VERITIES 3
Journal of Dragon Heritage
Issue 3, 2011: DRAGON PSYCHODYNAMICS
Psychosocial Genomics
Emotional Alchemy
VERITIES is an Open Access Journal One key request of researchers across the world is unrestricted access to research publications. Open access gives a worldwide audience larger than that of any subscription-based journal and thus increases the visibility and impact of published work. It also enhances indexing, retrieval power and eliminates the need for permissions to reproduce and distribute content with credited "fair use". Verities is fully committed to the Open Access Initiative and provides free access to all articles as soon as they are published.
Learning Objectives:
Discovery, Awakening, Integration, Implimentation
1. To compare traditional, contemporary and dragonkin thinking about
symbols, myths and themes and their place in the dragon heritage;
2. To analyze the creation, use and misuse (exploitation; coercion) of symbols in cultural and personal life;
3. To create symbolic meaning and describe its impact on individuals and culture;
4. To describe symbolic processes and expression in individual and group transformation;
5. To critique new conceptualizations of our historical symbols and the creation of symbolic meaning.
Genetic Genealogy * Epigenetics * Psychosocial Genomics * Meta-Genetics * KINdling
Psychosocial Genomics:
Explorations in the Psychobiological Effects of Dragon Culture
by Iona Miller, 2011
“Nothing, it seems turns on gene expression and brain plasticity as much as
the presence of others of the same species!” -- Ernest Rossi, M.D.
"Come you lost Atoms to your Centre draw,
And be the Eternal Mirror that you saw:
Rays that have wander'd into Darkness wide
Return and back into your Sun subside."
-- The Conference of the Birds, Sufi Poems of Farid ud-Din Attar
"Individual consciousness is only the flower and the fruit of a season, sprung from the perennial rhizome beneath the earth; and it would find itself in better accord with the truth if it took the existence of the rhizome into its calculations. For the root matter is the mother of all things." -- C.G. Jung, Symbols of Transformation
Findings from new sciences provide external validation for the Draconian biopsychosocial perspective and offer important insights into the manifold means by which socioenvironmental experiences
influence neurobiological structure and function across the life course.
influence neurobiological structure and function across the life course.
Biopsychosocial Genomics
Kinship Libido. "In the deepest sense, we all dream not of ourselves, but out of what lies between us and the other."
- C.G. Jung
Semper Occultus: Kinship libido is Jung's term for the endogamous aspect of the libido. It holds the family together but gives rise to incestuous tendencies that need balancing from the ego's exogamous tendency. Blood can call to Blood in inappropriate ways and settings, irrespective of the needs of the personality. This mis-directed energy needs to be recognized for the instinctual impulse it is so it doesn't intrude on one's real life. See cross-cousin marriage.
Unlike Jung’s stress on the intrapsychic experience of the self via the image or symbol, Kohut’s concept of the selfobject implies that selfhood is most fully experienced within a relationship that provides for the person what is otherwise missing. However, this apparent dichotomy must not be upheld too rigidly. Kohut stresses that the selfobject is an intrapsychic phenomena, not simply an interpersonal process, whereas Jung is aware that the self may be experienced between two persons.
Jung suggests that at the core of the transference phenomena is a factor he calls "kinship libido," or the seeking of human connection: "relationship to the self is at once relationship to our fellow man, and no one can be related to the latter until he is related to himself" (p. 234). In other words, "inner structure must be created and then led back toward kinship and relationship with other" (Schwartz-Salant, 1982, p. 24). Jung associates the experience of the self with the discovery of meaning. According to Jung (1969b) only meaning liberates; neurosis can be understood as the suffering of the soul that has not discovered its meaning.
Intuition is not vision. We are all born with it as a guidance system. It only operates when you have enough self-esteem to trust yourself without others' approval. When you allow small changes in your sensing or experiencing, these changes may open a flow of intuitive information and deeper meaning. Not all humans can sing, and not all Dragons can psi. Some have clearer Vision than others. But it can be developed.
Mutual Interpenetration
Dragon kin exist in a unique social context, whether unawakened and isolated or intentionally interactive with other relatives of varying closeness in terms of most recent common ancestors. Dragons are morphologically similar to the general population, but "wired" differently in their endocrinology, with unique features in energy production/use and extraordinary human potential that we distinguish as Homo Lumen. These ultra-terrestrial capacities can be activated and amplified by interaction with one another through the hive-mind of collective consciousness.
Recent research on neuroplasticity and psychosocial genomics lends compelling support to the theory that psychosocial forces shape neurobiology through gene-expression. Investigations of neuroplasticity demonstrate that the adult brain can continue to form novel neural connections and grow new neurons in response to learning or training even into old age. This means under facilitating circumstances, we have the capacity to awaken undreamed of potential within ourselves, moreso if Dragon subculture supports and reinforces such emergent capacities.
Drakenberg Nation is a transformative imperative. It is a a mystic marriage or union, symbolized in alchemy by the coniunctio -- conjunction of conscious and unconscious. Individuation is Jung's term for the process by which a person integrates unconscious contents into consciousness, thereby becoming a psychologically whole individual, in an emergent or steady state of self-realization or self-actualization. Mysterium Coniunctionis ("mysterious conjunction"), the "royal wedding" is the final alchemical synthesis (for Jung, of ego and unconscious, matter and spirit, male and female) that brings forth the Philosopher's Stone (the Self).
Its highest aspect, as for alchemist Gerard Dorn, was the unus mundus, a unification of the Stone with body, soul, and spirit. The unus mundus is a perfect synthesis of conscious and unconscious. This "one world" is the physical-psychological, transcendental, "third thing" continuum underlying all existence -- the metaphysical equivalent of the collective unconscious. Mercurius. The Dragon's "treasure hard to attain" is the experience of the archetype of unity -- the self.
The structuralist paradigm in anthropology (Claude Levi-Strauss) suggests that the mental superstructure of human thought processes is the same in all cultures, and that these mental processes exist in the form of binary oppositions (Winthrop 1991). Some of these oppositions include hot-cold, male-female, culture-nature, and raw-cooked. Structuralists argue that binary oppositions are reflected in various cultural institutions. Anthropologists decipher underlying thought processes through kinship, myth, and language. This hidden reality exists beneath all cultural expressions. Structuralists aim to understand the underlying meaning involved in human thought as expressed in cultural acts.
Structuralism emphasizes that elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to the entire system. This notion, that the whole is greater than the parts, echoes the Gestalt school of psychology, holism and the holographic concept. Essentially, elements of culture are not explanatory in and of themselves, but rather form part of a meaningful system. As an analytical model, structuralism assumes the universality of human thought processes in an effort to explain the “deep structure” or underlying meaning existing in cultural phenomena.
We all begin our dragon lives as the raw prima materia: the common, elemental substance or "first matter," "found in filth," the "orphan" sought by the alchemists in their attempt to create the Philosopher's Stone. The original "chaos" or "sea" constitutes all matter. Alchemist Gerhard Dorn saw it as a substance within man: "Transform yourselves into living philosophical stones!" Jung interpreted the prima materia ("lead", "Saturn") as an unconscious content ready to surface with the "heat" of awareness to cook it into a conscious experience.
The Akashic records (Jung's "collective unconscious") are an energetic pattern, a hologram or a frequency like a tuning fork vibration. Holographic images are pictures captured in light and hold the feeling of events and emotions so they may be viewed again as a learning tool. We can "consult" with our ancestors beyond time. In recent decades modern science has verified what the ancient traditions intuited long ago. In both tangible and mysterious ways, we are all interconnected, and any one of us can have a profound effect on the whole.
If you accept the perennial mystical teaching that, at the level of consciousness, we are not only interconnected, but are actually one Self seeing through many eyes, then it should be clear that, like it or not, in the way we conduct our inner and outer lives, each of us is in fact always having an effect on the whole. What would you do if you realized that the entire human endeavor, the evolution of consciousness itself, depended on your willingness to transform your own consciousness?
Dragons living in isolation from one another tend to keep to themselves. Some anecdotally report feelings of alienation toward those they commonly encounter, with attendant depression and defiance. "Feeling different" inhibits social interaction, and divergent thinking may lead to reductionistic, antisocial behavior and negative feedback. Social anxiety is emotional discomfort, fear, apprehension, or worry about social situations and interactions with others. It may involve intense feelings of fear in social situations, especially those that are unfamiliar or involve evaluation by others. Some feel anxious just thinking about them and will go to great lengths to avoid such situations. Social anxiety can become a habitual reaction, or a chronic syndrome.
We Flow
The antidote may be a modern metaphor of the "flow" of Starfire -- a psychological analog for a fully immersive experience -- a transcendent, absorptive virtual reality. Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. He lays out the following eight conditions: 1. goals are clear; 2. feedback is immediate; 3. a balance between opportunity and capacity; 4. concentration deepens; 5. the present is what matters; 6. control is no problem; 7. the sense of time is altered; 8. the loss of ego.
From ancient times, people have described an ecstatic experience of the connectedness of all things as the pinnacle of human emotions. Different religious traditions have different words for this state: "enlightenment" — "ecstasy" — "being one with the Tao", Vision Quest, — "religious transport." In the language of contemporary science, the state is famously at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1964, Religions, Values and Peak-Experiences).
Even more common is a slightly less global, all-encompassing phenomenon—one in which we become so engrossed in something that we "merge" with it, losing track of time and feeling our own boundaries soften and begin to blur into the task at hand. Our slang for this is being "in the zone"; psychologists often refer to this as Flow State (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). Flow occurs because psychic energy is invested, consciousness is ordered, undreamed states of consciousness are reached when we are immersed into activity. Flow doesn't refer to behavioral, neural, or somatic variables, but to other domains of perceptual experience that reflect disembodied levels of experience.
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task, although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, keeping your head in the game, in the moment, present, in the groove, wired in, in the zone -- or "sacred space", described shamanically or religiously.
Neuroscientists who study flow state tell us it is characterized by excitation in the dopamine system (Posner, 2004, Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention). The dopamine system is an important part of what creates our experience of being. The neurotransmitters here play an important role in how we feel about things. Dopamine increases muscle-reaction speed and alters the perception of time.
The particular pathway excited in flow state extends from a part of the brain called the VTA (ventral tegmental area) which lies in the midbrain. As the name implies, the mid-brain lies between the ancient reptilian parts of our minds in the hindbrain, which control things like our breathing and heartbeat, and the forebrain, the seat of our advanced logical and intellectual capabilities (Thompson, 2000, The Brain: A Neuroscience Primer).
The flow state pathway extends from the VTA through to the nucleus accumbens (nucleus accumbens images). The nucleus accumbens is an interesting structure that connects the midbrain and the cerebral cortex; you might think of its role as "adding emotion to thought." This road from the VTA to the nucleus accumbens, mediated by the neurotransmitters of the dopamine system, is the central pathway for the experience of pleasure, as well as addiction.
Like all behavioral responses, flow is instantiated by neural processes. But what candidate processes exist that can explain flow? A common suggestion is that flow reflects a reduction in brain metabolism, as represented by indices of cortical activity, such as the EEG (Goleman, 1995). In actuality, the cerebral cortex is enervated, and no manner of direct stimulation, electrical, physical or otherwise results in sensations that would otherwise be reported as pleasurable or painful. On the other hand, direct stimulation of mid brain organelles such as the thalamus, amygdala, etc. commonly evokes sensations of pleasure or pain. The essence of emotion, if referred to the sensations that are at the core of feeling, must engage the activity of mid brain structures as mediated by neuro-chemical processes. Indeed, the cerebral cortex is largely the recipient of emotional influences rather than the generator of various emotional states (Panksepp, 1998). The facts of experience, as represented by the information we constantly perceive both consciously and non-consciously continually integrate higher (neo-cortical) and lower (midbrain) neural processes. In a review of recent findings in neuro-psychological Ashby, Isen, and Turkel (1999) concluded that rapid attentional set shifting between salient cognitive precepts does indeed correlate to feelings of elation and satisfaction, and that the neurochemical processes that enable this shifting also increase cognitive efficiency and creativity. In a similar vein, the behavioristic psychologists John Donahoe and David Palmer (1993) identified cognitive set shifting with dopamine release, and in turn with the concept of reinforcement.
On the behavioral level of description, the selection of a particular environmental behavior relation or cognitive precept can be defined as reinforcement, which on the neural level causes the neurotransmitter dopamine to be liberated in synaptic clefts between coactive pre- and post synaptic neurons (Donahoe and Palmer, 1993). The functional role of dopamine stabilizes active neural representations in the prefrontal cortex (i.e., attention), and thereby protects goal related delay activity against interfering stimuli, (Durstewitz et al. 1999). Dopamine labels stimuli with appetitive value, and may provide advance reward information before behavior occurs (Schultz, 1999). Dopamine also mediates the cognitive effects of pleasant feelings that may be denoted by self reports of pleasure, happiness, or satisfaction (Ashby, Isen, & Turken, 1999).
In particular, mesolimbic dopamine (DA) activity has been conceptualized as a reward signal that marks the importance of perceptual events (Horvitz, Stewart, and Jacobs 1997), and promotes the effective processing of afferent signals simultaneously arriving at the midbrain. A cascade of multiple salient perceptual events would presumably accentuate DA activity and facilitate the switching among alternative cognitive perspectives, and thus enhance decision making and creative thinking (Ashby, Isen, and Turken, 1999). This neuro-chemical activity would not only facilitate the rapid and efficient focusing of the mind on a wide range of images, but would also be frequently interpreted as highly pleasurable. Preliminary confirmation of this has been provided by neuro-imaging studies that demonstrated the increased release of dopamine during activities (a video game) that required sustained shifting of a cognitive set (Koepp, 1998).
Finally, the greater number of stimuli that are associated with a response, the more likely that any given environment will contain some of those stimuli, and hence the response will reoccur and/or persist. This 'over-expectation' effect, or behavioral momentum (Nevin, 1992) would assign a discriminative function to otherwise neutral stimuli that have been associated with the response. Thus, the continuation of an emotional response long after its proximal causes have ceased may be attributed to remaining in the original environmental setting (office, laboratory) of that response. Hence, as an emotional response, flow would also be predicted to have a behavioral momentum, which subjective reports indicates is the case.
However, this analysis becomes a bit more complicated when situations that elicit the sustained release of dopamine are considered. The positive affect caused by unexpected rewards has been attributed to the release of the neuromodulator dopamine, yet dopamine release continues long after dopamine cells have stopped firing (Ashby, Isen, and Turken, 1999). Although dopamine release has been noted to occur up to thirty minutes after the stimulation of dopaminergic systems, it remains unclear how emotional memory or behavioral momentum may facilitate or inhibit the degree and persistence of the release of dopamine over time.
Because dopaminergic activity derives from mid brain structures, it is not incompatible with other somatic responses that are also activated by perceptual events. For example, if rapid perceptual set shifting is not perceived to be sufficient in itself in achieving an important goal, other somatic responses (e.g. muscle tension) may be signaled that serve as somatic markers that signal other behavioral strategies that may alter how a problem is appraised, but not how rapidly it is appraised. Thus, an individual taking a difficult test would rapidly shift between different perspectives that allow him to resolve test problems, yet may experience mild anxiety that further sharpens or attenuates his focus. Similarly, an individual may experience intermittent feelings of high alertness or high alertness combined with high anxiety, as when one is absorbed in watching an 'exciting' football game. Because dopamine release is not locked in tandem with other somatic responses, and because subjective appraisals map to input from a collection of neural, somatic, and cognitive systems, dopamine alone is highly correlated with but nonetheless cannot be solely responsible for feelings of ecstasy or bliss. http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol3Iss1/Commentary.htm#FlowExperience
- C.G. Jung
Semper Occultus: Kinship libido is Jung's term for the endogamous aspect of the libido. It holds the family together but gives rise to incestuous tendencies that need balancing from the ego's exogamous tendency. Blood can call to Blood in inappropriate ways and settings, irrespective of the needs of the personality. This mis-directed energy needs to be recognized for the instinctual impulse it is so it doesn't intrude on one's real life. See cross-cousin marriage.
Unlike Jung’s stress on the intrapsychic experience of the self via the image or symbol, Kohut’s concept of the selfobject implies that selfhood is most fully experienced within a relationship that provides for the person what is otherwise missing. However, this apparent dichotomy must not be upheld too rigidly. Kohut stresses that the selfobject is an intrapsychic phenomena, not simply an interpersonal process, whereas Jung is aware that the self may be experienced between two persons.
Jung suggests that at the core of the transference phenomena is a factor he calls "kinship libido," or the seeking of human connection: "relationship to the self is at once relationship to our fellow man, and no one can be related to the latter until he is related to himself" (p. 234). In other words, "inner structure must be created and then led back toward kinship and relationship with other" (Schwartz-Salant, 1982, p. 24). Jung associates the experience of the self with the discovery of meaning. According to Jung (1969b) only meaning liberates; neurosis can be understood as the suffering of the soul that has not discovered its meaning.
Intuition is not vision. We are all born with it as a guidance system. It only operates when you have enough self-esteem to trust yourself without others' approval. When you allow small changes in your sensing or experiencing, these changes may open a flow of intuitive information and deeper meaning. Not all humans can sing, and not all Dragons can psi. Some have clearer Vision than others. But it can be developed.
Mutual Interpenetration
Dragon kin exist in a unique social context, whether unawakened and isolated or intentionally interactive with other relatives of varying closeness in terms of most recent common ancestors. Dragons are morphologically similar to the general population, but "wired" differently in their endocrinology, with unique features in energy production/use and extraordinary human potential that we distinguish as Homo Lumen. These ultra-terrestrial capacities can be activated and amplified by interaction with one another through the hive-mind of collective consciousness.
Recent research on neuroplasticity and psychosocial genomics lends compelling support to the theory that psychosocial forces shape neurobiology through gene-expression. Investigations of neuroplasticity demonstrate that the adult brain can continue to form novel neural connections and grow new neurons in response to learning or training even into old age. This means under facilitating circumstances, we have the capacity to awaken undreamed of potential within ourselves, moreso if Dragon subculture supports and reinforces such emergent capacities.
Drakenberg Nation is a transformative imperative. It is a a mystic marriage or union, symbolized in alchemy by the coniunctio -- conjunction of conscious and unconscious. Individuation is Jung's term for the process by which a person integrates unconscious contents into consciousness, thereby becoming a psychologically whole individual, in an emergent or steady state of self-realization or self-actualization. Mysterium Coniunctionis ("mysterious conjunction"), the "royal wedding" is the final alchemical synthesis (for Jung, of ego and unconscious, matter and spirit, male and female) that brings forth the Philosopher's Stone (the Self).
Its highest aspect, as for alchemist Gerard Dorn, was the unus mundus, a unification of the Stone with body, soul, and spirit. The unus mundus is a perfect synthesis of conscious and unconscious. This "one world" is the physical-psychological, transcendental, "third thing" continuum underlying all existence -- the metaphysical equivalent of the collective unconscious. Mercurius. The Dragon's "treasure hard to attain" is the experience of the archetype of unity -- the self.
The structuralist paradigm in anthropology (Claude Levi-Strauss) suggests that the mental superstructure of human thought processes is the same in all cultures, and that these mental processes exist in the form of binary oppositions (Winthrop 1991). Some of these oppositions include hot-cold, male-female, culture-nature, and raw-cooked. Structuralists argue that binary oppositions are reflected in various cultural institutions. Anthropologists decipher underlying thought processes through kinship, myth, and language. This hidden reality exists beneath all cultural expressions. Structuralists aim to understand the underlying meaning involved in human thought as expressed in cultural acts.
Structuralism emphasizes that elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to the entire system. This notion, that the whole is greater than the parts, echoes the Gestalt school of psychology, holism and the holographic concept. Essentially, elements of culture are not explanatory in and of themselves, but rather form part of a meaningful system. As an analytical model, structuralism assumes the universality of human thought processes in an effort to explain the “deep structure” or underlying meaning existing in cultural phenomena.
