The model of social ecosystems that we have suggested in the previous sections of this chapter is applicable to religious as well as what might be termed secular social structures. The distinguishing characteristic of religious systems is the source of trust on which these systems are based. Some religions establish one or more deities as the ultimate source of authority, and hence of trust. Some religions do not postulate the existence of deities, but rather center on a process. The derivative result of either approach is similar; that is, each resolves to a statement of, or a collection of statements of, what we would term policy. In the case of theistic religions, trust in the policy emanates from the deity, or deities, while in non-theistic religions trust emanates from the process. In either situation, the effect is to instill a sufficient level of trust within the minds of the believers such that their actions are properly constrained by the tenets of the respective religion. In this way, the actions of large numbers of believers can be coordinated so as to benefit the group at large, and most of the members individually. So, the interesting concept is how this level of trust is created?

It may have started with a simple fungus.

The human mind is driven by the senses. Widely distributed throughout the human body are sensors for sight, sound, touch, taste and feeling; all wired through the peripheral nervous system into the various lobes of the brain. Forming the input to a multitude of neural network structures, these continuous streams of sensory input become the fodder for information processing. Mirror neurons put sensory input in context, enabling responsive motor actions to be undertaken in an extremely efficient fashion. The integration of emotion into this information processing establishes the basis for action stimulus. The construction of units of manipulation with means to rank and organizing them creates the lego of conceptualization. This is the basis for metaphoric comprehension, a central part of natural language, which, through empathetic understanding of the external world but without a means of reactive motor action, may give rise to consciousness.

An integral aspect of the workings of neural interconnections is derived from the chemical relay of neuron stimulations effected by neurotransmitters at the synaptic connection between neurons. In this relay process, the propagation of sensory input and processing output is modulated by chemical means. It should really come as no particular surprise, then, that if one can impact this chemical modulation, perhaps through other chemicals, the resulting neural processing will be impacted as well; an altered state of consciousness results. Such altered states can be experienced by completely normal individuals according to a variety of stimuli that range from emotional stimulation and manipulation to psychotropic drug induced modulation of brain activity. In addition, altered states of consciousness can be experienced as symptoms of a variety of aberrant physical ailments that evoke abnormal mental conditions as a result.

David Lewis-Williams in The Mind in the Cave describes a continuum that encompasses a number of stages of altered states. Based on a neuropsychological model, his scale ranges from the mildest level of change which he refer to as alert consciousness to the most severe change that he refers to as deep trance. In continuously changing degrees between the two extremes, are a variety of forms of dreaming, in particular, day-dreaming and lucid-dreaming. He characterizes one of the possible characteristics of the deep trance stage as the occurrence of hallucinations, noting that in particularly deep variants of this state all the senses can be involved. While healthy people can experience altered states of consciousness, Lewis-Williams also notes that several conditions such as schizophrenia trigger hallucinations.

Archeology suggests that early humans discovered hallucinogenic mushrooms. For example, the frescoes of Tassili described by Terence McKenna in Food of the Gods show a mushroom-headed

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