This is really a collection of notes for future development.
Ancestral capacity for powerful brain-wide 'coherence' and an emergent macro quantum field?
Reconnecting a few of the dots...
By Tony Wright
Featured Image ‘Aperture’ by Alex Grey. Image linked to www.alexgrey.com
Highlights.
The rapidly expanding human neo-cortex was an emergent structure with novel and extremely rare emergent properties. It was the product of a unique co-evolving symbiotic relationship via the ingestion of the juvenilising reproductive organs of the angiosperms.
The ‘effective’ immersion of typical mammalian physiology with a typical mammalian neural system in the juvenilising angiosperm reproductive environment modified (juvenilised) the mammalian transcription environment and modified (juvenilised) the mammalian neuroendocrine system.
The key result of the symbiotic relationship re neural quantum coherence: an increasingly structurally uniform neo-cortex, fuelled by an extremely rich and high octane symbiotic neuro-chemical regime. Effectively a large proliferating mass of juvenile/undifferentiated neural cells with the capacity to facilitate powerful coherent brain-wide states.
Simplistically, the neo-cortex could light up like a single neural cell resulting in some kind of macro quantum state producing a coherent quantum field.
(See; What was so special about our new brain?)
This is a condensed summary of the key neural traits that emerged while the symbiotic relationship and associated feedback mechanisms were sustained.
Adaptive selection built a typical genetically and functionally asymmetric mammalian neural system. (Expression of cerebral genetic asymmetry is in part a function of steroid activity. Lower steroid activity equals less expression/asymmetric differentiation, i.e. the cerebral hemispheres remain more symmetrical restructure/function; for example that of a typical default juvenile neural system.)
The powerful juvenilising effects (in part via steroid modulation/inhibition) of a symbiotic relationship with female reproductive organs of the angiosperms (fruit) created a juvenilising transcription and developmental environment.
The juvenilised transcription environment induced a tumour like proliferation of the archaic mammalian brain and overlaid it with a new executive layer of increasingly juvenile and undifferentiated neural tissue (progressively extending the typical juvenile neural proliferation windows and inhibiting the typical maturation mechanisms can explain the emergence and accelerating expansion of the neo-cortex without the need for classic adaptive selection pressures, see heterochrony).
The proliferating juvenile new brain runs a more juvenile neuro-endocrine system (as it would) feeding into and eventually dominating the juvenilising impact of the symbiotic relationship.
This combination, if sustained, can eventually lead to a runaway feedback loop, accelerating expansion of what is best described as an emergent symbiotic structure, an increasingly juvenile and relatively undifferentiated neo-cortex.
The emergent new neural structure encased the older mammalian brain, becoming the executive perceptual and functional layer and brought with it two related key emergent traits:
1. Expansion and lifelong retention of enhanced juvenile traits (physiological and psychological).
A general tendency for the retention and expansion of typical juvenile traits, more juvenile psychology, empathy, altruism, playfulness, lack of aggression or hierarchy. In addition, a lifelong and voracious capacity for assimilation of novel experience resulting in very high cognitive function etc. Some of these traits are still evidenced to a limited degree today but are slowly reverting.
2. Capacity for brain-wide coherence/macro quantum state.
Alluded to in ancient mythology and religious traditions, and still glimpsed today in so-called 'altered states'. Essentially a very hi-resolution sense of self, i.e. ability to perceive what we currently call our atomic, sub-atomic and energetic quantum nature with its inherent interconnectedness to everything, though most particularly with similarly coherent states.
This capacity was very significantly dependent on the extremely rich symbiotic neuro-chemical regime that was the integral evolutionary operating environment during the emergence and proliferation of the neo-cortex (a complex and extremely rich cocktail of neuro-active and cell signalling chemicals with powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as well as an abundance of simple sugars).
The basic biological jigsaw pieces and mechanisms appear to fit and predict many of the unusual traits associated with being human as well as explaining the rapid and accelerating expansion of the human neocortex, the sudden stall in expansion and evidence for recent shrinkage.
Despite the theory being based on completely different mechanisms than the current variation of selective adaptation models of human origins, it has attracted significant support even in its early form.
‘This is a totally new way of looking at the evolution of the human brain. It is so totally fresh, unexpected and hitherto un-thought-of that it will probably take a long time before evolutionary anthropologists and psychologists begin to take it on board; but it will make an impact, of that there is no doubt. It will be, it must be, taken very seriously in any discussion of human origins.’ (14/03/2008)
Colin Groves- Professor of Biological Anthropology at the School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Australian National University and author of several books including A Theory Of Human And Primate Evolution and Bones, Stones and Molecules. He was an active member of the Australian Skeptics and had many published sceptical papers adding weight to his public endorsement of what might be considered a radical theory of human origins.
The theory also offers a possible explanation as to why ancient religious traditions, as well as historic and contemporary subjective accounts of ‘altered states’, allude to a state of mind so utterly and incomprehensibly different from what is typically experienced today.
This is where the symbiotic theory may interface with quantum coherence theory...
Whatever the underlying mechanisms regarding any kind of emergent macro quantum state, a more uniform cellular and subcellular structure will more easily facilitate and propagate powerful brain-wide coherence. This is still evidenced to some degree today in the typical juvenile brain.
Post symbiotic reversion to typical mammalian type.
As is generally understood, emergent symbiotic structures are dependent on maintaining the symbiotic relationship. They are not locked in the DNA code as with most traits, but result from a significant modification of how the DNA code is expressed. If the relationship breaks down the emergent structure can disappear (i.e. lichens etc).
