Transitory Perception and the Out-of-Body Experience:

Interpreting Shamanic Trance as a Hypnagogic State

Kaleb Smith

1-19-09

Proseminar In Transpersonal Psychology

Dr. Arthur Hastings

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A systematic empirical conception of the perceptual anomalies experienced in the hypnagogic

state, and the distinction of these anomalies into discrete classes of experience, cannot be realized until

an equally-systematic conceptual framework of consciousness, and its many levels, is first proposed.

That is to say, in order to study the anomaly, we must first understand the medium which carries it. This

prerequisite theoretical framework, serving as the base for further organized study towards an

understanding of transitional perception, while undoubtedly based partially on aspects of that recorded

perception, presents a far greater challenge to the researcher; requiring the analytical reach of

observational science to extend beyond and within that of observation, itself, into the subtle energetic

realms for which our naked eye serves little purpose. The first step towards this goal, however, is in

unambiguously defining the various states (or bandwidths) of consciousness.

To establish a strong association between the transitional perceptions (those of the hypnagogic

or hypnopompic class), and shamanic trance perceptions (those pertaining to the supposed transition

into realms of awareness typically described as below our own), (Harner, 1980) I will attempt to

interpret both experiences through studies of the empirical measurement of brainwave state, or

electroencephalography, as it relates to changes in consciousness.

Is Awareness A One-Way Street?

Awareness and consciousness, as mental states, are considered by some definitions to be

essentially one and the same (Tart, 1969). The multitude of academic definitions for so many internal

states remain vague, conflicting, or indistinct, overlapping one-another in a sloppy heap of semantic

generalities. This is representative of our imprecise and crude

understanding of consciousness, made obvious when the defined vocabulary of modern psychology is

compared, side by side, with that of the ancient inner-science of Hinduism.

Twelve Hindu words can be found defining twelve distinctly different states of consciousness.

In translation, all twelve of these Sanskrit words become the single English word, “consciousness,”

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their fine differentiation lost to us (Tart, 1969, p. 11).

It can be read that awareness cannot exist unless an individual is fully conscious and awake

(Freedheim, 2003, p. 35). And, yet, psychology is confronted with unexplained instances of

experiences which suggest a connection between subconscious states and aspects of physical awareness

(LaBerge, 1991). Lucid dreams, night paralysis, and the out-of-body experience, while controversial,

are now recognized as legitimate and universally-human occurrences worthy of academic attention.

(Hartwell, 1974, p. 119) And while the realm of mental activity just below the threshold of waking

consciousness does not lend itself easily to observation or recording, brave and forward-thinking

theories and experiments continue to expand the acceptance of the subconscious experience as one

relevant and deserving of dedicated study (Tart, 1968).

The rejection of the idea of subconscious awareness of externality seems, at least partially, to be

rooted in a limited conception of awareness, itself. Psychology, as a science, faces the seemingly-

contradictory problem of being bound to an investigative method developed for observation-based

research, while being designated a field of study which is, essentially, unobservable! The mind, and the

complexes of human ego and consciousness are internal processes with external ends. What we can

observe of manifest personality is quite secondary to those central inner processes of cognition, itself.

For the most part, there is still little distinction drawn between inward and outward awareness;

so much so that many still interpret awareness as implying strictly outward,

physical awareness (Freedheim, 2003). This, however, is a primarily Western interpretation of

awareness, where ancient Eastern practices of meditative inward-focus and the transcendent

supraconscious state still seem by many to be foreign; disregarded, for the most part, as frivolous

remnants of the counter-culture movement.

The unknown falls into two groups of objects: those which are outside and can be experienced by the senses, and those which are inside and are experienced immediately. The first group comprises the unknown in the outer world; the second the unknown in the inner world. We call

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this latter territory the unconscious (Jung, 1959, p. 93).

Inward awareness, however it may be perceived culturally, remains a universal mode of

awareness which, human experience suggests, has the potential to span across the entire spectrum of

consciousness, above or below the narrow bounds of the visible spectrum, physicality.

Since Hans Berger’s first electroencephalography studies in 1920, our understanding of

brainwaves, and their intimate relationship with states of consciousness, has changed very little. While

REM and the different brainwave states have been outwardly observed and defined, their actual

function as corresponding to inwardly-experienced consciousness has remained mostly unknown. It is

known that the REM and delta band states are related to cognitive development in infants. The alpha,

theta, and delta frequency bands are each a scientifically-defined wavestate corresponding to a level or

“depth” of an individual’s consciousness (Freedheim, 2003).

