This is a powerful thesis. It is also a powerful endorsement of our
core agenda for this blog. That this agenda is as critical as I
could imagine comes as a surprise.
What we are reaching for is a universal human lifeway that produces
healthy fully nurtured human beings. That this also resolves long
standing mental dysfunctions is now obvious. It adds to the wow
factor.
The bottom line is that we can create a completely healthy
civilization using my approach to terraforming Terra that is weighted
to increasing human intelligence and capability.
Consciousness and
the Direction of Structure
Tony Wright
Solving
the mystery of human evolution using Darwin’s basic theory required
no more than a simple reinterpretation of existing data and the
application of basic biological principles. The same approach
simultaneously resolves several other major enigmas in disciplines
rarely considered within the same context. By following in the
footsteps of William of Ockham, the path of least resistance
leads to a simple, coherent and elegant explanation for our unique
physiological traits and sheds much needed light on the state of our
mind.
Your ability to read
and understand this article, your perception, state of mind and sense
of self is directly related to the co-ordinated real time variations
in structure and cascading flood of chemical and electrical chain
reactions in your brain. That is not to say your consciousness is the
structure, rather one facilitates the other. Forget for now the
so-called hard problem, how does consciousness arise or emerge
from a large glob of fatty stuff, or the esoteric realms of physics
where the nature of matter and energy is indeterminate. Let us begin
with a model based on the concept of structure, in this case the
microstructure and molecular arrangement of our brain as an
understanding at this level may shed light on some of the more
esoteric mysteries.
A single brain cell is
more complex by many orders than anything most of us have ever
imagined, a comparison with the best of our technology would be
laughable. Sub atomic, atomic and molecular engineering of
extraordinary elegance, a whole dynamic ecosystem in constant yet
precisely orchestrated flux.
Take around 100
billion or so of these supremely advanced organic machines and
organise them into a coherent interconnected and self-regulating
whole and we have the human brain. It manages its biological support
systems, processes and translates sensory input into something
comprehensible and appears to give rise to or at least facilitate a
sense of ‘I’. The correlation between structure and function is
very good, the tiniest change in its structure can and usually does
result in major changes in our sense of who or what we are. From
congenital defects in the developmental process to minor accidents as
small as a pinprick through to the use of appropriately termed mind
altering molecules the result is always the same, micro change in
structure, macro change in consciousness. So for this model to
develop we will assume the brain acts like a lens for our sense of
self or consciousness. The arrangement of the molecular architecture
directly relates to its resolution or the quality of consciousness in
the same way the design and structural integrity of a telescope lens
and mirror relates to its ability to resolve light and the sharpness
of the image it produces.
If we take the lens
analogy as read it would be useful to look at its design and how it
evolved and developed. Not quite the current paradigm re human
evolution rather a modern translation of an earlier paradigm when
somewhat circuitously the theory outlined below predicts the archaic
traditions on which it is based would be more accurate than much of
what is currently in vogue. So sit back and enjoy the ride and lets
see if it correlates with the world you inhabit or whether it offers
any practical insights as to where we go next….
During the latter
stages of its evolution the human brain was on a rapid and
accelerating curve of expansion. This exceptionally rare
phenomenon was the by-product of an increasingly symbiotic and
co-evolutionary relationship with flowering plants that resulted in
the emergence of a number of unusual traits. These traits were
the direct consequence of a heavily and progressively modified
transcription environment at all stages of growth and development.
Rather than selective adaptation working on DNA mutation the
primary mechanism was a form of genetic engineering or more
accurately epigenetic engineering. The increasing dependence on a
bio-chemically complex diet, very rich in transcription altering,
endocrine disrupting and neuro-active flavonoids drove the expansion
of the brain. As the brain enlarged and its fuel requirement
disproportionally increased the expansion cocktail was liberally
laced with simple sugars. In order meet its appetite for fuel it
was compelled to ingest an ever-greater amount of the chemicals that
were responsible for its growth in the first place.
New Structure
The tumour like
proliferation of the new brain, the neo-cortex, increasingly freed
from the constraints of specialised differentiation and survival
related function took a quantum leap in its development. It had
acquired highly advanced cognitive abilities and begun acting as an
executive layer with built in automatic enhancing capabilities for
earlier more primitive neural structures. It had also reached
sufficient complexity to experience self recognition, not the self we
‘think’ we are today, rather a self we would now describe as
something wholly other. In addition and related to its self
recognition capacity its experience of itself could be described in
terms of rapture, a perpetual sense of profound wonder and intense
sensual joy.
