What is the Pineal Gland?
Short answer: it’s a conical bit in your
brain that releases some hormones. The long answer is being argued about. It might be that the pineal gland
releases DMT at the point of death, rocketing our souls into another dimension
to become machine elves. It might do nothing of the sort. So, what do we know
that the pineal gland definitely does?
Regulates circadian rhythm
through melatonin
Regulation and interpretation
of endocrine system and signals
These two broad spheres are where the
pineal is definitely understood to be
doing things. If you remember much of biology class, you will know that
melatonin tells our bodies when to go to sleep, and regulates breeding cycles
in animals that have them. If you’ve ever done shift work and tried to get to
sleep during the day, you’ve known the particular hell of not being able to
drop off. That’s partly down to melatonin only being produced under dark
conditions.
Alright, biology class is over. What about
some history?
Well, Rick
Strassman (DMT: The Spirit Molecule) contends a few things about the pineal
gland. Some of which have been taken with and run so we have today a mind-boggling
array of conspiracy theories.
Depending on who
you read, that means fluoride in the water is calcifying your head and if you
could just stop the Illuminati, then you could see aliens.
Dr Strassman, understandably as a legitimate researcher in the
field of entheogens, has been none too impressed with useless hippies taking
his research in entirely the wrong way. The guy is researching the awesome
properties of DMT and apparently that’s not awesome enough for some folk, so we
have the gamut of misinformed woo-woo we have today.
Suffice to say
that the numerous diets and tips for decalcifying your pineal gland are utter
rubbish pushed by the same kind of idiots who mysteriously end up with a house
full of kids with whooping cough because, like, vaccines don’t cause autism,
Obama.
"I know of no evidence that
DMT is produced anywhere in the
body. It’s chemical structure is similar
to serotonin and melatonin, but their endogenous actions are very different
from DMT." -Dr. Bryan Yamamoto, Chair of Neuroscience,
University of Toledo.
This isn't
to say that the pineal gland hasn’t been an important part of the
spiritual world for some centuries. Many disparate cultures have revered this
biologically ancient gland. It is the seat of the Ajna (brow) chakra, the eye of the soul according to Descartes,
and the Upper Dan Tien in Taoism. Practitioners of Tai Chi out there will
recognise Dan Tien as the spinning ball of energy situated at the navel that we
spend hours trying to get flowing with Qigong.
For the layman, consider that the power of
internal martial arts is drawn from Dan
Tien- it is the life energy within us, it is ultimate Tai Chi. Even more
familiar religious sects have third eye lore, referenced both in the Bible and
in numerous Hindu texts as being the receptacle for prana. The pineal gland is literally
a light detecting third eye.
For some reason, separated by thousands of
miles and entire epochs of time, we humans have returned to the pineal gland
again and again and attributed analogous
qualities to it. This is a great mystery,
but we might be able to understand why it holds such importance. Consider this:
the pineal gland is one of the most ancient parts of our brain, evolutionarily
speaking. It is situated almost dead centre of the grey matter, equidistant between our biological eyes. Lizards, our long
removed cousins on the tree of life, have pineal glands that still work as high
functioning light detectors. At one time, ours did the same job, and still
retain this role to a certain extent.
The positioning and biological function of
the pineal lend itself well as both the seat of consciousness and also a link
to other states of consciousness achieved through meditation (or the aforementioned DMT). This is where a healthy chunk of sceptical thinking should come
into play. Perhaps it is so that the pineal
gland is our gateway to other dimensions. This gateway appears to be closed
without the influence of either the most powerful entheogenic substance on
Earth or some pretty hardcore meditation training.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
Because this,
therefore because of this. It is a false cause fallacy
that is so old they wrote it in Latin. What this means is that the result being
a thing does not necessarily mean that the cause must be what it appears. We do
not meditate solely from our pineal glands. We do not practice Tai Chi or
Qigong or take part in Ayahuasca ceremonies with our pineal glands alone. Eating algae or taking melatonin supplements will most likely not awaken you to
alternate dimensions.
What I am saying is this. We need to stop
focusing on this one part of the brain as if it is the key to unlocking all
doors. Our minds and bodies are the keys
and the door both in one. Sure, you can eat the right things to help the pineal
gland, but eating spirulina supplements will do little if it’s washed down with
a cheeseburger.
The meditative practices we undergo are
useless if we are locked in egoic thinking and think that saying Namaste to
everyone makes us enlightened. Life is a full body experience, the complex, harmonious organism of you is not built around a tiny gland in your head.
Go ahead, activate your pineal gland with
meditation and drumming. That is
awesome. But, let us not think that’s the only purpose. We have the ability to
expand our consciousness for a reason, and that reason is to enable better to look outward, as well as
inwards. We connect to other dimensions every day- but these are dimensions
that begin within us.
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