Chapter 9: SHIFTS IN CONSCIOUSNESS PRODUCED BY INHIBITING THE EGO-CARETAKER BY HALLUCINOGENS, MEDITATION, OR AUTOSUGGESTION

From a book manuscript, "Neurorealism: A Transformational Context for Existence bridging Brain and Mind, Science and Religion", by Bruce E. Morton, Ph.D., University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96822 bemorton@hawaii.edu

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Inactivating the Caretaker by Hallucinogens: In the model used here, LSD-like hallucinogens indirectly but potently inhibit the limbic system Caretaker. By doing so, they powerfully cause a temporary personality disintegration. When used with proper mental preparation and utmost respect, this can open the individual to a larger reality and the possibility of self-transformation. When used improperly insanity can result. This chapter is an explanation, not an advocacy. In sensitive individuals, these effects can be produced by meditation.

The behavioral effects of low doses of hallucinogens include visual disturbances such as melting, undulating surfaces (often eliminated by covering one eye) and in some cases intensification of colors. More importantly, the hallucinogen causes memories of trauma to break through in the form of waking dreams and nightmares, called hallucinations. Furthermore, reveries of the past occur which often include age regression to times of failure associated with developmental arrests. There also appears to be an activation of what seem to be maternal and fetal birth programs.

At high doses of hallucinogens the partial collapse of the Caretaker and the resulting flood of memories of past trauma causes it great alarm and it fights for its very life. As a maneuver to avoid this painful material, powerful illusions are produced which have included multiple personalities, past lives, archetypes in the form of gods or demons, astral projections, and self-identification with ancestral species. Ultimately, the hallucinogen can so profoundly inhibit the Caretaker that it experiences literal death.

After this "ego-death" occurs, a dramatically altered state of consciousness appears, called "transcendence", which is produced as the result of the neocerebellar Source replacing the Caretaker as the originator of Quadrimental thought and behavior. Transcendence has been experienced as contact with the Holy, ineffable, awe-inspiring, and sublime. It has been described by some as "the death of the flesh and the rebirth of the Spirit". This mental condition mirrors that state apparent in the writings of most, if not all, prophets and originators of the religions.

From this foundation, transcendence moves into a social domain, apparently as part of an evolutionarily developed herd orientation. Thus, the neocerebellar Source declares that service to the group is the highest purpose in life. This service includes the development of personal integrity, responsibility, and accountability which are also central features required for effective use of the scientific method. The social elements of the transcendent state are at the core of all the world religions.

Inhibiting the Caretaker through Meditation: Meditation is an ancient but effective way to deal with the stress and suffering inherent in life. At its base are ways of lulling the Caretaker to let go and rest. This is accomplished by the provision of something simple, like a repeated word to take up the Caretaker's attention, while the rest of the mind is liberated to accomplish the goals of the meditation. As the meditative state is reached the sweat output of the skin of the hands is correspondingly reduced. This change can be measured by inexpensive galvanic skin response meters. Deep meditation for up to an hour brings peace of mind that lasts well beyond the session. The results of effective meditation are the quieting of ego striving, the discharge of daily accumulations of stress, and gaining access to the creativity, wisdom, guidance and love of one's cerebellar Source. As the result of turning off the limbic ego alarm system that normally suppresses reward, a euphoria called bliss sometimes emerges. Meditation can also bring increased immune strength and improved health status.

Autosuggestion is also a Phenomenon requiring Caretaker Inhibition: Autosuggestion is an ancient way found to modify one's bodily health, habitual behavior, or performance skills. With autosuggestion the Intellect and Imagination by-pass the Caretaker's domination of the Reptile brain Id so as to direct its output to accomplish specific visualized goals.

The pentamental brain model has been valuable because it predicts a number of previously unexplained aspects about brain and behavior. In the next two chapters, we will consider several important consciousness-altering consequences produced by removing the limbic system Caretaker from dominance. In the present chapter, the methods which will be considered are the following: by force (hallucinogens), by persuasion (meditation), and by hemispheric-reptilian conspiracy (autosuggestion). These three methods involve the transfer of leadership from the Caretaker to another brain system within the same individual. In the chapter on Hypnosis which follows, the Caretaker voluntarily hands over its control of the brain core Id to an external authority.