In this case, when the relationship breaks down the accelerating feedback mechanism stalls and goes into reverse, slowly accelerating over time. The emergent structure begins to erode, and much more importantly, as the juvenilising reproductive biochemistry is lost and relative steroid activity rises and reaches critical expression thresholds, the juvenile/undifferentiated outer executive layers begin to asymmetrically differentiate/mature.
This pattern is seen in a typical lifespan, rapid expansion, stall, then an unusual degree of ageing and shrinkage with an asymmetric slant. Obviously the typical maturation and ageing process would have been greatly inhibited during our symbiotic phase and could explain ancestral myths of great longevity.
What we may be seeing and experiencing is the asymmetric loss of capacity for powerful unified coherent brain states that resulted in some form of macro quantum state. The re-emerging expression of archaic genetic asymmetry results in one hemisphere losing both traits more quickly than the other. Unique capacity for powerful coherence would likely be more fragile than more general juvenile traits/psychology. It appears the capacity for these traits has been greatly reduced or lost in the left hemisphere while relics of these traits still exist in the right hemisphere.
The loss of structural capacity is exacerbated by extreme/chronic neurochemical deficiency relative to our symbiotic origins. This may shed light on historic and current efforts to self medicate with chemicals that crudely induce some degree of coherence in the hemisphere that still has some structural capacity to initiate/facilitate such states.
Clues in split-brain research.
In recent times simple interpretations of split-brain theory have been relegated to the realms of popular culture despite very significant data that supports asymmetric structure, function and dysfunction between the cerebral hemispheres. This may be in part a failure to make sense of the unusual split-brain data from an adaptive selection perspective. In addition, nobody has ever considered the possibility that our neural system and associated perception is very seriously compromised despite a mountain of data that could be interpreted as supportive of such a proposal. However post symbiotic asymmetric reversion to mammalian type may make sense of interpreting the split-brain data including the ultimate catch 22, we may be attempting to self-asses with a perceptually and cognitively impaired dominant hemisphere.
For example, this study by E.A. Serafetinides in 1965 appears to show a highly significant lateralised perceptual response to L.S.D.
L.S.D. is one of a group of chemicals that can induce facets of some of the most profound and life-changing experiences the human neural system is capable of facilitating.
Dr Richard G. Petty made the following comment on the above Serafetinides study in his paper 'Structural Asymmetries of the Human Brain and Their Disturbance in Schizophrenia'
'A further famous and potentially behaviorally significant experiment involved the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) to patients before and after temporal lobectomy. It was shown that ablation of the right temporal lobe is associated with a disappearance of the perceptual effects of the drug (Serafetinides 1965), implying an asymmetry of 5-hydroxytryptamine type 1A and 2 receptors—the main site of action of LSD.' Schizophrenia Bulletin, page 26 Vol. 25, No. 1, 1999 R.G. Petty
He and others seem to concur that the study shows right hemisphere lobectomy or hemispherectomy results in reduction/loss of 'typical' perceptual response to LSD (though it may be less to do with receptor asymmetry and more to do with structural reversion asymmetry). It may be that so-called ‘mind-expanding’ chemicals are capable of a crude, partial and temporary rebooting of hemisphere-wide quantum coherence and inducing more juvenile like neural activity? Some have described imaging data of our brain on LSD as being more like the mind of a baby.
Some interesting links in this piece: 'The Phoenix Effect: Reversing Mental Age With Psychedelics'
Sleep
(notes to follow)
Interrupting sleep after a few minutes can boost creativity
Sleeping with Half a Brain
Asymmetric sleep in apneic human patients
Unihemispheric slow-wave sleep
Researchers model unihemispheric sleep in humans
Neural Synchronization, Chimera States and Sleep Asymmetry
Sleep Paralysis, a Medical Condition with a Diverse Cultural Interpretation
Prevalence Rates of the Incubus Phenomenon: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Synesthesia
Synesthesia may have been the default mode of perception when our symbiotic neural system was still functional. While much has been written about synesthesia it has rarely been considered a lost ancestral trait, these two examples suggest synesthesia is correlated with highly advanced simultaneous processing of what are considered distinct abilities and potentially a greatly heightened sense of well being.
The Extraordinary Abilities of an Autistic Savant
My synaesthesia is no mere quirk but a self-shaking strangeness
Interestingly synesthesia is a well documented 'side effect' of psychedelic use.
Synesthesia on Psychedelics
The chemical induction of synaesthesia
Savant Memory in a Man with Colour Form-Number Synaesthesia and Asperger Syndrome
Jigsaw pieces.
Arranging some of the basic data can provide a simple conceptual framework for beginning to make sense of who or what we are and how to restore some semblance of experiential capacity (there is a mountain of it, the links throughout are for reference/further reading). The detail at this stage is less important than the headlines or overall patterns.
Self-assessment of one’s mental health is always fraught with potential risk, in simple terms it is always the brain assessing itself. The raw data from split-brain research appears to support a very challenging catch 22 that never seems to be factored in when those doing the research draw their conclusions. If the data is correct the least functional hemisphere is perceptually dominant and is essentially responsible for assessing itself. Some of the perceptually dominant hemisphere’s traits include an inherent inability to perceive context, degrees of delusion and denial as well as a tendency to continually confabulate. For this reason, the accepted conclusions are suspect at best and these dominant hemispheric traits need to be carefully factored in when assessing the data, see more under ‘split-brain’ research below.
Christie et al. Global versus local processing: seeing the left side of the forest and the right side of the trees Front Hum Neurosci. 2012; 6: 28.
Neurophilosophy. The delusional brain scienceblogs.com, January 20, 2009.
New York University School of Medicine. Delusions Associated With Consistent Pattern Of Brain Injury ScienceDaily, 13 January 2009.
Evolutionary biochemistry.
