Access to this domain is fraught with hazard. It is dangerous because it contains paradox, nonsense, and absurdity, which can threaten the meticulous but fragile foundations of the conscious mind.

Sometimes it erupts unexpectedly into view through forgetfulness, accidents, or slips of the tongue, and there is no doubt that it has the ability to affect both the physical and the mental in a fundamental way.

There is another state of consciousness which allows us to harness this power - the hypnotic trance.

This is a distinct intermediate state between waking consciousness and sleep though it seems that it cannot be induced in everyone.

The modern history of hypnotherapy (there is evidence to suggest that it was used in ancient Greece), as opposed to stage hypnotism, begins with Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815).

Though regarded by the scientific establishment as a charlatan, he was able to successfully treat patients once they were 'mesmerised'.

The Scottish surgeon James Braid (1795-1860) developed the technique and named it neuro-hypnotism but did not make much use of it as a therapy except as an alternative to anaesthesia.

Since then, hypnotherapy has been used to treat many disorders, including skin disease, respiratory problems, migraine and sexual dysfunction.

The unconscious is highly open to suggestion, and it seems that the conscious mind acts as an inhibitor which censors ideas that it considers inappropriate or impossible.

The hypnotherapist, in conjunction with the patient with whom a rapport is established, can, through the trance state, directly command the unconscious.

The unease with which the medical establishment used to view hypnotism and probably still does, to a certain extent, can be seen as a fear of the power of the unconscious mind to affect reality in a manner that cannot be explained rationally.

The border between the conscious and the unconscious is the border between science and magic but we dare not admit it because to do so would mean loosening our grip on the certainties that sustain us.

Every physical object can be described mathematically, however, as this does not involve symbolic relevance to consciousness, other means have been employed to deal with reality.

At this operating level, everything we encounter can be regarded as a token of another, more fundamental, and therefore more significant expression of meaning, which we cannot consciously access except through a system of thought which indicates the correspondences involved.

Gematria is the assignment of numbers to letters in the Hebrew alphabet in order to expose the true nature of things.

For instance, the tetragrammaton YHVH (Jehovah) has the numerical value 10+5+6+5, totalling 26. It is therefore possible to connect any word with the same value to the name of God.

The mathematician may object on the grounds that arbitrary equivalence is no substitute for rigour. However, the one thing mathematics cannot do is numerically describe consciousness, except perhaps to assign it the number zero, which would imply death.

Numerology on the other hand can include consciousness in its symbolism, and this is important, for are we not also replete with meaning?

It is therefore not surprising that we strive to find significance beyond the purely mathematical in our attempts to understand existence in all its complexity.

The question that remains is, do we confer meaning or is the meaning somehow inherent in the structure of the universe? Is the number 13 truly unlucky for some, or is it simply consciousness that believes it to be so?

Perhaps both points of view are equally valid, and somewhere they meet to form another concept which, as yet, lies undiscovered and waits only for an intrepid explorer to expand the frontiers of our knowing.

His perception of the everyday world was considerably altered such that the sensory information his consciousness was receiving was at a greatly heightened level from normal.

It was as if a veil had been lifted on reality and he was seeing it as it really is.

Given his experimental results, it is a reasonable assumption to make that the amount of information available to our senses is usually much more than we require so that there is probably a filtering process at work which enables us to function on an ordinary day-to-day basis.

In the shamanistic tradition, practised by 'primitive' peoples throughout the world, additional sensory information from other realities or 'operating levels' is routinely being received and processed.

That other operating levels exist can be deduced from a wide range of anecdotal experiences. However, because the evidence is subjective, science has no means as yet to determine their true nature.

The Siberian shamans, who have their status confirmed on them after a rigorous and highly testing procedure, use the fly agaric mushroom (amanita muscaria) to enter the 'spirit world' where they have knowledge conferred on them which may allow the healing of a sick person or the prediction of the future.

Such forms of altered states of consciousness which are achieved through the use of drugs, trance, or even sleep deprivation, are widely regarded as dangerous and therefore not to be approached lightly.

This does not mean to say that we should completely ignore them. Other areas of reality may adhere to a different set of laws from our own and it could be in our best interest to increase our knowledge of them.

If, for instance, time varies from level to level, then its relativity could be further confirmed and it does seem that the information available transcends our usual conception of causality.

In order to progress, a new approach must be found. This would consist of a method of proof which would satisfy the requirement for objectivity while recognising that inconsistencies may occur until our current understanding is improved.

Dream consciousness differs from waking consciousness in many ways. It can involve acausality. The will is less active - we do not tend to make decisions, events simply unfold.

