The Physiological Importance of the Pineal Gland

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

The bit about DMT and yogis and the pineal gland is precious.

Very old notion ,especially in some Easter religions. I first heard of the pineal a gland and its magical properties in the early 60's, when I read a series of off books allegedly about Tibetian mysticism, by Lobsang Rampa (a fraud)

As far as I have been able to discover,the pineal gland is simply a small endocrine gland which produces serotonin.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOBSANG RAMPA.

Cyril Henry Hoskin (8 April 1910 – 25 January 1981), more popularly known as Tuesday Lobsang Rampa, was a writer who claimed to have been a lama in Tibet before spending the second part of his life in the body of a British man. Hoskin described himself as the "host" of Tuesday Lobsang Rampa. The name Tuesday relates to a claim in The Third Eye that Tibetans are named after the day of the week on which they were born.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa

PINEAL GLAND

The pineal gland (also called the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, epiphysis, conarium or the "third eye") is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions.[1][2] Its shape resembles a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it is located near the centre of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two rounded thalamic bodies join.

Metaphysics and philosophy

The secretory activity of the pineal gland is only partially understood. Historically, its location deep in the brain suggested to philosophers that it possessed particular importance. This combination led to its being a "mystery" gland with myth, superstition and occult theories surrounding its perceived functions.

René Descartes, who dedicated much time to the study of the pineal gland, called it the "principal seat of the soul."[29] He believed that it was the point of connection between the intellect and the body.[30] Descartes attached significance to the gland because he believed it to be the only section of the brain which existed as a single part, rather than one half of a pair. He argued that because a person can never have "more than one thought at a time," external stimuli must be united within the brain before being considered by the soul, and he considered the pineal gland to be situated in "the most suitable possible place for this purpose," located centrally in the brain and surrounded by branches of the carotid arteries.[29]

Baruch de Spinoza criticized Descartes' viewpoint for neither following from self-evident premises nor being "clearly and distinctly perceived" (Descartes having previously asserted that he could not draw conclusions of this sort), and questioned what Descartes meant by talking of "the union of the mind and the body."[31]

The notion of a "pineal-eye" is central to the philosophy of the French writer Georges Bataille, which is analyzed at length by literary scholar Denis Hollier in his study Against Architecture. In this work Hollier discusses how Bataille uses the concept of a "pineal-eye" as a reference to a blind-spot in Western rationality, and an organ of excess and delirium.[32] This conceptual device is explicit in his surrealist texts, The Jesuve and The Pineal Eye.[33]

The notion of an inner third eye (attributed mystical significance) also occurs in ancient, central and east Asian, and new age philosophies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland