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8 circuits of Consciousness and which DRUGS them on

ShinjiEva69

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
147
(Taken from SA)

********WARNING - LONG READ**********

Would help to read if you're high or on something =)

Not sure if this is a repost, but it is a very good read.

sources which I mixed together:
http://norlonto.net/index.cfm/actio.../itemID/46/pg/1
http://www.deoxy.org/8circuit.htm

Timothy Leary's Eight Circuits of Consciousness

Basically he theorizes that we use the left side of our brain right which contain circuits that have been turned on during evolution, but on the mostly inactive ride side of our brain, we have circuits for our future evolution which can be turned on by certain drugs ways.

The first four circuits are the ones that are active as 1 being the oldest

"NOTICE how drugs that stimulate the first four circuits, which are already activated, tend to be dangerously addictive, roughly ordered ascending from the first circuit. -deoxy



Future Circuits

8 Spiritual Cosmic: ketamine, high dosage DXM, high dosage nitrous, jimson weed, DMT, high dosage LSD

7 Mythic Immortal: high dose LSD, Datura, DMT
6 Psychic Psionic: shrooms, mescaline, peyote, LSD, mornin glory

5 Sensory Hedonic: MDMA (ecstasy), marijuana, opium, low shroom dose

Past Circuits

4 Social Civilized: unknown
3 Conceptual Paleolithic: stimulants, nicotine
2 Emotional Mammalian: alcohol, amyl nitrate
1 Physical Invertebrate: opiates, benzo's, prozac, PCP, prozac, nicotine




"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.


I. THE BIO-SURVIVAL CIRCUIT
This invertebrate brain was the first to evolve (2 to 3 million 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.

"Preoccupies itself with physical safety and biological survival. Revolves around basic security needs and the warm, buzzy nodding sensations of infant bliss and being taken care of at the most primary levels of existence: food, shelter and enough sleep. When frustrated or over-emphasized the search for security intensifies, becomes an obsession and finally an addiction. Security Addiction expresses the lowest energy state of all trances. When the needs of this center are fulfilled, one lives with the knowledge of being a "survivor" with some ability to stabilize and secure others. SECURITY CATALYSTS: Food, water, shelter, sleep, maternal lactation, Valium, 3-6 hrs. of television, Prozac, all sedatives, nicotine, most pain-killers, PCP, morphine and heroin. Any drug acting on the breathing mechanism of the brain stem by slowing it down and, by overdose, stopping it entirely. OVERDOSE SYMPTOMS: Survival anxiety. The fear of: dying, of living, of eating (bolemia & anorexia), of chaos and of dirt. Obesity and malnutrition."



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.

"Emotions as territorial signals. The compulsion for self-expression and personal freedom. Churns on the more aggressive emotional needs for dominance (political force), status, and self-esteem. Flight-or-fight reflex producing adrenaline rushes when confronting danger and personal triumph, as well as the depression and anxiety attacks often associated with low self-worth, feelings of helplessness and self-diminishment. When frustrated or over-emphasized, emotions inflate and/or deflate yielding conditions of taking oneself too seriously and/or not seriously enough. Mood swings. Emotional and Sexual Addictions. When emotional needs are satisfied, ego-strength and autonomy develop with some ability to excite, motivate and provoke others. EMOTIONAL CATALYSTS: Alcohol beverages. Amyl nitrate. Temper tantrums. Shouting matches. Military marches. Martial arts. High volume rock 'n' roll. Slamdancing. Reichian therapy. Any "drug" relaxing emotional inhibitions or catalyzing catharsis. OVERDOSE SYMPTOMS: Anxiety. Hypertension. Hysteria. Emotional dissipation and debilitation. Emotional numbness and vacancy."



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.

