10 Questions About the Pineal Gland That Add to the Mystery of Spirituality

This small, intriguing piece of the human brain is the source of endless discussion. Many people believe that by cleansing, detoxifying or decalcifying the pineal gland, we can better achieve spiritual awareness, and experience it with greater depth and clarity.

Skeptics who disregard the possibility of higher spiritual realms being related to the pineal gland are quick to point out that there is no scientific evidence which has proven that the pineal gland is in fact the organ responsible for spiritual experience.


themindunleashed.org...

As the debate between science and spirituality carries on, the pineal gland sits at the center of the brain enticing both spiritual adepts and naysayers alike to take a closer look into the mysteries that make human beings spiritual creatures capable having psychological experiences that evade validation by modern scientific research methods and modes of thought.

Here are 10 questions about the pineal gland that add to the mystery of spirituality:

1. Is the pineal gland the evolutionary remnant of a literal third mammalian eye that moved into the center of the brain and changed functions from gathering light to entraining rhythms in accordance with information gathered by the retina?

2. Why do the visionary states of consciousness induced by psychedelics and meditative practices seem to be centered around the very part of the brain where the pineal gland sits?

3. If there is no connection between spirituality and the pineal gland, how is it that the 6th chakra (Ajna chakra), according to ancient Hindu tradition, is located precisely where the pineal gland sits, and has for centuries been associated with the ‘mind’s eye,’ the eye of intellect and intuition?

4. Is there a connection between the spiritual promise of the pineal gland, which is shaped like a pine cone, and the Pigna, the colossal bronze pine cone statue of ancient Rome which now sits in a courtyard in the Vatican?

5. Does the pineal gland produce the body’s natural supply of '___', dimethyltriptamine, a chemical compound that produces incredible visionary effects when consumed in concentrated form or in the Amazonian medicine Ayahuasca?

6. Does the pineal gland release massive doses of '___' when a person dies, or when a person nearly dies, which causes the mind to have near-death experiences, or causes the soul to return to source?

7. What is the significance of the fact that the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Eye of Horus, strongly resembles the anatomy of the middle section of the brain and upper cortex, centering on the thalamus and the pineal gland?

8. Why is the pineal gland the only organ in the human body that calcifies and solidifies with age?

9. If the pineal gland has little effect on consciousness, why is it that people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, diseases which cause them to be severely psychologically disconnected from the ‘real world,’ have pineal glands that are much more calcified than those of ordinary people?

10. Why is it that following the methods of pineal gland decalcification and cleansing often bring genuine results to people who are seeking heightened spiritual experience, and why do these practices often result in people being able to more easily remember dreams and lead them to feel more connected to ‘source?’

Please comment on any of the questions with your thoughts.

a reply to: sled735

Those seem to be what are usually referred to as "leading questions."
In other words, questions based on assumptions.

a reply to: Phage

Well its the philosophy and metaphysics forum and leading questions based on assumptions are not a problem.

a reply to: DietJoke
True.
But comments were requested.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: sled735

Those seem to be what are usually referred to as "leading questions."
In other words, questions based on assumptions.

Do you have any answers to offer, Phage?

a reply to: sled735
No point in responding to leading questions based on assumptions. They aren't actually questions, they are claims.

a reply to: Phage

So, by your statement, you 'assume' none of them are true assumptions?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: sled735
No point in responding to leading questions based on assumptions. They aren't actually questions, they are claims.

Than all you are doing is trolling.....

The pineal gland is a tiny organ in the center of the brain that played an important role in Descartes' philosophy. He regarded it as the principal seat of the soul and the place in which all our thoughts are formed. In this entry, we discuss Descartes' views concerning the pineal gland. We also put them into a historical context by describing the main theories about the functions of the pineal gland that were proposed before and after his time.

1. Pre-Cartesian Views on the Pineal Gland
The pineal gland or pineal body is a small gland in the middle of the head. It often contains calcifications (“brain sand”) which make it an easily identifiable point of reference in X-ray images of the brain. The pineal gland is attached to the outside of the substance of the brain near the entrance of the canal (“aqueduct of Sylvius”) from the third to the fourth ventricle of the brain (Figure 1). It is nowadays known that the pineal gland is an endocrine organ, which produces the hormone melatonin in amounts which vary with the time of day. But this is a relatively recent discovery. Long before it was made, physicians and philosophers were already busily speculating about its functions.

plato.stanford.edu...

