Old French transe "fear of evil", from the Latin transīre "to cross", "pass over"
Wier, in his 1995 book, Trance: from magic to technology, defines a simple trance (p. 58) as being caused by cognitive loops where a cognitive object (thoughts, images, sounds, intentional actions) repeats long enough to result in various sets of disabled cognitive functions. Wier represents all trances (which include sleep and watching television) as a dissociated trance plane where at least some cognitive functions are disabled such as volition but not consciousness within the trance typically termed hypnosis.
Nina Epton argues that trances are creative states, or ‘the key to most creative processes’. This involves the ‘extinction’ of the ego which allows for an altered state of consciousness, an inspirational state wherein the mind can achieve ‘a higher form of being with a deeper understanding of self,’ as well as communion with the divine.
Sound can play an important role in inducing trance, although as Rouget points out, music does not of itself induce trance; sometimes it triggers trance while at other times it has a calming effect. In archaic trance ceremonies, different sounds can send people into trance, from loud drums to soft rattles. People can go into trance while dancing or while lying still. There are different theories as to why music can induce trance, from its emotive power to conditioned reflex. Rouget feels that music is a socializing influence on the trance phenomenon, and that this depends on the ideological systems in which it occurs. He also considers trance as ‘a state of consciousness composed of two components, one psychophysiological, and the other cultural’.
EXITORY GNOSIS
Mindlessness reached through intense arousal. It is aimed to be reached through sexual excitation, intense emotions, flagellation, dance, drumming, chanting, sensory overload, the "right way of walking" described by Carlos Castaneda, hyperventilation and the use of disinhibitory or hallucinogenic drugs.
MANTRA
The Sanskrit word mantra- (m.; also n. mantram) consists of the root man- "to think" (also in manas "mind") and the suffix -tra, designating tools or instruments, hence a literal translation would be "instrument of thought". A sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating transformation"
Mantras, the Sanskrit syllables inscribed on yantras, are essentially "thought forms" representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations
The orthodox attitude of the elite nature of mantra knowledge gave way to spiritual interpretations of mantras as a translation of the human will or desire into a form of action, with some features in common with spells in general. These sounds are manifestations of ultimate reality, in the sense of sound symbolism postulating that the vocal sounds of the mantra have inherent meaning independent of the understanding of the person uttering them.
To attain single-pointedness of mind, repetition of mantra's can be done in the following ways
- Mantra Yoga (chanting)
- Japa Yoga:
- Vaikhari Japa (speaking)
- Upamsu Japa (whispering or humming)
- Manasika Japa (mental repetition)
The Transcendental Meditation technique uses mantras that are assigned to the practitioner to be used as sound only, without connection to any meaning or idea.
Spiritual exercises of Surat Shabda Yoga include:
- Simran (repetition, particularly silent repetition of a mantra given at initiation),
- Bhajan (listening to the inner sounds of the Shabda or the Shabda Master).
People can also use trance, particularly in the context of ‘ritual’ events, to learn new strategies of thinking or of relating to one another. States of consciousness bring about a momentary release from the subjective personality and permit experience of the collective consciousness within the human psyche.
Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain and depend to a large extent on the characteristics of culture. Trance is still conventionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness, or a somnolent state. However, the more recent anthropological definition, linking it to 'altered states of consciousness' (*Charles Tart), is becoming increasingly accepted.
Trance can be deliberately induced using a variety of techniques, including:
· Prayer
· Religious rituals
· Meditation
· Pranayama (breathwork or breathing exercises)
· Physical exercise
· Coitus (and/or sex)
· Music
· Dancing
· Sweating (e.g. sweat lodge)
· Fasting
· Thirsting
Ecstasy
The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually one that is associated with that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions. As a result, an ecstatic experience is usually interpreted within the context of a particular individual's religious and cultural traditions. These interpretations often include statements about contact with supernatural or spiritual beings, about receiving new information as a revelation, also religion-related explanations of subsequent change of values, attitudes and behavior (e.g. in case of religious conversion).