"Learning intellectual and linguistic skills for grasping and communicating ideas. Spins off conceptual needs for solving problems, defining terms, making maps, and articulating meaning. The central nervous system buzz of stimulating conversation, thinking, writing, reading and other symbolic and mathematical acts. When over-emphasized, one feels "locked inside one's head" with the angst of conceptual redundancy. Word Trance. Symbolic Addictions. When frustrated, psychological fears of becoming "stupid" or "insane" or "misinformed" or "meaningless" confuse thought processes. When satisfied, intellect and language develop coherency to support meaningful communication with others; one can "say what one means and mean what one says". SEMANTIC CATALYSTS: Reading, writing, arithmetic, speech, speaking on the telephone, nicotine, caffeine, sugar, chocolate, diet pills, amphetamines, cocaine. Consistent exposure to computer monitors, Internet and other on-line virtual communication systems. Any "drugs" acting on the various nervous systems as a stimulant to quicken thinking, speech patterns and symbolic associations. OVERDOSE SYMPTOMS: Nervousness. Thinking or talking too much. Mental exhaustion. "Neurosis.""




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.

NOTICE how drugs that stimulate the first four circuits, which are already activated, tend to be dangerously addictive, roughly ordered ascending from the first circuit. -deoxy

"Development of personality in context to society. Social needs for belonging, getting along with people, developing friendships, romance, courtships, partnerships, marriages, domestication, family, and those morals and ethics maintaining community interest. The push and pull of attracting and repulsing forces—estrogen, testosterone & other growth hormones—influencing likes, dislikes, procreative love, mating rituals, domestic and community structures, and the morals and beliefs surrounding relations with others. When over-emphasized, personal identity homogenizes, or blends, into herd or tribal mentality. Social and Moral Addictions. When frustrated, the individual experiences alienation, marginalization and degrees of abandonment by the tribe, sometimes resulting in "psychopathic criminal retribution". As social needs are satisfied, a well-adjusted personality finds "its people" while defining and claiming its unique behavioral and ethical code amidst a society far too complex to always condone them. SOCIAL CATALYSTS: Social rituals, parties and gatherings. Cultural events and concerts. Church. Any "drugs" delivering social or community acceptance or sexual approval in exchange for submission to externally-imposed behavioral standards and moralities. Most television programs. Organized Religion. Mass Media. Corporate Advertising. The Welfare State. Social Security. Fascism. OVERDOSE SYMPTOMS: Loss of personality, autonomy and self as individual identity. Guilt complex, i.e. confusion between the morality of others and one's own ethics"





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.

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."

"Disconnected from previous goals and survival concerns of Circuits 1-4, this first of four "post-survival" centers opens the five senses as the chief source of all life and relevant information. Being Here Now. The natural sensory rhythms and impulses of the body uncensored by mental, emotional or moral intervention. The hedonic needs for rapture, bliss and ecstatic experience. The post-survival quest for nirvana. When frustrated, the despair and spiritual discontent of "entrapment in the corporeal world of survival issues." When over-emphasized, excessive hedonism becomes debauch, dispersion and disintegration of personal integrity of concentration, i.e., "spaced out bliss ninnies." Ecstasy Junkies. When hedonic needs are met, a state of charismatic magnetism infuses the personality, as seen with some rock stars, film celebrities and performing artists. HEDONIC CATALYSTS: Empathogens (MDMA, etc.), cannabis, opium, hashish, lower doses of psilocybin. Tantric and Hatha yoga, listening to music (subjective assessment), sex magick, performing live dance and live theatre, Sufi whirling dervishes, ecstatic pagan rituals, falling in love, endorphin rushes from "second wind" states (long distance running and working out), verbal fasting (mandatory silence), zen meditation. OVERDOSE SYMPTOMS: "Spaciness." Loss of meaningful connection with "consensus reality" sometimes showing poor time management and an oblivion to the emotions, thoughts and ethics of others. Time/spatial disorientation and distortions. Difficulty articulating, i.e. "Like, wow, man...""

WHat do you think?
 
God I fucking love Timothy Leary's stuff. He's soo fucking cool.


~Yes, I'm stoned.
 
Even if we were to assume the spiritual underpinning of this system exists, this scale is far too subjective and qualitative to be useful. One man's enlightenment is another man's bad trip...
 
I liked reading that. Interesting stuff and makes me think about a few subjects in a different way.
 
Leary used a very scientific approach.

Explanation is subjective though.
 
