These experiences, for many, represent the first significant break from a normal linear consciousness, normal reality, and normal time. For some, the break into a new area of experience is unsupported by the remainder of their lives and their training, and they may not be able to return to normal consciousness. The very discontinuity of these experiences is difficult for many to deal with. In this mode, all action occurs in an infinite present. There is no attribution of causality or construction of a sequence.
All events occur simultaneously.
Although the linear, analytic mode forms the basis for a complex technological society, other societies have developed around the present-centered mode. It is the conflict between these two modes of consciousness which has caused much cultural and personal misunderstanding. Yet this question is relevant only within our particular construction of reality, not in the nonlinear mode. A mirror metaphor is used in many traditions to describe the desired mode of consciousness. This mode of consciousness, though, is to some degree a part of the daily experience of each of us.