State of Consciousness. A specific set of mind activities with a specific pattern of awareness and/or thought. A specific SOC may be characterized by a specific (but not necessarily measurable) set of brainwave patterns. The four theoretically discrete SOCs are waking consciousness, dreaming consciousness, sleeping consciousness and Transpersonal Consciousness — but SOCs are seldom (if ever) pure, discrete, or clearly boundaried. Any SOC that differs substantively from the three "ordinary" SOCs (i.e., waking, dreaming and sleeping consciousness) can be thought of as " Altered State of Consciousness" (of which there are presumably an infinite number). See text, Chapter 10. See also, " Altered State of Consciousness," " consciousness " and " Transpersonal Consciousness."