Levels of Consciousness (Leary's model and possibly others)

[bewilderment]

Although I have been aware of Timothy Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness for sometime, I have recently been doing more reading into it. I currently have no opinion as far as the scientific validity of this particular model (although feel free to express opinions at will). I am most interested in this map of consciousness because it lists specific drugs which are likely to bring people under the influence to higher/lower levels of consciousness. Here is an explanation of Leary's model:

To understand neurological space, Dr. Leary assumes that the nervous system consists of eight potential circuits, or "gears," or mini-brains. Four of these brains are in the usually active left lobe and are concerned with our terrestrial survival; four are extraterrestrial, reside in the "silent" or inactive right lobe, and are for use in our future evolution. This explains why the right lobe is usually inactive at this stage of our development, and why it becomes active when the person ingests psychedelics.

We will explain each of the eight "brains" briefly.

I. THE BIO-SURVIVAL CIRCUIT
This invertebrate brain was the first to evolve (2 to 3 billion years ago) and is the first activated when a human infant is born. It programs perception onto an either-or grid divided into nurturing-helpful Things (which it approaches) and noxious-dangerous Things (which it flees, or attacks). The imprinting of this circuit sets up the basic attitude of trust or suspicion which will ever after trigger approach or avoidance.

II. THE EMOTIONAL CIRCUIT
This second, more advanced bio-computer formed when vertebrates appeared and began to compete for territory (perhaps 500,000,000 B.C.). In the individual, this bigger tunnel-reality is activated when the DNA master-tape triggers the metamorphosis from crawling to walking. As every parent knows, the toddler is no longer a passive (bio-survival) infant but a mammalian politician, full of physical (and psychic) territorial demands, quick to meddle in family business and decision-making. Again the first imprint on this circuit remains constant for life (unless brainwashed) and identifies the stimuli which will automatically trigger dominant, aggressive behavior or submissive, cooperative behavior. When we say that a person is behaving emotionally, egotistically or 'like a two-year-old,' we mean that s/he is blindly following one of the tunnel-realities imprinted on this circuit.

III. THE DEXTERITY-SYMBOLISM CIRCUIT
This third brain was formed when hominid types began to differentiate from other primate stock (circa 4-5 million B.C.) and is activated for the linear left-lobe functions of the brain, determines our normal modes of artifact-manufacture and conceptual thought, i.e., third circuit 'mind.'

It is no accident, then, that our logic (and our computer-design) follows either-or, binary structure of these circuits. Nor is it an accident that our geometry, until the last century, has been Euclidean. Euclid's geometry, Aristotle's logic and Newton's physics are meta-programs synthesizing and generalizing first brain forward-back, second brain up-down and third brain right-left programs.

IV. THE SOCIAL-SEXUAL CIRCUIT
The fourth brain, dealing with the transmission of tribal or ethnic culture across generations, introduces the fourth dimension, time.

Since each of these tunnel-realities consists of biochemical imprints or matrices in the nervous system, each of them is specifically triggered by neuro-transmitters and other drugs.

To activate the first brain take an opiate. Mother Opium and Sister Morphine bring you down to cellular intelligence, bio-survival passivity, the floating consciousness of the newborn. (This is why Freudians identify opiate addiction with the desire to return to infancy.)

To activate the second tunnel-reality, take an abundant quantity of alcohol. Vertebrate territorial patterns and mammalian emotional politics immediately appear when the booze flows, as Thomas Nashe intuitively realized when he characterized the various alcohol states by animal labels: "ass drunk," "goat drunk," "swine drunk," "bear drunk," etc.

To activate the third circuit, try coffee or tea, a high-protein diet, speed or cocaine.

The specific neurotransmitter for circuit four has not been synthesized yet, but it is generated by the glands after pubescence and flows volcanically through the bloodstreams of adolescents.

(I think MDMA is in part a 4th-circuit activator that promotoes social cohesion - Paul)

NONE OF THESE TERRESTRIAL DRUGS CHANGE BASIC BIOCHEMICAL IMPRINTS. The behaviors which they trigger are those which were wired into the nervous system during the first stages of imprint vulnerability. The circuit II drunk exhibits the emotional games or cons learned from parents in infancy. The circuit III "mind" never gets beyond the permutations and combinations of those tunnel-realities originally imprinted, or abstractions associated with the imprints through later conditioning. And so forth.

But all this Pavlovian-Skinnerian robotism changes drastically and dramatically when we turn to the right lobe, the future circuits and extraterrestrial chemicals.

The four evolving future 'brains' are:

V. THE NEUROSOMATIC CIRCUIT
When this fifth "body-brain" is activated, flat Euclidean figure-ground configurations explode multi-dimensionally. Gestalts shift, in McLuhan's terms, from linear VISUAL SPACE to all-encompassing SENSORY SPACE. A hedonic turn-on occurs, a rapturous amusement, a detachment from the previously compulsive mechanism of the first four circuits. I turned this circuit on with pot and Tantra.

This fifth brain began to appear about 4,000 years ago in the first leisure-class civilizations and has been increasing statistically in recent centuries (even before the Drug Revolution), a fact demonstrated by the hedonic art of India, China, Rome and other affluent societies. More recently, Ornstein and his school have demonstrated with electroencephalograms that this circuit represents the first jump from the linear left lobe of the brain to the analogical right lobe.

The opening and imprinting of this circuit has been the preoccupation of "technicians of the occult"--Tantric shamans and hatha yogis. While the fifth tunnel-reality can be achieved by sensory deprivation, social isolation, physiological stress or severe shock (ceremonial terror tactics, as practiced by such rascal-gurus as Don Juan Matus or Aleister Crowley), it has traditionally been reserved to the educated aristocracy of leisure societies who have solved the four terrestrial survival problems.

About 20,000 years ago, the specific fifth brain neurotransmitter was discovered by shamans in the Caspian Sea area of Asia and quickly spread to other wizards throughout Eurasia and Africa. It is, of course, cannabis. Weed. Mother Mary Jane.

It is no accident that the pot-head generally refers to his neural state as "high" or "spaced-out." The transcendence of gravitational, digital, linear, either-or, Aristotelian, Newtonian, Euclidean, planetary orientations (circuits I-IV) is, in evolutionary perspective, part of our neurological preparation for the inevitable migration off our home planet, now beginning. This is why so many pot-heads are STAR TREK freaks and science fiction adepts. (Berkeley, California, certainly the Cannabis Capital of the U.S., has a Federation Trading Post on Telegraph Avenue, where the well-heeled can easily spend $500 or more in a single day, buying STAR TREK novels, magazines, newsletters, bumper stickers, photographs, posters, tapes, etc., including even complete blueprints for the starship ENTERPRISE.)

The extraterrestrial meaning of being "high" is confirmed by astronauts themselves; 85% of those who have entered the free-fall zero gravity describe "mystic experiences" or rapture states typical of the neurosomatic circuit. "No photo can show how beautiful Earth looked," raves Captain Ed Mitchell, describing his Illumination in free-fall. He sounds like any successful yogi or pot-head. No camera can show this experience because it is inside the nervous system.

FREE-FALL, AT THE PROPER EVOLUTIONARY TIME, TRIGGERS THE NEUROSOMATIC MUTATION, Leary believes. Previously this mutation has been achieved "artificially" by yogic or shamanic training or by the fifth circuit stimulant, cannabis. Surfing, skiing, skin-diving and the new sexual culture (sensuous massage, vibrators, imported Tantric arts, etc.) have evolved at the same time as part of the hedonic conquest of gravity. The Turn-On state is always described as "floating," or, in the Zen metaphor, "one foot above the ground."

