Psychedelic-information-theory-Shamanism-in-the-age-of-Reason

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Modular ConsciousnessThe most dramatic way to demonstrate the fragility ofconsciousness is to lose it. We sleep every night, and sleeping is a verylimited form of consciousness where most of the functions andproperties disappear. When we sleep we cannot hold state informationfrom one moment to the next, thus we lose contextual data and selfawareness.In dreams we have perceptions and perform behaviors, butthey are not linear nor do we have much control over them. In deepsleep all functions of consciousness go offline and almost entirely shutdown. When we wake up these functions slowly return and then restabilizeinto an alert waking mode. Consciousness turns itself off;consciousness turns itself back on.Sleeping and dreaming demonstrate that the basic functions ofconsciousness are modular and interdependent; they can operateindividually as well as in specialized groupings. The modular functionsof consciousness can be switched off and on in any order withoutaffecting the long-term stability of the fully operational system. Themodularity of consciousness becomes evident in cases of brain traumaor mental illnesses where the subject loses some functions ofconsciousness but retains others. 11 When consciousness is stable wecannot tell it is modular; it runs as a seamless whole or an integratedsystem. When consciousness destabilizes the modular units uncoupleand reveal themselves to be sub-personal pieces of a larger identityprocess. The loss of multisensory perception and the splintering ofconsciousness into multiple independent processes can accurately bedescribed as an altered state of consciousness.Psychedelic ConsciousnessIf consciousness is modular and the modular functions caninteroperate in multiple configurations, it is reasonable to assume thereare multiple configurations of sub- and meta- consciousness that arerarely explored. The linear states of consciousness we experience dailyare controlled by a top-down homeostatic regulator, 12 but when weshort-circuit this regulator we find that modular sub-functions ofconsciousness can be uncoupled and accessed in novel ways. 13 EEG
studies of subjects with HPPD have shown that when the visual cortexloses coherence with other areas of the brain and coherence amonglocal visual networks increases, spontaneous hallucinations areproduced. 14 Sensory deprivation for as little as fifteen minutes is all thatis necessary to uncouple the visual cortex and have it start producingself-sustaining hallucinations. 15 This can be described as sleep onsetvisualization, similar to daydreaming or lucid dreaming, and issometimes called the prisoner’s cinema because extended periods ofsolitary confinement also produce this effect, as does maculardegeneration of the retina. This demonstrates that when modularfunctions of the brain are uncoupled from top-down coherence they donot always disappear, they may also spontaneously organize into morelocally coherent configurations. This uncoupled state can producewandering or non-linear neural activity in lower brain areas which thenfloats up to the top of conscious awareness as linear perception. This isa neat formal definition for states of dreaming, creative visualization,and hallucination.Psychedelic Information Theory posits that the uncoupled subfunctionsof modular consciousness, acting either alone or in novel peergroupings, are responsible for the subjective altered states classified ashallucinogenic, dissociative, and psychedelic. All hallucinogens mustfirst destabilize top-down coherence of consciousness to produce novelstates of spontaneous organization between the modular sub-units; thisis how all hallucination begins. Dissociatives disrupt top-downcoherence by blocking the excitatory pathways that allow the modularunits to communicate. Psychedelics have a more subtle effect on topdowncoherence; they periodically interrupt or excite the modulatoryfrequency of multisensory frame binding, causing perception todestabilize into energetic nonlinear configurations. 16 By destabilizingthe top-down control of consciousness, psychedelics allow the modularsub-functions to wander and/or interact with coupled peers indedicated subsystems; similar to the dedicated circuit created betweenperception and memory when dreaming.Destabilizing or splintering consciousness into novel configurationsis the essence of psychedelic exploration. These novel configurations ofconsciousness can be described as nonlinear consciousness, complex
Page 3: PsychedelicInformation TheoryShaman
Page 7 and 8: Figure 2. Images of internally gene
Page 10 and 11: Figure 3. The eight-pointed star is
Page 12 and 13: Chapter 02The Value of PsychedelicI
Page 14 and 15: Cultural information is considered
Page 16 and 17: this does not necessarily make bumm
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Page 22 and 23: Cultural IntegrationBy conservative
Page 24 and 25: 6. Gresch PJ, Smith RL, Barrett RJ,
Page 26 and 27: Chapter 04What is Consciousness?Sin
Page 28 and 29: function of recall is to analyze pa
Page 32 and 33: consciousness, meta-consciousness,
Page 34 and 35: Chapter 05Limits of HumanPerception
Page 36 and 37: dark-adapted eye utilizes the cone
Page 38 and 39: Figure 6. The peripheral drift illu
Page 40 and 41: objects, people, and places in thei
Page 42 and 43: The Limits of Expanded Consciousnes
Page 44 and 45: 7. Accounts of auras, electromagnet
Page 46 and 47: Figure 8. Stabilized and Destabiliz
Page 48 and 49: Constraint, Control, and Feedback I
Page 50 and 51: phosphenes, or strobing or flickeri
