trance

This is another topic which requires a major post. However, as I do not have the time or energy to do that now, I will just throw a few basic bits and pieces together, and hopefully come back and do this properly at some other time.

Trance is often described as "any state of awareness or consciousness other than normal waking consciousness" (see here) - but that is too vague, and covers sleep state awareness states such as lucid dreaming, hypnosis, etc. Rampa described trance as a state entered after meditation - which I dispute, as not all meditation leads to or is trance-like in nature.

For me, trance is probably best defined along the lines of:

a deliberately intended state of enhance spiritual and/or psychic awareness, including of nonphysical realms

I know people enter such states accidentally, but I consider such "accidents" need to be referred to along those lines. And drug-states of consciousness are trips, not a proper trance.

See also:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Altered_state_of_consciousness&oldid=721689013;