VI. THE NEUROELECTRIC CIRCUIT
The sixth brain consists of the nervous system becoming aware of itself apart from imprinted gravitational reality-maps (circuits I-IV) and even apart from body-rapture (circuit V). Count Korzybski, the semanticist, called this state "consciousness of abstracting." Dr. John Lilly calls it "metaprogramming," i.e., awareness of programming one's programming. This Einsteinian, relativistic contelligence (consciousness-intelligence) recognizes, for instance, that the Euclidean, Newtonian and Aristotelian reality-maps are just three among billions of possible programs or models for experience. I turned this circuit on with Peyote, LSD and Crowley's "magick" metaprograms.

This level of brain-functioning seems to have been reported first around 500 B.C. among various "occult" groups connected by the Silk Route (Rome-North India). It is so far beyond the terrestrial tunnel-realities that those who have achieved it can barely communicate about it to ordinary humanity (circuits I-IV) and can hardly be understood even by fifth circuit Rapture Engineers.

The characteristics of the neuroelectric circuit are high velocity, multiple choice, relativity, and the fission-fusion of all perceptions into parallel science-fiction universes of alternate possibilities.

The mammalian politics which monitor power struggles among terrestrial humanity are here transcended, i.e., seen as static, artificial, an elaborate charade. One is neither coercively manipulated into another's territorial reality nor forced to struggle against it with reciprocal emotional game-playing (the usual soap-opera dramatics). One simply elects, consciously, whether or not to share the other's reality-model.

Tactics for opening and imprinting the sixth circuit are described and rarely experienced in advanced rajah yoga, and in the hermetic (coded) manuals of the medieval-Renaissance alchemists and Illuminati.

No specific sixth circuit chemical is yet available, but strong psychedelics like mescaline (from my 1962-63 "sacred cactus," peyotl) and psilocybin (from the Mexican "magic mushroom," teonactl) open the nervous system to a mixed-media series of circuit V and circuit VI channels. This is appropriately called "tripping," as distinguished from straight-forward fifth circuit "turning on" or "getting high."

The suppression of scientific research in this area has had the unfortunate result of turning the outlaw drug culture back toward fifth circuit hedonics and pre-scientific tunnel-realities (the occult revival, solipsism, Pop Orientalism). Without scientific discipline and methodology, few can successfully decode the often-frightening (but philosophically crucial) sixth circuit metaprogramming signals. Such scientists as do continue to study this subject dare not publish their results (which are illegal) and record ever-wider tunnel-realities only in private conversations--like the scholars of the Inquisitorial era. (Voltaire announced the Age of Reason two centuries too soon. We are still in the Dark Ages.) Most underground alchemists have given up on such challenging and risky self-work and restrict their trips to fifth circuit erotic tunnels.

The evolutionary function of the sixth circuit is to enable us to communicate at Einsteinian relativities and neuro-electric accelerations, not using third circuit laryngeal-manual symbols but directly via feedback, telepathy and computer link-up. Neuro-electric signals will increasingly replace "speech" (hominid grunts) after space migration.

When humans have climbed out of the atmosphere-gravity well of planetary life, accelerated sixth circuit contelligence will make possible high-energy communication with "Higher Intelligences," i.e., ourselves-in-the-future and other post-terrestrial races.

It is charmingly simple and obvious, once we realize that the spaced-out neural experiences really are extraterrestrial, that getting high and spacing out are accurate metaphors. Circuit V neurosomatic rapture is preparation for the next step in our evolution, migration off the planet. Circuit VI is preparation for the step after that, interspecies communication with advanced entities possessing electronic (post-verbal) tunnel-realities.

Circuit VI is the "universal translator" often imagined by science-fiction writers, already built into our brains by the DNA tape. Just as the circuits of the future butterfly are already built into the caterpillar.

VII. THE NEUROGENETIC CIRCUIT
The seventh brain kicks into action when the nervous system begins to receive signals from WITHIN THE INDIVIDUAL NEURON, from the DNA-RNA dialogue. The first to achieve this mutation spoke of "memories of past lives," "reincarnation," "immortality," etc. That these adepts were recording something real is indicated by the fact that many of them (especially Hindu and Sufis) gave marvelously accurately poetic vistas of evolution 1,000 or 2,000 years before Darwin, and foresaw Superhumanity before Nietzsche.
The "akashic records" of Theosophy, the "collective unconscious" of Jung, the "phylogenetic unconscious" of Grof and Ring, are three modern metaphors for this circuit. The visions of past and future evolution described by those who have had "out-of-body" experiences during close-to-death episodes also describes the trans-time circuit VII tunnel-reality.

Specific exercises to trigger circuit VII are not to be found in yogic teaching; it usually happens, if at all, after several years of the kind of advanced rajah yoga that develops circuit VI facility.

The specific circuit VII neurotransmitter is, of course LSD. (Peyote and psilocybin produce some circuit VII experiences also.)

Circuit VII is best considered, in terms of 1977 science, as the genetic archives, activated by anti-histone proteins. The DNA memory coiling back to the dawn of life. A sense of the inevitability of immortality and interspecies symbiosis comes to all circuit VII mutants; we now see that this, also, is an evolutionary forecast, since WE STAND RIGHT NOW ON THE DOOR-STEP OF EXTENDED LONGEVITY LEADING TO IMMORTALITY.

The exact role of the right-lobe circuits and the reason for their activation in the 1960s cultural revolution now becomes clear. As sociologist F.M. Esfandiary writes in UPWINGERS, "Today when we speak of immortality and of going to another world we no longer mean these in a theological or metaphysical sense. People are now traveling to other worlds. People are now striving for immortality. Transcendence is no longer a metaphysical concept. It has become reality."

The evolutionary function of the seventh circuit and its evolutionary, aeon-spanning tunnel-reality is to prepare us for conscious immortality and interspecies symbiosis.

VIII. THE NEURO-ATOMIC CIRCUIT
Hold on to your hats and breathe deeply--this is the farthest-out that human intelligence has yet ventured.
Consciousness probably precedes the biological unit or DNA tape-loop. "Out-of-body experiences," "astral projection," contact with alien (extraterrestrial?) "entities" or with a galactic Overmind, etc., such as I've experienced, have all been reported for thousands of years, not merely by the ignorant, the superstitious, the gullible, but often by the finest minds among us (Socrates, Giordano Bruno, Edison, Buckminster Fuller, etc.). Such experiences are reported daily to parapsychologists and have been experienced by such scientists as Dr. John Lilly and Carlos Castaneda. Dr. Kenneth Ring has attributed these phenomena to what he calls, very appropriately, "the extraterrestrial unconscious."

Dr. Leary suggests that circuit VIII is literally neuro-atomic--infra, supra and meta-physiological--a quantum model of consciousness and/or a conscious model of quantum mechanics by the turned-on physicists discussed previously (Prof. John Archibald Wheeler, Saul-Paul Sirag, Dr. Fritjof Capra, Dr. Jack Sarfatti, etc.) indicates strongly that the "atomic consciousness" first suggested by Leary in "The Seven Tongues of God" (1962) is the explanatory link which will unite parapsychology and paraphysics into the first scientific empirical experimental theology in history.

When the nervous system is turned on to this quantum-level circuit, space-time is obliterated. Einstein's speed-of-light barrier is transcended; in Dr. Sarfatti's metaphor, we escape "electromagnetic chauvinism." The contelligence within the quantum projection booth IS the entire cosmic "brain," just as the micro-miniaturized DNA helix IS the local brain guiding planetary evolution. As Lao-tse said from his own Circuit VIII perspective, "The greatest is within the smallest."

