Sometimes we may speak of someone who seems to be in a trance...but what is a trance?...it is defined as being disassociated with a state of consciousness...generally it involves having a reduced awareness of surroundings and external events...trance states are often involuntary...the term trance may be associated with being under the spell of hypnosis, or perhaps during an intense meditation...it can also be caused by a state of magic, or prayer...someone in a trance may seem to be in a sleep-like state, oblivious to other events going on around them...usually uncommunicative or sharply reduced, often when in a trance, the person is more prone to suggestibility than other times...sometimes people who have or are undergoing a severe mental shock may fall into a trance...trances can be quite dangerous...on the flipside, sometimes people will become engulfed in a sense of rapture or religious ecstasy...they become engaged in what can be called an altered state of consciousness, which is generally characterized by a greatly lowered external awareness and a more expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness...this can often be accompanied by visions and emotional euphoria...usually, this state lasts only for a short time, but it can be long lasting in rare cases...when in a trance of loses almost all sense of time, the self, may disappear.
