How does the brain "create" our mystical states? Neuroscience now has some models.
One surprise is that every major lobe is involved in generating mystical states.
The parietal lobe receives sensory inputs of touch, vision and hearing and is largely responsible for creating the "sense" of a three-dimensional body and its orientation in space.
Losing that "sense", we don't know where the body ends and "everything else" begins, i.e. "everything is one thing". Work by Joseph (1996), Cohen et al. (1996), d'Esposito et al. (1998), etc. identified this.
The temporal lobe, w/the parietal lobe, creates abstract concepts like "time" and relates them to words. These cognitive concepts define what we can think about and understand, including causality, the basis for myths and perceptions in mystical experiences.
Ramachandran's research demonstrated that temporal lobe epilepsy generates heightened responses to religious terms and icons. There is much interest, and confusion, on this, i.e. "Ecstatic feelings can be caused by epilepsy" and "Finding God in a seizure: the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and mysticism", and research like "Mystical experiences associated with epilepsy" by Greyson, et al., (2015).
The visual cortex in the occipital lobe is critical, as many mystical experiences are visually-based. The extensive "post-processing" of visual input has received an enormous amount of research and several Nobel prizes.
The input from the eye is first processed in the primary visual area (V1 in dia @ left), where it becomes abstract lines, shapes and colors. The secondary processing areas (V2 - V4) organize this into a recognizable free-floating image w/o context or meaning. Input is then incorporated from smelling, hearing, memory and emotional areas to create dimensional "fullness" and emotional "meaning".
What you "see" is a highly-processed representation using much "old" data from memories and emotions. A "perfect" visual representation isn't as useful for survival as a reconstructed one. It's more important to show what has changed and what it "means", like whether that brown fuzzy spot in those bushes is a problem. The heavily processed images in our mystical visions like icons, deities, demons, snakes, melting trees, etc., are the result.
The frontal lobe creates reward, attention, short-term memory, planning and motivation and has most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cortex to control them. Focusing and ignoring some stimuli is critical to successfully completing complex tasks, including meditation.
The take-away is that the only way we have to know or experience anything, including "God", reality, mystical experiences, I/ego, chocolate, sex, etc., is through the brain's operations.
A key element is the creation, about 75,000 years ago, of this ethereal, inner, personal "self" who has this mystical experience. This free-standing, observant "self/I" arose from perceiving our own existence, and then reflecting on our perceptions.
This "self" was an evolutionary adaptation made necessary, and possible, with our growing population facilitated by agriculture. This generated more complex tasks needing coordination and organization, which were a great evolutionary advantage, enabling us to populate every part of the planet and become the dominant, and most dangerous, species. The parietal lobe grouped these emotions, thoughts, sensations, memories, etc. into the concept of "mind".
As we saw in earlier blogposts, including "Three Neural Networks Dancing - 'blah, blah' (DMN), tasking and control", this sense of self/I functions through the Default Mode Network/DMN.
Deactivating key DMN nodes w/meditation or psychedelics creates the mystical experiences of "All is One" and "now, now, now". (video "Meditation Works Like Magic Mushrooms?")
This is consistent w/the earlier lobes discussion. The DMN centers include the tempo-parietal junction, lateral temporal cortex, temporal pole, and posterior inferior parietal lobule, so it fits together.
This "self" is apparently unique to our species, despite chimpanzees having almost identical brain structures and genetics. No other species builds pyramids, cathedrals, or statues or does elaborate rituals, etc. to appease a higher power.
On Easter Island, the residents cut down every tree to transport huge stone pillars to honor their God, making their island uninhabitable.
Can you imagine 300 chimpanzees filing into a huge, stone temple they constructed, at a precise time, being still and quiet for an hour listening to rules for living, and then asking a higher power for a better mate, job, football team, or afterlife?
How can physical/mental activities activate these mystical experiences?
A popular model is from the research of Andrew Newberg, Eugene d'Aquili, and Vince Rause. It is described in their controversial, ground-breaking book "Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science & the Biology of Belief".
They found that activities making the two branches of the autonomic system, the sympathetic/arousal and the parasympathetic/quiescent, function simultaneously at maximum levels, instead of alternating normally, "trigger" mystical states.
This works by "de-afferenating", or dramatically reducing the neural input necessary for normal operation of key parietal and temporal regions.
As these regions create the sensations of the body in space and time, increasing deafferenation triggers increasingly intense mystical experiences.
