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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.

Optimal human functioning, according to Janet, is the rule of the conscious mind over the subconscious. It is the sublimation and integration of the subconscious into ordinary consciousness. He calls the apex of his "hierarchy of the mind" a "grand synthesis," which he counterposes against the automatic actions or motor discharges of "psychological automatism," that which is relegated to the lowest rung of his system. Later in his career, under the influence of James Mark Baldwin, Janet reworked his theories into a developmentalPage 1949 | Top of Article model of the normal personality and, turning away from an exclusive focus on pathology, also applied his model to an understanding of religious phenomena.

Optimal human functioning, according to Janet, is the rule of the conscious mind over the subconscious. It is the sublimation and integration of the subconscious into ordinary consciousness. He calls the apex of his "hierarchy of the mind" a "grand synthesis," which he counterposes against the automatic actions or motor discharges of "psychological automatism," that which is relegated to the lowest rung of his system. Later in his career, under the influence of James Mark Baldwin, Janet reworked his theories into a developmentalPage 1949 | Top of Article model of the normal personality and, turning away from an exclusive focus on pathology, also applied his model to an understanding of religious phenomena.

===Theodore Flournoy===

===Theodore Flournoy===

Another figure in the late nineteenth century associated with the so-called French, Swiss, English, and American psychotherapeutic axis, Flournoy (1854–1920) was a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Geneva. He was a close friend of James and an important influence on C. G. Jung and Jean Piaget. His major contribution to the psychology of the subconscious was an investigation of Helene Smith, a case of multiple personality with speaking in tongues (Flournoy, 1899). His final conclusion was that, whereas an experimental psychology of the subconscious had failed to prove the spiritualists' claim for the reality of life after death, there was concrete evidence for the development of exceptional human abilities beyond what seemed normally possible (Flournoy, 1911).

Another figure in the late nineteenth century associated with the so-called French, Swiss, English, and American psychotherapeutic axis, Flournoy (1854–1920) was a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Geneva. He was a close friend of James and an important influence on C. G. Jung and Jean Piaget. His major contribution to the psychology of the subconscious was an investigation of Helene Smith, a case of multiple personality with speaking in tongues (Flournoy, 1899). His final conclusion was that, whereas an experimental psychology of the subconscious had failed to prove the spiritualists' claim for the reality of life after death, there was concrete evidence for the development of exceptional human abilities beyond what seemed normally possible (Flournoy, 1911).