The Pineal Gland

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If we identify DMT as the software, then the pineal gland we can label the hardware. DMT is the endogenous hallucinogenic that research appears to find is responsible for enabling people to enter an altered state of consciousness complete with “spiritual” visions and a sense of wonder and communion with something greater and beyond the individual. This research though has been dependent on external injections of DMT made to subjects via IV. The theory put forward by Dr Rick Strassman, the foremost expert on the subject, is that it is the pineal gland that produces excess amounts of endogenous DMT during times of great relaxation and stress, leading to the experience of mystical states.

This tiny gland, about the size of the nail on your little finger, is situated in the middle of the brain and vaguely shaped as a pine cone (hence the name though it is properly termed the epiphysis). Properly speaking, it is not a gland but is in fact the remains of (literally) a third eye that once protruded from the top of our heads before retreating into the skull as evolution worked its magic. Nowadays however, it is still referred to as being a third eye, but in the mystical sense of an inner eye that can perceive different spiritual realms. Is this the source of the blinding white light that mystics through the ages say accompany enlightenment (literally meaning “to see the light”)? (Note that some anthropologists believe the origin of the term enlightenment is related to ancient sun worship…to see the sun was to see the light). Spiritualists would argue that this enlightenment is the cumulative result of specific training designed to move consciousness progressively through ever higher levels of awareness and energy centers (called, among other names, chakras). The final destination is the center of the crown of the head, the area where the pineal gland would once have been located. According to the Taoists for example, it is from this point that an Immortal would experience his chi (energy) exploding from his skull to unite with the energy of the larger universe.

The gland is unique. Although it is not in fact a part of the brain and is only situated in that area, other brain sites are mirrored and it has been a mystery for at least a couple of thousand years why this should not be so for the pineal gland. Though its original role is known (as a real third eye) it remains unclear why evolution would have determined its retreat into our brain area and what role it currently serves us. The gland itself has a hollow interior filled with a watery fluid and receives tremendous blood flow second only to the kidneys.

History tells us that the pineal gland was first identified by Herophilus, a third century B.C. Greek physician contemporary with Alexander the Great with other notable early commentators including Pythagoras and Plato. However it seems that the serpent headdresses seen in ancient Egyptian art points to the pineal with the snake symbolizing esoteric knowledge. The red dot still adorning the center of foreheads of Hindus today is also believed to indicate the third eye. Given the fascination that our ancient ancestors, across many cultures, had with the pineal gland we should not be surprised to find that it featured in sacred art and architecture all over the world and the accompanying pictures below will support this assertion.

Another interesting speculation is the importance ancient cultures placed on sacred mountains that were believed to have been the first land to emerge from the primordial sea during the separation of Heaven and Earth. The Sumerians maintained this tradition, as did the Babylonians who went further and held that this sacred mountain was also the axis mundi, the axis that the world moves around. These massive features were also representative of the pineal gland. While the physical mountain is held to be the point where the spiritual meets the physical, the theory of Dr Rick Strassman (see below) is that the pineal gland is where our life force (the spiritual) enters our body (the physical).

Along with the Greeks, another key philosopher to bring further attention to this strange gland was none other than Descartes. Descartes held that it was only possible to hold one thought at a time. Where did these solitary thoughts arise from? Perhaps the pineal gland, the only single organ in the brain? He further believed that thoughts flowed from the gland into and through cerebrospinal fluid (though the existence of this fluid was unknown at that time) and thus throughout the brain. The famous philosopher went further than this though and argued that the pineal was the bridge between the spiritual and the physical, with the two phenomena affecting one another directly in the gland.

We find a mix of these ideas represented throughout history.

The ancient Egyptians had the Benben stone which was further represented as the apex of each pyramid (themselves representative, quite possibly among many other things, of the sacred mountain). This is most commonly seen nowadays on the one dollar bill used in the United States. The picture depicts a pyramid (the sacred mountain) capped with a Benben stone (representing the pineal gland) which itself encompasses an eye (remember that the pineal was once literally a third eye but for centuries has been understood to be a spiritual gateway to perceiving other realities).

