Timothy Leary's Model of Consciousness

I would like to discuss some key ideas of Timothy Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness. I will stick to some of the broader concepts, and not define the 8 circuits, to avoid over-simplification and maintain relative brevity. Now, keep in mind Leary was a legitimate psychologist. He taught psychology at Harvard. Leary says that everything that is human can be reduced to three levels of operation really, two more practically. The perhaps not entirely practical one right now, although theoretically practical one day, is the individual's genetic template. The next level, is imprinting.

Basically, Leary says that at key points in our life, a new brain-circuit becomes activated, which defines a new type of meaning which the individual gives to himself and his reality. These are the 8 circuits, each having three primary modes which are sort of sub-circuits. One being the passive-receptive aspect, another the organization and integration aspect, the other the communicative-transmissive aspect. Now when each new circuit becomes active, it is hyper-sensitive to forming new meaning in relation to itself. At this point, an imprint occurs. This essentially means that your brain takes a 'picture' of itself at that moment, and its internal and external perceptions in relation to the new type of meaning will come to define that individual in terms of that aspect. It defines all relevant variables, and the range of potential feelings in relation to them. After the imprint, it becomes supported and complexified through specifics and conditioning.

Also note something. Although it is the
8-circuit model of consciousness, he says that for the majority of the human population, only 4 circuits are active. The higher circuits are future evolutions. Now, this system also helps elucidate an important distinction in terms of how we need to view drugs. Because, cannabis helps open up the fifth circuit. With psychedelics, you open up higher circuits yet. These higher four circuits are humanity's inevitable destiny. Thus the use of these substances contributes to expanding consciousness, in an essentially evolutionary way. One aspect of these higher circuits, particularly the ones beyond the fifth, is that you are literally going into deeper processes which occur in your mind. Part of this is the self-organization of the brain and the value and meaning it gives virtually everything. This is why psychedelics have such potential for change. Basically, your brain re-enters a similar state of hyper-sensitivity when on psychedelics. Thus there is potential to re-imprint. So you can consciously re-imprint virtually any aspect of who you are. There is extremely high levels of plasticity.

Theoretically, you could make anyone anything, or anyone could do this to themselves. This is why he, along with others, were so incredibly successful when these substances were legally being used for psycho-therapy. And why Leary produced such unbelievable results, in individual bases as well as in proper studies. In one such study, he turned what was around an 80% return rate to prison, to a 20% rate of return. He laid this theoretical framework, and he understood how it could be utilized. And he, along with others, was proving it. And having incredible results. And then the government made these things illegal! Do not deceive yourself into thinking, with these particular substances, the government has made them illegal for our own good. They did that to maintain their status quo of control, and not allow these things which allow true freedom for the minds of individuals.

Just about to sign off when I saw this, a great topic and one that Leary and Robert Anton Wilson wrote a great deal of information and data on. Thanks for posting and opening this discussion.

a reply to: Aleister
I have had the honor and the pleasure of meeting Mr. Wilson.
A truly great mind and human being in my humble opinion.

originally posted by: TheJourney
Do not deceive yourself into thinking, with these particular substances, the government has made them illegal for our own good. They did that to maintain their status quo of control, and not allow these things which allow true freedom for the minds of individuals.

Exactly!!!

a reply to: TheJourney

For Your Pleasure

And there is the thought that opening the higher circuits can leave one a little too neurologically opened in comparison with one's surrounding community...

RIP Leary and Wilson... and other men ahead of their time who were metaphorically (and literally) burned at the stake.

a reply to: Baddogma
Bob knew he was labeled a witch.
He wore it as a badge of honor.

a reply to: Baddogma
Bob knew he was labeled a witch.
He wore it as a badge of honor.

originally posted by: Baddogma
And there is the thought that opening the higher circuits can leave one a little too neurologically opened in comparison with one's surrounding community...

RIP Leary and Wilson... and other men ahead of their time who were metaphorically (and literally) burned at the stake.

I have been thinking the same thing lately. I'm no stranger to hallucinogenics, and last year tried '___' for the first time. I'm not even going to try to describe that experience, but let's just say that if MJ gets you to the 5th circuit, this had to have been the 8th...

Anyhow, my experience with the surrounding community is much like you describe. I see too much. It's almost like being able to read people's minds, but not literally. I feel what they feel and their intentions, and it's impossible to lie to me anymore. That has both advantages and disadvantages. The main problem with it is that people can't imagine that kind of ability, and they continue their game, even if you hit the nail on the head "reading" them. That makes social situations a bit draining at times. When I am with a close friend or alone, there are only advantages.

