The human mind functions in different modes of consciousness. We are all familiar with three of them. If you’re reading this, you are in the waking mode. Tonight you’ll go to sleep and will experience the deep sleep mode of consciousness. If you’re lucky you might get to remember some fantastical experiences in the third mode, dreaming. But did you know there is a fourth? Rarely experienced, and even less often talked about. Privy to the magi, the shaman, and the psychonaut the integrative mode of consciousness (IMC) is a mystery we have barely explored as a species. Yet evidence suggests that the IMC has played a major role in our evolution as a species.
A Universal Phenomena
Looking around at various shamanic-type traditions in the world we find that the integrative mode of consciousness is a universal stretching across time and space. The belief systems vary, the rituals and procedures are often different from place to place, but yet the resulting IMC is a constant. In this post we will be leaning strongly into Dr. Michael James Winkelman’s research. As an anthropologist whose primary focus has been studying these types of practitioners he has identified the universality of the integrative mode of consciousness and has found it in virtually every corner of the world.
The fact that this mode of consciousness has arisen in so many different places, often without any influence from other traditions, suggests that the IMC is a natural human potential. In various traditions those who play a shamanic role enter into the IMC and through its powerful visionary quests and experiences they guide and heal their people. They are able to produce superhuman feats of intuition, re-shape the inner composition of their mind, create cultural shifts in perception, alter the sense of self and social dynamics, and even trigger a sympathetic physiological response that can promote physical healing.
So what is this mode of consciousness?
Characteristics of the IMC
The integrative mode of consciousness is as unique as the others, but in some ways it shares similarities with both waking and dreaming. Cross-culturally we find the same neurological pattern with specific characteristics. The first characteristic of an IMC is a parasympathetic-dominant state. Meaning that body is typically relaxed, calmed, and the heart-rate is reduced. It’s worth noting that the rituals for producing an IMC are often, on the opposite, quite labor intensive and often excite the body to produce a flood of neurotransmitters. The second characteristic is that the frontal-cortex is entrained by slow-wave (theta) discharges from the paleomammalian part of the brain in a coherent and synchronized manner. This condition creates a synchronization that allows free information flow between the lower and limbic brain, between those and the frontal cortex, and between the two hemispheres of the brain. The whole brain acts together in a unified experience.
Let’s dive into this. First off the neocortex is the part of our brain responsible for most of our conscious abilities. Thinking, analyzing, conscious movement; it is what distinguishes us from our distant mammal cousins. The limbic system, or the paleomammalian brain, is on the other hand responsible for emotions, imagination, dreams, pleasure, pain, and our socio-emotional sense of self and other. The lower brain is where a lot of our bodily functions, survival, and involuntary reflexes reside. Typically these three parts push and pull on each other, interacting often but in a way that doesn’t cross boundaries. This is why we have an unconscious, and probably for a good reason. Personally I don’t want to exert conscious attention in order to breath. However in the integrative mode we all of a sudden have conscious access to things that are typically outside of reach.
This has profound implications.
The IMC Experience
People who take psychedelics will often unintentionally stumble into the integrative mode of consciousness. They will have profound realizations about themselves, about others, and about the nature of reality. At times they will have full blown mystical visions, religious experiences of oneness, and even seemingly paranormal abilities. Fun fact: when Rafael Zerda Bayón extracted the active ingredients in ayahuasca he originally called the chemical “telepathine”, due to the apparent ability of ayahuasca drinkers to telepathically communicate with one another. The IMC seems to produce extraordinary experiences.
If we look at the visionary-mystical IMC experience from a neurological perspective it paints an interesting picture. The parts of our unconscious mind that are typically inaccessible manifest to our conscious mind. We experience them as spirits, deities, symbols, and other analogical representations. In this way we can interact directly with memories, associations, our views, even physiological processes. In essence we can re-program our brain, alter the way we relate to reality, and unlock hidden potentials. In a hunter-gatherer setting the IMC allowed us to discover new ways of thinking, new ways of being. It gave us novel solutions and evolved how we interact with the world.
The neurological analysis gives us a powerful foundation, a previously unknown universal, yet it doesn’t explain the full extent of the mystical experience.
The Infinity Potential
As if the ability to lift the hood and consciously re-program ourselves, trigger healing responses, and access super-intuition was not enough of a wonder, some of you may be wondering “ok but isn’t magick more than just a game of psychology?” I believe the answer is a non-dual yes-and-no. First off I would like to point out that Carl Jung, in his life-long study of the collective unconscious, ran into a plethora of seemingly paranormal occurrences that greatly put in question the idea that the unconscious is limited by the physical brain or body. Beyond that, from a Buddhist perspective the idea that mind and physical reality are separate things is seen as just a concept. In our dreams we experience ourselves as separate entities with an external environment and plethora of individual beings. Yet upon waking we find that it was all our mind. Who is to say that the waking world is not the same? Except that the mind isn’t our individual mind, but an infinite collective that underpins the very foundation of existence.
“It’s All In Your Head … You Just Have No Idea How Big Your Head Is”
- Lon Milo DuQuette
Who actually knows what the limitations of the integrative mode of consciousness are? The potential is yet to be fully explored. I don’t think there’s any point in arguing beliefs and theories. Instead I feel like the only way to find out is through first hand experience. The research of Dr. Winkelman and his peers that has lead to the neurological understanding of IMCs is a profound discovery that gives us a foundational springboard. It is up to us as the new generation of practitioners to take that leap of practical application and exploration which will allow us to find the next frontiers of human ability.
In the next post I would like to explore the practical approaches to trigger an IMC – from meditative techniques, to classic rituals like rhythmic drumming, and the complex art of modern ritual as it is presented in the western esoteric tradition. For now I will leave you teased by theory.
But do tell… Have you experienced the integrative mode of consciousness in your practice? Please share!
Recommended book: “Shamanism” by Michael Winkelman