Consciousness: Above and Below

The conception of consciousness as a spectrum of frequency which we slowly travel down through in

sleep and back up through in waking is infinitely meaningful (Swartz, 1998, p. 174). The detection of

brainwaves revealed consciousness as a form of energy which could be measured, a dynamic internal

energy state. Waking consciousness was, all at once,

expressed as a frequency, a carrier medium on which all perceived awareness travels (Epstein, 1983).

One of the few things we can say with certainty about the hypnagogic period is that it is highly

variable, both physiologically and psychologically, among individuals. “For some people this is an

experientially nonexistent period, with no conscious recollection of any experience at all. For others

this may be a period of enchantment, with beautiful visions, sweet music, and insights into themselves”

(Tart, 1969, p. 73).

As we drift downward into the subconscious towards sleep, the range of our awareness changes

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accordingly; receding inward, our thoughts become “long,” our semantic associations extending, as we

approach the unconscious dreamstate. This change in the range of our awareness slowly limits the

upper register of perception, the physical “surface” awareness of sound and bodily sensation, while at

the same time opening our perception to awareness of a lower register, typically unperceived in our

everyday waking frequency state. As we travel downward through these frequency states, our

awareness does not simply disappear, but changes accordingly. For many, this transition from waking

to sleeping takes place so quickly, there is little notice of the of the change occurring in awareness

during this time. There are those individuals, however, who drift slowly into sleep, uncommon and

strange thought associations often occupying the trance-like state of sleep entrance and exit (Bertini-

Lewis et al., 1964).

While the majority of these hypnagogic and hypnopompic perceptions are obvious hallucinatory

manifestations of residual thought associations made during the onset of pre-sleep, or the alpha REM

period, still other experiences imply a legitimate state of sensory consciousness, based in external

reality, and validated by subsequent waking observation in an experimental setting (Tart, 1968). Among

the whole of these rare hypnosensory experiences, the out-of-body experience (OBE) remains a class of

special significance.

Is the Out-of-Body Experience a Hallucination?

In a classic experiment by psychologist, Dr. Charles Tart (1968) a woman prone to experiences

which she interpreted as leaving her body in sleep was observed for four non-consecutive nights with

her electroencephalogram (EEG) data recorded each night. A five digit number, chosen from a random

number chart, was written discretely on a small piece of paper and placed, facing upward, 5½ feet

above the subjects head. 5 hours and 50 minutes into the 4th night, the subject's body began to convulse

intermittently for several minutes.

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At 6:04 AM on this fourth night of observation, the subject awoke and called out that the target

number was “25132.” That number was correct, perceived in the room she slept while, EEG readings

show, she was in a delta sleep state. The subject also stated that she had expected Dr. Tart to prop the

number up against the wall on the shelf, but that he had, in fact, laid it flat on the shelf, which she was

also able to correctly perceive from sleep.

The implications of Tart's OBE study are many and expansive of theory. An energetic internal

aspect of self, the perceived “viewer” of the autoscopic experience, had been shown capable of

awareness independent of physical sensation and waking consciousness. Given the evidence of this

replicated study, many skeptics have come to admit that, pending evidence to the contrary, current

research suggests autoscopy is not a hallucination (Kehoe, 2000).

The convulsive “vibration” of the body of the female subject, shown as an anomaly in the EEG

reading, is a commonality described by most who experience an out-of-body experience as taking place

during the exiting of the body, and occasionally upon reentry (Buhlman, 1996, p. 38). It can be

explained most parsimoniously as an effect caused by the disruption of the typically harmonious phase

relationship between the physical and subtle self during their separation, lasting until the point of their

absolute independence from one-another (Hartwell, 1974).

Are The Perceptions of Trance Transitional?

The perception of voices, during both out-of-body and transitional states of consciousness, is a

central human experience described universally, in one context or another, in almost every culture

(Eliade, 1964). The messages perceived are also universally similar, with requests for help or calls of

action both very common. (Halifax, 1979, p. 92). The presence of perceived entities by the

hypersensitive individual in the transitional state before sleep is typically dependent on the location of

the sleep attempt or some recent traumatic event experienced either personally or in the area of sleep.

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That human beings hear and interact with spiritual entities, under certain circumstances, is an

established cultural universal, often serving as the basis of folklore or ritual practices (Eliade, 1964).

