Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

What is the genius that is potentially available to all of us? I think this is what neuroscience tries to indirectly explain. “At present our powers of creative consciousness are largely kept literally at a dream level” (Paige). Jung deeply analyzed dreams and the psyche stating that symbols and the meanings we give them are all apart of our psyche (Vesna Lecture II). Is it possible that there is something in the world that can root us to our conscious making it possible for us to physically manifest and understand our greatest dreams? After watching the movie “DMT The Spirit Molecule” I am beginning to think humans can regain connection to a plane of consciousness we lost long ago.

There is a new drug called dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and is thought to be produced by your pineal gland (Hanna). It is the most potent psychedelic known to man, and the craziest thing about it is that it is completely natural and the brain produces it every night when we sleep and right before we die (Hanna). Where it gets more strange is when we start looking to the one and only person who was brave enough to conduct scientific DMT research, Rick Strassman.

DMT opens up a new, vast, and beautifully stunning world for scientists and artists all around. A DMT hallucination is not like taking LSD or mushrooms. Countless artists have created videos, audio, and pictures trying to depict and recreate the marvelous journeys they had while under the influence of DMT. Strassman speaks in his book about how most of his tests subjects believe that they traveled into an alternate universe, and how he believes that this universe is inhabited by conscious entities

(Strassman).

However, the government has tried to do everything it its power to ban medical studies involving hallucinogens. It is almost as if the government has realized the potential of drugs like DMT and are afraid of what may happen if they lose control. “The government does not want us to expand our consciousness. If we being to recognize that we are powerful souls who create our reality, it will take away their [the government] power to enslave us” (Knowledge of Today). There is a reason why existence beyond the human body is so fascinating to artists and scientists alike, and I think it is because dreams and the unconscious mind is the root in discovering the beauty in being human and will give us purpose and power to change a realty that so many have become so disillusioned and unhappy about.

“At the center of awareness lies a simple, natural molecule that potentially exists in all living organisms. A molecule that consistently produces a mystical experience, and may be the seed to the ultimate connection to it” (Knowledge of Today). It would be so wrong for humans to ignore the wealth of knowledge we have gained from research conducted by people like Rick Strassman. It is wrong for artists and scientists to just re-enact, come up with theories, and have to draw pictures of the beauty that this molecule holds. The only way we will know for sure is if we dive deeper into the mind and open our consciousness to things we never imagined were possible.

References 

DMT Mantra. NewGrounds Inc. 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Don Haze. DMT The Spirit Molecule Full Documentary. 4 April 2013. Youtube. Online video clip. 9 Dec 2013. 

Hanna, Jon. DMT and the Pineal: Fact or Fiction? The Vaults of Erowid. 29 Jun 2010.  Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Knowledge of Today. Expansion of Consciousness. DMT: The Spirit Molecule. Knowledge of Today. 25 Feb 2012. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Paige, Holly. Food for Consciousness. Blogspot. 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2013. 

Reptilious. A Personal Website of the Cool and Unique. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Strassman, Rick. DMT: The Spirit Molecule. 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture II. 2013. YouTube. Online video clip. 9 Dec 2013.