Summary:
The article discusses the effects of LSD on the brain, which can lead to a dissolution of the ego and a merging of the inner and outer worlds. Often also referred as "whole brain synchronization" or also often mentioned as 'Hemispheric Synchronization' in meditational circles. It also notes that this state of consciousness can be similar to that of a child and that as the brain becomes more specialized and rigid in adulthood, hence the possibility of spiritual experiences decreases.
The feeling »everything is one« (universal unity) is often referred to with the artificial term »entheogen«. It is composed of the ancient Greek words éntheos (god enthusiastic) and genésthai (to effect). The focus is on the experience of a pantheistic reality of the world. Pantheism states that the term
"God" equals the totality of all things.
Many people have reported feeling a deep sense of interconnectedness with all things. Already in ancient traditions, psycho-active drugs were used to help achieve this feeling. This has not changed to this day.
They are called "entheogens." Our goal is to achieve this state of consciousness without relying on psychoactive substances.
But it makes sense to look at what drugs do to the brain to trigger and experience that feeling. We have evidence that exactly the same changes in the neurons in the network of our brains occur with a certain mental attitude. For example, psilocybin, the main active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms, has long been known to produce a brain activity pattern similar to that seen in dreams. On the other hand, psilocybin works in a similar way to LSD.
Even under the influence of LSD, the world appears as if in a dream.
The ego dissolves.
But even more interesting is the finding that after LSD consumption, the brain takes on a state similar to that of a child.
This is so interesting because you keep hearing esoteric stories from children's mouths and ones from children that are not easy for adults to understand
state of bliss can be observed.
Let's take a closer look. LSD is the abbreviation of "lysergic acid diethylamide," a synthetic derivative of the alkaloid lysergic acid, which is formed by the fungus that grows on rye ears, commonly known as ergot (Claviceps pu-purea). LSD cannot be smoked because the active ingredient is destroyed by heat. But even the smallest amounts, in the microgram range, introduced into the body can cause intensive changes in perception. This is astonishing, because only a very small part of this tiny dose gets through the blood-brain barrier into the brain. There, LSD binds to various serotonin receptors. The receptor types 5-HT A»
5-HT2A, 5-HT2c seem to trigger a special effect on the effect. These receptors are widely distributed in strategically important brain areas (raphe nuclei, locus caeruleus, pyramidal cells in the neocortex). Now you have to know that physiologically and without drugs, these important brain areas send inhibitory information to all other brain regions, probably to protect the brain from over-excitation and to reduce it to the excitation response of the acute stimulus. These naturally occurring inhibitory signals are now in turn inhibited by LSD receptor effects. Inhibition of inhibition results in forcing. This is why many brain areas are now accumulating to high levels of synchronized arousal activity at the same time.
It's not just about the sensory impressions that are processed, but about information that is "unconsciously" recognized, decoded, interpreted and filtered in the same way as the stimulus. Only then are these signals sent via the "thalamus" entrance gate for processing in the cerebral cortex. LSD more or less prevents that filtering, and the pulse current to the cerebral cortex is excessively enlarged, without the usual interpretations. This results in a changed first-person perspective and self-awareness, that's what we are looking for!
A working group from Imperial College in London led by Robin L. Carhart-Harris used the latest brain scan methods to look at a group of LSD test subjects and compared them with a placebo group.'* The scientists speak of putting the brain into a child-like state.
What does that mean? Our brain normally works with independent neuron networks. Each network performs specific tasks on its own; this leads, for example, to seeing, hearing, walking, grasping, but also to increased attention and much more. LSD dissolves this separation of the individual networks, resulting in one functional unit.
People with these brain disinhibitions feel a pleasant dissolution of the ego, a merging, and a blissful oneness with the universe. Overall, a state of »all-encompassing consciousness«. In addition, there is often talk of a feeling of trust in other people that is otherwise not felt.
The increase in overall connectedness in the brain under LSD corresponds to an conscious I-dissolution that subjects enthusiastically report. This creates a merging of the inner world with the outer world. The sensory impressions of the outside world are perceived for what they actually are: experiences of the self, i.e. experiences of the inside, which the I normally does not allow.
