5 replies to this topic

[Starlyte]

Of Serotonin and Spirituality

Scientists see a biological underpinning for religiosity, and it is related to the neurotransmitter serotonin.

By: PT Staff

Serotonin, the brain chemical crucial to mood and motivation, also shapes personality to make you susceptible to spiritual experiences. A team of Swedish researchers has found that the presence of a receptor that regulates general serotonin activity in the brain correlates with people's capacity for transcendence, the ability to apprehend phenomena that cannot be explained objectively. Scientists have long suspected that serotonin influences spirituality because drugs known to alter serotonin such as LSD also induce mystical experiences. But now they have proof from brain scans linking the capacity for spirituality with a major biological element.

Full article link: http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20040206-000004.html

I found this article interesting. Serotonin levels effect so much. I don't know what it is like to have a mystical experience, but then again my sertononin levels are not  as high as they should be so maybe that explains things. However, I find myself to be a spiritual person. My spirituality is what gets me through most good or bad times in my life. I also think that our culture, and how we are raised also play a big part in our spirituality. Whether or not we question that which we are taught is up to us.

Blessings,
Starlyte

[greggK]

There is 5-HTP, Serotonin, all through the body and 5-MTP, Melatonin, only in the pineal gland and the retinas of each eye.  But, have you been taught this?

  The pineal contains a pair of enzymes hydroxyindole—O-methyl transferase (HIOMT) and indole-N-methyl transferase (INMT) which are able to convert serotonin into a number of potent hallucinogens (Most, 1986). If you increase the concentration of pineal serotonin and block its normal enzymatic inactiva-tion, it becomes a substrate for other pineal enzymes, like HIOMT and INMT which are methyl transfer enzymes that catalyse the transfer of a methyl group from one compound to another. Thus serotonin can be converted to, for example, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyl tryptamine by these enzymes, a hallucinogen similar to the DMT found in cawa which the Amazonian Indians add to their Banisteriopsis brew (Most, 1986).
Normally serotonin is inactivated by the mitochondrial enzyme, monoamine oxidase (MAO), which converts it to an inactive metabolite. MAO is the major enzyme involved in the breakdown and inactivation of serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Thus any enzyme which interferes with MAO will cause a build up in serotonin levels, which will lead to the pineal gland making endogenous hallucinogens. Harmala alkaloids are serotonin antagonists, CNS stimulants, hallucinogens and extremely potent, short-term MAO inhibitors.
http://www.metafysiko.org/index.php?module...=read&id=30
______________________________________________________

DMT is the stuff that the Mayans were using to come up with their spiritual regurgitations.  Especially in their work on the calendars.  And with spiritual happenings, Seratonin levels must be up, but with the seratonin level up, that causes the pineal gland and the retinas to produce Melatonin, which is a CNS depressant.
It is a dangerous thing to mess with mother nature.  If your system does not produce anything or enough of the different enzymes and inhibitors to have any experience of a spiritual nature and you try and increase one thing, your body produces the opposite.  If you increase seratonin, your body produces melatonin to counteract it.  Then your body goes into depression.  
Your body has an internal clock; a very precise internal clock.  Using this internal clock, a signal is sent to each organ of the body to empty itself, clean itself.  At precisely 3 AM, this happens.  That's why some people have to wake up in the middle of the night, usually around 3 AM, to pee.  
See, there is more involved with anything spiritual when pertaining to the body than seratonin or melatonin that cannot be reproduced artificially outside of the body.

Edited by greggK, 17 July 2008 - 02:14 PM.

[John from Lowell]

Starlyte on Jul 16 2008, 08:37 PM, said:

I found this article interesting. Serotonin levels effect so much. I don't know what it is like to have a mystical experience, but then again my sertononin levels are not  as high as they should be so maybe that explains things. However, I find myself to be a spiritual person. My spirituality is what gets me through most good or bad times in my life. I also think that our culture, and how we are raised also play a big part in our spirituality. Whether or not we question that which we are taught is up to us.

Blessings,
Starlyte

I like your thoughts on our culture and your perceptions on what we are taught.

BTW I also think your drawings are excellent. Enjoy being true to yourself in all that you do.

John

[crystal sage]

I've really been interested in this topic...

This is  some of what I've come up with so far...

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...showtopic=88235

It is when the CNS is depressed that most of the healing, repairing is done, spiritually ,mentally and physically.

Frankincense and Myrrh increase the levels of Melatonin.

Quote

http://www.karenlyster.com/genesis2.html
The Sumerian annals relate that Cain's son, King Etâna, partook of the Plant of Birth in order to father his own son and heir, King Baali, while the Plant of Birth was itself associated with individual longevity and the office of kingship. It was, in practice, related to Star Fire and to pineal gland activity, and partaking from the Plant of Birth was the ritual of ingesting the Star Fire: the Anunnaki female essence, which they called the 'nectar of supreme excellence'.A Star Fire recipient King was considered to have become qualified for kingship when he reached a predestined state of enlightened consciousness - a state when his aptitudes for wisdom and leadership had been enhanced to a realm of kingship called the Malkű. It was from this Mesopotamian word that the Hebrews derived their words malchus (king) and malkhut (kingdom).

Only in very recent times have medical scientists identified the hormonal secretion of the pineal gland. It was finally isolated in 1968 and the essence was called melatonin, which means 'night-worker' (from the Greek melos, meaning 'black', and tosos, meaning 'labour'). Those with a high melatonin output react strongly against sunlight, which affects their mental capability. They are essentially night operatives and melatonin is called the 'hormone of darkness', being produced only at night or out of sunlight. Exposure to an excess of sunlight actually makes the pineal gland smaller and lessens spiritual awareness, whereas darkness and high pineal activity enhance the keen intuitive knowledge of the subtle mind, while reducing the stress factor.