Schizophrenia and mystic rapture are probably the most common catalysts behind the supposed

interaction, but the ingestion of psychedelic substances is often used to attain such rapture states, or one

analogous by outward observation to the naturally-occurring schizophrenic state.(DeKorne, 1994).

Admittedly, the message symptomatic of the mental illness schizophrenia is often identical in nature

and intention to that of the mystical or psychedelic experience.

Here is a first-person description of an inner voice taken from dialogue with a man diagnosed

with schizophrenia:

The voice uttered only a sentence or two on each occasion that it appeared. The voice claimed to originate from God… the verbal production of the thoughts-out-loud [ie inner voice] usually takes the form of monologues attempting to persuade the ego to adopt a belief in the authority of the agent behind the thoughts-out-loud, and to accept a messianic fixation… It is impossible not to be influenced by the experiencing of such phenomena. Regardless of their social evidential value, they represent to the person who experiences them, proof of contact with some agent possessing sources of information broader than those of any factor of the human organism. [the author is referring to true predictions of future events made by the voice on four separate occasions] (DeKorne, 1994, p. 57).

An articulate and sensitive man who, due to a schizophrenic condition, is subject to discarnate

voices which he truly believes are not of himself. While the message of the voice is one identical to

both hypnagogic and shamanic trance state perceptions, (Halifax, 1979) what conclusions can be safely

drawn, if any, of his state of consciousness? Do entities contact him through the some collective

unconscious, as he so adamantly believes? Perhaps the opinion of the man who created the term and

concept of the “collective unconscious” could shed some light on these difficult questions:

I once discussed the proof of identity for a long time with a friend of William James, Professor Hyslopo in New York. He admitted that, all things considered, all these metaphysic phenomena could be explained better by the hypothesis of spirits than by the qualities and peculiarities of the unconscious. And here, on the basis of my own experience, I am bound to concede he is right. In each individual case I must of necessity be skeptical, but in the long run I have to admit that the spirit hypothesis yields better results in practice than any other (Jung, 1975).

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Conclusions

To integrate the observations of the cited studies of hypnagogic perceptions (specifically the

phenomena of voices heard while transitioning below the waking brainwave state, through the

frequency ranges of subconsciousness towards sleep) into a theoretical framework which provides that

the perceptions of this transitional state can be consciously induced (i.e., traditional Shamanic methods

of entering trance and OBE states) would require additional study to determine: 1) the true

effectiveness of one or more methods of trance induction and 2) the influence or requirement of key

cognitive precursors to subtle perception (i.e., schizophrenia, hypersensitivity.)

Given the striking similarities in perception which link the three experiences - the

hypnagogic, out-of-body, and ritualistic trance states - I would hypothesize that further study

would reveal a direct connection between the perception of subtle non-physical energy bands and the

lower boundaries of our physical consciousness of the visible spectrum, the traversal of which is

represented by electroencephalographic brainwave measurement.

The implications of this hypothesis portray consciousness as not being limited to observable

physicality, but as an energetic sea extending above and below the narrow bands of our sensation in the

form of bound frequency bands, composing a spectrum. To simplify using analogy, our awareness, by

this conception, would be thought of much like a radio dial which, by one means or another, may be

turned and tuned through “stations,” many exciting and different from our own. And perhaps, in

someday learning to tune our perception and explore this expanse of frequency, we may learn our

station really never was the most popular.

References

Buhlman, W. L. (1996). Beyond the body. San Francisco: HarperCollins

Bertini, M., Lewis, H. B., & Witkin, H. A. (1964). Some preliminary observations with an experimental procedure for the study of hypnagogic and related phenomena, Archive of Psychology, Neurology, and Psychiatry, 6, 493-534.

DeKorne, J. (1994). Psychedelic shamanism. Washington: Breakout Productions.

Devereux, G. (1961). Shamans as neurotics. American Anthropologist, 63, 1088-1090.

Eliade, M. (1964). Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Epstein, C. M. (1983). Introduction to EEG and evoked potentials. J. B. Lippincot Co.

Freedheim, D. K., & Weiner, I. B., (2003). Handbook of psychology – Vol. 1. Princeton, NJ: Wiley.

Halifax, J. (1979). Shamanic voices: A survey of visionary narratives. New York: Penguin. Harner, M. (1980). The way of the shaman. San Francisco: Harper.

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Swartz, B.E. (1998). Timeline of the history of EEG and associated fields. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 106, 173–176.

Tart, C.T. (1968). A psychophysiological study of out-of-the-body experiences in a selected subject. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 62, 3-27.