Benben stone

One dollar bill

In Hinduism the Shiva lingam has been the subject of all kinds of interpretations, the most obvious that it is a phallic symbol. Professor Wendy Doniger notes that some Hindu texts understand the lingam to be a pillar of light or as a symbol of God. Though the design of the lingam does vary from one artisan to the next, there are cases of the lingam being shaped as a pinecone.

Lingam

Representations of Shiva are also very interesting. As you can see in the picture, Shiva sports a pinecone-like hairstyle, has a fully opened third eye and has the kundalini serpents writhing around his neck.

Lord Shiva

In ancient Greece there was the Omphalos stone, kept at the Oracle at Delphi, and also shaped like a pine cone. The Greeks believed that Apollo resided within the stone and that oracles could contact him…again demonstrating the idea of the physical realm meeting the spiritual realm. Of further interest is that omphalos means “the center of the earth” and also “navel”. In many Asian martial traditions emphasis is placed on developing power and coordination in the lower abdominal area (the tanden in Japanese) around which all techniques flow. Also the area located just below the navel is where many elementary breathing exercises want to center attention and draw breath into. From here this energy is raised up through the body before exiting the top of the head.

The Omphalos Stone

In ancient Rome there was the baetyl stone, also shaped somewhat like a pine cone and also associated with oracles and prophesy. Again drawing parallels with the one dollar bill in the US, both the Omphalos and baetyl stones appeared on coins of the periods.

Baetyl Stone

That Rome regarded the pineal gland as being something special was further confirmed when they placed a giant bronze statue of a pine cone in the Court of the Pine Cone in the Vatican (which also features ancient Egyptian symbolism and hieroglyphs) and also adorned the staff of the pope, as well as certain of his apparel, with pine cone imagery. According to Catholic orthodoxy the Pope is the mediator between God and his followers (the spiritual and the physical).

Court of the Pine Cone

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.
-- Matthew 6:22

Note that the Pope is wearing a hat and a cape clasp while carrying a staff that are all adorned with the pine cone

Returning to the work of Dr Rick Strassman, his hypothesis connecting the pineal gland to DMT was: Does the pineal gland produce psychedelic amounts of DMT at extraordinary times in our lives?

Some of these “extraordinary times” would include when our individual “life force” enters our fetal body: does it pass through the pineal and trigger the first rush of DMT? Later, at actual birth, does the pineal release more DMT? Fast forward an entire lifetime and as we experience the change to death, does the life force flow through the pineal, thereby releasing another flood of the psychedelic molecule? In between these two extremes we may also experience deep meditation, psychosis and near-death experiences. Undoubtedly the pineal contains the necessary building blocks to manufacture DMT. Plus the pineal can make beta-carbolines; compounds that markedly enhance the effects of DMT.

Marduk (Nimrod) holding a pine cone

Birth, near-death and death experiences are all highly stressful events that generate huge quantities of stress-related hormones, including adrenaline and noradrenaline, both of which are pineal-stimulating.

Science tells us that DMT is present in newborn animals and it is supposed it would therefore also be present in human babies (and mothers may also be experienced heightened floods of DMT). Vaginal delivery in particular is believed to set in motion DMT release, followed, in terms of intensity, by anesthetized delivery and finally Cesarean. In support of this is an observation made by Dr Stanislav Grof, an LSD psychotherapist, who says that much of what takes place during psychedelic therapy sessions is a reenactment of the birth process. Grof has found that those born by Cesarean are less able to let go during psychedelic therapy than those born vaginally. Possibly this is because of psychedelic levels of DMT being present during normal birth.

Bacchus, Roman god of drunkenness and revelry holding a pine cone tipped staff

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are high impact psychological experiences often accompanied by psychedelic experiences and like birth, this may be because of a hugely increased flood of stress hormones stimulating DMT production.

Obviously when it comes to death there is not a great deal of information to go on. When precisely to we die? When we stop breathing? When brain activity stops? Many ancient spiritual traditions maintain strict guidelines regarding when a body can and cannot be moved or buried and we have to question why there is an effort to avoid possibly disturbing residual, post-death (if we deem ourselves to in fact be dead) consciousness. As our pineal gland decomposes, does this have any influence on any existing consciousness? Are we still producing DMT and experiencing its effects despite being clinically dead? Remember, although the pineal gland is located within the brain mass, it is not part of the brain. It is feasible that though there is no longer any brain activity there is still DMT having an active effect on our consciousness.

