[anigbrowl]

The ordinary state of consciousness is definitely the most useful one, subject to a certain amount of path-dependency. But equally the fact that your ordinary routine of eating, sleeping, going to work etc. is the most useful one doesn't mean that fasting, staying up all night, or taking a vacation are lacking in value. You were dead right with your other comment about how a Picasso picture is an interpretation of reality rather than a depiction of it, while recognizing that we can learn a lot from considering other interpretations.

You should read a book called The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind by Julian Jaynes, I think you'd like it a good deal.