Lucid dreams constitute an exception to the attenuation of the will. In those, decisions can be made readily and there is often a conscious realisation of being in the dream state. Such dreams have a powerful effect on our minds and the memory of them lingers, sometimes for days.

An objective assessment of dream consciousness is difficult because dreams are a purely subjective experience which take many forms and differ markedly from person to person.

The scientific interpretation of dreams was attempted by both Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Carl Jung (1875-1961), with some degree of success.

Freud based his system of therapy which is known as Psychoanalysis on the interpretation of dreams and he believed that mental abnormalities could be understood if dreams were regarded as wish fulfilment.

Jung was the founder of Analytical Psychology and though placing less emphasis on dreams, he nevertheless considered them as a means of accessing the unconscious and therefore an important tool for aiding individuals in their self development.

Notwithstanding the work of Freud and Jung, it is more than likely that the vast majority of dreams are pure nonsense, and have no relevance to the waking state. They are bizarre occurrences, sometimes with narratives, while at other times jumbled and disconnected.

That is not to say that dreams are unimportant. The converse is probably true.

Consensual reality very often has the effect of depersonalising the individual because we are engaged in highly defined and repetitive modes of behaviour.

Dreams are wholly distinct experiences for each person and therein lies there possible purpose - to keep the self unique.

Of course, some people claim not to dream, however, it is likely that they simply don't remember their dreams which for some reason do not cross the threshold into waking consciousness.

Waking consciousness is limited to the visible universe and, according to Plato, our awareness in this state can be likened to observing shadows on a cave wall.

Behaviourists would then argue that consciousness is after all only an epiphenomenon of brain. And who could refute them?

What they can explain is where consciousness ends - death. What they cannot be sure of is at what developmental stage consciousness begins.

This is a mystery, comparable with the beginning of the universe, when from the deep darkness, the light of creation exploded into being.

Self-awareness, if it is an accident, is surely the most fortunate of all the 'accidents' which gave rise to humanity.

Without it, there would be no civilisation, no culture, life would be short, brutal, and almost pointless, except for reproduction, when the next generation would carry our genes into a gruesome future, bereft of the sanity of compassionate intelligence.

The beginning of this awareness is uncertain. Is it possible that the end is also uncertain?

The great consolation is that after death the journey continues. What civilisation could endure without this belief.

The current trend for atheists to legitimise their point of view and appeal to an increasingly secular society is no more than an attempt to dodge the question.

If life begins with conception and ends with death, then there is no need to consider the before and after, as if non-existence is a state to be welcomed.

Those who have the intelligence and fortitude to make the most of their lives may find this way of thinking beneficial. After all, the here and now and the existence we experience is of paramount importance.

Unfortunately, the secular humanists have no truthful answers for the mass of suffering humanity, except to exhort them to queue for their food aid and put their faith in the international community.

They also are conscious. They too are possessed of the awarenesss which seperates us from the beasts of the field and endows us with the ability to decide for ourselves, to choose, to excersise our free will, and in doing so accept the spiritual consequences.

As a mystical tradition, there is no doubt that Kabbalah has much to offer the student in terms of a spiritual understanding of existence as a human being.

However, it must be seen in the context of the religion from which it developed, namely Judaism. As such, Kabbalah cannot be appropriated and shaped to satisfy the desires of those who wish to make spurious attempts at an all-inclusive hybrid of mystical thinking throughout the ages.

Usually, it is the sephirothic tree which is the centre of attention. However, too much importance may be attached to what is an indication only that reality is not just the physical world.

It may be that the melancholy many Kabbalists used to experience was because of their over-reliance on the tree. They ended their lives perplexed as the sephiroth seemed to offer them a doorway into an alternative and potentially empowering understanding, wheras in actual fact it cruelly led them to a dead end.

That is not to say that the sephirothic tree is not useful. It can be employed as a meditational aid, as a focus for the mind, and as a framework for connections and general conceptualisation.

One interpretation of the word Kabbalah is 'the received teaching'. This reception can be viewed not as a passing of knowledge between teacher and pupil, but as a direct reception into consciousness.

What is received will of course depend on the developmental stage of the receiver. If an individual is not able to link conceptually with the information, then it will be as if the information does not exist. Only those individuals whose previous learning has brought them to a certain receptive stage will be able to process the information and add it to consciousness as a modification to their understanding.

As to the source? Religion may answer 'God'. The occultist may answer 'the Akashic records'. Kabbalah itself would probably answer 'the higher self'.