ASC (Altered State of Consciousness)

ASC (Altered State of Consciousness)  n : a brain state differing from normal consciousness.  Sometimes associated with the transportation to a higher realm of consciousness or mystical experience.  Feelings experienced during an altered brain state can be both pleasant and unpleasant.

There can be a number of different reasons why an individual might enter an altered state of consciousness and these can include: use of drugs, sometimes hypnosis, trauma, sensory deprivation, sleep disturbance, fever or a neurochemical imbalance.  Certain behaviours such as chanting and frenzied behaviour are also known to produce effects.  

See also: life after death, near death experiences and astral projection.