As we move through life, it is natural that we grow increasingly cynical of the world around us. Relationships collapse, friends come and go, people we assumed we could trust stick us with a raw deal. However, there is some comfort in knowing we can always rely on our own consciousness and intuition, no matter how warped everyone else's may seem to be . . . or so we might think.
Turns out, our own mind is as shifty and manipulative (and conversely, manipulable) as our worst human enemy. It can be altered with chemicals, tricked into believing in things that never happened or existed and induced into a hypnotic stupor.
Although consciousness can be altered in a myriad of ways, hallucinations are perhaps the most striking example because they involve the mind perceiving realistic experiences without outside stimuli. The fact that the visual cortex becomes active when the mind is hallucinating speaks to the strength -- and vulnerability -- of the human consciousness. Self-professed "sane" individuals may comfort themselves by thinking only mentally unstable people experience hallucinations. But this is far from the case. According "Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding," the number of college students who have experienced a hallucination during the day at least once may be as high as 39%.
Thus, everyone at complete honesty with him or herself must eventually confront the truth that we cannot trust our own consciousnesses. True, not everyone will experience a visual or auditory hallucination in their lives, but everyone will be fooled with in some way by their own minds. Even something as innocuous as having a dream is technically an example of the "mind" lying to the "brain," so to speak. But rather than be unsettled by the fact that our brain does not always give us an accurate depiction of reality, we should embrace it. Some states of altered consciousness can be incredibly beneficial. Hypnosis has been shown to help some people (in conjunction with well-established treatment methods) to quit smoking. Dreams can aid in processing complex emotional memories and provide endless intrigue. By experiencing alternative vantage points of perception, we can better equip our minds to go about the business of life.
