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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? * 2
    #14421580 - 05/08/11 08:22 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us?
May 7, 2011 - hypnotherapistlondon.org

About sixty years ago the scientist C.H.W. Horne wrote that “it is remarkable that one characteristic which seems to separate man from the allegedly lower animals is a recurring desire to escape from reality.”  He was referring to the rife use of hallucinogens by young people during the middle of the last century.  What is even more remarkable, in my opinion, is how long humans have been documenting their interest in the use of hallucinogens. Cultural and religious rituals developed around the use of these hallucinogens probably as soon as they were learned in the various plants and fungi that were present in their environment. 

Imagine that the year is 2000 BCE (before the current era) and as you are foraging for something safe to eat you learn a small yellowish mushroom that would one day be called Psilocybe mexicana. We now realize that this mushroom contains a hallucinogen called psilocybin.  Indeed, psilocybin would ultimately be learned in at least 75 different species of mushrooms, so there was a excellent chance that someone, one day would have stumbled onto a mushroom containing it. Regardless, today is your lucky day – you learned it initially.

After eating this mushroom you rather quickly developed a stomach ache that lasted for about thirty minutes and then something truly mystical started to happen.  You started seeing things that you had never seen before, metaphors that could only be due to the intervention of a god (or goddess, depending upon your community traditions).  You started sharing your collection of mushrooms with others and everyone marveled at their incredible and reasonably mystical visual experiences. Ultimately, the use of psilocybin-containing mushrooms in the Central and South America became an integral part of many religious rituals.  The mushroom was worshiped and was agreed the name Teonanacatl, which is plotting to mean “god’s flesh” or “sacred mushroom.”  Using this sacred mushroom became an vital milestone in every person’s religious path to the moral fiber world.  Mushroom art and sculptures as well as numerous metaphors on stones clearly designate the vital role played by this mushroom in the community religions. When the Spaniard Francisco Hernandez invaded in the 1570s he documented the use of these mushrooms and eventually added them to their own list of medicinal herbs.

The stone carvings provide some insight into the effects that the mushrooms produced in the minds of these primitive peoples.  Some of these carvings are shown here.  You can imagine the challenge facing someone 4000 years ago who wished to represent to others what they experienced while visiting their mushroom-inspired moral fiber world.  What if your only tools for representing this encounter were stones and bones?

Even today people find it hard to describe their personal experiences with hallucinogens. Consider this fascinating inquiry: Did hallucinogens produced qualitatively different experiences in people income 4000 years ago as compared to people alive today?  In 1928 the scientist Heinrich Kluver attempted to answer this inquiry. He interviewed people who had used hallucinogenic mushrooms as well as many other naturally-in the facility hallucinogens. He learned that these drugs all produce a surprisingly similar consensus of experiences that consistently included seeing geometric metaphors that were accompanied by highly altered emotions.  Though the specific colors reported different, participants consistently reported brightness intensification. Moreover, the apparent size and design of the geometrical shapes, as well as their degree of symmetry, were strikingly similar from participant to participant.

More recently, a study questioned a similar inquiry of 500 participants who reported using LSD or mescaline.  Once again these subjects reported seeing vivid swirling colors, sounds that seemed to be associated with specific colors and an intensification of visual imagery. Regularly the metaphors tended to pulse and go toward a center tunnel or away from a astute center.

What neuroscientists have learned by examining ancient carvings and drawings, and by interviewing people today who use LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, ibogaine, marijuana and a host of other hallucinogens, is that basic visual encounter has been highly consistent across the last four millennia! These investigations reveal a fantastic deal about how our brain responds to hallucinogens. Overall, the human visual system responds with a very limited number of form constants. The four most consistent geometric forms reported following use of these drugs include 1) a latticework, grating or honeycomb; 2) a cobweb structure; 3) a tunnel or funnel alley; or 4) a spiral image.  Now take a look again at the stone carvings and you can appreciate what our South American ancestors were attempting to tell us.

Why have these hallucinogenic metaphors remained so consistent across time?  Most likely it is because the human brain has not changed in the past 4000 years.  The architecture and neuronal circuitry of the visual cortex was same 4000 years ago as it is today.  The similarity of the hallucinogens is due to the pattern of connections between neurons within the visual dispensation regions of the cortex. 

