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Altered States of Consciousness: A Book of Readings
The book to read "if you're doing anything with meditation, dope, hypnosis, dreams, subjective exploration of any kind." - The Last Whole Earth Catalog.
584 pages, Hardcover
Published June 1, 1969
140 people are currently reading
3460 people want to read
About the author
Charles T. Tart
49 books86 followersCharles T. Tart was an American psychologist and parapsychologist known for his psychological work on the nature of consciousness (particularly altered states of consciousness), as one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology, and for his research in parapsychology.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 10, 2016
This is the best collection of essays I've ever seen on the topic of altered states of consciousness. It is dated, but then little research has occurred in the field since the Nixon adminstration began restrictions of aspects of such work and it is interesting and important to read some of the older material to get a sense of how seriously the implications of induced altered states were taken by such luminaries as William James, Carl Gustav Jung and Sigmund Freud. Indeed, some of the century-past authors suggest fields for future research which have yet to be tilled.
May 3, 2016
Lately, I have an interest in unusual claims made in the field of psychology, for it seems to me that at least some of these claims are well founded--arguably, more well founded than Fortean claims in other fields. I got this book from a used bookstore in my neighborhood.
This book, first published in 1969, is a collection of readings about altered states of consciousness. Some of the papers report quantitative information, such as an electroencephalograhic study of Yogis. However, other papers, usually the older ones, are more like a personal essay. For example, the philosopher William James writes about his experience under the influence of nitrous oxide.
Here are some claims I came across in this book which I found fascinating:
--- Rachmaninoff, in order to deal with depression, saw a therapist who specialized in hypnotic treatments. Rachmaninoff was told under hypnotic suggestion to write music and work with great facility. Rachmaninoff's gloom evaporated and he wrote Concerto Number Two in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra.
--- Two Yogis were able to keep a hand in ice cold water for 44-55 minutes without experiencing any discomfort.
--- The Senoi, a tribe which lives in the Malay Peninsula, claims that there has been no violent crime or an intercommunal conflict in 200-300 years. They credit this to a psychotherapy of dream interpretation which is an integral part of their society.
The book also contains an impressive list of References. I find it exciting to think that further research has gone on since the time when this book was first published, and that there is still much to be explored.
This book, first published in 1969, is a collection of readings about altered states of consciousness. Some of the papers report quantitative information, such as an electroencephalograhic study of Yogis. However, other papers, usually the older ones, are more like a personal essay. For example, the philosopher William James writes about his experience under the influence of nitrous oxide.
Here are some claims I came across in this book which I found fascinating:
--- Rachmaninoff, in order to deal with depression, saw a therapist who specialized in hypnotic treatments. Rachmaninoff was told under hypnotic suggestion to write music and work with great facility. Rachmaninoff's gloom evaporated and he wrote Concerto Number Two in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra.
--- Two Yogis were able to keep a hand in ice cold water for 44-55 minutes without experiencing any discomfort.
--- The Senoi, a tribe which lives in the Malay Peninsula, claims that there has been no violent crime or an intercommunal conflict in 200-300 years. They credit this to a psychotherapy of dream interpretation which is an integral part of their society.
The book also contains an impressive list of References. I find it exciting to think that further research has gone on since the time when this book was first published, and that there is still much to be explored.
July 29, 2022
Man, they sure used to publish anything in psychological journals in the 60s.
I really couldn't finish this book, not only because it's incredibly long but because the outdated and debunked sections just kept eroding at my enjoyment. I should've called it quits when two of the Altered States of Consciousness listed in the long list of phenomena that Tart counted as such... were brainwashing and Satanic worship, two of the hottest fears at the time which were quite literally never proven to have existed and were just made-up political talking points to push anti-Communist and anti-non-Christian sentiment akin to today's Havana Syndrome.
It was such a huge slog that by the time I read the author's remarks about the "Senoi Dreaming Tribe," something that sounded suspiciously like our modern day understanding of lucid dreaming, I couldn't take it anymore and had to Google search it.
When asked, members of the Senoi tribe had no clue what the researcher who first coined the theory was talking about. He completely made it up to craft an exoticized narrative around his own American-centric proposals and ideas, and the researchers around him bought what has now been called a "fairytale" without a moment's hesitation.
It's a shame because I actually would love to have a book that just dives into the current research on how we understand consciousness, what we have yet to know, how it can be altered, and what experiments have been done to expand ones' own understanding of consciousness. Just y'know, not this.