Chapter 9 begins:

INACTIVATING THE EGO-CARETAKER WITH HALLUCINOGENS

We begin with a fascinating and controversial topic, the production of altered states by the so-called hallucinogens. There are at least four different classes of hallucinogenic drugs: harmaline and its relatives, certain muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonists (such as scopolamine), the kappa opiate receptor agonists, and the agonists of the 5-HT2 subclass of serotonin receptors (see (book) Appendix C for basic neuroscience concepts). Only the latter type of hallucinogens will be considered here, that is, the ones acting as agonists at the 5-HT2 stress receptor (later chapters). The best known of these 5-HT2 receptor agonists are the indolalkylamine mixed agonists, such as the infamous LSD, and the phenylalkylamine mixed agonists, such as mescaline from peyote cactus and psilocybin from mushrooms growing on cattle dung.

There have been many experiences reported by individuals while under the influence of 5-HT2 receptor agonist hallucinogens. These vary in their content from the divine to the diabolical, from the feeling of supreme well-being to that of a panic and deathly malaise intense enough to prompt visits to hospital emergency wards. Interpretations attempting to explain these effects range from that of medical pathology to that of the supernatural. What is going on here? The Neurorealism paradigm that 5-HT2 receptor hallucinogens somehow potently inhibit the activity of the limbic system ego-Caretaker has provided a useful explanatory model.

All hallucinogens are powerful substances which can temporarily modify the very core of who we seem to be. Because these 5-HT2 receptor agonists lead to temporarily to personality disintegration, they are not to be taken lightly, nor used for recreational purposes. Their effects can be extremely unsettling to the uninformed or hypersensitive, and sometimes can be sufficiently traumatic to produce the long-term consequences of the flashbacks of post-traumatic stress disorder (later chapter).

The popular reports of the rare cases of suicide or of continuing flashbacks induced by 5-HT2 agonists were disquieting. Where they have been documented, these were attributed to the actions of hallucinogens upon already unstable personalities. However, upon the appearance on the street of new synthetic phenylalkylamine compounds, such as DOM, the numbers of people entering emergency wards from "bad trips" markedly increased. Later, these hallucinogens also proved to be 5-HT2 receptor agonists, but ones which penetrated the brain much more slowly than the classical hallucinogens do.

The unfortunate result was that instead of the usual hour needed for LSD to reach a psychoactive level, these potent hallucinogens required 4-6 hours to produce their effects. Apparently, the absence of effect at one hour caused many new users of DOM to conclude that their drug was very weak, possibly adulterated, and therefore that they needed to take more. By 5 hours, and for the next 18 hours, many were so traumatized by the resulting massive overdose that they sought medical help. This new rash of emergency room cases and associated later flashbacks was an important development that led to the outlawing of all hallucinogens, unfortunately, even the useful ones.

Although related non-hallucinatory psychoactive compounds such as MDA (love drug) and MDMA (ecstasy) are excitotoxic in animals and also appear to cause permanent brain damage in humans, LSD itself has not been found to be harmful. The overwhelming experience of thousands using classical LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin has been that after proper education, in the right setting, with the proper guidance, at the proper dose, the respectful use of these substances was often a major personal milestone. Many claim that such an experience was the key event in their life that put them on the path to personal transformation.

Behavioral effects of psycholytic (low) doses of the 5-HT2 receptor agonist hallucinogens

According to the Neurorealism model, low doses of LSD partially inhibit the limbic system's production of Caretaker activity. As a result, memories of trauma, normally suppressed at the primary memory level as "too hot to handle" by the ego-Caretaker, begins to break through into consciousness. This valuable property was used legally in "psycholytic therapy" by psychiatrists in the 1960s that found it to be a very helpful tool for gaining access to contents of the subconscious of resistant patients with behavioral problems. Similar or higher doses were being used recreationally by the "flower children" during the same period.

As mentioned in an earlier chapter, breakthrough of subconscious material during REM sleep, while the Caretaker is resting (later chapter), causes right hemisphere system camouflaging of the traumatic material into obscure, and thus less threatening dreams and nightmares. In hallucinogen-induced break-throughs of memories of trauma, apparently this avoidance process occurs as well. As a result, waking dreams and nightmares are produced by these compounds which have been called hallucinations and compete with normal consciousness. These altered states occasionally appear as an authentic "separate reality". The camouflage process often employs visual cues from the environment as stimuli for its symbolization. For example, two dials on adjacent faces of a clock tower become a huge menacing owl. There also are secondary phenomena which may have different explanations. Walls and other surfaces which appeared to melt and undulate could be returned to normal by covering one eye, suggestive of dyscoordination of eye movement. In some cases, usually associated with mescaline use, colors also appeared to be intensified.

