HALLUCINATION
Posted by anthonynorth on April 15, 2007
Hallucination. People don’t like that word. It suggests seeing things that aren’t there. It is incorrectly associated with madness. Yet I’m convinced it can hold the key to much of the paranormal. However, we need to reassess what hallucination is.
First of all, provided you do not suffer hallucinations all the time, there is nothing strange about them. Further, to occasionally hallucinate is not to lose grip on reality. As we will see shortly, to hallucinate is a natural physiological function.
BELIEVERS CAN BE SCEPTICAL
Believers in classic interpretations of the paranormal offer another misconception about hallucination. They say there is a difference between seeing real phenomena and hallucinating. Is this the case, or do hallucinations come in degrees of severity?
I suppose the best way to understand this point is to make a hallucination analogous to a dream. Most of the time we know we are dreaming, but in the lucid dream we experience something so ‘real’ we cannot make the separation between reality and dream.
Like hallucination, a dream is a mind function, so if we can mistake a mind construct for reality in the dream, then it is natural to assume we can do the same with a hallucination.
WHY WE EXPERIENCE THEM
From the 1950s onwards, test after test has shown a simple reality. Remove, or disrupt, our attention on the real world and a hallucination can easily be the outcome. From floatation tanks to sensory deprivation, this has been the case.
From this we can learn something about the mind. Whilst the senses can be disrupted, the mind itself continually attempts to validate what it sees. Hence, if it has insufficient data from the senses, it will fill in the gaps itself.
The result can often be what we call a hallucination, whereas in reality it is simply the mind completing the picture, and usually based on information from within the mind. Hence, a hallucination of this kind is very much a product of your mood or worldview.
ENVIRONMENT v MIND
In this sense, it is best to see hallucination, not as a form of madness, but a ‘brief moment of decalibration.’ It is a natural outcome of the removal, or disruption, of sensory information. And this can occur for many reasons.
One obvious reason is tiredness or confusion. Seeing something due to the latter can better be seen as an illusion, but is obviously a related phenomenon. But the paranormal is full of instances of tiredness playing tricks with the mind and producing phenomena.
We are now also beginning to see the effect the environment can have on the senses and the mind. From infra-sound to electromagnetism, chemical changes can occur in the brain, causing hallucination. The thunderstorm/ghost is no longer a simple fictional tale.
SEEING THINGS
Sightings of ghosts or demons are usually discounted as hallucination because, not only are they so ‘real’, but they are also accurate to what it is expected to see. But this in itself could find an answer in the hallucination.
Through the phenomenon of cryptomnesia we know that the unconscious retains vast amounts of information you don’t realize is there. The mind gains information by the bucket load by simply scanning a newspaper.
We thus have, in the mind, an encyclopedic memory store that, when prompted by someone’s conviction, or the culture of the location you are in, can spill out accurate information to allow a believable hallucination to take form.
IS A HALLUCINATION REAL?
To summarise, a hallucination is a natural mind state – a brief moment of decalibration – caused when sensory input is disrupted. It is not madness. Further, hallucinations can appear ‘real’, so the argument that a ghost or demon is not a hallucination doesn’t hold.
However, a hallucination can be based on accurate historic information from the unconscious. Does this accuracy give the hallucination a greater foundation in reality than we as yet accept? Does the gap between imagination and a real ‘spirit’ form close?
Such a question would seem pointless because hallucinations of this order are thought to be rare. But is this really the case? After all, if hallucination is as ‘real’ as the real world, how can we be sure that the stranger in front of us is there?
© Anthony North, April 2007
Find dozens more mysteries on my Mysteries page above.
Adam Pittman said
The brain is an unfathomably complex mechanisim. To defend a definite conclusion would be, to put it mildly; stupid.
Becausse the brain is the device which both defines us as individuals and interprets our surroundings, any speculation on the “reality” or significance of hallucinations would be , to put it mildly, freaking silly.
Objective reality is in my opinion inarguable, but the fact that the brain can produce “reality” that forces a different argument. Complex machinery = complex problems and solutions. However, anybody who has a problem with objective “reality” as an inarguable fact has yet to meet a brick to the skull at considerable velocity. But let’s keep exploring this, shall we? The universe is a very strange place.
anthonynorth said
Adam, interesting comments. Do I attempt a definite conclusion? I don’t think so – the post is speculative – my subjective view. I never defend a definite conclusion. But aren’t you doing so in calling such a defence ’stupid?’
