This essay examines the complementary functions of biopsychology and phenomenology in the interpretation of the religious significance of altered states of consciousness. Two physiological models of consciousness are examined and correlated with phenomenological theories of interpretation. The first model charts consciousness along a continuum of central nervous system arousal. The second model is discontinuous and uses catastrophe theory from topology to describe the behavior surface of hypohyperaroused physiological states. Both models are correlated with descriptions of symbolic functions in the determination of religious meaning.
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