Contraction
Then around two
hundred thousand years ago the rapid expansion of our brain abruptly
stalled and turned to contraction. The huge reduction and near loss
of the wet tropical forests during the driest period of the last ice
age pulled the plug on the fomenting cauldron of chemicals that had
been responsible for re-designing, re-organising and re-engineering
the evolutionary development of our brain. When the last of our
lineage were ejected from the forests womb like protection that had
hot housed our evolution, the neural system it had nurtured was
exposed to the kinds of hostile ecological and biochemical
environments it had not encountered for millions of years. The
physiological traits that had emerged and were dependent on a heavily
modified transcription environment inevitably began to regress.
Catastrophic Failure
Since that time our
brain has suffered a progressive and catastrophic failure in its
development, massive loss of its structural integrity at a molecular
and cellular level and near total loss of the most complex
biochemical cocktail in evolutionary history essential for its
optimum function. Archaic genetic specialisation asymmetrically
encoded between the cerebral hemispheres resulted in the
predisposition of one side of the brain to fail more quickly than the
other. Paradoxically as the developmental retardation progressed
the more retarded side assumed control, its greater loss of function
and the associated psychology of fear provided the drive to dominate.
Finally as sex steroids such as testosterone are fundamental in
brain development and the evolutionary effect of flavonoids
significantly modified their activity the severity of the symptoms is
gender related with males exhibiting a more extreme spectrum of
symptoms than females.
Ancient Treatment
Our ancestors being
significantly more functional than we are, were acutely aware of
their predicament. They developed a number of ingenious practices and
techniques in an attempt to treat the emerging symptoms of their
neurodegenerative disease and slow its rate of progression. Through
the insight of their minds alone they achieved a high science of
consciousness now largely forgotten and dismissed as the mythological
ramblings of our ‘primitive’ forebears. They were faced with a
condition so insidious it is difficult for us to imagine, symptoms
include the inability to accurately perceive reality and a
progressive blindness to the nature and severity of the condition
itself. Ultimately their best efforts failed, though the relics of
their treatments can offer a powerful insight into the specific
nature of the condition when considered within a neurological
framework.
The Lights went Out,
There Is No One Home
From the most
advanced consciousness system this side of the Milky Way the human
brain has been reduced to a zombie like state, unable to recognise
itself, paralysed by a profound sense of paranoia, plagued by deeply
rooted psychosis and driven to control anything beyond its rapidly
diminishing experiential capacity. In the most recent and severe
period of degeneration, what we now refer to as recorded history (a
necessary response to the failure of our eidetic memory) it has
created a world in its own demented image. The stratification of
society along neurodegenerative lines resulted in the emergence of
hierarchical and patriarchal structures that reward delusion and
dysfunction with power and control. This has further accelerated
our plunge into a culture dominated by fear where the least
functional members of society inevitably end up creating a world that
reflects their underlying dysfunction. Ironically labelled
civilisation, built on foundations of deep psychosis, devoid of
reality, empathy or any sense of beingness, a living hell where only
the deluded sense of being in control at any cost provides temporary
respite from the self inflicted nightmare.
Examples of
Catastrophic Structural Failure
Design and
Development, Real Time Function, Build Quality
1 Congenital
development and design specification: The earliest phase of
neural development is the most crucial, the highly sensitive neural
cells are at their most responsive and plastic. The foundations for
lifelong neural structure, organisation and function are laid down
during specific developmental windows in the first few weeks and
months of our life. While our brain maintains much more plasticity
much later in life than previously thought the way the brain develops
during these key windows is a very significant factor in permanently
shaping its functional parameters.
The design for this
period of development is locked in the DNA blueprint and like all
blueprints it needs to be read. A major part of this mechanism is
hormonal, the translation of the genetic blueprint into molecular and
neurological structure depends on the complex interaction of many
hormonally active chemicals. These chemicals play a direct role in
dictating the timing and duration of the developmental windows as
well as what happens at a structural level within each window.
