Out of the Ordinary - Altered States of Consciousness

Download Altered States of Consciousness

For 50 years, one of the most powerful psychoactive drugs, LSD, has been illegal in Britain. The authorities do not want you to alter your state of consciousness. In 2016, the government passed a law banning all psychoactive substances except caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.

But can you enter altered states of consciousness without drugs? Since the 60s, experimental "psychonauts", deprived of psychedelics, have been trying. Sensory deprivation, flotation tanks, hyperventilation, and light machines are just some of the methods that are claimed to be able to put you in trance states, expand your consciousness, or even produce spiritual experiences.

Jolyon Jenkins, who has never taken LSD or even had a spiritual experience, investigates, even going so far as to construct his own retro "altered states of consciousness induction device". Will his consciousness expand, or retain its current dimensions?

Producer/presenter: Jolyon Jenkins.

Published on Friday, 3rd March 2017.

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