The Concept of «Altered States of Consciousness» and Criticism of Meditative Practices

Abstract

This article is devoted to the concept of «altered states of consciousness» used by apologists against meditative practices. In some studies, the authors claim that meditation puts a person in such a state, which may indicate the falsity of the spiritual experience and the danger to the mental health of the practitioner. The purpose of the article is to show the complexity of using the concept of «altered states of consciousness» to criticize meditative practices. The paper analyzes the main arguments for and against the use of this concept, identifies the weak points of this kind of argumentation and suggests a direction in which further criticism can be built. At the beginning, the author gives a general definition of altered states of consciousness based on the concept of a basic state. Further, the article points out the main difficulties: the lack of knowledge of the topic, the use by scientists of various models for its description, the indication of a number of studies on the benefit of such states, including meditation, the fact that researchers attribute some spiritual experiences of saints to altered states of consciousness. The author comes to the conclusion that altered states of consciousness should be used as an argument against meditative practices with caution and applied along with other types of justification. Arguments in a dispute with practitioners of meditation are offered by the author, taking into account the specific goal, type of practice and worldview of a person.