The thalamus is critical as it connects the frontal lobes/cortex to the limbic system and the rest of the body. Recursive looping in the thalamo-cortical circuit is critical for reasoning, problem-solving, working memory, and in some theories, consciousness. Interestingly, corvids (crows, ravens, jays) have it, and in a Cambridge university study in Science were as good at problem solving as non-human primates. (BTW, "Gifts of the Crow" is a great neuroscientific discussion on this.)
Triggering is initiated by intense physical or mental activity, including dancing, running, prolonged concentration, meditation and ceremonial rituals. Research demonstrated that tantric yoga and transcendental meditation produce significant changes in the autonomic systems. Newberg/d'Aquili's work demonstrated that some types of meditation activated both sub-systems, while others activated only one.
There are four "autonomic" deafferentation states that Newberg/d'Aquili's model describe:
a) Hyperquiescence
Extraordinary relaxation evoked through slow, quiet, deliberate rituals such as chanting and group prayer or meditation, accompanied by oceanic tranquility and bliss.
b) Hyperarousal
Extraordinary arousal/excitation resulting in keen alertness, excitement and intense concentration w/o feelings or thoughts, evoked by Sufi mystics, Voudon/Voodoo practitioners, marathon runners, long-distance swimmers, downhill skiers, fighter pilots, etc. This is the "flow" experience.
c) Hyperquiscence w/arousal breakthrough
Intense levels of quiescent activity in meditation or contemplative prayer trigger an intense, altered state w/great bliss, an exhilarating rush of energy and absorption into an object of concentration.
d) Hyperarousal with quiescent breakthrough
Maximal stimulation triggers surges of quiescent responses in a trance-like rush of "orgasmic" energy, induced by intense and prolonged contemplation during rapid ritualistic dance and sex.
IME, these neurological models can improve the outcomes of our practices. Realizing that "jamming" the autonomic networks triggers mystical experience, we can design "multi-lobal" practices coupling sitting and hand positions, conscious breathing, chanting, etc.
They also explain how some practices are more successful at yielding mystical experiences. IME, Soto Zen's use of precise hand and sitting positions w/highly-focused awareness and breathing is more likely to yield mystical experiences than casual awareness meditation.
It is important to recognize that none of this argues for atheism, as whether or not God exists is not now, and perhaps never will be, scientifically provable, only that our ability to perceive Her, if She exists, is limited by the brain's capabilities.
It is also worth remembering that these are only transient experiences. Every time we recall them, they change neuroplastically. If you have recalled it many times, there is no chance it is what you actually experienced.
One surprise is that every major lobe is involved in generating mystical states. The parietal lobe receives sensory inputs of touch, vision and hearing and is largely responsible for creating the "sense" of a three-dimensional body and its orientation in space.
Losing that "sense", we don't know where the body ends and "everything else" begins, i.e. "everything is one thing". Work by Joseph (1996), Cohen et al. (1996), d'Esposito et al. (1998), etc. identified this.
The temporal lobe, w/the parietal lobe, creates abstract concepts like "time" and relates them to words. These cognitive concepts define what we can think about and understand, including causality, the basis for myths and perceptions in mystical experiences.
Ramachandran's research demonstrated that temporal lobe epilepsy generates heightened responses to religious terms and icons. There is much interest, and confusion, on this, i.e. "Ecstatic feelings can be caused by epilepsy" and "Finding God in a seizure: the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and mysticism", and research like "Mystical experiences associated with epilepsy" by Greyson, et al., (2015).
The visual cortex in the occipital lobe is critical, as many mystical experiences are visually-based. The extensive "post-processing" of visual input has received an enormous amount of research and several Nobel prizes.
 |
| Many levels of processing in visual cortex (V1 - V4) |
What you "see" is a highly-processed representation using much "old" data from memories and emotions. A "perfect" visual representation isn't as useful for survival as a reconstructed one. It's more important to show what has changed and what it "means", like whether that brown fuzzy spot in those bushes is a problem. The heavily processed images in our mystical visions like icons, deities, demons, snakes, melting trees, etc., are the result.
The frontal lobe creates reward, attention, short-term memory, planning and motivation and has most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cortex to control them. Focusing and ignoring some stimuli is critical to successfully completing complex tasks, including meditation.
The take-away is that the only way we have to know or experience anything, including "God", reality, mystical experiences, I/ego, chocolate, sex, etc., is through the brain's operations.
A key element is the creation, about 75,000 years ago, of this ethereal, inner, personal "self" who has this mystical experience. This free-standing, observant "self/I" arose from perceiving our own existence, and then reflecting on our perceptions.
