Altered States

Meditation is something in-built. You just have to create a space for it to function, just give it a chance.
Osho

My wife and I recently found ourselves in an altered state. The state was North Carolina, where we spent an extended weekend on the Outer Banks.
This got us into a deep conversation about the concept of altered states and what constitutes true consciousness. This is what therapists do when they are on vacation together.

We have both come across teachings that suggest that what we consider our normal consciousness is actually a dream state. A lively debate ensued about whether or not meditation was an avenue toward altered or true states of consciousness. Here is how I remember the conversation:

Mike: An altered state is actually a meditative state. When you meditate, you contact your true inner self or state. It’s the non-meditative state the deludes you into believing that it is real, thus the paradoxical paradigm shift between being and nonbeing. (I recall that I was quite articulate on this point.)
Kathy: I have no comeback for your wisdom. You speak the truth my dear husband. (I may not remember her response verbatim.)

I am now being told by my wife, who happened upon the last paragraph, that I misrepresented our exchange. Her version is as follows:

Kathy: I’m talking about the connection between the altered states we experience during meditation and the altered states we discover while on vacation, outside of our usual habitual patterns, while out of state. Get it? I think you should write a blog about it.
Mike: You write a blog about it (pouting). I am way too filled with foolish man-pride to admit that you had a good idea and send it out as my blog. I may as well just tie an apron around myself right now. (Returns to reading the book How to Communicate with Your Spouse Without Really Trying.)

I’m not going to quibble over whose version is correct. Here is a hint, there is no such book as How to Communicate with Your Spouse Without Really Trying. Instead, I want to move on the central point that whatever we do to step out of our egoic selves brings us into contact with our true nature. Meditation, a walk on the beach, listening to a rainstorm and anything we experience in the present moment brings us to a state of consciousness that is a deviation from the normal state of habitual thought. There is nothing mystical about altered states of consciousness because they represent our deep connection to the universe. Nothing could be more natural.

The “other-worldly” quality comes from egoic mind stepping back in to evaluate what just happened while its back was turned. With its return, the connection to the present moment is broken and we are lost again in time.

Vacation, from the Latin word vacatio literally means “freedom.” In the practical sense, it is freedom from one’s duty or profession. In the meditative sense, it is freedom from mind-dominated experience. The bad news is that you can’t buy it, pack it, or make it happen. The great news is that you have it with you at all times; it’s your home state and its motto is the same as that of North Carolina, which is “To be, rather than to seem.”

Kathy: You made that last bit up, didn’t you?
Mike: No, it really is the motto. I just googled it.”
Kathy: That’s too perfect. It’s the essence of mindfulness; seeing things as they really are, rather than how they appear to the mind. That’s how you should end the blog.
Mike: That’s just what I was going to do.
Kathy: You were not.
Mike: I was too.
Kathy: Can’t you just admit that I had a good point and leave it at that?
Mike: (Thinks for a long time) Let’s go look at our beach pictures again.