Maps of the mind

Mental maps are produced as, more or less, diagrammatic representations of the structure of the human mind and/or of the different modes of awareness open to an individual. There are many such maps with little consensus on how they should be combined. They tend to be generated by disciplines such as psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, biology, the neurosciences, and cybernetics. Maps with a similar function have also been generated within many of the spiritual traditions of the world, notably Buddhism and Taoism. Where these address the question of transcending duality, the maps make extensive use of metaphor and symbol, particularly by referring to sets of domains, realms, heavens, hells, and other worlds, which individuals may inhabit under certain conditions of awareness.

The process of psychological transformation may be considered as a journey or a path. The deep experiences of consciousness can be "mapped" as a guide for this journey. Fixed mental, emotional, perceptual and behavioural patterns are conditioned into each level of consciousness. There exist both traditional and newly developed maps of consciousness and its evolutionary development. They imply a model of man oriented toward some form of personal development and often include coded instructions concerning the practice of certain psychological techniques. Such maps are best used with guidance by others who have already had practical experience of them and can help the individual in the selection of the most useful version for him. However, it is characteristic of such maps and systems that they are written on many different levels, and individuals derive from them what information they can assimilate according to their level of understanding at the time.

Drug-induced experience has been used as a guide in mapping consciousness. Individuals have been guided in a pattern of descent (Masters and Houston), when four levels of experience were noted and hypothesized to represent four major levels of the psyche: sensory; recollective-analytic; symbolic; integral. The journey inwards focuses energy more and more on areas of experience alien to the ego.