(Continued from the previous post...)A rather controversial and respected spiritual state of consciousness is that of Ajna, or opening the third eye. We've all seen its symbol in our cultures multiple times, and a widely believed but as yet unproven theory is that the pineal gland induced these states of great insight. The pineal gland is located in the very center of the brain, although not a part of it and not made of brain matter. In reptiles it has a lens and a cortex and is located right in the middle of the forehead. This leads to the belief that it used to be an exposed appendage that was unneeded for the body's survival and as species evolved it delved deeper into the brain away from the light that it seems to react to. This devolving of higher levels of consciousness is in the same vein of the child's quick adaptation to survive and lessening of individual consciousness.
The pineal gland is known to release melatonin, a tryptamine neurotransmitter associated with sleep although markedly non-psychoactive, in cycles every day, the peak of which being at about 3am. It is surrounded by a seemingly unnecessarily nearly impenetrable defense system of nerves, the reason of which has yet to be discovered. Dr. Richard Strassman developed the theory that endogenous dimethyltryptamine, an incredibly psychoactive substance found in the blood of nearly every animal and in many plants, used in brews along with MAOIs by native tribes in Brazil to induce intense visions, is created by the pineal gland, thus explaining the strict security system surrounding it. Should DMT be developed so easily, it wouldn't allow for normal functioning at the survival level, so he hypothesized evolution helped to secure our survival by making it near impossible to happen under normal circumstances. However, at times when the brain is under incredible amounts of stress, such as birth or dying, it is presumably possible that precursors to DMT may flood the gates and be produced by the pineal gland, representing itself in the white light people report seeing in near death experience, and the development of consciousness after birth. We are born gods and we die gods, and everything in between is an attempt to reach that state once again.
Psychedelic substances taken at high enough doses recreate this pure state in a form known as "ego death," an experience of consciousness in which all other states disappear and where the concept of the individual has no subjective meaning. We are tuned into the supercomputer and become the mind of God. The subconscious mind has enough power than once tapped into becomes as exact as the universe itself. This state of mind is worshipped by Eastern cultures and religions as many things, and by Aztec's as the sun, above the tree.
The only state higher than this is the Crown, or Sahasrarra, of which is the movement of all energy in the Universe. We are assimilated back into it at death as the cogs than hold our survival in place loosen and fall into the natural self-sustaining energy system of the cosmos.
This movement into the deeper workings of the supercomputer is catalyzed by an increasing stimulation of the force of knowledge and understanding, the yin and yang of all conscious perception, each feeding the other. It shows itself in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, left being the subconscious mind with the ability to understand the entire workings of the universe, but unable to directly communicate with the right, the perception and desktop of which we are conscious of and attune with knowledge to allow understanding from the other side to seep through.
(To be continued on the next post...)
OK, so far we've gone through 3 of the 4 pages of my oldest son's essay on my blog. I am hoping that I have not lost too many readers by segmenting and putting the content one page at a time. My intent is to allow you to let some of it brew in your mind so that by the end you will have a more realistic and comparable experience from its content. Realistic and comparable to my own experience is what I am trying to say, since I did not just wake up one day to him talking about chakras and psychedelic substances. The experience has been for lack of a better term, evolutionary, growing little by little and creeping up into it's current state with the path of time.
My son asked me yesterday if I would take him shopping for sunglasses, since the ones he had inherited from a friend had found their fate as much of everything else that he posses, broken, or dismembered. It is typical that items that are in his constant use will live much shorter lives because of his continuous fidgeting. His compulsion will not allow him to find a new pair that is any different than the previous one, unless he has exhausted every venue that might sell them. To you, this inflexibility might seem like he is being unreasonable. To me, it is just normal behaviour from his end since I am already used to most of his compulsions and am fully aware that fighting them is just opening the door to a much worse outcome than the task of driving around for an hour just for a silly pair of sunglasses. Really, this does not bother me as much as it should because I typically take this time together to reach out and communicate with him. After all, he is pretty much a captive audience when it is just the two of us in my car. What better opportunity for me to ask questions, and seek understanding of his current mental status.
While we were driving around from store to store I made it a point of me to acknowledge having read his essay and requested a bit of clarification on some of its content. This I did not because a lack of understand of his message, but rather because I wanted to understand how he arrived to his conclusions. To my pleasant surprise, he was more than eager to talk about it, so I felt it was fair game for me to dig deeper. The process of asking questions and getting answers was tricky because he is much like a clever politician that when asked a direct question will quote something related to the subject and then go off on a tangent with his answer, which of course is more like avoiding the question altogether. As a polite constituent, I never interrupt his tangential reply knowing that it will only shut down the communication like that I have already established at that moment. Instead, once he has said his peace, I paraphrase his answer and recenter my question much more specifically. In the end, it becomes more like me being a clever lawyer and basically leading the witness.
"So, what you are telling me is that in order for man to achieve a higher level of enlightenment, he must release himself from the preconceptions that he has learned throughout his life?", I asked him at one point in our conversation. "The way to enlightenment is through the breakdown of anything that ties us to the physical world, and for anyone to let go, they first have to understand that the physical world as we see it is not what is real. That is why psychedelic drugs are effective, they release us from the mental barriers that we have built throughout our lives...", he answered back. "What about happiness? Can we find happiness if we let go of all of these barriers? I asked him after his reply. "Happiness and sadness are not real, they are part of what man has constructed in his mind, another barrier. The universe exist without the need of happiness or sadness, it is well balanced on its own..." He replied. "I can only imagine a total life of solitude, kind of like Jesus going out to the desert to reflect for 40 days...other enlightened men have done this too...yet they all seem to have a need to come back to share their enlightenment with the rest of us. I wonder if because we live in this physical world, in the end we have to accept our limitations, including our humanity. The fact that we seek to avoid sadness and find happiness I think is a sign that we apparently need those emotions in order to interact with everything around us...," I told him. "Maybe...," he answered.
This kind of dialogue is not without its value. It might sound like two guys throwing words into the air to see who has more intellect on a particular subject. However, it is nothing of the sort to me. As unclear as it might seem, there is a well of wisdom in my son's persona awaiting to be accessed by anyone that dares to throw themselves into the dark tunnel of his mind. As a thirsty parent that needs and wants to know and understand him, I have no choice but to dive in regardless of how deep or shallow this well might actually be in the end. It could all be just the regurgitation of words read in books, but I cannot take the chance of ignoring and not deciphering any hidden messages because it would be irresponsible of my part to do so. Hang in there, just one final page and we'll soon be on a new subject, hopefully with something to laugh about.
Dad
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