Circuit VIII is triggered by Ketamine, a neuro-chemical researched by Dr. John Lilly, which is also (according to a wide-spread but unconfirmed rumor) given to astronauts to prepare them for space. High doses of LSD also produce some circuit VIII quantum awareness.

This neuro-atomic contelligence is four mutations beyond terrestrial domesticity. (The current ideological struggle is between circuit IV tribal moralists-or-collectivists and circuit V hedonic individualists.) When our need for higher intelligence, richer involvement in the cosmic script, further transcendence, will no longer be satisfied by physical bodies, not even by immortal bodies hopping across space-time at Warp 9, circuit VIII will open a further frontier. New universes and realities. "Beyond theology: the science and art of Godmanship," as Alan Watts once wrote.

It is therefore possible that the mysterious "entities" (angels and extraterrestrials) monotonously reported by circuit VIII visionaries are members or races already evolved to this level. But it is also possible, as Leary and Sarfatti more recently suggest, that They are ourselves-in-the-future.

The left-lobe terrestrial circuits contain the learned lessons of our evolutionary past (and present). The right-lobe extraterrestrial circuits are the evolutionary script for out future.

Thus far, there have been two alternative explanations of why the Drug Revolution happened. The first is presented in a sophisticated way by anthropologist Weston LaBarre, and in an ignorant, moralistic way by most anti-drug propaganda in the schools and mass media. This explanation says, in essence, that millions have turned away from the legal DOWN drugs to illegal HIGH drugs because we are living in troubled times and many are seeking escape into fantasy.

This theory, at its best, only partially explains the ugliest and most publicized aspect of the revolution--the reckless drug abuse characteristic of the immature. It says nothing about the millions of respectable doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc., who have turned away from second circuit intoxication with booze to fifth circuit rapture with weed.

Nor does it account at all for the thoughtful, philosophical sixth circuit investigations of persons of high intelligence and deep sensibility, such as Aldous Huxley, Dr. Stanley Grof, Masters-Houston, Alan W. Watts, Carlos Castaneda, Dr. John Lilly and thousands of scientific and lay researchers on consciousness.

A more plausible theory, devised by psychiatrist Norman Zinberg out of the work of Marshall McLuhan, holds that modern electronic media have so shifted the nervous system's parameters that young people no longer enjoy "linear" drugs like alcohol and find meaning only in "non-linear" weed and psychedelics.

This is an excerpt from this page.

I know the drug community is polarized as far as their opinion of Timothy Leary and/or his ideas and contributions to the drug community. I have mixed opinions as well. However, I am curious as to what opinions people have on this particular theory. I'd like to know how people would modify this model more to their liking. In particular, I'd like to know what drugs you would add or subtract from each level of consciousness. If you would like to use a different map for levels of consciousness (chakras or what have you) then feel free to contribute these theories and also, if you wish to, explain how you (or someone else in theory) can access these levels. I'm just curious as to people's opinions on this site. Any contributions are welcome.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Fascinating
	A really interesting topic to discuss. Thanks for bringing this to DF.

[sterling77]

Yea I would like to hear some of the other member's thoughts on this. Complete BS? I wouldn't know where to start commenting on this, I don't have too much knowledge in this area. Progressive is almost too mild of a word to describe it lol.

[bewilderment]

Also, here's a briefer break-down of the circuits if you don't want to read the entire above article (although this is advised):

The Terrestrial Circuits

1. The Biosurvival Circuit: Imprinted in infancy. Concerned with sucking, nourishment, cuddling, biosecurity. (Physical Intelligence)

2. The Emotional-Territorial Circuit: Imprinted in the toddling stage. Concerned with territorial demands, emotional power tactics, political domination-and-submission strategies. (Emotional Intelligence)

3. The Semantic Circuit: Imprinted by human artifacts and symbol systems. Concerned with handling the environment, invention, calculation, prediction, building a 'map' of the universe. (Conceptual Intelligence)

4. The Socio-Sexual Circuit: Imprinted by the first orgasm-mating experiences and tribal 'morals.' Concerned with sexual pleasure, local definitions of 'moral' and 'immoral,' reproduction, nurture of the young.
(Social Intelligence)


The Extraterrestrial Circuits


5. The Neurosomatic Circuit: Imprinted by ecstatc experience via physiological or chemical yogas. Concerned with neurological-somatic (body-brain) feedbacks, feeling high, somatic reprogramming. (Sensory Intelligence)

6. The Neuroelectric Circuit: Imprinted by advanced yogas. Concerned with reimprinting and reprogramming all earlier circuits, relativity of 'realities' perceived, cybernetic consciousness. (Psychic Intelligence)

7. The Neurogenetic Circuit: Imprinted by advanced yogas. Concerned with evolutionary consciousness (past and future), DNA-RNA-Brain feedbacks, Jung's 'Collective Unconscious.' (Mythic Intelligence)

8. The Neuroatomic Circuit: Imprinted by shock or near-death experience. Concerned with quantum consciousness, non-local awareness (beyond spacetime), so-called 'PSI' or 'magick' powers, illumination. (Spiritual Intelligence)

[bewilderment]

Oops, double post.

[IHrtHalucingens]

I also have very little knowledge in this area but heres what i think. Whether or not it has any validity, we will probably never know. How could one prove anything that was said above? Im sure there are 100's of people that have gotten high on the various drugs mentioned and had experiences that relate to his descriptions but then again im sure there are 100's of people who have gotten high on these drugs and felt/saw/percieved nothing even close to what he described. It seems that most of how he explained these different brains is very vague and this allows him to connect seemingly non-related feelings and actions to evolution. I personally find it hard to believe anything without some sort of proof or without experiencing something for myself, so i vote BS for now. Maybe some future experience will change my mind but for now, no matter how interesting it is, i think it is BS.

[bewilderment]

I just found a bit of a more scientific explanation of levels of consciousness. This article describes eight different levels of consciousness and while there is no mention of Leary, it is VERY similar:

Excerpt from Neurolinguistic Programming:
An Integrative Model For States Of Consciousness by:Gordana Vitaliano , M.D.:

Neurolinguistic Programming -
The Eight Levels
1. Perceptual Level

Man first identifies himself with his body that exists in space and time. That is, the level where the line between self and others, organism and environment, is becoming established. Out of the oneness of Universal Mind, the perceptual level emerges. Man becomes aware of his body separated from the environment. This knowledge simultaneously crates awareness of space -- the primary dualism. The primary dualism has been investigated by anthropologists concerned with the period in human evolution when man first learned to separate himself from his environment. Also, it has been described by psychologists who have studied infant development as the period when the child learns to separate himself from his immediate surroundings.

During the first 6 months of life, the self is identified with its environment and, especially, the mothering one (Mahler's "symbiotic phase", 1975). The new born infant cannot clearly differentiate himself as separate subject from his environment because the brain structures necessary for this process are still not developed. Most of the time, the infant is in the deep sleep. At the age of six months, the infant is becoming aware of his body and can recognize himself in the mirror. The self, basically as a sensorimotor and instinctual body, has differentiated itself from the environment.

The Perceptual Level includes the first set of filters called biological filters. Our nervous system with its sensory organs, initially determined genetically, constitutes the first set of biological filters which distinguishes external reality from our internal representation of the world; i.e., our experience of reality. Our genetically-given biological limitations allow us to perceive just a small portion of a broad range of continuous physical phenomenon.

Self development is followed by the development of the central nervous system. The functional specialization of the neural structures is associated with the process of myelinization of the brain structures. In the first 6 months of life, there is a myelinization of the Reticular Formation, which is responsible the state of arousal; and the Primary Zones of the brain's cortex, which are responsible for the development of the perceptual skills. The neurons of the primary sensory system respond only to narrowly specialized properties of sensory stimuli (e.g., shades of color, the character of lines, the direction of movement, and the loudness of sound) and preserve their strict modal specificity (Stanojevic, 1990).