I really couldn't finish this book, not only because it's incredibly long but because the outdated and debunked sections just kept eroding at my enjoyment. I should've called it quits when two of the Altered States of Consciousness listed in the long list of phenomena that Tart counted as such... were brainwashing and Satanic worship, two of the hottest fears at the time which were quite literally never proven to have existed and were just made-up political talking points to push anti-Communist and anti-non-Christian sentiment akin to today's Havana Syndrome.
It was such a huge slog that by the time I read the author's remarks about the "Senoi Dreaming Tribe," something that sounded suspiciously like our modern day understanding of lucid dreaming, I couldn't take it anymore and had to Google search it.
When asked, members of the Senoi tribe had no clue what the researcher who first coined the theory was talking about. He completely made it up to craft an exoticized narrative around his own American-centric proposals and ideas, and the researchers around him bought what has now been called a "fairytale" without a moment's hesitation.
It's a shame because I actually would love to have a book that just dives into the current research on how we understand consciousness, what we have yet to know, how it can be altered, and what experiments have been done to expand ones' own understanding of consciousness. Just y'know, not this.
May 14, 2010
This is a survey book from the late 60's, covering the seminal research that had been conducted until then on altered states of consciousness. Some of the papers are highly technical, others less so. It deals with the psychology of mysticism, psychedelic drugs, meditation, similarity to pathologies, etc. The fundamental premise of the book is that ASCs are normal not necessarily pathological and in cultures other than Western, they are viewed as beneficial and desired.
The one negative of the book is that it is so far out of date and since the 1980s there has been a lot more work done that must be tracked down. This is a good foundation for future study though.
The one negative of the book is that it is so far out of date and since the 1980s there has been a lot more work done that must be tracked down. This is a good foundation for future study though.
June 28, 2022
I read this book in my early twenties when I had just started learning about altered states and this book was everything I could have wished for. Over the years I have reread many of the articles and although some are a little dated by now, they are still fascinating and inspiring. This book is still an excellent introduction and springboard for anybody's quests into the deeper and higher levels of consciousness.
January 26, 2009
to be aware of what we have not shared here, read the senoi (malay) article. it will change you forever. or at least until you are 'dead.'
March 7, 2021
I just read everything related to dreams.
January 23, 2026
A DIVIERSE COLLECTION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF ‘ALTERED’ CONSCIOUSNESS
Editor Charles T. Tart (1937-2025) was a parapsychologist and researcher. He wrote in his Introduction to the First Edition (1969) of this book, “In introducing a book of readings on altered states of consciousness, I find … there is a multitude of philosophical and semantic difficulties in defining just what ‘normal’ consciousness and ‘altered’ states of consciousness are, yet at this instant I have not the slightest doubt that I am in my normal state of consciousness. Yet there have been a number of occasions in my life when I have not had the slightest doubt in realizing that I was in an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Thus I shall give only the simple sort of definition of what an ASC is here and let the articles in this book flesh it out: our knowledge of ASCs is too incomplete at this time for a right conceptualization… An altered state of consciousness … is one in which [the person] clearly feels a QUALITATIVE shift in his pattern of mental functioning… but also that some quality or qualities of his mental processes are DIFFERENT.” (Pg. 1-2)
Arthur Deikman said of mystic experiences, “Poverty, chastity, isolation and silence are traditional techniques prescribed for pursuing the mystic path…the more renunciation is achieved, the more the mystic is committed to his goal of Union or Enlightenment. His motivation necessarily increases for, having abandoned the world, he has no other hope of sustenance.” (Pg. 46-47)
Tart observes in his introduction to the section on ‘Dream Consciousness,’ “If there is one ASC that is universal in all normal humans, it is the nocturnal dream. Indeed, the research of the last 15 years strongly indicates that we have no ‘choice’ about dreaming; it is only in the degree to which people recall their dreams that humans differ.” (Pg. 137)
David Foulkes said of Dream Formation, “Sleeping and waking thoughts are not totally incompatible with one another; we must recognize the essential continuity of all forms of thought… There is, to be sure, some difference between dream thought and waking thought, but it is a relative, rather than an absolute, one. The dreamer maintains fewer relations with reality. Yet there is no complete break with reality; he is still in contact with it.” (Pg. 147)
