body, mind and soul (ACh, dopa, sero)

[WSH]

body -> ACh -> e.g. digestion

mind -> dopa -> moderate doses cause mental acuity, high doses cause overactivity of the mind -> paranoia

soul -> sero -> e.g. DMT causes spiritual experiences

 

[Jabberwocky]

the distinction between body, mind and soul can be further expanded. The mind actually consists of two perceptual bodies: the mental and the emotional. These are distinct modes of perception. Body, mind and soul are better categorized as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual/vibrational. Now your breakdown of these bodies in terms of neurotransmitters has a more meaningful parallel

Physical -> ACh
Mental -> dopamine
Emotional -> serotonin

While I don't totally agree with this I will grant you some correlation. Spiritual shouldn't really be associated with a neurotransmitter. You might argue things that decrease brain activity like meditation, sensory deprivation, nmda antagonists are the closest parallel to spiritual agents.

 

[Xorkoth]

I think this is an interesting thought, but at best it's a vast oversimplification. Also, ACh's primary effects are on the mind, associated with learning and memory. never even knew it had anything to do with digestion.

 

[Gnostic Bishop]

body -> ACh -> e.g. digestion

mind -> dopa -> moderate doses cause mental acuity, high doses cause overactivity of the mind -> paranoia

soul -> sero -> e.g. DMT causes spiritual experiences

No one has ever come out of a spiritual experience, drug induced or not, with anything new for us to digest.

Does God have nothing new to say?

Regards
DL

 

[Xorkoth]

Huh? I'd say plenty of people come out of spiritual experiences with tons of new material to digest. I did, when I had mine. Not sure what that has to do with this thread though.

 

[NiceEnough]

I regularly have spiritual experiences through my meditation practice, and I guess having done such a lot of psychedelics and engaged in spiritual practice for many years I like to look at as much of my life as I can in a spiritual, transformative way. But there is always loads of material to digest, just like after a good trip. But yeah, seems like this is going a bit off-thread topic. I agree with Xorkoth that the premise oversimplifies matters a lot. Things are quite a bit more complex. Brain chemistry and how different neurotransmitters relate to different physical or mental functions is definitely much more multi-layered and complex, for example.

 

[WSH]

While I don't totally agree with this I will grant you some correlation. Spiritual shouldn't really be associated with a neurotransmitter. You might argue things that decrease brain activity like meditation, sensory deprivation, nmda antagonists are the closest parallel to spiritual agents.

But nmda antagonist's effect are ALSO dependant on sero:

Ketamine elicits sustained antidepressant-like activity via a serotonin-dependent mechanism.

Without serotonin ketamine (serotonin depletion) is worthless

 

[Jabberwocky]

So this is bound to be a qualitative comparison. I'm happy to share my understanding of the perceptual bodies and my very incomplete understanding of neuroscience and do a first pass comparison, which I don't think is the right way to group these things honestly. This is bound to offend someone with a much higher level of sophistication in neuroscience, but whatever. That article sort of backs it up even more though.

So consider serotonin and drugs like Prozac, MDMA, LSD etc whose action is on serotonin related mechanisms on the brain. These drugs are all capabale of altering your felt-perception of reality. That's the emotional body. Well, according to the teachings as synthesized by Michael Brown in The Presence Process and understood by countless others. The emotional body is the gateway to the spiritual body which I often call the vibrational body since it's a less loaded term and points to what it is experienced as. The emotional body often block the spiritual body from our awareness. That's why lsd, for example, is often accompanied by spiritual experience. You feel things deeply which then creates an opening for vibrational perception.

That perception seems to be associated with spiritual experiences. It is also linked with near death experiences, sensory deprivation, meditation, breathwork, and dissociatives. That adding a bit of serotonin to the mix would further enhance that doesn't really surprise me. Rather than anethesizing, you facilitate the conditions for experiencing something of a vibrational nature.