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Forward from http://community.onetantra.com/groups/group/search?q=One+Tantra+News
Half a century ago, many scientists believed it to be impossible
to truly understand the secret of life. However, the discovery
of the structure of DNA and the subsequent mapping of the human
genome have changed medicine and biology forever. We now face a
similar pursuit in understanding the fundamental basis of
consciousness. How does the smell of fresh baked bread just out
of the oven or the pain of stubbing your toe or the experience
of bliss in A brain entrainment tool used to go beyond mind to
open the doorway to Cosmic consciousness. It can be achieved or
practiced by using a mantra, Yantra, or repetitive motion, such
as free form dancing, running, or sitting silently like in Zazen,
etc. Often thought of as dropping the mind.
"meditation - emerge from networks of random neurons and
synaptic processes? From where does consciousness spring? And
what the heck does tantra have to do with all of this? Does
understanding the neuroscience of attention or of endocrinology
help make us achieve spiritual awakening more easily?
For the purposes of this article, an exploration of the
neurobiology of tantra can be broken down into three general
areas of investigation. First, to connect the phenomenology of
consciousness to its underlying neurobiology – ie, to truly
understand how consciousness itself arises from this magnificent
machine we call the brain, made of neurons, dendrites, axons and
synapses. Second, to address the current neurobiology of
meditation, with an eye toward addressing scientific methodology
to the exploration of Sanskrit term relating to the creative
life-force energy at the base of the spine that once awakened,
coils upward like a snake through the electrical Chakra centers
awakening each aspect of the soul more fully, and as it reaches
the crown, and connects with the experience of universal
oneness. Nirvikalpa samadhi, enlightenment beyond forms, occurs
as the force pierces through the door of Brahman at the core of
the sahasrara and enters"kundalini, and perhaps even “Qi or Chi
is the Chinese word for the flows of subtle energy in the body
that move along pathways called meridians. A clear flow of
energy through the meridians is the key to radiant health,
eroticism, and intimacy. This is not a hoax or April Fool’s
joke. Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience
Laboratories succeeded in processing and displaying images
directly from the human brain, they said in a study unveiled
ahead of publication in the US magazine Neuron. While the team
for now has managed to reproduce only simple images from the
brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to
figure out dreams and other secrets inside people’s minds.
"It was the first time in the world that it was possible to
visualize what people see directly from the brain activity," the
private institute said in a statement. "By applying this
technology, it may become possible to record and replay
subjective images that people perceive like dreams."When people
look at an object, the eyes retina recognizes an image that is
converted into electrical signals which go into the brains
visual cortex. The team, led by chief researcher If this is
possible, what else is possible? To see or perhaps even
experience someone’s dreams? To copy the neural patterns of
knowledge and download it into a brain directly? What
implausible science fiction movie will we turn into a reality?
Instead of speculating about the potential variations of this
amazing line of research, let’s return to the core question –
how do we connect the phenomenology of consciousness to its
underlying neurobiology, and what is the impact on the entire
concept of spirituality
In their experiment, the researchers showed people the six
letters in the word "neuron" and then succeeded in
reconstructing the letters on a computer screen by measuring
their brain activity. The team said that it first figured out
people’s individual brain patterns by showing them some 400
different still images and recording how their brain reacted.
And, true to science fiction, the images were somewhat cluttered
and fuzzy, an excellent representation of where the technology
might be in 20 years.
If this is possible, what else is possible? To see or perhaps
even experience someone’s dreams? To copy the neural patterns of
knowledge and download it into a brain directly? What
implausible science fiction movie will we turn into a reality?
Instead of speculating about the potential variations of this
amazing line of research, let’s return to the core question –
how do we connect the phenomenology of consciousness to its
underlying neurobiology, and what is the impact on the entire
concept of spirituality?
Epiphenomenalism, a Mouthful of Scientific Reductionism
With such amazing scientific breakthroughs, it seems that the
battle between epiphenomenalism and hypophenomenalism may
actually be decided sooner rather than later. Oops... my bad.
Let me explain those 25¢ words. For those who aren’t philosophy
or neuroscience majors, epiphenomenalism is the idea that
consciousness is simply an effect of neural events in your
brain. Sort of like the triumph of Bill Maher over Bill Moyers -
there IS no god, so get used to it. Hypophenomenalism, on the
other hand, contends that awareness is a product, effect, or
manifestation of psychic activity… something that is more than
something that just happens to pop out of a vat of neurons and
axons. [Ed. note – May you someday win a round of Trivial
Pursuit by knowing this obscure factoid.]
