The Battle Trance

Battle trance is a term denoting a specific altered state of consciousness that characterizes the psychological state of combatants during a combat situation. In this state, combatants do not feel fear (for this state, Joseph Jordania uses a term "aphobia") or pain (analgesia), and all the individual members of group (unit) are acting as one collective organism. In this state humans lose their individuality and acquire shared collective identity. In a battle trance humans may behave very differently, from extremely altruistically (to the point of sacrificing themselves to save others), to the extremely aggressively (to the point of participating in mass murders). Battle trance affects both men and women and can be induced in individuals as well as groups. Battle trance state may occur involuntarily (for example, mother acting in total disregard of her own safety when her child is suddenly attacked), or can be induced by ritualistic behavior, involving loud rhythmic group singing, stomping and drumming on external subjects, as well as the use of different psychogenic substances.

The term was proposed by Joseph Jordania. According to Jordania, the battle trance was developed by the forces of natural selection during the early stages of the evolution of hominids, as the crucial factor of the defense from predators.

According to Jordania, after shifting to the open grasslands and the Savannah in Africa, hominids were too small and weak to defend themselves against African predators individually, but in the state of the battle trance, they could scare away even the strongest predators with their intimidating visual and auditory display and fearless behavior. In the state of the battle trance they were all acting as a group, losing the feel of their individuality, disregarding their personal safety, and behaving in the best interests of the group.

As ritualized induction of the state of the battle trance (and collective identity) was supposedly based on group singing, stomping, dancing, and body painting, Jordania suggested that the phenomenon of the battle trance has a potential to explain the origin and primary evolutionary function of different human arts. (Wikipedia)