Recent research has
identified a number of chemicals that are known to interfere with
this natural process. Generally termed endocrine disrupters they can
alter the period of developmental windows and what happens during
those windows by interfering with the activity of hormones integral
to or by acting directly on the transcription process.
Chemicals found in
plastics or pesticide residues have been identified as potentially
dangerous endocrine disrupters and recommendations to limit their
effect particularly during early development have been implemented.
Interestingly enough
flavonoids have also been designated endocrine disrupters and the
potentially harmful effects of flavonoids in Soya infant formula have
been the subject of serious investigation.
So while the design
for our brain and all aspects of our physical form are encoded in the
genetic blueprint the final structure is dictated by the precise
cocktail of chemicals in the developmental environment.
A powerful mix of
endocrine disrupting flavonoids was known to be an integral part of
our transcription environment for many millions of years. They
influenced the molecular and cellular structure of our brain so
inevitably altered our state of mind. Those designer drugs are
now almost entirely absent during our neural development, the
consequence cannot be anything other than the congenital malformation
of our brain.
2
Microtubules: Generally considered part of the cells skeleton
these supremely delicate and complex structures are increasingly
associated with cognition and intelligence particularly in neural
cells where they are especially abundant, some theories even suggest
a central role in higher consciousness. Either way like most
biological structures, their precise design and molecular
arrangement, is dictated by DNA. However they display a very high
level of plasticity in response to their biochemical environment, an
excellent example of real time hormonal and chemical effect on the
transcription, configuration and functionality of structures directly
related to cognition and consciousness. For example a minor change in
the cellular concentration of the neuro-active hormone melatonin will
radically alter the structure of these extraordinary
intelligence-related machines. Is it any wonder that the near total
loss of the complex and hormonally active chemicals present and
essential during the evolution and development of our brain has left
the most delicate and hormonally sensitive parts of our consciousness
system twisted and distorted literally out of all recognition.
3 Super structure: A
major structural and functional component in the central, peripheral
and enteric nervous system as well as cell membranes are fatty acids.
A class of highly volatile, incredibly delicate, long-chain molecules
that are extremely susceptible to oxidative degeneration. In nature
they are always very heavily protected, wrapped up and immersed in a
cocktail of powerful anti-oxidants which is very handy and no
accident. Retaining them in their protective matrix at a molecular
level until they are assimilated and incorporated into the neural and
cellular structures is absolutely essential to prevent damage. The
expansion of the human brain to its colossal proportions presents a
major engineering headache in simply protecting such a volatile mass
from rapid degeneration. To meet this requirement biological pumps
maintain a concentration of vitamin C in the brain to a level 100
times higher than that of blood. In addition the pineal gland pumps
out the neuro-active hormone melatonin, as an antioxidant it is
around 50 times more effective than vitamin C. As yet an unrecognised
part of the evolutionary equation are the powerful antioxidant
activities of flavonoids. Increasingly studied in isolation or as
part of our typical dietary intake and slowly creeping into
nutritional recommendations or offered as supplements they also have
more protective action than vitamin C. Here is the paradox,
flavonoids were known to be present along with the more familiar
protective vitamins as part of our evolutionary diet at levels at
least 20 times higher than what is currently considered normal. A
perpetual flood of 1000s of anti-oxidant compounds present 24/7 from
conception to death. This constant immersion in a highly protective
chemical soup was absolutely essential to prevent the most complex
feat of molecular engineering we know, constructed from some of the
most delicate and highly volatile molecules we know, from structural
and functional degeneration. As a bonus some groups of flavonoids
also elevate the production of melatonin by stimulating the activity
of the pineal. Check it out for yourself, our nearest living
relatives the forest dwelling apes currently, today and everyday
flood their system with at least 20 times more of these antioxidants
than we do and we have a proportionally much larger and therefore
more vulnerable brain. Now we have lost virtually all that
protection, at least a 95% deficiency, in fact its more like 98% and
it’s the reason why it takes a while for the implications to sink
in… In addition we are chronically deficient in fatty acids the raw
construction materials for the neural systems super structure,
finally we tend to separate them from their natural protection, then
heat them to extremely high temperatures in oxygen before
incorporating them into the structural integrity of our brain.
Now pay attention, you
might have to read this again and again and again to begin to
understand the catastrophic failure at a molecular level this
represents. Not only is it profoundly shocking, it certainly should
be, your ability to assimilate this information is seriously
compromised by severe neurodegenerative dementia, whatever your age.
