How higher states of consciousness can forever change your perception of reality

By Steve Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Beckett University

A few years ago I climbed over a gate and found myself gazing down at a valley. After I’d been walking for a few minutes, looking at the fields and the sky, there was a shift in my perception. Everything around me became intensely real. The fields and the bushes and trees and the clouds seemed more vivid, more intricate and beautiful.

I felt connected with my surroundings. What was inside me, as my own consciousness, was also “out there”. Within me, there was a glow of intense wellbeing.

This is an example of a higher state of consciousness – or, in my preferred term, an…

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