Lucid Visions: The Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness – PART 1
Garnet Dupuis > Lucid Studios
May 12, 2022
Simple Summary
We humans have a natural dynamic capacity for psychological and physical resolution and self-healing. These self-organizing processes are also the functional foundation of many techniques and therapies.
We have four fundamental states of consciousness that all play a crucial role in healing and adaptation. We are commonly aware of three of the four – waking, dreaming and sleeping however we have essentially forgotten the fourth.
Many of your psycho-emotional challenges will naturally resolve and techniques and therapies will finally succeed if you have sufficient conscious experiences of Lucid Visions, the Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness.
The neuroVIZR Brain Engagement Experiences support and retrain you by generating the Fourth State of Consciousness and its Lucid Visions.
The key position in this paper is that because of modern lifestyles, we commonly lack the Lucid Visions/Fourth State of Consciousness and consequently have an inadequate natural response in trauma resolution. We suffer from a “Fourth State Deficiency Syndrome”.
Initial Reflections
Up until our modern era of electricity and night time artificial lighting, we humans spent a great portion of everyday in Darkness – and our only light came from the Flickering Flames of Fire, the original “Mind Machine”.
Preface
“In order to acquire continuity of consciousness, unaffected by lapses into unconscious states, you must hold yourself at the junction of all the states, which constitutes the links between sleeping, dreaming, and waking: the half-sleep or Fourth State”.
– 10th century Tantric text (over 1,000 years ago)
Definition
In this paper, you will encounter the word “lucid” which is derived from the Latin verb “lucere” – “to shine”. The term here for us has two basic and interrelated meanings:
- “clear perception”;
- “filled with light”.
And so, Lucid Visions are experiences that are principally visual (although not exclusively as they are also often suffused with intuitive meaning) and express themselves with a clear and very real perceptual quality.
Without attention and practice, Fourth State experiences may not be “lucid” and are often fleeting and drowsy events at best.
Readers may quickly be reminded of the concept of “Lucid Dreams” which are, in fact, directly related to The Fourth State of Lucid Visions. Certainly, most Sleeping Dreams are not lucid. More about that later below.
Introduction
In our contemporary urban cultures, we suffer from a lingering malaise based on a fundamental “psychophysical nutritional” deficiency.
This deficiency drives our unsatisfied appetites into a range of addictive pursuits and dangerous behaviors. Our psyche remains confused and constantly seeks remedies yet, in the end, the lack leaves us craving and unsettled.
The thief may well be modern electricity. It has robbed us of the daily sanctuary of Darkness that hosted millennia of our conscious evolution.
It has robbed us also our very first guide into transcendental experience...the Flickering Flames of Fire.
Without the Darkness and without Flickering Fire, we have been deprived of a crucial psychophysical nutrient. We have been deprived of Lucid Visions – the Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness.
Deprived of the fertile creativity generated by Lucid Visions, our appetite is instead stuffed with the psychological “junk food” of television and digital social media. And we pay a lifelong price.
The Four States of Consciousness
Life has unavoidable challenges some of which leave us hurt and perhaps damaged. Living with unresolved psychophysical wounds limits and complicates even the simplest experiences of wellbeing.
Life wants to live itself full so it is understandable that evolution would do its best to develop innate processes for mental/emotional self-healing.
Today we recognize the three common states of consciousness as waking, dreaming and sleep. Throughout history, major minds such as Aristotle, Kant, Freud, and Jung have pointed to the dynamics of these three states as being intrinsic in psycho-emotional trauma resolution and fundamental wellbeing.
It is apparent that these three states (waking, dreaming, sleeping) require fluid relationships while also maintaining distinctive domains of influence. Overlapping experiences or obstructive restrictions lay the foundations for not only diminished wellbeing but, even worse, pathological compromises.
Dreams act to harmonize and consolidate the memories generated by regular waking experiences. Meaning and self-identity are explored via the fantasies of night time reverie and high emotional charges can be defused and desensitized.
With consolidation, deep sleep acts to refresh and renew the bodily demands of regular activities. Night-time psycho-emotional consolidation and the integration of physical body-based memories is truly at the core of conflict and trauma resolution.
And so, it becomes obvious that disruptions in the regular transfer of waking, dreaming and sleep rhythms will be potent impediments to the natural self-healing processes that we have earned throughout our long human evolution.
There is a Fourth State of Consciousness that acts to harmonize the triad of waking, dreaming and sleeping states.
Disrupted modern lifestyles divorced from natural circadian rhythms of Darkness and the absence of Flickering Fire have made the Fourth State an empty chair at our mental table.
The drowsy slip and slide of hypnagogic/hypnopompic access is insufficient in allowing us Fourth State satisfaction and most people are almost entirely unaware of that regular gateway in any case.
