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Volume 15: Number 1: Article 4
The Art of Science: Science of the Future in Light of Alterations of Consciousness
Imants Baruss, Department of Psychology, King's College, University
of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 2M3
In presenting the data concerning altered states of consciousness in
an even-handed manner, I have found that I cannot at the outset assume
that materialism is the correct theory of reality. As demonstrated by
survey data, the beliefs about consciousness and reality of academics
and scientists who could write about consciousness in the academic literature
range along a material-transcendent dimension from materialist through
conservatively transcendent to extraordinarily transcendent positions,
each with its corresponding notions of consciousness and proper methodology.
Scientists need to undertake a process of self-examination in order
to determine their personal beliefs and learn to set them aside in order
to be free to examine the evidence. A materialist position cannot be
presupposed at the outset, given that some altered states phenomena
suggest that consciousness may be non-local. Given the subjective nature
of experiences in altered states of consciousness, the acquisition of
introspective skills on the part of the investigator may be a necessary
methodological extension of science, along with a concomitant development
of personal integrity, determination of physiological and behavioral
correlates of subjective experiences, evaluation of judgments of certitude
with regard to the reality of subjective events, and development of
the ability to interpret the meanings of symbols. Experiences with psychedelic
drugs and, more forcefully, transcendent events raise the possibility
of the presence of a mode of understanding superior to sensory perception
and ratiocination. In effect, extensions of science could involve various
degrees of self-transformation of the scientist herself in such a manner
that, in some cases, the science of the future may be more art than
science.
Keywords: science, altered states of consciousness, beliefs about consciousness
and reality, out-of-body experiences, scientific methods, introspection,
consciousness, dreams, symbols, mystical experiences, transcendent states
FULL TEXT:
The Art of Science: Science of the Future
in Light of Alterations of Consciousness
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