There is little dispute in mainstream science that for tens of millions of years our evolutionary origins were the equatorial tropical rain forests, by far the most complex molecular ecology biological evolution has ever created. Not only that, our ancestors were seed disseminating symbionts, an extremely unusual co-evolving symbiotic relationship that revolved around the ingestion of the swollen female reproductive organs of the angiosperms, several kilos daily. The science is catching up but only from an adaptive selection perspective. The juvenilising pharmacology of fruit is well documented yet no account of the direct impact of a symbiotic relationship on the mammalian transcription environment has been factored into an evolutionary context though some classes of plant chemicals that must have been extremely abundant during our symbiotic evolution are now categorised as endocrine disruptors.
Introductory references, more at the end of the article.
Wade L. Is fruit eating responsible for big brains? Evolution Plants & Animals Mar. 27, 2017
Milton K. Diet and Primate Evolution Scientific American June 1, 2006. Original pdf.
Gut Thinking: What makes fruit-eating spider monkeys so much smarter than leaf-eating howlers? Their gourmet diet, apparently--it's gone to their heads.
Food Choice and Digestive Strategies of Two Sympatric Primate Species
Milton K. Nutritional Characteristics of Wild Primate Foods: Do the Diets of Our Closest Living Relatives Have Lessons for Us? Nutrition Vol. 15, No. 6, 1999
(Specifically relevant to neural development and function)
Braga de Andrade Teles et al. Flavonoids as Therapeutic Agents in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Evidences. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2018
Baptista et al. Flavonoids as Therapeutic Compounds Targeting Key Proteins Involved in Alzheimer’s Disease. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2014 Feb 19; 5(2): 83–92
Böhl et al. Flavonoids Affect Actin Functions in Cytoplasm and Nucleus. Biophys J. 2007 Oct 15; 93(8): 2767–2780.
Hansberg-Pastor et al. Sex Hormones Regulate Cytoskeletal Proteins Involved in Brain Plasticity. Front Psychiatry. 2015.
The links immediately above support the proposal that our symbiotic host (the reproductive system of the Angiosperms) kept us permanently flooded with a rich and powerful cocktail of anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants for tens of millions of years...
(Again to build perspective. Our symbiotic ancestors were flooded with and perpetually infused by a complex biochemical cocktail of anti-inflammatory compounds. By comparison we are extremely deficient and therefore our normal range and typical levels of inflammation are pathological relative to our symbiotic past.
Genetically Determined Levels of Inflammation Linked to Neuropsychiatric Illness. Have Scientists Been Wrong About Alzheimer’s for Decades? To put it another way. If our new brain was an emergent structure of symbiotic origin i.e. quite literally a hybrid, then by now it or we would be in all kinds of perceptual and behavioural trouble).
Aside from a perpetual flood of anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants we were also immersed in a complex cocktail of juvenilising compounds that inhibited our typical mammalian maturation mechanisms.
Essentially over evolutionary time scales we were transformed into a permanent state of juvenility at least until we lost our symbiotic host, the reproductive system of the angiosperms.
Evidence for increasingly early maturation, the reverse of millions of years of our neural expansion trajectory. Earlier maturation means earlier and greater differentiation of hormonally sensitive neural tissue. If the degree of structural uniformity or differentiation of neural tissue is a significant factor in our state of mind or sense of self then we have rapidly diverged from our ancestral experience.
Puberty Starts Earlier Than It Used To. No One Knows Why.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics in Boys: Data From the Pediatric Research in Office Settings Network
Childhood overweight and obesity and timing of puberty in boys and girls: cohort and sibling-matched analyses
Minireview: Endocrine Disruptors: Past Lessons and Future Directions
MC3R links nutritional state to childhood growth and the timing of puberty
The relation of menarcheal age to obesity in childhood and adulthood: the Bogalusa heart study
Prenatal and postnatal exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals and timing of pubertal onset in girls and boys: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Associations of prepubertal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations with pubertal onset among a longitudinal cohort of boys
Longitudinal Investigation of Pubertal Milestones and Hormones as a Function of Body Fat in Girls
Recent Decline in Age at Breast Development: The Copenhagen Puberty Study
Worldwide Secular Trends in Age at Pubertal Onset Assessed by Breast Development Among Girls
Secondary Sexual Characteristics and Menses in Young Girls Seen in Office Practice: A Study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings Network
Onset of Breast Development in a Longitudinal Cohort
Fast Food A Potential Risk Factor For Alzheimer’s
Dietary patterns and β-amyloid deposition in aging Australian women
Role of “Western Diet” in Inflammatory Autoimmune Diseases
Western Style Foods Confuse Immune Systems Resulting to Spread of Autoimmune Disease
Dietary DHA prevents cognitive impairment and inflammatory gene expression in aged male rats fed a diet enriched with refined carbohydrates
Inflammation in Alzheimer Disease—A Brief Review of the Basic Science and Clinical Literature
Inflammation as a central mechanism in Alzheimer's disease
Inflammation linked to Alzheimer's disease development
The incidence of dementia and intake of animal products: preliminary findings from the Adventist Health Study
Mediterranean diet and Alzheimer disease mortality
Dietary and lifestyle guidelines for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease
Trends in diet and Alzheimer's disease during the nutrition transition in Japan and developing countries
Intake of Meat, Fish, Fruits, and Vegetables and Long-Term Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease
Meat consumption and risk of incident dementia: cohort study of 493,888 UK Biobank participants
Molecular chemoprevention by morin - A plant flavonoid that targets nuclear factor kappa B in experimental colon cancer
Quantum coherence.