What we currently define as dementia and Alzheimer’s are simply the
inevitable and extreme ends of a spectrum of life long
neuro-degeneration due to the near total loss of functional and
protective biochemistry.
How Would our
‘Advanced’ Engineering Fare in Similar Circumstances?
Applying these
principles to modern feats of engineering can provide a basic
understanding regarding the impact of minute changes in basic
specification. For example instructing the research and development
team at a major engineering corporation to add 1% to the blueprints
design dimensions, to reduce the quality of the construction
materials by 5% and to vary the fuel quality or power supply by 10%.
If you applied these
specification changes to some of the most advanced technology the
human mind has created then you begin to get the idea. Take any of
the following examples of ‘advanced’ engineering, Concorde, The
Northrop Grumman B-2 Stealth bomber, The Space Shuttle, The
Large Hadron Collider or The Hubble Telescope. Such a change in
specifications would likely render their construction impossible,
even if construction were possible the idea that they would work
would be reasonable grounds for being institutionalised. Apply the
same parameters to more basic technology such as your car or personal
computer and the outcome would be the same. You might just get away
with building or at least shoehorning your car together, it might
even start but would you drive it if you knew about the changes in
specification?
Everyday life and
death decisions are made on behalf of millions of people based on the
untested presumption that the most complex piece of engineering we
know is even remotely functional. You might think that the basic
scientific protocol of never presuming your primary instrument of
investigation is working would be applied to the one piece of
equipment we use for absolutely everything. Perhaps its flawless
performance throughout recent history has provided us with the
confidence to ignore what would be considered ’bad science’ in
any other context.
The accepted evidence
for the structural basis of our insanity is staring us in the face,
as might be expected we fail to recognise its profound significance.
1 Our own sex hormones
retard the development of the dominant side of our brain!
2 Our flavonoid rich ancestral diet inhibited the action of our sex hormones during the evolution of our brain!
The complexities
of the human brain are so far beyond our current thinking we really
have no idea how it works. What we do know is that our own sex
steroids such as testosterone play a major role in all aspects of
neural development. In addition through testosterone’s conversion
to estradiol via the enzyme aromatase it is also responsible for the
masculinization of the brain. Strangely enough this ‘normal’
process is known to retard its development in the uterus by modifying
the way DNA is transcribed, in turn changing its molecular and
cellular structure with testosterone referred to as a neuro-toxin.
Cambridge based researcher Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, building on
findings dating back 20 years or more has concluded that the ‘normal’
male brain is simply at one end of the spectrum of ASD due to the
effects of hormonal retardation. Of course the reference point for
normal is based on the presumption that the activity of our sex
hormones is normal.
We also know that for
the greater part of its evolution the human brain was immersed in a
chemical cocktail that inhibited and diluted the action of our own
sex steroids as well as the action of the enzyme aromatase. It is
inevitable that the near complete loss of these inhibitory effects
has radically altered the development of our brain and therefore our
state of mind. The very acceptance of ‘retardation’ as normal
within the context of a recently expanding brain that is now
shrinking would be cause for great concern if it were a modern hi
tech engineering project. These two pieces of the evolutionary jigsaw
alone should set alarm bells ringing as they are well evidenced and
accepted, that they don’t is a direct consequence of the hormonal
retardation on our minds ability to see context. That we now build
the most complex product of biological evolution from materials that
have never been part of that 3 billion year process might be another.
The very simple equation above should be enough on its own to
initiate the kind of response when we are faced with a massive
natural disaster, what is your response?
Before pondering the
pictorial summary below, watch this excerpt from a recent
animation that provides just a hint of the unimaginable dynamic
complexity that you are (full-length version with narrative here). Do
not buy into your perceptually limited mind telling you ‘this is
just what happens in my cells’. Although near the cutting edge of
biological animation and still a relatively crude representation of
the molecular biology that you are in action, right now, it does
begin to reveal what extraordinarily complex beings we are, divine
poetry in molecular motion.
Watch it a couple of
times and allow yourself to imagine that this is what you are, then
multiply the molecular and cellular complexity and transpose that to
the structures that play a major role in facilitating our sense of
self, our neural cells, when watching this very simple
animation.
