Wilber also speaks of what he calls the "four higher or transpersonal states of consciousness, which I call psychic, subtle, causal, and nondual" (Wilber, 2000, p.2) He links these states to the mystical experiences of Christian saints like St. Teresa of Avila and also to Eastern mysticism: "The gross body/waking state supports the annamayakosha (the sheath made of food, or the physical mind), and the causal body/formless state supports the anandamayakosha (the sheath or consciousness structure made of bliss, or the transcendent mind)" (Wilber, 2000, p.2). Although this may be an attempt to show that he is well-read, this is just another way of stating that the physical body and what we call 'mind' (not merely brain) are connected, and that neurochemistry can produce a mystical state like Teresa's and even the transcendent mind is linked to states of the physical body and brain.
Wilber adds that different persons are at different levels of understanding of this truth. "Although a person at any structure or stage of development can have a profound peak experience the ways in which individuals experience and interpret these higher states and realms will depend largely on the level (or structure) of their own development" (Wilber, 2000, p.3). In other words, a person within a religious tradition may interpret a personal experience as mystical, while a scientist might interpret even his or her own experience as a product of biology. Wilber then shifts to a discussion of brain quadrant. He states that science has proven the neurological existence of altered states, such as religious states in the upper right quadrant (Wilber, 2000, p.5). Hence, both the scientist and the religious person are only half-right in their incomplete, single-minded definition.
Wilber's analysis is often...
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