Understanding of the complex physics and maths that underpin quantum coherence theory is unnecessary. What is of interest for now is that the headline traits appear to correlate with experiences that can be induced when implementing protocols intended to access what might be considered dormant function in non-ordinary (non left hemisphere dominant) states, see ‘treatments’ below.
Introductory references, more at the end of the article.
Hameroff S. Quantum Consciousness _ And its Nature In Microtubules. Dr. Stuart Hameroff .
Quantum Synapse. Youtube Nov 28, 2015
Dockrill P. Neuroscientists Say They've Found an Entirely New Form of Neural Communication Sciencealert 18 Feb 2019
Kolesnikov A. Quantum Tunneling of Water in Beryl: A New State of the Water Molecule Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 167802 – Published 22 April 2016
Related article: ORNL researchers discover new state of water molecule
During the juvenile phase the pineal gland produces higher levels of melatonin, melatonin plays a dynamic real-time role in microtubule configuration. If microtubules are involved in quantum coherence then the degree of juvenility/maturation in our symbiotic ancestral lineage may have been a significant factor.
Delgadillo et al. Effects of melatonin on microtubule assembly depend on hormone concentration J Pineal Res. 1994 Sep;17(2):55-62.
Split-brain research.
Despite the recent relegation of split-brain research to the fringe of popular science it is quite clear that developmental mechanisms exist that currently result in asymmetric neural development, structure and perceptual function, hardly surprising as the cerebral hemispheres are genetically asymmetric. It follows that the same mechanisms must have been heavily modified during our symbiotic past resulting in a radically different structural and functional outcome.
Introductory references, more at the end of the article.
Neuroscientist argues the left side of our brains have taken over our minds
'We behave like people who have right hemisphere damage,' says Iain McGilchrist
Can the divided brain tell us anything about the ultimate nature of reality? Dr Iain McGilchrist
The Divided Brain: Iain McGilchrist explains ‘why we are so unhappy’ Yale Books Official London Blog July 2012.
Know your left from your right: the brain’s divided hemispheres (In his study of how the two hemispheres communicate, Iain McGilchrist shows us the world in an entirely new way)
Treffert D. The savant syndrome: an extraordinary condition. A synopsis: past, present, future
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 364(1522): 1351–1357, 2009 May 27.
Treffert D.The “Acquired” Savant Could such dormant potential exist within us all? Wisconsin Medical Society (2010)
Snyder A. Explaining and inducing savant skills: privileged access to lower level, less-processed information Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 364(1522): 1399–1405. 2009 May 27.
Laino C. As Dementia Sets In, Artistic Genius Emerges Neurology Today: Volume 3, p 14–15. June 2003.
Zukowski M. Math genius, savant Jason Padgett visits Fond du Lac USA Today. Oct 4, 2016.
She Was Missing a Chunk of Her Brain. It Didn’t Matter
One criticism of split-brain research is that some of the seriously dysfunctional traits that are exposed in the dominant hemisphere are presumed to be the result of the surgical split or the underlying condition that required the surgery in the first place. However, there is a significant body of research that suggests these dysfunctional traits are universally present by degrees in the ‘normal’ population/brain just not quite so obvious. I compiled a selection of relevant papers on a symposium web site some years ago, there are many more.
Mythological and religious tradition.
It is generally presumed our distant forest-dwelling ancestors were not too bright and we slowly acquired ‘intelligence’ and a large brain through selective adaptation in response to hostile environments. The existence of mythological and detailed religious traditions alluding to what could be interpreted as a serious and progressive neurological condition that resulted in a near-complete loss of a sense of self so incomprehensible to us now that it can only be approached in ‘religious’ terminology are difficult to explain and easy to dismiss.
However if our rapidly expanding new brain (neo-cortex) was an emergent symbiotic structure (the product of a very rare form of symbiosis) with radically new emergent properties, it might begin to make some sense. Once the symbiotic relationship breaks down resulting in immediate deficiency in symbiotic neuro-chemistry and gradual asymmetric erosion and structural reversion to more mammalian type then every effort to slow that process and gain access to remaining function would be of the highest priority.
It is interesting that many traditional religious practices or ‘treatments’ related to this mythological and religious history appear to fit into one of three related approaches:
1. Natural diet
In reality ‘diet’ is advanced molecular engineering, ‘natural diet’ was an attempt to restore some semblance of the complex symbiotic neurochemistry, a major limiting factor and essential for anything like one time ‘normal’ function.
2. Inhibition of the activity and influence of the rapidly reverting hemisphere with its more typical primitive mammalian perceptual traits.
Sleep deprivation, the more reverted ‘primitive’ hemisphere now has weaker ‘batteries’ and can be run down much more quickly than the right hemisphere eventually resulting in a temporary shift in perceptual dominance. If you persist and are lucky you can lure your left hemisphere to sleep facilitating the temporary liberation of and unfiltered access to your right hemisphere self.
3. Stimulation of the more slowly reverting hemisphere that retains some degree of the structural capacity to facilitate rare and advanced symbiotic perceptual traits.
One of the most powerful surviving treatments.
Plant medicines or chemicals that preferentially engage activity in the right hemisphere (see L.S.D. study above).
These kinds of approaches were an important part of the ancestral consciousness restoration tool kit. However, there was always the risk that whenever there was contact between more consciousness focused cultures and more aggressive and degenerate cultures these kinds of treatments would be misunderstood and lost. Most of the traditional treatments have become fragmented and shrouded in mystery and dogma but still offer the opportunity, particularly when applied in appropriate combination, to experience a partial and transient glimpse of our ancestral symbiotic self. Just a single experience is often sufficiently profound to permanently alter one’s sense of self and direction in life.
A lost high science.