The Perceptual Level is the level of altered state of consciousness, which exhibits predominantly theta (3.5 to 8 Hz) and delta (0.5 to 3.5 Hz) brain waves patterns. These brain waves usually correspond to normally unconscious informational content (Basar, 1980). At this level, the ionic acupuncture system is partly displaced from the body. Consciousness (i.e., subjective observer) is associated with an electromagnetic component of ELF (Extremely Low Frequencies) brainwaves that are embedded in the low dielectric gaseous weakly ionized medium (Rakovic et al., 1989). The ionic concentration in this diffusionally unstable medium after ~ 1 hour reaches the one in the atmospheric air outside the body, and the ELF brainwaves can flow through the surrounding weakly ionized atmosphere. The whole system is thus completely open for information exchange within the ELF domain, which can thus bring a sense of oneness with the surrounding world.

Subjectively, this state is experienced as a state of oceanic euphoria, unconditional omnipotence, and pleromatic paradise. Objectively, this level is characterized in our Integrative NLP (Stanojevic-Vale , 1993) by deep muscle relaxation, very slow metabolism, and decreased heart and respiratory rates. This state of awareness can be achieved in Integrative NLP by focusing internally on body function (i.e. breathing or heart rate), or on simple sensations of light, sound, smell or taste. Prolonged focusing on one external object can also produce this state of consciousness.

2. Emotional Level

As soon as man identifies with his body, and becomes aware of space, the problem of life vs. death occurs. At this moment appears the existential fear of death. In separating birth from death, man differentiates past from the future, and becomes aware of historical time. At the Emotional Level of awareness man, identified solely with his organism as existing in space (primary dualism) and time (secondary dualism). This knowledge creates an existential need to survive, and the fear of death. This is the level where man's emotional and thought processes, as well as his personal will, first begin to develop.

In developmental psychology, this period has been described as a beginning of the emotional life, and language acquisition. Sensory motor functions are now becoming more complex. The child starts to walk and to talk. He/she becomes more independent from others, and aware of him/her self as a separate emotional/physical being (Freud, 1923). By 18 months of age, a relatively stable core gender identity (i.e., the sense of being a boy or girl) is established. At the end of the second year, the child begins to use word "I" when he/she refers to himself or herself. On the biological level, scientists also describe the further development and the myelinization of the Limbic system (Cingulum) responsible for the emotional experience; and Secondary Zones of the brain cortex, which are responsible for the further development of perceptual and language functions. The Secondary Zones serve as an apparatus for the reception, analysis, and storage of modality specific information arriving from the outside world (Stanojevic, 1990).

The Emotional Level includes the second set of filters called sociogenetic filters. These filters are the internalized matrix of specific cultural premises, familial relationships, and social glosses; as well as social institutions of language, logic, ethics, and law. The sociogenetic filter represents those aspects of the environment that have been interjected during the developmental process. At the Emotional Level, the values of society are becoming mapped into the biological organism that exists in the space and time.

The Emotional Level is the level of altered states of consciousness, with predominantly alpha (8 to 13 Hz) and some theta (3.5 to 8 Hz) brain waves patterns that usually correspond to normally subconscious informational content. At this level, the ionic gaseous system is still partly displaced from the body. Consciousness associated with the electromagnetic component of ELF brainwaves is embedded in the low dielectric gaseous weekly ionized medium. The difference from the previously described state is that the periods of sleep are significantly reduced.

Subjectively, this state is experienced as a state of pleasant and unpleasant emotions, ranging from bliss and ecstatic release to fear and rage. It is also a state of impersonality, multivalent images, and archetypal forms (Jung, 1967), distance, and dissociation. Objectively, this is the level that is characterized in Integrative NLP by rapid eye movements or eye fixation, middle ear muscle activation, irregular heart rate and respiration, significantly reduced muscle tone with occasional muscle twitches, tremor, or cataplexy and catalepsy. This level can be entered in Integrative NLP by concentrating on different feelings, emotions, and visual imagines.

3. Symbolic Level

At the Emotional Level, a man fears death and fights for his life. In order to overcome the primordial fear of death, a man creates a permanent image of himself called "ego", which consists of fixed and stable symbols. On this level, man identifies with the seemingly undying idea of himself -- his "ego". He becomes aware of himself as "I". His identity shifts from his total psychophysical organism to his mental representation of his organism. This is the tertiary dualism which creates the next major level -- the Symbolic Level.

On the Symbolic Level, a man is not anymore directly identified with his total psychophysical organism as existing in space and time. He now identifies solely with a mental representation or picture of himself. In other words, he is aware of his ego, his self image. He feels that he exists in his body and not as his body. His consciousness is not anymore bound by the emotional level, but shifts to the level of awareness where the intellectual and symbolic processes emerge. His body processes mostly become unconscious, and the symbolic processes start to predominate in his awareness.

In developmental psychology, this period has been described as the beginning of cognitive development -- preoperational thinking (Piaget, 1954). From two to seven years of age, the child is capable to form symbols and concepts, but can not yet operate or coordinate those representations. For example, a child can count objects but cannot easily multiply or divide them. He/she cannot comprehend more than one dimension or property of the object, and cannot understand volume and mass. For example, the child learns to group objects by color or shape, but not both. Also, if the object changes shape, the child does not understand that the object preserves its original mass or volume. The major characteristic of this period is egocentrism because the child is unable to put himself in the place of someone else.

The Symbolic Level includes the third set of filters called individual constraints, or personal filters. By individual constraints, we refer to all the representations of the world that a man creates during the course of his life, based upon his own unique personal experiences. These models or maps will constitute a set of interests, habits, likes, dislikes, and rules for behavior that are distinctly his own. Every person has a different set of experiences in life, and thus creates different models or maps of the world that govern his/her behavior.

At the same time, on the brain level, scientists describe the further development and the myelinization of the Tertiary Zones of the brain cortex. The Tertiary Zones are involved in sensory data integration, and the transition from the level of simple visual representations to the level of complex symbolic processes (e.g. operations with word meanings, with complex grammatical and logical structures and with systems of numbers). The tertiary zones play an essential role in the conversion of concrete perception into abstract thinking (Stanojevic, 1990).

The Symbolic level is the level with predominantly beta (13 to 30 Hz) and alpha waves (8 to 13 Hz) in the brain. On this level, man becomes aware of normally conscious and subconscious information only in altered states of consciousness related to REM sleep phases. Consciousness is still associated with electromagnetic component of ELF brainwaves embedded in the low dielectric gaseous weakly ionized medium that is partially displaced from the body (Stanojevic-Vale & Rakovic, 1995).

Subjectively this state is experienced as a state of preoperational or mythic thinking, temporal desires, specific likes and dislikes, tension and relaxation, safety and belongingness. Objectively, this is the level in Integrative NLP where consciousness shifts from the relaxed day-dream state to the normal awake state in which all the activities can be fully performed. On this level in Integrative NLP we apply different techniques that include anchoring or reframing of the specific experience; transforming a negative experience into positive via play or ritual, imaginative problem solving, age regression and metaphorical stories.

4. The Rational Level

Finally, a man identifies with only a fraction of his psychic processes that he considers to be himself. He becomes aware only of the ideal image of himself, and all other unwanted aspects of his ego become unconscious. In an attempt to make his self-image acceptable, he represses all the "bad" aspects of his egoic tendencies, thus creating the new level, called the Rational Level. On this Rational Level, man imposes a dualism or split upon his own ego, represses the underlying unity of all his egoic tendencies, and projects them as the persona vs. shadow. Such then is a generation of the quaternary dualism.

