This article aims to present a model to explain the phenomenology of hypnosis, with particular reference to plastic monoideism and its phenomenology, integrating some of the current scientific theories of consciousness, particularly those of Karl Friston's free energy theory. Experimental studies demonstrate the existence of a close relationship between the individual's representational system...
This paper advances a paleo-psychological reconstruction of the evolution of human consciousness, arguing that the Ego is a relatively recent development in Homo sapiens. For most of human history, individuals are proposed to have functioned without reflective consciousness, initially guided by instinct and later by a symbolic, non-verbal Unconscious. Around 60,000 years ago, a primitive...
This paper is a report anchored in prior experiments and aims to describe consciousness using hypnosis as an application of a methodology drawn from experimental science. Three premises were posited. The first, epistemological in nature, assumes that all reality experienced and created by the individual belongs to an internal representational reality. The second, that hypnosis is capable of...
The scientific interest in spirituality has increased in recent years, paralleled by promising findings on the effects of spiritual experiences induced by psychedelics substances (PS), in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, these experiences may also bring challenges, depending on a variety of non-pharmacological variables. This article argues that an undiscerning use of PS to...
The aim of this article is to envisage possible commonalities between shamanic rituals, incubation, meditation, lucid dreaming, and hypnosis – a well validated therapeutic tool, though misunderstood in the past and still underused. The topic is endowed with huge epistemological implications, calling for a transdisciplinary and transcultural approach, in order to properly understand the...
This article explores the reinterpretation of the forbidden fruit in the Adam and Eve narrative across Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, proposing that it was cannabis rather than the traditionally accepted apple, fig, grape, or wheat. The story's significance in each religion highlights themes of temptation, disobedience, and moral consequences. The author argues that cannabis, with its...
The lived body, as an embodied self, lives, breathes, perceives, acts and reasons (Drew Leder, 1990, 1-8). The imaginative, with its schematic structures, has a role in thought (Lakoff, 1987, 275; Johnson 1987, 76,) even as we show preference for the biological and psychological turn. The problem of other minds is about how we come by the power to understand other people, comprehend their...
This article delves into the nature of consciousness, aiming to reconcile conflicting theories beyond dualism and panpsychism by addressing differences between early and late adopters of emerging technologies. We propose a new perspective on the integrity of consciousness that transcends binary divisions and embraces the unity of all life forms. Their contributions embrace the interplay between...
Several studies have investigated the relationship between personality variables and dream content. The evidence for a Jungian interpretation of dreaming and character logic functioning is equivocal. After a review of the literature, the authors hypothesize that there is a significant correlation between content of the dream and personality typology. The subjects of this study were students at...
Abstract42 individuals completed an 8-week course to strengthen the mental self-boundary. The group met on seven evenings (2 ½ hours) and for an entire day (6 hours) to exchange experiences and train the conscious perception of their mental self-boundary in pairs or as a group. At home they carried out a guided imagination exercise every day and kept a diary on specific self-boundary issues....