States of Consciousness
by Joseph Rowlands
I had lunch with a guy who decided to convince me that meditation could lead your mind to achieve a new state of consciousness. Knowing a bit about my philosophical views, he expected some serious resistance to the idea. But instead of arguing, I accepted the possibility that it could happen. And then I explained why.
I had already been thinking about the way our mind works and how in some situations it seems to function in a different way. The best example is how sometimes when you are relaxed, your mind wanders and you might "zone out". You don't notice when it happens, and you may not even realize how long you were zoned out. Usually some outside event occurs that snaps you back into focus. And when you do snap back, you may not remember what your mind was doing. You weren't thinking about any particular topic. You weren't aware of what's going on around you. It was like your consciousness was on auto-pilot.
In contrast to a normal focused state, this zoned out state of consciousness is very different. When you are focused and thinking about things, you may periodically decide whether to continue thinking or to do something else. You can be aware of what's going on around you, and how productive your thinking is. And when you switch to another topic, you remember what you were thinking of. The zoned out state, in contrast, is like your mind had shut off.
Clearly there are other states as well. Dreaming while you are asleep is a different state. You may be somewhat aware in a dream, but there are significant differences to waking behavior. You may not be able to remember basic facts about your life, or you may have false memories. You may be dreaming that you're someone else entirely, and not realize it is just a dream. You may be easily confused, or you might see things more clearly than when you're awake. It is common for people to be unable to solve a problem or understand an issue while awake, but when they go to sleep they dream about it and strike upon the solution. When they wake again, they realize that they have the answer.
Dreams can also be accompanied by emotions that may or may not be appropriate even in the dream sequence. It's possible to feel a sudden overwhelming sense of fear for no reason at all, even within the dream world. Clearly your mind functions in a completely different way while you are dreaming.
When you are awake but very tired, it is possible to be on the very brink of sleep. You may retain your awareness and focus, but dreamlike images run through your mind. When someone is exhausted and trying to focus, they'll find that their mind wanders along dreamlike paths, and you have to periodically seize control and try to focus again.
Drugs may also produce different kinds of conscious states, including hallucinations, emotions, inability to focus, etc.
So given the many kinds of conscious states that we are able to experience, there's no reason to rule out the possibility that meditation could possibly lead to new conscious states.
Of course, just because it can lead to something new does not make that new conscious state necessarily desirable. The typical claim that meditation leaves you hyper focused on every little movement and your breathing and everything else is usually described in terms of a heightened awareness. But a different way to look at it is that it is a shift in focus. Instead of focusing on your own life, including problems, relationships, desires, etc., you focus on the environment around you. And your focus is deep and requires such concentration that there is no room for your own interests or self-awareness.
This different state could be viewed as a concerted effort to evade your problems. While you are hyper-focused on the details of the environment around you, you successfully avoid thinking about all of the problems that are dragging you down. If you do that for an hour, you'll feel relaxed from shrugging off your concerns, but they'll be there when you stop. Is it any surprise that some people will become addicted to meditation and want to do it for more and more? These are all of the same characteristics as evasion.
This isn't to say that there can't be value there. Instead, the point is that there's no automatic value there. A different state of consciousness can shift the way you think and what you focus on, but this isn't necessarily good in itself. You have to evaluate it normally.
People are aware that these different states exist. Some people increase their productivity by getting in the habit of working for a period of time without interruptions from phone or email. By not keeping part of their mind attentive to these interruptions, they can focus better on the task at hand.
Others intentionally let their mind wander for periods of time. Not only can this relax your mind, but you can possibly make connections that you otherwise wouldn't.
So yes, there can be different states of consciousness. And we can utilize them in our lives.
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