Trepanation, Spirituality and Loneliness :: Biology Essays Research Papers

The search for a higher level of consciousness is whizz that seems to be as old as consciousness itself. Practices such as the ritualistic or religious consumption of peyote, ayahuasca, psilocybe mushrooms or some former(a) such naturally-occuring hallucinogenic drugs, self-deprivation and transcendental meditation atomic number 18 just a hardly a(prenominal) of the countless ways in which mankind has sought to expand the limits of military personnel experience these practices are still a mainstay in more modern countercultures. They are also very well-known and documented practices. in that location exists, however, a radical surgical procedure, as old as the said(prenominal) practices moreover far less notorious in the general public, which purports to ensue in the same sort of enlightenment trepanation, also known as trephination.(Be prepared likely, the primary reason that trepanation has not graveld so overmuch attention from popular culture is that it is far more ex treme than the other methods mentioned above.) What is trepanation? Strictly speaking, it is the practice of drilling, scraping or in any other way creating a small hole in the skull down to, but not with, the dura mater, or the thick, tough membrane that contains the brain. Archeological distinguish tells us that it was performed by ancient cultures on every continent the oldest trepanned skulls that gain currently been found date as far back as 3000 B.C (approximately). In almost all cases, the evidence points to the trepanation having been performed with skill and a capacious deal of precision - it was clearly a procedure that had ritualistic import. (1)What take could this operation possibly serve? In early documented incarnations, trepanation existed as a cure for mental illness - it was believed that mental illnesses were the result of demons musical accompaniment within the skull, and thus a hole was made in the skull through which these demons could escape. The more mo dern perspective on trepanation as a marrow of expanding consciousness was started in by Bart Hughes when his text The Mechanism of Brainbloodvolume (BBV) was create in 1962. (1) Bart Hughes theory can be summed up as follows ...as we mature and age our skulls harden, restricting blood flow to the capillaries of the brain....children, especially babies with their haywire spot, had a clearer outlook on the world because their brains were free to receive more cerebral blood volume than...our adult brains with hermetically-sealed skulls. (1) There are many ways to increase brainbloodvolume (the self-explanatory term coined by Hughes, hereinafter referred to as BBV) temporarily, such as standing on ones head, quickly pitiful from a hot to a cold bath, or the consumption of psychotropic drugs however, according to Hughes trepanation is the only way to increase BBV permanently.