MIRRORS, PORTALS, AND MULTIPLE REALITIES
Zygon® March 1, 1989 G. Macdonald, John L. Cove, C. Laughlin et al. 30 citations
Portalling, a mystical experience of moving from one reality to another via a tunnel, door, or aperture, occurs across many cultures. This experience can be triggered by concentrating on devices like mirrors, mandalas, labyrinths, or pools of water in shamanistic and meditative practices. The authors argue that portalling is fundamental to the multiple reality cosmologies found in traditional cultures. They explain it as a radical re-entrainment of the brain's neurological systems that mediate experience. The paper reports phenomenological experiments using mirror portalling devices from both Tibetan and Tsimshian religious traditions.