Considering that our culture’s materialistic philosophy praises reason and logic while mistrusting and demonizing “altered states of consciousness”, the Fourth State of Consciousness is rarely considered of natural importance – and we ignorantly suffer its absence.
Techniques and therapies are limited and even mysteriously crippled as they attempt to roll the boulder up the side of our psychic mountain against some unseen gravity of resistance.
The self-regulatory capacity of the psyche continuously exerts its influences towards resolution yet the innate formulas lack one key ingredient – the fertile creative insights and perspectives of the Lucid Visions of the Fourth State of Consciousness.
Our Four Room House of Consciousness
Consider the analogy of our consciousness being a house with four rooms:
- Waking;
- Dreaming (sleeping dreams);
- Sleep;
- Lucid Visions (waking dreams).
What would be the size of each room? And how do you move around in the house? And how much time do you spend I each room?
Is Lucid Visions even a room any more or has it just diminished down to being a short hallway between Waking and Sleep?
The Way We Naturally Resolve Trauma
All four states of consciousness must harmonize so that our innate self-healing processes can desensitize and diffuse the imprints of trauma and incomplete experiences.
In the same ways that our physical bodies resolve imponderable numbers of metabolic and immunological challenges in every moment of our lives, so too our psycho-emotional-physical experiences are being absorbed into the resolution dynamics of the Complex Adaptive System we call our Mind and added to our learning and wisdom.
The novel idea of a “self-cause” governed principle has emerged in several disciplines and is referred to by numerous synonyms, such as spontaneous, endogenous, autogenous, self-organized, self-generated, self-assembled, and emergent.
This “complex” and “adaptive” property is currently applied to our brain and our manifest mind.
The most effective approaches to supporting the natural resolution of challenging experiences are achieved indirectly by enhancing the self-regulatory capacities found in the dynamic interactions between the four states of consciousness.
The unimpeded resolution capacities of the mind/body have unmatched biological precision and wisdom. When the self-regulatory capacities are obstructed by relationship disruptions, targeted or assertive attempts to bring resolution can not only fail but even aggravate the complaints.
We can broadly divide our conscious experiences into two domains:
- when we are in an active “task mode” and bent on achieving some purposeful action;
- when we are in passive “non-task mode”.
The “task mode” has a range of characteristics from high “flow states” through to certain stages of exerted effort.
The “non-task mode” also has a broad range of characteristics that include everything from simple waking rest to hypnagogic reverie to dreaming to deep sleep.
Various meditation techniques can be found in both “task mode” states and “non-task mode” states.
In the waking state, the external demands and constraints of “task modes” absorb much of the attention and resources inherent in metabolism.
The internal self-regulatory and self-healing functions are at their best levels of efficiency in the “non-task modes”.
The “self-organizing” nature of a Complex Adaptive System manages the transitional processes required in shifts both between “task modes” and “non-task modes” as well as within each of these modes.
When the Fourth State of Consciousness (Lucid Visions) is weakened, and especially when absent, the critical shifting dynamics in phase transitions are disrupted and become dysfunctional.
In most cases, the primary disruption occurs in the transition between the waking state and the dreaming state. Secondary disruptions will also occur between the dreaming and deep sleep states.
Of the many consequences of disrupted transitional phase shifts in the four modes of consciousness, natural psycho-emotional trauma resolution stands out predominantly.
Furthermore, the intricate web of psycho-physiological responses triggered by a variety of therapeutic measures can easily under-function and become resistant.
Shifting from Outside Consciousness to Inside Consciousness
“Exteroception” is the term for when conscious attention is directed outwardly into the world. “Interoception” is the opposite for when we direct our attention into the more visceral realm of inwardly directed sensations. It is also known by the new term, Neuro Reality.
By and large, “task modes” involve “exteroception” while “non-task modes” involve “interoception” or Neuro Reality.
Psycho-emotional states are experienced viscerally and involve “interoception”. This “inward” attention and perception are necessary to maximize our natural self-regulatory processes.
The positive integration of challenging experiences draws together the self-healing mind and autonomic nervous system. This happens more efficiently when “task mode” “exteroception” has transitioned into the embodiment of “non-task mode” “interoception”.
At the most basic level, this means we need to “rest” to enable the natural integration processes...and a crucial aspect of the dynamics of rest involves the intermediate state between waking and dream/sleep, the Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness and Lucid Visions.
The issue of “rest” brings us to the pivotal point in the process of accessing the Fourth State of Consciousness.
In order to access then acquire the “lucidity” of the Fourth State, (and not just the transitory murky drowsy veil), one must develop the ability to experience Deep Conscious Relaxation (DeepCoRe).
