Orexin, linking yesod to malkuth?

A recent discovery showed that being awake does not seem to be the natural state of our minds. It revealed the deep Hypothalamus part of the brain releases a chemical called Orexin into the brain, which wakes us up, when we lie down to sleep, the Hypothalamus stops releasing this neuro chemical and we fall asleep. Without it, we would just sleep and never wake up.

On the tree of life, viewed in its psychological aspect, would this chemical link Yesod with malkuth? Does it reveal anything about the awakened personality and the ‘true’ nature of our conscious reality ?

http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Orexin,+sleep

Going on a limb, I would daresay that Pathworking or meditation could be looked at as ways of producing 'healthy' orexins and that a "normal" state of everday consciousness (often looked metaphorically as being asleep) would be akin to narcolepsy and other disorders caused by orexins/hypocretin imbalances.

I'm not sure I'd make it a direct metaphor with a specific path and this process of orexins.... but if I was going to, the one between Malkuth-Yesod makes sense and its certainly an interesting idea to look into.

Right now, I'm reading an old Colin Wilson novel, "The Mind Parasites" and I fear anything I write about consciousness is going to be influenced with a little Lovecraft until I'm finished, so I'll keep my musings short today. *g*

~LAS

I thought AmounrA's post and Laurel's reply quite interesting, and wanted the time to look at the papers mentioned before replying, especially given that my instant impulse would otherwise have been made without properly looking at what was being proposed and its possible impact on Kabbalistic considerations.

In a nutshell, the research shows that there is an increase of a particular chemical (Orexin/Hypocretin) in regions of the brain during especially REM sleep and wakefulness, and a lowered occurence of the same during slow-wave sleep.

The question is, how do we correlate (if at all), not only [1] conscious states and various sefirot (&/or sefirotic inter-connections), but also [2] particular physical compounds which have apparent effects on states of awareness.
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It seems to me that though various sefirah may be properly considered in terms of various states of consciousness, concurrent (and even 'required') physical compounds remain the domain of Malkut (in Assiah).

For me, then, the whole Tree shows that each part, though it can be considered and investigated in parts, can only be more holistically (ie, wholesomely) understood by consideration of the full Tree (here, the fullness of Adm Kadmon can be seen to really need this fullness).

Orexin, then, may, in my opinion, more properly belong to Malkut, which, however, may be required in order for even Netzah or Hod type consciousness to result.

Orexin, linking Malkuth to yesod?

Hello,

Laurel-"Going on a limb, I would daresay that Pathworking or meditation could be looked at as ways of producing 'healthy' orexins and that a "normal" state of everday consciousness (often looked metaphorically as being asleep) would be akin to narcolepsy and other disorders caused by orexins/hypocretin imbalances. "

I am not so sure pathworking and meditation can be looked on, as ways of producing orexin.

My main thoughts on it are, without Orexin we would never reach the aspect of our consciousness that deals and makes its way in the physical world. The window would never have been opened on that level. We would remain in our unconscious mind.

A thought that has long interested me is if we never had any sensory information from birth, [i.e. magically kept alive, whilst the brain received no information whatsoever], what would consciousness feel like. With no images, sound etc, no language, would we be aware? In many ways this is why I have a major interest brewing, with regards to orexin. Without it, we would not have access to our sensory level. [Trapped in Yesod, or perhaps liberated in yesod?]

JMD-"The question is, how do we correlate (if at all), not only [1] conscious states and various sefirot (&/or sefirotic inter-connections), but also [2] particular physical compounds which have apparent effects on states of awareness."

1] I think certain levels of consciousness come about because of the brain, and certain [more profound?] levels of consciousness come about through mind. The 'lower' aspects of consciousness are therefore [in my eyes} linked/affected by to particular physical compounds [2]. These types of things should have a home in the tree.


JMD"It seems to me that though various sefirah may be properly considered in terms of various states of consciousness, concurrent (and even 'required') physical compounds remain the domain of Malkut (in Assiah)."

Without wishing to condone drug experimentation, the effects on consciousness, for example, from 'magick mushrooms’ seems to show that whilst the compounds involved are certainly physical, the changes they trigger in consciousness perception run very deep. Perhaps Orexin runs up, i.e. from Malkuth to Yesod, allowing the consciousness in Yesod to flow out into Malkuth. [Like bursting a balloon filled with water.

JMD"Orexin, then, may, in my opinion, more properly belong to Malkut, which, however, may be required in order for even Netzah or Hod type consciousness to result."

Indeed, perhaps when the window into the physical world is opened by Orexin, consciousness then absorbs these new stimuli, and creates 'work' for Netzach & Hod like consciousness to develop.
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This is a very interesting site to explore. -

http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/bwave.html

http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/shadow.html

I was speaking of orexins/pathworking in terms of metaphor and not a physical process and doing a less than adequate job of doing so.

Wonderful link; I am going to look through all of that and make more detailed studies of the ideas behind it, asap.

~LAS

Microtubules

"Wonderful link; I am going to look through all of that and make more detailed studies of the ideas behind it, asap."

It is certainly very interesting, these microtubules seem to be an extremely wondrous even deeper level of not only the fibonacci series, but also connections between mind and brain.

To quote Penrose [a scientist!]-"I believe consciousness is not just something arising out of the activity of brain cells but a global capacity that allows us to take into account the whole of a situation at once,"
"It could be that the microtubules in the brain provide a unique environment where the possibilities of the quantum level collapse into an actual state without being influenced by the environment."
"I think there is strong evidence for precognition but I haven't done the maths yet to work out what else is allowed,"

However Penrose also adds-"I am very cautious about the quantum - psychic connection.It is entertaining speculation but that's all. Quantum mechanics has very specific rules.For instance,complex numbers are central to the theory but people who construct quantum-based mystical metaphors ignore them because they don't fit."
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Its early days yet, but I certainly think it's a dog barking up the right tree ;-)