 1976; Walsh, 1 977,1978; Gol&tein, 1983 ) as wcU as recent tachistoscopic tesring(Brown, orte & Dysard, 1984a. b) suggest that perceptual sensi-tivity to environmental stimulation can be significantly enhanced:However awareness of the environment is usually somewhat re-duced in the shamanic journey and is drastically rcduced, even tothe point of nonawareness. in advanced yogic slates (Zimmer,

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    TABLECow*sJsoNs or m~ STATES OF COhOWSHESS O ~ GS W C ob%% M v m mtc AM

    B W S T MEDITAIoN. AW O1LLOFaEr4U

    Conmlability to cntcravld lwvc A Xan willability lo controlIbe c o n m t O fcrpericncc

    Awmncss ofEnvlrowhnlAbility loCommuoiuIeConccomnonAmuul

    OOBEconrcnt

    Yes

    T Fluid+

    sepvsle wll-wm.may bc a non-physical -soul"

    sLnoKlsr ( ~ P A W A ~WSIGKT MEDITATION PATAVINI'S Yff iA SCHLLGPHRENM

    J.J. h t i c&tion of control

    'P Usuallyt o r -+ Ten& to i n c r u xa, pdfc drrpnv

    Self-wnw isd c c r m s r m d inloa chvlgiog flux:'ha self'No

    DMnsmcuoo ofcomplex u p &iurcr into heircardtuenthu l i . Stimuli arefvnhcr &on-skwtcd into ocontinuovr nlu

    T* L , m J.J.coatrol rn romcsamodh"J.J. Rrduccd wrrrory J. Onor&&a d ody a u m n a r and d1ston.dNonc 6 Communicnlion isusually diwamdTT Ficd J.4&J. TT Agitationm y . = x m m cT?. L m r n c p e a c c J.++hff ab lc bl iss Usually very mgadvclboughm l yposiove, OI%DdiiomdirwppmpmtcU a c h a n p g D i s i n l e p l e d Imumandcnt Self of cgo boda i e r .a ha Unnbable l o distinguishsetrand o k nNO. as a r m uarcly.a w a r m r r Iumslarir'.) uocoafiolledSingle object O h isorganvcd( " d lith aod lragmcnlcdruppoV'7 or PurrC O ~ I O u w n1 ' ' s a d ; without~ p p n ' ?

    1969; Feuerstein, 1989). Lndeed Eliade (1969, p. 78) definedd s "an invulnerable sb te cornplctely closed to stimuli."These differences in environmental awareness are reflected indifferences in communication. Buddhist insi&t meditators canusually communicate. and shamans can sometimes do so (Peters &Price-Williams. 1980).However. in advanced yogic concentnrion,communication is usually sufficient to break concentration andremove the practitioner from the slate (Coleman , 1968 ).The types and degree of concentration also vary from tnditio n totradition. ln conrndistioction lo schizophrenia. in which conccn-

