Abstract
Ayahuasca (decoction), a mind-expanding plant, has been widely used in the upper Amazonia and has served as a certain kind of instrument to treat the mind in the context of shamanism. Based on the field work, and the author’s experience with Ayahuasca, some aspects of shamanism of an indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Canelos Quichua) are shown in a reflexive manner in this article. Usually, geometric patterns (phosphene) appear at first, and then concrete images appear. However, in some cases, rather than such transformation of perception, the change in the domain of the "senses" seems to be more remarkable. The purpose of this article is to globally understand the variety of such experiences. To do this, and getting out of the framework of shamanism, the various Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) experiences in modern society are described referring to the wisdom of Eastern philosophy. The discussion ends with a suggestion that the immense potentiality and the risk of ASC are in the “loss of meaning”.
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