It would be entirely reasonable to expect the survival of mythological vestiges of an extremely advanced science dedicated to repairing or treating our primary sensory equipment if our ancestors were perceptually and cognitively far beyond our current ability in ways we no longer have the capacity to comprehend.
If you think the theory above stretches credulity then trawl the ancient literature and mythology on consciousness restoration and you find evidence for what can be interpreted as the careful extraction, distillation, condensation, dissolution and ingestion of a semi gaseous superfluid like substance, an exotic form of common metallic elements from specific types of ore that restored a degree of ‘divine’ connection.
The most familiar account in Western culture survives in fragmented symbolic form in Exodus and Leviticus (Exodus 32:20, ingestion of an exotic, non-metallic form of gold created via a process involving the Ram/Aries/Saturn/Set = Lead and the Bull/Taurus/Venus/Isis = Copper etc). This, in turn, may be a partial account of the Egyptian science of consciousness that likely still exists in various complex symbolic formats but that are mostly beyond our current cognitive capacity to recognise. More complete accounts and translations do exist in other traditions. The relics of this science of consciousness was never claimed by the early dynastic Egyptians as their own rather they saw themselves as custodians of a far more ancient tradition that was in many ways beyond their own understanding.
For the most part Western science has been unable to even begin to approach the complexity of what fragments remain and it has generally been dismissed as a primitive ‘religion’ even though its early revolutionaries Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle had more than a passing interest in alchemy.
Those same exotic forms of familiar elements appear to have an affinity with and commonly occur in the precise and uniform atomic lattice of certain crystalline structures such as various forms of SiO2 (silicon dioxide). When embedded in a precise lattice that provides exactly the required spacing they can resonate coherently and emanate a macro quantum-like field. Our ancestors being less neurologically compromised than we are could perceive these phenomena directly and recognised their nature. Locations with particularly powerful emanations were marked or integrated into complex mathematical, geometric and astronomically aligned structures intended to preserve advanced knowledge in multilayered contextual formats that were resilient to the passage of time.
Biological systems generally lack the precise lattice of crystalline structures required to facilitate coherent resonance with the exception of exotic forms of H20 (water) found at the subcellular level and currently part of the ongoing research into neurological quantum coherence.
These exotic forms of metallic elements may be the conduit between what we call the atomic world of matter that by its very nature is hostile to emergent macro-quantum states and the strange subatomic world of ‘energy’.
When sufficient of these elements are held together in powerful coherent resonance they can create a vortex between the two worlds or dimensions and allow one to infiltrate the other.
In more Arcadian language this may be where the formless eternal energetic ocean or cosmic self or ‘god’ creates the near impossible. Structure and form condensed out of its formless self then when exactly the right combinations are created it can inhabit, animate and in the rare case of our unique symbiotic neo-cortex begin to recognise itself in its new home and experience the profound wonder of its own creation.
The crude analogy of a tornado tearing through a scrap yard and leaving a fully functional and flying 747 in its wake comes to mind; only the emergence of our neo-cortex is astronomically more improbable and unimaginably more complex than any of our so-called technology.
In this analogy the tornado is relentless, the dynamic nature of creation can become its own nemesis, without taking control of our neurological flight deck and navigating to calmer skies or perhaps a holding pattern in the eye of the storm the ‘747’ will be torn apart by the same forces that created it.
It appears that our distant ancestors/ancestral self knew this and made significant effort and some progress before succumbing to repeated global catastrophes. They left us fragments of a flight manual, some basic flying instructions and some maintenance and repair protocols.
Whether we can do any better or whether we will be re-consigned to the cosmological scrap yard remains to be seen. Unfortunately, it seems we do not have long before we completely forget what we really are and this extremely rare symbiotic neurological vortex closes for good, and that presumes we don’t succumb to our increasingly primitive beliefs and destroy ourselves in the meantime.
Following this crude analogy to its conclusion, the ‘747’ has crash-landed and can only taxi at best, we the pilots have serious concussion and near-total amnesia and now use the ‘747’ as our collective shopping trolley. But even now with a few very urgent repairs, it may just get about off the ground, then who knows.
It is difficult not to mention the themes in the Garden of Eden stories, whether they are fragments of our ancient mythological history or not an account of the very genesis of humanity, ‘created’ with a rare and special connection to ‘god’, seems to be a story of symbiosis with the tropical forest and of course the reproductive organs of the angiosperms.
The ancient and universal mythology of a fall from grace and the loss of what could be described as a divine or cosmic sense of self in turn being replaced by a more primitive self may be an accurate historical account of post symbiotic reversion. The result, a catastrophic structural failure of our symbiotic neural systems capacity to facilitate powerful brain-wide coherence and macro quantum-like states. If that weren’t bad enough our sense of who we are has been increasingly dominated by characteristics of a more typical mammalian sense of self with an insidious dysfunctional twist. As the reversion process accelerates and our now dominant hemisphere increasingly differentiates and matures a corrupt form of primitive mammalian conditioning re-emerges. This results in a sense of self that increasingly identifies with and is constrained by early learned experiences and concepts (beliefs) as our capacity to directly perceive reality erodes. The stage is set for an inevitable spiral into all-encompassing delusion, this combined with the re-emergence typical mammalian traits of limited cognition, aggression and hierarchy etc has created the perfect apocalyptic storm. As with many serious mental health conditions, the progression of symptoms ends up in ever more damaging episodes of serial self-harm.
Sound extreme? Look at what we are doing to ourselves, societal structures based on fear and control, brainwashing then coercing ourselves to compete for bit parts in the modern Greek tragedy of corporate ‘Monopoly’, otherwise known as industrial-scale ecological and self-destruction. At best and if lucky we can look forward to lives of meaningless banality while telling ourselves we are becoming ever more advanced.