    42 The Jmmol of Trampenonol P~ ?ch olo ~,995. Vol 27. No. I

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    hation is drastically impaired, all three baditions m i n for in-creased concenhation. Indeed, training attention appcars to be acommon denominaror among consciousness altering practices(Novak, 1987). In shamanism and vipasma meditation. concen-tration ismomentary since anention m o v a fluidly from one objectto mother (Eliade. 1964; Goldstein. 1983). This is in markedcontrast to advanced yogic practice where anention is fixed andimmovable (Eliade. 1969; Fcuentein, 1989).Closely related to concentration is control. Two different dimen-sions of control should be distinguished. T he first is thc ability toenier and l a v e the ASC at w ~l l. nd the second is the ability to wodetermine the experiential content of the A SC. Contrary to schizo- di/jeerenrp h r e ~ a here control is drastically reduced. 311 h e e d is ci plin es d;mer;omenhance both types of control. Practilionen are able to enter andl a v e their respective states at will , although h e shaman may cOnrrO/require external assistance such as psychoactive drugs or cntrain-ing stimuli such as drumming. Both shamans and v ipa san a medi-lato n are able to exert parlial control over their cxperienccs in h eASC, while yogis in s o m d h i have almost complete control . In-deed. the second line of Patanjali's classic yogic text states that'yo ga is the control o f thought-waves in the mind" ( P n b h a v a n a h& Isherwood, 1953, p. 15).There are also significant differences in arousal. Shamans arel~sually roused during their journey and may even dance or be-come highly agitated Vipassana meditaton. on the other hand,report initial emotional and y o w l ability which gradually yieldsto greater calm ( W ds h, 1977, 1978; Coldstein, 1983). Calm maybecome profound in yogic somodhi when much of the normalcognitive processing ceases (Brown, 1986; Eliade, 1969; Shapuo& Walsh, 1984). Although I cannot fully agree with RolandFischer's (1986) "cmography of nonordinary states" baed onlevels o f arousal, it is interesting to note that he places somodhi atthe extreme end of hypoarousal and sc h i w p h n i c states near theexbeme end of hypenrousal .Thc self-sense differs drastically among thc ihrcc practices. Tieshaman usually retains a sense of being a separate individual.though now perhaps identified as a soul rather than as a body.However, the Buddhist meditator's microscopic awareness decon-sm c ts the self-sense into a flux f evanescent component stimuli.This is the experience of onono in which it is recognizedthat thesense of a permanent, separate egoic se lf is an illusory product ofimprecise awareness. This appare ntly continuous self-sense arisesin much the same way Y n apparently dynanuc continuous moviearises from a s er ie s o f st il l h e s G old st ein . 1 98 3; Co lem an ,1988). a phenomenon known as fl icker f i ~ io n . he yogi , on the

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    other ha nd m ay come to ru li zc an unchanging ban scend cnt Self.or p u w h a (Eliade, 1969; Zimmer. 1969).The shaman's experience may be either joyous o r painful as mayt he B uddh ist Va m ed ita to r's. Ho wev er. in a dv a nc ed s ta ge sthe yogi's experiences x e said to be increasingly blissful.The content of the practi tioners' experiences also differs h a t i -cally between traditions. The shaman experiences orgm.zed co-herent im3gm-y consistent with the shamanic worldview and thepurpose of the journey. Howev er, both ancient phenom enolog icalreports and recent perceptual testing (Brown & Engler, 1966)suggest ha t Buddhist meditatorj eventually deconstruct all experi-ences into their constituent stimuli. What rem ains is the percep tiono f an evanescent flux of simple stimuli which arise and pass awaywith extreme rapidity. By c o n m , the advanced yogi is said toattain "samadhi without support," an experience o f unchangingpure consciousness devoid of images or objects of any kind.Pnc tition erj from the three traditions show significant differenceswith regard to their experience of the body. Whe reas the shama n

    d~r e r en ce s typical ly has a co n~ o ll cd ut-of-body experience (OOBE) rin "ecstasis," the Buddhist vi p a . m a meditator does noL Yogis, on

    erperience the other ha14may lose awareness of the body du e to prayaharooJ (elimination of sensory input) and experience "enstasis." On this[h e point Eliadc. whose theoretical lolowledge of both sham anism and

    body . yoga was probably as extensive a nyone's. was very clear on thediffercncc between the two.Yoga canoot possibly bc confused with sbammkm or c W mongthe techniques of ccstary. T k goal of classic yoga remains pcricctoulom?, ms tu i s . while s M m s Chcler ize d by i l l dcspemrecffon to anain the "condition of a spiriL" to accomplish ecmtic flight(Eliade. 1969, p . 339).

    COMMON EXPERIENCES AND CAPACITIES

    Ther e i s a popular sa ying that all things am both similar anddifferent. Having demonstrated significant differences betweensham anic,Bu ddhist. and yogic states, the question naturally ar ises,"in what ways are they similar?" Cctfainly we would exp ect som es imi lak ties sincc a ll t h e groups of practitioners have undergonelong-term intensive mental training designed to cu ltivate religioussensitivity, experiences, and understandings. I will thereforebriefly summarize h e sim ilaitic s that can be identified on theexperiential dimensions we have becn using.

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    . . . . . .: ; -....:................. . - . . . . < . . . :_ . . . . . . . . . . .. ..:, . . . . . ... . . .. .:. . . _ . < . . . . . - . . . . . . ,.--..=..::-. ;. . /---- .,.