This "self" was an evolutionary adaptation made necessary, and possible, with our growing population facilitated by agriculture. This generated more complex tasks needing coordination and organization, which were a great evolutionary advantage, enabling us to populate every part of the planet and become the dominant, and most dangerous, species. The parietal lobe grouped these emotions, thoughts, sensations, memories, etc. into the concept of "mind".
 |
| Default Mode Network Centers and connnectivity Andrews-Hanna |
As we saw in earlier blogposts, including "Three Neural Networks Dancing - 'blah, blah' (DMN), tasking and control", this sense of self/I functions through the Default Mode Network/DMN.
Deactivating key DMN nodes w/meditation or psychedelics creates the mystical experiences of "All is One" and "now, now, now". (video "Meditation Works Like Magic Mushrooms?")
This is consistent w/the earlier lobes discussion. The DMN centers include the tempo-parietal junction, lateral temporal cortex, temporal pole, and posterior inferior parietal lobule, so it fits together.
This "self" is apparently unique to our species, despite chimpanzees having almost identical brain structures and genetics. No other species builds pyramids, cathedrals, or statues or does elaborate rituals, etc. to appease a higher power.
 |
| Easter Island statues |
Can you imagine 300 chimpanzees filing into a huge, stone temple they constructed, at a precise time, being still and quiet for an hour listening to rules for living, and then asking a higher power for a better mate, job, football team, or afterlife?
How can physical/mental activities activate these mystical experiences?
 |
| Andrew Newberg Univ of Pennsylvania |
They found that activities making the two branches of the autonomic system, the sympathetic/arousal and the parasympathetic/quiescent, function simultaneously at maximum levels, instead of alternating normally, "trigger" mystical states.
This works by "de-afferenating", or dramatically reducing the neural input necessary for normal operation of key parietal and temporal regions. As these regions create the sensations of the body in space and time, increasing deafferenation triggers increasingly intense mystical experiences.
The thalamus is critical as it connects the frontal lobes/cortex to the limbic system and the rest of the body. Recursive looping in the thalamo-cortical circuit is critical for reasoning, problem-solving, working memory, and in some theories, consciousness. Interestingly, corvids (crows, ravens, jays) have it, and in a Cambridge university study in Science were as good at problem solving as non-human primates. (BTW, "Gifts of the Crow" is a great neuroscientific discussion on this.)
Triggering is initiated by intense physical or mental activity, including dancing, running, prolonged concentration, meditation and ceremonial rituals. Research demonstrated that tantric yoga and transcendental meditation produce significant changes in the autonomic systems. Newberg/d'Aquili's work demonstrated that some types of meditation activated both sub-systems, while others activated only one.
There are four "autonomic" deafferentation states that Newberg/d'Aquili's model describe:
a) Hyperquiescence
Extraordinary relaxation evoked through slow, quiet, deliberate rituals such as chanting and group prayer or meditation, accompanied by oceanic tranquility and bliss.
 |
| The late Eugene d'Aquili |
b) Hyperarousal
Extraordinary arousal/excitation resulting in keen alertness, excitement and intense concentration w/o feelings or thoughts, evoked by Sufi mystics, Voudon/Voodoo practitioners, marathon runners, long-distance swimmers, downhill skiers, fighter pilots, etc. This is the "flow" experience.
c) Hyperquiscence w/arousal breakthrough
Intense levels of quiescent activity in meditation or contemplative prayer trigger an intense, altered state w/great bliss, an exhilarating rush of energy and absorption into an object of concentration.
d) Hyperarousal with quiescent breakthrough
Maximal stimulation triggers surges of quiescent responses in a trance-like rush of "orgasmic" energy, induced by intense and prolonged contemplation during rapid ritualistic dance and sex.
IME, these neurological models can improve the outcomes of our practices. Realizing that "jamming" the autonomic networks triggers mystical experience, we can design "multi-lobal" practices coupling sitting and hand positions, conscious breathing, chanting, etc.
They also explain how some practices are more successful at yielding mystical experiences. IME, Soto Zen's use of precise hand and sitting positions w/highly-focused awareness and breathing is more likely to yield mystical experiences than casual awareness meditation.
It is important to recognize that none of this argues for atheism, as whether or not God exists is not now, and perhaps never will be, scientifically provable, only that our ability to perceive Her, if She exists, is limited by the brain's capabilities.
It is also worth remembering that these are only transient experiences. Every time we recall them, they change neuroplastically. If you have recalled it many times, there is no chance it is what you actually experienced.
