Altered states of consciousness
In addition to changes in the state of objects, agents can also encounter changes in the states of attention cameras directed at objects. Cameras can be in more or less normal condition, capturing data "as usual," or they can operate unusually. For people, such changes are called altered states of consciousness.
Usually, altered states of consciousness refer to the states of cameras when people consume certain substances (e.g. alcohol), and their perception becomes blurred, cameras start to malfunction, and the perception apparatus introduces hallucinations. In addition to unusual, unfamiliar states, illumination/epiphany is also considered.
Illumination is a subjective experience of an agent, after which the agent changes their behavior and mental models. During illumination, attention cameras suddenly find objects in the background that were completely invisible to the agent before. It often occurs during creative work, research, or modeling. A person, trying to create a high-quality model, solve a problem, studies disciplines, then tries to develop emerging thoughts through writing/thinking by using practices like zettelkasten, creating a conceptual foundation, a practice base, TRIZ, and so on. As ideas unfold, illumination occurs when the "missing element" of the model is found. Illumination is often described with phrases like "a light bulb moment," "a click in the mind." This means that what was previously unknown to the agent, located in a blind spot of unconscious incompetence, suddenly comes into focus and becomes clear. The moment of illumination is often accompanied by strong emotions and therefore remains well preserved in memory as a "flashbulb memory."
Illumination necessarily leads to changes: at least in the model, and subsequently in behavior. If there is no change in behavior, then the realization flash is called an "insight." The key difference between pop-insights and illumination is the non-essential nature of the changes (thus, insight has a fundamentally different quality of realization).
Illumination is usually vivid and cannot be missed by the agent. However, there is also metanoia, which also brings changes in mental pictures of the world and behavior. Metanoia is usually realized "after the fact," once it has passed, by the fact that some activity in general or a specific practice no longer poses difficulties, mainly due to long-term attention to the activity in the correct context. For example, to achieve a dance metanoia, being recognized by others and oneself as a "good dancer," you need to maintain attention on the habit scale (a year or more depending on prior preparation). Illumination is usually "rapid" and relates to short-term changes. For example, during a class, a certain movement was not successful. Towards the end, the movement was analyzed in detail using models, errors were corrected, and it was practiced at different speeds and with different music. As a result, the student-dancer understood how to perform it correctly and stopped making mistakes (even exclaiming "I got it!" or "Eureka!").
Both illumination and metanoia require conceptual attentional focusing and uninterrupted maintenance in the necessary context. This will accelerate their achievement and simultaneously enhance the mastery of practices, roles, and the invention of problem-solving methods.
Illumination often occurs in a state of flow. It can be considered an altered state of consciousness because awareness of the surroundings is practically absent. The person is fully immersed in performing a role, with everything else becoming background. Attention is directed to role-related objects, even those that would usually go unnoticed by consciousness. For example, a developer may immediately notice small code errors that would otherwise be missed, or a dancer may pay attention to subtle rhythm changes when the music switches--which they would have missed as a music listener in their role. Attentional focusing is present, attention retention is excellent, but biological awareness in the flow state is absent.
Csikszentmihalyi identifies flow states as optimal for activity, as they allow for rapid completion of a large volume of work and provide joy from it. To enter this state, at least three necessary conditions should be met[1]:
- Balance between existing skills (qualification) and task complexity;
- Clear goal for task performance;
- Prompt and clear feedback on task performance results.
To maintain awareness in this state, one can use the exocortex. For example, engage awareness through the Pomodoro technique, change the music when a "break" ends, and so on. Additionally, it is necessary to observe where the flow state arises. It is often easily felt during physical exercise. If you enter a flow state during training, try to model your work activity to enter it more frequently. Interrupt the flow state if you realize that it arises from scrolling through news feeds. Interruptions can be self-imposed, or technological interrupters like one sec, minus.app, and others can be used. They will help you realize that you are doing something wrong and switch to the necessary activity.
There is another approach in which "normal" and "altered" states of consciousness are defined slightly differently. Thus, the "normal" state of consciousness can be considered the habitual state of attention cameras and perception apparatus over long timescales. It was habitual for people to consume something. For example, in medieval Europe, the average resident consumed about 300-400 liters of beer per year[2]. Modernity has invented many new ways of consumption, including consuming information from news feeds. Therefore, it can be assumed that those in an altered state of consciousness were more likely practicing a healthy lifestyle, sobriety, and other methods initially proposed by major religions. This is just a hypothesis; however, attempting to view altered states of consciousness from this perspective can lead to interesting reflections.