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    COMP.\RISON W IT HIN D I S C I P L I N E S A N D A C R O S SDEVELOPMENTAL S TAGES

    It seems obvious that phenomenological mapp ing using the dimcn-sions described & w e cur differentiate amo ng at lest somc of thestatcs induced by the practices of different mditions. The nextlogical question s are to what extent i t wn diffcrentiate: I ) the statesinduced by d if fm nt practices w ithin a hadition, and 2) the statesinduced at different stages of a single practice.That it may sometimes be able to differentiate among differentpractices within a uadition can be shown by h e example of Bud-dhism: Cls sic al Buddhism employs two ce ntnl meditative p n c -tices: concenuation (samarha) and insight (vipussana!. The fonneruses fixed attention, for cxample on th e brm th, to develo p concc n-nation. ultimately resulting in a se ries of eight increasingly refinedjhanm: states of unwavering anention marked by intense bliss.Using the phenornenologicd dimensions employed above, thesestates are largely in di s~ gu ish ab le om Ule yogic ones, but this ishardly surprising sincc they were apparently historiwlly derivedhorn yoga; however, they me clearly disMguish3ble from v i p u -sana. Table 2 makes c l w the major differences in the statesinduced by the advanced concentration and insight pnctices ofBuddhism and the marked similarities of the jhanic states to theyogic ones.However. hex phenomenological dimensions have a more diffi-

    dificultier cult time differentiating among the different jhanic states becausedktinguishing the differences bctwccn thcse swtes are so subtle (Tab le 3). All of

    between t h m are characterized by extremely high degrees of conuol , wlm ,stares and concenuation. and almost total lack of awareness of the envi-with ronment and ability to com muniw te. T hey do differ slightly in thesubtle specific type of positive affect. e.g.. a combination of rapme anddiflerencer happiness in the first tw o jhanas, happiness without rapture in thethird. and equanimity in the remaining five. Likewise, the content

    may-also differ, with, for example, the meditator king aware ofi n f i ~ t epace in the fifth and ~n iin ite onsciousn ess in the sixth.Thus it seems h t henomenological mapping may be used todifferentiate and compare contemplative stages of development,but that in s o m e c w s the distinctions may be very subtle andidentifying them may require an intimate knowledge of the prac-tice.

    Is There n Common Afvstical hpe rien ce?On e of thc m ajor questions ?hat has dorninatcd philosophical dis-cussion of mysticism sincc William Ja me s is whethcr or not Ulere isany core mystical experience that is common across cultures and

    46 7 l e Journal of Tmm persona / Psjrholoa, 1995. Yo /.27, A'o. I

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    TABLE 2COMPARISONS F YDGIC.LDDHLSI S E L O . ~ JW.IC. AND ~ u D D H L ~ ~LPISSWU S T A ~

    Canaalability lo enlcr wdleave ASC at willat willability lo control ihccmm1 of cxperience

    Au-ocv ofEnvhomrnt

    TT ExmmcControlin romc rurwdhis&& Reduced rcnrolymd body ~ ~ ~ ~ C O C I I 4 4 Rcduccd sensoryand bdy awvcncrr

    Noncbility toCommunicate Usually7.T FixedJ.4+T Ex- peeinrcnw happiocu andn w =

    t o r -+ Tends lo in-ar practice-nchanging rraruandenlwl for punuhp scu-warc ir dacommrrcdinto a changing flm:"0 0 self" Mcrgcd with ibc objectof convnmtionW B E No, ar. of bodyaw-m ("maasis")

    Conlenl Single objm ("ramadhi Dceommctioa ofcamplcr Formlerr m l a lwith s u p p a 1 0or pure crpcrimca iolok qualiticr aod a t T mC O O Y ~ ~ L ~ C I S ~ ~ d N e n limuli. N C ~m iOl-("samsdhi uilhout Stimuli m runhcr bqpincrrrupponl) dsonmucted into aconMv0ur nu

    traditions. W alter Sh c e and some advocates of the perennial phi-losophy argue yes; no. u y "consbuctivists," such as Steven Kae(1978, 1983). who argu e that 311 experie nce, including m ysticalexperience, is co ns hc te d and hence mediated and modified by avariety of conditioned, inescapable, personal. m d cultuml experi-ences and filters. Others argue lhat the question remains open(Smith. 1987; Rothberg. 1989,1990). For an excellent examinationof th e epistemological assumptions underlying Katz's position. seeRothberg (1989. 1990). Since the comparisons made above c l w l yindicate significant differences between sh m an ic . yogic, and Bud-dhist experiences, they would s a m o favor the constructivists andargue against the view that there exists a common mystical experi-ence.Yet this may be only p;ut of the st oy . Although the yogic andBuddhist meditative experiences described here arc indeed ad-vanced, they are not necess arily the most profoun d. At the highestreaches of meditation, tm w en de nt experiences of a wholly differ-ent kind, radically discontinuous from all that have gone before.