Leary did do some interesting work in personality theory prior to giving up science to become a self styled LSD prophet.... of course later on there are a lot of allegations that he became a CIA operative in exchange for the government letting him off the hook on a variety of charges...

If you think about it, his what he advocated was about as detrimental to the "movement's" public image as anything possibly could be...
 
I don't see how this system of thought is in any way effective. It seems rather pointless to me...
 
He's building upon the view of the brain as a series of modules that have evolved separately and been sort of stacked on top of one another. this view has some support from neuroscience (often you will hear about the "reptilian hindbrain," the "mammalian brain," and the "neo-mammalian cortex," as referring to the hindbrain, midbrain, and frontal lobes/neocortex).

Unfortunately, I think this isn't really a scientific theory, he created this system when he was deep into his messianic complex. His previous work on game theory and the personae as distinct sub-personalities that are variable within different social contexts was very interesting, though.
 
This thread makes baby jesus cry.

Though I might add that the theory of brain evolution as a modular expantion has a LOT of backing by neuroscientists. It really makes sense, if you believe in evolution. Any new bit that gets added on, chances are, is going to have to work with the old bit, because the chances of evolving a working new bit and old bit are so small.

As more mutations causes more bits to get added on, the old bits could be the bits that are subject to the mutation, to allow them to work better with the new bits.
 
^I agree with what you're saying. I just don't see the advantages of his system of thinking.
 
As much as I'd love to believe all this (I LOVE psychedelics, and I do believe they can open higher states of conciousness (just look at Hendrix)) I just don't believe in what was said here. I guess I need some logical proof or a fact rather than just one man's perception.
 
i much prefer Huxley to Leary.... if the psychedelic movement had followed Huxley's lead the word might not be so taboo today....
 
I really like this theory.

I have felt Level 5... specifically while stoned. The bliss, the hedonism resulting from sensory perception... it is there.
 
I didn't read the longer explanations.

But why is opium somehow superior to all the other opiates? What bullshit.

Plus, both opium and weed are heavily abused....
 
fairnymph said:
But why is opium somehow superior to all the other opiates?

I didn't really understand that either! Maybe something to do with opium being a cocktail of opiates?:\
 
I don't think it is about opium being "superior" it is just that that is the drug that opens that state of awareness.


what i don't get...s.m.i.i.l.e. Do leary, raw, and company believe in this as a metaphorical or literal space migration?? Are they referring to mind expansion to a point where the mind is all that is needed? I mean, i recall readin about the DNA signals signaling extraterrestrial migration, but I don't think they mean this literally. Any thoughts?? I have wanted to discuss this many times, noone is ever interested!!

***************************************
here is a good beginners guide so to speak i saved awhile back when first reading info psychology, in anyone is interested.

1st circuit: Survival/security
Things are okay or they're not, or somewhere in between. This is connected to the first source of these things: nursing at Mom's nipple. People who take an imprint that things aren't safe all the time may compensate by eating, especially sweet things, pudding, 'nursery food' that makes them feel better for a while. This imprint is taken very early, in nursing. It's what's known in developmental psychology as 'oral'.

2nd circuit: Territorial/Emotional
This is a very particular definition of 'emotional' - are you feeling up or down? Are you on top of the world or down in the dumps? This is related to basic primate pecking order stuff- who's the big tough dog and who's the little submissive dog? Later, when you get your own turf where you can be a little king, you can defend it against others by throwing shit at each other (in the form of words, lawsuits, horn honking, or however you prefer to 'dump on' people).

This corresponds to the 'anal' stage, and the first imprints are taken during toilet training - this develops greatly when the kid starts playing with other kids and finding out where they stand - big kids are always telling little kids what to do.

3rd circuit: Conceptual
This kicks in even before school- kids are hungry to learn. This circuit is the ability to make mental models of things, which help you 'figure things out' and 'be clever'. The imprint you take is whether you feel smart or stupid (which is different from BEING smart or stupid!) Sometimes people who have a bad time in other circuits compensate in 3rd circuit - actually, that can happen with any of them. Note also that there are different KINDS of intelligence- verbal, mathematical, visual/spatial, musical, etc, etc... but as Robert Anton Wilson says, "...the people with the verbal intelligence have control of thelanguage, so they call themselves THE intellectuals." My father, who is a clinical psychologist, always mentions a particular basketball player (I forget who) whom he claims is a genius in spatial/motor intelligence, regardless of the fact that the guy probably reads on a 7th grade level.