At the Rational Level, man identifies with mostly inaccurate and greatly limited aspects of his ego, his ideal image of himself -- his persona. At the same time, all unacceptable aspects of himself are repressed and are projected as the 'shadow' (Jung, 1967). Man alienates and dis-identifies with psychic tendencies that he considers to be painful, miserable, or undesirable (e.g., unpleasant thoughts and emotions like fear or rage, sexual and aggressive instincts, and socially forbidden behavior) and finally projects them into the shadow.

At the Rational level, man has already lost direct contact with his body, and parts of his ego. Psychoanalytically, the unconscious contains wishes and ideas linked to the wishes that were banished from consciousness via the mechanism of repression. On the Rational Level, man dis-identifies himself with other levels that have become completely unconscious. Normal adult man usually spends most of his every day life within the Rational Level of consciousness. He is predominantly aware of his ideal self-image in relation to his environment.

In developmental psychology, this level has been described as the level of the concrete and formal operational thinking (Piaget, 1954). At approximately seven years of age, a child starts to comprehend multiple classification, as well as two or more classes occurring simultaneously (e.g. the child can order objects serially along a dimension, such as increasing size from smallest to largest). His thinking is not anymore egocentric and narcissistic. He/she is becoming capable to take the role of others; and to perform rule operations such as multiplication, division, and class inclusion. Concrete operational thinking is still bound to the concrete and obvious world, and cannot grasp possible or hypothetical relationships.

At around eleven years of age, the adolescent attains the capacity for abstract and propositional thinking about multiple variables. He/she is capable of looking at a problem from multiple points of view. The adolescent can analyze each variable independently, or as a part of the whole. Abstract concepts such as truth or virtue are subject to discussion or analysis. Erickson (1959) referred to this process as the formation of ego identity. This is the final stage of development of the ego. The mature ego becomes capable of imagining possibilities not given to mere sensory evidence or sensory-concrete operation. On the biological level, there is a continuation of the brain myelinization which occurs on the level of interhemispheric connections that coordinate functions of left and right brain hemispheres.

The Rational level is the level where consciousness, associated with the electromagnetic component of the ELF brainwaves, most of the day-time completely pervades the brain's neural network. At this level, there is a good separation of normally conscious and subconscious contents in the brain, while mixing of information that belongs to other levels of consciousness is only possible during the REM sleep phases (Stanojevic-Vale & Rakovic, 1995). At this level, the brainwave spectrum is dominated by the upper two ELF channels: gamma (30 to 50 Hz), and beta (13 to 30 Hz), and information mostly corresponds to normally conscious content (Basar,1980).

Subjectively this state is experienced as a state of concrete and formal operational thinking, inner dialogues, temporal goals and desires, self-esteem needs, self-control and will-power, different emotions (e.g., pride, guilt, love, and hatred). Objectively, this is the level where consciousness is completely associated with the normal awake state in which all the activities can be fully performed. This is the most superficial level in Integrative NLP (Stanojevic-Vale , 1993). The techniques that belong to this level are: goal planning, time management, future visualization and self-affirmations.

5. The Creative Level

The Creative Level is the level where the formal mind integrates all the ideas and experiences into one, whole picture model of the world. Man is now capable to envision how the truth or falsity of any one idea would affect the truth or falsity of the others. Man now comprehends a mass network of ideas, how they influence each other, and what their relationships are. This is the Arubindo's "higher mind" that can make connections, relate truths, coordinate ideas and integrate concepts. It is the highest integrative structure in the individual realm, "self-seen in the integral whole". All the structures of the human psyche are completely integrated into the one whole.

This is the creative phase in the development of human consciousness. There exists no more separation; but rather, integration of the human psyche. The fully integrated rational and symbolic levels are preparing to become one with the emotional level. There is now a completion of brain development, and the final myelinization takes place of all possible inter and intra-hemispheric connections.

The Creative level is the level where consciousness, associated with the electromagnetic component of the ELF brainwaves, together with the ionic acupuncture system, is deliberately displaced from the highly developed neural network of the brain (Stanojevic-Vale & Rakovic, 1995). At this level of prolonged altered states of consciousness, there is not only mixing, but also the efficient integration of normally conscious and subconscious contents. The brainwave spectrum is now exhibiting normal brain wave patterns that correspond to gamma, beta and alpha waves. In Buddhism this level is called "manovijnana", or the "intellect"; while in Hinduism it is referred as "stulasarira".

Subjectively, this state is experienced as a state of self-actualization, vision-logic, high fantasy, synthetic thinking, spontaneity, creativity, and supersensitivity. Objectively, this is the level where consciousness can easily shift from the rational to symbolic level, and finally back to the emotional level of awareness. All the information from these levels can be fully processed and integrated into the Creative Level of awareness. The techniques being used in Integrative NLP to enhance the development of the Creative Level of awareness are creative modeling, age progression, creative visualization, and moment to moment awareness.

6. Supra-Individual Level

This is the realm of high religious intuition and literal inspiration, of symbolic visions, of audible illuminations, of blue, gold and white light. This is the realm of higher presences, guides, angelic beings, deities -- all of which are high archetypal forms of one's own being (Jung, 1967). The subject is identified with an object of faith. At it's peak, the subject dissolves into the object. The worship, the worshipper and the worshipped are one.

On this level, man transcends his normal capacity of individual mind and body, and returns back to the higher realm of existence. He operates upon the world, and his body and mind, in ways that appear to ordinary people to be fantastic and extraordinary. He develops extrasensory perception, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and so on. Man masters the level of psychic phenomena and paranormal powers by fully integrating his rational, symbolic, and emotional level. He originally came from this realm, and can occasionally go back, but the complete integration takes place only after the individual development and synthesis of mind and body. This level appears to be the same as the emotional level of the infant. The difference, though, is that the infant is aware but cannot operate on this level because neither brain nor mind are still fully developed. The infant is the passive observer, the mystic, the active creator.

This is the level where the ionic gaseous system is deliberately completely displaced from the body. Consciousness associated with the electromagnetic component of ELF brainwaves is now completely embedded in the low dielectric unhomogeneous gaseous weekly ionized medium (Stanojevic-Vale & Rakovic, 1995). There is an intense mixing and integration of normally conscious, subconscious, and unconscious information. The brain exhibits a normal spectrum of gamma, beta, alpha and delta waves. Hinduism calls this level "suksmasarira"; while Buddhism terms this level "manas", and defines it as the persistent source of existential, rational, and volitional awareness.

Subjectively, this state is experienced as a state of rapture, bliss, compassion, and gratefulness, extrasensory perception, developed intuition and inspiration, archetypal forms, audible illumination, and revalations of light and sound. Objectively, this is the level where consciousness can easily process all the information coming from completely integrated rational-symbolic-emotional levels in one Supra-individual level. The techniques being used in Integrative NLP to enhance development of this level are lucid dreaming, astral projection, astral travel, hypnotic reincarnation, and personal guides or spiritual teacher visualization.

7. Transindividual Level

The process of integration and transcendence continues even further by dissolving into the higher 'other' realm; leading finally to the Unity itself. This process has been described in both East and West mystical traditions (Wilber, 1977,1980, 1981, 1986).

At the surpra-individual level, man becomes aware of his archetypal Deity (as ishtadeva, yidam, dyani-Buddha), and finally becomes one with his Archetype. At the trans-individual level, man-as-deity dissolves into the final-God, which has been described as an intensive subtle 'audible illumination', the ultimate source from which all Archetypal forms emerged. Man becomes one with God. In the final transcendence, all the pervious levels become completely integrated, and dissolved into a formless, infinite, unbounded consciousness.