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    TABLE 3C ~ P - H S e r n THEB U D O W T m m O N OF THE SECOhD. THOID. F O ~ T HUnS m -a

    cmmlability to cntcr and YaI a v cAX wil lability tomaml them om of mpmimc

    A ofEnvimnmmiAbility toCommunicalc Nonc

    ?'T Fucd&&

    Calm Extrrnx pwccanl tquanirmtyNo aflcct doc*&en is nullifiedby tqmnimityM q e d vvilh Lbeobj m of-muon

    M q c d wih rbeobjm orC O D M m l l O nNO. car of bodya u a r r r r ( lr-")uobovodedc ~m ~ i o u n c u

    No.LZLWof bodyn-ai-caaari~")Fmmlmmmtdqualit*rdadccurucharinunwhapplncrrandrn

    No. Lotr of bodya w M m Z I("cnnaril-)F o d a r mendqualiticr and ad-such ar inmncbappinm

    No.Los of body0 " M n C I S("ESl-ziS-)Formlcu m l a lqualit ia

    arc said to occur. These are the full samodhi of yoga and theninnno of Buddhism.Herc description and reason x e said to fail. 'Wot by reasoning isthis apprehension attainable" (Ko~haUpmishod I. 2, 4). '%or&return along with the mind not artaining it" (Toininyo Uponuhod2, 9, 1). For thesc experiences. and the realms chey puwtivelyreveal. are said to be beyond space, lime. qualities, concepts, andlimifs of any kind. Hence, these experiences are said lo be inef-fable, indescribable, and inconceivable because they are m-empirical, transverbal, and batsrational. In h e wo rd s o f th e ThirdZco Patriarch Sengstan (1975):

    To this ultimate f i l y. . .o-law or description applies.Tbc more you talk about itTbc funher astray you wander fmm ihc mtb.

    Herc pbcnomenological description, mapping. and comparisonfail. For even to ancmpt to qualify. let alone map an d mearm,

    48 nc Journal o/Tronrpenonol P+holoiy. 1995. Vol. 27 . NO.

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    these experiences and domains is said to invariably m u l t in para-dox, inasmuch as his is Nicholas de CLLW'Scoincidcncc of opp-sites," Zen's "not-one, not-two." and Vedanta's "advaita."The paradox of attempting to describe thc coincidence of oppo sitesis. as Kant was to discover. h t he opposite of an y spparenllyvalid statement is also valid. Almost fifteen hundred ye ars befo reKan t. Nag arju n& fo un der o f M adh yami ka B u d d h i s ~ a c h e dvirtually the samc conclusion. "a conclusion echoed and amplifiedin succceding generations by every major school of Eastern phi-losophy and psychology: Reason cannot @aspthe essence of directabsolutc reality, and when it hies. it gencrates only dualistic in- ~ranrra t ionalcompatibilities" (Wilber. 1983). The primary and liberating task. inruinbnu y b t h Buddhist and yogic t radi tions, is not todescr ibe these m dstates m d experiences bul nth er to know them for oncself through isdirect, transrational inmition and i t s resultant wisdom. prajna or resulranrjnana. wisdomAre the yogic samudhi and Buddhist nirvana identical. or moreprecisely, an hey indistinguishable? It seems that one -OI saythat they are different. but thcn one also c m o t say they arc them e , ince both similarities and differences depend on being ableto attribute and comp are qualities. Th e answer, at least for yoga andBuddhism, to Ihe qucstion of whether thcrc exists a common coremystical cxpcriencc may be neither yes nor no but lather, horn a -Wcstcrn philosophical perspective. ' h h a t can be said at all can besaid clearly, what we cannot talk about we m ust p a v er insilence" (Wingenstein. 1961. p. 3).

