MIRRORS, PORTALS, AND MULTIPLE REALITIES
G. Macdonald, John L. Cove, C. Laughlin, J. Mcmanus
March 1, 1989 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1989.tb00975.x via Semantic Scholar
Summary
A biogenetic structural explanation is proposed for the cross-culturally common mystical experience of portalling—moving from one reality to another via a tunnel, door, or aperture. This experience can be evoked by concentrating on devices such as mirrors, mandalas, or labyrinths. Portalling is fundamental to multiple reality cosmologies in traditional cultures and is explained as radical re-entrainment of neurological systems. Phenomenological experiments with mirror portalling devices from Tibetan and Tsimshian traditions are reported.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Portalling experiences are explained as radical re-entrainment of neurological systems and are fundamental to multiple reality cosmologies in traditional cultures. |
Abstract
. A biogenetic structural explanation is offered for the cross-culturally common mystical experience called portalling, the experience of moving from one reality to another via a tunnel, door, aperture, hole, or the like. The experience may be evoked in shamanistic and meditative practice by concentration upon a portalling device (mirror, mandala, labyrinth, skrying bowl, pool of water, etc.). Realization of the portalling experience is shown to be fundamental to the phenomenology underlying multiple reality cosmologies in traditional cultures and is explained in terms of radical re-entrainment of the neurological systems mediating experience in the brain. Phenomenological experiments with mirror portalling devices from both the Tibetan and the Tsimshian religious traditions are reported.