At this level, the displaced ionic gaseous system completely deteriorates, and becomes homogeneous. The ionic concentration in this medium reaches the one in the air, and ELF brainwaves can flow through the surrounding weakly ionized atmosphere. The whole system is now open for information exchange in the ELF domain, which brings the sense of oneness with the surrounding world. At the same time, there is a complete integration of all possible information (Stanojevic-Vale & Rakovic, 1995). The brain shows the full range of brainwaves spectrum: gamma, beta, alpha, delta and theta waves. In Mahayana Buddhism this level of consciousness is called "alayavijnana", or "supraindividual repository consciousness"; while in Hinduism, they are refer to it as the "karanasarira" or "causal body".

Subjectively, this state is experienced as a state of final illumination, radiant bliss, formless radiance, transcendent love in oneness, formless realization, and boundless consciousness. Objectively, this level is characterized by the final integration of all the levels: rational/symbolic/emotional/perceptual into one Trans-individual level. This state of awareness can be achieved via Integrative NLP by the practice of prayers and meditation (Stanojevic-Vale ,1993).

8. The Universal Level

Man's innermost consciousness is identical to the absolute and ultimate reality of the universe. On this level, man is identified with the universal mind, and his consciousness becomes spaceless and timeless, and therefore eternal and infinite. This is the state of nirvana, samadhi, satori, enlightenment, state of completely liberated consciousness and peaceful mind. In that moment, there is no distinction between subject and object, self and not self, seer and seen. Therefore, there is no more possibility for sending and receiving any information -- man is what there is and all there is.

At this level, there are no differences between the organism and environment. This is the state were a homogenous dielectric medium completely dissolves, enabling the peaceful mind without stream of consciousness (Stanojevic-Vale & Rakovic, 1995).

Subjectively, the entire world process than arises, moment to moment as one's own Being, outside of which and prior to which, nothing exists. This is the ultimate Unity, where all things and events, while remaining perfectly separate and discrete, are only One. This is the final differentiation of the Consciousness; the state of perfect transcendence; which is not a trascendence in the world but a final transcendence as the world itself. By interpreting and integrating all the levels, realms and planes, high or low, sacred or profane, consciousness operates as the entire world process itself. "Form is not other than Void, Void is not other than Form", says the most famous Buddhist Sutra ("The Heart Sutra"-see Wilber, 1981). At that point, the extraordinary and the ordinary, the supernatural and the mundane, are one and the same. This is the ultimate Unity toward which all evolution, human and cosmic, drives.

The ultimate goal of Integrative NLP is the same as in yoga and related esoteric disciplines -- the continual prolongation of altered states of consciousness 24 hours a day; with a displaced ionic system continuously open. This also means that the ultradian rhythm responsible for changes in states of consciousness (Rossi, 1986) does not exist any more. The biological basis for this phenomenon is probably the enhancement and completion of all possible connections between the left and right brain hemispheres, which then allows the displacement and complete deterioration of the ionic acupuncture system, accompanied by liberation of the "subjective observer"-- i.e., the electromagnetic component of the ELF brainwaves.

[bewilderment]

Originally Posted by IHrtHalucingens

I also have very little knowledge in this area but heres what i think. Whether or not it has any validity, we will probably never know. How could one prove anything that was said above? Im sure there are 100's of people that have gotten high on the various drugs mentioned and had experiences that relate to his descriptions but then again im sure there are 100's of people who have gotten high on these drugs and felt/saw/percieved nothing even close to what he described. It seems that most of how he explained these different brains is very vague and this allows him to connect seemingly non-related feelings and actions to evolution. I personally find it hard to believe anything without some sort of proof or without experiencing something for myself, so i vote BS for now. Maybe some future experience will change my mind but for now, no matter how interesting it is, i think it is BS.

We'll never really know anything in this lifetime, but even moreso with such a theory as this. There are levels of consciousness, although, no one can really know much about them right now so really any theory concerning this subject matter is going to be highly speculative. Leary really doesn't present any hard scientific data regarding any of this. Perhaps he based it off of more convincing information that he collected over the span of his life, but if so then he doesn't really make reference to it (does anyone know where he came up with this from?). This makes his theory seem very sketchy, I admit that. I'd like to find more accurate models of consciousness, a better hierarchical model of states of consciousness and then have people's opinions on how different experiences/chemicals alter these layers. I'm presenting Leary's model as something to go by for the moment.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Whether true or not, Very interesting

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by bewilderment

I just found a bit of a more scientific explanation of levels of consciousness. This article describes eight different levels of consciousness and while there is no mention of Leary, it is VERY similar:

Excerpt from Neurolinguistic Programming:
An Integrative Model For States Of Consciousness by:Gordana Vitaliano , M.D.:

This is an interesting find, bewilderment. I need to study it further, but it does look very similar to Leary's 8 Circuit model. It is difficult to discuss Leary's work nowadays in 'respectable' academia, so maybe they decided not to credit him but Simund Freud instead! (In the past Leary was a respectable academic, headhunted by Harvard.)

Lear'y 8 Circuit model was never claimed to be more than a model-- "the map is not the territory." Nor was it intended specifically to be related to drug experinces, although it could be used a a sort of heirarchical scale to discuss psychedelics and other drugs. It was more concerned with (wo)man evolving into an extra-terrestrial phase.

In Neuropolitics, Leary and Robert Anton Wilson allocated drugs to levels (as Leary had earlier in "Seven Tongues of God"). Leary originally worked on seven levels (the number seven is held to have 'sacred' import in many religions.) The eight level model was not invented by Leary, but rather picked up by him-- music is in octaves.... You have to take it with a pinch of salt, as with any theory. (Wilson loves number jokes as in 23.)

It's said that Leary go the seven levels from Gurdieff. John Lilly did similar work with his Levels of Samadhi (from Gurdieff) in The Centre of the Cyclone, which are unusual in that he includes negative levels as well as positive. He certainly did want to describe LSD experiences. http://www.futurehi.net/docs/Samadhi_Levels.html

[Alicia]

"To activate the first brain take an opiate. Mother Opium and Sister Morphine bring you down to cellular intelligence, bio-survival passivity, the floating consciousness of the newborn. (This is why Freudians identify opiate addiction with the desire to return to infancy.)"

I find that interesting however, I do not agree freud ideas of sexuality, or how he reckons children develop there sexual maturity. He also had great ideas and potentials about cocaine and that killed a close friend of his.

[LowExpectations]

I recently found this:

http://community.livejournal.com/che...74.html#cutid1

The following is from the book The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. This is an interesting excerpt regarding Stanislav Grof's research of LSD for clinical purposes, which led to an interest in conciousness studies.



'Stanislav Grof is the chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

'Grof first became interested in nonordinary states of consciousness in the 1950s while investigating the clinical uses of the hallucinogen LSD at the Psychiatric Research Institute in his native Prague, Czechoslavakia. The purpose of his research was to determine whether LSD had any therapeutic applications. When Grof began his reasearch, most scientists viewed the LSD experience as little more than a stress reaction, the brain's way of responding to a noxious chemical. But when Grof studied the records of his patient's experiences he did not find evidence of any recurring stress reaction. Instead, there was a definite continuity running through each of the patient's sessions. "Rather than being unrelated and random, the experiential content seemed to represent a successive unfolding of deeper and deeper levels of the unconcious," says Grof. This suggested that repeated LSD sessions had important ramifications for the practice and theory of psychotherapy, and provided Grof and his colleagues with the impetus they needed to continue the research. The results were striking. It quickly became clear that serial LSD sessions were able to expedite the psychotherapeutic process and shorten the time necessary for the treatment of many disorders. Traumatic memories that had haunted individuals for years were unearthed and dealt with, and sometimes even serious conditions, such as schizophrenia, were cured. But what was even more startling was that many of the patients rapidly moved beyond issues involving their illnesses and into areas that were uncharted by Western psychology.

