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William James later became enamored with Fechner's writings on the subject. In his Hibbert Lectures at Oxford in 1907, James summarized Fechner's doctrine of the earth soul and of beings intermediary between God and man. James also wrote a preface to the fourth edition of the English translation of Fechner's Little Book of Life after Death (1907), in which Fechner outlined the three great spheres of evolutionary consciousness—a womb consciousness characterized by the fetus immersed in amniotic fluid, waking rational consciousness in the physical body, and a higher spiritual consciousness after death. Fechner believed that each stage presaged and was therefore preparation for the next, but that all stages were available simultaneously in human beings while still alive in the body.

William James later became enamored with Fechner's writings on the subject. In his Hibbert Lectures at Oxford in 1907, James summarized Fechner's doctrine of the earth soul and of beings intermediary between God and man. James also wrote a preface to the fourth edition of the English translation of Fechner's Little Book of Life after Death (1907), in which Fechner outlined the three great spheres of evolutionary consciousness—a womb consciousness characterized by the fetus immersed in amniotic fluid, waking rational consciousness in the physical body, and a higher spiritual consciousness after death. Fechner believed that each stage presaged and was therefore preparation for the next, but that all stages were available simultaneously in human beings while still alive in the body.

===WILLIAM JAMES===

===William James===

James (1842–1910) is the most noted modern psychologist to have seriously investigated altered states of consciousness and the influence of states of consciousness on the perception of reality. An avid physiologist,Page 1948 | Top of Article psychologist, philosopher, and psychical researcher, James studied trance states in mediums from an early age. He also experimented throughout his professional life with mind-altering drugs, including ether, chloral hydrate, nitrous oxide, and peyote. He was an expert hypnotist and often encouraged people to try automatic writing. In his monumental Principles of Psychology (1890) he defined consciousness as a stream and investigated subconscious conditions at the periphery of awareness, such as fugue states in somnambulism. He also studied the hypnogogic zone—the twilight period between waking and sleeping—in his 1896 Lowell Lectures on exceptional mental states. In The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) James discussed ultimately transforming mystical states that, although inaccessible to purely rational consciousness, impart exceptional meaning and understanding to experience. The enhanced powers of cognition exhibited in such states suggest that human beings possess faculties beyond those of the ordinary mind for attaining certainty and wisdom:

James (1842–1910) is the most noted modern psychologist to have seriously investigated altered states of consciousness and the influence of states of consciousness on the perception of reality. An avid physiologist,Page 1948 | Top of Article psychologist, philosopher, and psychical researcher, James studied trance states in mediums from an early age. He also experimented throughout his professional life with mind-altering drugs, including ether, chloral hydrate, nitrous oxide, and peyote. He was an expert hypnotist and often encouraged people to try automatic writing. In his monumental Principles of Psychology (1890) he defined consciousness as a stream and investigated subconscious conditions at the periphery of awareness, such as fugue states in somnambulism. He also studied the hypnogogic zone—the twilight period between waking and sleeping—in his 1896 Lowell Lectures on exceptional mental states. In The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) James discussed ultimately transforming mystical states that, although inaccessible to purely rational consciousness, impart exceptional meaning and understanding to experience. The enhanced powers of cognition exhibited in such states suggest that human beings possess faculties beyond those of the ordinary mind for attaining certainty and wisdom:

But what is the relationship between altered states of consciousness, the superior intellectual faculties described by James, and the evolution of this power of sustained directed attention toward ultimate reality? On the whole, these questions—so central to the esoteric traditions—were only slightly addressed at the interface between depth psychology and religious studies, and largely ignored by mainstream scientific psychologists, until interest in the neurosciences forced the issue of different states of consciousness on reductionistic theorists. Other scientific and medical men, both around James and since James's time, have also been interested in the reality of different states of consciousness, however.

But what is the relationship between altered states of consciousness, the superior intellectual faculties described by James, and the evolution of this power of sustained directed attention toward ultimate reality? On the whole, these questions—so central to the esoteric traditions—were only slightly addressed at the interface between depth psychology and religious studies, and largely ignored by mainstream scientific psychologists, until interest in the neurosciences forced the issue of different states of consciousness on reductionistic theorists. Other scientific and medical men, both around James and since James's time, have also been interested in the reality of different states of consciousness, however.

===Pierre Janet===

===Pierre Janet===

Phenomena such as dissociation and somnambulism—the waking fugue state—and the study of hysteria and other "neuroses," including multiple personality, brought the French neurologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947) into the international spotlight in the late 1880s through the so-called French experimental psychology of the subconscious. This school of thought flourished between 1880 and 1910 as a driving force behind a larger French, Swiss, English, and American psychotherapeutic axis that dominated developments in scientific psychotherapy in the West long before psychoanalysis came into international prominence. In such works as L'automatisme psychologique (1889), L'état mental des hysteriques (1894), and The Major Symptoms of Hysteria (1907), Janet postulated that human beings are either in control of themselves if they are psychologically strong or operate under the control of the subconscious if they are psychologically weak.

Phenomena such as dissociation and somnambulism—the waking fugue state—and the study of hysteria and other "neuroses," including multiple personality, brought the French neurologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947) into the international spotlight in the late 1880s through the so-called French experimental psychology of the subconscious. This school of thought flourished between 1880 and 1910 as a driving force behind a larger French, Swiss, English, and American psychotherapeutic axis that dominated developments in scientific psychotherapy in the West long before psychoanalysis came into international prominence. In such works as L'automatisme psychologique (1889), L'état mental des hysteriques (1894), and The Major Symptoms of Hysteria (1907), Janet postulated that human beings are either in control of themselves if they are psychologically strong or operate under the control of the subconscious if they are psychologically weak.