Abstract

This book presents an analytic investigation into the nature of cognitive reality. The author explores various manifestations of consciousness with rational and empirical rigor; he begins with more ordinary states such as thinking, sleeping, and dreaming and then continues on with more extraordinary states such as hypnosis, trance, psychedelic experiences, transcendence, and experiences associated with death. This comprehensive overview of altered states examines consciousness from the physiological, cognitive, and experiential points of view. Readers will gain from this text an enriched understanding of consciousness, reality, and the scientific endeavor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved).