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			B.C. SKEPTICS MEETING

		      Friday 22 April, 7:30 pm

			 Halpern Centre, SFU

		  Brain States and Mystical Experience:
   The neurological bases of possession states and near-death experiences.

			 Barry L. Beyerstein

		     Brain Behaviour Laboratory
		      Department of Psychology
		       Simon Fraser University

		      Open to the public, free.

There is a map of Simon Fraser University on page 15 of the Community
Information Pages at the front of the Vancouver Yellow Pages, showing the
Halpern Centre. It is a small building (number 19 on the map) just
north-east of the Bookstore and just north-west of the Academic Quadrangle.

Please email me if you wish further information about either the meeting 
or B.C. Skeptics.

			    - Abstract -

   Surveys show that a surprisingly large proportion of the North American
public has experienced at least one spontaneous mental episode that
suggests the existence of disembodied minds.  Such anomalous subjective
experiences are among the most frequently cited reasons for belief in
paranormal or occult phenomena.  These dramatic conscious interludes
may feel to the individual as though his/her mind has temporarily left
the body or that some external "entity" has usurped control of it.  It
may also feel as though this unseen force is implanting information of
cosmic significance into their minds.  Feelings of profound but ineffable
enlightenment often accompany these states.  Such "revelations" or
"possessions" by spiritual entities underlie many religious and mystical
dogmas.  Many of these movements teach disciplines and practices that
are aimed at reproducing these so-called "transcendent" states.  Related
phenomena are so-called "out-of-body experiences" and "near death
experiences" that suggest not only the separability of consciousness and
brain but raise the possibility of the survival of personal identity after
corporal death.   
   The data of modern psychology and neuroscience raise doubts as to
whether mental events can exist independently of functioning brains.  At
the same time, they provide abundant evidence that subjective experiences
like those described above are the expected consequences of certain
brain states, some pathological, others the result of certain unusual
environmental or behavioral conditions.   
   The emerging field of Anomalistic Psychology accepts that the majority
of people who report these startling conscious events are describing
their experiences accurately.  However, to accept these phenomenological
reports as authentic accounts of what the reporter perceived does not
commit the investigator to the position that the events were real beyond
the percipient's private awareness.  Studies of the neurological bases of
mental imagery, temporal lobe epilepsy, consciousness-affecting drugs,
and the neural effects of various meditative and behavioural disciplines
all point to plausible non-mystical explanations for these dramatic and
compelling subjective experiences used since ancient times to argue for
mind-body dualism.  The interpretations presented in this talk also make
use of recent work on so-called "fantasy-prone personalities" and are of
relevance to the increasing number of people who claim to be "channeling"
spiritual entities from "other dimensions" or those who claim to have
been abducted by extraterrestrial beings.  This talk reviews research
from modern psychobiology which suggests that these "transcendent"
experiences are complex hallucinations, ones that can teach us much about
the working of the brain and how it mediates normal conscious experience. 

-- 
ted@eslvcr.wimsey.com   ...!van-bc!eslvcr!ted   (Ted Powell)