Fortunately at a fundamental level this is simply an expression and projection of our current neural configuration and that can be changed with immediate effect. Phew!
Any expectation of changing our perception and behaviour while doggedly maintaining our current and extremely dysfunctional neural configuration is simply a measure of how stupid we have become.
Gradually and carefully restoring the unique configuration of our symbiotic brain will automatically, rapidly and radically transform our sense of self and all associated behaviour and with it the overwhelming symptoms of self-destruction we have created.
In the meantime, fragmentary protocols to gain partial transitory glimpses of our symbiotic self have survived as living traditions, particularly in some indigenous cultures. These combined with treatments alluded to in mythology and ancient manuscripts and perhaps even some elements of modern technology can be already deployed and induce experiences sufficiently profound to inform radical changes in life direction.
Final points.
Our sense of self, perception and behaviour directly correlate with our neural configuration, the precise cellular, subcellular and molecular architecture of our neural systems structure and the specific neuro-chemical regime effectively dictate our sense of who or what we are. That is not to say we are our brain, if our sense of self was light like in nature then our neural system acts as an extraordinarily complex multilayered molecular lens with the capacity to project a coherent hi-resolution image of our self when fully focused. The structural configuration and neuro-chemical regime is usually the result of DNA transcription. Small changes in either the neural structure neuro-chemical regime usually result in very significant changes in our sense of self.
According to mainstream science, we spent millions of years in a symbiotic relationship with the angiosperms via the ingestion of their reproductive organs. By any measure, this must have had a massive impact of the design, structure and function of our neural system. If our neo-cortex was an emergent symbiotic structure, effectively a plant mammal hybrid then its function would be almost entirely dependent on maintaining the symbiotic relationship. It follows that the breakdown of such a relationship would have a huge impact on its design (transcription) and neuro-chemical regime.
The mainstream interpretation of data re human origins has been heavily skewed by long-standing expectations and assumptions that adaptive selection pressure in hostile environments is the only mechanism to explain evolutionary traits, especially a huge intelligent brain. Even if our ancestral lineages left the forest 2/3 million years ago as has generally been assumed, the previous tens of millions of years in a bizarre and unique symbiotic relationship would still likely be a major factor in all aspects of neural development and function though perhaps not so urgently relevant. There is of course evidence for various lineages of ancestral humans living in non-tropical forest environments millions of years ago. The question is whether they are representative of any given lineage or sporadic waves of forest refugees trying to adapt, survive and eventually speciate in relatively hostile environments while their forest-dwelling counterparts remained in rapidly co-evolving symbiosis until much more recently.
There does not appear to be any compelling evidence that would preclude one or several ancestral lineages remaining in symbiotic relationships in the equatorial tropical rain forest until very much later, perhaps somewhere between 20 thousand and 300 thousand years ago. If this is the case then obviously the effects of a deeply entangled symbiotic relationship and particularly post symbiotic reversion would have had a profound effect on the evolution of our neural system and its current functionality.
Trajectory of neural expansion in hominids the result of In-Situ adaptive selection in hostile environments or the result of population replacement by waves of later larger-brained post symbiotic refugees?
The assumption that neural expansion in various hominid species was a product of adaptive selection in hostile environments is not supported by the evidence.
This article on Neanderthals suggests the expansive trajectory was fuelled by population replacement i.e. the expansion did not happen In-Situ but by was the result of earlier smaller brained lineages being replaced by later larger brained lineages. The question then becomes how, why and where the neural expansion was taking place before arrival in locations that clearly did not result in expansion.
DNA from cave dirt tells tale of how some Neanderthals disappeared
Evidence for the role of repeated migration, population replacement and inbreeding continues to emerge.
DNA of early Neanderthal gives timeline for new modern human-related dispersal from Africa
Mysterious East Asians vanished during the ice age. This group replaced them.
Contextually related, increasing evidence of starch as a post symbiotic carbohydrate source.
The idea that carbs fuelled brain expansion rather than providing a crude substitute for symbiotically provided simple sugar is pure speculation.
Neanderthals carb loaded, helping grow their big brains
New study on Neanderthal and Denisovan blood groups, interesting that the evidence points to an African origin for both or 'post symbiotic refugees'.
Article.
Neanderthal and Denisovan blood groups deciphered
Paper
Blood groups of Neandertals and Denisova decrypted
More to do with degrees of slowed maturation/juvenility re humans and Neanderthals but interesting.
Preserved baby Neanderthal milk tooth shows earlier emergence than in humans
Interesting articles re human evolution and tropical rain forests.
Human evolution: secrets of early ancestors could be unlocked by African rainforests by Eleanor Scerri Visiting Research Fellow, University of Oxford. The Conversation.com, September 6, 2018.
Tropical forests in the deep human past by Eleanor Scerri
New DNA Research Changes Origin of Human Species
A weakly structured stem for human origins in Africa
It is very difficult with our current neural configuration to recognise our perceptual dominance by concepts and beliefs rather than the direct experience of reality. Even if the description above does correlate with our current predicament the arrangement of the symbols and the conceptual frameworks they induce are at best very crude representations of reality.
The only real test is experiential and that option is already available, maintaining our current neural configuration will pretty much guarantee an increasingly miserable existence and ultimately our self-destruction. By carefully retracing our evolutionary steps and beginning to restore our symbiotic neural configuration we can start to re-activate what may be the most complex consciousness system this side of the Milky Way. Only then will the accelerating descent into delusion and madness be reversed as we begin to recognise who and what we really are.
In the meantime, we could immediately choose to re-program our now primitive left hemisphere with much less destructive concepts and beliefs.
