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Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Spiritual Feelings

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Wonderlust

Rising Star
I saw a very interesting video today that seemed to have very much in common with the DMT experiences that I have read. A man is afflicted with temporal lobe seizures which produce very strong feelings of god and other spiritual experiences. Here are the videos, it is in 2 parts. The quality is good, you should watch it.


Professor Ramachandran argues that certain pathways when over excited in the temporal lobe can produce these feelings. I'm wondering if DMT's action on the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors are in any way associated with this? I don't know much about neuropsychology, but I find it pretty interesting and have been looking up some stuff about the way DMT takes action in the brain.

If any of the more experienced nexians could shed more light on this, it would be much appreciated.
 
Epilepsy is responsible for many so called revelations. Saul(changed name to Paul in Bible) on the road to Damascus in the Christan Bible is a nice story all about Epilepsy.

His disease changed his life and made him a Dogma Believer. He did good so I guess the truth does not matter? His disease made him conform and follow and he is remembered in history as a prophet.

Epilepsy is cool because it causes neurotransmitters to wack out brain function. No drugs involved just neurotransmitters now that is some holy stuff.

Minn Rocks:) :) I was born in Duluth.


Peace
 
Oh yeah, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. This guy in the video even says he would never give up his seizures because it has increased the quality of his life so much. I'm just wondering if DMT has any effect similar to this, considering they both share some key experiences.

"Epilepsy is cool because it causes neurotransmitters to wack out brain function. No drugs involved just neurotransmitters now that is some holy stuff."
-Well yeah, isn't that pretty much what drugs are? Just pseudo-neurotransmitters (that's fun to say :D )

Duluth is awesome! :D I love the Twin Cities too! although I honestly can't wait to get out of here and move to the west coast (hopefully Portland, Oregon)
 
Wonderlust - I'm still watching these (haven't gotten through them both yet), but this is some good stuff! Not all, but some of my spice journey's feel exactly like a chaotic firing of neurons, out of synch with the rest of the brain. With that said, I don't necessarily believe that what we as hyperspace travelers, or these temporal lobe epilepsy subjects experience, is just neural nonsense. I definitely have a suspicion / theory that these episodes are activating deep, extra-sensory (for lack of a better term), regions of our brains, or deep primordial memories, that can help us access significant knowledge, understanding, and other benefits from these experiences. I definitely think there is a connection to both types of experiences as some level, the question still remains however, "at what level is the connection (if any), and what is its significance"?

Thanks for sharing!

Peace,
-idt
 
As soon as I saw the title I knew what the video was going to be. It's part of a whole documentry on the human brain and I highly recommened you search for the whole thing, I believe it's called "Phantoms in the brain", and he covers lots of things from Phantom Limb syndrome to this temporal lobe epilepsy and includes possible explanatations for why it occurs. I have it saved on my hard drive and it never ceases to amaze me the potential of the human brain, plus I think Professor Ramachandran is very good at articulating some complex descriptions to the layman.

Methtical
 
Yep, I actually watched the whole thing today in AP Psych. It was an episode from the popular NOVA series on PBS. The phantom limb stuff is really really interesting. I too think Ramachandran is really amazing at figuring out the causes behind the patients unique "abilities" and explaining it in an understandable manner. Plus, he rolls his R's like none else!!! :lol:

I just decided to look up these clips and relay them to the Nexus because they really stuck out to me today when I watched them in class.


EDIT - The second clip is the most interesting. Especially when Ramachandran starts talking about emotional salience and a possible explanation behind the feeling of "the whole universe in a grain of sand" and that sort of stuff.
 
Hey good peoples. There is also another documentary on this. It is a Horizon doco called God on the brain. Its really interesting.
 
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