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Chapters Containing Testable Hypotheses
38
Acetylcholine Systems
164
47
The Brain’s Own Opioids
213
51
The Mouse in Victory and Defeat
230
58
Ripples in Larger Systems: Laying Down and Retrieving Memories
259
71
Desynchronized Sleep
316
80
Pain and the Relief of Pain
352
82
Bridging the Two Hemispheres
358
86
Bright Lights and Blank Vision
377
89
The Ins and Outs of Imagery
388
98
The Fleeting “Truths” of Nitrous Oxide
407
100
How Do Psychedelic and Certain Other Drugs Affect the Brain?
418
104
Near-Death Experiences; Far-Death Attitudes
443
105
Triggers
452
113
The Hallucinated Leaf
482
117
The Sound of Silence
499
120
Motor and Other Residues of Internal Absorption
508
121
The When and Where of Time
510
124
Dimensions of Meaning
521
140
Preludes with Potential: Dark Nights and Depressions
584
142
Reflections on Kensho, Personal and Neurological
593
152
Etching In and Out
653
155
Expressing Zen in Action
668
List of Figures
Figure 1
The ordinary self/other world of the
I-Me-Mine
46
Figure 2
The left cerebral hemisphere
150
Figure 3
The right cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the inner surface
151
Figure 4
A simplified diagram of a prototype nerve cell
153
Figure 5
Major acetylcholine systems
165
Figure 6
A hippocampal crossroad and the limbic circuitry
183
Figure 7
Dopamine and serotonin systems
198
Figure 8
Dopamine and norepinephrine metabolism
200
Figure 9
Norepinephrine systems
202
Figure 10
Glutamate and GABA
209
Figure 11
The thalamus
264
Figure 12
A PET scan, during a period of relaxed awareness
(see color plate)
283
Figure 13
Daily variations in normal human consciousness
340
Figure 14
Sleep cycles on two successive nights, before and after LSD
422
Figure 15
The ordinary mental field
476
Figure 16
The mental field of internal absorption with sensate loss
(State VI-B)
477
Figure 17
A sequence of events during one episode of internal absorption 507
Figure 18
The flashing reflections of kensho
594
Figure 19
The mental field of insight-wisdom (kensho-satori, State VII)
610
Figure 20
A field of paradox: contrasting aspects of Zen
678
List of Tables
Table 1
The Two Major Zen Schools
10
Table 2
Comparisons between the Mystical Path and Schizophrenic
Reactions
31
Table 3
Premises with the
I-Me-Mine
44
Table 4
Opioids and Their Receptors
216
Table 5
“First” and “Second” Visual Systems
241
Table 6
Subsequent Visual Function Streams
245
Table 7
Differing Prefrontal Lobe Attributes
254
Table 8
Contrasts between Preattentive and Willed Processing
278
Table 9
Ordinary and Meditative States of Consciousness
300
Table 10
Extraordinary Alternate States of Consciousness
302
Table 11
Advanced Extraordinary Alternate States of Consciousness
303
Table 12
Some Differences between Samadhi-Absorption, Dreams, and
Certain Other Relevant States
326
Table 13
Differences between Augmenters and Reducers
355
Table 14
Hallucinations and Dream Imagery during Sleep Transition
States
382
Table 15
Two Views of Psychedelic Experiences: Levels, Sequences,
and Mixtures
427
Table 16
Types of Ordinary and Extraordinary Awareness of Space
496
Table 17
“Unities”
532
Table 18
Contrasting Types of Visual Experience Related to Space
574
Table 19
Differences between Having the Eyes Open and the Eyes Closed 582
Table 20
The Flashing Sequences in Kensho
596
Preface
. . . I don’t know what you mean when you say Big Mind and Little Mind. First of all
there is the brain.
J. Krishnamurti (1895–1986)
1
During rare, spontaneous moments, experiences of very special quality and great
import emerge from the depths of the human brain. To each person, these awak-
enings seem awesomely new. What they convey is not. It is the simplest, oldest
wisdom in the world. The message is that ultimate meaning is to be found in this
present moment, infusing our everyday lives, here and now. But one can’t predict
such major peaks of enlightenment. Their insight-wisdom is next to impossible
to describe. Even so, these fragile events inspired our major religions in ways that
still shape our cultural development.
Aldous Huxley called mankind’s basic trend toward spiritual growth the
“perennial philosophy.” Herein, I take a different perspective. To me, the trend
implies a dynamic, intimate perennial
psychophysiology.
It is a series of processes,
slowly evolving, that culminate in defining moments of an extraordinary charac-
ter. What are such “peak” experiences? How could they both profoundly enhance,
yet simplify, the workings of the brain? This book summarizes the latest evidence.
This is also a story of one neurologist’s personal quest and professional
search. These two paths converge in ways that lead to one straightforward thesis:
awakening, enlightenment, occurs only because the human brain undergoes sub-
stantial changes. Does prior meditation help the brain to change in this direction?
If so, how? This subject is explored throughout the book.
Is it taboo to discuss religion in a neurological context? It wasn’t to William
James, almost a century ago. We forget that back in 1901–02, he had already joined
these two topics, using the title “Religion and Neurology” for the first of his
twenty Edinburgh lectures.
2
Since then, knowledge has exploded within the
neurosciences.
Neuroscientists have received most of the Nobel prizes in the fields of medi-
cine and physiology during the past quarter-century. Even the United States Con-
gress, in an inspired moment, voted to call the last ten years of this century “The
Decade of the Brain.”
3
I hope the reader feels at least equally inspired, and ready
to take up the challenge of learning how your own brain functions.
I know this will not be easy, and I ask your forbearance. Our educational
“system” has not yet really prepared us for such a task. And the blizzard of new
research data, piling up each day, also makes it a formidable job for any writer to
condense the information and to make sense of it. I take on two final sets of
responsibilities. The first is to summarize the often-murky topic of Zen in order
to make clear how vital are its interrelationships with the brain. The second is to
express my personal views as one recent witness to Zen experience, while still
preserving all those basic truths long held sacred no less to religion than to sci-
ence. In so doing, it became clear that some chapters required the form of a per-
sonal narrative. Most other chapters could be expressed in the form of essays.
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