Angkor Wat profusely designed with pine cone symbols

The Tibetan Buddhist Book of the Dead holds that it takes forty-nine days for the soul of someone recently dead to reincarnate in a new physical body. The unborn embryo in the womb of the mother takes forty-nine days to develop the pineal gland…and forty-nine days is when the fetus splits between male or female gender. Of course, this is all supposition, but nevertheless there are plenty of traditions that argue for some kind of survival of consciousness beyond physical death followed, in some religions, by some form of reincarnation. Near-death experiences, if they are in fact an accurate prelude of actual death, certainly suggest this to be true.

In summary, one theory put forward by Dr Rick Strassman is that at death stress hormones are released that stimulate the production of DMT in the pineal gland and this opens our awareness to another realm beyond the physical. Though our bodies may cease to function, consciousness of a sort remains in a disembodied state for forty-nine days in this other realm. After seven weeks consciousness returns to a new body via the newly formed pineal gland and a surge of DMT “turns on” consciousness of the physical realm once more (albeit in the womb of our mother) and the first effect of this is the differentiation of our gender.

Staff of Osiris decorated with a pine cone

Summary

Consider that much of this information is highly speculative. There is no actual proof that the pineal gland is able to grant access to alternative dimensions, nor that such dimensions even exist in the first place. That said, there does seem to be considerable proof that something happens when we are experiencing extreme stress (such as the near-death phenomena) or extreme relaxation (when we are engaged in high level meditation) or when we imbibe hallucinogenic drugs (or if we are suffering from psychosis). The precise details vary from person to person but still commonalities can be found (serpents, as an example, are often seen in altered states of consciousness). What is also apparent is that ancient cultures regarded the pineal gland as being crucial in this process and the work of Dr Rick Strassman introducing DMT into his subjects suggests that the importance of the pineal may have been known hundreds and even thousands of years ago.

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What is an Altered State of Consciousness?

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What is an Altered State of Consciousness?

Before I look at answering the question what is an altered state of consciousness, it worth first establishing how such a state can be entered.

The most common controlled methods include static meditation, dynamic meditation or the use of hallucinogenic drugs. Static meditation is the classic form of meditating while sitting, standing or lying down. This can be done in silence or while chanting or reciting some mantra. The precise number of forms this can take are innumerable but some common ones may include mirror or candle meditation. Dynamic meditation involves the repetitive execution of a pattern of movements usually over an extended period of time. This can be as simple as jogging but a common shamanic form is ritualistic dancing. Of course, martial arts practice is also a form of dynamic meditation. Hallucinogenic drugs have become vilified in the West but in other parts of the world a rich shamanic tradition has been preserved and imbibing psychedelic drugs is considered a valid and useful religious / spiritual practice. The most famous is ayahuasca, a brew used in South America. Other paths to altering consciousness may include sleep deprivation and prolonged fasting among others.

An altered state of consciousness may also be entered into during a Near Death Experience (NDE) or during supposed cases of alien abduction. We may also have an experience when very sick (when the body is weak and under stress). Arguably we are also experiencing an altered state while dreaming. Precisely how we spontaneously step out of reality into a perception of a different reality is unknown, but a strong suggestion is through an increased level of the endogenous hallucinogenic DMT entering the pineal gland. Another is through shifts in brain hemisphere dominance from the left (rational) to the right (non-rational).

So, moving on to the question what is an altered state of consciousness, we find that the answer is different for different people at different times and in different circumstances. Two people could take ayahuasca for example at different times in different places and have very different experiences. In fact the same person may use the same method to enter an altered state in a different setting and also have a very different experience. However, using a wide variety of data from different sources, we can establish certain common experiences.

In his book Inner Paths to Outer Space Dr Rick Strassman identifies the following commonalities between people taking hallucinogens. Although he is talking specifically about the use of psychedelic drugs, these features are common to all who enter an altered state of consciousness using any of the means I have highlighted above.

An important point to note is that although I am describing each effect in isolation, often the subject will experience several or even all of the following states simultaneously. So, in no particular order...