Now imagine the
aqueous environment in which all this highly sensitive and
interactive molecular machinery depends on being completely flooded
with extremely reactive biochemistry. The most complex biochemical
cocktail in evolutionary history also produced by equally complex
molecular machines in one almighty orchestrated molecular dance.
Finally once you to
begin to recognise how extraordinarily complex your evolutionary
process is then take a look at the simple pictorial summary below and
try to see way beyond the ‘trees’ the ‘humans’ the ‘fruit’
etc and imagine a single interconnected molecular organism.
While your brain was
evolving it was effectively an extension of the most complex
ecosystem we know. Scale that into molecular ecology that involved
the plant chemistry reading our DNA and directly modifying the
evolution and development of our mind and you begin to realise that
we were not and could not be fully functioning once we were
chemically separated.
Any Change in Neural
Structure or Neurochemistry Alters Consciousness
Conclusion
Minutely modifying the
molecular structure or chemical cocktail of our brain radically
changes our sense of self, our psychology and behaviour, how we
perceive and react to each other and the world we create and inhabit.
We have recently had our brain structure and neurochemistry massively
and detrimentally altered so inevitably our state of mind and sense
of self has also massively and detrimentally altered. An accurate
account of the catastrophic failure of our consciousness system is
preserved in ancient mythology, a diagnosis of a progressive
neurodegenerative condition that results in severe and all
encompassing psychotic delusion. Evidence from several modern
scientific disciplines supports the ancient accounts and provides
compelling evidence of species wide hormonal ‘retardation’ of our
brain and associated dysfunction.
Expecting to address
the serious perceptual and psychological deficiencies that have
resulted without addressing the underlying structural damage and
neuro-chemical deficiencies is utterly futile and symptomatic of the
condition itself. All that is required to restore our sanity is to
repair the precise molecular structure and restore the neuro-chemical
regime that is absolutely essential to perceive reality. This is
already well within our reach and with a common sense approach likely
to yield spectacular results within a generation. While we may be
less aware than our ancestors we have the potential to mobilise the
industrial scale technologies and bio-sciences we have invented and
currently deploy to wage war on our selves or provide distraction
with endless plastic shit. It might be fitting to turn these machines
of destruction built on the broken backs and broken spirits of
millions of lives and lost generations to creating something other
than quiet desperation for a tiny minority and abject misery for
everyone else. Even a partial fix is likely to yield a profound
improvement in our mental health and bring with it the cognitive
capacity to effect a complete restoration. Prioritising anything
other than the immediate structural repair of our mind simply
highlights how far we have fallen into the abyss of our own insanity.
It may all seem just a
little challenging yet a solution would take a fraction of the
colossal effort and resource wasted every single day in maintaining
the unsustainable and destructive systems of control and the mindless
consumer societies we all inadvertently support. Of course it would
simply not be tenable to propose such a catastrophic failure if there
were not an overwhelming body of evidence to support it. Aside from
‘hard’ evidence that would have to exist in the biological
sciences it would require no more than reading a newspaper on any day
you like to see the scale and depth of perceptual and psychological
symptoms or if you are really brave just look in the mirror.
For introductory
reference material click here.
This modern
translation of the ancient science of the mind was brought to you
courtesy of a partially retrofitted and rebuilt neural system,
repeated periods of cerebral dominance reversal and the treatment of
chronic and clinical deficiency in neurochemistry via frequent self
medication and supplementation with neuro-chemical analogues.
For more information
visit leftinthedark.org.uk and beyond-belief.org.uk or read Left in
the Dark and find explanations to long standing enigmas such
as ‘why very big brains really do grow on trees’.
About the Author
While a student at
Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and preparing a short dissertation entitled
‘The Genetic Manipulation of Plants’, the subconscious seeds of a
revolutionary new theory were sown in Tony Wright’s mind. Over
the next 20 years a mixture of scientific curiosity and radical
self-experimentation resulted in the development of a simple idea
that explains the emergence of increasingly anomalous traits in human
evolution. From the rapid and accelerating expansion of our large
brain to the mysteries of our mind and the origins of spiritual
practice he has developed a new context in which we may understand
who we are and has provided a framework for the reunification of the
academic and spiritual science of consciousness.
This article is
offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it
anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain
intact.
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