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Very interesting interview. Reminds me of the phenomena of dissociation which is relevant to my work with traumatised children and adults. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation for a general intro and http://www.hiddenhurt.co.uk/Articles/dissociation.htm for one specific to trauma injury. I am very interested in 'altered states' whist outdoors. My outdoor interest is now mostly through photography http://homepage.mac.com/chris.reed/index.html which can produce these states I spent a short break on Arran using mostly video and spent a lot of time just watching and listening and after a day or two felt both flattened and heightened. I also had a similar experience in my 'home range' following and photographing the River Irthing. My wife and i both recall getting a bit 'out of it'. The peat filled waters were very dark and at one point whilst crossing the river, with flecks of foam passing, both felt that we had kind of been swallowed by the water and flown around the universe for a few seconds. In both cases we felt very peaceful and happy, but spoke only to each other because, like the third man experience, it's not really a social conversation topic. This leads me to the idea of 'oceanic feelings' or 'oceanic experience', which sounds like a religious version of a similar thing. There is a form of meditation found through walking. (just google 'walking meditation'.) For my therapy training i researched connections between walking/hiking and the altered states associated with dance and trance and drama. I would be interested in sharing direct 'sensation' experiences of the outdoors, beyond the extremity of the 'Third Man'. For example, what are the changes in your sensations feelings and thoughts when you simply step outside? For me it changes my perception at a core or ambient level, slightly altering each of my senses, subtly, but overall significantly.