Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Our pineal gland, a tiny organ in the center of the brain, is known in
neuroscience as an endocrine gland which produces a set of hormones which
are regulated, among other things, by the light-dark (day-night) cycle. The
hormones are serotonin, melatonin, DMT (dimethyltryptamin), 5meo-DMT
(5-methoxy-dimethyltryptamin) and pinolin.1-5 Ancient spiritual traditions
like yoga and tantra consider the pineal a “cosmic antenna” through which we
can contact the deeper mystical reality.6 Science has indications that our
pineal does play a role in mystical (or transcendental), psychic and
hallucinatory experiences, as some of the hormones it produces are
psychoactive.7-10
These hormones bind to serotonin receptors in many areas of the brain. This
leads to complex patterns of electrical activity. Subjectively the person will
have inner experiences ranging from hallucinations and dreams to mystical
experiences.7-10 During hallucinations and mystical experiences it has been
found that especially the temporal lobes show complex electrical activity
patterns.11
The question this project will attempt to answer is: which brain structures
become active before the pineal gland produces the hormones involved in
mystical experience? What is the activity of the pineal gland itself?
Group No. 3 serves to find out if their specific belief system has a negative
effect on the results. From an earlier pilot project on the relationships between
states of consciousness reached by various meditation methods and EEG
frequency distribution patterns, we know that all three groups exist.12
Measurements of the activity of the pineal gland and of the rest of the brain
will be taken during rest and during silent prayer/meditation. After each
session the participants will be interviewed about their subjective experiences
and blood samples will be taken for measuring pineal hormone levels. The
activity of the pineal gland and of the rest of the brain will be measured by:
Both devices can measure the activity of deep brain structures. Measurement
time with these devices will be booked in various hospitals and universities in
and around The Netherlands.
This project will provide more insight in what happens in the brain
topographically before, during and after a mystical experience. It is meant as a
beginning of increasingly deeper research, involving various disciplines.19
New measuring methods for the activity of the pineal gland are in
development as well: - Capacitive, using the Heart Tuner, which has been
developed by Dan Winter, Jan Souren et al.20
- Measurement of the natural microwave-emission by the pineal, with Han
Vriezen et al. and based on the work of the late German engineer Robert
Endroes.21
2. R.J. Wurtman, J. Axelrod, D.E. Kelly, “The Pineal”, Academic Press, New
York, London, 1968, LCCCN 68-26632
3. Russel J. Reiter, “The Pineal - 1977”, Eden Press, 1977 (from series:
“Annual Research Reviews, distr. Churchill Livingstone: The Pineal, Vol. 2,
1977), ISBN 0-443-01706-9
4. “Pineal Gland”,
http://soma.npa.uiuc.edu/labs/greenough/statements/rswain/hormones/01
1996.html
8. R. McClay, “The Pineal Gland, LSD and Serotonin”, 19 March 1976 (from
a pharmacology paper),
http://www.magnet.ch/serendipity/mcclay/pineal.html#a1.6
16. R. Stufflebeam and W. Bechtel: “PET: Exploring the Myth and the
Method”,
http://www.cas.ilstu.edu/philosophy/stufflebeam/pages/papers/philsci.htm
l
17. “Neuroanaesthesia”,
http://www.health.adelaide.edu.au/icu/files/anaesthesia_notes/neurosurge
ry.pdf
19. S. Bosman: “A Holistic Research Project on the Role of the Pineal Gland
as an Intermediary Between the Physical and Metaphysical Worlds of
Experience.” Foundation of Environmental Consciousness, The Netherlands,
2000.
20. www.soulinvitation.com/lifeforce
21. Robert Endroes: “Die Strahlung der Erde”, Paffrath Verlag, Remschied
(D), 1988
Morse M.: “Where God Lives - The science of the paranormal and how our brains
are linked to the universe”, Cliff Street Books, Harper Collins Publishers, New
York, 2000.
Newberg A., E. D’Aquili and V. Rause: “Why God Won’t Go Away (Brain
Science and the Biology of Belief)”, Ballantine Books, New York, 2001, ISBN 0-
345-44033-1.a