THERE IS NO CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NEURAL AND THE MENTAL

When the dualist refers to a neural and a mental domain, s/he refers t o artefacts caught with the net of 'cause-and-effect'! The brain/mind is both observer and observed - and in the same vein - both the neural and the mental are but complementary facets of a perceiving-cognizing unction : neither being cause or effect of the other. The micro-cosmo s of the quantum mechanical, that is, the neural facet involves statel ess transitions or ''beingless becomings'' (Finkelstein, 1993), while the mental facet is - with the assistance of voluntary motor acts - in volved in the construction of a macro reality that we have in mind. Th rough the collapse of the brain/mind's quantum wave function. consciou sness divides itself into observer and observed or, to put it differen tly, the child initially experiences the world inside and only gradual ly learns of another world out there' by touch. Such division into obs erver and observed is a feature of a consciousness that unfolds at mod erate-to-low levels of central arousal. When, however, the arousal is rising on the perception-hallucination continuum (Fischer, 1971), the ability to verify intense sensations through voluntary motor acts is b locked, and the contraction of nearby visual space is accompanied by a fusion of observer and observed A complete fusion is achieved at the highest level of hyperarousal in an ecstatic state of consciousness. A n experimental verification of the contraction of nearby (Euclidean) s pace is reported : under 160 mu g/kg psilocybin-induced central arousa l, involving 16 volunteers with a mean age of 23,5 years.