We all begin our dragon lives as the raw prima materia: the common, elemental substance or "first matter," "found in filth," the "orphan" sought by the alchemists in their attempt to create the Philosopher's Stone. The original "chaos" or "sea" constitutes all matter. Alchemist Gerhard Dorn saw it as a substance within man: "Transform yourselves into living philosophical stones!" Jung interpreted the prima materia ("lead", "Saturn") as an unconscious content ready to surface with the "heat" of awareness to cook it into a conscious experience.
The Akashic records (Jung's "collective unconscious") are an energetic pattern, a hologram or a frequency like a tuning fork vibration. Holographic images are pictures captured in light and hold the feeling of events and emotions so they may be viewed again as a learning tool. We can "consult" with our ancestors beyond time. In recent decades modern science has verified what the ancient traditions intuited long ago. In both tangible and mysterious ways, we are all interconnected, and any one of us can have a profound effect on the whole.
If you accept the perennial mystical teaching that, at the level of consciousness, we are not only interconnected, but are actually one Self seeing through many eyes, then it should be clear that, like it or not, in the way we conduct our inner and outer lives, each of us is in fact always having an effect on the whole. What would you do if you realized that the entire human endeavor, the evolution of consciousness itself, depended on your willingness to transform your own consciousness?
Dragons living in isolation from one another tend to keep to themselves. Some anecdotally report feelings of alienation toward those they commonly encounter, with attendant depression and defiance. "Feeling different" inhibits social interaction, and divergent thinking may lead to reductionistic, antisocial behavior and negative feedback. Social anxiety is emotional discomfort, fear, apprehension, or worry about social situations and interactions with others. It may involve intense feelings of fear in social situations, especially those that are unfamiliar or involve evaluation by others. Some feel anxious just thinking about them and will go to great lengths to avoid such situations. Social anxiety can become a habitual reaction, or a chronic syndrome.
We Flow
The antidote may be a modern metaphor of the "flow" of Starfire -- a psychological analog for a fully immersive experience -- a transcendent, absorptive virtual reality. Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. He lays out the following eight conditions: 1. goals are clear; 2. feedback is immediate; 3. a balance between opportunity and capacity; 4. concentration deepens; 5. the present is what matters; 6. control is no problem; 7. the sense of time is altered; 8. the loss of ego.
From ancient times, people have described an ecstatic experience of the connectedness of all things as the pinnacle of human emotions. Different religious traditions have different words for this state: "enlightenment" — "ecstasy" — "being one with the Tao", Vision Quest, — "religious transport." In the language of contemporary science, the state is famously at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1964, Religions, Values and Peak-Experiences).
Even more common is a slightly less global, all-encompassing phenomenon—one in which we become so engrossed in something that we "merge" with it, losing track of time and feeling our own boundaries soften and begin to blur into the task at hand. Our slang for this is being "in the zone"; psychologists often refer to this as Flow State (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). Flow occurs because psychic energy is invested, consciousness is ordered, undreamed states of consciousness are reached when we are immersed into activity. Flow doesn't refer to behavioral, neural, or somatic variables, but to other domains of perceptual experience that reflect disembodied levels of experience.
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task, although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, keeping your head in the game, in the moment, present, in the groove, wired in, in the zone -- or "sacred space", described shamanically or religiously.
Neuroscientists who study flow state tell us it is characterized by excitation in the dopamine system (Posner, 2004, Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention). The dopamine system is an important part of what creates our experience of being. The neurotransmitters here play an important role in how we feel about things. Dopamine increases muscle-reaction speed and alters the perception of time.
The particular pathway excited in flow state extends from a part of the brain called the VTA (ventral tegmental area) which lies in the midbrain. As the name implies, the mid-brain lies between the ancient reptilian parts of our minds in the hindbrain, which control things like our breathing and heartbeat, and the forebrain, the seat of our advanced logical and intellectual capabilities (Thompson, 2000, The Brain: A Neuroscience Primer).
The flow state pathway extends from the VTA through to the nucleus accumbens (nucleus accumbens images). The nucleus accumbens is an interesting structure that connects the midbrain and the cerebral cortex; you might think of its role as "adding emotion to thought." This road from the VTA to the nucleus accumbens, mediated by the neurotransmitters of the dopamine system, is the central pathway for the experience of pleasure, as well as addiction.
Like all behavioral responses, flow is instantiated by neural processes. But what candidate processes exist that can explain flow? A common suggestion is that flow reflects a reduction in brain metabolism, as represented by indices of cortical activity, such as the EEG (Goleman, 1995). In actuality, the cerebral cortex is enervated, and no manner of direct stimulation, electrical, physical or otherwise results in sensations that would otherwise be reported as pleasurable or painful. On the other hand, direct stimulation of mid brain organelles such as the thalamus, amygdala, etc. commonly evokes sensations of pleasure or pain. The essence of emotion, if referred to the sensations that are at the core of feeling, must engage the activity of mid brain structures as mediated by neuro-chemical processes. Indeed, the cerebral cortex is largely the recipient of emotional influences rather than the generator of various emotional states (Panksepp, 1998). The facts of experience, as represented by the information we constantly perceive both consciously and non-consciously continually integrate higher (neo-cortical) and lower (midbrain) neural processes. In a review of recent findings in neuro-psychological Ashby, Isen, and Turkel (1999) concluded that rapid attentional set shifting between salient cognitive precepts does indeed correlate to feelings of elation and satisfaction, and that the neurochemical processes that enable this shifting also increase cognitive efficiency and creativity. In a similar vein, the behavioristic psychologists John Donahoe and David Palmer (1993) identified cognitive set shifting with dopamine release, and in turn with the concept of reinforcement.
On the behavioral level of description, the selection of a particular environmental behavior relation or cognitive precept can be defined as reinforcement, which on the neural level causes the neurotransmitter dopamine to be liberated in synaptic clefts between coactive pre- and post synaptic neurons (Donahoe and Palmer, 1993). The functional role of dopamine stabilizes active neural representations in the prefrontal cortex (i.e., attention), and thereby protects goal related delay activity against interfering stimuli, (Durstewitz et al. 1999). Dopamine labels stimuli with appetitive value, and may provide advance reward information before behavior occurs (Schultz, 1999). Dopamine also mediates the cognitive effects of pleasant feelings that may be denoted by self reports of pleasure, happiness, or satisfaction (Ashby, Isen, & Turken, 1999).
In particular, mesolimbic dopamine (DA) activity has been conceptualized as a reward signal that marks the importance of perceptual events (Horvitz, Stewart, and Jacobs 1997), and promotes the effective processing of afferent signals simultaneously arriving at the midbrain. A cascade of multiple salient perceptual events would presumably accentuate DA activity and facilitate the switching among alternative cognitive perspectives, and thus enhance decision making and creative thinking (Ashby, Isen, and Turken, 1999). This neuro-chemical activity would not only facilitate the rapid and efficient focusing of the mind on a wide range of images, but would also be frequently interpreted as highly pleasurable. Preliminary confirmation of this has been provided by neuro-imaging studies that demonstrated the increased release of dopamine during activities (a video game) that required sustained shifting of a cognitive set (Koepp, 1998).
Finally, the greater number of stimuli that are associated with a response, the more likely that any given environment will contain some of those stimuli, and hence the response will reoccur and/or persist. This 'over-expectation' effect, or behavioral momentum (Nevin, 1992) would assign a discriminative function to otherwise neutral stimuli that have been associated with the response. Thus, the continuation of an emotional response long after its proximal causes have ceased may be attributed to remaining in the original environmental setting (office, laboratory) of that response. Hence, as an emotional response, flow would also be predicted to have a behavioral momentum, which subjective reports indicates is the case.
However, this analysis becomes a bit more complicated when situations that elicit the sustained release of dopamine are considered. The positive affect caused by unexpected rewards has been attributed to the release of the neuromodulator dopamine, yet dopamine release continues long after dopamine cells have stopped firing (Ashby, Isen, and Turken, 1999). Although dopamine release has been noted to occur up to thirty minutes after the stimulation of dopaminergic systems, it remains unclear how emotional memory or behavioral momentum may facilitate or inhibit the degree and persistence of the release of dopamine over time.
Because dopaminergic activity derives from mid brain structures, it is not incompatible with other somatic responses that are also activated by perceptual events. For example, if rapid perceptual set shifting is not perceived to be sufficient in itself in achieving an important goal, other somatic responses (e.g. muscle tension) may be signaled that serve as somatic markers that signal other behavioral strategies that may alter how a problem is appraised, but not how rapidly it is appraised. Thus, an individual taking a difficult test would rapidly shift between different perspectives that allow him to resolve test problems, yet may experience mild anxiety that further sharpens or attenuates his focus. Similarly, an individual may experience intermittent feelings of high alertness or high alertness combined with high anxiety, as when one is absorbed in watching an 'exciting' football game. Because dopamine release is not locked in tandem with other somatic responses, and because subjective appraisals map to input from a collection of neural, somatic, and cognitive systems, dopamine alone is highly correlated with but nonetheless cannot be solely responsible for feelings of ecstasy or bliss. http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol3Iss1/Commentary.htm#FlowExperience
Makes Me Want to Psi
Makes Me Want to Psi
In process therapy, flow means parareception: "access" to the depths of the psyche with the doors of perception wide open. Areas of extrasensory perception or anomalous cognition include (1) Telepathy; (2) Clairvoyance; and (3) Retrocognition/Precognition.
The past exists for us in memory and the future in imagination, and we are enmeshed with it both ways through ancestral ties. Active remembering in relation to "the ancestor" - real or imagined - functions as a means for searching one's essence, understood as the most intimate, pre-cultural aspect of the self which precedes difference -- the mythic ancestral past.
This Underground Stream of Spiritual Consciousness is what we access through the Spiritual Gnosis of our Clans or Families. This Stream is the Blood Stream that carries the life essence of all our Ancestors through our body just as the dark rivers of the Soul carry the life essence and feeds the Ancestral Landscape of the Ancestral Summerlands or Isle of Apples.The blood is the Ancestral Stream of consciousness that we each carry within our genetic memories. Also potentially available are the Light and Sound of inner space, the Audible Life Stream, the Voice of the Silence, Primordial Awareness. "So plunge into the Truth, find out who the Teacher is. Believe in the Great Sound!" (Kabir)
DNA is the universal information transducer, the hidden intelligence or "hidden fire" within us. This vast archive of information is passed along through a replicating process that involves the copying and encoding of genetic information from DNA to RNA (Ribonucleic acid). The original DNA that is housed within the nucleus of our cells programs instructions for the production of enzymes and proteins. These DNA instructions are not directly converted into proteins, but are copied into RNA. This ensures that the information contained in the DNA does not become tainted, thus preserving the archive.
RNA polymerase attaches to the DNA at a specific area called the promoter region. The DNA strand opens and allows RNA polymerase to transcribe only a single strand of DNA into a single stranded RNA polymer called messenger RNA. The messenger RNA carries the information to the sites of protein synthesis (ribosome), thereby creating a replica of the original DNA. In this manner the genetic code is passed from cell to cell, mother to child. Dragon tradition emphasizes that magical characteristics and knowledge are passed through the mitochondrial DNA, from the matrilineal lines, with clarity of vision, healing and gnosis as major traits. Vision (future memory) relates to precognition; healing is a form of creativity, and gnosis is an access state.
Stories of distance healing, a form of PK or psychokinesis (mind over matter), require another article of their own to do them justice. It may be easier to model virtual information transfer than mind over matter. "Spooky action at a distance" requires even stronger evidence than sensing at a distance. But is "distance" here really a factor or an illusion in a holographic simply-connected or nonlocal universe? The paradox of spacetime and relativity presents itself in psi as psycho-retrocognition, or time-reversed PK.
Though these experiences of knowing at a distance are called "extra-sensory," they often appear "as if" received by conventional sensory or mental means, for how else can we "know what we know"? It is a holistic psychophysical experience, affecting the whole self, physically, emotionally, mentally and often spiritually. The impediments of distance and time seem to dissolve; the barriers of spacetime are mysteriously overcome. The information is 'just there' in one form or another, whether spontaneous or facilitated. However it occurs, information become available to consciousness through imagery, sensation and awareness. Cellular and soul memory might also include some ancestral dread. Gnosis is an immediate experience -- a psychosensory gestalt, ranging from the "a-ha!" experience to peaking in the cognitive orgasm of illumination.
The blueprint for our future memory as a species may be encoded in our seemingly dormant DNA material. Perhaps the evolutionary instructions for humanity’s future development contained within the DNA material rest in a dormant state, waiting to be activated. Information gleaned not only from our genetic past, but our environment's collective past -- Earth's cumulative organic database -- is available on a cellular level to all species within the bio-system. A planetary intelligence, the universally consistent DNA coding system is capable of passing information throughout the biosphere.
"I Am That"
Most dragons inherently know they are "different". There is a subconscious in-bred need "to be seen" by other Dragon eyes, to be acknowledged and mirrored in that lens. The cradle of awakening opens into the larger spiral. This vortex is the meta-pattern of the universe -- Mercurius -- the hidden fire. Realizing its true identity, the ugly duckling turns into a Swan. Anamnesis is recollection or remembrance, the soul's reminiscence, which is a mode of giving meaning to one's life. Images, symbols and metaphors lead to epiphanies. The narrative unfolds with the essential structure of initiation.
In the Rig Veda the restless swan – the human soul – is on the journey to the infinite to find out the truth. A symbol of purity and transcendence, the swan is an important motif. Just as a swan lives in water but its feathers are not soiled by water, similarly a liberated Dragon lives in this world full of maya but is untouched by its illusion. The sage is equally at home in the realms of matter and of spirit. The swan soul or true essence is a vehicle that lifts us above the mundane. The journey of realization is for the seen (ego) to perceive the visionary seer (soul). The swan symbolizes the ability of the self-realized to separate truth from the insubstantiality of delusion.
At the collective level, communication replaces apprehension. Conviventia from the Latin, signifies collaboration, cooperation, living and working together. Heredity demonstrates that we have the ancestral heritage biologically in ourselves, and to a large extent we actually “are” this heritage. Jung justifies it psychologically by defining the transpersonal - or the archetypes and instincts of the collective unconscious - as “the deposit of ancestral experience.” Hence the person, whose life as a prepersonal entity is largely determined by the collective unconscious, actually is the living carrier of this ancestral experience.
At the individual level, we retain tissue memory of previous experiences, consisting partly of dynamic circuits, the sum total of which are the DC field body. The body is a dipole, instantaneously orchestrated as much by electromagnetism as chemistry. Thus, consciousness is distributed throughout the entire body, brain consciousness being embedded in body consciousness. The entire body is our organismic memory. Brain and body consciousness mutually inform and condition each other. The unity of intentionality is a complete coherence of brain and body. The individual is a fractal of Cosmos. "As above; So Below." Dragon is a coherent organic Whole at all nested levels, up to and including Cosmos.
According to Gnostic cosmology the goddess Sophia belonged to the company of divinities in the Pleroma, a celestial locale astronomically equivalent to the core of our galaxy. Normally the Pleromic gods remain within a cosmic membrane, the boundary that defines the galactic core, but Sophia plunged beyond the normal limit of divine activity and spiraled down into a planetary system. Sophia is thus the "fallen goddess" regarded by Gnostics to be embodied in the planet we inhabit. Their cosmology describes in graphic language how the goddess who fell from celestial heights became transformed into the elements of the biosphere. Hence Gnostic sources provide a scenario that explains where Gaia comes from in the cosmos and how She came to be "Mother Earth" in the first place. This scenario and the startling esoteric knowledge attached to it are unique to the Gnostic teachings of the Mystery Schools. Gnosis was an illuminist path, a kind of cognitive yoga that allowed its adepts to develop intimate knowledge of the Aeons, immensely powerful self-aware divinities who surge through the Dreaming. Of all the Aeons, Sophia is uniquely linked to the Earth and humanity. She was considered by Gnostics to be the single and supreme redeeming power in human experience. In the Gnostic view Sophia’s process of redemption involves a reintegration of Her power with the Pleroma, the infinite fullness of the cosmic center. How this occurs depends on human participation in Her plight. In short, Gnostics taught that we are accessory to Sophia’s task of aligning Her special world, the Earth, with the larger designs of the cosmos. This astonishing prospect was not due to mere speculation on their part. It arose from generations of practical discipline in the mystic sciences. Gnosis is noetic science. The Sophia Mythos was privileged knowledge in the Pagan Mystery Schools where neophytes were taught and trained in illuminist techniques by Gnostics skilled in the use of siddhis, occult powers of perception. In that ancient ivy league, the faculty had faculties. http://www.metahistory.org/GAIA%20SOPHIA/mythos/Gaia_Sources.php
Quantum Coherence & Entanglement
Our biophysics is bioelectronic, electrochemical, biophotonic and quantum. The energy body or field body is linked directly to the creative plenum. We refresh ourselves from it in the gaps between our breaths.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho is a world renowned geneticist & biophysicist. She is a life-long critic of neo-Darwinism and genetic engineering and pioneer of a physics of organisms. She proposes that quantum coherence is the basis of living organization and can also account for key features of conscious experience. They include the "unity of intentionality", our inner identity of the singular "I", the simultaneous binding and segmentation of features in the perceptive act, the distributed, holographic nature of memory, and the distinctive quality of each experienced occasion.
Further, a thoroughly organicist way of thinking transcends both conventional thermodynamics and quantum theory. Quantum coherence and nonlocal intercommunication are the expression of the radical wholeness of the organism, where global and local are mutually entangled, and every part is as much in control as it is sensitive and responsive.
The life cycle, with its complex of coupled cyclic processes, forms a heterogeneous, multidimensional and entangled space-time which structures experience. In the ideal, it is a quantum superposition of coherent space-time modes, constituting a pure state that maximizes both local freedom and global cohesion in accordance with the factorizability of the quantum coherent state. Quantum coherence gives rise to correlations between subsystems which resolves neatly into products of the self-correlations so that the sub-systems behave as though they are independent of one another. One can also picture the organism as a coherent quantum electrodynamical field of many modes, with an uncertainty relationship between energy and phase.
If quantum coherence is characteristic of the organism as conscious being, then the conscious being will possesss something like a macroscopic wave-function. This wave function is ever evolving, entangling its environment, transforming and creating itself anew. I agree with Bohm and Hiley's ontological interpretation of quantum theory to the extent that there is no collapse of the wave function. In their model, the wave function, with quantum potential playing the role of active information to guide the trajectories of particles, simply changes after interaction to become a new one. The possibility remains that there is no resolution of the wave functions of the quantum objects after interacting. So one may remain entangled and indeed, delocalized over past experiences (i.e., in Lazlo's ambient field. Some interactions may have time scales that are extremely long, so that the wave function of interacting parties may take a correspondingly long time to become resolved, and largescale nonlocal connectivity may be maintained.
What would our wave function look like? Perhaps it is an intricate supramolecular orbital of multidimensional standing waves of complex quantum amplitudes. It would be rather like a beautiful, exotic flower, flickering in and out of many dimensions simultaneously. That would constitute our quantum holographic self, created from the entanglements of past experiences, the memory of all we have suffered and celebrated, the totality of our anxieties and fears, our hopes and dreams. (Ho, 1997, "Quantum Coherence and Conscious Experience").
Social Engagement System
Dr. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory asserts a biological basis for social behavior and proposes intervention strategies to enhance positive human interaction. It is derived from over 30 years of research on the relation of the autonomic nervous system to socio-emotional processes. The ventral vagal system is involved with most aspects of social contact and pleasure. The autonomic nervous system is a third branch of intelligence -- "The Social Engagement System".