    The ineffability of the yogic samadhi and Buddhist nirvana doesnot answc r the questions of whethcr there exists a mystical experi-encc common to diverse haditions or whether all mystical experi-e n c a are constructed. However, it docs suggcst that althoughmany yogic, Buddhist, and sha mv ljc stales can be differentiated byphenomenological mapping, there may be som e states, perhaps themost profound, that cannot be mapped or distinguished.

    Are Sh am an . Also Atysrics?h d hat of shama nism? D o its practitioners also access mysticalstates? I have found no referenc es to cbe unio m?stica in theliterature, a nd o ne authority categorically states that in shamanism"we never find the mystical union with Ihc divinity so typical forthe ecstatic experience in the 'highcr forms of religious mysti-cism"' (Hultkrantz. 1973).However, there are thrce lines of evidence that sugge st that thisconclusion could bc incorrect. These arc the facts that shaman ism

    Phmomcnologi~ l apping 4 9

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    is an o n l hadition, that powerful psychedelics may be used. andthat some Westem practitioners repo n unitive experiences.Since shamamsm is m oral tradition, it is possible that suchexperiences may have occurred. at least occzionally, but havebeen lost to subsequent gcnmtions and, of course. therefore, toWestern researchers. Without writing. there may be no way toadequately preserve a record of the highest and n re st flowe rings ofa hadition.AILhough not an essential part of shamanism. the use of psyche-del ics is common in some ar e a (Hamer. 1973). Peyote andayahuarca. for example, &re powerful p syched elics cap able o finducing experiences that some resemhers regard a s genuinemystical o nes (Grof, 1988; Smith, 1964; Walsh & Vaughan, 1993).Finally, Westerners being mined in sliamanic practices ma y reportunitive experiences, and I have personally heard two such ac-counts. ntese seemed to bc examples af nature mysricisrn, al-though, of course, there is the possibility chat other types of mysti-cal experience may also occur. All of chis suggests that althoughthe unio mystica is not the goal of shamanic practices, i t ma ysometimes occur.

    S U M M A R Y A N D NE.XT STEPSC l h s h at s ha ma njc sta te s are identical to those of sch iz op hr e~ a

    c / a i m Buddhism, or yoga a p p w to have been based on imprecise com-h e d parisons, and both lhcory and &la argue against their e qui\d enc e.on In pan, chis confusion reflects a history of imprecise mapping ofimprecise altered states. More precise, lhouph still preliminary, multidimen-

    compar i ronr sional phenomenological m apping and com parisons o f alteredstates are now possible. Th e maps and com parisons presented hereare obviously only initial steps. However even at this preliminarystage of development they suggest that,while shamanjc, Buddhist.and yogic swtes show some functional and experiential overlap,they arc usually quite distinct and show major differences fromschizophrenic states.An obvious next step would be to use one of the psychom ebic testsnow being developed, such as B e Phemmenology of Conrciour-n e s s l n v e n r a ~ Pekala & Kumm. 1986). to obtain quantitativeassessments and comparisons of the phenomenology of theseslates. Another would be to employ some of the ncw technologiesfor measuring brain activity, e.g., P F i (posiuon emission tom*graphy) and multichannel EEG (clectrocncephalography) to bothcompare swtes and begin to understand their physiologiwl co rn -

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    lates. though without falling into the Imp of interpreting alteredstates as on1.v altered physiology (Wilber, 1993. 1995).Careful interviews o f practitioners may also be helpful. H owever.one limitation here may be t ha t i n t e ~ e w e r s h o h av e t hem s el v esnot undertaken consciousness disciplines and experienced alter-nate s tates may be l imited in thcu abil i ty to comprehend h enuances involved. Cbarles Tart 's (1992) argument for using 'yog i-scientists" 3s research-practilioncrs may be appropriate here.Whatever fuhlre methods may cvolve, i t is clear that we have only abegun to appreciate h e var iety. value, dif ferences, and develop- projectmen1 of altered states and that undersmding them better is a 01pro jec t o f enormous im p o m c e and one o f the t ramper sonal e n o r m o mmovement 's ga les t challenges and opportunities. imporrance

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