ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state. The expression was used as early as 1966 by Arnold M. Ludwig and brought into common usage from 1969 by Charles Tart.

An altered state of consciousness is any state which is significantly different from a normative waking beta wave state. The expression was coined by Carlos Castaneda and describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary. A synonymous phrase is "altered states of awareness".

An altered state of consciousness can come about accidentally through indigestion, fever, sleep deprivation, starvation, oxygen deprivation, nitrogen narcosis (deep diving), or a traumatic accident. It can sometimes be reached intentionally by the use of a sensory deprivation tank or mind-control techniques, hypnosis, meditiation, prayer, or disciplines (e.g. Mantra, meditation, yoga. Sufism or Surat Shabda Yoga). It is sometimes attained through the ingestion of psychoactive drugs. 

Naturally occurring altered states of consciousness include dreams, lucid dream, euphoria, ectasy, psychosis as well as purported premonitions, and channeling. 

     Neurologists and psychologists for decades agreed that there were specific facts about the brain and intelligence that were unchanging:

• • Experience can't increase or decrease innate intelligence; experience can't change the structure of the brain
  • People with high intelligence are born that way