Blog 5

I found the first four chapters of Altered States much easier to grasp than the beginning of The Field. I would have to agree with Jill in that I’m glad we read The Field first to hear some of the more scientific explanations for some of the subject matter discussed in Altered States.
In chapter 2 the discussion of the shamans was interesting. I had very little knowledge on them prior to reading the chapter. I just have to wonder how much power they would really be feeling if they weren’t taking hallucinogenic drugs such as mushrooms. I’m sure anyone who has eaten mushrooms may have felt like at one point they were a shaman, but I do realize they are just trying to take their mind to a higher level. Also I can only imagine the reaction by New Yorkers when they saw Joseph Beuys step off a plane wearing felt.
After reading about the topic of “second sight” in chapter 3 I tried to tell the difference between colors by simply touching them with no luck, but it wasn’t exactly a very controlled test. I have read before about people who lose one sense such as sight and the other senses become much more heightened to compensate. So I’m sure there are people out there who can feel colors and maybe we all have the ability, but we just have to unlock it within ourselves. The picture on page 37 was an interesting way to see how our brain perceives what our eyes are taking in.
Thinking of a dream as psychotic episode made a lot of sense in chapter 4. All the things we feel in dreams like “visual hallucinations, spatial and temporal cognitive distortion, delusional acceptance of hallucinoid experience, intensification of affect, and amnesia” are ways you would describe a psychotic person as acting. I have only had a few lucid dreams, but I find that when I do have one, they stay with me much longer than regular dream that I usually forget moments after waking. I was also surprised in finding out that by keeping a dream diary your dream quality and quantity seem to improve almost as if you’re training yourself to dream more efficiently.