The old model of the autonomic nervous system presents only two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. That incomplete model only describes the autonomic components we share in common with reptiles. A third branch of intelligence, found in mammals, introduces an autonomic alternative beyond the sympathetic (ergotrophic) and parasympathetic (trophotropic) systems, one that sparks and maintains a body-based sense of well-being and the social functions of mammalian – and human – existence.
The Social Engagement System is a synergistic function of five cranial nerves that coordinates and integrates mirror neurons, head-turning, looking, listening, vocal communication and facial-expression with cardiac output. A mirror neuron fires both when we act and when we observe the same action performed by another.Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behaviour of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. They help us couple perception and acting, and empathically understand the actions and intentions of others.
The mirroring response is a potential. Imitation is initiation: sensation generated by love and its nonlocal entanglement -- the shared or resonate state -- tuning to the hive mind and genetic memory. Awakened dragons are never really alone since they embody the fractal reiterations of the archetypal Dragon Queens and Kings within themselves as internal validation, support and source of wisdom and gnosis.
The social engagement system is intimately related to stress reactivity (Porges 2001). Freed to function optimally, the Social Engagement System works to ground the human experience and expression in love and social bonding. Dr. Jim Oschman, author of Energy Medicine, states that "social bonds are scientifically described as a powerful form of learning regulated by long-lasting changes in the brain and endocrine system."
Neuroception
Oschman further notes that social attachment is "hard-wired," as it were, in human being and cites research suggesting that it is vital to human health, longevity, perhaps even to existence itself. Regulation of cardiac output by the Social Engagement System induces a positive state of stasis or stillness that conserves precious life energy and establishes the primacy of the warm-blooded current of heart "consciousness" as the bodymind's central organizing mechanism.
• Neuroception describes how neural circuits distinguish whether situations or people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening.
• Neuroception explains why a baby coos at a caregiver but cries at a stranger, or why a toddler enjoys a parent’s embrace but views a hug from a stranger as an assault.
• The Polyvagal Theory describes three developmental stages of a mammal’s autonomic nervous system: immobilization, mobilization, and social communication or social engagement.
• Faulty neuroception might lie at the root of several psychiatric disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, depression, and Reactive Attachment Disorder.
These findings are complemented by the contributions of psychosocial genomics, a field of scientific inquiry that explores the modulating effects of experience on gene expression. Findings from new sciences provide external validation for the biopsychosocial perspective and offer important insights into the manifold means by which socioenvironmental experiences influence neurobiological structure and function across the life course.
Rapport
Neuro-gnosis and Biorapport are supportive concepts with experiential evidence. Rapport is the psychobiological basis of trance induction that builds associative networks. If you wish to influence someone, you must be prepared to be influenced by them in return. To wish otherwise isn’t to influence, it is to control. Mirroring synchs emotional states. When communication with the unconscious mind shows a person's unconscious mind that you understand it, the unconscious responds very favorably. The brain's developmental socialization is through entrainment of neurons into networks that mediate perceptions, images and symbols -- the phenomenological experience of "reality".
Rapport is a trusting connection. It may not mean you trust that person, since trust is earned, but it means you TRUST THE PROCESS. Your aim is to build an empathic and compassionate relationship, to resonate with their spirit, thoughts and emotions -- to understand each other’s point of view. From common ground you can lead towards areas in which your influence will be helpful -- with mutual understanding. The shared state emerges when your minds are synchronised, when you are both living in a shared echo, a mutual emotional map of the universe. But divergent opinions can also be transformative, if challenging.
In the context of contemporary Dragon culture and the Dragon Court, this phenomenology takes on powerful meaning. We realize we have the capacity to change one another, unconsciously or pro-actively, collectively and individually. We inspire one another. The Court is enlivened by the cooperation and dedication of all members of our society. This is a natural and ancient part of being Dragon and an intrinsic part of our transformational process and reclaimation of our dragon heritage. We perturb one another's thinking with our differences, and resonate with our similarities and mutual experiences. Rather than a linear process, it is nonlocal and global -- irrelevant of physical proximity. Blood calls to blood.
In process therapy, flow means parareception: "access" to the depths of the psyche with the doors of perception wide open. Areas of extrasensory perception or anomalous cognition include (1) Telepathy; (2) Clairvoyance; and (3) Retrocognition/Precognition.
The past exists for us in memory and the future in imagination, and we are enmeshed with it both ways through ancestral ties. Active remembering in relation to "the ancestor" - real or imagined - functions as a means for searching one's essence, understood as the most intimate, pre-cultural aspect of the self which precedes difference -- the mythic ancestral past.
This Underground Stream of Spiritual Consciousness is what we access through the Spiritual Gnosis of our Clans or Families. This Stream is the Blood Stream that carries the life essence of all our Ancestors through our body just as the dark rivers of the Soul carry the life essence and feeds the Ancestral Landscape of the Ancestral Summerlands or Isle of Apples.The blood is the Ancestral Stream of consciousness that we each carry within our genetic memories. Also potentially available are the Light and Sound of inner space, the Audible Life Stream, the Voice of the Silence, Primordial Awareness. "So plunge into the Truth, find out who the Teacher is. Believe in the Great Sound!" (Kabir)
DNA is the universal information transducer, the hidden intelligence or "hidden fire" within us. This vast archive of information is passed along through a replicating process that involves the copying and encoding of genetic information from DNA to RNA (Ribonucleic acid). The original DNA that is housed within the nucleus of our cells programs instructions for the production of enzymes and proteins. These DNA instructions are not directly converted into proteins, but are copied into RNA. This ensures that the information contained in the DNA does not become tainted, thus preserving the archive.
RNA polymerase attaches to the DNA at a specific area called the promoter region. The DNA strand opens and allows RNA polymerase to transcribe only a single strand of DNA into a single stranded RNA polymer called messenger RNA. The messenger RNA carries the information to the sites of protein synthesis (ribosome), thereby creating a replica of the original DNA. In this manner the genetic code is passed from cell to cell, mother to child. Dragon tradition emphasizes that magical characteristics and knowledge are passed through the mitochondrial DNA, from the matrilineal lines, with clarity of vision, healing and gnosis as major traits. Vision (future memory) relates to precognition; healing is a form of creativity, and gnosis is an access state.
Stories of distance healing, a form of PK or psychokinesis (mind over matter), require another article of their own to do them justice. It may be easier to model virtual information transfer than mind over matter. "Spooky action at a distance" requires even stronger evidence than sensing at a distance. But is "distance" here really a factor or an illusion in a holographic simply-connected or nonlocal universe? The paradox of spacetime and relativity presents itself in psi as psycho-retrocognition, or time-reversed PK.
Though these experiences of knowing at a distance are called "extra-sensory," they often appear "as if" received by conventional sensory or mental means, for how else can we "know what we know"? It is a holistic psychophysical experience, affecting the whole self, physically, emotionally, mentally and often spiritually. The impediments of distance and time seem to dissolve; the barriers of spacetime are mysteriously overcome. The information is 'just there' in one form or another, whether spontaneous or facilitated. However it occurs, information become available to consciousness through imagery, sensation and awareness. Cellular and soul memory might also include some ancestral dread. Gnosis is an immediate experience -- a psychosensory gestalt, ranging from the "a-ha!" experience to peaking in the cognitive orgasm of illumination.
The blueprint for our future memory as a species may be encoded in our seemingly dormant DNA material. Perhaps the evolutionary instructions for humanity’s future development contained within the DNA material rest in a dormant state, waiting to be activated. Information gleaned not only from our genetic past, but our environment's collective past -- Earth's cumulative organic database -- is available on a cellular level to all species within the bio-system. A planetary intelligence, the universally consistent DNA coding system is capable of passing information throughout the biosphere.
"I Am That"
Most dragons inherently know they are "different". There is a subconscious in-bred need "to be seen" by other Dragon eyes, to be acknowledged and mirrored in that lens. The cradle of awakening opens into the larger spiral. This vortex is the meta-pattern of the universe -- Mercurius -- the hidden fire. Realizing its true identity, the ugly duckling turns into a Swan. Anamnesis is recollection or remembrance, the soul's reminiscence, which is a mode of giving meaning to one's life. Images, symbols and metaphors lead to epiphanies. The narrative unfolds with the essential structure of initiation.
In the Rig Veda the restless swan – the human soul – is on the journey to the infinite to find out the truth. A symbol of purity and transcendence, the swan is an important motif. Just as a swan lives in water but its feathers are not soiled by water, similarly a liberated Dragon lives in this world full of maya but is untouched by its illusion. The sage is equally at home in the realms of matter and of spirit. The swan soul or true essence is a vehicle that lifts us above the mundane. The journey of realization is for the seen (ego) to perceive the visionary seer (soul). The swan symbolizes the ability of the self-realized to separate truth from the insubstantiality of delusion.
At the collective level, communication replaces apprehension. Conviventia from the Latin, signifies collaboration, cooperation, living and working together. Heredity demonstrates that we have the ancestral heritage biologically in ourselves, and to a large extent we actually “are” this heritage. Jung justifies it psychologically by defining the transpersonal - or the archetypes and instincts of the collective unconscious - as “the deposit of ancestral experience.” Hence the person, whose life as a prepersonal entity is largely determined by the collective unconscious, actually is the living carrier of this ancestral experience.
At the individual level, we retain tissue memory of previous experiences, consisting partly of dynamic circuits, the sum total of which are the DC field body. The body is a dipole, instantaneously orchestrated as much by electromagnetism as chemistry. Thus, consciousness is distributed throughout the entire body, brain consciousness being embedded in body consciousness. The entire body is our organismic memory. Brain and body consciousness mutually inform and condition each other. The unity of intentionality is a complete coherence of brain and body. The individual is a fractal of Cosmos. "As above; So Below." Dragon is a coherent organic Whole at all nested levels, up to and including Cosmos.
According to Gnostic cosmology the goddess Sophia belonged to the company of divinities in the Pleroma, a celestial locale astronomically equivalent to the core of our galaxy. Normally the Pleromic gods remain within a cosmic membrane, the boundary that defines the galactic core, but Sophia plunged beyond the normal limit of divine activity and spiraled down into a planetary system. Sophia is thus the "fallen goddess" regarded by Gnostics to be embodied in the planet we inhabit. Their cosmology describes in graphic language how the goddess who fell from celestial heights became transformed into the elements of the biosphere. Hence Gnostic sources provide a scenario that explains where Gaia comes from in the cosmos and how She came to be "Mother Earth" in the first place. This scenario and the startling esoteric knowledge attached to it are unique to the Gnostic teachings of the Mystery Schools. Gnosis was an illuminist path, a kind of cognitive yoga that allowed its adepts to develop intimate knowledge of the Aeons, immensely powerful self-aware divinities who surge through the Dreaming. Of all the Aeons, Sophia is uniquely linked to the Earth and humanity. She was considered by Gnostics to be the single and supreme redeeming power in human experience. In the Gnostic view Sophia’s process of redemption involves a reintegration of Her power with the Pleroma, the infinite fullness of the cosmic center. How this occurs depends on human participation in Her plight. In short, Gnostics taught that we are accessory to Sophia’s task of aligning Her special world, the Earth, with the larger designs of the cosmos. This astonishing prospect was not due to mere speculation on their part. It arose from generations of practical discipline in the mystic sciences. Gnosis is noetic science. The Sophia Mythos was privileged knowledge in the Pagan Mystery Schools where neophytes were taught and trained in illuminist techniques by Gnostics skilled in the use of siddhis, occult powers of perception. In that ancient ivy league, the faculty had faculties. http://www.metahistory.org/GAIA%20SOPHIA/mythos/Gaia_Sources.php
Quantum Coherence & Entanglement
Our biophysics is bioelectronic, electrochemical, biophotonic and quantum. The energy body or field body is linked directly to the creative plenum. We refresh ourselves from it in the gaps between our breaths.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho is a world renowned geneticist & biophysicist. She is a life-long critic of neo-Darwinism and genetic engineering and pioneer of a physics of organisms. She proposes that quantum coherence is the basis of living organization and can also account for key features of conscious experience. They include the "unity of intentionality", our inner identity of the singular "I", the simultaneous binding and segmentation of features in the perceptive act, the distributed, holographic nature of memory, and the distinctive quality of each experienced occasion.
Further, a thoroughly organicist way of thinking transcends both conventional thermodynamics and quantum theory. Quantum coherence and nonlocal intercommunication are the expression of the radical wholeness of the organism, where global and local are mutually entangled, and every part is as much in control as it is sensitive and responsive.
The life cycle, with its complex of coupled cyclic processes, forms a heterogeneous, multidimensional and entangled space-time which structures experience. In the ideal, it is a quantum superposition of coherent space-time modes, constituting a pure state that maximizes both local freedom and global cohesion in accordance with the factorizability of the quantum coherent state. Quantum coherence gives rise to correlations between subsystems which resolves neatly into products of the self-correlations so that the sub-systems behave as though they are independent of one another. One can also picture the organism as a coherent quantum electrodynamical field of many modes, with an uncertainty relationship between energy and phase.
If quantum coherence is characteristic of the organism as conscious being, then the conscious being will possesss something like a macroscopic wave-function. This wave function is ever evolving, entangling its environment, transforming and creating itself anew. I agree with Bohm and Hiley's ontological interpretation of quantum theory to the extent that there is no collapse of the wave function. In their model, the wave function, with quantum potential playing the role of active information to guide the trajectories of particles, simply changes after interaction to become a new one. The possibility remains that there is no resolution of the wave functions of the quantum objects after interacting. So one may remain entangled and indeed, delocalized over past experiences (i.e., in Lazlo's ambient field. Some interactions may have time scales that are extremely long, so that the wave function of interacting parties may take a correspondingly long time to become resolved, and largescale nonlocal connectivity may be maintained.
What would our wave function look like? Perhaps it is an intricate supramolecular orbital of multidimensional standing waves of complex quantum amplitudes. It would be rather like a beautiful, exotic flower, flickering in and out of many dimensions simultaneously. That would constitute our quantum holographic self, created from the entanglements of past experiences, the memory of all we have suffered and celebrated, the totality of our anxieties and fears, our hopes and dreams. (Ho, 1997, "Quantum Coherence and Conscious Experience").
Social Engagement System
Dr. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory asserts a biological basis for social behavior and proposes intervention strategies to enhance positive human interaction. It is derived from over 30 years of research on the relation of the autonomic nervous system to socio-emotional processes. The ventral vagal system is involved with most aspects of social contact and pleasure. The autonomic nervous system is a third branch of intelligence -- "The Social Engagement System".
The old model of the autonomic nervous system presents only two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. That incomplete model only describes the autonomic components we share in common with reptiles. A third branch of intelligence, found in mammals, introduces an autonomic alternative beyond the sympathetic (ergotrophic) and parasympathetic (trophotropic) systems, one that sparks and maintains a body-based sense of well-being and the social functions of mammalian – and human – existence.
The Social Engagement System is a synergistic function of five cranial nerves that coordinates and integrates mirror neurons, head-turning, looking, listening, vocal communication and facial-expression with cardiac output. A mirror neuron fires both when we act and when we observe the same action performed by another.Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behaviour of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. They help us couple perception and acting, and empathically understand the actions and intentions of others.
The mirroring response is a potential. Imitation is initiation: sensation generated by love and its nonlocal entanglement -- the shared or resonate state -- tuning to the hive mind and genetic memory. Awakened dragons are never really alone since they embody the fractal reiterations of the archetypal Dragon Queens and Kings within themselves as internal validation, support and source of wisdom and gnosis.
The social engagement system is intimately related to stress reactivity (Porges 2001). Freed to function optimally, the Social Engagement System works to ground the human experience and expression in love and social bonding. Dr. Jim Oschman, author of Energy Medicine, states that "social bonds are scientifically described as a powerful form of learning regulated by long-lasting changes in the brain and endocrine system."
Neuroception
Oschman further notes that social attachment is "hard-wired," as it were, in human being and cites research suggesting that it is vital to human health, longevity, perhaps even to existence itself. Regulation of cardiac output by the Social Engagement System induces a positive state of stasis or stillness that conserves precious life energy and establishes the primacy of the warm-blooded current of heart "consciousness" as the bodymind's central organizing mechanism.
• Neuroception describes how neural circuits distinguish whether situations or people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening.
• Neuroception explains why a baby coos at a caregiver but cries at a stranger, or why a toddler enjoys a parent’s embrace but views a hug from a stranger as an assault.
• The Polyvagal Theory describes three developmental stages of a mammal’s autonomic nervous system: immobilization, mobilization, and social communication or social engagement.
• Faulty neuroception might lie at the root of several psychiatric disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, depression, and Reactive Attachment Disorder.
These findings are complemented by the contributions of psychosocial genomics, a field of scientific inquiry that explores the modulating effects of experience on gene expression. Findings from new sciences provide external validation for the biopsychosocial perspective and offer important insights into the manifold means by which socioenvironmental experiences influence neurobiological structure and function across the life course.
Rapport
Neuro-gnosis and Biorapport are supportive concepts with experiential evidence. Rapport is the psychobiological basis of trance induction that builds associative networks. If you wish to influence someone, you must be prepared to be influenced by them in return. To wish otherwise isn’t to influence, it is to control. Mirroring synchs emotional states. When communication with the unconscious mind shows a person's unconscious mind that you understand it, the unconscious responds very favorably. The brain's developmental socialization is through entrainment of neurons into networks that mediate perceptions, images and symbols -- the phenomenological experience of "reality".
Rapport is a trusting connection. It may not mean you trust that person, since trust is earned, but it means you TRUST THE PROCESS. Your aim is to build an empathic and compassionate relationship, to resonate with their spirit, thoughts and emotions -- to understand each other’s point of view. From common ground you can lead towards areas in which your influence will be helpful -- with mutual understanding. The shared state emerges when your minds are synchronised, when you are both living in a shared echo, a mutual emotional map of the universe. But divergent opinions can also be transformative, if challenging.
In the context of contemporary Dragon culture and the Dragon Court, this phenomenology takes on powerful meaning. We realize we have the capacity to change one another, unconsciously or pro-actively, collectively and individually. We inspire one another. The Court is enlivened by the cooperation and dedication of all members of our society. This is a natural and ancient part of being Dragon and an intrinsic part of our transformational process and reclaimation of our dragon heritage. We perturb one another's thinking with our differences, and resonate with our similarities and mutual experiences. Rather than a linear process, it is nonlocal and global -- irrelevant of physical proximity. Blood calls to blood.
Walter Bruneel, The Dragon's Egg
Dragon Meta-Program
Dragon Meta-Program
We suggest Dragon culture is meta-program initialized internally or by contact with dragonkin. Meta-programs in general are programs that kindle, create, control or make decisions about programs, such as when and how to run them, preferred and unpreferred programs, and strategic choices of fall-back or alternative programs. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) uses the term specifically to indicate the more general pervasive habitual patterns commonly used by an individual across a wide range of situations.
In NLP, the term programs is used as a synonym for strategy -- specific sequences of mental steps. The meta-program tells you what to do with the information you are getting. You can use the same strategy to process a lot of different kinds of information, which guide and direct other thought processes. Specifically they define common or typical patterns in the strategies or thinking styles of a particular individual, group or culture. Ideally, we have the capacity to superpotentiate one another.
The Draconian meta-program, which operates as a communal Social Cradle, influences the following:
- Paradigm Preference for overview or detail (or generalization v. specificity): The Dragon view is of a vast [pre-]historical panorama full of details reflecting components of dragon heritage, coupled with a deeply informed sense of the Now, the gnostic Plenum. Those details most relevant to personal genetics are given preference, consciously and unconsciously. Divergent perception, framing and thinking.