Why would a highly co-evolved symbiont leave its host?
under construction...
Pleistocene population expansions of shade-tolerant trees indicate fragmentation of the African rainforest during the Ice Ages
Tropical rainforest
Location of tropical (dark green) and temperate/subtropical (light green) rainforests in the world.
A map of vegetation patterns during the last glacial maximum.
During a co-evolving symbiotic relationship the symbiotic host tends to slowly subsume the symbiont. The symbiont is slowly integrated into its host through genetic adaptation and in the case of our ancestors through the progressive modification of the symbiont transcription environment and the slowing of core maturation and developmental mechanisms due to the increasing flood of juvenilising reproductive compounds.
Genetic adaptations include frugivorouse anatomy including colour vision, a shrinking colon, dentation
Modified transcription resulting in slowed maturation include extending skeleton proliferating neo-cortex more juvenilised delayed maturation, Quadraped hind legs are typically more robust and take longer to develop than forelegs. As the
What Drove Homo Erectus Out of Africa?
The earliest Pleistocene record of a large-bodied hominin from the Levant supports two out-of-Africa dispersal events
DNA reveals how ice ages affected African rainforests
High- and low-latitude forcing of Plio-Pleistocene East African climate and human evolution
Hominin cognitive evolution: identifying patterns and processes in the fossil and archaeological record
Why did glacial cycles intensify a million years ago? Researchers find clues on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean
Evidence for a Northern Hemispheric trigger of the 100,000-y glacial cyclicity
Huge volcanic eruption disrupted climate but not human evolution
When the Sea Saved Humanity
Smoking Gun: Fifty years of study by Bill Napier et al. vindicated in new paper
Taurid complex smoking gun: Detection of cometary activity
Extraordinary Biomass-Burning Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger Dryas Cosmic Impact ∼12,800 Years Ago. 1. Ice Cores and Glaciers
Extraordinary Biomass-Burning Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger Dryas Cosmic Impact ∼12,800 Years Ago. 2. Lake, Marine, and Terrestrial Sediments
Premature rejection in science: The case of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis
Younger Dryas
Evidence of Cosmic Impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at the Younger Dryas Onset (~12.8 ka): High-temperature melting at >2200 °C
Widespread glasses generated by cometary fireballs during the late Pleistocene in the Atacama Desert, Chile
The Hopewell airburst event, 1699–1567 years ago (252–383 CE)
'Dinosaur asteroid' wrought springtime devastation
Excerpt from article above.
"The global climate was cooling at the time of the impact so ecosystems would have been feeling the pressure of change anyway.
It's just that when you throw a spanner in the works in the shape of an asteroid smashing into Earth at 60,000mph, it tends to tip the scales and it was the straw certainly that broke the dinosaurs' back," he told BBC News.
Prof Phil Manning from the University of Manchester, UK
Tree-rings reveal two strong solar proton events in 7176 and 5259 BCE
A few links on resonance for further development.
Mysterious Ancient Temples Resonate at the 'Holy Frequency'
On the role of acoustics in the Vedic Hindu tradition and philosophy.
Wave propagation analysis in spiral geometries
Ancient seashell resonates after 18,000 years
Physical Modelling Synthesis of a Conch Shell
Physicists Discover a Remarkable New Type of Sound Wave
The Cult of the Sun Stone. The Origins of the Obelisk
Secrets of the Serpent, in Search of the Sacred Past, Special Revised
Understanding The Quartz Crystal Resonator
Crystal momentum
Time Crystals: A New Form Of Matter That Could Change Everything!
Superionic iron alloys and their seismic velocities in Earth’s inner core
Ferroelectric incommensurate spin crystals
Superionic ice phases could explain unusual magnetic fields around Uranus and Neptune
Human trichromacy revisited
Unconscious perception of sounds—humans hear differences even without listening
Magnetic stop signs signal a European songbird’s arrival at the breeding site after migration
Eye contact with your baby helps synchronise your brainwaves
Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains
Theta State – Brain Waves and Floating
Brainwave study reveals psychedelic DMT produces "waking-dream" state
Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
Brain wifi
Instead of a code encrypted in the wiring of our neurons, could consciousness reside in the brain’s electromagnetic field?
References
Evolutionary biochemistry
DeCasien et al. Primate brain size is predicted by diet but not sociality Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0112 (2017)
Lambert et al. Hormonally active phytochemicals and vertebrate evolution. Evol Appl. 10(5):419-432, 2017 Mar 23.
Ohlssona et al. Mixture effects of dietary flavonoids on steroid hormone synthesis in the human adrenocortical H295R cell line Food and Chemical Toxicology Volume 48, Issue 11, Pages 3194-3200, November 2010.
Zhang et al. Light-harvesting chlorophyll pigments enable mammalian mitochondria to capture photonic energy and produce ATP. J Cell Sci.;127 (Pt 2):388-99, 2014 Jan 15.
Morgan D. Ape Diets
The dispersal syndrome hypothesis: How animals shaped fruit traits, and how they did not
Quantum Coherence
Hameroff S. Quantum coherence in microtubules: A neural basis for emergent consciousness? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1, No.1, , pp. 91-118, Summer 1994.
News Staff Superfluid Motion of Light Observed at Room Temperature www.sci-news.com Jun 9, 2017
Dietrich C. et al. An exciton-polariton laser based on biologically produced fluorescent protein Sci Adv. 2016 Aug
Gutschner M. Discovery of Quantum Vibrations in “Microtubules” Inside Brain Neurons Corroborates Controversial 20-Year-Old Theory of Consciousness A review and update of a controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness published in Physics of Life Reviews January 16, 2014.
