Consciousness remains a profound mystery. Mainstream neuroscience assumes it arises solely from brain neurons, but the origin of subjective experience (qualia) is unexplained. David Chalmers called this the 'hard problem.' This review argues the hard problem may stem from flawed materialist assumptions. It examines phenomena suggesting consciousness can extend beyond the brain and body in space and time, called non-local properties. These effects vaguely resemble quantum entanglement, but mechanisms are highly speculative. The authors suggest post-materialistic models may be needed to resolve the conceptual impasse.
In a controlled experiment with 13 healthy adult trance channels, voice recordings showed increased arousal and power differences in specific frequency bins when participants read a story in a channeling state compared to a no-channeling state. However, electroencephalography, electrocardiography, galvanic skin response, and respiration measures did not differ significantly between the two states, despite participants reporting distinct subjective experiences. The findings suggest that while voice parameters may reflect the channeling experience, other physiological measures do not capture it. Future research should explore alternative measures such as EEG connectivity, fMRI, and biomarkers.