- Reference System, (Internal or External focus): Whether introverted or extroverted, the internal "Dragoness" orchestrates the magico-mystical experiences of dragonkin, and their interaction with one another. Symbolic healing through metaphors; rebirth paradigm. Social context and symbolic actions produce psychobiological changes in which symbolic cognition is grounded in the body. Nonsemiotic social and biological processes produce healing through meaning in the body and society with coherent mythic narratives. Metaphor links body and society through myth and the archetypes of the body. Processes rooted in the nervous system are presented in subjectively-compelling images. Archetypes arise from interaction of the body with social relations as universal substrate. Intuitive powers manifest in visual symbols. "Knowing how", related to images of the body's action, is the neurognostic foundation of consciousness.
- Modal properties:
- proactive or reactive - awareness of a "higher" mode of being; Observer Self; preference for signs and symbols. Meaning embodied in metaphors. Neurological structuring of phenomenal experience -- neurophenomenology.Rituals and symbols can affect health because socialization associates them with physiological processes. Mental effects on physiological processes are inherent to human functioning because the meaning of situations elicits physiological responses. Our genes provide neurognostic structures and endogenous healing responses. Neurognostic structures are the initial structural and functional organization of neural networks for representing information, which provide the basis for behavior and mind.
- Outcome preferences (towards/away) - Longterm view of the meaning of the global Big Picture; strong sense of fatedness or Destiny. Synchronicities; flow. Our endogenous healing processes are elicited by symbols that are associated with these natural responses.
- Processing
- Comparison: Making distinctions (more aware of sameness or differentness); sociosomatic-psychosomatic interaction shapes the biological responses of emotions. Emotions mediate social relations and the mindbody.
- Match/mismatch. Emotional contagion, empathy and feedback in the Draconian social context, enhance immune system response. Emotional empathy is a form of contagion; psychoneuroimmunological enhancement. Heightened response to unconditioned effects.
- Comparison: Making distinctions (more aware of sameness or differentness); sociosomatic-psychosomatic interaction shapes the biological responses of emotions. Emotions mediate social relations and the mindbody.
- Time orientation (near/far past, present, near/far future) -- Dragons operate with a consciously expanded sense of orientation within the pre-historical/historical span, and also outside of time-boundedness in the transcendent infinity or void of primordial consciousness, in which the contents of the mind are emptied. Also includes ancestral memories of Primordial Time.
- Sorting categories
- Self-other is strongly determined by perception of kinship, resonance, or relatedness.
- Filters: Preferential awareness of people, activities, location, things, information etc. in others' communication
- Self-other is strongly determined by perception of kinship, resonance, or relatedness.
- Rule structure: Preferred social styles (assertiveness, indifference, complacency, tolerance) -- Personal Sovereignty is the preferred mode. Autonomy, autarch, synarchy. Self-Narrative. Strong persona and self-image; self-validation, self-esteem; self-regulation, self-defined; self-healing; self-empowered; self-actualizing.
- Convincer patterns & learning preferences (learn by reading, by observing others, by doing, from own experience) - Gnostic Contagion is a direct effect of shamanic and Dragon culture. Kindling.
- Motivational preferences (power, popularity, or performance) -- Self-motivation is a powerful driver, with inherent rewards generated internally. Integrative mode of consciousness.
- Absorptive Capacity: Mystical / Transcendent Experience is potentiated within the Dragon Social Matrix. Special relationship to creativity, the reality of dream life and ancestral memories. Initiates, mystics, dreamers, poets, inventors. Shamanism as a biopsychosocial paradigm of consciousness and healing. Shamanism is a neural ecology of consciousness and healing. Shamanism is the Original Neurotheology. Ritual procedures for altering consciousness; brain-wave synchronization, soul-flight, ego death, rebirth SoCs. Development enhanced discernment and clarity. Introvertive/extrovertive polarities of mystical experience (Void: absorption, spacelessness, timelessness; Plenum: merger of self and Universe; sense of living unity of all). Manipulation of ergotrophic-trophotrophic system of ANS.
Neural Ecology, Biosocialization & Cultural Adaptation
Research suggests, we can literally turn on one another's genes, perhaps operating hyperdimensionally in primordial domains beyond the emotional and cognitive. Biosocialization is a symbolic penetrative process.
Associations are produced through the neurobiological effects of cultural adaptation of individual learning and memory on the development of the brain's neuronal microstructures (Castillo, 1997a). Synaptic structure formation is plastic, or malleable, a response to learning created by repetitive and synchronous activation of nerve fiber systems. The formation of learning and memory associations involves a repetitive use of cultural schemas to interpret interactions with the environment. This results in cultural schemas being imprinted in the brain microstructures during the formation of neural pathways. Learning, adaptation, stress, and cultural interpretations of these experiences have effects on the formation of neural microstructures, dendrites, neurotransmitter receptors, and hormones. Socialization thus embeds cultural patterns of thinking in the formation of nervous system circuitry (Castillo, 1997a).
Socialization links neurons into networks through adaptation to the environment, one that is mediated by culture and language. Symbolic relationships between cognition and behavior "tune" the body—its muscles, organs, and nervous system—into specific response patterns.
The symbolic process is fundamental to the neural organization of experience, the development of models of the environment, and organisms' basic affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses. Symbols present in socialization processes that evoke particular physiological responses—for instance, symbols associated with rituals that induce relaxation—create associations that subsequently enable those symbols to evoke the same relaxation responses. These response patterns become habitualized, responding in programmed ways that operate outside of consciousness. (Winkelman)
Dragon life activates latent parts of our DNA blueprint, awakening dormant potential and a supercharged holographic model, or Light Body. Dragon culture has always advocated looking at a multidimensional reality governed by forces that are invisible or disguised to theories generated by other paradigms. Without the paradigm, the theory is impossible to formulate. Without the theory, no hypothesis can be tested. Experiments come along after the ability to ask new questions, not before.
Dragon Gene-Expression
Gene expression is the cellular process that decodes the genetic information in DNA and converts it into proteins. It is regulated at many levels: when messenger RNA is transcribed from DNA; when mRNA is translated into proteins; and at the epigenetic level, when the structure of chromatin, coils of DNA wound around histone proteins, is altered. Although most discussion of gene expression focuses on the regulation of transcription, the other components of the process are also crucial. Yet little is known about how they are integrated. (Rossi, 2010)
Work by Tom Misteli at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and his team provides a striking example of the integration of seemingly disparate components in gene-expression regulation (Luco et al., 2010). They describe how patterns of alternative splicing of newly made RNA, a key regulatory mechanism, can themselves be regulated by specific chemical modifications in the chromatin. They also found that a given set of modifications to histones predicts patterns of RNA splicing. The authors conservatively estimate that this mechanism occurs in dozens to hundreds of genes in the human genome. This remarkable study makes a connection between a quintessential transcription-regulation mechanism, histone modification, and a post-transcriptional process, alternative splicing. It shows that chromatin can regulate not only how much of a protein, but also which protein, is made in a cell. We have seen a surge of intriguing studies suggesting that molecules that were thought to regulate transcription also direct epigenetic modifications, modify alternative-splicing patterns and participate in the intracellular transport of RNA.
Deep Psychobiology
Dragon culture modifies synaptic connections that underlie associative learning. Psychological, social, and cultural signals modulate gene expression. Psychosocial Genomics measures changes in the deep psychoblological process of “activity or experience-dependent gene expression and brain plasticity” associated with creativity and healing. Psychosocial genomics produces long-term changes in behavior, vision and worldview, through learning and morphological changes in gene expression that alter the strength of synaptic connections. Structural changes alter the anatomical pattern of interconnections between nerve cells of the brain. Stated simply, the regulation of gene expression by social factors makes all bodily functions, including all functions of the brain, susceptible to social influences. (Rossi)
Dragons exert a therapeutic, novel and excitatory effect on each other. This shared trance of focused awareness is born of resonance and amplification through feedback, a consensus paradigm or worldview, rooted in the Tree of Knowledge or gnosis. Not only does dragonkin transform us, our male and female ancestors are nested within us like Russian matryoshka dolls, as fractals of the universal. Surprise motivates memory and learning in a self-reinforcing culture. It primes the pump of the unconscious. Classical theories offer no no satisfying understanding of the dragon sense of adventure, quest, spiritual striving, and the experience of the numinosum — the sense of fascination, mystery and the tremendous. This is our Dragon Legacy.
Uber-thought
Creativity is generally addictive for a very good reason -- the sensation of being in a state of full concentration or hyper-concentration is both pleasant and productive.
The research of Waelti, Rossi and others opens a new model of the relationships between the most interesting and motivating experiences of consciousness and the molecular dynamics of memory and learning that are described as the “novelty-numinosum-neurogenesis effect” (Rossi, 2002). It isn't what is expected and easily predictable in human affairs that is motivating, but the exact reverse. That which is surprising, unknown, and unpredicted garners our attention and sets us forth on the human quests for problem solving and creative adventure in the novelty-numinosum-neurogenesis dynamics of mind-body communication and healing explored by the new discipline of psychosocial genomics.
The neuro-molecular dynamics of the brain state and physiological substrate of priming underlies its potential efficacy - priming plasticity. priming may be the key to controlling the strength of chemical transmission between nerve cells. The roots of cognition, behavior, learning and memory are embedded in the brain’s intricate network of nerve cells and their specialized points of contact, the synapses. Synapses can convert electrical impulses into chemical signals and back again, as well as modulate the strength of the transmitted signals. This ability to modify the strength of transmission -- known as synaptic plasticity -- is theorized as the cellular basis of the brain's ability to compute, learn and remember.
Dragon Legacy
Neuro-gnosis
Neurognostic structures organize experience and cognition, and correspond somewhat to Carl Jung's archetypes. Jung was ambiguous about the ontological status of the archetypes and the collective unconscious, because of the inadequacy of the science of his day. Modern developments in the neurosciences and quantum physics - especially the new physics of the vacuum - allow us to develop Jung's understanding of the archetypes further. Direct neurophysiological-quantum coupling suggests how neural processing and quantum events may interpenetrate.
He insisted that the archetype is not merely another word for the physiology of the image or thought. While it included the physiological basis of knowledge, the concept was intended to run deeper - deep into the instincts and beyond, outward into the universal ground of existence. Archetypes form the total ground - the collective unconscious - upon
which conscious cultural and personal experience develops. These structures are the products of natural selection, and are the impressions left by recurrent experiences of the species upon the nervous systems of individuals.
They generate (or "cause") an endless variety of transformations that are experienced as images and ideas had in dreams, fantasies and visions. These images and ideas bear the mark of personal and cultural conditioning, and
the archetypes themselves are involved in the development of consciousness. The archetypes produce all of the universal material in myth and ritual drama. Archetypal experiences tend to be numinous and transpersonal in their
impact upon personal development, for they are the eruption of archaic and timeless meaning into the personal world of the ego.
The archetype exists as the intersection of spirit and matter. We are now beginning to understand in a scientific way how this intersection might be possible, if by "spirit" we mean the order of the quantum sea. Human experience becomes the localized instantiation of the universal - the transcendental - through the medium of neurognosis. And neurognosis is precisely the local embodiment of the structure of the sea, and at the same time the structures mediating consciousness.
When Michael Persinger suggests in his book, Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs (1987), that certain experiences of unity with the Godhead may be mediated by structures in the temporal lobes, such an analysis need not imply a reduction of transpersonal experiences to neurophysiology. Among other things, to reduce these experiences to their neurophysiological foundations begs such questions as the profundity of insight, or the causation-at-a-distance that may accompany such experiences. Neurognostic or archetypal structures in the brain may transduce insights pertaining to the universal structure of the quantum sea. Each human brain may indeed prove to be a microcosm that contains - like the proverbial mustard seed, or the more modem hologram - all the wisdom of the ages, requiring only the optimal conditions of development for each person to individuate into a sage. http://neurotheology.50megs.com/index.html
Rossi reports that neurogenesis can occur in the motor cortex simply through the act of imagining playing the piano (Pascual-Leone, Amedi, Fregni, & Merabet, 2005). Similarly, taxicab drivers develop the areas of their brains involved in spatial relationships by memorizing the labyrinthine streets and avenues ofthe cities in which they work (Maguire et al., 2000). Although the underlying mechanisms are different, neuroplasticity research suggests that challenging learning experiences can lead to the development of brain tissue in a manner analogous to the ways that physical exercise can lead to the development of muscle tissue.
One area of research that has found significant evidence of mental training leading to neuroplastic modifications in brain activity focuses on the study of meditation. Meditation, although greatly varying in technique and purpose across the diverse spiritual and cultural traditions in which it is used, may be generally defined as the intentional practice whereby one grasps "the handle of cognition" to cultivate a competent use of one's own mental capacities, gaining agency over thought and emotion (Depraz, Várela, &Vermersch, 2003). Such intentional mental training has been shown to induce functional neurobiological changes.
Jung's reference to the essential unknowability of the archetypes-in-themselves also applies to neurognostic structures. Neurognosis may also refer to the functioning of these neural structures in producing either experience or some other activity unconscious to the individual. This usage is similar to Jung's reference to archetypal imagery, ideas, and activities that emerge into and are active in consciousness. This includes ancestral / genetic memory. We cannot understand a thing until we have experienced it inwardly. In the inward experiencethe connection between the psyche and the outward image or creed is first revealed as a resonance, relationship or correspondence.
Jung's genius was in holding the tension of opposites of mind-body dualism - that is, between experiential relativism on the one hand. and physical reductionism on the other. It was clear to Jung that an individual's experience is both structured by processes universal to the human psyche, and the manifestation of individuation. Holding the tension of the opposites one transcends them. Holding a divine "tension," allowis a new consciousness to unfold. As hybrid "spirit-matter" beings, we must realize it is appropriate for us to be living in two worlds at once -- the world of the ego and the world of the soul. We do not become one watered-down nondescript composite: we each bring forth our entire way of being -- which is a very rich and inviting way to live.
Today the Divine Feminine archetype -- for which our world is starved and needfu -- is teaching us many new ways. She does not defeat "the dragon" on her heroine's journey as does a masculine hero. She accepts the dragon for having 'dragon nature' and loves it for what it is. In this way she conquers her "enemy" through the potent energies of the heart. This higher way dissolves all dualism. Instead of me against the dragon, it's the dragon and I are one.
You can't wait to discover something without knowing how it is going to happen. Expectancy and surprise in the neuro-psycho-physiology generate detectable changes in the dynamics of gene expression and neurotransmission. Regulation of the priming step of the neurotransmitter release has important consequences for memory, learning, problem solving, and behavior change at the synaptic level. A synaptic protein called RIM, among others, is involved in a key regulatory step of synaptic plasticity facilitated by priming the synaptic vesicles between neurons to release their neurotransmitters. Cultural Genomics has profound implications for understanding the human condition. Dragon culture is a coherent underground stream, unlike the chaos of contemporary mass-media.
The molecular messengers generated by stress, injury, and disease can activate immediate early genes within stem cells so that they then signal the target genes required to synthesize the proteins that will transform (differentiate) stem cells into mature well-functioning tissues. Such activity-dependent gene expression and its consequent activity-dependent neurogenesis and stem cell healing is proposed as the molecular-genomic-cellular basis of rehabilitative medicine, physical, and occupational therapy as well as the many alternative and complementary approaches to mind-body healing.
The therapeutic replaying of enriching life experiences that evoke the novelty-numinosum-neurogenesis effect during creative moments of art, music, dance, drama, humor, literature, poetry, and spirituality, as well as cultural rituals of life transitions (birth, puberty, marriage, illness, healing, and death) can optimize consciousness, personal relationships, and healing in a manner that has much in common with the psychogenomic foundations of naturalistic and complementary medicine. The entire history of alternative and complementary approaches to healing is consistent with this new neuroscience world view about the role of psychological arousal and fascination in modulating gene expression, neurogenesis, and healing via the psychosocial and cultural rites of human societies. (Rossi, 2003).
The bioinformatics of psychosocial genomics in alternative and complementary medicine.
A single genotype, the genetic blueprint of an organism, can be expressed in a multiplicity of distinct physiological and behavioral forms, known as phenotypes. The mechanisms by which such different phenotypes are expressed are just beginning to be understood, but they appear to involve the regulatory effect of internal and external environmental signals on stress hormones, which in turn modify gene transcription processes (Kandel, 1998; Rossi, 2004).
Experiences modulate gene expression. In turn, experience-dependent modifications to neural tissue may be driven by epigenetic processes (that is, changes in gene expression produced by environmental determinants) .The human environment is constantly conditioned by social experiences, which, when transduced by the nervous system into electrochemical signals, may modulate protein synthesis in the nuclei of nerve cells, ultimately leading to changes in the replication and growth of neurons. Social experience can change gene expression, leading to the restructuring of the
brain through neuroplasticity.
Creative adaptation
Psychological experiences of trauma, stress, and surprise evoke psychobiological arousal to engage the levels of gene expression and protein synthesis could also facilitate neurogenesis, creative problem solving and healing. The complementary dynamics of expectancy and surprise act as a complex system of creative adaptation to facilitate rehabilitation and healing on many levels of human experience from mind to gene expression. Psychosocial experiences of expectancy, by contrast, may prime more focused and predictable hypnotic responses by modulating neurotransmitter release at the synaptic vesicle level between neurons. We can all learn to facilitate our evolving consciousness with numinous experiences of Art, Beauty, Truth, and Happiness in our daily creative work of building a better brain.
Current research has identified at least three different mechanisms whereby environmental factors such as trauma, stress and surprise can interact with the genomic level.
1. Modulation of gene expression;
2. Alternative splicing of genes to produce different proteins, and
3. Translocation of neuritic mRNA during long-term neuronal hypersensitivity.
Since these three psycho-genomic mechanisms are fundamental in integrating mind-gene communication (information transduction) during health, stress and healing (Rossi, 1990, 1994, 2002)
Emergent Interactionism
These new biopsychosocial sciences are consistent with a view of human beings as holistic, recursive systems structurally coupled with their environments in a process of mutual change (Maturana & Várela, 1987). Intentionality and volition can generate changes in the structure of the brain, the very organ assumed to produce such mental phenomena (Schwartz & Begley, 2002). With this finding, it is evident that human experience is not driven solely from the bottom up by neurobiology and genetics. Instead, there is growing evidence that psychosocial experience can exert a macrodeterministic, top-down force on our biology.
In the philosophy of emergent interactionism, Roger Sperry (1987), Nobel laureate neuroscientist, described macrodeterminism as a higher order, molar level of organization that determines and conditions the activity of lower order, nested subcomponents. Hence, human beings, who are at one level assemblies of organ systems comprising aggregates of cells, which are in turn composed of organic molecules made up of subatomic particles, are not merely the sum of these physical elements. Instead, the consciousness that emerges from the interaction of these components
can act back upon its physical substrate. Thought, emotion, and action trigger neural activity, which can lead to a reorganization ofthe brain, shaping future psychosocial experience. From this perspective, we are not the passive products of neurophysiology and heredity; rather, through our behavior in the social environment, we become active agents in the construction of our own neurobiology and, ultimately, our own lives. We have the power to transcend and transform their limitations into opportunities for growth and well-being.
Genealogists are now using molecular genealogy -- comparing and matching people by matrilineal DNA lineages-mtDNA or patrilineal Y-chromosome ancestry and/or racial percentages tests. People interested in ancestry now look at genetic markers to trace the migrations of the human species. You can trace your genealogy by DNA from your grandparents back 10,000 or more years. But which parts have you activated and which parts remains dormant?
Anyone can be interested in DNA for ancestry research, learning how different populations from a mosaic of communities reached their current locations. From who are you descended? What markers shed light on your deepest ancestry? You can study DNA for medical reasons or to discover the geographic travels and dwelling places of some of your ancestors. How do Europeans in general fit into the great migrations of prehistory that took all to where they are today based on their genetic DNA markers and sequences? Where is the geographic center of their origin and the roots of all people? Specifically, how can you interpret your DNA test for family history? And then, knowing that, what are you able to do with it that might be extraordinary?
The deep psychoblological basis of consciousness and the nascent possibilities for future research in therapeutic hypnosis and all the mind-body therapies.