It resolves down to this: if you can see thoughts in the brain,
and see how they might cause neural activity correlated with
other thoughts, then – the reasoning goes – all thought must
occur within the brain. Epiphenomenalism therefore attempts to
solve the most mysterious problem in philosophy – explaining the
experience of consciousness – in this reductionist manner. Sorry
buddy, you're a walking biocomputer, that just happens to worry
about itself existentially. And existential anxiety is just
another byproduct of epiphenomenalism.
However, if you lean toward hypophenomenalism, you'd better
start producing some evidence to back up your theory that there
more to consciousness than brain cells. For example, several
years ago I ran across an interesting research paper about a
young man with hydro-encephalitis. More than 90% of this brain
tissue had been destroyed, but somehow, he was able to graduate
college and was fully functional in life. [Ed note – I’ve lost
my copy of this paper, which I think was done 30 years ago and
reported in Science Notes. If you can find it, please send me
the reference and I’ll buy you a beer!]
In that paper, researchers suggested that non-traumatic
destruction of brain tissue – in which neural damage happens
slowly enough for the brain to organically rewire itself in time
– would produce something like this fellow who was literally
only using 10% of this brain. Those researchers then performed
an experiment where they very slowly destroyed brain tissue in
some lab rats, and sure enough, they were able to run through
the maze just fine, even with more than half their brain tissue
chemically destroyed. The key was to destroy the brain cells
slowly enough, and the rat didn't get any dumber.
Although this may sound like it’s meant to bring cheer to
alcoholics, in fact, I believe that it’s possible that the
implications of this experiment are far more profound than this.
Such experiments could possibly indicate that consciousness may
actually be resident in something other than the brain,
supporting the position of the hypophenomenalists. This would
indicate that human consciousness is actually resident "outside"
of the brain in some way, perhaps multi-dimensionally, and
perhaps uses the brain as a conduit for physical existence,
bringing cheer to Star Trek fans everywhere, thinking "Yes, it
is possible to put Spock's consciousness back into a tabula rasa
body". We’ll return to this concept later, but for now, let us
turn our attention to the neuroscience of meditation
Meditation and Neuroscience
Let’s move on to second area of discussion – the neurophysiology
of meditation, A Chinese system of breathing control, physical
exercise and meditation (a Chinese system of breathing control,
physical exercise and meditation. By simple definition,
meditation is engagement in contemplation, especially of a
spiritual or devotional nature. To elaborate further, meditation
is an attempt to concentrate mind on a single form or an idea or
an aspect of divinity, paired with the control of certain life
energies that have been postulated for thousands of years but
not quite proven scientifically yet. Anyway, the key idea about
meditation is that the mind is focused inwards, and this effort
of concentration acts as a stimulus to minimize perceptions
through senses, by detaching mind from sense organs in the
brain. This helps in controlling restlessness of mind, in favor
of inner contemplation. The mind is thus made still.
Unprecedented progress and research in neurobiology, and study
of neurotransmitters in the last two decades has added
significantly to the study of neurophysiology of meditation,
qigong and yoga. They have found that:
1) practitioners of meditative arts could slow both heart rate
and rate of respiration.
2) practitioners could slow the rate of metabolism as confirmed
by decreased oxygen consumption and carbon-dioxide output.
3) Electro-Encephalo-Gram (EEG - recording of brain activity) in
practitioners showed changes of calmness in the form of "alpha
rhythm" during both eyes closed and eyes open recordings.
4) for practitioners, the skin resistance to electric
stimulation was increased (indicating increased tolerance to
external stimuli).
All of this indicates that our usual fight or flight response to
emotional and physical stress - normally mediated through
over-secretion of certain neuro-transmitters and neuro-modulators
– can be modified. Under the influence of adrenaline and
dopamine, we reflexively become panicky or aggressive, our blood
pressure rises. However, disciplines like qigong, yoga and
meditation have a direct impact on this biological response.
