Understanding States of Consciousness Using the Quantum Consciousness Theory
by Andy Gering (Summer 1986)

One of the main points of the theory is that consciousness is constantly changing its state. We don't usually notice these changes in state, because the states are usually very weak or they change too fast to notice or a combination of the two. Now, to the individual states.

Dreams are interesting in that when we are dreaming we do not know we are dreaming. In that respect dreams are like our waking state. We think the dream is actually taking place outside our minds. The reason this happens is because it is in the form of the perception wave function. When the wave function is working properly while we are sleeping, we know when we are dreaming. It tells us that what we experience is a product of our minds, and is not the outside world that we are experiencing. That way we can solve problems in our dreams, and understand ourselves more, get inspired, face our fears, or just have fun. So, why don't we lucid dream more than we do? Evidently, the wave function gets altered during dreaming. Probably because of the quons interacting, and changing their wave functions, the perception wave function gets altered. Once in a while we do experience a lucid dream, and this is because the perception wave function does not get altered. Then there is the image wave function. It is responsible for images we see when we dream. Both wave functions get activated at the same time when we are asleep. When we are awake the perception wave function is in the "outside" mode, and the image wave function is deactivated. When the image wave function is activated for some reason, then we have a hallucination.

Talking about hallucinations, they happen during a hypnotic state. If a hypnotist tells the subject that there is a person sitting beside him/her when actually there is no such person, he will see the imaginary person. This is because the hypnotist told the person to hallucinate which activated the image wave function. If the person is not very deeply hypnotized, he will see through the person because the image wave function is weakly activated. Now, if the person is in a very deep trance, the imaginary person becomes very opaque. This is because the image wave function is highly activated.

In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's article "The Flow Experience" he talks about several aspects of flow experience which can be understood in light of the quantum consciousness theory. Merging action and awareness happens because the environment's wave function and consciousness' wave function are totally synchronized or pretty close to it. This synchronicity makes the person feel totally in control of his actions and his environment, and loses his ego. Ego loss is due to the fact that his ego stops being a particle, turns into a wave, and then fuses with the rest of the consciousness. The author made an interesting point, that if the person reflects on the flow, the flow is broken. Once he reflects on the flow, he "collapses" the environment's and his wave synchronicity into two separate particles, and hence he is back to his neutral state of consciousness.

Whenever we experience an event it leaves an "imprint" in our memory. This imprint is a wave function in our consciousness. The more powerful the event, the stronger the wave function becomes. This wave function is not the specific memory, but only a trigger for the memory of the event. Every memory has a memory wave function that triggers it. This is how a flashback occurs. We experience an event that resembles a powerful event we had in the past. If this matches one of the memory wave functions in the consciousness, a memory of the past is activated. If the memory is strong enough it will activate the image wave function, and the person will think he is living the experience all over again. There is also an olfactory wave function that is synchronized to the nose and linked to the memory wave function. Every time we sniff something the olfactory wave function gets activated. And if the smell is strong enough and the olfactory wave function matches one of the memory wave functions, a memory of the past is activated.

There are two types of health related wave functions. The positive health function wave function that cures disease, promotes healing, etc., and the negative health wave functions which does the opposite. Every emotion has a corresponding health wave function. One particular emotion I want to discuss is laughter, and why laughter therapy works. First, laughter has a positive wave function to it. Every time we laugh we activate the corresponding wave function, and this in turn synchronizes every positive health wave functions with it.