Benevolent, neutral and malevolent trances may be induced (intentionally, spontaneously and/or accidentally) by different methods.
Auditory Driving : Trance through the sense of hearing by chanting, auditory storytelling, mantra, overtone singing, drumming, music, etc.
*Charles Tart provides a useful working definition of auditory driving. It is the induction of trance through the sense of hearing. Auditory driving works through a process known as entrainment.
The phenomenon of auditory driving is culturally still clearly evident and may be found in electronic dance music culture, which in many ways may be considered a modern version of shamanism. The same effect is caused by many jam bands. Churches which chant their services may also induce the same effects resulting in a trance state through the use of odd inflections and off-kilter or polyrhythmic structures. Similarly, white noise has been scientifically documented [citation needed] to assist neural connectivity, creativity and problem-solving.
Eric Jantsch calls ‘conscious learning’ is a transaction between consciousness, the environment and memory. Jantsch also identifies ‘superconscious learning’, which takes place with the addition of ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ ways of learning. These arise through the interaction of consciousness with transpersonal mass/collective consciousness (Jung’s "collective unconscious"). The feedback link between consciousness and superconsciousness gives rise to inner experiential learning or tuning-in to the dynamics of meta-systems transcending man and his immediate environment.
Rhythmic Induction
Entrainment is the synchronization of different rhythmic cycles. Breathing and heart rate have been shown to be affected by auditory stimulus, along with brainwave activity. The ability of rhythmic sound to affect human brainwave activity, especially theta brainwaves, is the essence of auditory driving, and is the cause of the altered states of consciousness that it can induce.
Mythology and Belief Systems
· Maenads and Bacchae: in Greek mythology, Maenads were female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine and intoxication, and the Roman god Bacchus. The word literally translates as "raving ones". They were known as wild, insane women who could not be reasoned with. The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in copious amounts of violence, bloodletting, sexual activity, self-intoxication, and mutilation. They were usually pictured as crowned with vine leaves, clothed in fawnskins and carrying the thyrsus, and dancing with wild abandon. They were also characterized as entranced women, wandering through the forests and hills.[3] The Maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) in Roman mythology, after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a fox-skin, a bassaris.
· Norse berserkers were said to have often entered battle naked and entrenched in a state of primal rage, biting their shields and howling like wolves. This fanaticism was so powerful that they were known to continue fighting even after having lost limbs or being otherwise deeply wounded.
· Samādhi: yoga provides techniques to attain a state of ecstasy called samādhi. According to practitioners, there are various stages of ecstasy, the highest of which is called Nirvikalpa samādhi. Different traditions have different understanding of Samādhi.
· Bhakti: is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning "devotion" and also "the path of devotion" itself, as in Bhakti-yoga. Within Hinduism the word is used exclusively to denote devotion to a particular deity or form of God. Within Vaishnavism bhakti is only used in conjunction with Vishnu or one of his associated incarnations, it is likewise used towards Shiva by followers of Shaivism. Saints in these traditions exhibit different trance states or ecstasy.
· Agape or "Divine Love": the term agape appears in the Odyssey twice, where the word describes something that creates contentedness within the speaker.
· Communion: In the monotheistic tradition, religious ecstasy is usually associated with communion and oneness with God. Indeed, ecstasy is the primary vehicle for the type of prophetic visions and revelations found in the Bible. However, such experiences can also be personal mystical experiences with no significance to anyone but the person experiencing them.
· Rapture or religious ecstasy: is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive (and sometimes physical) euphoria. Although the experience is usually brief in physical time, there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime. Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy.
· Peak experiences: is a term developed by Abraham Maslow and used to describe certain extra-personal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of unification, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing an ineffably mystical (or overtly religious) quality or essence.