Hunt T. The Hippies Were Right: It's All about Vibrations, Man! A new theory of consciousness. Scientific American December 5, 2018.
Sahu S. Atomic water channel controlling remarkable properties of a single brain microtubule: Correlating single protein to its supramolecular assembly Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Volume 47, 15 September 2013. Link to pdf download.
Can Consciousness Be Explained by Quantum Physics? New Research
Split Brain Research
Kolb B. et al. Brain Plasticity and Behaviour in the Developing Brain J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 20:4, November 2011
Adhya D. et al. Understanding the role of steroids in typical and atypical brain development: Advantages of using a “brain in a dish” approach J Neuroendocrinol. 2018 Feb; 30.
Small T. et al. Testosterone Mediates Seasonal Growth of the Song Control Nuclei in a Tropical Bird Brain Behav Evol; 86:110-121,2015.
Hodgetts S. The neuromodulatory properties of gonadal steroid hormones with regard to individual differences in cognition and brain organisation. Faculty of Science > Psychology, Department of 24 Nov 2016.
Greenberg, D. et al. Testing the Empathizing–Systemizing theory of sex differences and the Extreme Male Brain theory of autism in half a million people PNAS 115 (48) 12152-12157, November 27, 2018.
Rathee P. et al. Mechanism of Action of Flavonoids as Anti-inflammatory Agents: A Review Inflammation & Allergy - Drug Targets, 229-235, August 2009.
Savitz J. et al. Dissociative Identity Disorder Associated with Mania and Change in Handedness Cog Behav Neurol, Volume 17, Number 4, December 2004
Brainwaves suppress obvious ideas to help us think more creatively Queen Mary, University of London December 10, 2018
Keenan J. et al. The Causal Role of the Right Hemisphere in Self-Awareness: It is the Brain that is Selective Published in Cortex, volume 43, pages 1074-1082, 2007.
Ramachandran V.S. Anosognosia in Parietal Lobe Syndrome Consciousness and Cognition Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 22-51, March 1995.
Kovalev VA. et al. Gender and age effects in structural brain asymmetry as measured by MRI texture analysis. Neuroimage. 2003 Jul;19(3):895-905.
Santarnecchi E. et al. Gamma tACS over the temporal lobe increases the occurrence of Eureka! moments Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 5778, 2019.
Snyder A. et al. Brain stimulation enables the solution of an inherently difficult problem Neuroscience Letters Volume 515, Issue 2, 2 May 2012, Pages 121-124
Snyder A. Explaining and inducing savant skills: privileged access to lower level, less-processed information Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 May 27; 364(1522): 1399–1405
Ancient science of consciousness repair.
A definitive theory of consciousness has yet to emerge from modern scientific investigation. The evidence from research into neurological quantum coherence suggests that consciousness and our sense of self may have their roots in the esoteric world of what we call ‘sub-atomic energy’.
Interestingly the core objective of the alchemical tradition was the preparation of an extremely powerful medicine with very strange properties. It was intended for restoring some semblance of divine connection using a metallurgic process that was known to our distant ancestors.
While alchemy has been relegated to the pseudoscience of charlatans a large body of literature exists that retains a common metallurgic and medicinal theme though often in very symbolic form. Those themes appear to offer an explanation for the bizarre account of ingesting a non-metallic form of gold in Exodus 32:20, though in doing so a whole new set of questions arise. If our ancestors were perceptually and cognitively more advanced than we have been led to believe then the preservation of their science of the mind would be of utmost priority if only we knew how and where to look.
One place to start digging is in to the history of the Dendera Temple complex and particularly the Hathor Temple and its connection to the 'Golden Calf'.
Some introductory material.
The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and His Alchemical Quest. Lawrence Principe
Princeton University Press 8 Oct. 2000
Alchemy: The Secret Art. Stanislas Klossowski de Rola
Thames and Hudson, 1973
The Alchemists Handbook: Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy. Frater Albertus
Red Wheel/Weiser; 12 Nov. 1987.
‘The human body contains some inorganic minerals in minute quantities from which it receives nourishment of a highly vibratory nature’.
The Sign And The Seal: Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Graham Hancock
Arrow 14 Jan 1993
Not a book specifically on alchemy but in his search for the Ark Graham Hancock uncovers an Interesting description of the tablets of stone kept in the Ark of the Covenant and suggests what that might mean quite literally, ‘the two tablets were quite literally fragments of the divine.’
Jannie S.J.van Deventer. The precious metals we prefer to ignore Minerals Engineering Volume 53, November 2013, Pages 266-275.
Excerpt from an interesting piece on the cult of 'Yahweh'.
'The cult of YHWH as god of metallurgy originated among semi-nomadic copper smelters between the Bronze and Iron'Age'.
Ariel D. Jewish God Yahweh Originated in Canaanite Vulcan, Says New Theory Haaretz, Apr 11, 2018.
Also,
Nissim A. Yahweh, the Canaanite God of Metallurgy? Sage, Vol 33, Issue 4, 2009
And,
Nissim A and Shamir Y. The Metallurgical Meaning of 'Impart' in Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew Studies, National Association of Professors of Hebrew, Volume 59, 2018.
Additional resources
This four part presentation provides a simplified introduction and basic context.
The Insanity of Humanity Episode 1
The Insanity of Humanity Episode 2
The Insanity of Humanity Episode 3
The Insanity of Humanity Episode 4
The manuscript for my book was mostly written in the early 2000s however it still provides a good introduction and basic context.
Return to the Brain of Eden: Restoring the Connection between Neurochemistry and Consciousness
Tony Wright & Graham Gynn. Inner Traditions; 3rd Revised Edition of ‘Left in the Dark’. May 29, 2014.
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