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TVUUC Sunday Dec 15, 2013

PATHOLOGY and SPIRITUALITY: What is “normal”. TVUUC Sunday Dec 15, 2013. ACCIDENTAL STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

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TVUUC Sunday Dec 15, 2013

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  1. PATHOLOGY and SPIRITUALITY: What is “normal” TVUUC Sunday Dec 15, 2013

  2. ACCIDENTAL STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS The massive stoke that Jill Bolte Taylor survived in 1996 left her hovering between life and death, but she survived with enduring insights that provide us with a unique window into the workings of the mind.

  3. The pieces There are about 86 BILLION neurons in the human brain, each with thousands of potential connections • Neurons are organized on different scales, from small microcircuits through regional brain networks integrated with the body .

  4. The pieces A huge number of specific CONGENITAL and ACQUIRED brain functions involving INPUT of informtion, INTEGRATION of information, and OUTPUT of actions can be accessed and reconfigured for an even more vast number of alternative thoughts or actions.

  5. How the pieces are connected http://humanconnectome.org/

  6. WE ARE UNAWARE of the vast amount of the brain’s activity: Swimming in a sea of stimuli, conscious awareness is only evoked when its functions are needed to solve a biologically relevant problem… … such needs are recognized by STRESS, evoked when a NEED is not being met.

  7. The human connectome. • fiber architecture of the human brain as revealed by diffusion imaging, • a reconstructed structural brain network, and • the location of the brain's core http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Connectome

  8. The first connectome An in-progress 3D reconstruction of the C. elegans connectome. Dots represent the cell bodies of neurons; long lines represent the neurons' axons and dendrites. Credit: The OpenWorm Project, image generated by neuroConstruct)

  9. dreaming Systems model: Cessation of aminergic inhibition of reticular formation ACTIVATES forebrain while INHIBITING motor and sensory systems. The system that blocks motor commands also activates forebrain JA Hobson, The Dreaming Brain, 1988

  10. NEURONS … • … are spontaneously active – if not activated by stimulation they have their own unique rhythm of spontaneous activity • … synthesize, release, and respond to neurotransmitters – from adjacent cells that contact them across synapses • … are activated by – electrical and chemical stimuli from the body and from the environment

  11. PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES • CAFFEINE – blocks adenosine receptors • NICOTINE – stimulates acetylcholine receptors & through them many other endogenous psychoctive receptors • LSD - SEROTONIN receptor agonists (a CLASSIC PSYCHODELIC like psilocybin, mescaline, • ECSTASY (MDMA) - SEROTONIN releaser • NMDA antagonists (DISSOCIATIVES) • CANNABINOID RECEPTOR AGONISTS Serotonergic …

  12. PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS • Anxiolytics Example: Benzodiazepine • Euphoriants Example: MDMA (Ecstasy), MDA, 6-APB, Indopan • Stimulants ("uppers"). This category comprises substances that wake one up, stimulate the mind, and may even cause euphoria, but do not affect perception. Examples: amphetamine, caffeine, cocaine, nicotine • Depressants ("downers"), including sedatives, hypnotics, and narcotics. This category includes all of the calmative, sleep-inducing, anxiety-reducing, anesthetizing substances, which sometimes induce perceptual changes, such as dream images, and also often evoke feelings of euphoria. Examples: alcoholic beverages (ethanol), opioids, barbiturates, benzodiazepines. • Hallucinogens, including psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants. This category encompasses all those substances that produce distinct alterations in perception, sensation of space and time, and emotional states. Examples: psilocybin, LSD, Salvia divinorum and nitrous oxide. Serotonergic

  13. GENERIC Networks of interaction. Schematic model of the relationships among levels of explanation—genetic, neural, cognitive, and behavioral…” B Butterworth, and Y Kovas Science 2013;340:300-305 Published by AAAS

  14. ROUTINELY ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

  15. SEIZURE INDUCED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

  16. “LIMBIC” EPILEPSY ". . . whereas the neocortex receives most of its information from the outside world, the limbic cortex receives large inputs from the internal environment. It may be suggested that since the sense of self and reality depends on the integration of external and internal information, the interference of such integration by a limbic storm [seizure] temporarily erases the sense of self … The patient may experience eureka-type feelings of discovery, feelings of enhanced reality, feelings of revelation --- that the experience of the moment is of the utmost importance, that it reveals what the world is all about, that it is the truth and absolute truth. It is significant that these feelings are free-floating, not being attached to any particular thing, situation, or idea" (Paul D. MacLean 1994: 111)

  17. ACCIDENTAL STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS The massive stoke that Jill Bolte Taylor survived in 1996 left her hovering between life and death, but she survived with enduring insights that provide us with a unique window into the workings of the mind.

  18. MICROBIAL INDUCED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Usually (but not necessarily) pathological consequences of infection • Resident MICROBIOME • Invasive bacteria, fungi, parasites (e.g., toxoplasmosis)

  19. ATTRIBUTES of a MYSTICAL EXPEREIENCE • Ineffability: The experience defies expression; it cannot be described in words. Transcends cognitive competence to reproduce in mere language • Noetic: It gives insight and knowledge into deep truths, which are sustained over time. (hypergnosia) • Transient: Mystical states cannot be sustained for long. Usually they last from a few seconds to minutes and their quality cannot be accurately remembered, though the experience is recognized if it recurs. • First four re James' great book on "The Varieties of Religious Experience" - including links to complete text)

  20. ATTRIBUTES of a MYSTICAL EXPEREIENCE • Passive: Although the oncoming of mystical states may be facilitated by preliminary voluntary operations, like meditation, (creating the “teachable moment”) once they set in, the mystic feels out of control as if he or she were grasped and held by a superior power. • Transformative: they evoke enduring changes in cognition, affect, or motivation. (paradigm shift, epiphany) • First four re James' great book on "The Varieties of Religious Experience" - including links to complete text)

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