Frederick van Eeden says of dreams, “In… the ‘symbolic’ or ‘mocking’ dreams, that characteristic element is one which I call ‘demoniacal,’ … I will readily concede at once that the real existence of beings whom we may call ‘demons’ is problematic… I hope to satisfy even the most skeptical of my audience by defining the expression ‘demoniacal’ thus: I call demoniacal those phenomena which produce on us the impression of being invented or arranged by intelligent beings of a very low moral order… It is in this class also, that the erotic element, or rather the obscene element, plays such an important part. And it is no wonder that some adherents of Freud’s school, studying only this type of dream, come to the conclusion that all dreams have a sexual origin.” (Pg. 180)
Ronald E. Shor says of trance states, “Trance… is not a strange mystic occurrence happening only in hypnosis, religious ecstasies, and such esoterica. Trance becomes seen as a daily, commonplace occurrence, a somewhat larger way of conceptualizing ‘selective attention,’ and as familiar as the chaotic oblivioius of the mind during sleep.” (Pg. 304)
Stanley Krippner says of Psychedelics, Hypnosis, and Creativity, “Sergei Rachmaninoff, the gifted … pianist and composer, plunged into morbid brooding at age 21 because of the unfavorable reception accorded his first piano concerto. No amount of success as a conductor or pianist could revive his morale…. His friends eventually persuaded him to visit Dr. Nikolai Dahl, who specialized in hypnotic treatments… Rachmaninoff continued in treatment for three months… In this instance, hypnotic suggestion was remarkably effective. Rachmaninoff’s gloom evaporated and he began composing again… [and he] dedicated the [Second Piano] concerto to Dahl… Psychedelic (‘mind-manifesting’) drugs have also been used for creative purposes… Altered states of consciousness, such as those induced by hypnosis and psychedelic chemicals, may assist in fostering the creative act because creativity is basically preverbal and unconscious in origin.” (Pg. 324-325)
Later, Krippner notes, “Frank Barron administered psilocybin to a number of highly creative individuals and recorded their impressions. One of Barron’s subjects stated, ‘I felt a communion with all things.’ A composer wrote, ‘Every corner is alive in a silent intimacy.’ … Some of Barron’s artists, however, were wildly enthusiastic about their apparently increased sensitivity during the drug experience, only to discover, once the effects wore off, that the production was without artistic merit.” (Pg. 339)
Tart, however, inserts a note to the Third (1990) Edition, “I have strongly ambivalent feelings about this section of … psychedelic drugs… in 1969… many psychologists, myself included, had high hopes that the INTELLIGENT use of psychedelics would be a major boost in the intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual evolution of humanity. This book introduced many educated people to these possibilities: some of them tried psychedelics, with great personal gains. I am pleased with that outcome. On the other hand, we had no real conception of the degree to which people could and would take these potential gifts and turn them into paths of personal and social destruction.” (Pg. 389)
Arthur C. Hastings comments on the ‘Effects of Marijuana on Consciousness,' "Passing of time’ is a curious phrase, because time passing cannot be empirically observed… What seems to be described is the mental reviewing of the preceding changes which led up to the present point. Rerunning the succession in memory from some point up to the present gives the sensation of passing time. We are aware of events that are different from the ones we now experience but that are directly connected through physical changes in which we have participated…” (Pg. 415)
Tart reprints William James’ essay on nitrous-oxide gas intoxication, in which James observes, “It is impossible to convey an idea of the torrential character of the identification of opposites as it streams through the mind in this experience. I have sheet after sheet of phrases dictated or written during the intoxication, which to the sober reader seem meaningless drivel, but which at the moment of transcribing were fused in the fire of infinite rationality… Let me transcribe a few sentences: ‘What is a mistake but a kind of take?’ ‘What’s nausea but a kind of -ausea?’ ‘Everything can become the subject of criticism---how criticize without something to criticize?’ ‘That sounds like nonsense, but it is pure ON-sense.’” (Pg. 436-437)
Tart says in his essay on ‘Major Psychedelic Drugs,’ “For anyone interested in what some of the potentialities of disciplined, trained use of psychedelics might be, ‘[Carlos] Castaneda’s two books are must reading.” (Pg.’ 458) But he adds in a note to the third edition, “I still find the books of Carlos Castaneda… quite useful.. in spite of the controversy … over whether there really was a Yaqui Indian shaman named Don Juan who taught Castaneda or whether Castaneds is just a writer of novels.” (Pg. 460)
[I suggest that interested persons read ‘Castaneda’s Journey’ and ‘The Don Juan Papers’ by Richard de Mille, and ‘A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda’ by his former wife, Margaret Runyan Castaneda.]