It would be nice if everyone triggered their higher circuits.

soulwaxer

You know, I was just remarking on how fundamentally different my perceived reality is from just a couple years ago. New focus, new goals, new life, new child.

a reply to: TheJourney

Great post OP, a most interesting topic. Sn'F

Is humanity masochistic in that we place those people into positions of power who wish us to remain controllable and enslaved to their mindset.
A free mind is what many fear most. IMHO mankind's potential hasn't even been scratched yet.

Really hoping this thread takes off, looking forward to the discussion.

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: TheJourney
For Your Pleasure

That was a flashback! Thanks for the link. That song always had a mixed message for me. On the one hand, it praised Leary as still being alive after physically dying ("on the outside looking in"), but also spoke to the inherent limitations of using drugs for mystical experiences with these lyrics:

"He'll fly his astral plane - Takes you trips around the bay - Brings you back the same day"

It came out in 1968 when people were becoming more disillusioned with the promise of some kind of permanent happiness or realization with such psychedelics. Such experiences were temporary at best and many people got more and more addicted to their pleasurable aspects and moved on to even harder substances. I lived in San Francisco from 1966 until late 1967 and that time was a real change in my youthful perspective.

When I returned a year later to San Francisco, I thought it would be interesting to go to the famous intersection of Haight and Ashbury to see what was happening - and right when I got there, a man was walking across the street and was shot dead in the crosswalk a few feet from me, by someone in a passing car! I took this as a sign that this era of peace and love was over here!

Okay, I'm back from my flashback... I agree with the op that such substances (when used in a controlled manner with a trained guide) can have a positive effect for some people who suffer from various limitations. They can catalyze higher, even mystical, mind-expanding experiences, and this may give one a more positive orientation to life, spirituality, nature, others, the world, a sense of unity, etc. They can also catalyze very negative experiences in dark bardos, etc., and this is why casual use of them should be avoided (not to mention their illegality in most places).

But even if the experiences are extremely blissful and mind-expanding, they are always temporary, and never actually result in the permanent transcendence of the sense of separate self, which is the ultimate goal of mysticism and other transcendental traditions. Those lyrics in that Moody Blues song were speaking to this point, in my view.

No experience (mystical or otherwise), whether drug-induced or through spiritual practice, actually results in God-realization because experiences do not transcend the root of attention. There may be glimpses beyond this root, into cosmic unity, etc., but never are such glimpses permanent.

Such substances only work, at best, within the framework of the subtle dimensions of brain-mind and the subtle planes. They do not deal directly with the root of attention in the most subtle (causal) sheath (to use Eastern spiritual references). But, as mentioned in the op, they may be useful for self-improvement - however, they can also be damaging to the psyche.

So it was an interesting time, but I moved on as its limitations became obvious - I could not "take heaven by storm" through any such searches and substances, and it was very clear that no one else was either by using such substances.

Real spiritual practice, disciplining the body-mind, etc., including down-to-earth recognition of my actual situation here in being associated with a body-mind in relationship to the environment and others, became obvious as the necessary preparation and foundation for any real transcending of body (gross plane), mind (subtle plane), and attention (causal plane) in Reality Itself, beyond any experiences.

Thanks for the thread!

Contact with spirit is essential to the human condition. Duality exists in everything. The yin-yang symbol is a perfect example. Most of us live on the light side of the wheel. Its the other dark side that reveals the inner light. Shamans are the most powerful beings on Earth. They can traverse the Universe/time without physically leaving the planet.

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
You know, I was just remarking on how fundamentally different my perceived reality is from just a couple years ago. New focus, new goals, new life, new child.

I can say the same thing. I think most people feel
some kind of shift as they approach 40. Something
happens then... maybe it is the 4th circuit. In my
case MJ got me to the 5th circuit after 40, so it
was like experience two or three paradigm shifts
one right after the other.

That is the best way I can describe it.

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
You know, I was just remarking on how fundamentally different my perceived reality is from just a couple years ago. New focus, new goals, new life, new child.

Yes, but aren't those all experiences (perceptions) of one kind or another occurring in consciousness? In other words, your "new focus, new goals, new life, new child (congrats!)" are all new content, but does your actual sense of your fundamental awareness change?

Does awareness age? Remember a very vivid memory. When I do this, and recall how I felt in terms of being simply aware (not how the body-mind felt in terms of the content at the time), and compare that to my sense of awareness presently (not perception, just that feeling of self-awareness) - they are exactly the same.

My perceptions, memory, etc., certainly change, but my fundamental feeling of self-awareness does not. It never feels older than it ever did. It is ageless.

This does not mean the brain-mind cannot evolve into higher forms of observation and perception, but the fundamental feeling of self-awareness never changes regardless of experience.

This can certainly indicate something profound about who we are and what Reality is.

originally posted by: bb23108

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: TheJourney
For Your Pleasure

I agree with the op that such substances (when used in a controlled manner with a trained guide) can have a positive effect for some people who suffer from various limitations.