The initial break-through of subconscious material alarms the weakened Caretaker, which then redoubles its efforts to repress the emergence of other unconscious materials. This is the source of alarm, anxiety, and hyper-vigilance, which over 50% of recreational users of LSD reported as "bad trips". Also not expected by recreational users were the apparent age regressions caused by low doses of hallucinogens. In reverie, one is taken back to difficult, unresolved, and thus, unpleasant or threatening periods of one's past. Some of these relived events appear to be struggles which occurred during-critical periods of brain development. These often appear to be associated with those failures to gain control which produced arrests in psycho-social brain development (later chapter). Such developmental fixations appear to contribute major features both to personality formation and to the ongoing generation of one's life experience. It is noteworthy that there are many reports of therapeutic benefit from re-living these past experiences in terms of completion of specific stages of brain development-personal maturation. It is also interesting that certain people with very thin barriers to their unconscious appear to be able to age regress and complete their developmental arrests by use of meditative or other techniques rather than using hallucinogens.

Of untapped significance are the observations that low doses of hallucinogens can activate a set of behaviors in both males and females which were first interpreted by McConnell to be birth-associated programs. It later became apparent that these behaviors were activated by way of specific 5-HT2 receptor pathways. These programs appear to be both fetal behaviors facilitating birth and the transition to air-breathing and maternal programs facilitating the delivery of the fetus.

The potential fetal behaviors observed in adults include rhythmic pushing, struggling, head extending‑twisting, copious production of respiratory tract mucous, breath holds ("first breaths"), gasping, and later, infant wails and cries. Perhaps some of these programs enable the fetus to assist in its birth by contracting into a rigid object which might be more effectively gripped and expelled by the uterus than a flaccid sack of fluids would be (although at first the skull may also serve this function). The potential maternal behaviors seen, regardless of the sex of the adult, included laying on the back, leg spreading and raising, pelvic movements, and breathhold-pushing maneuvers.

This behavioral spectrum appears complimentary with evidence that 5-HT2 receptor pathway is activated in association with serotonin elevation in response to stressful stimuli in general (later chapters). These birth-associated behaviors have also been produced by prolonged hyperventilation, a process which also elevates serotonin levels. Therefore, this information suggests that the serotonin elevation induced by the physical stress of delivery has evolutionarily become linked to processes that bring about participation of both the mother and the fetus in additional ways which facilitate childbirth.

Effects of Psychedelic (high) doses of the 5-HT2 receptor agonist hallucinogens:

High doses of LSD under certain circumstances can cause increasing inhibition of the production of ego-Caretaker activity by the limbic system. As one of the results, repressed trauma often strongly breaks into consciousness. When the Caretaker begins to fail in its ability to repress unconscious material, it becomes even further alarmed. As an avoidance maneuver, it transforms the original trauma, often that of birth, into exaggerated, bigger-than-life caricatures. These, so vividly described by Grof, include visions and odors of filth, excreta, gore, images of torture-war, and the appearances and utterances of human archetypes in the form of demons and gods. This phase can expand further into the vivid illusory phenomena of realistic memories of multiple past lives and personalities, of astral projections around or beyond the earth, and of self-identification with ancestral species.

Ultimately, as the 5-HT2 receptor agonist overcomes the limbic system, "ego death" may occur as a temporary collapse of the limbic elements producing the ego-Caretaker. Depending on individual and dose, this can feel like entering an interminable coma or literally dying an agonizing death, the ultimate "bad trip". After ego death, a dramatically altered state of consciousness appears, called "transcendence".

Movement and volition difficulties are present at high doses of hallucinogen. Each move seems to require detailed planning and special effort to initiate. Habits, conditioned responses, and reflexes appear to be absent. Also, lack of ego identity makes purposeful behavior very difficult. The answers to "Who am I?, What is important?, What should I be doing?, or Why?" often become difficult and revealing. Although most recreational users of hallucinogens have not experienced this ineffable state, it has also been reached by some through meditation alone. Individual brain differences (later chapter) influence whether transcendence is possible by meditation alone. Regardless of how ego death is brought about, in its presence the ego can no longer suppress the cerebellar Source from taking control of volition. The emergence of this cerebellar higher intelligence into dominance is the essence of transcendence. Furthermore, since down-regulation of the 5-HT2 stress receptor occurs within an hour and lasts several days, even after the hallucinogen is removed from the body, a relatively stress-free, very productive state of high clarity remains for several days.