In the death state the brain is no longer functioning. Therefore, Self must not be dependent upon experience mitigated by the brain.
ReplyDeleteAny separately existing phenomena and/or causality is simply more illusion. I'm not disagreeing with you Gary, I'm just saying that there must be something transcendent/ more fundamental than physical brain function.
Yes no maybe? : )
Hi Roy. Yes, emphatically.
DeleteThe value of the neuroscience, for "me", is to understand what we can understand, and then see what is left that is inexplicable and may remain so. The surprising thing is that the more we understand, the more clearly "magic" and transcendental what remains becomes. This post was about clearing up experiences we have had, but not really clearly understood how they occurred or what "caused" them.
As i have said many times, the astonishing thing is that when one understands that there is no free will or control, or an "I" to have them, that "life" goes on perfectly, "all by itself", seamlessly. There is then the recognition that there is this astonishing, powerful, pervasive, transcendental Stillness that somehow is producing serendipities and precognitions that are extremely "fortunate" and "useful", but are impossibly, unimaginably unlikely.
As one abides in it more and more, and it becomes ever deeper and more mysterious, it is clear that everything is a mystical, happening, everything being danced by the Self/God.
The brain, for me, is a transceiver through which this dance is experienced as best it can be and the better it is understood, and worked with, the less cloudy it is, and the clearer the Self/God can be experienced.
stillness
Doesn't listening to music or playing musical instruments have a role in any of the four autonomic deafferentation states?
DeleteCan the hyperarousal with quiescent breakthrough happen with masturbation?
Hi NinetiesYouth,
DeleteYes, listening to music and playing, and/or chanting/singing it, plays an important role in many mystical experiences. In the four autonomic deafferentation states described above, it could be a key element in any/all of them.
Yes, masturbation could conceivably work in the "hyperarousal w/quiescent breakthrough" deafferentation state, as sex is specifically included in their description.
stillness
Dear Gary,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for another thought-provoking blog entry. While it makes sense that all human experience, even the most transcendental, must have a neurophysiological correlate, it can lead one to question what is ultimately real and meaningful. It seems if all the great mystical excursions that have brought metaphysical meaning to humanity…. from God appearing to Moses in burning bush, to shamanic & ayahuasca voyages to other words, to non-dual happiness beyond thought etc… can be reduced to deafferentation, then maybe there really is nothing beyond the 1.4kg of mush in my cranium. Talk about existential crisis !!! :)
Ian
Hi Ian,
Deletei'm not going as far as saying that the "most transcendental" human experience can be reduced to deafferentation, only that the lens through which we can perceive any experience is that "1.4kg of mush in our craniums."
What Newberg's and d'Aquili's work shows is that virtually all of our mystical experiences that result from our spiritual practices can be fairly straightforwardly explained by deafferentation, which does shed a light on how our practices evolved the way they did.
For me, this is a very useful understanding and takes the mystery, occultism and "magic" out of our practices and rituals so that we can understand and modify them w/o having to get some "special person" to interpret or perform them for us.
It harkens back to when the religions had their teaching in a language, like Latin, that few outside the church understood, so only the priests knew the teachings. Anyone caught reciting religious teachings in a commonly-used language was burned at the stake, literally. Thankfully, Gutenberg and Luther changed that.
Looking @ the brain as a transceiver, it is clearly our only way to perceive anything. The more we can clear out the incongruities, misunderstandings, and inaccuracies in our transceiver, the more clearly we can perceive. As pointed out in the post, this says nothing about "God" or Universal Consciousness, in which it appears from our current physics that we all are immersed and swimming/dancing in.
There's no need for an existential crisis, just a recognition of what we can explain and what we can't.
stillness
Hello Gary,
ReplyDeleteI had an initial awakening at about age 30 and over time have (I am now 46) I have come to a state of stillness and experience a state of no-thought for extended periods of time throughout my day. This silence seems to be deepening more and more all the time. I have recently been surprised to find that when I am reading there is no longer an inner voice doing the reading. So I am doing silent reading. I am wondering if you experience this also or know about this. People who were born completely deaf must read this way. No one I know seems to be able to understand how this is possible. I must say it never occurred to me that this inner "reader" voice would also vanish.
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteThe concept of having "no thoughts" as the goal of meditation was central to many spiritual teachers' work. (see blogpost "Who else believes 'no thoughts' is the goal of meditation?"). Ramana Maharshi, my principal teacher, focused on having no "problematic" thoughts.