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Page 54 and 55: psychedelic science, physical shama
Page 56 and 57: sites; if the receptors are a good
Page 58 and 59: least one amine group. The simplest
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Page 62 and 63: psychedelics at the bottom of the l
Page 64 and 65: Figure 13. Layers of the neocortex.
Page 66 and 67: 5-HT2A receptor mechanicsThe 5-HT 2
Page 68 and 69: easonable to assume that psychedeli
Page 70 and 71: 5-HT2A cross-agonism and organism r
Page 72 and 73: 14. Jones EG, 'Thalamic circuitry a
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Page 78 and 79: Figure 16. Spatial-relationship map
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Entopic hallucinations fall into pr
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literally hacking into or hijacking
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at the cortical columns that contro
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Notes and References1. Williams JD,
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Chapter 11Eidetic HallucinationPsyc
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Figure 21. Acetylcholine (ACh) modu
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described. According to this model,
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4. Accounts of eidetic hallucinatio
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Chapter 12Erratic HallucinationHall
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processing by interrupting pathways
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progressively animated eidetic loop
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Chapter 13PsychedelicNeuroplasticit
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which facilitates extended dream-li
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inner self will then reinforce posi
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4. Gresch PJ, Smith RL, Barrett RJ,
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Part IIShamanism inthe Age of Reaso
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Chapter 14What is Shamanism?The ori
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point of viral plasticity. A shaman
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of healing and conflict resolution,
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alien pulsation; a guttural river o
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processing networks, and generates
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consciousness unwinds from the recu
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Shamanic Information CompressionThe
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3. Observations of shamanic rituals
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To apply simple psychedelic therapy
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ecently been demonstrated in scient
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The shaman may use high pitched whi
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Chapter 17Hypnotic Entrainmentand I
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awareness and highly focused connec
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If the patient is lying down with t
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Chapter 18Psychic Bonding and PsiPs
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The feedback of pheromonal response
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2. Sheldrake R, 'A New Science of L
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testing and error correction allows
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group. In the ego-driven beta state
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Chapter 20Shamanic SorceryShamanic
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complex results through time; recov
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If shamanic sorcery is a kind of no
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ensure they will feel safe to appea
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The All One is subjectively perceiv
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Chapter 22Information Genesisand Co
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generated, and novelty creation in
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navigating the external world is ad
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transition is already underway and
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frequency and ADSR envelope of any
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13. Nonlinear forms are perceived t
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vague and based solely on subjectiv
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or input, but is instead is the res
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Bibliography and ReferencesBibliogr
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Behrendt RP; 'Hallucinations: synch
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Ermentrout, Cowen; 'A mathematical
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Luke D; 'Psi-verts and Psychic Pira
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Siegel JM; 'The stuff dreams are ma
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About this TextAbout PsychedelicInf
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About the AuthorJames L. Kent is a
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Psychedelic-information-theory-Shamanism-in-the-age-of-Reason

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