4th circuit: Social/Sexual
Whereas 2nd circuit deals with who bosses who, 4th deals with who is cool. What this comes down to is that depending on whether someone is cool or not, you'd let them get close to you or not, running a spectrum from not talking to someone at all (the snub) to having sex with them, with many subtle shades in between. It goes both ways- how cool are you? Are there people that you aren't cool enough to talk to? "Oh, I could never ask HER/HIM out..." The imprint you take here is how cool you feel, and how hard you have to work to feel that way.

Everyone has these circuits, but some people get stuck on one or another of them, usually because they've got some problem to work out in that area. Often one circuit gets to be a surrogate for another (especially if the other is underdeveloped) - the classic example is the pathetic (i.e. poor 2nd circuit imprint) nerd who tries to out-talk his buddies to show how smart he is (3rd circuit), in order to be an authority to them (2nd circuit dominance).

One of the ideas that came up in LSD research was the idea that you reach a state of flux in which new imprints can be taken. This is very much in agreement with ideas about set and setting, but as most people who have taken LSD agree, while everything seems to change after the experience, after a while you slip back into the old patterns (witness all the flower children who, unlike the few with real dedication, slipped back to become businessmen of the 80's).

Whether this slipback is really inherent in the function of the LSD trip is not certain, though - it may be caused by going back into one's regular environment, which has been shaped by everything one was before. Under the pressure of conformity to the old status quo, one slips back.

Leary felt that the goal was to work out the circuits so that one had imprints that led to a happy, healthy life, but without having to always have things one way - people who have to always be on top never learn about service, those who always have to feel secure never learn to take risks, etc. Ultimately, the circuits would be there to plug into and out of at Will, while one navigated through the upper circuits:

The upper circuits deal with mystical, psychic, or paranormal consciousness. They are built on the foundation of the lower circuits, almost as 'overdriven' versions of them. Interestingly, they correspond well with ideas from many spritual traditions.

5th circuit: Bliss/Healing, Neurosomatic Feedback
When 1st circuit security gets great enough, it becomes bliss, as one becomes aware of one's sensation of pleasure and learns to generate those sensations at the source. This is the SF brainbox that directly stimulates one's pleasure centers, only the box is also your brain! This feedback loop gets going, and one may remain in the state until kicked out for some reason (the world makes demands, or the chemical that boosted you into the state wears off). Ever seen a picture of a meditating yogi in bliss? In this state, you realize you can make yourself feel bliss just as easily as you can move your muscles or keep still. When this awareness is applied to others, the 5th circuit energy works to help their 1st circuit state - this is the principle of healing.

6th circuit: Psychic
This is awareness of the great information network in which we swim.

7th circuit: Mythical Intelligence
This is the realm of the shaman, of spirit animals, Gods and Goddesses. It is the Dreamtime. 3rd circuit draws models of specifics in the conscious world. 7th circuits draws models of the patterns of archetype that make up the unconscious world. It does this by telling stories that illustrate the patterns that arise from these archetypes. When 7th circuit awareness is working, one realizes how these patterns are being played out, and instead of just acting in the world, one is at the same time coming into direct contact with the archetypal.

8th circuit: Out-of-Body Experiences, Factor X, and ????
This is the far reaches, and not much is really understood about it. Since 4th circuit has to do with letting others get close and even (especially in the case of sexuality) merging with them, it makes sense that 8th might have to do with overcoming the obtacle of one's physical boundaries.
 
very cool thread :)

why didn't the original poster explore levels 6-8?
i was curious :(

crystalcallas, i didn't think you'd be interested in leary
:) very cool

i have a lotta anti-brain-model stuff to say
but i'm gonna leave it out
cause it's just me rambling ;)
 
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