How can the experience of beauty and truth really be alike? Well, they are both deeply meaningful and motivating for one thing - most people like them!
The really surprising thing is that beauty and truth both heighten the activity of your brain with wonderful excitement!
This heightened activity of our brain turns on "activity-dependent gene expression and brain plasticity" to optimize human consciousness, sense and sensibility at the deepest level of our being!
There is a profound secret of evolution and genius hidden in this! It is an example of how the highest and brightest experiences of our mind and consciousness can modulate the organic molecular-genomic foundation of our physical being.
This implies that our consciousness, mind, brain, and genes activate and co-create each other!
Does this suggest to you any insight into what "enlightenment" is supposed to mean?
Only you can really answer to this question by exploring how your own mind and brain co-create each other. How? By asking yourself a few simple questions.
What are you most curious about?
What seems so exciting that you want more of it?
What is so enlightening that it actually wakes you up with wonder?
What are the most beautiful and fascinating experiences of your life?
What is the truth you would really like to understand?
Medatating sincerely on these questions in your daily life and dreams may be the royal road to enhancing your health, wealth, and creativity.
Neurognostic structures organize experience and cognition, and correspond somewhat to Carl Jung's archetypes. Jung was ambiguous about the ontological status of the archetypes and the collective unconscious, because of the inadequacy of the science of his day. Modern developments in the neurosciences and quantum physics - especially the new physics of the vacuum - allow us to develop Jung's understanding of the archetypes further. Direct neurophysiological-quantum coupling suggests how neural processing and quantum events may interpenetrate.
He insisted that the archetype is not merely another word for the physiology of the image or thought. While it included the physiological basis of knowledge, the concept was intended to run deeper - deep into the instincts and beyond, outward into the universal ground of existence. Archetypes form the total ground - the collective unconscious - upon
which conscious cultural and personal experience develops. These structures are the products of natural selection, and are the impressions left by recurrent experiences of the species upon the nervous systems of individuals.
They generate (or "cause") an endless variety of transformations that are experienced as images and ideas had in dreams, fantasies and visions. These images and ideas bear the mark of personal and cultural conditioning, and
the archetypes themselves are involved in the development of consciousness. The archetypes produce all of the universal material in myth and ritual drama. Archetypal experiences tend to be numinous and transpersonal in their
impact upon personal development, for they are the eruption of archaic and timeless meaning into the personal world of the ego.
The archetype exists as the intersection of spirit and matter. We are now beginning to understand in a scientific way how this intersection might be possible, if by "spirit" we mean the order of the quantum sea. Human experience becomes the localized instantiation of the universal - the transcendental - through the medium of neurognosis. And neurognosis is precisely the local embodiment of the structure of the sea, and at the same time the structures mediating consciousness.
When Michael Persinger suggests in his book, Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs (1987), that certain experiences of unity with the Godhead may be mediated by structures in the temporal lobes, such an analysis need not imply a reduction of transpersonal experiences to neurophysiology. Among other things, to reduce these experiences to their neurophysiological foundations begs such questions as the profundity of insight, or the causation-at-a-distance that may accompany such experiences. Neurognostic or archetypal structures in the brain may transduce insights pertaining to the universal structure of the quantum sea. Each human brain may indeed prove to be a microcosm that contains - like the proverbial mustard seed, or the more modem hologram - all the wisdom of the ages, requiring only the optimal conditions of development for each person to individuate into a sage. http://neurotheology.50megs.com/index.html
Rossi reports that neurogenesis can occur in the motor cortex simply through the act of imagining playing the piano (Pascual-Leone, Amedi, Fregni, & Merabet, 2005). Similarly, taxicab drivers develop the areas of their brains involved in spatial relationships by memorizing the labyrinthine streets and avenues ofthe cities in which they work (Maguire et al., 2000). Although the underlying mechanisms are different, neuroplasticity research suggests that challenging learning experiences can lead to the development of brain tissue in a manner analogous to the ways that physical exercise can lead to the development of muscle tissue.
One area of research that has found significant evidence of mental training leading to neuroplastic modifications in brain activity focuses on the study of meditation. Meditation, although greatly varying in technique and purpose across the diverse spiritual and cultural traditions in which it is used, may be generally defined as the intentional practice whereby one grasps "the handle of cognition" to cultivate a competent use of one's own mental capacities, gaining agency over thought and emotion (Depraz, Várela, &Vermersch, 2003). Such intentional mental training has been shown to induce functional neurobiological changes.
Jung's reference to the essential unknowability of the archetypes-in-themselves also applies to neurognostic structures. Neurognosis may also refer to the functioning of these neural structures in producing either experience or some other activity unconscious to the individual. This usage is similar to Jung's reference to archetypal imagery, ideas, and activities that emerge into and are active in consciousness. This includes ancestral / genetic memory. We cannot understand a thing until we have experienced it inwardly. In the inward experiencethe connection between the psyche and the outward image or creed is first revealed as a resonance, relationship or correspondence.
Jung's genius was in holding the tension of opposites of mind-body dualism - that is, between experiential relativism on the one hand. and physical reductionism on the other. It was clear to Jung that an individual's experience is both structured by processes universal to the human psyche, and the manifestation of individuation. Holding the tension of the opposites one transcends them. Holding a divine "tension," allowis a new consciousness to unfold. As hybrid "spirit-matter" beings, we must realize it is appropriate for us to be living in two worlds at once -- the world of the ego and the world of the soul. We do not become one watered-down nondescript composite: we each bring forth our entire way of being -- which is a very rich and inviting way to live.
Today the Divine Feminine archetype -- for which our world is starved and needfu -- is teaching us many new ways. She does not defeat "the dragon" on her heroine's journey as does a masculine hero. She accepts the dragon for having 'dragon nature' and loves it for what it is. In this way she conquers her "enemy" through the potent energies of the heart. This higher way dissolves all dualism. Instead of me against the dragon, it's the dragon and I are one.
You can't wait to discover something without knowing how it is going to happen. Expectancy and surprise in the neuro-psycho-physiology generate detectable changes in the dynamics of gene expression and neurotransmission. Regulation of the priming step of the neurotransmitter release has important consequences for memory, learning, problem solving, and behavior change at the synaptic level. A synaptic protein called RIM, among others, is involved in a key regulatory step of synaptic plasticity facilitated by priming the synaptic vesicles between neurons to release their neurotransmitters. Cultural Genomics has profound implications for understanding the human condition. Dragon culture is a coherent underground stream, unlike the chaos of contemporary mass-media.
The molecular messengers generated by stress, injury, and disease can activate immediate early genes within stem cells so that they then signal the target genes required to synthesize the proteins that will transform (differentiate) stem cells into mature well-functioning tissues. Such activity-dependent gene expression and its consequent activity-dependent neurogenesis and stem cell healing is proposed as the molecular-genomic-cellular basis of rehabilitative medicine, physical, and occupational therapy as well as the many alternative and complementary approaches to mind-body healing.
The therapeutic replaying of enriching life experiences that evoke the novelty-numinosum-neurogenesis effect during creative moments of art, music, dance, drama, humor, literature, poetry, and spirituality, as well as cultural rituals of life transitions (birth, puberty, marriage, illness, healing, and death) can optimize consciousness, personal relationships, and healing in a manner that has much in common with the psychogenomic foundations of naturalistic and complementary medicine. The entire history of alternative and complementary approaches to healing is consistent with this new neuroscience world view about the role of psychological arousal and fascination in modulating gene expression, neurogenesis, and healing via the psychosocial and cultural rites of human societies. (Rossi, 2003).
The bioinformatics of psychosocial genomics in alternative and complementary medicine.
A single genotype, the genetic blueprint of an organism, can be expressed in a multiplicity of distinct physiological and behavioral forms, known as phenotypes. The mechanisms by which such different phenotypes are expressed are just beginning to be understood, but they appear to involve the regulatory effect of internal and external environmental signals on stress hormones, which in turn modify gene transcription processes (Kandel, 1998; Rossi, 2004).
Experiences modulate gene expression. In turn, experience-dependent modifications to neural tissue may be driven by epigenetic processes (that is, changes in gene expression produced by environmental determinants) .The human environment is constantly conditioned by social experiences, which, when transduced by the nervous system into electrochemical signals, may modulate protein synthesis in the nuclei of nerve cells, ultimately leading to changes in the replication and growth of neurons. Social experience can change gene expression, leading to the restructuring of the
brain through neuroplasticity.
Creative adaptation
Psychological experiences of trauma, stress, and surprise evoke psychobiological arousal to engage the levels of gene expression and protein synthesis could also facilitate neurogenesis, creative problem solving and healing. The complementary dynamics of expectancy and surprise act as a complex system of creative adaptation to facilitate rehabilitation and healing on many levels of human experience from mind to gene expression. Psychosocial experiences of expectancy, by contrast, may prime more focused and predictable hypnotic responses by modulating neurotransmitter release at the synaptic vesicle level between neurons. We can all learn to facilitate our evolving consciousness with numinous experiences of Art, Beauty, Truth, and Happiness in our daily creative work of building a better brain.
Current research has identified at least three different mechanisms whereby environmental factors such as trauma, stress and surprise can interact with the genomic level.
1. Modulation of gene expression;
2. Alternative splicing of genes to produce different proteins, and
3. Translocation of neuritic mRNA during long-term neuronal hypersensitivity.
Since these three psycho-genomic mechanisms are fundamental in integrating mind-gene communication (information transduction) during health, stress and healing (Rossi, 1990, 1994, 2002)
Emergent Interactionism
These new biopsychosocial sciences are consistent with a view of human beings as holistic, recursive systems structurally coupled with their environments in a process of mutual change (Maturana & Várela, 1987). Intentionality and volition can generate changes in the structure of the brain, the very organ assumed to produce such mental phenomena (Schwartz & Begley, 2002). With this finding, it is evident that human experience is not driven solely from the bottom up by neurobiology and genetics. Instead, there is growing evidence that psychosocial experience can exert a macrodeterministic, top-down force on our biology.
In the philosophy of emergent interactionism, Roger Sperry (1987), Nobel laureate neuroscientist, described macrodeterminism as a higher order, molar level of organization that determines and conditions the activity of lower order, nested subcomponents. Hence, human beings, who are at one level assemblies of organ systems comprising aggregates of cells, which are in turn composed of organic molecules made up of subatomic particles, are not merely the sum of these physical elements. Instead, the consciousness that emerges from the interaction of these components
can act back upon its physical substrate. Thought, emotion, and action trigger neural activity, which can lead to a reorganization ofthe brain, shaping future psychosocial experience. From this perspective, we are not the passive products of neurophysiology and heredity; rather, through our behavior in the social environment, we become active agents in the construction of our own neurobiology and, ultimately, our own lives. We have the power to transcend and transform their limitations into opportunities for growth and well-being.
Genealogists are now using molecular genealogy -- comparing and matching people by matrilineal DNA lineages-mtDNA or patrilineal Y-chromosome ancestry and/or racial percentages tests. People interested in ancestry now look at genetic markers to trace the migrations of the human species. You can trace your genealogy by DNA from your grandparents back 10,000 or more years. But which parts have you activated and which parts remains dormant?
Anyone can be interested in DNA for ancestry research, learning how different populations from a mosaic of communities reached their current locations. From who are you descended? What markers shed light on your deepest ancestry? You can study DNA for medical reasons or to discover the geographic travels and dwelling places of some of your ancestors. How do Europeans in general fit into the great migrations of prehistory that took all to where they are today based on their genetic DNA markers and sequences? Where is the geographic center of their origin and the roots of all people? Specifically, how can you interpret your DNA test for family history? And then, knowing that, what are you able to do with it that might be extraordinary?
The deep psychoblological basis of consciousness and the nascent possibilities for future research in therapeutic hypnosis and all the mind-body therapies.
How can the experience of beauty and truth really be alike? Well, they are both deeply meaningful and motivating for one thing - most people like them!
The really surprising thing is that beauty and truth both heighten the activity of your brain with wonderful excitement!
This heightened activity of our brain turns on "activity-dependent gene expression and brain plasticity" to optimize human consciousness, sense and sensibility at the deepest level of our being!
There is a profound secret of evolution and genius hidden in this! It is an example of how the highest and brightest experiences of our mind and consciousness can modulate the organic molecular-genomic foundation of our physical being.
This implies that our consciousness, mind, brain, and genes activate and co-create each other!
Does this suggest to you any insight into what "enlightenment" is supposed to mean?
Only you can really answer to this question by exploring how your own mind and brain co-create each other. How? By asking yourself a few simple questions.
What are you most curious about?
What seems so exciting that you want more of it?
What is so enlightening that it actually wakes you up with wonder?
What are the most beautiful and fascinating experiences of your life?
What is the truth you would really like to understand?
Medatating sincerely on these questions in your daily life and dreams may be the royal road to enhancing your health, wealth, and creativity.
COMMENTARY
As we have discussed before, we dragons 'turn each other on'. By sharing our Truths and life experiences with one another we Synchronistically activate the dormant aspects of ourselves that we have been waiting on for so long. We all have lived the same life with the same trials, issues, and problems only with a different and unique set of circumstances that are special for each of us. Our Purpose of BEing is to overcome and to help others attain the same by our Examples and Compassion. To illuminate the Truths that we all want to hear but that others are afraid to speak. Everyone wants the world to change but few are willing to step up and offer solutions that benefit us all. We are here to take the mistakes and lessons of all our ancestral lifetimes and once and for all bring completion to us all. Unity and Oneness is the finish line. Through the Eyes of the Dragon we can truly see that goal and know we will attain it. Let us all make an effort to move past the mistakes of our forefathers and unite to fulfill our combined destinies. We are blessed by our genealogies and yes they set us apart from the others, but true nobility comes from knowing that the title does not make the man great. It is the heart that has the biggest impact on ourselves and those around us. We are truly blessed to be here now. I am so happy to have all of you as a part of my family. Thank you for everything you are and will be. -- Jeremy
REFERENCES
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, (1990), Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, New York: Harper and Row, ISBN 0-06-092043-2
Eric L. Garland and Matthew Owen Howard. An Introduction to Psychosocial Genomics: How the body speaks to us about the effects of non-invasive processes such as therapeutic hypnosis; Hill, R. 2010 . Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis 31 (1), pp. 5-16 http://integralsocialwork.com/documents/neuroplasticity.pdf
Ho, Mae-Wan, Kybernetes 26, 265-276, 1997. "Quantum Coherence and Conscious Experience";
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/brainde.php
Laughlin, Charles D., Archetypes, Neurognosis and the Quantum Sea
http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_10_3_laughlin.pdf
Psychosocial Genomics of Therapeutic Hypnosis & Rehabilitation, Ernest Rossi, et al
The Psychosocial Genomics of Therapeutic Hypnosis, Psychotherapy, and Rehabilitation Ernest Lawrence Rossi
http://www.asch.net/portals/0/journallibrary/articles/ajch-51/51-3/rossi51-3.pdf
THE CREATIVE PSYCHOSOCIAL GENOMIC HEALING EXPERIENCE ©:ADMINISTRATION, RATIONALE, & RESEARCH
An Open Invitation to Mind-Body Psychotherapy Clinical & Experimental Research; Ernest Rossi, David Atkinson, Jane Blake-Mortimer, Salvatore Iannotti, Mauro Cozzolino, Stefano Castiglione, Angela Cicatelli, Erika Chovanec, Richard Hill, Claude Virot, Bhaskar Vyas, Jorge Cuadros, Michel Kerouac, Thierry Kallfass, Helmut Milz, Claire Frederick, Bruce Gregory, Margaret Bullock, Ella Soleimany, April Rossi, Kathryn Rossi, & Stanley Krippner.
http://www.ernestrossi.com/ernestrossi/Research%20Group%20Papers/Protocol%20CPGHE%20v1.3.pdf
A Pilot Study of Positive Expectations and Focused Attention via a New Protocol for Optomizing Therapeutic Hypnosis and Psychotherapy Assessed with DNA Microarrays: The Creative Psychosocial Genomic Healing Experience. The Journal of Sleep and Hypnosis.
Prospects for Exploring the Molecular-Genomic Foundations of Therapeutic Hypnosis with DNA Microarrays. (2005/2006)
The Bioinformatics of Integrative Medical Insights: Proposals for an International PsychoSocial and Cultural Bioinformatics Project (2006)
The ideodynamic action hypothesis of therapeutic suggestion: Creative replay in the psychosocial genomics of therapeutic hypnosis. (2005)
The Genomic Science Foundation of Body Psychotherapy. (2004)
Stress-Induced Alternative Gene Splicing in Mind-Body Medicine. (2004)
Gene Expression and Brain Plasticity in Stroke Rehabilitation: A Personal Memoir of Mind-Body Healing Dreams. (2004)
The Bioinformatics of Psychosocial Genomics in Alternative and Complementary Medicine. (2003)
Gene Expression, Neurogenesis, and Healing: Psychosocial Genomics of Therapeutic Hypnosis (2003)
A Bioinformatics Approach to the Psychosocial Genomics of Therapeutic Hypnosis (2002)
Psychosocial Genomics: Gene Expression, Neurogenesis, and Human Experience in Mind-Body Medicine. (2002)
Creativity and the Nature of the Numinosum: The Psychosocial Genomics of Jung’s Transcendent Function in Art, Science, Spirit, and Psychotherapy. (2005)
Sacred Spaces and Places in Healing Dreams: Gene Expression and Brain Growth in Rehabilitation. (2002)
Art, Beauty & Truth: The Psychosocial Genomics of Consciousness, Dreams, and Brain Growth in Psychotherapy and Mind-Body Healing. (2004)
Einstein’s eternal mystery of epistemology explained: The four stage creative process in art, science, myth, and psychotherapy. (2005)
Winkelman, Michael, Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing.
EMOTIONAL ALCHEMY
The natural cycle of ergotropic and trophotropic processes, governed by the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems mediates cycles of arousal and calm, and are therefore implicated in a variety of disorders which display states of hyperarousal and hypoarousal. They are mediated by the neurotransmiters noradrenalin and serotonin. The interhemispheric balancing mediates the harmonization of the left and right hemispheres of the brainmind. They mediate fight-flight-freeze responses, and pain-pleasure cycles. They can be chemically related to cycles of addiction and inflation, desire, acting out, guilt, remorse, high wellbeing, self-acceptance, and self-esteem. At their extremes, meditative and exalted states reflect as psychological and physiological paradox.
Emotional Alchemy of Arousal & Transcendence, by Iona Miller
Fischer, Roland (1967); "Biological models of creativity," Journal for the Study of Consciousness, pg. 89-117. First presented Oct. 28-29, 1967.
Arousal and Transcendence in Tantra and Sacred Sex
The mystical effects of Tantric Sex are the result of spiritual and sexual technologies which manipulate the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of arousal in the psychosexual body. The interaction and paradoxical union of these two systems of arousal is implicated in tantric bliss states. One system, ergotrophic, energizes us; the other, trophotropic, tranquilizes us. The E-system is Yang, while the T-system is Yin. The orchestration of these systems during the sexual sacrament is the essence of tantra.
Max-ing out your system physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually with Tantra can lead through ego death to cosmic consciousness. Rather than falling in love, Tantra is rising in love. As in the case of trance-induced transcendence by overwhelming the senses, at tantric full-body orgasm there is a paradoxical switch from maximal arousal to a profound state of emptiness and deep calm which can be lengthened or deepened even further in post-coital meditation into a direct perception of the mystic Void.
As a metaphor of this process, imagine the fabulously beautiful and infinitely detailed structure of the fractals produced by the Mandelbrot set. When this form is generated all numbers of the equation either fall into the black void at the center of the figure because they are decreasing; or if they are increasing they wind up as part of the infinitely dynamic fractal set that forms the beautiful filigree around the voids.