DeepCoRe is the absolute gateway to the Lucid Visions of the Fourth State.
Recall that in this context, “lucid” means “clear perception” and “filled with light”.
Because we are not habituated in pausing pleasantly in the “in between” interoception of the Fourth State of Consciousness, our experiences of Lucid Visions tend to slip right past us and we find conscious “rest” quickly transformed into unconscious sleep – that potent deep dive that is so common in the famous “afternoon nap”.
The dive is especially potent if we decide to “rest” in a darkened room. It is typical to awaken later totally disoriented and unaware as to the time of day or night and even sometimes as to where we are.
We have lost the ability to sustain the experience of deep conscious relaxation (DeepCoRe) which is the realm of the Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness, the realm of rich, luxurious Lucid Visions and insights.
About Hypnagogia & Hypnopompia as Lucid Visions
Typically, these days, hypnagogia and hypnopompia are strictly defined as elusive transitional states between waking and sleep and sleeping and waking.
Hypnagogia, from the Greek, means “leading to sleep” and hypnopompia means “sending away from sleep”.
They are commonly considered “semiconscious states” for the average unskilled person.
This definition is true but only in a very limited sense because these two states are actually a very important aspect of waking consciousness that have unfortunately been lost and forgotten in our modern lifestyles.
Because of this misunderstanding, it is far better to rename this The Fourth State of Consciousness and release it from its sleep related restrictions.
Conventionally, “hypnagogia” is defined as the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep. It's the opposite of “hypnopompia”, which is the transitional state that occurs before you wake up.
During “hypnagogia”, it's common to experience involuntary and imagined experiences of colors, patterns, faces and places that often carry a curious deep sense of meaning and intuitive understandings.
These are referred to as hypnagogic hallucinations.
When learning about the Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness, it is critical to appreciate that “hypnagogic/hypnopompic” experiences are NOT necessarily connected with drowsiness or sleep.
All of the multi-modal brain related activities and the interoceptive sensations can occur with fully alerted qualities of consciousness – as they have reliably for pre-electric lighted darkness humans for many, many millennia.
The neurological trick in this case is that with photic driving stimulation, the “dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex” stays active and ensures alertness while guarding against drowsiness.
In contrast to the REM-sleep state, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex remains activated during the flicker-induced waking dream and its functions of reflective thought and insight are preserved.
Fourth State is combined with an open and receptive quality of attention, the conscious experience shifts from sitting between waking and sleep to between waking and dreaming – which (importantly) injects into the dreaming state new qualities of insight and understandings – and kick-starts trauma and memory consolidation and self-organized resolution processes.
It is known that indigenous cultures (and expectedly, also past cultures) cultivate the Lucid Visions of the Forgotten Fourth State by resting with eyes open in a darkened room/cave and allowing the emergent imagery to project onto a mental screen in the darkened space.
Here and now, lacking the confidence, time and patience for these traditional practices, we are able to conjure eyes-closed Lucid Visions using current convenient wearable LED technologies.
Specifically crafted photic stimulation induces a state of consciousness which shares virtually all the attributes of the Lucid Visions/hypnagogic state except for drowsiness.
Interestingly, persons experiencing photic-induced Lucid Visions frequently experience an almost irresistible urge to sleep and will sometimes slip unconsciously into a deep slumber as a result of the induced state.
Without the skill of moving into deep conscious relaxation (DeepCoRe), the habituation of transitioning directly from wakefulness into sleep stays in command.
With repeated Lucid Vision inductions, the person becomes increasingly able to maintain alertness and reap the mounting benefits of the Lucid Visions Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness.
What Are the Qualities & Characteristics of the Forgotten Fourth State?
As explained above, what is here known as the Fourth State is more commonly known as hypnagogia (transition of waking to sleep) and hypnopompia (transition of sleep to waking).
This perspective does a major disservice by mistakenly reducing this critical Forgotten Fourth State of Consciousness down to a couple of unimportant and unrecognized odd experiences that most people don’t even recognize.
The bold and obvious fact is that the Lucid Visions Fourth State is a natural feature of our consciousness and is biologically built into our daily circadian cycle.
It is as natural as the regular experiences of waking, dreaming and sleeping.
Many of the innate qualities of the Fourth State express themselves in familiar ways – we just don’t give them their proper due.
These following experiences are examples and are all rooted in the Lucid Visions state and manifest expressions along a spectrum:
- Creative insights;
- Novel perspectives;
- Artistic expressions;
- Scientific discoveries;
- Intuitions and foresight;
- Knowing without thinking;
- Problem solving;
- Glorious colors;
- Complex visions;
- Ironic & humorous understandings;
- Remote viewing;
- Prophesy;
- Mental time & space travel;
- Memory retrieval;
- Conflict resolution.