'One common experience was the reliving of what it was like to be in the womb. At first Grof thought these were just imagined experiences, but as the evidence continued to amass he realized that the knowledge of embryology inherent in the descriptions was often far superior to the patients' previous education in the area. Patients accurately described certain characteristics of the heart sounds of their mother, the nature of acoustic phenomena in the peritoneal cavity, specific details concerning blood circulation in the placenta, and even details about the various cellular and biochemical processes taking place. They also described important thoughts and feelings their mother had had during pregnancy and events such as physical traumas she had experienced.

'Whenever possible Grof investigated these assertions, and on several occasions was able to verify them by questioning the mother and other individuals involved. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and biologists who experienced prebirth memories during their training for the program (all the therapists who participated in the study also had to undergo several sessions of LSD psychotherapy) expressed similar astonishment at the apparent authenticity of the experiences.

'Most disconcerting of all were those experiences in which the patient's consciousness appeared to expand beyond the usual boundaries of the ego and explore what it was like to be other living things and even other objects. For example, Grof had one female patient who suddenly became convinced she had assumed the identity of a female prehistoric reptile. She not only gave a richly detailed description of what it felt like to be encapsuled in such a form, but noted that the portion of the male of the species' anatomy she found most sexually arousing was a patch of colored scales on the side of its head. Although the woman had no prior knowledge of such things, a conversation Grof had with a zoologist later confirmed that in certain species of reptiles, colored areas on the head do indeed play an important role as triggers of sexual arousal.

'Patients were also able to tap into the consciousness of their relatives and ancestors. One woman experienced what it was like to be her mother at the age of three and accurately described a frightening event that had befallen her mother at the time. The woman also gave a precise description of the house her mother had lived in as well as the white pinafore she had been wearing-all details her mother later confirmed and admitted that she had never talked about before. Other patients gave equally accurate descriptions of events that had befallen ancestors who had lived decades and even centuries before.

'Other experiences included the accessing of racial and collective memories. Individuals of Slavic origin
experienced what it was like to participate in the conquests of Genghis Khan's Mongolian hordes, to dance in trance with the Kalahari bushmen, the undergo the initiation rites of the Australian aborigines, and to die as sacrificial victims of the Aztecs. And again the descriptions frequently contained obscure historical facts and a degree of knowledge that was often completely at odds with the patient's education, race, and previous exposure to the subject. For instance, one uneducated patient gave a richly detailed account of the techniques involved in the Egyptian practice of embalming and mummification, including the form and meaning of various amulets and sepulchral boxes, a list of the materials used in the fixing of the mummy cloth, the size and shape of the mummy bandages, and other esoteric facets of Egyptian funeral services. Other individuals tuned into the cultures of the Far East and not only gave impressive descriptions of what it was like to have a Japanese, Chinese, or Tibetan psyche, but also related various Taoist or Buddhist teachings.

'In fact, there did not seem to be any limit to what Grof's LSD subjects could tap into. They seemed capable of knowing what it was like to be every animal, and even plant, on the tree of evolution. They could experience what it was like to be a blood cell, an atom, a thermonuclear process inside the sun, the consciousness of the entire planet, and even the consciousness of the entire cosmos. More than that, they displayed the ability to transcend space and time, and occasionally they related uncannily accurate precognitive information. In an even stranger vein they sometimes encountered nonhuman intelligences during their cerebral travels, discarnate beings, spirit guides from "higher planes of consciousness," and other suprahuman entities.

'On occasion subjects also traveled to what appeared to be other universes and other levels of reality. In one particularly unnerving session a young man suffering fom depression found himself in what seemed to be another dimension. It had an eerie luminescence, and although he could not see anyone he sensed that it was crowded with discarnate beings. Suddenly he sensed a presence very close to him, and to his surprise it began to communicate with him telepathically. It asked him to please contact a couple who lived in the Moravian city of Kromeriz and let them know that their son Ladislav was well taken care of and doing all right. It then gave him the couple's name, street address, and telephone number.

'The information meant nothing to either Grof or the young man and seemed totally unrelated to the young man's problems and treatment. Still, Grof could not put it out of his mind. "After some hesitation and with mixed feelings, I finally decided to do what certainly would have made me the target of my colleagues' jokes, had they found out," says Grof. "I went to the telephone, dialed the number in Kromeriz, and asked if I could speak with Ladislav. To my astonishment, the woman on the other side of the line started to cry. When she calmed down, she told me with a broken voice: 'Our son is not with us anymore; he passed away, we lost him three weeks ago.'"

'In the 1960s Grof was offered a position at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and moved to the United States. The center was also doing controlled studies of the psychotherapeutic applications of LSD, and this allowed Grof to continue his research. In addition to examining the effects of repeated LSD sessions on individuals with various mental disorders, the center also studied its effects on "normal" volunteers-doctors, nurses, painters, musicians, philosophers, scientists, priests, and theologians. Again Grof found the same kind of phenomena occuring again and again. It was almost as if LSD provided the human consciousness with access to a kind of infinite subway system, a labyrinth of tunnels and byways that existed in the subterranean reaches of the unconcious, and one that literally connected everything in the universe with everything else.

'After personally guiding over three thousand LSD sessions (each lasting at least 5 hours) and studying the records of more than two thousand sessions conducted by colleagues, Grof became unalterably convinced that something extraordinary was going on. "After years of conceptual struggle and confusion, I have concluded that the data from LSD research indicate an urgent need for a drastic revision of the existing paradigms for psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and possibly science in general," he states. "There is at present little doubt in my mind that our current understanding of the universe, of the nature of reality, and particularly of human beings, is superficial, incorrect, and incomplete."'

Fits right into the 7th circuit. Mindblowing stuff there.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	WOW! That blew my mind. Keep posting brother.
	That's a good find. This exert gives reports that we can fit into 7th and 8th levels.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by Alicia

I find that interesting however, I do not agree freud ideas of sexuality, or how he reckons children develop there sexual maturity. He also had great ideas and potentials about cocaine and that killed a close friend of his.

I think that Freud projected his own sexual obsessions onto his patients and the rest of humanity, but he did have pioneering ideas about the the 'subconscious' mind.

Frued's friend von Fleischl-Marxow did become a cocaine addict. Freud thought that cocaine would cure him of his morphine addiction which he got from using morphine as a pain killer), but von Fleischl-Marxow died in pain, addicted to both coke and morphine. Freud was so interested in cocaine's psychoactive properties that he neglected its potential as a local anesthetic.

[bewilderment]

Originally Posted by enquirewithin

This is an interesting find, bewilderment. I need to study it further, but it does look very similar to Leary's 8 Circuit model. It is difficult to discuss Leary's work nowadays in 'respectable' academia, so maybe they decided not to credit him but Simund Freud instead! (In the past Leary was a respectable academic, headhunted by Harvard.)

Lear'y 8 Circuit model was never claimed to be more than a model-- "the map is not the territory." Nor was it intended specifically to be related to drug experinces, although it could be used a a sort of heirarchical scale to discuss psychedelics and other drugs. It was more concerned with (wo)man evolving into an extra-terrestrial phase.

