Shortly after publishing version 3.0 of the FAQ I started getting letters from people who were having what they believed to be psychic, paranormal, or spiritual experiences on DXM. As time went on, the number of these letters increased, and I received additional information from psychonauts who have used ketamine in paranormal investigations.I gave a lot of thought to whether or not I should include this information in the FAQ. Peopleasked me about DXM and paranormal experiences, and in general my response has been, "you're on drugs, it's all in your mind". Unfortunately that doesn't really answer any questions, since people are obviously having these experiences, whether they are delusional or not, and nobody seems to have much idea why.So I am going to attempt in this chapter to take an open-minded but somewhat skeptical look at the possible relationship between DXM (and other dissociatives) and paranormal experiences. It may surprise you to know that there are very good reasons to suspect that paranormal experiences may involve some of the same brain mechanisms affected by DXM. Whether or not these paranormal experiences have any validity outside of the human brain is entirely a question of faith, and I won't try and make that decision for you.I'm also using this chapter to discuss in more detail some of the altered states of consciousness and experience that occur on DXM. These are not in any sense paranormal, but they are interesting, and discussion of them doesn't really fit anywhere else.We live in an Age of Reason, where science and technology are viewed as limitless in their ability to explain the world that we perceive. And, living in this age, we like to believe that we are entirely rational creatures, and that what we perceive can be explained in simple, concrete terms.Unfortunately, it just ain't so. Humans are fundamentally irrational critters, and our conscious, rational minds are just a thin veneer layered on top of complex, unconscious neural networks which occasionally behave in bizarre ways. Many of us assume that our conscious minds are in total control, logically formulating ideas and thoughts, when in fact our inspirations, ideas, and impulses seem to come from nowhere. In spite of adherence to conscious thought, much research suggests that the brain works best when one doesn't try to think too much; as an example, one study found that hunches were considerably more accurate than the conscious mind in choosing among stacked decks of cards.The most blatant example of our unrepressed irrational side may be the widespread phenomenon of UFO abductions. Thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of ordinarily rational people, most of whom have no good reason to lie, report alien encounters ranging from viewing UFOs to having been abducted, taken into spacecraft, and subjected to experiments. While there is occasionally physical evidence thathappened, many times there is solid evidence that nothing physical was going on at all.Interestingly enough, these experiences are nothing new. In the 1800's, people didn't see UFO's; instead, they saw floating ships which travelled across the country. And before that, of course, were faeries, elves, and other mythical creatures. Whatever they are, and whether they exist outside of our minds or not, they seem to take on a form appropriate to the society of the time. Many of the features of the abductions stay the same, regardless of the symbols. A detailed examination of these similarities is given in 361 ).There are numerous explanations for these phenomena, but one thing seems certain: for whatever reason, peopleperceiving them. Recent research by Persinger et al. suggests that electromagnetic and geomagnetic fields, earth lights, and the like, may capable of inducing eddy currents in the temporal lobe limbic networks, resulting in all sorts of bizarre experiences ( 332 333 ). If you've been paying attention, you'll recall that DXM (like other dissociatives) exerts some of its effects on these very same networks.There are still many questions to be answered, of course. Researchers have constructed devices which induce these eddy currents and can produce generic "vestibular" sensations, but these simple sensations are nowhere near the complexity of the typical alien encounter. A few have suggested that these "aliens" may be real in some sense, not necessarily little green men in flying saucers, but perhaps noncorporeal, electromagnetic entities. Other people tend to look on those few as kooks.So in any case, whether or not you believe in thevalidity of the paranormal experience, it is hard to argue with thevalidity of it. DXM is capable of inducing a variety of paranormal experiences, and even though it's probably "all in your head", there's good reason to believe that non-drug-induced paranormal events are also all in your head as well. Again, let me point out that whether or not you believe these are real in some objective sense is entirely a matter of faith and cannot, in general, be proven or disproven scientifically.Here is a detailed list of various paranormal, spiritual, or otherwise altered states and experiences that can occur during the use of DXM. Most of these tend to occur at the upper plateaus and at Plateau Sigma, and many of them are very rarely reported.Theis a term which I borrowed (and modified) from Shulgin's. It describes a particular set of characteristic sensations or internal states that seem to occur as a result of some sort of abnormal temporal lobe functioning. In, Ann Shulgin recounts how she would experience the "Spiral" when she was younger, almost always right before going to sleep. Many people have reported the very same set of effects on DXM (and ketamine), and I suspect that people who experience it naturally may have something interesting going on in the temporal lobes that mimics the effects of dissociatives. Perhaps this is due to release of endopsychosin, or perhaps it's just the way these people's brains are wired. One person suggested it may be complex partial seizures, but I don't think there's any evidence for that.The Dissociative Spiral seems to have four phases, each phase lasting a fixed amount of time. Not everyone experiences all phases. I have given each phase a name which I think is descriptive based primarily on the experiences of DXM users; I also suggest you consultfor Ann Shulgin's version.