ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Psychointegracion Session 01/April/2008 By Jorge Raul Olguin. I consider myself a great student of the reactive mind to the point that I rediscovered in 1997 the impulsive reactive mind and in 2003 the depressive reactive mind. And obviously I did not make a good propaganda to the reactive mind because it has two fruits that are engrams and the roles of ego. The reactive mind, as I have said it many times, was required millions of years ago because our ancestors did not have analytical mind, so they did not have the time to think. For instance, if they had to face a smilodon, they could not think ‘would it eat me? or Could I run away?’; In tenths of a second they had to flee because they didn’t have the weapons to kill the smilodon. Or if they saw a small rodent, they didn’t think ‘Will I hunt it or not?’ No. Automatically they had to pounce over it to see if they could hunt it. As the millennia went by, those beings developed abstract thinking through the analytical mind, which is located in the cortex, unlike the reactive mind which is located in the cerebral amygdala. But the reactive mind combined with the analytical mind can sometimes give fruits. It happens that sometimes the mechanisms are not viable, as mechanisms. Stanislaw Grof, one of the great founders of Transpersonal Psychology was one of the rediscoverers of hyperventilation. Hyperventilation is an agitated panting which oxygenates the brain too much. It also happens in those kids' parties when inflating balloons and they get dizzy because oxygen produces a state of dizziness. This state of dizziness, with hyperventilation produces what Stanislaw Grof called 'Altered state of consciousness.' The altered state of consciousness can make us rediscover ourselves; because this altered state of consciousness makes us see ourselves from the outside from a different point of view and then we see things about ourselves that we didn’t find before, which we didn’t notice before. The same effect is achieved with different drugs such as: Ayahuasca, marijuana, LSD and other drugs. But there is a very important thing for those young people, or not so young, who want to experience something. All drugs, all of them without exception, even the apparently harmless marijuana, commonly called in some cities as 'joint', destroys the mental decoder, it exterminates the neuronal system, the neuronal cluster. Although modern science has discovered that it is not true that neurons do not regenerate, as believed since the eighties of the twentieth century, however the regeneration is minimal compared to the massive destruction caused by drugs. Is alcohol included? Yes. Alcohol is included and now I'm going to talk about it. Since 1967, people say the sixties - but 1967 was crucial. They rediscovered the hallucinogenic drug known as LSD. Actually these hippies, who are men and women around sixty years old, they did not seek to hallucinate; they were seeking to rediscover themselves because their message was a message of peace. It happened that, as we say in street lingo, the one who paid the check was the mental decoder, the brain. Because these hallucinogenic drugs undermined the neuronal field. Hyperventilation fortunately provokes an altered state of consciousness without the extreme negative collateral effect of killing neurons. However, it causes another state of release of the impulsive reactive mind, and if the patient of this transpersonal psychologist who practices hyperventilation is not contained; that patient may burst into tears, even attacking his own therapist because this practice releases the impulsive reactive mind. And this impulsive reactive mind brings out the aches, pains, impotence that this person is having. And it produces a catharsis through violence in many cases. This does not happen with all drugs, because there are drugs that dope and instead of overexciting the person in violence, these drugs numb the senses. Alcohol, without being a drug, it also produces a tremendous dependence and the younger the consumer is, the less immunity this person will have in his/her neuronal field and it can cause a diminished mental capacity by thirty or even forty percent in that young teenager who is consuming alcohol or using drugs. That person is not a complete idiot, but his/her mental reasoning is very, very reduced. I have seen many children, and I’m not speaking about teenagers here, I mean children who are looking for altered states of consciousness through various epoxy adhesives, which in each country have different names. What these children do not realize is that the so-called ‘glue’ provokes an altered state of consciousness exterminating cell clusters massively to the point that when they are teenagers, their cognitive function is decreased up to thirty or forty percent. They become clumsy guys who are already labeled as children with different abilities without being born in that way genetically. They are like those people due to the drug they have consumed. Then I say, any consumption of drugs, alcohol or tobacco in a massive way is absolutely pernicious. The only thing that I could support and I hope you all understand me well because I have not finished, is a glass of red wine per day because it has antioxidant products. But for those who have no control and take a glass of wine, then two, ten, twenty, it is preferable not to drink it directly. The tobacco, which apparently is as harmless as it is found on a counter, not only burns neurons, but also causes lung cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer... Marijuana, which for those who smoked it may even be softer than most cigars sold in the market, it surely does not cause a cancer stage as tobacco, but it tremendously degrades the brain functions, which I call the mental decoder. So, these altered states of consciousness that the person seeks to perceive, what they actually do is to unleash the reactive mind to absorb the analytical mind and figuratively speaking, the person leaves out of the body and he/she can be rediscovered. But to do that one does not really need hyperventilation or any drug. I've known people who drink three or four glasses of wine and they start philosophizing, something that they would not do being sober. That's caused by alcohol, which like most drugs, frees from inhibitions and shows the person as he/she is. What happens is that there are people that find a philosophical opening and there are other people who release the violence they had contained. Notice that most alcoholics have problems due to acts of violence. There are ways to be free from inhibitions, to find themselves without using external drugs, alcohol, or whatever; and that’s eradicating the roles of ego. Eradicating these roles of ego that bind us; that make us bigots, cowards, incapable to let us show ourselves. Then, it’s not necessary all that is artificial because all that is artificial ends up being negative to our brain, which is part of us because our body is a unity, So we will end up paying the consequences. We, as beings or biological units will end up paying the consequences. Very poetic the hippie person from the 1967, very poetic. But there are many beings who are fifty and sixty years old today who are a remnant of those hippies from the sixties of the last century. The altered states of consciousness are a fraud. While my techniques called Psychoauditing and Psychointegration are techniques that I approve tremendously. And secondly, Psychointegration derives from Transpersonal Psychology. The part of Transpersonal Psychology, which has to do with hyperventilation, I don’t approve it at all. Because most therapists do not know how to lead their patiens with this hyperventilation technique. The best way to find ourselves is not through an altered state of consciousness because the word itself says it all; 'altered' . It does not say ‘sublime’ state. I do not share everything Castaneda wrote. I do not share what Matus wrote. I do not agree with them fully. Most things are volatile visions caused in the mind immersed in drugs. I do not approve at all any drugs, alcohol or any product that is used to escape. Because in the end escaping from oneself, is cowardice. And that's a pun. Most of the people who are trying to find themselves with these products fail because what they do is to get away from themselves. But they will not admit it. They will not admit it because it’s hard for them to confront themselves. Thank you.