In Neuropolitics, Leary and Robert Anton Wilson allocated drugs to levels (as Leary had earlier in "Seven Tongues of God"). Leary originally worked on seven levels (the number seven is held to have 'sacred' import in many religions.) The eight level model was not invented by Leary, but rather picked up by him-- music is in octaves.... You have to take it with a pinch of salt, as with any theory. (Wilson loves number jokes as in 23.)

It's said that Leary go the seven levels from Gurdieff. John Lilly did similar work with his Levels of Samadhi (from Gurdieff) in The Centre of the Cyclone, which are unusual in that he includes negative levels as well as positive. He certainly did want to describe LSD experiences. http://www.futurehi.net/docs/Samadhi_Levels.html

yeah, I've seen the Gurdieff scale and don't know much about it. I was thinking about posting a copy of that as well and I still may. Thanks for the link the different levels of samadhi. I knew about Lilly's work and was trying to find a page with a decent explanation. Also, kudos for the one link with the deoxy.org article. I absolutely love that site as I also love a similar site called fusion anomaly.

It's a shame that Leary can't be discussed in academia because of the stigma attached. I think that he was a highly intelligent individual, but that he was also an excitable person as well as a social person so he was over-eager and probably messed some things up.

I need to read more RAW. I've only read Prometheus Rising and that's been awhile back. I also have a book sitting right by me called "Consciousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett. It's an excellent read, but again...it's been awhile. I've been contemplating looking through it again, but haven't yet. Another cool book I have on my shelf is Neurophilosophy by Paula Churchland...unfortunately my cat threw up on it before I had a chance to look through it. It's very technical though.

It's funny that you mention "the map is not the territory"...I think that a lot regarding perception. We get a map of our environment as it is filtered through our senses, but our senses can be tricky things and do not necessarily present our surroundings in a truthful fashion. I also believe that levels of consciousness cannot be so cleanly cut as Leary presents. I was reading up some on Ken Wilber's ideas regarding consciousness and he describes it as overlapping waves.

I know that Leary's model was detailing about a possible ascent into space and that's fine and dandy, but I'm more interested in how drugs/experiences relate to the levels. I would also be curious as to how different drugs affect brain-waves. I was listening to a guided meditation which employed theta waves the other day and I could definately tell I was in an altered state.

I didn't mean to open this thread and then abandon it. At the time, I was thinking a lot about this sort of thing, and now I've become a bit preoccupied. I was planning on doing a lot more research and posting interesting findings as well as analyzing things a bit more. I still plan on doing this, but it's gonna be on the back-burner for a couple days at least. Good contributions though!

[bewilderment]

Originally Posted by LowExpectations

I recently found this:

http://community.livejournal.com/che...74.html#cutid1



Fits right into the 7th circuit. Mindblowing stuff there.

Ah, yes, that is quite a find. I'm on lj and have now joined that community. Interesting stuff.

[enquirewithin]

It's funny that you mention "the map is not the territory"...I think that a lot regarding perception. We get a map of our environment as it is filtered through our senses, but our senses can be tricky things and do not necessarily present our surroundings in a truthful fashion. I also believe that levels of consciousness cannot be so cleanly cut as Leary presents. I was reading up some on Ken Wilber's ideas regarding consciousness and he describes it as overlapping waves.

Yes, of course, your consciousness is not really divided up into eight levels, but the Eight Circuits are an intriguing way of describing it. I amsure you are right in suggesting that the levels will always overlap, and in fact you must be peorating on many levels simulataneously most of the time. I have been looking for Leary's attribution of drugs to the circiuts and I have found it in his last book:

Design for Dying, Timothy Leary with R. U. Sirius (1997), pp. 85-90. I hope this is useful:

The 4 Primitive Terrestrial Circuits

1. Biosurvival – opiates


2. Emotional – alchohol


3. Laryngeal/ Manipulative – stimulants


4. Sexual Domestication – Prozac, sedatives, TV


The 4 Post-Hive, Post-Modern, Terrestrial Cybercultural Circuits


5. Neurosomatic – MDMA, low dose psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline)


6. Neoroelectric – high dose psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline)


7. Neurogenetic – high-dose LSD


8. Neuroatomic – DMT, high dose ketamine

You could easily add newer materials sinto this model.

(Lower doses of many drugs fit into may levels-- higher doses of say, LSD, will operate many levels simulataneously. I'm not sure where deleriants like atropine would fit.

These circuits are also subdivided. Apparently Leary distanced himself from this model later on, as it was too neat, and he was concentrating on chaos theory. He developed it during his prison days, but many people think that this was a more intersting pahse of his thought than his later 'stand-up philosophy' and slighly strained cyberspace stuff (what could be more mundane than Microsoft and Bill Gates?).

[korky8097]

Some very interesting ideas, while i dont believe them to be spot on accurate (as that is how theories should be interpreted), i believe these ideas are on the right path and should be researched more heavily. Really some groundbreaking kind of material. But still i ask myself, can one truely understand the mind?

[Forthesevenlakes]

i was wondering the same thing, korky. i once read some quote by a psychologist that if our minds were so simple that we could understand them, we wouldnt have the motivation or ability to. something to that effect. my guess is that we're wired in more complex ways than we can fathom, and that maybe a full understanding of the human mind won't ever happen. which isnt to say that drugs aren't useful in exploring aspects of swim-self, but that maybe a full understanding cant be hoped for. just a greater understanding.

[enquirewithin]

There is a summary of the 8 Circuit Model on Wikipedia too.

[DarkDead]

Originally Posted by LowExpectations

I recently found this:
http://community.livejournal.com/che...74.html#cutid1

Fits right into the 7th circuit. Mindblowing stuff there.

All fit in the 7th circuit except the experience above. I would say this is characteristic of the 8th, it operates outside of space-time and includes contacts with alien or god-like beings. Really similar to reports of volunteers in Dr. Rick Strassman's DMT studies (read DMT The Spirit Molecule). That really intrigues me. I had read some similar reports before reading the book and found astonishing how all followed the same general likeness: those beings assume many forms from insects to leprechauns or humanoids but all bound emotionally with people and try to pass some message to them and at the same time acquire information about human bodies and emotions. Most interesting is the majority of these people say they had never heard about this kind of experience and many weren't familiar with the alien abduction theme.
The reports I read were all from DMT sessions but now I'm seeing this also happens on high doses of LSD and Ketamine. Some mind blowing stuff, no doubt!

An exert from DMT The Spirit Molecule.

Sara's notes from dose #4:
I went directly into deep space. They knew I was coming back and they were ready for me. They told me there were many things they could share with us when we learn how to make more extended contact. Again, they wanted something from me, not just physical information. They were interested in emotions and feelings. I told them, "We have something we can give you: spirituality." I guess what I really meant was Love. I tried to figure out how to do this. I felt a tremendous energy, brilliant pink light with white edges, building on my left side. I knew it was spiritual energy and Love. They were on my right, so I reached out my hands across the universe and prepared to be a bridge. I let this energy pass through me to them. I said something like, "See, there I did it for you. You have it." They were grateful. I was coming down off the DMT, losing altitude. I would have to go back.
I was a little disappointed that experience was spent "giving" when what I wanted was spiritual enlightenment. Should I have asked for some- thing to take back first? I guess I don't feel comfortable in my role as an earthly spiritual emissary. But I did my best. I always knew we weren't alone in the universe. I thought that the only way to encounter them is with bright lights and flying saucers in outer space. It never occurred to me to actually encounter them in our own inner space. I thought the only things we could encounter were things in our own personal sphere of archetypes and mythology. I expected spirit guides and angels, not alien life-forms.

My own notes add this little exchange toward the end of her session:
I saw some equipment or something, sticks with teardrops coming out of them. It looked like machinery.
"It may have been machinery."