On states of consciousness in the light of Andean and pre-Columbian wisdom
THE ORDINARY STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (CAYPACHA)
Trance of Consciousness
The study of philosophies both Eastern and Western, as well as of other theses and expositions coming from the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, reveals the often repeated view that the human being is, most of the time, only partially conscious, and that various techniques, such as meditation, would be necessary to 'wake up' and leave behind the often unsatisfactory state of consciousness regarded as normal. The habitual state would be merely a trance state; humanity would be sleeping or hypnotized by culture. From a cultural standpoint, we know that the socialization process results not only in the perception of objects and events as they actually are, but also in the perception of what they are not.
It is clear that there would be no chance of surviving without possessing some degree of perceptual adequacy, but on the other hand it is also obvious that culture, our immediate reference groups, racial, national, regional, family, our social clubs, religious and political affiliations, considerably determine our values and belief systems as well as the type of cognition we will be able to filter and elaborate, and the validity of the perceived categories. Between each human being and the rest of the world there is an invisible fence, a filter made of traditional thoughts never challenged — because they are often semi-conscious or simply for lack of will — modulating and distorting perception, to the point that what is perceived often has little to do with what actually happens. We respond to a heterogeneous mixture made of some sensations, formed by directly perceived elements, added to symbols and images, impressions and feelings, preconceived, culturally conditioned ideas, in a creative production that we understand as 'the truth' or 'reality'. Each event is immediately decoded, gauged according to the filter in use, and classified as one more case to reinforce and illustrate one of the categories of experience already defined in the museum or repository of culturally authorized options.