Our consciousness does much the same kind of processing in the flow state of psychosexual expression. When aroused we expand our sense of self even to the cosmic scale even as our focus narrows (cosmic consciousness). After orgasm, our focus is free to expand infinitely while our sense of the body and our personal orientation can virtually vanish (the mystic Void).
Tantra works within the natural cycle of ergotropic and trophotropic processes, governed by the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. They mediate cycles of arousal and calm, and are therefore implicated in a variety of mystical experiences and also disorders which display states of hyperarousal and hypoarousal. They are mediated by the neurotransmiters noradrenalin and serotonin. The interhemispheric balancing mediates the harmonization of the left and right hemispheres of the brainmind. They mediate fight-flight responses, and pain-pleasure cycles. They can be chemically related to cycles of inflation, desire, acting out, guilt, remorse, high wellbeing, self-acceptance, and self-esteem. At their extremes, meditative and exalted states reflect as psychological and physiological paradox.
Arousal and Transcendence in Tantra and Sacred Sex
The mystical effects of Tantric Sex are the result of spiritual and sexual technologies which manipulate the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of arousal in the psychosexual body. The interaction and paradoxical union of these two systems of arousal is implicated in tantric bliss states. One system, ergotrophic, energizes us; the other, trophotropic, tranquilizes us. The E-system is Yang, while the T-system is Yin. The orchestration of these systems during the sexual sacrament is the essence of tantra.
Max-ing out your system physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually with Tantra can lead through ego death to cosmic consciousness. Rather than falling in love, Tantra is rising in love. As in the case of trance-induced transcendence by overwhelming the senses, at tantric full-body orgasm there is a paradoxical switch from maximal arousal to a profound state of emptiness and deep calm which can be lengthened or deepened even further in post-coital meditation into a direct perception of the mystic Void.
As a metaphor of this process, imagine the fabulously beautiful and infinitely detailed structure of the fractals produced by the Mandelbrot set. When this form is generated all numbers of the equation either fall into the black void at the center of the figure because they are decreasing; or if they are increasing they wind up as part of the infinitely dynamic fractal set that forms the beautiful filigree around the voids.
Our consciousness does much the same kind of processing in the flow state of psychosexual expression. When aroused we expand our sense of self even to the cosmic scale even as our focus narrows (cosmic consciousness). After orgasm, our focus is free to expand infinitely while our sense of the body and our personal orientation can virtually vanish (the mystic Void).
Tantra works within the natural cycle of ergotropic and trophotropic processes, governed by the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. They mediate cycles of arousal and calm, and are therefore implicated in a variety of mystical experiences and also disorders which display states of hyperarousal and hypoarousal. They are mediated by the neurotransmiters noradrenalin and serotonin. The interhemispheric balancing mediates the harmonization of the left and right hemispheres of the brainmind. They mediate fight-flight responses, and pain-pleasure cycles. They can be chemically related to cycles of inflation, desire, acting out, guilt, remorse, high wellbeing, self-acceptance, and self-esteem. At their extremes, meditative and exalted states reflect as psychological and physiological paradox.
Arousal & Transcendence
We exist within a complex network of cycle within cycles. One of the fundamental cycles of our human lives centers around hyper- and hypoarousal. The activated state of ergotropic arousal is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system; while the trophotropic arousal is mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system. They are related to CRP (Consciousness Restructuring Process) Journeys as the source of the psychophysical imagery of the hallucination-perception-transcendence continuum.
The Ergotropic System has to do with those mechanisms which belong physiologically to bodily work and the relevant dynamics of activation and general excitation. It moves our muscular and skeletal systems. Its potentiation can be mimicked by stimulation of the posterior and medial hypothalamus. This augments sympathetic discharges, increases cardiac rate, causes pupillary dilation, and inhibits gastrointestinal motor and secretory functions. Other effects on the body include dysynchrony of brain wave patterns, increased skeletal muscle tone. It is related to the elevation of certain hormones including noradrenalin, adrenaline, and adreno-cortical responsiveness. There is also a rise in blood sugar and shortening of time required for coagulation of blood. In Chinese systems, this arousal syndrome is considered YANG, in nature.
The Trophotropic System relates to physiological mechanisms of recuperation, protective mechanisms, unloading, restitution of achievement capacity, normalization, and healing. Its effects originate in the anterior or lateral hypothalamus, including pre-optic and supra-optic areas and the septum. It augments visceral responses, parasympathetic discharges, including reduction in cardiac rate, blood pressure, and sweat secretion. The pupil of the eye constricts, and there is an increase in gastrointestinal motor and secretory function with a fall in blood sugar.
Brain waves become characteristically synchronized with production of alpha and theta patterns. There is loss of skeletal muscle tone, a blocking of the shivering response and increased secretion of insulin. The t-system is associated with the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Its behavioral effects include inactivity, drowsiness, and sleep. They are associated with meditative states. In Chinese systems, this tranquil state is considered YIN, in nature.Normally, the E-system activates during arousal or in situations of apprehension or danger, while the T-system manifests when danger or anxiety are minimal. We can use a mnemonic to help us remember: the E-system is energized, exalted, or enflammed; while the T-system is tranquil, transformative, and transcendent.
Stimulation of the E-system leads us into the external environment, and is associated with warming. Conversely, stimulation of the T-system leads us into the internal environment, an is associated with cooling. Both system are mediated through a balancing process which takes place in the hypothalamus, so that an “ET” balance is present in “normal” situations. The interplay of both processes keeps our organism in homeostasis. Stimulation of one system over the other creates specific physiological and psychological or behavioral effects.
Highly Sensitive People
As many as 20% of the population are highly sensitive people (HSPs), who are generally high-strung, and frequently feel overwhelmed by experiences that others seem to shrug off. Only recently have such works as The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You (Elaine Aron; Broadway, 1996) given these individuals not only a jolt of recognition, but a positive spin on their condition.
Aron’s book was a godsend for those who have been told since childhood how high-strung, nervous, timid, overly sensitive or fearful they were. Here was a mental health professional describing high sensitivity as a normal state shared by 15 to 20 percent of the population and framing it positively rather than as a flaw.According to Aron, highly sensitive people typically share a number of characteristics: They are highly aroused by new or prolonged stimulation; strongly reactive to external stimuli such as noise and light; intolerant of pain, hunger, thirst caffeine, and medication; susceptible to stress-related and psychosomatic illnesses and deeply affected by other people’s moods and emotions.
They are also highly intuitive; able to concentrate deeply (but do best without distractions); right-brained and less linear than non-HSPs; highly conscientious; especially good at tasks requiring vigilance, accuracy, and speed; and excellent at spotting and avoiding errors.“Sensitivity is an inherited trait,” Aron says, “that tends to be a disadvantage only at high levels of stimulation.” Everything is magnified for HSPs. What is moderately arousing for most people, she explains, is highly arousing for the highly sensitive. And what is highly arousing for others is off the charts for HSPs, who reach a shutdown point once they attain a certain arousal level.Aron’s research has convinced her there are genetic and biological bases for extreme sensitivity.
The brains of HSPs, she says differ from those of other individuals. Studies have shown that they have more activity--and blood flow-- in the right hemisphere of the brain, which indicates that they are internally focused rather than outwardly oriented. The balance between two opposing systems of the brain may account for heightened sensitivity.One system, the “behavioral activation system” is hooked up to sections of the brain that propel people into new situations, making them curious and eager for external rewards. Another system, the “behavioral inhibition system,” compares present situations to past ones before proceeding and alerts the body to be cautious in risky situations.
Aron believes that when the behavioral inhibition system in a person’s brain is the stronger of the two system, sensitivity results.Most important to Aron (a Jungian psychologist) is her finding that HSPs are inclined to be anxious, depressed, or shy only when they have suffered troubled childhoods, or trauma, or a series of traumas later in life. The strong “inhibition system: causes real inhibition only when personal history makes an HSP feel there are good reasons to be inhibited.
Thirty percent of HSPs are actually extroverts.HSPs process information differently, “more deeply,” than others. Because they’re especially good at navigating through information, they’re predisposed to work well with information technology, which gives them an advantage in our present society. HSPs also have uncommonly sensitive nervous systems and a more reactive immune system. HSPs are 30 percent more likely to have allergies.They often have decreased serotonin levels, which may result from the stress of repeated overarousal, although the jury’s still out on that one. And contrary to what our cultural assumptions may suggest, the HSP trait does not favor one gender. Just as many men as women are highly sensitive.
HSP’s high degree of sensitivity and awareness of subtle clues contributes to their intuitive abilities. “You just know” how things got to be the way they are and how they are going to turn out,” Aron says. “It can be wrong, of course, just as you eyes and ears can be wrong, but intuition is right often enough that HSPs tend to be visionaries, highly intuitive artists, or inventors, as well as more conscientious, cautious, and wise people.”
Aron believes that, historically HSPs have had an important function in Indo-European cultures, which traditionally have spread their influence through aggressive domination under the guidance of strong, militaristic leaders. “The most long-lasting happy Indo-European cultures have always used two classes to govern themselves--the warrior kings and the priestly advisers,” she says. “HSPs tend to fill that adviser role. They are the writers, historians, philosophers, judges, artists, researchers, theologians, therapists, teachers, and plain conscientious citizens. What they bring to any of these roles is a tendency to think about all the possible effects of an idea.”
But don’t let the word adviser mislead you: HSPs are not always confined to waiting in the wings. Abraham Lincoln, Jimmie Carter, Ingmar Bergman, and Steven Spielberg are a few of the figures Aron thinks fit the profile of highly sensitive people. Still, few people are necessarily anxious to be identified as HSPs.Because society often doesn’t understand or appreciate the trait, many of the highly sensitive shy away from being labeled that way. In fact, HSP traits are much more accepted in some cultures than in others. For example, a study comparing Chinese and Canadian elementary schoolchildren found that sensitive, quiet children in China were among the most popular of their peers. In Canada, they were among the least popular.
Aron’s interest in HSPs began with her awareness of her own “difference.” “I always thought there was something the matter with me,” she recalls. When she felt that she was overreacting to a medical procedure a decade ago, she consulted a therapist who suggested she might be “highly sensitive.” Aron, at the time a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz became intrigued by the notion that certain people might have higher levels of sensitivity than others and decided to do some research. She found that sensitivity was studied under different names.
Consciousness, Creativity and E/T-systems
The E-system function is analogous to the psychosexual energy known as Kundalini. Its content is perceived sensually. The T-system arousal, on the other hand, is sought through purely mental effort, with transcendence of sensory perception, yet there is still imagery which appears in sensory metaphors.Exalted and Meditative States [scan]To reach a ‘bliss’ state (or experience of Self) at either end of the spectrum, requires remaining trophotropically relaxed while ergotropically alert. One moves away from “normal” perception either along the “left-handed path” towards hallucinatory states, or along the “right-handed path” of meditation. Activation of the T-system brings desirousness, mania, ecstasy; while that of the T-system yields satiety, relaxation, serenity, calm. This expressed in the colloquialism “cool, calm, and collected” vs. “hot-blooded, spitfire, burnout.”
Consider the metaphors of healing and cooling (or crystallizing) in the transformative process of alchemy. In alchemy, the passive (‘Virgin) tames the active (‘Unicorn’).By withdrawing attention from the body and senses, awareness becomes purely mental, focused at the eye center (Pineal). All one’s psychic energy remains in the cortex with no sub-cortical information to interpret. The only ‘input’ or stimulation is endogenous. None leaks off down the spine.Alchemists, philosophers, and psychologists have urged us to balance these systems to achieve a harmonious lifestyle, free of the negative effects of burn-out and excessive stress.
Jung quoted the 17th century alchemist, Gerhard Dorn in this regard:“Learn therefore, O Mind, to practice sympathetic love in regard to thine own body, by retraining its vain appetites, that it may be apt with thee in all things. To this end I shall labour, that it may drink with from the fountain of strength, and, when the two are made one, that ye find peace in their union. Draw nigh, O Body, to this fountain, that with thy Mind thou mayest drink to satiety and thirst no more after vanities. O wondrous efficacy of this fount, which maketh one of two, and peace between enemies! The fount of love can make mind out of spirit and soul, but this maketh one man of mind and body.”
Psychologist Roland Fischer (1967) developed a map of inner space and states of consciousness based on the dynamics of the ergo- and trophotropic systems. He postulated that all knowledge is innate, being an interpretation by the cerebral cortex of sub-cortical information. He contends that each level of arousal contains certain types of information which one can “know” only at that level. This is similar to other theories of state-related learning and memory (Tart, 1975;Rossi, 1986).
Fischer also postulated that at extreme levels of hyper- or hypoarousal there is a paradoxical shift from one physiological system to the other, automatically. He declared boldly that the extremes in either direction create mystic experiences of the Self, which are interpreted as bliss whether as an experience of the Plenum of cosmic consciousness (hyper-arousal) or the Void (hypo-arousal).
Fischer summarized his theories by creating a map, a Cartography of Meditative and Exalted States. Increased states of arousal are graphed to the left of center (which indicates “normal awareness”, while increasing tranquility is mapped to the right. Movement of an individual’s consciousness to the Left brings increasing motor excitation, while that to the right brings almost total lack of sensory input.
In Fischer’s own words:“What I propose is that normality, creativity, schizophrenia, and mystical states, though seemingly disparate, actually lie on a continuum. Furthermore, they represent increasing levels of arousal and a gradual withdrawal from the synchronized physical-sensory-cerebral spacetime of the normal state. Specifically, there is a retreat first to sensory-cerebral spacetime and, ultimately, to cerebral spacetime only. The gradual withdrawal from physical spacetime is an expression of the dissolution of ego boundaries, that is, the fusion of object and subject, and it implies that an existence solely in spacetime is an oceanic experience, the most intense mirroring of the ego in its own meaning.”
In summary, we can see that for any individual perception of the universe (as Self or mind) can occur as an internal or external experience. It is our rich internal experiences that have puzzled researchers in consciousness as the so-called “hard problem” of consciousness. At the extreme parameter in either direction, we experience an encounter with the Absolute. Along the continuum, we may experience varying forms of an I-Thou dialogue uniting reaching either extremely hyper- or hypo-arousal states.Hyperarousal, or mania, may result from psychoactive drugs, or a bipolar or schizophrenic episode.
It results, sometimes in “ego-death” when the “I” becomes so freaked-out it submits or gives in to the sensory overload which overwhelms it. Hypoarousal leads to a characteristic state of silence or emptying when the ego voluntarily submits to unification of subject and object, of “I” and Self. In either case, cortical and subcortical activity become indistinguishably merged; there is no separate “I” left to perceive an objective reality. Thus, dualism is obliterated.
Paradoxical physiological mechanisms operate in the body under most conditions to chemically prevent the attainment of higher states of arousal on either end of the spectrum. They function somewhat like the switchover from arousal to repose which occurs at the point of orgasm. But it is possible, with repeated exposure, (such as through Tantra), to the paradoxical situation to function effectively at higher levels of arousal.In fact, there is always a complementary component of the opposite arousal system functioning even in the mystical state. If there were no ergotropic arousal in meditation, for example, we would fall asleep. Thus in some sense, our task becomes falling asleep as much as we can while remaining awake. REM sleep, or the dream state, is another example of physiological paradox where there is extreme cerebral excitation coupled with little muscular activity.
We can characterize the physiological condition of an experience of the Self as remaining trophotropically relaxed while ergotropically alert. The mystic achieves his goal when he learns to short-circuit the homeostatic mechanism of negative feedback. The negative feedback system perpetuates the experience of duality between the “I” and Self.Further correspondence of the E and T systems shows them to be linked with the emotions of love and lust (T-system) and anger or rage (E-system). They are also instrumental in our adaptation to cold (E-system) and adaptation to heat (T-system). These are apparent even in infants in feeding (T) and frustration (E) cycles.
In the adult, these are superseded in importance by the sex act, or sublimated forms of creativity.Thus, the physiological reactions of orgasm and “eureka” are analogous. In foreplay or the incubation of inspiration the parasympathetic system predominates. But at the moment of climax or “eureka” there is a dramatic switchover to the sympathetic system. After the act there a return to the recuperative T-system.This insight may lead you to some interesting contemplation on why Tantric yogis arouse sexual tensions for the purpose of transmuting them to spiritual purposes, for acts of internal creativity.
According to this model, the T-system is responsible for the accumulation of energies or tensions, while the E-system functions for the release of these energies. Thus the dynamics of creativity and orgasm precipitate the release of tensions, which might be sublimated to mystical awareness.
“However, extreme states of arousal and paradoxical ergotropic-trophotropic manifestations also provide the dynamic for mystical awareness and exalted states of consciousness. We have characterized the method of samadhi as remaining ergotropically conscious while trophotropically falling (more deeply than) asleep. Ecstasy involves remaining physically relaxed while becoming mentally hyperaroused. Cosmic consciousness is similarly a state of being trophotropically tuned to the absolute while ergotropically tuned to the relative,” (Lansky).
Fischer, on the other hand, describes mystical rapture in biocybernetic terms: “there is no data content from without, and therefore, no rate of data processing; only the content of the ecstatic experience of the mystic at the height of his rapture is a reflecting of himself in his own ‘program.’The withdrawal from physical spacetime to cerebral spacetime is what is known as an experience of the causal plane, or mental dimension. Its integration into daily life requires the ability to make a meaningful interpretation of our own nervous system activity.
A model or consciousness map helps us delineate one person’s mystical experience from another’s “bad trip.”Toward this end, of creating an inner road map, we can combine Fishcer’s model with the hierarchy of experiential states created by John Curtis Gowan.
Gowan’s model includes three modes of functioning: 1) Trance (ego absent); 2) Art (imagery state); 3) Creativity (ego fully present or transcended). Gowan’s periodic risers to spiritual awareness fit very neatly over Fischer’s cartography to give us an even more detailed series of descriptors of ergotropic and trophotropic functioning.[Insert jpeg]Thus, we see that the Trance states including schizophrenia, hypnotism, pro-active drugs, and automatic writing, talking in tongues, etc. are under the mediation of the E-system. So are the experiences of our psychological complexes, which produce arousal or anxiety.
The perception of archetypes and dreams, or myth, as well as the enactment of psychological dynamics in ritual or art are also part of the E-system, which functions through the Parataxic Mode.Syntaxic Mode leads to inner rather than outer creativity. It begins in the sublimation of the sexual instinct and proceeds into meditative, concentrative, and contemplative states, culminating in a paradoxical switchover to mystical ecstasy after reaching higher jhana states.
CONSCIOUS ALCHEMY
The Alchemy of the Central Nervous System
The blending of the Solar “masculine” (E-system) and Lunar “feminine” (T-system) -- modes of awareness in a “chemical wedding” to produce the Philosopher’s Stone forms the bulk of the subject-matter of alchemy. More recently, this ancient investigation has been taken up in the field of neuropsychology and neurophysiology. An examination of the basic principles of alchemy, such as the unification of opposites, yields some extremely interesting correlations with modern medical research.
Just what are the qualities represented by the basic alchemical substances, and what analogies for these substances can be found in human psychobiology? In alchemy, the primary opposites to be synthesizedare spirit and emotion or instinct; they are characterized as “fire” and “water.” Alternatively, the fiery masculine spirit is known as the hot Solar principle and corresponds with Sulphur.
The watery feminine element is cold and Lunar in nature, correspondingly termed Mercury. In any given alchemical document, these might be referred to as Sol and Luna, Rex and Regina, or Adam and Eve. Though their names and attributes are many, the process of their union remains essentially the same.From a biological perspective, we might begin our investigation by attributing the active, hot principle of sulphur to the left hemisphere of the brain. This hemisphere provides rational adaptation to the external environment.
The passive, lunar principle of Mercury corresponds to the right hemisphere, which is holistic in its perception. Of course, the blending of these portions of the brain represents the functioning of a whole individual. But since most of us have some form of access to both modes, we must look further into the physiology of the brain to find the precise chemical mediators of the processes of hyperarousal and its counterpart, hypoarousal.