EEG Studies on Practitioners
Yogis practising raja-yoga have claimed that during the state of
Samadhi, they are oblivious to the internal and external
stimuli, and enjoy a calm and continuous ecstasy during that
state. A study was undertaken to record the electrical activity
of their brain during this state by means of
electroencephalography, EEG.
This study was carried out on four subjects during meditation.
Effects of external stimuli, like a loud gong, strong light,
thermal simulation, and vibrations were studied. The results
were compiled and analyzed. It was observed that two yogis could
keep their hands immersed in extremely cold water for about 50
minutes (raised pain threshold). During state of meditation, all
of them showed persistent "alpha activity" in their EEG with
increased amplitude wave pattern, both during 'eyes closed' and
'eyes open' recording. It was observed that these alpha
activities could not be blocked by various sensory stimuli
during meditation. It was also observed that those, who had
well-marked "alpha activity" in their resting EEG showed greater
aptitude and zeal for maintaining the practice of yoga. Similar
results were obtained for Zen meditators.
Also, the International Journal of Neuroscience recently
published an interesting EEG study that was conducted on a
subject with 50 years of experience in Qigong. It showed that
the subject's brain state, during qigong, had shifted from
occipitally dominant alpha-2 recorded in 1962, to frontally
dominant alpha-1 at present. During the Qigong practice alph-1
enhanced quickly and became far more prominent than 50 years
ago. Compared with baseline, these activities remained to be
higher at rest after the Qigong practice. These results suggest
that extended practice in meditation may change the EEG pattern
and its underlying neurophysiology. In other words, meditation
can actually change or evolve your brain.
The plausible hypothesis to explain the altered state of
consciousness brought about by intense and prolonged mediation
may be developed as follows:
The evolutionary process adds higher centers to the primitive
nervous system. These higher centers have inhibitory influence,
in other words they suppress the functions of lower centers.
Thus, the brain stem is controlled by the higher limbic system,
and the limbic system in turn is controlled by still higher
neo-cortex. The neuro-modulators with their influence on various
neuro-transmitters effectively bring about this inhibitory
modifications and inter-relations among various brain centers
(hierarchy).
For instance, involuntary movements like tremors and chorea are
suppressed by basal ganglia through the action of dopamine and
acetylcholine synergy. Any imbalance in these neuro-modulators
causes involuntary movements like chorea, tremors (Parkinson's
Disease etc.). Similarly, loss of cortical control over the
motor neurons of spinal cord leads to exaggerated muscle and
tendon jerks due loss of inhibitory control of the higher motor
cortex.
The neo-cortex keeps all the involuntary movements,
hyper-reflexivity, rage, aggression, and similar animal
tendencies under check so that it can effectively pursue its own
highly developed activities of logic, memory, reason, language,
calculations, judgment, and concepts, etc. Conscious, willful,
imaginative functions are therefore, normal state of awareness
of the human beings.
When meditation acts as a constant repetitive stimulus, certain
qualitative and quantitative permanent changes develop in the
nervous system. The neuro-transmitters and neuro-modulators may
stimulate growth of dormant or latent neurons to develop centers
which on the evolutionary ladder are still higher than the
present day cerebral cortex. The brain may develop new
connections and plasticity resulting in the capacity to think,
to rationalize, and react in a different way to the sensory
input than what is expected by present day physiologists.
Some brave neuroscientists, in search of a writing a bestseller
book, have named this the 'God Module'. This higher center would
exert inhibitory control over the present day neo-cortex
reflexes, and thereby, over the mind as a whole. Certain ‘lower’
mental activities would hence be suppressed by this higher
function. In other words, the part of our brain that makes us
human, is actually constantly controlling and inhibiting the
part that would make us purely animal. And through meditation,
an even higher part of the brain would emerge, so that something
which makes us 'enlightened and superhuman', would control and
inhibit the part of our brain that would make us only human, ie,
the neo-cortex. In other words, the neo-cortex controls our
animal tendencies, and makes us human. But the ‘God module’
controls our petty human tendencies, to help make us superhuman.
(Also, please note where this God Spot is... right at the third
eye. Funny huh?)
Eventually, through this evolution of neural control and
discipline, a person will reach a state beyond mind itself -
transcendental awareness. Such a theory could possibly align
with spiritual practice, as the spiritual path is from the least
evolved states of consciousness to higher evolved states, after
which the mind itself would eventually enter a state of non-dual
experience. This may be supported by recent research on the God
Module. The God Module seems to be localized for normal regular
people, but in EEG studies of with nuns and expert meditators,
the module appears to get bigger over time and involve more and
more of the brain.