Melatonin enhances and boosts the body's immune system, and those with high pineal secretion are less likely to develop cancerous diseases. High melatonin production heightens energy, stamina and physical tolerance levels. It is also directly related to sleep patterns, keeping the body temperately regulated with properties that operate through the cardiovascular system. Melatonin is, in fact, the body's most potent and effective antioxidant and it has positive mental and physical anti-ageing properties. This valuable hormone is manufactured by the pineal gland through activating a chemical messenger called serotonin, which transmits nerve impulses across chromosome-pairs at a point called meiosis. This is the moment when the cell nuclei are divided and the chromosomes are halved, to eventually be combined with other half-sets upon fertilization.

Pine-resin was long identified with pineal secretion and was used to make frankincense (the incense of priesthood). Gold, on the other hand, was a traditional symbol of kingship. Hence, gold and frankincense were the traditional substances of the priest-kings of the Messianic line, along with myrrh (a gum resin used as a medical sedative), which was symbolic of death. In the ancient world, higher knowledge was identified as daäth (from which comes the word death). Indeed, the New Testament describes that these three substances, gold, frankincense and myrrh, were presented to Jesus by the Magi, thereby identifying him, beyond doubt, as a hereditary priest-king of the Dragon succession.

http://www.geocities.com/richard_holmes/es...c/melatonin.htm

[puridalan]

greggK on Jul 17 2008, 02:10 PM, said:

There is 5-HTP, Serotonin, all through the body and 5-MTP, Melatonin, only in the pineal gland and the retinas of each eye.  But, have you been taught this?

  The pineal contains a pair of enzymes hydroxyindole—O-methyl transferase (HIOMT) and indole-N-methyl transferase (INMT) which are able to convert serotonin into a number of potent hallucinogens (Most, 1986). If you increase the concentration of pineal serotonin and block its normal enzymatic inactiva-tion, it becomes a substrate for other pineal enzymes, like HIOMT and INMT which are methyl transfer enzymes that catalyse the transfer of a methyl group from one compound to another. Thus serotonin can be converted to, for example, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyl tryptamine by these enzymes, a hallucinogen similar to the DMT found in cawa which the Amazonian Indians add to their Banisteriopsis brew (Most, 1986).
Normally serotonin is inactivated by the mitochondrial enzyme, monoamine oxidase (MAO), which converts it to an inactive metabolite. MAO is the major enzyme involved in the breakdown and inactivation of serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Thus any enzyme which interferes with MAO will cause a build up in serotonin levels, which will lead to the pineal gland making endogenous hallucinogens. Harmala alkaloids are serotonin antagonists, CNS stimulants, hallucinogens and extremely potent, short-term MAO inhibitors.
http://www.metafysiko.org/index.php?module...=read&id=30
______________________________________________________

DMT is the stuff that the Mayans were using to come up with their spiritual regurgitations.  Especially in their work on the calendars.  And with spiritual happenings, Seratonin levels must be up, but with the seratonin level up, that causes the pineal gland and the retinas to produce Melatonin, which is a CNS depressant.
It is a dangerous thing to mess with mother nature.  If your system does not produce anything or enough of the different enzymes and inhibitors to have any experience of a spiritual nature and you try and increase one thing, your body produces the opposite.  If you increase seratonin, your body produces melatonin to counteract it.  Then your body goes into depression.  
Your body has an internal clock; a very precise internal clock.  Using this internal clock, a signal is sent to each organ of the body to empty itself, clean itself.  At precisely 3 AM, this happens.  That's why some people have to wake up in the middle of the night, usually around 3 AM, to pee.  
See, there is more involved with anything spiritual when pertaining to the body than seratonin or melatonin that cannot be reproduced artificially outside of the body.

Okay, I've had insomnia for a while, it's gotten a lot better now because I am not eating specific things...long story. Anywho, my internal clock is still set different from most I am more of a nocturnal person. I've tried everything from no napping, sleeping drugs, clinics, herbs, all the rules like don't eat four hours before bed, eat some bread w/turkey, drink x amount of water, exercise four hours before bed...none of it worked. What does that mean? Also, I am a very intuned type of person, but I do not halluicinate. They tried to get me to take serotonin/melatonin/tripthaphan...it obviously didn't do any good. I am an empath, see vibrations that translate into colors from peoples problem areas...but then how do I not have high serotonin?

I know that their can be other hormonal imbalances, because a lot of empaths are more hormonal. And actually I had high prolatcin levels/low glucose...but it would go in and out and they never could figure out what it was. Until one man knew that it was my pancreas that was out of control, bascially making my liver inactive...hence making me able to have hyper sensative smell, taste, light issues. With extreme diet I am slowly reversing some of it, but empathy is still there with balanced hormone levels, also smell...light isn't as horrible but it's still strong. Is it just the wiring or what? Curious on your thoughts

[Mr Walker]

Perhaps seratonin is to spiritual acuity what rods and cones are to visual acuity. A necessary biological part of the process.

On the other hand, it is not the complete answer. Many spiritual/paranormal events are real, and have a verifiable effect on the real physical environment around them, whether or not those experiencing them have increased seratonoin levels.
Just because a blind man cant see events transpiring around him does not mean that those events are not actually occuring in the objective /real universe.