About this item
What altered states of consciousness -- the dissolution of feelings of time and self -- can tell us about the mystery of consciousness.During extraordinary moments of consciousness -- shock, meditative states and sudden mystical revelations, out-of-body experiences, or drug intoxication -- our senses of time and self are altered; we may even feel time and self dissolving. These experiences have long been ignored by mainstream science, or considered crazy fantasies. Recent research, however, has located the neural underpinnings of these altered states of mind. In this book, neuropsychologist Marc Wittmann shows how experiences that disturb or widen our everyday understanding of the self can help solve the mystery of consciousness. Wittmann explains that the relationship between consciousness of time and consciousness of self is close; in extreme circumstances, the experiences of space and self intensify and weaken together.
About the Author
Marc Wittmann is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany. He studied Psychology and Philosophy at the Universities of Fribourg, Switzerland, and Munich, Germany (1990-1994) . He received his Ph.D. (1997) and his Habilitation (2007) at the Institute of Medical Psychology, University of Munich. From 2000 to 2004 he was head of the Generation Research Program, Bad Tolz, University of Munich. 2004 to 2009 he was Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego.