You miss the point. I’m not discussing objective reality – I’ll leave that to the subjective views of scientists. Surely my point is whether someone’s subjective reality can APPEAR to be identical to the objective.
An example. Do you, in your routines of life, appreciate the ‘week’ in the same way as you appreciate a day, month or year? The latter three are objectively defined, whereas the former is a religious construct. But does it APPEAR less real in terms of your routines?
A brick coming towards me at considerable velocity? That’s an objective fact, although Hume – one of the founders of the mind-set that formed objective reality – would have argued it is lazy thinking to believe the brick will always hit you. But my argument wouldn’t concern a real brick, but an hallucinated one. Would THAT hit you, and cause an effect in doing so?
Now there’s an argument to get your teeth into – as long as the brick hasn’t knocked them out.
chaka freeman said
One point to add to this excellent article. What about folks, like yours truly who experience a hallucination that does not fit into any preconcived notion? No deamon or devil or flying sacucer or mist or little green or grey man. When I was in college one night I awoke and saw in my corner a series of seven circles stacked on top each other. The circles were of different sizes with different patterns inside the circles, I wasn’t scared or even really freaked out. I remember thinking “I see something in the corner and have no idea what it is so I have no feeling response, hmmm intresting.” I watched it for a bit longer then went back to sleep.
It wasn’t until half a year later that a buddist introduced me to the concept of chakras that I began to wonder what if?
anthonynorth said
Chaka, an interesting experience. Another possibility can be found in the symbolism of the mandala, often depicted as seven concentric circles. It is thought to be a representation of the mind. In this sense it could even be seen as a Jungian archetype.
Bryan said
great post
jay stoner said
We do not know how our visual system works. As you read these words, you do not really see the ink, the paper, your hands, and the surroundings, but an internal and three-dimensional image that reproduces them almost exactly and that is constructed by your brain. The photons reflected by this page strike the retinas of your eyes, which transform them into electrochemical information; the optic nerves relay this information to the visual cortex at the back of the head, where a cascade-like network of nerve cells separates the input into categories (form, color, movement, depth, etc.). How the brain goes about reuniting these sets of categorized information into a coherent image is still a mystery.
If we do not know how we see a real object in front of us, we understand even less how we perceive something that is not there. When a person hallucinates, there is no external source of visual stimulafion, which, of course, is why cameras do not pick up hallucinatory images.
Jared D said
Some of you guys that postd on here seem like you dont know alot about what happens when you hallucinate…this article from go.grolier.com from 1988 will help you unstanhd it a little bit better
~Visual alterations are the most marked of the perceptual effects. Colors seem more brilliant, and objects take on an increased depth and sometimes appear to move. A subject, with his eyes closed, may see colored paterns flow past or may visualize complex images, while a subject with open eyes may see visual cues elaborated into illusions or hallucinations, especially if he has taken a large dose. Afterimages are also often markedly prolonged.
The other senses are less strongly affected. Background noises become more distinct; sensitivity of touch seems to increase; and time appears to flow more slowly. Synesthesia, or the arousing of a mental image suitable to a sense other than the one being stimulated, has also been reported during a hallucinogenic experience.
anthonynorth said
Jared, you are describing a kind of hallucination only, and usually caused by some physical trauma. Hallucinations can come in many forms, not just like this.
daynara said
this site did not give me very good information all i wanted was to know what form hallucinate come in and its started telling me about things that didn’t even relate to hallucinate
anthonynorth said
Hi Daynara,
Well, that’s one interpretation I suppose.
DDUK said
Hi, whilst scouring the net for info on hallucination i arrived here.
Can anyone here explain this to me please, my 80 yr old relative was found yesterday evening in his living room, with a stanley knife in his hand, slashing away at the armchair shouting, that his sister was inside it and was trapped! He also has said that there are people in his house. His wife died bout 6 months ago and has missed her dreadfully, but has been of fair mind and has never shown any kind of mental problems ever before.
He was taken shortly after being found, into hospital, and found to be very anaemic, has had 3 blood transfusions.
Is there any kind of explanation of this totally out of character behavior??
many thanks. x
Jan Peke said
Hello,
Can someone tell me, from a scientific viewpoint, what the purpose of hallucinations are? Why CAN we hallucinate. It doesn’t seem something that may be evolutionary favorable. I would really be interested in your point of view, because I honestly don’t know.
Thanks in advance,