Philosophical explanations
When looking at explaining unusual experiences the concepts of self and consciousness are important to think about. Often there are elements of unusual experiences that link to the way an individual relates to the world, to reality and to themselves.
Philosophy, as a subject defined below, can look at the formation of unusual experiences at the mental content level (what is happening within the mind). This is often through conversation with individuals who have these experiences and their introspections (analysis of ones own mental and emotional activities).
‘The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.’
Interestingly, and what makes philosophical perspectives highly relevant, is that research looking at self-experience suggests that individuals who have unusual experiences tend to have a preoccupation with metaphysical, supernatural or philosophical topics. This is typically underpinned by having a profound (and subjectively alarming) change in their self-experience coupled with the inability to express and describe the changes they are experiencing.
The following perspective hypothesises unusual experiences to be a fragility of selfhood which is characterised by this profound change in self-experience. Furthermore that this change occurs as a self-world transformation to the point that, in some cases, an individual experiences the emergence of an entirely new existential paradigm (way of understanding and relating to oneself and the world).
The roots of this new paradigm do not appear to occur spontaneously but instead develop from several differences in self-experience that an individual may have. These can be expressed in a number of ways as described below. Expand the sections below for more information.
Presence: As we interact with the world we have two predominant senses that are typically inseparable; that we are ourselves (sense of self) and that we are immersed within the world (that there is a world with which we interact). Together these are thought of as ‘presence’.
Our sense of self is considered a pre-reflective experience (exists prior to our direct awareness of it) with an inherent quality of self-reference (subjectivity or my-ness). This is our direct awareness of ourselves through thoughts, feelings, perceptions, pains.
Our sense of immersion in the world is both pre-reflective and has perceptual intentionality, meaning the field of experience of the world has a basic texture and organisation that implies coherence and familiarity (we find ourselves in it and it feels structured).
Unusual experiences can affect this sense of presence such that one feels ungrounded, having an unstable sense of the reality of the self and feels alienated from the world. This can be described as a distancing from the sense of immersion in the world, particularly ones sense of self, perceptions and actions.
Corporeality: To experience oneself as having and inhabiting a body is known as ‘corporeality’. An individual may have an increasing experiential distance between ones subjective self and corporeality, meaning experiencing ones body as an object, at a distance, such that ones limbs, movements and actions begin to feel and appear foreign in origin.
With this sense of corporeality, and distancing from it, a fragmentation can occur which leads to a pronounced, and often intense, sense of dissolution. This may lead to panic as one feels as if they are disintegrating (breaking into pieces).
This sense of disturbance in ones’ perception of ones’ body may manifest in a number of ways including:
- Feeling smaller or taller.
- Witnessing disfigurement when looking in the mirror.
- Not recognising oneself in pictures.
- Actions and speech are felt to be non-intentional.
- A sudden and brief sense of paralysis that prevents motion and speech (motor block).
- Difficulty carrying out automatic behaviours or habits (deautomatisation).
For example, an individual may struggle to brush their teeth because every step must be consciously chosen and the simple action requires considerably more energy to complete.
Stream of consciousness: Stream of consciousness refers to our mental content. Here there may be an emerging experiential gap between the sense of self and ones mental content, meaning thoughts may appear as if from nowhere and have a quality of being foreign to the self. At the same time this unknown mental content holds greater salience for the person (it feels important).
The person still has a sense of their own mental content and these unknown thoughts seem to interfere. They also seem to gain both spatial and object-like properties, for example a location and descriptors like dense or loud. As a result of this interference of unknown thoughts the process of thinking begins to lose it’s sense of subjective mastery (control) and becomes increasingly alienated. This can be to the point that the individual regards these unknown thoughts as not coming from the self.
Other ways that ones stream of consciousness can be affect include:
A disconnect between ones cognitive-emotional state and the outward expression of this, for example feeling sad but appearing cheerful.
Feeling pressure from thoughts as they arise and move through the mind very quickly.
Losing ones train of thought and pondering why this has happened.
Having moments of discontinuity of awareness, for example finding oneself in a room unsure of how or why one is there.
Difficulty generating thought or that thoughts appear slowly.
Challenges with communicating meaning to others.
Self-demarcation: Typically a person distinguishes between their self and the world around them. Although the boundary is permeable (things may move through it), the skin of the body typically denotes the end of oneself. Self-demarcation is this implicit sense of being boundaried in some way, that there is a boundary.
However, this sense of self-boundary can become less pronounced. The sense of self and the world begin to feel integrated and boundary-less. This poses questions like,
Where does the person end and the world begin? What is it that generates this boundary? Am I that which speaks or that which witnesses speech?
For example, an individual may see themselves in a reflection and begin to wonder which version of themselves they are, that which is seeing or that which is seen.
Solipsism
In philosophy solipsism refers to the fundamental assertion that all that can be known to be true is that oneself exists. It denotes a paradoxical (seemingly contradictory) mixture of increasing subjectivisation of the world as well as a sense of self-dissolution. The differences in self-experience listed above may cause a fundamental transformation of ones worldview toward solipsism because they can shatter the foundation of ones being and self-presence.
This may happen because the individuals sense of ‘reality’ becomes increasingly dependent upon their mind, the self-world relationship is blurred and cause-effect relations begin to appear non-physical (unrelated to the physical world). The impact of changes to the self-experience can also lead an individual to view others’ minds as projective constructions which may be malevolent in nature. Instead of self-awareness being a inherent, tacit, mental process it becomes an introspective quest.
Consider more:
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