Saturday 12 October 2024
8:59 am
By reading today’s Guardian online I am mad aware of
a beautiful and almost boring Aurora Borealis glowing
in the darkness last night. I saw many pretty
photographs of the Australis (Southern) lights. My
awareness of reports of other people viewing the
northern and southern auroras can include my
awareness of my awareness of the awareness of other
people viewing the spectacular radiation of colourful
light. I am also aware of the possibility of electrically
charged quantum jumping. Rather than including in my
awareness, my awareness of my awareness rather than
only the realist version that is an objective world that is
mind independent it is possible to negate or annihilate
my awareness of my awareness of my awareness of
the awareness of those viewers of the auroras.
In his book “The Doors of Perception” Aldous Huxley
speculated about the phenomena that occur when the
contents of awareness are radically altered by the
chemical reactions between the molecular structures
present in the bloodstream and the neural networks of
human brains. Neuroscientists have discovered that
there exist in the neurons, fixed structures (receptors)
that have dynamic geometrical configurations that fit
only a few specific molecules that can be supplied by
the bloodstream while not able to accommodate the
vast majority of the molecules. Some receptors
transmit
electrical signals while others do the opposite - inhibit.
Huxley thought that his psychedelic experiences with
mescaline suggested to him that the mescaline
molecules acted in such a way as to make possible
transmission of electrical signals through synapses that
ordinarilly inhibit transmission. Huxley used the term
“filters” to suggest that ordinary awareness is a
product of such filtrati - a process that it might be said
possibly has evolutionary origins that might be
naturally selected by ensuring that our amcestors paid
attention to their immediate surroundings to avoid the
bears, tigers, alligators, sharks, box jellyfish, wolves,
red back spiders, leopards, cougars and black mambas.
At the same time, following Huxley’s filtration logic,
there exist presumeably, neural networks that
somehow enable humans to experience the blissful
experiences reported by people who ingest psychedelic
plant extracts such as mescaline, psilocybin and d-
lysergic-acid diethylamide etc. At about the same time
that Huxley volunteered to try mescaline to have first-
hand experiences of chemical mysticism, the Central
Intelligence Agency was experiementing with LSD and
mescaline etc to investigate the possibility that
psychedelics plant extracts may have uses in spy-craft.
The theoretical/intellectual basis for these experiments
are illustrated by the term used to signify the
psychedelic substances used: “psychomimetic”. It was
generally understood that these substance artificially
produced psychotic states - extreme mental illness.
Extreme yet generally temporary.
The interpretation of psychedelic (chemcial) mysticism
as artificially produced madness if applied to
conventional/ traditional mysticism brought on by pious
practices of meditating and/or praying etc. The choice
of the term “psychomimetic” is a reflection of the
particular world-view of the persons who chose to use
that term to describe the states of mind and being
brought about by ingesting psychedelic substances.
It’s that world view that I refer to as “realist” or
“materialist” - the belief that there exists a mind-
independent objective reality. Those who have such a
dogmatic belief classify any and all states of mind and
being that is/are radically different to an awareness of
the visible and tangibel world of material objects that
constitute the world is evidence of psychosis -
madness.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, is generally
considered to be a (perhaps the) founding father, of
our indigenous Euro-Hellenic (Western) culture. Among
his literary masterpieces is one usually referred to as
“the Phaedrus”. In this book Plato goes into detail
about the states of mind experienced by philosophers
who are devout practitioners of a protestant
philosophical mysticism. He makes clear that the
mystical experiences of philosophers who devote their
lives to philosophical mysticism is interpreted by the
majority of ordinary people as “madness” because
philosophers neglect to attend to the normal objects of
human ambition.
-fin-