Properties of Perception in the Transcendent State

Transcendence has been experienced as contact with the Holy, ineffable, awe inspiring, and sublime. It has been experienced by some as "death of the flesh, and rebirth of the Spirit". This mental condition mirrors that state apparent in the writings of most, if not all, prophets and originators of religions. It is unitive in that self boundaries are lost and one often fuses with the universe. Self importance is replaced by awe and reverence at the grandeur of the universe, compared to one's brevity and total insignificance. Life loses its unique value and appears to be just another exquisite manifestation of the wonderful properties of the vast universe. It appears as if there is no right or wrong, no Gods or Demons, just the perfection of the universe, and of one's self as part of it. Consciousness appears to be on the cutting edge of time where the universe is being split in two in the process of going from all to nothing.

In terms of the millions of years that life has existed and the countless generations of those who have come and gone before us, one's personal struggles appear to have no meaning, other than the survival of Dawkin's "selfish gene". One's struggles in life appear to be just part of arbitrary games we had forgotten that we had created, games which we have become lost within and are excessively gripped by. It also appears that everything will turn out perfectly whether we struggle to maximize our survival, or just go with the flow. Therefore, to resist the way the universe is seems unthinkable. Rather, to choose, align with, and use the way the universe works appears to be the only appropriate thing to do. It begins to seem obvious that if anything is to have importance to an individual, it will be because they, not others, declare it so. Furthermore, not only is theirs the only (Triadic) consciousness that they have, ultimately, it is all that they are.

From this foundation, transcendence moves into social domains, apparently as part of an evolutionarily developed herd orientation. This declares that service to the group is the highest purpose in life. This service includes the development of integrity, responsibility, and accountability, features which also are central to the scientific method. The social elements of the transcendent state are at the core of all of the world religions (later chapters).

It is interesting that hallucinogens temporarily abolish learned helplessness in experimental animals. Learned helplessness was commonly produced in dogs by harmlessly shocking them in a cage, while providing no escape. Later, obvious, open escape routes are ignored as the shocks continued to be tolerated. Learned helplessness appears to be related to habituation. It is eliminated by the administration of serotonin-type antidepressants, including hallucinogens. Then, as soon as the first shock begins, the formerly helpless dogs immediately jump out of the cage.

Learned helplessness can be said to exist in humans too. Life or family appears to be continually shocking us with no escape apparent. When avenues of escape do occur, most of us do not see or act upon them. However, when antidepressant drugs or hallucinogens are taken, often openings for escape are seen and acted upon. Further, consider how soon we grow accustomed to our surroundings and become "in a rut". That is, we sooner or later lose appreciation for and no longer take notice of the good view out the window, our wall hangings, the grime in the shower, our friends, our occupations, or the reasons why we are doing what we do. These drugs appear to "peel the scales from our eyes" so that we see things freshly: beauty, grime, and all. This may be one element contributing to the use by the flower children of the 1960s of the expression by Leary: "Turn on, tune in, drop out." The experience of transcendence has transformed the lives of essentially all who have experienced it. They now know that there is a larger reality, that they are part of it, and which direction to go.

INHIBITING THE EGO-CARETAKER THROUGH MEDITATION

Meditation is an ancient way that has been found to deal with the stress and suffering inherent in living. The compulsively competitive effort of the limbic ego-Caretaker to control everything, whether recognized or appropriate, often produces worry, tension, and mental anguish that can be very unpleasant. One can hear this ego-efforting "monkey" chatter, tension, worry, and suffering going on nonstop in the background of our minds. This inner voice is filled with endless dichotomous comparative, interpretive, and judgmental comments regarding how it thinks we are doing in its continual struggle to maximize our survival, usually in competition with those around us. The goals of meditation are to obtain peace of mind by quieting this ego striving, to discharge stress, and to obtain access to the creativity, wisdom, guidance, and love of one's neocerebellar Source.

How to Produce Meditative Inner Silence by Limbic Inhibition

Many methods exist for lulling the ego to let go and rest. One way is by a monotonous repetition of a word or phrase, called a mantra, under conditions of sensory deprivation and restraint, that is usually practical while seated, spine erect, and eyes closed. In some meditative traditions, the mantra is replaced by repeating a short numeric sequence (1-10, etc.), by concentrating on ones breathing, or by quietly listening with expectation for contact from one's inner Source. Begging for one's requests has no place in meditation. Numerous books are available on the details of practice of the many eastern and western meditative traditions.

