Justin Riddle

Entity encounters are a widely reported feature of certain psychedelic states, including those induced by N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, ibogaine, and high-dose psilocybin, but they also arise in non-pharmacological contexts such as advanced meditation practices (e.g., Fire Kasina) and trance-based active imagination. Their recurrence across diverse induction methods suggests that entity encounters represent a core dimension of mystical experience that warrants rigorous scientific investigation. Traditional neural interpretations treat entity encounters as hallucinations generated by hyperactivation of association areas, particularly within the anterior temporal cortex. However, most contemporary models of consciousness assume a single fundamental unit of information processing (the neuron), and thus must explain how complex, seemingly autonomous entities emerge from transient neural disorganization, yet rarely appear outside of altered states. The Nested Observer Windows (NOW) Model offers an alternative account. In this framework, the brain is a hierarchically nested system in which each processing structure, ranging from individual neurons to large-scale functional networks, constitutes its own “observer window” with a unique informational vantage point. Critically, lower-level subwindows operate semi-autonomously and remain largely opaque to the apex observer window that constitutes conscious experience. We propose that during entity encounters, the informational content of a nested subwindow becomes phenomenologically attributed to an autonomous agent. In this view, entities are not aberrations but experiential embodiments of normally hidden subwindows whose activity becomes accessible during altered states. To explore these ideas, we conducted an observational study of advanced meditators participating in a 17-day Fire Kasina retreat, a practice designed to evoke emergent phenomena and stabilized altered states of consciousness. Among participants who reached peak altered states, the majority reported encountering autonomous entities. These encounters were frequently associated with experiences of insight, emotional significance, and profound interpersonal or transpersonal connection. The NOW Model uniquely predicts that hierarchically organized neural substructures could, in principle, be experienced as externalized entities. It further predicts that a hierarchy of entities should exist, with deeply nested subwindows appearing as entities with reduced complexity and constrained modes of expression. Future empirical work will require simultaneous neural recordings during entity encounters to test these predictions directly. Here, we examine entity encounters in both psychedelic and advanced meditative contexts and interpret their shared structure through the lens of the NOW Model.

Justin Riddle PhD is an assistant professor at Florida State University in the department of psychology. Justin is a cognitive neuroscientist investigating the role of electrical activity in coordinating functional brain networks that support higher-order cognition. His work uses non-invasive recordings in human participants such as EEG and functional MRI. Justin’s work is novel because it leverages causal tools such as a transcranial electrical and magnetic stimulation to move beyond correlation-based models. His work is contributing to a mechanistic understanding for how cognitive control is implemented by the prefrontal cortex and how these processes break down in psychiatric illness. Justin is passionate about understanding how the human brain works and is actively working to develop novel intervention for psychiatric illness using personalized brain stimulation.