12 papers in the library · publishing 2002
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert that God spoke to them; and whether they did not think at the time that they would be misunderstood, and so be the cause of imposition. Isaiah answer’d: ‘I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my sense discoverd the infinite in everything, and as I was then...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract Having specified the various contextual factors and variables that may contribute to the generation of visions, let me attempt a definition of the major cognitive parameters that seem to be affected by Ayahuasca. In defining these parameters} in effect, I am attempting an answer to the major psychological question-what does Ayahuasca do to the human cognitive system? Theoretically,...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract So far our discussion has been concerned primarily with the question of ‘What?’ We have examined what types of visualizations Ayahuasca produces, what the contents of Ayahuasca visualizations are, what themes they may be concerned with, what ideas are associated with them, what stages Ayahuasca visualizations may define and in what order they may appear within a session. Now we turn to...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract Our charting of the phenomenology of the Ayahuasca experience is now complete. First- and second-order, dynamical, and contextual questions have been examined. I turn now to the theoretical cognitive-psychological level Taking a broad, unified perspective, I shall attempt to make sense of the special state of consciousness that Ayahuasca induces. What happens to the mind under the...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract My study of Ayahuasca is based both on my personal experiences with the brew and on data I have gathered from other people. In this chapter I present information pertaining to the data and the procedures of their collection and analysis. Subsequently, the general orientation of my work is defined and the overall structure of this book is drawn.
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract In the previous chapter I analysed the contents of Ayahuasca visions in terms of the specific items that appear in them. In doing this, I have followed what is standardly done in the anthropological literature when the issue of content is addressed. In general, what are noted are the types of things that drinkers see under the intoxication. Such an analysis pertains to the micro-level,...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract In practically all the accounts found in the anthropological literature, visualizations of light are described as characterizing the first stage of the Ayahuasca inebriation. This is, I think, a very misleading portrayal. While it is indeed true that typically the first visual effects of Ayahuasca generate internal stimuli of light and colour, it is by no means the case that light is...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract While all the effects of Ayahuasca are extraordinary and all may leave a deep mark on those that experience them, in many respects the visual effects are the most salient. This, Jet me emphasize, by no means implies that a session in which a drinker has not experienced such effects cannot be a meaningful and/or powerful one. Yet, I would say that the primary language in which Ayahuasca...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract There must be a fourth state beyond the waking, dreaming and dreamless states in which the absolute oneness of Brahman-Atman is what should be known. Ayahuasca is an agent that induces an altered state of consciousness; as such, it does precisely that-it modifies people’s state of consciousness. In this chapter (and in Chs. 14 and 16) I examine these modifications and the effects...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract I now turn from the structural phenomenological questions of the first order to those of the second order. Whereas the former deal with the characterization of the different types that may be defined in the phenomenology of the Ayahuasca experience, the latter deal with the relationships that may hold between tokens of these types.
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract As summarized at the end of the previous chapter, in our discussion of temporality, meaning featured centrally. Meaning is also associated with other facets of the Ayahuasca experience that we have discussed. At the very outset of the phenomenological survey presented in this book, the overall enhanced meaningfulness induced by Ayahuasca was highlighted. As noted in Ch. 4, the general...
The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002 Benny Shanon
Abstract In this chapter I continue with the ‘How?’ question and consider a number of patterns which, to my mind, are important determinants of the way Ayahuasca visualizations develop. Following my general (that is, not specific to my study of Ayahuasca) radical phenomenological approach to cognition, unlike most investigations in contemporary cognitive science my analysis does not deal with...