08/12/2025
Our normal waking consciousness—rational consciousness, as we term it—is but one particular type of consciousness. All about it, separated by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. 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, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of application and adaptation. No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.
— William James (1902), The Varieties of Religious Experience
This passage from William James remains profoundly resonant.
Modern neuroscience corroborates James’s view. Our standard waking state occupies a narrow band of brainwave activity (beta waves). Non-ordinary states—induced by meditation, trauma, sleep, or entheogenic substances—produce distinct neurobiological signatures (theta, gamma waves, and so on).
These are not "aberrations" but demonstrable, alternative modes of cognitive functioning, each facilitating different forms of perception or cognition.
James challenges monistic materialism.
He posits a pluralistic universe in which rational consciousness is not the sole arbiter of reality. If other forms of consciousness exist, they imply other potential realities or ways of knowing—a direct challenge to a purely reductionist worldview.
Spiritually, this is foundational.
It validates mystical and contemplative traditions which seek to transcend the ordinary "film of familiarity" to encounter the sacred, the numinous, or the ground of being.
These "potential forms" are the very aim of spiritual practice.
Through a shamanic lens, the "film" is the veil between worlds. The shaman’s craft is the systematic application of James’s "requisite stimulus"—drumming, fasting, plant, fungal, lichen, and other medicines—to traverse this veil and engage with these other consciousnesses for healing, potential cures, wisdom, and integration.
From an entheogenic perspective, this is a precise description of the phenomenon. Compounds in magic mushrooms, ayawaska, and the like serve as the "touch" that reveals entire, coherent realms of consciousness, complete with their own internal logic and experiential landscapes.
This suggests they are latent within the mind’s very structure.
In essence, James provides a robust, interdisciplinary framework: our common consciousness is but one room; the two-legged (human) mind contains many others, each with its own architecture and purpose.
©DrAndrewMacLeanPagonMDPhD2025
( द्रुविद् रिषि द्रुवेद सरस्वती Druid Rishi Druveda Saraswati)
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