Visual changes in perception may include a visible, buzzing, vibrating field around physical objects and a melting of the boundaries of those objects allowing them to seem to merge. Objects may be magnified or become diminutive. Color intensity may change. Different colors may even generate different auditory impressions. True hallucinations may also appear: the subject may see things that are simply not there using normal perception. These objects may be seen whether the eyes are or are not open. A common feature of the experience is seeing geometric swirls and it is in part for this reason that a credible explanation for ancient cave art expressing hallucinogen trips has been put forward as these shapes are a common feature of such art. Images may also become very complex and include such subjects as living creatures, machinery and landscapes. Ultimately a bright white light may also be seen, the sign of enlightenment according to various mystical traditions.

Sounds may also vary from more mellow to painfully harsh. Subjects in an altered state of consciousness may even “see” sounds. Unaccounted for voices may also be heard. On occasions, others may be in a state of functional deafness, unable to hear anything at all.

Tactile and gravitational senses can also be affected. One of the most famous feelings is that of disassociation of the consciousness from the body (an out of body experience). Other people become hypersensitive to inner and outer physical stimuli.

Emotional variation can similarly swing from one extreme end of the spectrum to the next. Some may experience abject terror, while others may have a feeling of complete and utter bliss. Very rapid emotional shifts, for no apparent reason, are also common, from joy to sadness, anger to calm, hate to love. At other times all emotions may be missing; others may be fully empathic towards another person, whether real or imagined, or even nonhuman entities such as animals, plants and rocks.

Mental faculties may also change. The thought process may speed up or slow down. Personal or philosophical insights may be had; others may find all thought shut down and be unable to process information. Opposites can be united, while divisions in previously apparent unity may be recognized. The sense of reality itself may also be changed. Some supposed hallucinations may feel “more real than real”. Information can also be gleaned from such innocuous objects as a flower or a cloud. Beings and entities can sometimes communicate with the subject.

Finally subjects in an altered state of consciousness can also become more sensitive to the people around them. People often become easier to be swayed or influenced by others. Non-verbal communication is also better understood.

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DMT

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N, N-dimehtyltryptamine, or DMT, is the so-called “spirit” molecule as identified by the leading researcher on the subject Dr Rick Strassman. This molecule seems to provide our consciousness access to an altered state filled with bizarre visions, thoughts and feelings. It seems, in short, to open up access to realms way beyond our imagination.

As powerful as DMT is (with the result that it is illegal and very heavily controlled even for research purposes) what is as surprising as the visions it provokes is that it is found naturally occurring throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. It is a part of the normal makeup of a regular human, as well as being found in flowers, barks, roots, mushrooms and so on. It is, literally, almost everywhere you look.

That said, DMT is most abundant in Latin America, among the plants that are used – and have been used for thousands of years - by the shamans in the area. Arguably the most famous method of ingestion of DMT is through ayahuasca, a traditional (and vile) beverage believed to help predict the future and allow contact with dead ancestors.

R. Manske, a Canadian scientist, discovered how to make DMT in the first half of the twentieth century. At the time he was unaware of its existence as a naturally occurring substance found in the human body. However, there was very little interest in it or any other psychedelic drugs. This changed in the early 1950s when LSD and serotonin were discovered. A new breed of scientist was very interested in psychedelics and using them to investigate human consciousness. Chemists began searching for the active ingredients of barks, leaves and seeds. Science developed and it was discovered that DMT was a constituent of plants that produced psychedelic effects, though it was then unknown if DMT itself was psychoactive.

The next development was an unexpected, but crucial step. Hungarian researcher Stephen Szara wanted to experiment with LSD. Living as he did behind the iron curtain he was blocked from receiving any of the drug from the West. Unperturbed he synthesized some DMT in his lab in 1955. Immediately he began to experiment only to find that his chemical was ineffective. He surmised that there must be a mechanism in the gut that breaks down DMT as quickly as it is swallowed…and he was correct. Part of the story that is so amazing is how shamans in South America were able to understand this and formulate a response thousands of years ago to allow DMT to be taken orally in one form or another (the ayahuasca brew being the most popular). Szara began experimenting on himself with an injected psychedelic and after on members of a study group.