Descartes' criterion for determining whether a function belongs to the body or soul was as follows: “anything we experience as being in us, and which we see can also exist in wholly inanimate bodies, must be attributed only to our body. On the other hand, anything in us which we cannot conceive in any way as capable of belonging to a body must be attributed to our soul. Thus, because we have no conception of the body as thinking in any way at all, we have reason to believe that every kind of thought present in us belongs to the soul. And since we do not doubt that there are inanimate bodies which can move in as many different ways as our bodies, if not more, and which have as much heat or more […], we must believe that all the heat and all the movements present in us, in so far as they do not depend on thought, belong solely to the body” (AT XI:329, CSM I:329).

a reply to: Rosinitiate

Thank you, Rosinitiate. Great info, and I need to bookmark that link!

a reply to: sled735

Nice thread. If phage can't measure it or see it it does not exist for him. I don't think he has ever had a spiritual moment in his existence. Bloody handy guy to have at a science debate though.

The problem with measuring things is the assumptions made by science when taking the measurements.

Take for example a simple memory experiment.

The subject is asked to remember their childhood. The machines register brain activity in a certain location and science concludes that that is where long term memories are stored. All good, one for the science guys .... hay, go science.

Then some bright spark says .... well wait a minute, what if that area of the brain is the communication system, for long term memory, between the spirit / soul and the brain. What is lighting up is simply the communication array and the memories are held by the spirit / soul.

It is at this stage that the science guys have a melt down and need chocolate bars to recover. The Spiritualist guy gets sent to purgatory for making voicing such silly ideas .... yet the truth is that either may be correct.

Science has a long way to go. It always has.

P

a reply to: pheonix358
Well, I think Phage had his melt down. Now he is off to hunt those chocolate bars. LOL

Great analogy of how it all works!

originally posted by: sled735
a reply to: pheonix358
Well, I think Phage had his melt down. Now he is off to hunt those chocolate bars. LOL

Great analogy of how it all works!

*ETA - quoted wrong post in reply..

In a response to a question Descartes received about his book: Dioptrics (1637), specifically regarding the pineal gland as the seat of the soul, he clarifies by stating this:

“My view is that this gland is the principal seat of the soul, and the place in which all our thoughts are formed. The reason I believe this is that I cannot find any part of the brain, except this, which is not double. Since we see only one thing with two eyes, and hear only one voice with two ears, and in short have never more than one thought at a time, it must necessarily be the case that the impressions which enter by the two eyes or by the two ears, and so on, unite with each other in some part of the body before being considered by the soul. Now it is impossible to find any such place in the whole head except this gland."

I suppose what makes it a hard pill to swallow is his thoughts on animals spirits flowing through the blood and tried to avoid referencing any type of little man inside the brain interpreting what it is you see. The above post quote however, is most thought provoking and follows pretty sound logic.

a reply to: sled735

How is '___', Dimethyltriptamine it is produced in our brains!

And yet an illegal drug...

If its not to do with working, paying taxes and doing all the material things its not liked is it.

Can't fill anyones bank accout with spirituality can we.

This is sad and more study should be had with the pineal gland and the chemicals our bodies produce that can connect us to something more spiritual

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: sled735

Those seem to be what are usually referred to as "leading questions."
In other words, questions based on assumptions.

I didn't view them as leading questions, I viewed them as descriptions of possibilities. I think they are not meant to be definitively answered, but explored.

I do agree that if you go through it like a check list, then say "Oh look, they are all yesses!" that could be a problem.

a reply to: sled735

I have been taking a vitamin mixture of K2 and D3 for about a year now and I think that it has helped my creativity a bit, the point of the mixture is that it is supposed to help decalcify the pineal gland. What I notice (that isn't verified or anything) is that it helps me be able to learn new things faster at an older age.

The pineal gland usually calcifies around age 19. Nuerologically, our brains are still able to adapt at an old age in ways thought impossible in previous decades - but there is evidence that, for example, the internet rewires the minds of many, even older folk.

However, it is generally thought that around 26, the youthful nature of an individual is replaced by someone who simply isn't able to access creative juices.

What are creative juices? I can describe them to you - I do this every day, I visualize (using pictures) possibilities and analyze future outcomes to plan and make choices. When I record music, I see a tapestry of sound in my mind that I literally weave with different instruments and vocals.

When I play Magic with a 60 card deck, against an opponent with a 60 card deck, I picture in my mind the entire composition of each deck and the probabilities of certain cards being drawn and used.