Now, in tantric terms, perhaps the practice of something like
transcending jealousy and learning to love unconditionally,
pursued by polyamorists and modern tantrics, the similar neural
evolution may be achieved. The neo-cortex keeps rage under
control, but jealousy is a higher level function that it falls
prey to, as an evolutionary adaptation to insure long term pair
bonding. And in this way, it shows that something like the
polyamorous goal of transcending or unlearning jealousy,
actually aids in the development of higher brain functions - to
inhibit or overcome jealousy - that eventually leads to higher
levels of spiritual awareness. In this way, the pursuit of
polyamory just might be aligned with a scientific spiritual path
for humanity.
Delving even further into meditation, you'll find within the art
of qigong, a practice known as 'empty force'. Empty force is a
technique where a practitioner uses Qi to project it from
his/her hand to an opponent at a distance (not touching the
opponent), to knock the opponent down. Here is a video of Bill
Moyer's visiting a master of qigong, demonstrating the use of
empty force:
One more area that may be interesting to consider, dealing with
very highly accomplished tantric meditators, is the formation of
sarira. Sarira are crystal-like objects that are found among the
cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. For example,
consider the Buddhist Yogi C. M. Chen, who was a highly
accomplished tantric meditator, or the Venerable Master Hsuan
Hua of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. On the cremated skulls
of both, the formation of many sarira flowers were evident, and
both had one very prominent crystal formation on the top of the
skull. Perhaps the final evolution of the God Module is the
formation of such sarira. The photo to the right are some of the
sarira of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua.
Perhaps what is needed to force a paradigm shift in Western
science is a reproducible and rigorous test of things like qi,
kundalini, sarira and empty force. Once it is measurable by
scientists, then we may begin to make true inroads into the
neurophysiology of meditation, qigong and yoga. But until then,
such investigation will be considered to be fringe research.
But what about the neurobiology of kundalini? Consider the work
of Gopi Krishna, an Indian yogi, mystic, author of Kundalini:
The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Krishna proposed that kundalini
was the mechanism responsible for the evolution of the human
race. The awakening of this psycho-physiological mechanism
through the techniques of Yoga or other suitable disciplines, or
so Krishna believes, produces a scientifically measurable
biochemical essence that is responsible for the phenomena of
genius, creativity, inspiration, the religious impulse and
revelation. His theory is that every form of genuine mystical
ecstasy result from the impact of this highly concentrated vital
energy on the brain.
He also proposed that the Kundalini mechanism would effect a
radical change in some current concepts about life and narrow
the gulf existing between religion and science. It would also
draw the attention of scholars towards the spiritual laws of
evolution of which they have no knowledge at present. He urged
neuroscientists to study the phenomenon in detail.
Just to remind you of Krishna’s first experience of kundalini
awakening:
Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream
of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord.
Entirely unprepared for such a development, I was completely
taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my
mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew
brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a
rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body,
entirely enveloped in a halo of light. It is impossible to
describe the experience accurately. I felt the point of
consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves
of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the
body, normally the immediate object of its perception, appeared
to have receded into the distance until I became entirely
unconscious of it. I was now all consciousness without any
outline, without any idea of corporeal appendage, without any
feeling or sensation coming from the senses, immersed in a sea
of light simultaneously conscious and aware at every point,
spread out, as it were, in all directions without any barrier or
material obstruction. I was no longer myself, or to be more
accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of
awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of
consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light
and in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to
describe.
Now, contrast this to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s experience of a
left-hemispheric stroke, recounted in her book In My Stroke of
Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. Her description
of her awareness no longer confined to her body may indicate
that the portions of the experience of kundalini awakening may
be caused by certain neuro-hormones that are released only in
certain times of stress or great change. Clearly, this is an
area for continued research.
But the key question is this... how does meditation, kundalini,
qi, empty force and neuroscience all fit together in some nice
neat unified theory of consciousness and spirituality? How can
we even begin to solve such a complex and difficult problem?