Neuroanthropology and cognitive neuroscience are conducting research into the trance induction of altered states of consciousness (possibly engendering higher consciousness) resulting from neuron firing entrainment with these polyharmonics and multiphonics. Related research has been conducted into neural entraining with percussive polyrhythms. The timbre of traditional singing bowls and their polyrhythms and multiphonics are considered meditative and calminative and the harmony inducing effects of this potentially consciousness altering tool are being explored by scientists, medical professionals and therapists.
Brain Entrainment
There are four principal brainwave states that range from high-amplitude, low-frequency delta to low-amplitude, high-frequency beta. These states range from deep dreamless sleep to a state of high arousal. These four brainwave states are common throughout humans. All levels of brainwaves exist in everyone at all times, even though one is foregrounded depending on the activity level. When a person is in an aroused state and exhibiting a beta brainwave pattern, their brain also exhibits a component of alpha, theta and delta, even though only a trace may be present.
Castillo (1995) states that: "Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain and depend to a large extent on the characteristics of culture. Culture-specific organizations exist in the structure of individual neurons and in the organizational formation of neural networks."
Hoffman (1998: p. 9) states that: "Trance is still conventionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness, or a somnolent state. However, the more recent anthropological definition, linking it to 'altered states of consciousness' (Charles Tart), is becoming increasingly accepted."
Hoffman (1998, p. 9) asserts that: "...the trance state should be discussed in the plural, because there is more than one altered state of consciousness significantly different from everyday consciousness."
The sound dimension operates through the harmonics of the melodies as well as the physical impact of amplified sound waves. These elements combine to entrain the human organism within the ‘soundscape’ created by high volume sound systems, just as for example monks chanting together entrain themselves, body and mind, to the collective harmonic.
Gilbert Rouget (1985) notes that the amplification of sound achieved by modern technologies resonates sound through the body to involve the listener in the musical field, vibrating the ‘internal erogenous zones of the abdomen’ as well as producing a ‘light hypnosis’, just as the music of archaic trance ceremonies aims to do. Music alters the ‘relation of the self to the world’, modifying the psyche both internally and in its relations to the external space/time environment.
In Altered States of Consciousness, the subject can experience various ‘subjective realities’ or dreamlike visions, including mythical, science fiction, religious and mystic experiences. These experiences can have a positive and lasting effect on the subject. Masters and Houston have coined the phrase ‘Visionary Anthropology’ to describe a process whereby subjects are invited to explore a world in their imaginations, and to experience and describe elements of it such as its art, customs, music etc.
The ASCID seems to enable a creative visualization process, which aids artistic practices. Auditory musical imagery (or hallucinations) can also be experienced, especially by musicians. Such imagery can be described as ‘automatic’ or ‘self-creating’ works of art. Another phenomenon which can occur with the ASCID is ‘accelerated mental process’ (AMP), which is a form of subjective ‘time distortion’. In this state, the subject experiences a volume of thoughts or images far greater than that experienced in normal time.
Objective Research
Tribal drumming tempos
Alpha Waves 8-13 cycles per second
480 bpm
540 bpm
600 bpm
660 bpm
720 bpm
780 bpm
Brain Waves
Beta – 14-20Hz Normal waking consciousness
Alpha – 8 -13Hz Daydream, meditation
Theta – 4-7Hz Heightened creativity, Shamanic work, deep meditation
Delta - .5 – 3Hz Deep sleep, unconsciousness
*White noise is useful in overwhelming the conscious mind
*Both Alpha & Theta waves are needed for Trance States
HU
Introduced by Hazrat Inyat Khan repeat this syllable inwardly and soundlessly.
Vowels
U (Oo) 300Hz F
A (Ah) 500Hz B
Ae (Eh) 1000Hz B
Oe (er) 1350Hz F + 500Hz B
O (aw) 1550Hz G + 300Hz F
Ue (French u) 1800Hz A + 700Hz F#
E (Ay) 2100Hz C# + 300Hz F
Egyptian Mantra:
A E Ae I O U = Ah Ay Eh Eye Aw Oo