Walter N. Pahnke and William A. Richards note, ”It may be of significance that many, if not most, of the persons who experience mystical consciousness show little interest in taking a psychedelic drug again for a period of at least several months, claiming that they have many profound experiences to ponder and assimilate.” (Pg. 493)
Later, they add, “these phenomena are now sufficiently reproducible to allow mysticism to be studied scientifically under laboratory conditions. Thus, at long last, research into mysticism need no longer be limited to the scholarly scrutiny of such personages as Shankara, Plotinus, Meister Eckhart, William Blake, and Teresa of Avila.” (Pg. 501)
This is an excellent and thought-provoking collection of essays (although it seems somewhat ‘weighted’ in favor of psychedelic experiences).
Editor Charles T. Tart (1937-2025) was a parapsychologist and researcher. He wrote in his Introduction to the First Edition (1969) of this book, “In introducing a book of readings on altered states of consciousness, I find … there is a multitude of philosophical and semantic difficulties in defining just what ‘normal’ consciousness and ‘altered’ states of consciousness are, yet at this instant I have not the slightest doubt that I am in my normal state of consciousness. Yet there have been a number of occasions in my life when I have not had the slightest doubt in realizing that I was in an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Thus I shall give only the simple sort of definition of what an ASC is here and let the articles in this book flesh it out: our knowledge of ASCs is too incomplete at this time for a right conceptualization… An altered state of consciousness … is one in which [the person] clearly feels a QUALITATIVE shift in his pattern of mental functioning… but also that some quality or qualities of his mental processes are DIFFERENT.” (Pg. 1-2)
Arthur Deikman said of mystic experiences, “Poverty, chastity, isolation and silence are traditional techniques prescribed for pursuing the mystic path…the more renunciation is achieved, the more the mystic is committed to his goal of Union or Enlightenment. His motivation necessarily increases for, having abandoned the world, he has no other hope of sustenance.” (Pg. 46-47)
Tart observes in his introduction to the section on ‘Dream Consciousness,’ “If there is one ASC that is universal in all normal humans, it is the nocturnal dream. Indeed, the research of the last 15 years strongly indicates that we have no ‘choice’ about dreaming; it is only in the degree to which people recall their dreams that humans differ.” (Pg. 137)
David Foulkes said of Dream Formation, “Sleeping and waking thoughts are not totally incompatible with one another; we must recognize the essential continuity of all forms of thought… There is, to be sure, some difference between dream thought and waking thought, but it is a relative, rather than an absolute, one. The dreamer maintains fewer relations with reality. Yet there is no complete break with reality; he is still in contact with it.” (Pg. 147)
Frederick van Eeden says of dreams, “In… the ‘symbolic’ or ‘mocking’ dreams, that characteristic element is one which I call ‘demoniacal,’ … I will readily concede at once that the real existence of beings whom we may call ‘demons’ is problematic… I hope to satisfy even the most skeptical of my audience by defining the expression ‘demoniacal’ thus: I call demoniacal those phenomena which produce on us the impression of being invented or arranged by intelligent beings of a very low moral order… It is in this class also, that the erotic element, or rather the obscene element, plays such an important part. And it is no wonder that some adherents of Freud’s school, studying only this type of dream, come to the conclusion that all dreams have a sexual origin.” (Pg. 180)
Ronald E. Shor says of trance states, “Trance… is not a strange mystic occurrence happening only in hypnosis, religious ecstasies, and such esoterica. Trance becomes seen as a daily, commonplace occurrence, a somewhat larger way of conceptualizing ‘selective attention,’ and as familiar as the chaotic oblivioius of the mind during sleep.” (Pg. 304)
Stanley Krippner says of Psychedelics, Hypnosis, and Creativity, “Sergei Rachmaninoff, the gifted … pianist and composer, plunged into morbid brooding at age 21 because of the unfavorable reception accorded his first piano concerto. No amount of success as a conductor or pianist could revive his morale…. His friends eventually persuaded him to visit Dr. Nikolai Dahl, who specialized in hypnotic treatments… Rachmaninoff continued in treatment for three months… In this instance, hypnotic suggestion was remarkably effective. Rachmaninoff’s gloom evaporated and he began composing again… [and he] dedicated the [Second Piano] concerto to Dahl… Psychedelic (‘mind-manifesting’) drugs have also been used for creative purposes… Altered states of consciousness, such as those induced by hypnosis and psychedelic chemicals, may assist in fostering the creative act because creativity is basically preverbal and unconscious in origin.” (Pg. 324-325)
Later, Krippner notes, “Frank Barron administered psilocybin to a number of highly creative individuals and recorded their impressions. One of Barron’s subjects stated, ‘I felt a communion with all things.’ A composer wrote, ‘Every corner is alive in a silent intimacy.’ … Some of Barron’s artists, however, were wildly enthusiastic about their apparently increased sensitivity during the drug experience, only to discover, once the effects wore off, that the production was without artistic merit.” (Pg. 339)
