James’s transcendent moments with the help of nitrous oxide led him to what he called an “unshakable conviction” that “our normal waking consciousness … is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.”14 After pointing out the existence of altered states of consciousness (though not by that name), James adds, “We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness.”