It has become possible to measure the success of entering the egoless, altered state that occurs in deep meditation by measuring the degree of limbic system inhibition. With the aid of electro-encephalogram (EEG) type of equipment, one way is to follow the conversion of the beta frequency brain waves of normal consciousness to the slower alpha-theta brain waves so characteristic of deep meditation. An even simpler way to measure limbic quieting is by use of galvanic skin response (GSR) inherent in the famous polygraph lie detector test. The limbic anxiety often produced by the act of lying causes an involuntary sweating, which, due to its associated secretion of salt, increases the electrical conductivity of the skin. This can be measured with finger electrodes and a galvanometer. In contrast, successfully entering the meditative state with its associated limbic calming, reduces sweat output and significantly lowers conductivity. Inexpensive "biofeedback meters" with an earphone sound output can be purchased from electronic stores to monitor this reduction in GSR as one enters the meditative state.

The Effects of Meditation

It appears that meditation elevates serotonin levels and rapidly down-regulates the 5-HT2 stress receptors for several days (later chapters). As a result, limbic system inhibition brings peace of mind that lasts well beyond the session. Furthermore, normally repressed neocerebellar mental activities become more available. These include insight, inspiration, group-oriented altruistic thinking, wisdom, deity, freedom from fear, and peace. As the result of turning off the limbic ego alarm system, which normally suppresses reward, a euphoria, called bliss, sometimes emerges. The discharge of recent stress accumulations tied to developmental arrests (later chapter) also appears to occur. This results in stress reduction and ego strengthening, reflected by much less time spent being upset later. Thus, not only do regular periods of meditation bring about discharge of daily developmental arrest restimulations, but also as a consequence, bring increased immune strength (later topic) and resultant improved health status. Many health and performance-related improvements have been documented by meditation organizations such as Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation society. Lastly, a transforming contact with one's neocerebellar Inner Being can occur. Thus, during meditation new paradigms have emerged which contained fully-formed, superior answers to long-term problems.

In India, an ancient phenomenon called "raising kundalini" has occasionally been described. It is viewed as bringing the powers of a coiled cobra (reptile) up from the loins through the so-called chakras of the spine to the brain resulting in an illuminated transcendence. Based upon the autobiography of Gopi Krisna, a modern day individual experiencing kundalini, this state appears to have been produced by a life-threatening permanent limbic system failure, possibly resulting from the stress of his chronic practice of arduous yogic meditation. This resulted in a serious prolonged metabolic incapacitation during which he could not care for himself. Ultimately, some brain element was able to gain control and he partially recovered. He was never the same again and began to show a certain form of genius, manifest in the creation and readout of original elaborate pre-composed poems. This poetic facility manifested itself in several languages.

AUTOSUGGESTION: A PHENOMENON ALSO REQUIRING EGO-CARETAKER INHIBITION

Autosuggestion is an ancient way found to modify one's own bodily health or habitual behavior. It has been used to suppress pain, to accelerate healing of injuries, to lose weight, to stop smoking, or cure addictions, to cure illness, and to strengthen the immune system. It has been used to improve one's self image or reverse unwanted hypnotic suggestions. It has also been used to improve physical or mental performance in athletics, such as competition skiing, golf, and gymnastics, in music, acting, and taking examinations. Unfortunately, autosuggestion is most common in daily life during the habitual repetition of negative life scripts which cause failure, injury, illness, and misery. It also appears to be active in some types of prayers‑meditations‑affirmations which are repeated in attempts to create success and health for ourselves.

Basic Principles of Autosuggestive Techniques

To accomplish autosuggestion, one must use the left hemisphere Intellect to define the exact goal they wish to accomplish. Then one enters a meditative state to quiet the limbic system into quiescence. This allows the Caretaker to be bypassed by other brain elements in order for them to gain control of the Dragon-Id, the ultimate producer of all behavior. Then, the right hemisphere Imagination is used wordlessly to strongly visualize the desired goal. This is because the Dragon-Id can not use language. At the same time, the Dragon is recruited by being forced to generate powerful survival drives. One way Silva did this was to hold ones breath to the point of anguish while visualizing the desired goal. Then, when one cannot stand further suffering, one gives the Dragon a powerful simple nonverbal command, such as DO!!! At the same time one creates powerful visualizations of the goal being reached. Next, one believes that the reptilian brain is accomplishing-has accomplished the task. Lastly, one acts as if such is the case.

Basis of Autosuggestion

With autosuggestion, the cerebral brain systems can bypass Ego-Caretaker domination of the Id-Dragon so as to direct its output. Although truly amazing changes have often been reported, autosuggestion has nothing to do with the supernatural.

In a related topic, that of Hypnotic Suggestion, the Ego-Caretaker limbic system gives control of Dragon behavior to an external source. This is the subject of our next chapter.