Exactly this functional unit of neuron networks can also be found in the brains of children. Only in adults does the brain specialize through constant training and is then divided into different functional areas.
As a result, it becomes increasingly rigid and inflexible.
This also applies to centers that are responsible for our self-awareness; their activity becomes increasingly more isolated. Worry, fear and anxieties increase.
As a result, the possibility of spiritual experience is also increasingly disappearing. Even if entheogens are now taken, the dissolution of one's own identity leads to increased states of anxiety in some subjects, which can escalate into panic. These states, if they occur repeatedly, are now also learned through the repetitions.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World, devoted himself to researching hallucinogens as early as the early 1950s. Through his own experiences with these drugs, he believed that under drugs the world reveals itself as things really are. In his writing Gates of Perception he describes "a perception freed from ballast"18 Man sees himself less as an individual and more as part of the universe. Huxley is one of the namesakes of the term "psychedelic" meaning "to reveal the soul".
He made his experiences with mescaline, among other things. He recognized not only the change in perception, but also the dissolution of the ego. Through a kind of decentralization of the ego, identification with the self-instance succeeds, and the subjects no longer feel separated from the things in their environment that they hear or see or feel.
New worlds through isolation from everyday life
It is now important to know that the synchronized coherence function of the brain networks also occurs during deep relaxation. A few years ago, there was no explanation for this phenomenon of an activation state of the brain with absolute body rest, and this is why scientists used to call it a "mysterious region" and "mystical midbrain activity". It's about the state of the already briefly quoted as the »Default-Mode Network« (DMN), which can be meaningfully translated as »basic« or »sleep mode network« or as »idle network of the brain«, where "rest" and "idle" do not refer to the brain but to the physical activity.'
Here, too, brain regions that otherwise have little connection synchronize themselves. The DMN mode contains two different states:
. It is active without prefrontal cortex function and thus unconsciously and unrememberably reflects the world of dream sleep.
- It is active together with the prefrontal cortex and consciously and rememberably reproduces a world that has little to do with the material world of everyday life, but can be accessed during the combination of relaxation and mindfulness meditation, as in lucid dreams. This state was characterized as so-called stimulus-independent thinking, acronym SIT (stimulus-independent thought), and these activities can be characterized as a kind of state of readiness for inner contemplation, whereby the focus of what is happening, according to scientists, is also predictions about the future . In earlier Indo-Asian cultures, the state was referred to as "Turiya" (literally "the fourth" [the superconscious state of enlightenment that transcends the three familiar states of consciousness of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep]).
In the states of rest and especially in the deep relaxation of the human being, different basic states of the mind-soul connection are revealed. The indicator for this is the pattern of the default network.
Its important to understand that here is, in regards to our perception, a subjective ‘inside-system’ and an objective ‘outside-system’.
The things of our world are imaginations, things and imaginations have a reflexive relation. We have to clarify for ourselves that both systems are originating and created by the same consciousness. Thus must be possible to merge these two systems into one, which then creates the unity experience. As often mentioned in biblical scriptures, recognize yourself, only you can recognize that self because it's yours and the world will open all its doors for you.
Through these realizations not only does the ability to associate increase, but also the overall interconnectedness of the brain increases, which leads to coherent neuronal activity.
When our brain functions in coherence with no inhibiting agents or frequencies, its capacity are greatly increased.
It equates to a certain trance state where the self can be more easily merged with ourselves. The sensory impressions of the outside world are then perceived for what they actually are: experiences of the self, i.e. experiences of the inside, which the ego does not allow us to do so.
Exactly this functional unit of neuron networks can also be found in the brains of children. We have already made it clear that the ego in children is much weaker than in adults and the connection to the self is correspondingly stronger. "Becoming like children" is the prerequisite for "entering the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3).
- G. Jung has described the key protagonists very well. It is about the ego on the one hand and the self on the other hand: as material human beings we correspond with the ego, as universal spirit-soul we correspond with our self-instances. What defines us can alternately be ego and world soul, i.e. parts of the whole or connected as a holistic unit. The whole is always present unconsciously, we just have to bring it out more strongly when needed. Jesus, Allah, previously Buddha or Trismegistus, and many more are considered "Prototypes" for it.