Szara had this to say about his experience “….The hallucinations consisted of moving, brilliantly colored oriental motifs, and later I saw wonderful scenes altering very rapidly….My emotional state was elevated sometimes up to euphoria. My consciousness was completely filled by hallucinations, and my attention was firmly bound to them…”

One of his test subjects, a male physician, reported that “The whole world is brilliant….The whole room is filled with spirits….I feel exactly as if I were flying….I have the feeling that this is above everything, above the earth.”

A female physician noted “How simple everything is….In front of me are two quiet, sunlit Gods….I think they are welcoming me into this new world….I am finally at home….Dangerous game; it would be so easy not to return. I am faintly aware that I am a doctor, but this is not important; family ties, studies, plans, and memories are very remote from me. Only this world is important; I am free and utterly alone.”

Szara eventually made his way from Hungary to the United States, via Berlin, where he began working at the National Institute of Health before moving onto the National Institute on Drug Abuse before his retirement.

The subculture that had developed to experiment with psychedelic drugs starting using DMT. But not all the trips were pleasant. William Burroughs, author of The Naked Lunch was an early user and one of his friends was reduced to becoming like a “writhing, wriggling reptile.” LSD remained the hallucinogenic of choice; the trip from DMT was commonly regarded as being intense (one way or the other) and short lived.

The primacy of LSD was challenged when researchers discovered DMT in the brains of mice and rats. The scientists then established how the bodies of these animals made the psychedelic. The next question was obvious: Did DMT exist in the human body? In 1965 a German research team published in Nature magazine that it had isolated DMT from human blood. In 1972 Julius Axelrod reported finding it in human brain tissue. Other researchers found it in other fluids, such as urine. Next the pathways by which the human body made the psychedelic were identified.

Thus, and of huge significance, DMT was recognized as the first endogenous human psychedelic. That is, it was the first psychedelic compound found to be produced in the human body.

A startling question now follows, and one to which I will return in the future, but I offer it here for your own meditations.

Why had Nature / the Universe / God / evolution seen fit to create a body capable of producing a powerful psychedelic compound?

There is no clear answer to this but I am inclined to agree with Dr Rick Strassman, the foremost authority on DMT research, that the psychedelic is a “spirit molecule” intended to allow us to establish visionary contact with a realm beyond the normal and beyond the confines of time and space.

Psychiatry on the other hand explains the existence of this hallucinogen as being, perhaps, the cause of mental illness. Scientists hoped to find a way to block the effects thereby preventing mental illness.

All this research started to come to an end though in 1970 when DMT, along with other psychedelics, were placed in a highly restricted legal category. By the end of the 1970s all research was stopped until Dr Rick Strassman began a new investigation.

In effect DMT affects receptor sites for serotonin throughout the body, but of most interest are those receptors in the brain which are involved in mood, perception and thought. Of even more interest is that the brain seems to desire the psychedelic. Usually the brain works hard to keep out other drugs and chemicals by erecting a blood-brain barrier. In this way the brain can be highly selective as to what it uses for energy: glucose only. So here is the curious thing: the brain is very, very careful in selecting what it absorbs, only taking in what is vital to allow it to function in an optimal manner. So why, as Japanese scientists discovered in the second half of the twentieth century, does the brain allow a psychedelic into its realm? As far as we know, no other psychedelic is permitted to cross the blood-brain barrier. Furthermore, DMT is used almost immediately by the brain. It is as if the psychedelic is necessary for normal brain functioning.

And when the brain receives more than enough the subject begins to experience various hallucinations.

One of the ways to overload the brain with DMT is to take it in via IV. But the drug is endogenous; it is created within the body naturally. And from time to time the body is capable, all by itself, of creating an excess amount of the psychedelic leading to various visions and emotions. Indeed, it seems that the body can in fact be trained (through meditation and asceticism) to produce an above average amount, thereby allowing a subject to induce the hallucinatory trip.

Ayahuasca being prepared.

Users of DMT maintain that its use allows them to accept the coexistence of opposites (such as life and death), grants them the knowledge that consciousness continues after physical death, and leaves them with the certitude that all things are connected (with the glue being love). The psychedelic also allows users to “visit” other realms that appear more real than our current reality and which may be populated by elves or aliens. These other realms however may not always be peaceful and could be, to use Christian concepts, described as hell. A trip then is not without its dangers.

The medium between DMT and consciousness seems to be the pineal gland, which I will discuss in more detail in a future article.

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