There are two nitrogen-containing organic compounds in the brain (called amines) which have been observed as significant in the balance of physical and mental processes. They are neurotransmitters, chemicals which are highly significant in the movement of electrical impulses between neurons (nerve cells) in the human Central Nervous System. The electrical charges always jump from nerve cell to nerve cell with the help of a given chemical helper, or neurotransmitter.Two specific compounds were originally proposed as the chemical mediators of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of arousal.
Newer research shows a myriad of neuromodulators, but these two still take center stage in the complex chemistry.Noradrelalin (NA) also called norepinepherine corresponds with the solar Sulpher and works through the sympathetic system. It facilitates adaptation to external reality. When stimulated, it produces an excited anxious state of enflamment which can culminate in ecstasy. Among disorders of this system are manic episodes and hypervigilance.
All illicit CNS stimulants also emulate hyperarousal and lead therefore to addiction.Serotonin (5-HT) corresponds with the lunar Mercury and works through the parasympathetic system. Its influence is felt in a relaxed condition, like contemplation or meditation. Serotonin deficiencies are blamed for a host of disorders, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD.In physiology, the sympathetic nervous system produces involuntary responses such as alarm, and the “fight-flight” syndrome. The parasympathetic functions include digestion, and slowing one down.
The chemicals noradrenalin and serotonin work in the body as cooperative antagonists; they balance one another in such a manner that we do not get too speedy, or sluggish at inappropriate times.We can easily recognize the “switching mechanism” in ourselves at various times. The most dramatic switch occurs in orgasm, when the body rapidly moves from a highly aroused state to one of extreme relaxation and torpor, even sleep. Another example occurs in the creative process, at the moment of “A-ha,” when intense concentration gives way to satisfactory solution.
Noradrenalin and serotonin are also the mediators of the pain-pleasure cycle. Have you ever wondered why it is practically impossible to stay on a natural “high,” happy at every moment? The normal functioning of chemical processes in he brain makes this impossible. However, mystical practice can moderate the mood swings experienced by most individuals, and even open a realm of bliss, which is distinctively different from an ordinary good mood. Traditionally this bliss is called “spiritual nectar” and emanates from the pineal gland.
Noradrenalin mediates pleasure, action, excitation, motor behavior, and goal-oriented behavior. When there is imbalance, it contributes to depression or manic behavior. Serotonin mediates inaction, satiety, sleep, feeding, and functions as a punishment/pain system to inhibit and balanced the reinforcement/reward system mediated by noradrenalin.Serotonin is believed to be a reciprocal inhibitor of noradrenalin’s ability to function as a sexual stimulant. This may, in part, account for traditions of ecstatic enflamment, such as Tantra; and conversely, for the progressively decreasing interest in sex reported by many yogis.It is easy to observe the effects of serotonin and noradrenalin on the sleep cycle of an individual. Serotonin is responsible for beginning and maintaining cycles of deep sleep.
Rising noradrenalin is implicated in REM sleep, or the dream state.Noradrenalin and serotonin exist in a balanced relationship with each other, although the amounts of each vary somewhat in different areas of the brain. For example, the limbic structures contain the highest concentrations of the neurotransmitters, while the neocortical portions have almost none. In most brain tissues they are similarly distributed.Too much serotonin is known to be harmful for a variety of reasons. It can, paradoxically produce hyperactivity, but soon leads to exhaustion, depression, and anxiety. Irritation by serotonin can also lead the body to produce too many histamines, inducing symptoms of a cold.
Serotonin creates hyperactivity by activating the overproduction of adrenalin and noradrenalin. The person may feel euphoric for awhile, but after a period of time, this leads to adrenal exhaustion, and decreased recovery ability. Excessive serotonin is now implicated as the “death hormone.” When its levels rise with age in the hypothalamus, with a simultaneous depletion of dopamine (precursor of noradrenalin), the trigger may be pulled.Noradrenalin and serotonin play a major role in the effectiveness of stimulants and hallucinogens. Long term effects of these drugs leads to depletion of neurotransmitter stores at synaptic junctions in the brain with consequent disorientation and impaired immunological responses.
“The messenger chemical is stored in pouches called vesicles on the surface of the neuron’s cellular membrane and released into the gap between nerves (synapses) when the nerves fire. Many popular stimulant drugs increase the level of NE (Noradrenalin) in these synapses, resulting in greater nerve stimulation. Such drugs include amphetamines, ...over-the-counter diet aids, magnesium pemoline, and cocaine.“These can temporarily improve alertness, learning in focusing and attention tasks, as well as memory. However, these effects may be due to general stimulation rather than altered data processing by the nerves. A serious disadvantage of these drugs is that once the stored supply of NE has been released from the vesicles and the NE in the synapses has been metabolized, the drugs no longer stimulate nerve activity (this process is called ‘tolerance) until the body produces more NE. Depression is very common during the period when NE supply is low owing to excessive use of the stimulants mentioned above, (Pearson and Shaw, 1982).”
With psychedelics, the body is tricked into producing massive quantities of serotonin, which leads to hallucinations. The body becomes hyperaroused when it tries to compensate by producing the noradrenalin to counteract the serotonin dump.Serotonin, then, is basically an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It reduces neuron activity. It prevents excessive nervous stimulation which results in depletion. Its nutritional precursor is tryptophan which is found in abundance in milk and bananas.
Noradrenalin is important in primitive drives and emotions like sex, and in memory and learning. When noradrenalin is low, there is depression and poor immune system reactions. To increase noradrenalin storage, take its nutritional precursors l-phenylalanine, or the amino acid L-Dopa to increase brain levels of dopamine and noradrenalin.
Reflecting back to the relationship of serotonin and noradrenalin in the pain-pleasure cycle, we may see how they induce different states of consciousness.In a privately circulated thesis from the 1970s, Philip Steven Lansky amalgamated his research on systems of arousal with the work of noted Jungian psychologist, Edward Edinger. In his classic text, EGO AND ARCHETYPE, Edinger formulated his ideas on I-Self relationship into a graph showing the progress of the repetitive cycle. Lansky overlaid the likely chemistries, which correspond with these changes. In this manner initial overactivity of serotonin may function as a negative feedback system. A third circle for “drug abuse” might be included to depict the merry-go-round of addiction (Miller, 1982).[insert jpeg]
This is an interesting appraisal of the alchemy of the Central Nervous System. It might seem that homeostasis would keep consciousness forever in the grip of this psychic life cycle. Yet, Lansky goes on to state:“However, according to Edinger (1972), individuation means not having to continually repeat the cycle, but to develop conscious dialogues between I and Self. Neurochemically this may be interpreted as a partial overstepping of noradrenergic-serotonergic rebounds, and the concomitant state of more subtle serotonergic/noradrenergic relationships. This is reflected in the ability to remain active (noradrenergic) while inactive (serotonergic). It is a state of physiological and psychological paradox...as is aptly described by the wisdom of The Secret of the Golden Flower.” This I-Self dialogue is certainly a valued dimension of the CRP Journeys. It consists of using action in order attain non-action.
Lansky concludes,“Interestingly, the “chymical wedding” of alchemy was a symbol for the simultaneous constellation of psychic opposites, which we have already suggested concurs with a state of physiological paradox. Might not the contents of the two archetypal flasks represent two amines, serotonin and noradrenalin, being poured simultaneously into a marriage bath in the hypothalamus.?”
The Alchemical Formula of “Solve et Coagula”
In alchemy the balancing of opposites is by their merger as expressed in the formula “Solve et Coagula,” which means to dissolve and congeal, or recongeal. It is old attitudes which must be dissolved, and concrete experiences which form the coagulation---the embodiment of experience.When a one-sided attitude encounters a more comprehensive viewpoint, the old attitude dissolves.
Solutio is the dissolution of the old attitude, which may be experienced as a threat to the world-view of the ego. The ego is interested in maintaining control. It tends to assume that it’s cognitive perception is foremost and builds personality or our world-view from its perception of order.The ego embraces a paradigm about the nature of Reality. Exposure to someone with a convincing, more comprehensive and demonstrable worldview can wash away the solid ground from under the ego’s feet.
This destabilization of the old self may bring up fear and insecurities or pain before the new self is congealed. The ego feels adrift or fragmented before the new viewpoints are assimilated into the conscious attitude and existential experience (coagulatio).The unified state, or self is the agent of solutio in alchemy. It is either experienced in internal relationships among archetypal entities or forces, or it is projected into one’s environment. An example is where a person meets someone who “makes the bottom drop out” of his/her world. Consciousness then has the choice of embracing or rejecting the broader viewpoint.
The long-range aims of solutio is the unification of opposites. Both the archetypal masculine and feminine elements are being dissolved and united at the same time.When one encounters the Self internally, a larger consciousness of the world and universe, solutio occurs. In tantra, it may have begun before the journey confronting the enlarged worldview of the transcendent perspective. In solutio, the best qualities of the ego survive and are refined.
Those aspects of the ego which consciously relate to the Self withstand solutio, (Edinger).This alchemical operations has characteristic stages which relate directly to the phenomenology of Tantra:
1. Return to the primal state;
2. Dissolution, dispersal, and dismemberment;
3. Containment of a lesser thing by a greater;
4. Rebirth, rejuvenation, immersion in the creative flow;
5. Purification ordeal;
6. Solution of problems;
7. Melting or softening process (dissolving).
The alchemist, or Tantrika, cooperating intentionally with this transpersonal process, experiences the diminishment by solutio as a precursor to union with the Self.In coagulatio, the conscious realization of archetypal forces comes only through personal experiences with the, in concrete forms. The experiential Journeys of tantric sex are an ideal medium for such tangible consolidation. These forms or patterns are unique for each individual, but they share primary characteristics. Experiences in childhood coagulate the archetypes, most frequently in limited or distorted forms. The inner relationships of creative imagination and external relationships coagulate. These are ways of experiencing personal encounters with the divine.
Coagulatio means to congeal, or become more solid. The ego cannot soar unfettered by day-to-day matters into its spiritual fantasies. Ultimately, the body must be reunited with the process at the sensorimotor level. In order for wholeness to be realized, the alchemist or Tantrika must balance aspirations with personal, concrete reality (spouse, job, children, etc.).This concrete form of realization of psychic processes in everyday life allows us to “see” that which previously had no form. The Journeys facilitate this deep focus. Archetypal patterns are manifesting in the mundane world constantly. To the alchemist, the archetypes are no longer perceived as qualities or concepts, but as entities with which they share a defined relationship. Psychologically, this is the union of ordinary human reality with the transpersonal Self.
There must always be an investment of psychic energy in the alchemical process. Desire promotes coagulatio. This psychic energy, mobilized as desire, promotes life-experience. The lure is the sweetness of fulfillment. Coagulatio thus symbolizes the limitations of one’s personal reality, the boundary conditions. We find the limits of our abilities in relation to our desires.In its ultimate projection, coagulatio symbolizes the formation of an immortal body, one firmly grounded in the universal perspective, which is the equivalent of the Philosopher’s Stone.
REFERENCES
Aron, Elaine (1996); The Highly Sensitive Person,
Edinger, Edward, Ego and Archetype,
Fischer, Roland (1967); "Biological models of creativity," Journal for the Study of Consciousness, pg. 89-117. First presented Oct. 28-29, 1967.
Lansky, Philip, "Consciousness and the ergo- and tropho-tropic systems of arousal"; thesis.
Rossi, Ernest
Tart, Charles (1975); States of Consciousness,
We exist within a complex network of cycle within cycles. One of the fundamental cycles of our human lives centers around hyper- and hypoarousal. The activated state of ergotropic arousal is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system; while the trophotropic arousal is mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system. They are related to CRP (Consciousness Restructuring Process) Journeys as the source of the psychophysical imagery of the hallucination-perception-transcendence continuum.
The Ergotropic System has to do with those mechanisms which belong physiologically to bodily work and the relevant dynamics of activation and general excitation. It moves our muscular and skeletal systems. Its potentiation can be mimicked by stimulation of the posterior and medial hypothalamus. This augments sympathetic discharges, increases cardiac rate, causes pupillary dilation, and inhibits gastrointestinal motor and secretory functions. Other effects on the body include dysynchrony of brain wave patterns, increased skeletal muscle tone. It is related to the elevation of certain hormones including noradrenalin, adrenaline, and adreno-cortical responsiveness. There is also a rise in blood sugar and shortening of time required for coagulation of blood. In Chinese systems, this arousal syndrome is considered YANG, in nature.
The Trophotropic System relates to physiological mechanisms of recuperation, protective mechanisms, unloading, restitution of achievement capacity, normalization, and healing. Its effects originate in the anterior or lateral hypothalamus, including pre-optic and supra-optic areas and the septum. It augments visceral responses, parasympathetic discharges, including reduction in cardiac rate, blood pressure, and sweat secretion. The pupil of the eye constricts, and there is an increase in gastrointestinal motor and secretory function with a fall in blood sugar.
Brain waves become characteristically synchronized with production of alpha and theta patterns. There is loss of skeletal muscle tone, a blocking of the shivering response and increased secretion of insulin. The t-system is associated with the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Its behavioral effects include inactivity, drowsiness, and sleep. They are associated with meditative states. In Chinese systems, this tranquil state is considered YIN, in nature.Normally, the E-system activates during arousal or in situations of apprehension or danger, while the T-system manifests when danger or anxiety are minimal. We can use a mnemonic to help us remember: the E-system is energized, exalted, or enflammed; while the T-system is tranquil, transformative, and transcendent.
Stimulation of the E-system leads us into the external environment, and is associated with warming. Conversely, stimulation of the T-system leads us into the internal environment, an is associated with cooling. Both system are mediated through a balancing process which takes place in the hypothalamus, so that an “ET” balance is present in “normal” situations. The interplay of both processes keeps our organism in homeostasis. Stimulation of one system over the other creates specific physiological and psychological or behavioral effects.
Highly Sensitive People
As many as 20% of the population are highly sensitive people (HSPs), who are generally high-strung, and frequently feel overwhelmed by experiences that others seem to shrug off. Only recently have such works as The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You (Elaine Aron; Broadway, 1996) given these individuals not only a jolt of recognition, but a positive spin on their condition.
Aron’s book was a godsend for those who have been told since childhood how high-strung, nervous, timid, overly sensitive or fearful they were. Here was a mental health professional describing high sensitivity as a normal state shared by 15 to 20 percent of the population and framing it positively rather than as a flaw.According to Aron, highly sensitive people typically share a number of characteristics: They are highly aroused by new or prolonged stimulation; strongly reactive to external stimuli such as noise and light; intolerant of pain, hunger, thirst caffeine, and medication; susceptible to stress-related and psychosomatic illnesses and deeply affected by other people’s moods and emotions.
They are also highly intuitive; able to concentrate deeply (but do best without distractions); right-brained and less linear than non-HSPs; highly conscientious; especially good at tasks requiring vigilance, accuracy, and speed; and excellent at spotting and avoiding errors.“Sensitivity is an inherited trait,” Aron says, “that tends to be a disadvantage only at high levels of stimulation.” Everything is magnified for HSPs. What is moderately arousing for most people, she explains, is highly arousing for the highly sensitive. And what is highly arousing for others is off the charts for HSPs, who reach a shutdown point once they attain a certain arousal level.Aron’s research has convinced her there are genetic and biological bases for extreme sensitivity.
The brains of HSPs, she says differ from those of other individuals. Studies have shown that they have more activity--and blood flow-- in the right hemisphere of the brain, which indicates that they are internally focused rather than outwardly oriented. The balance between two opposing systems of the brain may account for heightened sensitivity.One system, the “behavioral activation system” is hooked up to sections of the brain that propel people into new situations, making them curious and eager for external rewards. Another system, the “behavioral inhibition system,” compares present situations to past ones before proceeding and alerts the body to be cautious in risky situations.
Aron believes that when the behavioral inhibition system in a person’s brain is the stronger of the two system, sensitivity results.Most important to Aron (a Jungian psychologist) is her finding that HSPs are inclined to be anxious, depressed, or shy only when they have suffered troubled childhoods, or trauma, or a series of traumas later in life. The strong “inhibition system: causes real inhibition only when personal history makes an HSP feel there are good reasons to be inhibited.
Thirty percent of HSPs are actually extroverts.HSPs process information differently, “more deeply,” than others. Because they’re especially good at navigating through information, they’re predisposed to work well with information technology, which gives them an advantage in our present society. HSPs also have uncommonly sensitive nervous systems and a more reactive immune system. HSPs are 30 percent more likely to have allergies.They often have decreased serotonin levels, which may result from the stress of repeated overarousal, although the jury’s still out on that one. And contrary to what our cultural assumptions may suggest, the HSP trait does not favor one gender. Just as many men as women are highly sensitive.
HSP’s high degree of sensitivity and awareness of subtle clues contributes to their intuitive abilities. “You just know” how things got to be the way they are and how they are going to turn out,” Aron says. “It can be wrong, of course, just as you eyes and ears can be wrong, but intuition is right often enough that HSPs tend to be visionaries, highly intuitive artists, or inventors, as well as more conscientious, cautious, and wise people.”
Aron believes that, historically HSPs have had an important function in Indo-European cultures, which traditionally have spread their influence through aggressive domination under the guidance of strong, militaristic leaders. “The most long-lasting happy Indo-European cultures have always used two classes to govern themselves--the warrior kings and the priestly advisers,” she says. “HSPs tend to fill that adviser role. They are the writers, historians, philosophers, judges, artists, researchers, theologians, therapists, teachers, and plain conscientious citizens. What they bring to any of these roles is a tendency to think about all the possible effects of an idea.”
But don’t let the word adviser mislead you: HSPs are not always confined to waiting in the wings. Abraham Lincoln, Jimmie Carter, Ingmar Bergman, and Steven Spielberg are a few of the figures Aron thinks fit the profile of highly sensitive people. Still, few people are necessarily anxious to be identified as HSPs.Because society often doesn’t understand or appreciate the trait, many of the highly sensitive shy away from being labeled that way. In fact, HSP traits are much more accepted in some cultures than in others. For example, a study comparing Chinese and Canadian elementary schoolchildren found that sensitive, quiet children in China were among the most popular of their peers. In Canada, they were among the least popular.
Aron’s interest in HSPs began with her awareness of her own “difference.” “I always thought there was something the matter with me,” she recalls. When she felt that she was overreacting to a medical procedure a decade ago, she consulted a therapist who suggested she might be “highly sensitive.” Aron, at the time a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz became intrigued by the notion that certain people might have higher levels of sensitivity than others and decided to do some research. She found that sensitivity was studied under different names.
Consciousness, Creativity and E/T-systems
The E-system function is analogous to the psychosexual energy known as Kundalini. Its content is perceived sensually. The T-system arousal, on the other hand, is sought through purely mental effort, with transcendence of sensory perception, yet there is still imagery which appears in sensory metaphors.Exalted and Meditative States [scan]To reach a ‘bliss’ state (or experience of Self) at either end of the spectrum, requires remaining trophotropically relaxed while ergotropically alert. One moves away from “normal” perception either along the “left-handed path” towards hallucinatory states, or along the “right-handed path” of meditation. Activation of the T-system brings desirousness, mania, ecstasy; while that of the T-system yields satiety, relaxation, serenity, calm. This expressed in the colloquialism “cool, calm, and collected” vs. “hot-blooded, spitfire, burnout.”
Consider the metaphors of healing and cooling (or crystallizing) in the transformative process of alchemy. In alchemy, the passive (‘Virgin) tames the active (‘Unicorn’).By withdrawing attention from the body and senses, awareness becomes purely mental, focused at the eye center (Pineal). All one’s psychic energy remains in the cortex with no sub-cortical information to interpret. The only ‘input’ or stimulation is endogenous. None leaks off down the spine.Alchemists, philosophers, and psychologists have urged us to balance these systems to achieve a harmonious lifestyle, free of the negative effects of burn-out and excessive stress.