Neurobiology of Ecstasy
What did they find? First, there was a change from very
asynchronous activity in the brain – what we do when we’re
awake, normally. Our nerves are all firing at different times,
doing different things. But right at the time of orgasm
everything becomes very synchronised. The research indicates
that very low frequency, large amplitude signals are being
propagated through the nervous system. No one is quite sure what
this means, but something very intense is happening.
Also, because the researchers had so many electrodes in the
brain, they were able to map out a rough sequence of events.
Importantly the sensory information seems to come up the spinal
cord from the reproductive tract as you would expect, it starts
at the thalamus which is our filtering station for all sensory
information coming into the brain. And from there the important
signals seemed to be moving along the mid-line of the brain
toward the front of the brain. This is called the medial
forebrain bundle. Now in the medial forebrain bundle there are
nerves involved in many different pathways but there are very
important ones going forward that pass through the pleasure
centers. And then the signals continued past there into the
forebrain, the prefrontal cortex area, and that’s where we
process information associated with emotion.
Another finding was that during stimulation, women and men react
differently. For example, when the female partner touches the
penis, men get very attentive and lots of neurons start firing.
You could see that in terms of which kind of brain parts were
activated. However, when the women were in the scanner and the
men were stimulating, and they were directly stimulating the
clitoris, the women's brains did not pay so much importance to
this physical input. So the sexual response of men and women
really ARE different.
But more important is that during sexual stimulation – this is
true for both men and women – there was a decrease of those
parts of the brain that usually are involved in fear or anxiety.
This part of the brain is called the amygdala, very important in
processing fear. Both in men and in women they were deactivated,
during sexual stimulation. Neurobiologists have seen a similar
deactivation in the amygdala in brains when people who are
deeply in love see a photo of their loved ones.
At the moment of orgasm, there is enormous deactivation in the
region of the temporal lobe and the amygdala. However, there is
activation in the cerebellum during orgasm, but nobody has any
idea why this is happening or what it means. The cerebellum is
the structure at the base of our brain and that’s sometimes
called our “little brain”, or our “reptilian brain”. It’s
associated with things like movement coordination. And in men,
there’s a huge increase in activity in that region, during
orgasm.
Finally, the cortex – the prefrontal or orbito-frontal cortex –
that is just behind and above your eyes, this part of the brain
are also deactivated. And these parts of the brain are involved
in control of basic emotions. So in a sense we abandon our
emotions during orgasm!
Perhaps the study of orgasm and meditative bliss can be
compared? Is there a similar deactivation of the amygdala? If
so, is it possible that something about the orgasmic response
can teach us about spiritual evolution? If so, then there may be
more to the idea that sexuality is a doorway to spirituality
than meets the visual cortex. Perhaps the study of the
neurobiology of tantra could actually provide a bridge to
understanding the grand unification theory of the neurobiology
of meditation, kundalini, qi, empty force and neuroscience?
Isn't that a terribly exciting idea - perhaps tantra really is a
pathway to greater neurobiological knowledge and spiritual
achievement!
Conclusions
What can we conclude from all of this? First, it's clear that
these problems are really hard to crack! But more importantly,
this is definitely an area that will provide us with much
knowledge and clues for human evolution.
For example, consider the breakthrough pre-announced by the ATR
labs, about a machine that will be able to "see" human dreams -
it is only the beginning of what is possible. The limitations of
that technology are actually computational. We'll likely need to
produce quantum computers - that work a million to a billion
times faster and more powerfully than today's silicon-based
processing chips. But guess what? Progress in the quantum
computing arena is also happening at breakneck speed. For
example, D-Wave Systems, a Canadian manufacturer, recently
announced what they call "the worlds first commercially viable
quantum computer." A quantum computer makes use of quantum
mechanical phenomena to process data, and will be able to solve
specific problems exponentially faster than any standard
computer - like predicting the weather, automatic real-time
language translation, and new kinds of neural-computer
interfaces. So perhaps quantum computing is another piece of the
puzzle - a finger pointing at the moon of humanity's next great
evolutionary leap.
Here's an idea: Wouldn't it be fun to create a symposium called
""New Perspectives in Neuroscience, Psychosexuality and Ecstatic
States". The program would be aligned with the four pathways to
ecstatic states: breath/movement/exercise, sacred sexuality,
psychopharmacology and meditation. If this sounds fun to you,
please contact us and maybe together, we can make it happen!
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