Now that we have neuroscience to apply to the issue, it is clear that there are many types of "thoughts" and that they arise in different neural networks and have different characteristics. (See blogpost "Three neural networks dancing - 'blah, blah', tasking and control"). The ongoing problematic, emotionally-charged, self-referential, internal narrative, which i call SRIN, manifests through the default mode network and is the primary focus of most folks' consciousness and problems, and are the ones we work on stopping.
However, the "tasking" network is where we frame and solve problems and do planning (and inner reading) and these are not problematic, as they are not self-referential, or emotionally charged, so they can go on or not.
It is the difference between "How do i get to the interstate?" and "How the ##$#$ do i get to the &*&^% interstate? i'm going to miss my #@$%$ plane!!!". The first is "tasking", the second "blah, blah". They feel different and the brain can learn to almost surgically remove the second and leave the first alone. It is easy for folk to move from "tasking" to "blah, blah" if they aren't watchful.
IME, i do sometimes "inner read", and it seems to depend on the complexity of the material, but i really don't pay much attention to it. i have found that most of the planning and problem-solving "tasking" internal talking is unnecessary and is only done because the brain is so accustomed to doing "blah, blah" for 90+% of the waking time. However, i do a lot of work w/scientists and academics, and they find great value in their "tasking" internal talking.
The deepening of the silence and lengthening of periods of time w/no-thoughts will continue in virtually all folks' experience, particularly if they have done self-inquiry. However, it appears as if the brain greatly prefers this state and so goes about refining the neural circuitry and using its pleasure-inducing neurochemical capabilities to make it the much preferred situation. It can become so strongly preferred that it is virtually impossible to make self-referential thoughts happen.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Gary, thanks for your reply.
DeleteInteresting that the brain has a mind of it's own and goes about refining the circuitry.
The blah, blah, blah thoughts have mostly disappeared from my experience though they do pop-up from time to time usually if I'm tired or something. I have done self-inquiry. The mind is sometimes used for problem solving/tasking though these thoughts seem to arise less often as well. I do find the process interesting which was why I was wondering why non-problematic thoughts or something such as the inner-reader voice would also go. There does seem to be a movement towards deeper silence in all areas of thinking problematic or not. Though I agree it is probably best not to pay much attention to it as you say.
Hi Sandy.
DeleteYes, the vast majority of our brain's operations, thankfully, cannot be seen or manipulated by "us", including how the brain operates, reorganizes or "fixes" itself. we use the metaphor of the elephant and the rider (see blogpost "Elephant or rider? intuition or reasoning? reaching the 'other side' w/o argument"), in which what we are conscious of is the operations of a very small processor w/limited memory capable of solving only one problem with 7 +/- 2 pieces of data, which we call the "rider".
The vast parallel processor array and massive data storage off-line, which is one of the wonders of the universe, is where virtually everything is really done - that's the elephant. The "rider" is just the press secretary who takes credit for everything even though (s)he does almost nothing significant.
As one progresses on the path, it becomes apparent at some point that the off-line brain/elephant is totally running the awakening processes and moving the rider aside. A common report is "hey, i just realized that i'm no longer running the show".
On energy level and "blah, blah", when my energy level gets very low, then a few self-referential narrative thoughts will arise. This is the best indicator of when i really do need to get something to eat as i am hypoglycemic.
The Yale fMRI study on long-term meditators in which i was heavily involved as subject, collaborator, etc., showed that there were two "command and control" centers in the frontal part of our brain that appeared to be activated to keep the default mode network deactivated.
If the brain is running low on energy, then these centers would likely see their energy dramatically reduced to ensure that our "fight and flight" centers could work properly. When the energy is replenished, then the "command and control", shut-down-the-SRIN centers would be reactivated and SRIN would stop.
stillness
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteWhen you say ...'A key element is the creation, about 75,000 years ago, of this ethereal, inner, personal "self" who has this mystical experience. This free-standing, observant "self/I" arose from perceiving our own existence, and then reflecting on our perceptions'...does it include NDE (near death experience)? Apparently folks who had NDE did (according to research) explain incidents and experiences with great accuracy even though their brains were (medically) dead.
Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteThe studies i've read on NDEs are very mixed, particularly those that had more detailed neuroscientific investigations. The mainstream consensus in the neuroscience community is that it is an "hallucinatory state caused by various physiological and psychological factors". There have been some "exposees" of some of the more spectacular ones and others that are unexplained.
i don't really pay much attention to them. When you can see clearly that the "everyday consensus reality" is an illusion, just a dream while awake, and that there is "something" that lives forever, it ceases to matter.
stillness