These drugs uniformly and consistently produce abnormal activation of cortical neurons leading to spontaneous pattern formation within visual cortex. Under normal circumstances this condition is associated with experiencing a visual image. Thus, hallucinogens alter how our neurons communicate with each other to process visual information in our brain; the result is something that is both familiar (such as an object of worship) and reasonably bizarre (such as a distortion of the objects color).

These investigations teach us a lot about how our brain functions and provide insight into the religious world of our ancient ancestors.  How truly fantastic!


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OfflineJoolz
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Registered: 09/19/10
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: veggie]
    #14421683 - 05/08/11 08:42 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

:raveface:


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Prohibition didn't work for God; Eve ate the fruit.


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Invisibleblissedout
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Registered: 11/11/04
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: veggie]
    #14421824 - 05/08/11 09:08 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

I'm digging the new avatar, Veggie!

Cool article, too.


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:murray:


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Offlinelearningtofly
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: blissedout]
    #14421849 - 05/08/11 09:12 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)



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Invisibleblissedout
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: learningtofly]
    #14421872 - 05/08/11 09:15 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Yep.:laugh:


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:murray:


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OfflineVsnares.Zappa
bend over


Registered: 05/04/11
Posts: 3,153
Last seen: 3 months, 17 days
Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: veggie]
    #14421937 - 05/08/11 09:26 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Very interesting, Explain some more Neurosciences :Awemush:


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Invisiblemikehauncho
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Registered: 06/17/09
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? *DELETED* [Re: veggie]
    #14421986 - 05/08/11 09:34 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Post deleted by mikehauncho

Reason for deletion: Law Enforcement



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Offlinedemon66
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: mikehauncho]
    #14422085 - 05/08/11 09:49 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

I never get a 30 minuate stomache ache?  Guess I got a good stomache.


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OfflineLadyLittleZeppelin
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: veggie]
    #14422254 - 05/08/11 10:22 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

About sixty years ago the scientist C.H.W. Horne wrote that “it is remarkable that one characteristic which seems to separate man from the allegedly lower animals is a recurring desire to escape from reality.”

This is not true. Too bad he didn't know that animals also like to trip :rofl2: If he did he might be rolling around in his grave!


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SHROOMS MAKE YOU GAY
~
Crystal G said:
  its cuzzzzzz i giiiiiive a meeeeean blooooowjjjobbbb.


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OfflineVsnares.Zappa
bend over


Registered: 05/04/11
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: LadyLittleZeppelin]
    #14422277 - 05/08/11 10:27 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

LadyLittleZeppelin said:
About sixty years ago the scientist C.H.W. Horne wrote that “it is remarkable that one characteristic which seems to separate man from the allegedly lower animals is a recurring desire to escape from reality.”

This is not true. Too bad he didn't know that animals also like to trip :rofl2: If he did he might be rolling around in his grave!



:winner:


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OfflineGreenvalley
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: Vsnares.Zappa]
    #14422332 - 05/08/11 10:36 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

What an interesting article. Thanks


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Invisiblebryguy27007
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: Greenvalley]
    #14422812 - 05/09/11 12:45 AM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Great post, thank you.


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OfflineLuigisDeathRace
the dog ate my shrooms
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Registered: 04/07/11
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: bryguy27007]
    #14423750 - 05/09/11 09:36 AM (12 years, 8 months ago)

cool article, i wonder how good our ancestors used to trip since there was really no negative influences or stupid things to worry about, like in todays world. :shroomer: :trippnballs:


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OfflineLuigisDeathRace
the dog ate my shrooms
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: LuigisDeathRace]
    #14423760 - 05/09/11 09:40 AM (12 years, 8 months ago)

:fuckyou:


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OfflineNewfound_wonder
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: LuigisDeathRace]
    #14425369 - 05/09/11 04:11 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

They have also taught us that butter is way better than margarine.


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If it's good for fungus, it's good for us...


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Invisiblebryguy27007
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Re: 4000 years of Hallucinations: What have they taught us? [Re: Newfound_wonder]
    #14425603 - 05/09/11 04:58 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

Newfound_wonder said:
They have also taught us that butter is way better than margarine.




:lol:
:hedberg2:


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