Jung quoted the 17th century alchemist, Gerhard Dorn in this regard:“Learn therefore, O Mind, to practice sympathetic love in regard to thine own body, by retraining its vain appetites, that it may be apt with thee in all things. To this end I shall labour, that it may drink with from the fountain of strength, and, when the two are made one, that ye find peace in their union. Draw nigh, O Body, to this fountain, that with thy Mind thou mayest drink to satiety and thirst no more after vanities. O wondrous efficacy of this fount, which maketh one of two, and peace between enemies! The fount of love can make mind out of spirit and soul, but this maketh one man of mind and body.”
Psychologist Roland Fischer (1967) developed a map of inner space and states of consciousness based on the dynamics of the ergo- and trophotropic systems. He postulated that all knowledge is innate, being an interpretation by the cerebral cortex of sub-cortical information. He contends that each level of arousal contains certain types of information which one can “know” only at that level. This is similar to other theories of state-related learning and memory (Tart, 1975;Rossi, 1986).
Fischer also postulated that at extreme levels of hyper- or hypoarousal there is a paradoxical shift from one physiological system to the other, automatically. He declared boldly that the extremes in either direction create mystic experiences of the Self, which are interpreted as bliss whether as an experience of the Plenum of cosmic consciousness (hyper-arousal) or the Void (hypo-arousal).
Fischer summarized his theories by creating a map, a Cartography of Meditative and Exalted States. Increased states of arousal are graphed to the left of center (which indicates “normal awareness”, while increasing tranquility is mapped to the right. Movement of an individual’s consciousness to the Left brings increasing motor excitation, while that to the right brings almost total lack of sensory input.
In Fischer’s own words:“What I propose is that normality, creativity, schizophrenia, and mystical states, though seemingly disparate, actually lie on a continuum. Furthermore, they represent increasing levels of arousal and a gradual withdrawal from the synchronized physical-sensory-cerebral spacetime of the normal state. Specifically, there is a retreat first to sensory-cerebral spacetime and, ultimately, to cerebral spacetime only. The gradual withdrawal from physical spacetime is an expression of the dissolution of ego boundaries, that is, the fusion of object and subject, and it implies that an existence solely in spacetime is an oceanic experience, the most intense mirroring of the ego in its own meaning.”
In summary, we can see that for any individual perception of the universe (as Self or mind) can occur as an internal or external experience. It is our rich internal experiences that have puzzled researchers in consciousness as the so-called “hard problem” of consciousness. At the extreme parameter in either direction, we experience an encounter with the Absolute. Along the continuum, we may experience varying forms of an I-Thou dialogue uniting reaching either extremely hyper- or hypo-arousal states.Hyperarousal, or mania, may result from psychoactive drugs, or a bipolar or schizophrenic episode.
It results, sometimes in “ego-death” when the “I” becomes so freaked-out it submits or gives in to the sensory overload which overwhelms it. Hypoarousal leads to a characteristic state of silence or emptying when the ego voluntarily submits to unification of subject and object, of “I” and Self. In either case, cortical and subcortical activity become indistinguishably merged; there is no separate “I” left to perceive an objective reality. Thus, dualism is obliterated.
Paradoxical physiological mechanisms operate in the body under most conditions to chemically prevent the attainment of higher states of arousal on either end of the spectrum. They function somewhat like the switchover from arousal to repose which occurs at the point of orgasm. But it is possible, with repeated exposure, (such as through Tantra), to the paradoxical situation to function effectively at higher levels of arousal.In fact, there is always a complementary component of the opposite arousal system functioning even in the mystical state. If there were no ergotropic arousal in meditation, for example, we would fall asleep. Thus in some sense, our task becomes falling asleep as much as we can while remaining awake. REM sleep, or the dream state, is another example of physiological paradox where there is extreme cerebral excitation coupled with little muscular activity.
We can characterize the physiological condition of an experience of the Self as remaining trophotropically relaxed while ergotropically alert. The mystic achieves his goal when he learns to short-circuit the homeostatic mechanism of negative feedback. The negative feedback system perpetuates the experience of duality between the “I” and Self.Further correspondence of the E and T systems shows them to be linked with the emotions of love and lust (T-system) and anger or rage (E-system). They are also instrumental in our adaptation to cold (E-system) and adaptation to heat (T-system). These are apparent even in infants in feeding (T) and frustration (E) cycles.
In the adult, these are superseded in importance by the sex act, or sublimated forms of creativity.Thus, the physiological reactions of orgasm and “eureka” are analogous. In foreplay or the incubation of inspiration the parasympathetic system predominates. But at the moment of climax or “eureka” there is a dramatic switchover to the sympathetic system. After the act there a return to the recuperative T-system.This insight may lead you to some interesting contemplation on why Tantric yogis arouse sexual tensions for the purpose of transmuting them to spiritual purposes, for acts of internal creativity.
According to this model, the T-system is responsible for the accumulation of energies or tensions, while the E-system functions for the release of these energies. Thus the dynamics of creativity and orgasm precipitate the release of tensions, which might be sublimated to mystical awareness.
“However, extreme states of arousal and paradoxical ergotropic-trophotropic manifestations also provide the dynamic for mystical awareness and exalted states of consciousness. We have characterized the method of samadhi as remaining ergotropically conscious while trophotropically falling (more deeply than) asleep. Ecstasy involves remaining physically relaxed while becoming mentally hyperaroused. Cosmic consciousness is similarly a state of being trophotropically tuned to the absolute while ergotropically tuned to the relative,” (Lansky).
Fischer, on the other hand, describes mystical rapture in biocybernetic terms: “there is no data content from without, and therefore, no rate of data processing; only the content of the ecstatic experience of the mystic at the height of his rapture is a reflecting of himself in his own ‘program.’The withdrawal from physical spacetime to cerebral spacetime is what is known as an experience of the causal plane, or mental dimension. Its integration into daily life requires the ability to make a meaningful interpretation of our own nervous system activity.
A model or consciousness map helps us delineate one person’s mystical experience from another’s “bad trip.”Toward this end, of creating an inner road map, we can combine Fishcer’s model with the hierarchy of experiential states created by John Curtis Gowan.
Gowan’s model includes three modes of functioning: 1) Trance (ego absent); 2) Art (imagery state); 3) Creativity (ego fully present or transcended). Gowan’s periodic risers to spiritual awareness fit very neatly over Fischer’s cartography to give us an even more detailed series of descriptors of ergotropic and trophotropic functioning.[Insert jpeg]Thus, we see that the Trance states including schizophrenia, hypnotism, pro-active drugs, and automatic writing, talking in tongues, etc. are under the mediation of the E-system. So are the experiences of our psychological complexes, which produce arousal or anxiety.
The perception of archetypes and dreams, or myth, as well as the enactment of psychological dynamics in ritual or art are also part of the E-system, which functions through the Parataxic Mode.Syntaxic Mode leads to inner rather than outer creativity. It begins in the sublimation of the sexual instinct and proceeds into meditative, concentrative, and contemplative states, culminating in a paradoxical switchover to mystical ecstasy after reaching higher jhana states.
CONSCIOUS ALCHEMY
The Alchemy of the Central Nervous System
The blending of the Solar “masculine” (E-system) and Lunar “feminine” (T-system) -- modes of awareness in a “chemical wedding” to produce the Philosopher’s Stone forms the bulk of the subject-matter of alchemy. More recently, this ancient investigation has been taken up in the field of neuropsychology and neurophysiology. An examination of the basic principles of alchemy, such as the unification of opposites, yields some extremely interesting correlations with modern medical research.
Just what are the qualities represented by the basic alchemical substances, and what analogies for these substances can be found in human psychobiology? In alchemy, the primary opposites to be synthesizedare spirit and emotion or instinct; they are characterized as “fire” and “water.” Alternatively, the fiery masculine spirit is known as the hot Solar principle and corresponds with Sulphur.
The watery feminine element is cold and Lunar in nature, correspondingly termed Mercury. In any given alchemical document, these might be referred to as Sol and Luna, Rex and Regina, or Adam and Eve. Though their names and attributes are many, the process of their union remains essentially the same.From a biological perspective, we might begin our investigation by attributing the active, hot principle of sulphur to the left hemisphere of the brain. This hemisphere provides rational adaptation to the external environment.
The passive, lunar principle of Mercury corresponds to the right hemisphere, which is holistic in its perception. Of course, the blending of these portions of the brain represents the functioning of a whole individual. But since most of us have some form of access to both modes, we must look further into the physiology of the brain to find the precise chemical mediators of the processes of hyperarousal and its counterpart, hypoarousal.
There are two nitrogen-containing organic compounds in the brain (called amines) which have been observed as significant in the balance of physical and mental processes. They are neurotransmitters, chemicals which are highly significant in the movement of electrical impulses between neurons (nerve cells) in the human Central Nervous System. The electrical charges always jump from nerve cell to nerve cell with the help of a given chemical helper, or neurotransmitter.Two specific compounds were originally proposed as the chemical mediators of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of arousal.
Newer research shows a myriad of neuromodulators, but these two still take center stage in the complex chemistry.Noradrelalin (NA) also called norepinepherine corresponds with the solar Sulpher and works through the sympathetic system. It facilitates adaptation to external reality. When stimulated, it produces an excited anxious state of enflamment which can culminate in ecstasy. Among disorders of this system are manic episodes and hypervigilance.
All illicit CNS stimulants also emulate hyperarousal and lead therefore to addiction.Serotonin (5-HT) corresponds with the lunar Mercury and works through the parasympathetic system. Its influence is felt in a relaxed condition, like contemplation or meditation. Serotonin deficiencies are blamed for a host of disorders, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD.In physiology, the sympathetic nervous system produces involuntary responses such as alarm, and the “fight-flight” syndrome. The parasympathetic functions include digestion, and slowing one down.
The chemicals noradrenalin and serotonin work in the body as cooperative antagonists; they balance one another in such a manner that we do not get too speedy, or sluggish at inappropriate times.We can easily recognize the “switching mechanism” in ourselves at various times. The most dramatic switch occurs in orgasm, when the body rapidly moves from a highly aroused state to one of extreme relaxation and torpor, even sleep. Another example occurs in the creative process, at the moment of “A-ha,” when intense concentration gives way to satisfactory solution.
Noradrenalin and serotonin are also the mediators of the pain-pleasure cycle. Have you ever wondered why it is practically impossible to stay on a natural “high,” happy at every moment? The normal functioning of chemical processes in he brain makes this impossible. However, mystical practice can moderate the mood swings experienced by most individuals, and even open a realm of bliss, which is distinctively different from an ordinary good mood. Traditionally this bliss is called “spiritual nectar” and emanates from the pineal gland.
Noradrenalin mediates pleasure, action, excitation, motor behavior, and goal-oriented behavior. When there is imbalance, it contributes to depression or manic behavior. Serotonin mediates inaction, satiety, sleep, feeding, and functions as a punishment/pain system to inhibit and balanced the reinforcement/reward system mediated by noradrenalin.Serotonin is believed to be a reciprocal inhibitor of noradrenalin’s ability to function as a sexual stimulant. This may, in part, account for traditions of ecstatic enflamment, such as Tantra; and conversely, for the progressively decreasing interest in sex reported by many yogis.It is easy to observe the effects of serotonin and noradrenalin on the sleep cycle of an individual. Serotonin is responsible for beginning and maintaining cycles of deep sleep.
Rising noradrenalin is implicated in REM sleep, or the dream state.Noradrenalin and serotonin exist in a balanced relationship with each other, although the amounts of each vary somewhat in different areas of the brain. For example, the limbic structures contain the highest concentrations of the neurotransmitters, while the neocortical portions have almost none. In most brain tissues they are similarly distributed.Too much serotonin is known to be harmful for a variety of reasons. It can, paradoxically produce hyperactivity, but soon leads to exhaustion, depression, and anxiety. Irritation by serotonin can also lead the body to produce too many histamines, inducing symptoms of a cold.
Serotonin creates hyperactivity by activating the overproduction of adrenalin and noradrenalin. The person may feel euphoric for awhile, but after a period of time, this leads to adrenal exhaustion, and decreased recovery ability. Excessive serotonin is now implicated as the “death hormone.” When its levels rise with age in the hypothalamus, with a simultaneous depletion of dopamine (precursor of noradrenalin), the trigger may be pulled.Noradrenalin and serotonin play a major role in the effectiveness of stimulants and hallucinogens. Long term effects of these drugs leads to depletion of neurotransmitter stores at synaptic junctions in the brain with consequent disorientation and impaired immunological responses.
“The messenger chemical is stored in pouches called vesicles on the surface of the neuron’s cellular membrane and released into the gap between nerves (synapses) when the nerves fire. Many popular stimulant drugs increase the level of NE (Noradrenalin) in these synapses, resulting in greater nerve stimulation. Such drugs include amphetamines, ...over-the-counter diet aids, magnesium pemoline, and cocaine.“These can temporarily improve alertness, learning in focusing and attention tasks, as well as memory. However, these effects may be due to general stimulation rather than altered data processing by the nerves. A serious disadvantage of these drugs is that once the stored supply of NE has been released from the vesicles and the NE in the synapses has been metabolized, the drugs no longer stimulate nerve activity (this process is called ‘tolerance) until the body produces more NE. Depression is very common during the period when NE supply is low owing to excessive use of the stimulants mentioned above, (Pearson and Shaw, 1982).”
With psychedelics, the body is tricked into producing massive quantities of serotonin, which leads to hallucinations. The body becomes hyperaroused when it tries to compensate by producing the noradrenalin to counteract the serotonin dump.Serotonin, then, is basically an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It reduces neuron activity. It prevents excessive nervous stimulation which results in depletion. Its nutritional precursor is tryptophan which is found in abundance in milk and bananas.
Noradrenalin is important in primitive drives and emotions like sex, and in memory and learning. When noradrenalin is low, there is depression and poor immune system reactions. To increase noradrenalin storage, take its nutritional precursors l-phenylalanine, or the amino acid L-Dopa to increase brain levels of dopamine and noradrenalin.
Reflecting back to the relationship of serotonin and noradrenalin in the pain-pleasure cycle, we may see how they induce different states of consciousness.In a privately circulated thesis from the 1970s, Philip Steven Lansky amalgamated his research on systems of arousal with the work of noted Jungian psychologist, Edward Edinger. In his classic text, EGO AND ARCHETYPE, Edinger formulated his ideas on I-Self relationship into a graph showing the progress of the repetitive cycle. Lansky overlaid the likely chemistries, which correspond with these changes. In this manner initial overactivity of serotonin may function as a negative feedback system. A third circle for “drug abuse” might be included to depict the merry-go-round of addiction (Miller, 1982).[insert jpeg]
This is an interesting appraisal of the alchemy of the Central Nervous System. It might seem that homeostasis would keep consciousness forever in the grip of this psychic life cycle. Yet, Lansky goes on to state:“However, according to Edinger (1972), individuation means not having to continually repeat the cycle, but to develop conscious dialogues between I and Self. Neurochemically this may be interpreted as a partial overstepping of noradrenergic-serotonergic rebounds, and the concomitant state of more subtle serotonergic/noradrenergic relationships. This is reflected in the ability to remain active (noradrenergic) while inactive (serotonergic). It is a state of physiological and psychological paradox...as is aptly described by the wisdom of The Secret of the Golden Flower.” This I-Self dialogue is certainly a valued dimension of the CRP Journeys. It consists of using action in order attain non-action.
Lansky concludes,“Interestingly, the “chymical wedding” of alchemy was a symbol for the simultaneous constellation of psychic opposites, which we have already suggested concurs with a state of physiological paradox. Might not the contents of the two archetypal flasks represent two amines, serotonin and noradrenalin, being poured simultaneously into a marriage bath in the hypothalamus.?”
The Alchemical Formula of “Solve et Coagula”
In alchemy the balancing of opposites is by their merger as expressed in the formula “Solve et Coagula,” which means to dissolve and congeal, or recongeal. It is old attitudes which must be dissolved, and concrete experiences which form the coagulation---the embodiment of experience.When a one-sided attitude encounters a more comprehensive viewpoint, the old attitude dissolves.
Solutio is the dissolution of the old attitude, which may be experienced as a threat to the world-view of the ego. The ego is interested in maintaining control. It tends to assume that it’s cognitive perception is foremost and builds personality or our world-view from its perception of order.The ego embraces a paradigm about the nature of Reality. Exposure to someone with a convincing, more comprehensive and demonstrable worldview can wash away the solid ground from under the ego’s feet.
This destabilization of the old self may bring up fear and insecurities or pain before the new self is congealed. The ego feels adrift or fragmented before the new viewpoints are assimilated into the conscious attitude and existential experience (coagulatio).The unified state, or self is the agent of solutio in alchemy. It is either experienced in internal relationships among archetypal entities or forces, or it is projected into one’s environment. An example is where a person meets someone who “makes the bottom drop out” of his/her world. Consciousness then has the choice of embracing or rejecting the broader viewpoint.
The long-range aims of solutio is the unification of opposites. Both the archetypal masculine and feminine elements are being dissolved and united at the same time.When one encounters the Self internally, a larger consciousness of the world and universe, solutio occurs. In tantra, it may have begun before the journey confronting the enlarged worldview of the transcendent perspective. In solutio, the best qualities of the ego survive and are refined.
Those aspects of the ego which consciously relate to the Self withstand solutio, (Edinger).This alchemical operations has characteristic stages which relate directly to the phenomenology of Tantra:
1. Return to the primal state;
2. Dissolution, dispersal, and dismemberment;
3. Containment of a lesser thing by a greater;
4. Rebirth, rejuvenation, immersion in the creative flow;
5. Purification ordeal;
6. Solution of problems;
7. Melting or softening process (dissolving).
The alchemist, or Tantrika, cooperating intentionally with this transpersonal process, experiences the diminishment by solutio as a precursor to union with the Self.In coagulatio, the conscious realization of archetypal forces comes only through personal experiences with the, in concrete forms. The experiential Journeys of tantric sex are an ideal medium for such tangible consolidation. These forms or patterns are unique for each individual, but they share primary characteristics. Experiences in childhood coagulate the archetypes, most frequently in limited or distorted forms. The inner relationships of creative imagination and external relationships coagulate. These are ways of experiencing personal encounters with the divine.
Coagulatio means to congeal, or become more solid. The ego cannot soar unfettered by day-to-day matters into its spiritual fantasies. Ultimately, the body must be reunited with the process at the sensorimotor level. In order for wholeness to be realized, the alchemist or Tantrika must balance aspirations with personal, concrete reality (spouse, job, children, etc.).This concrete form of realization of psychic processes in everyday life allows us to “see” that which previously had no form. The Journeys facilitate this deep focus. Archetypal patterns are manifesting in the mundane world constantly. To the alchemist, the archetypes are no longer perceived as qualities or concepts, but as entities with which they share a defined relationship. Psychologically, this is the union of ordinary human reality with the transpersonal Self.
There must always be an investment of psychic energy in the alchemical process. Desire promotes coagulatio. This psychic energy, mobilized as desire, promotes life-experience. The lure is the sweetness of fulfillment. Coagulatio thus symbolizes the limitations of one’s personal reality, the boundary conditions. We find the limits of our abilities in relation to our desires.In its ultimate projection, coagulatio symbolizes the formation of an immortal body, one firmly grounded in the universal perspective, which is the equivalent of the Philosopher’s Stone.
REFERENCES
Aron, Elaine (1996); The Highly Sensitive Person,
Edinger, Edward, Ego and Archetype,
Fischer, Roland (1967); "Biological models of creativity," Journal for the Study of Consciousness, pg. 89-117. First presented Oct. 28-29, 1967.
Lansky, Philip, "Consciousness and the ergo- and tropho-tropic systems of arousal"; thesis.
Rossi, Ernest
Tart, Charles (1975); States of Consciousness,
