Hybrid States of Perception

So far we've established the neurological, or material, underpinnings of the thing we call the mind. We know that various brain regions are responsible for experiences whether perceptual or more abstract AE a sense of self. We've made the distinction between internally and externally generated experiences. We've established the fact that both types rely on the physical, or material, world. We've addressed the fact that the physical world can be interpreted in infinitely many ways by infinitely many perceptual umwelts of different species.  And finally we've looked at the unique configuring of the human brain and how more cortical activation correlates with the conscious subjectiveness of a perceptual experience.

For the sake of being able to answer as much as we can about the mind body problem, being that we want to answer this question scientifically, we must define the mind in measurable scientific terms, subjective awareness due to neural activity in the cerebral cortex. However, if cortical activation is tantamount to the mind, we cannot definitively say that the mind is purely physical. We can say that it requires physical structures (cortical regions of the human brain) but that it also depends on activation between neurons in the cortex. Activation is time dependent and involves electrochemical processes. The mind therefore seems to be generated, moment by moment, as a result of the electromagnetic force which changes the configuration of material cortex. It is the constant activation and changing that is the mind, not simply the biomaterial that makes up the cortex. The cortex itself is a canvas for subjective experiences to take place. What elicits the activity depends on both internal and external factors, hence IGSPES vs EXSPEs.

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Typically we are awake or asleep. Brain regions involved in dreaming are independently active or they are not. Activation of the visual cortex during dreaming explains why we subjectively experience mostly visual perceptions. The lac of prefrontal activation explains why we aren't conscious of the fact that we are  dreaming. But there are many examples where dreaming activation does not follow this neat and tidy pattern, other, the transition from REM sleep to waking awareness or vice versa can shed some glimpses on the complicated dance between these two states. What can result is a hybrid state of awareness that is not entirely externally or internally derived. It is a hybrid of the two.

Many interesting examples of hybrid states exist, such has hallucinations due to mental disorders or the influence of psychedelic drugs. As interesting as these types of hybrid states are, I'll be focusing entirely on examples involving unadulterated normal REM function that for one reason or another, behaves abnormally. These states can happen to anyone, at any time, for any unknown reason. By looking exclusively at these examples, we are forced to consider the innate natural potential of the human mind .Which I think goes a lot further in addressing mind vs matter. 

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Several decades before neuroscience had must to offer on the subject, surrealist painter Salvador Dali explored the transition between waking and sleeping. He invented a method designed to allow one to discover the hidden creative potential of their mind. According to Dali, his “slumber with a key" technique allows one to access thoughts and perceptions that would either be: inaccessible during waking experience, or forgotten shortly after awaking out of a dream. Perceptions and thoughts that are only possible during the transition.

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Dali believed that being halfway between these two worlds helped one to make mental connections that were not possible during either waking or dreaming in isolation. Dali did indeed go on to become one of the most successful artists in the 20th century, and perhaps the most influential figure in the history of surrealist art. This fact certainly seems to enhance his credibility, perhaps there is a lot of untaped potential in the brief moment.