Childhood Experiences of Higher
States of Consciousness:
Literature Review and Theoretical Integration
Jayne Gackenbach
This is an unpublished paper written in 1992.
Table of Contents
I. Pure Consciousness/Mystical Experiences
A. Mystical Experiences; B. Triggers of Mystical Experience; C. Correlates of Mystical Experience; D. Mystical Experiences in Children; E. Recap Pure Consciousness/Mystical Experience
A. Lucid/Witnessing Dreams/Sleep and Pure; A1. Lucidity Meditation Link; A2. Lucidity-Witnessing Relationship; A3. Lucid Dreaming Experiences in Children; A4. Recap Sleep Consciousness
B. Out-of-Body Experience (OBE); B1. Mental Models of Lucid Dreaming and OBE's; B2. Fantasy Prone Interpretation of OBE's; B3. Mystical Components of the OBE; B4. OBE's in Children; B5. Recap Out-of-Body Experiences
C. Near-Death Experiences (NDE); C1. NDE's and Lucid Dreams; C2. NDE's in Children; C3. Unidentified Flying Object Abduction Experiences(UFOE); C4. Recap of Near-death Experiences
D. 'I-Am-Me' Experience
E. Related Experiences Summary
III. Developmental Perspectives on Complex Sets of Experiences
A. Developmental Characteristics of Transpersonal Experiences in Meditators Versus College Students
B. Childhood Development of the Psychic
C. Developmental Characteristics of Psychic Opening;C1. Psychic/Transpersonal Experiences; C2. Personal Experiences Associated With Psychic Openings; C3. Psychological and Situational Aspects of Psychic Opening; C4. Conclusions
D. Childhood Transpersonal Experiences in Two Cree Women; D1. Day to Day Emotions/Feelings; D2. Dream/Waking Transpersonal Experiences; D3. In-depth Interviews; D3a. S's Childhood Summary; D3b. D's Childhood Summary; D4. Psychic Opening Conclusions
IV. Models of Transpersonal Development
A. Alexander's Postrepresentational Model; B. Wilber's Spectrum Model; C. Critic of Major Models
V. Paper Summary and References