Some people might do a chord progression or read sheet music when they play music, but I close my eyes and sense where I want things to go and follow pictorial patterns in my mind -

I like string instruments due to their intuitive nature - I understand the mathematics behind pressing the strings in certain places to get certain sounds, therefore I am able to play them intuitively without sheet music or such.

I see a lot of pictorial operating systems as having a lot of room for intuition in them, and the internet, and the like. You can create whatever you wish using a computer and an internet connection, but the question is, can you wish it?

That question is the one that we suspect the pineal gland can answer. Do you only use what is in front of you? Or can you wish for more and figure out how to get it?

Many get angry when you suggest they try something new, that is because they are very stuck in their ways - according to this theory, their pineal glands are all mucked up.

I try new things every day and solve problems in ways that are considered "not meta" all the time, it works fine, there are no boogey men hiding behind creative ideas.

a reply to: sled735

I guess it's been called the third eye for thousand of years because of the following:

"What’s fascinating is that the interior of the pineal gland actually has retinal tissue composed of rods and cones (photoreceptors) inside its interior lining just like the eye, and is even wired into the visual cortex in the brain. The photoreceptors of the retina strongly resemble the cells of the pineal gland”. Dr. David Klein, Science Daily.

Also:
“The retina and the pineal gland are the organs primarily responsible for the body’s recognition and sophisticated processing of external light. Until recently these two organs in mammals seemed to have little else in common and were consequently studied by separate groups of scientists. But a new alliance of researchers is now exploring striking similarities that are speeding research efforts in both fields. Their findings suggest that the pineal gland was the evolutionary precursor to the modern eye. While it turned out that the retinal rhythm is independent of the pineal gland, once the groups of scientists began working together they discovered surprising similarities between the two organs, including the presence of photoreceptors.” (Science daily 1985, available from: www.highbeam.com...).

^^ This is not proof that the pineal gland is a spiritual eye seeing into other dimensions, but perhaps it is proof that it has the biological potential to be an actual eye. And it's only been confirmed by science recently......who knows, maybe in a few years or decades they will discover a function we are unaware of?

originally posted by: GallopingFish

Can't fill anyones bank accout with spirituality can we.

That's why I avoid money, I actually have the idea that the less money something is worth, the more valuable it is to me. I do a lot of shopping at thrift stores, garage sales and the like.

This statement can also be seen as "Money can't fulfill one's spiritual needs." So take advantage of that.

originally posted by: darkbake
a reply to: sled735


What are creative juices? I can describe them to you - I do this every day, I visualize (using pictures) possibilities and analyze future outcomes to plan and make choices. When I record music, I see a tapestry of sound in my mind that I literally weave with different instruments and vocals.

Some people when they play music might do a chord progression or read sheet music, but I close my eyes and sense where I want things to go and follow pictorial patterns in my mind -

I like string instruments due to their intuitive nature - I understand the mathematics behind pressing the strings in certain places to get certain sounds, therefore I am able to play them intuitively without sheet music or such.

Sometime it really makes me wonder if playing the guitar makes me creative or because I am creative I play the guitar. I too shut my eyes through 90% of any song I play unless I have slide to a bar chord or something.

Similarly to as you describe, as I was saying to a friend last night I have begun seeing everything in waves. To patterns of highs and lows in life (whether work or personal) to the stock market, to nature and so one. I was also marveling the night before last during a full moon why I was feeling so detached, not in a negative way mind you.....just in a reclusive way, while my friend who is female, was feeling "cuddly". Of course those thoughts brought me to the Mayan and how there calendar of 13 months of 28 days were spot on with the phases of the moon as well as the woman's menstrual cycle. And since I am male the opposite of female logic would only dictate opposite effects.

Now if only we were to correlate that unique understanding with our daily lives by simply understanding that there are other influences (likely received via our pineal ...shh) that we don't necessarily acknowledge which is so detrimental on our lives. Just like with money and finances, one should never be ignorant to the basic principles of certain topics. They can change your life!

I actually don't buy into much of it.
Hardly any of it's true, and in fact much of it's outright false.
Phage is mostly right.

Yall attack him like he doesn't know anything about Spirit when he probably knows more than most. I am afraid this is a highly corrupt belief system being pushed here, and it's highly deceptive.

I could rant all day about it but why bother?
If you don't agree entirely with the flawed premise it won't be accepted, as usual with these topics.

a reply to: GallopingFish

It does make you question if there is a REAL reason for its illegality. Something only known by those who hold the purse strings of power.