Couple things. I think it is important, when the reality of these things becomes more widely recognized, that we do not make this something which is tightly controlled by psychologists. Yes, psychologists could increase their success massively through the use of these things, for improving problems with their patients. However, there is much more to it than that. The term neuro-plasticity has been being thrown around recently. Well, if you want to REALLY experience neuro-plasticity, in an extremely rapid manner, look no further. You can make yourself anyone. Ideally, people who were interested could learn this information for themselves, and have the potential for true self-empowerment. As leary liked to say, "you can be anyone, this time." And the potential for reliable induction of mystical experiences is certainly nothing to scoff at. Substances aside, mystical experience could be seen as some of the most important and significant possible experiences a human can have. That there are substances which have the potential to reliably induce them is certainly not nothing.

An imprint of something you have never seen or felt before will do wonders for your growth. While it may be temporary, it's just supposed to leave an imprint.

Lame Example: if you play guitar hero, the only way to get better is to try and play the harder songs, even though you will fail. The point is just to get an idea of what the harder song is really like so you can try again and again and slowly get better.

I think you could attain some pretty mystical states of openness that while they may not literally stay will you, the experience can bring you closer to achieving that on your own. :a reply to: bb23108

originally posted by: TheJourney
And the potential for reliable induction of mystical experiences is certainly nothing to scoff at. Substances aside, mystical experience could be seen as some of the most important and significant possible experiences a human can have. That there are substances which have the potential to reliably induce them is certainly not nothing.

Oh, I am not scoffing at any of this, nor saying they are nothing. As I said in my post such experiences "may give one a more positive orientation to life, spirituality, nature, others, the world, a sense of unity, etc."

I was just saying that use of substances to stimulate a mystical experience is still just a temporary experience, no matter how wonderful, and which may have lasting effects on the psyche - but is not the actual truth of Reality because such experiences do not transcend the root of egoity, which is attention.

Put another way, how can a conditional substance ever stimulate realization of unconditional Reality?

Anyway, I think my view was worth mentioning given the subject your are bringing to us.

originally posted by: Boomy327
I think you could attain some pretty mystical states of openness that while they may not literally stay will you, the experience can bring you closer to achieving that on your own.

Yes, it is possible, and I did just write something about this to TheJourney. Why do you want to achieve mystical experiences on your own? Such experiences tend to serve the search to escape the body and life, but Reality or Truth is as present here as anywhere. If we are truly wanting the Truth, we don't have to seek elsewhere, nor do we need to develop higher dimensions of the brain to discover Truth.

Our fundamental Awareness is the Truth and you always are that - find out what that is altogether. Then if such mystical experiences occur without egoically seeking them (and they very likely will) that is fine because you have a real foundation as your fundamental Being (Awareness) which is ultimately Reality Itself.

You can do this with spiritual disciplines that serve the whole body-mind - not just some mystical experience of the subtle dimension of the brain-mind. How does the latter search actually help you to fully feel into life and participate with all your feeling attention in surrender to the truth of our Reality? These are things to fully consider, in my view.

If you are wanting to simply experiment to discover something fascinating, that is another matter, though obviously it can have real consequences relative to the psyche, and is therefore seldom recommended in most spiritual traditions.

Regardless, it does not directly realize Truth because Truth is unconditional, whereas these searches are all about manipulating conditional objects of brain-mind and attention. They do not go beyond attention, "where" unqualified Reality (Consciousness-Light-Energy-Love) IS.

Just some food for thought, given the subject matter.

originally posted by: bb23108

originally posted by: TheJourney
And the potential for reliable induction of mystical experiences is certainly nothing to scoff at. Substances aside, mystical experience could be seen as some of the most important and significant possible experiences a human can have. That there are substances which have the potential to reliably induce them is certainly not nothing.

Oh, I am not scoffing at any of this, nor saying they are nothing. As I said in my post such experiences "may give one a more positive orientation to life, spirituality, nature, others, the world, a sense of unity, etc."

I was just saying that use of substances to stimulate a mystical experience is still just a temporary experience, no matter how wonderful, and which may have lasting effects on the psyche - but is not the actual truth of Reality because such experiences do not transcend the root of egoity, which is attention.

Put another way, how can a conditional substance ever stimulate realization of unconditional Reality?

Anyway, I think my view was worth mentioning given the subject your are bringing to us.





Yes, you do have some legitimate points. I do think this is an incredibly powerful and potentially incredibly useful tool. It shocks me that it is illegal. It even more shocks me that they were made illegal amidst study after study showing their incredible potential. Shows their real intentions. And thy were just scratching the tip of the iceberg, imo.