1. Consciousness is a combinatorial system of psychological aspects such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.
Some philosophers divide consciousness into phenomenal consciousness, which is subjective experience itself, and access consciousness, which refers to the universal availability of information to processing systems in the brain.[1] Phenomenal consciousness is being something and access consciousness is being conscious of something.
Consciousness is not scientifically defined in terms of absolute laws, and will not be until the laws of quantum physics are established. Because of this, every society in the world functions utilizing a mind-body dichotomy, with a vast range of differences among methods or beliefs of law and order.
2. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
1. Waking and Sleeping
These two states which are so different are regularly experienced by everybody every day. Some people experience a pronounced hypnogogic state in between waking and sleeping and some people get vivid hallucinations during this state.
2. Dreaming
Dreaming involves a state which is physiologically and psychologically different from deep sleep. Lucid dream is a still different mode of functioning where the dreamer has the awareness that he is dreaming. This state is said to be conducive for gaining insight into and awareness of the unconscious and is a technique in mystic training.
3. Hypnosis
This state is characterized by increased suggestibility and surrender of one's will.
4. Pathological States
The hysteric trance and schizoid states have been studied as altered states of consciousness using the phenomenological approach.
5. Orgiastic Trances
This type of trance results from group singing and dancing, often associated with religious ceremonies. These may be psi