Tart, however, inserts a note to the Third (1990) Edition, “I have strongly ambivalent feelings about this section of … psychedelic drugs… in 1969… many psychologists, myself included, had high hopes that the INTELLIGENT use of psychedelics would be a major boost in the intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual evolution of humanity. This book introduced many educated people to these possibilities: some of them tried psychedelics, with great personal gains. I am pleased with that outcome. On the other hand, we had no real conception of the degree to which people could and would take these potential gifts and turn them into paths of personal and social destruction.” (Pg. 389)
Arthur C. Hastings comments on the ‘Effects of Marijuana on Consciousness,' "Passing of time’ is a curious phrase, because time passing cannot be empirically observed… What seems to be described is the mental reviewing of the preceding changes which led up to the present point. Rerunning the succession in memory from some point up to the present gives the sensation of passing time. We are aware of events that are different from the ones we now experience but that are directly connected through physical changes in which we have participated…” (Pg. 415)
Tart reprints William James’ essay on nitrous-oxide gas intoxication, in which James observes, “It is impossible to convey an idea of the torrential character of the identification of opposites as it streams through the mind in this experience. I have sheet after sheet of phrases dictated or written during the intoxication, which to the sober reader seem meaningless drivel, but which at the moment of transcribing were fused in the fire of infinite rationality… Let me transcribe a few sentences: ‘What is a mistake but a kind of take?’ ‘What’s nausea but a kind of -ausea?’ ‘Everything can become the subject of criticism---how criticize without something to criticize?’ ‘That sounds like nonsense, but it is pure ON-sense.’” (Pg. 436-437)
Tart says in his essay on ‘Major Psychedelic Drugs,’ “For anyone interested in what some of the potentialities of disciplined, trained use of psychedelics might be, ‘[Carlos] Castaneda’s two books are must reading.” (Pg.’ 458) But he adds in a note to the third edition, “I still find the books of Carlos Castaneda… quite useful.. in spite of the controversy … over whether there really was a Yaqui Indian shaman named Don Juan who taught Castaneda or whether Castaneds is just a writer of novels.” (Pg. 460)
[I suggest that interested persons read ‘Castaneda’s Journey’ and ‘The Don Juan Papers’ by Richard de Mille, and ‘A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda’ by his former wife, Margaret Runyan Castaneda.]
Walter N. Pahnke and William A. Richards note, ”It may be of significance that many, if not most, of the persons who experience mystical consciousness show little interest in taking a psychedelic drug again for a period of at least several months, claiming that they have many profound experiences to ponder and assimilate.” (Pg. 493)
Later, they add, “these phenomena are now sufficiently reproducible to allow mysticism to be studied scientifically under laboratory conditions. Thus, at long last, research into mysticism need no longer be limited to the scholarly scrutiny of such personages as Shankara, Plotinus, Meister Eckhart, William Blake, and Teresa of Avila.” (Pg. 501)
This is an excellent and thought-provoking collection of essays (although it seems somewhat ‘weighted’ in favor of psychedelic experiences).
July 4, 2024
This book is a compilation of works by various authors, edited by Charles T. Tart from the University of California, Davis. For your information, Charles Tart is an Associate Distinguished Professor of Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Charles T. Tart is a renowned psychologist and parapsychologist, recognized as one of the founding figures in the field of transpersonal psychology.
So anyway, the book is an academic exploration of psychoactive and psychedelic drugs, meditation, and various aspects of the mind and consciousness, supported by scientific references and research. If anyone is interested in these topics, this book offers valuable insights.
So anyway, the book is an academic exploration of psychoactive and psychedelic drugs, meditation, and various aspects of the mind and consciousness, supported by scientific references and research. If anyone is interested in these topics, this book offers valuable insights.
December 11, 2019
Easy to understand English language is used in this book. foreign readers can read easily. After reading this book, you will sense world in a very different way. detailed information about the structure of mind and consciousness is also included in this book.
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March 24, 2021A collection of papers from the 1960s on everything from psychedelic drugs to meditation. Excellent reading for anyone interested in how we think.
August 23, 2012
Awesome book.
December 29, 2016
Some fascinating essays, a number quite dull, some dated.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews