By Simon G. Powell
Despite the 400 years or so of hard science since the time of
Newton, the nature of human consciousness has evaded close scrutiny and
remains, in contrast with the rest of the world, a kind of mysterious anomaly.
Whilst we may know a great deal about atoms, molecules, chemicals, genes
and stars, we know little about the 'stuff' of which consciousness is made
and how conscious minds somehow manage to infuse and, indeed, give light
to the physical world. For one cannot weigh conscious thoughts. One cannot
put consciousness under a microscope. And yet a scientific instrument such
as a microscope owes its existence precisely to the conscious human mind
which designed it. In this sense, consciousness is clearly a fundamental
property of the world as we know it. Understanding how consciousness fits
into an otherwise physical Universe is therefore essential if we wish to
fully comprehend the nature of reality.
One approach to understanding the role of consciousness within
the physical world is to consider the actual intersection where the physical
and mental worlds indubitably meet. This intersection, if we can manage
to hone in on it, can be considered a bridge linking mind and matter. If
we can examine the bridge from near and afar alike then perhaps we will
see more clearly how mind and matter are involved in the totality of Nature
and thence understand the dynamics and interplay of each. Or at least we
might understand how the two ends of the bridge relate to one another.
Illuminating the Bridge
The mysterious bridge between physical reality and psychological
reality is clearly transversed whenever psychoactive substances are ingested.
This is so because such substances, whilst being physical, nonetheless dramatically
alter the content and general quality of consciousness (i.e. physical 'stuff'
alters psychological 'stuff'). This plain and simple fact implies that any
researcher interested in the mind/body problem, with how consciousness resides
in an apparently materialistic Universe, would do well to consider the action
of psychoactive substances, especially those which unleash the greatest
changes in consciousness. By looking closely at the way these substances
produce their effects, one is unveiling the mysterious bridge between the
physical and the mental.
Many Halls - art by Mowendi
Of those drugs serving to highlight the intersection of the physical
world with the mental world, entheogens, or psychedelics (or even hallucinogens
as they are more commonly, but inaccurately, known), prove the most interesting
since they cause the most dramatic changes in consciousness known to man.
By analysing their modus operandi, by tracing their action within the brain,
we ought to be able to say something definite about the 'stuff' of consciousness'
and how this 'stuff' can be altered through purely physio-chemical means.
In this way, we might understand more fully just what consciousness is,
its relationship to physical matter, and why consciousness is so evidently
mutable.
Tracing the effects of psilocybin
Let us consider psilocybin, a fungus-derived entheogenic alkaloid
long employed by mankind to induce an altered state of consciousness. The
peak effects of psilocybin include vivid visionary episodes with eyes closed
as well as a felt communion with the Other and as well as numerous other
transcendental experiences. In short, psilocybin induces a massive alteration
in consciousness, that mysterious mindstuff of which we are, in part, made.
Now, realising that psilocybin is a chemical with a known physical
structure and bearing in mind that it serves to profoundly alter consciousness
once it has reached the brain, can we not focus on this process and so make
out the place where the actual physical and mental realms meet? In other
words, at some stage after ingestion, physical psilocybin touches upon,
or directly influences, non-physical consciousness. The two realms clearly
merge with one another somewhere along the line and at some definite point
or locale. The two realms of Descartes, mind and matter, seemingly separate
and irreconcilable in the eyes of many scientists and philosophers, thus
interweave at some point. The bridge is crossed. This is patently of interest
if we wish to understand the nature of mindstuff.
A cursory look at the literature reveals that much is known about
the physical structure of psilocybin. For instance, its molecular configuration
is precisely known. So too is psilocybin's absorption by the human body
and route to the brain understood in quite some detail. However, when it
comes to understanding psilocybin's subsequent action within the nerve cells
or neurons of the brain (i.e. we approach the centre of the bridge), knowledge
is less forthcoming but even so, a few things are still known about this
stage. For instance, it is believed that psilocybin mimics serotonin, a
neurotransmitter involved in relaying electrochemical impulses between individual
neurons. In other words, it is thought that psilocybin works its powerful
effects upon consciousness by infiltrating certain neuronal systems of the
brain which utilise serotonin.
The Bridge Gets Fuzzy
From this point on however, certainty becomes more and more vague
for only gross generalisations can be made. Since a cascade of events on
a molecular scale are unleashed once psilocybin reaches the brain it is
impossible to analyse each and every individual neuron effected. Indeed,
considering that the human cortex is constructed of literally billions of
neurons, who can say which one hundred, or which million, serotonergic neurons
are effected by psilocybin? Not to mention of course, the subsequent effects
of such altered patterns of neuronal firing upon further streams of neuronal
firing.
In effect, what this means is that the bridge we are keen on
delineating, the bridge where the physical world of psilocybin intrudes
upon the apparently non-physical world of thoughts, emotions and perception,
is occluded to us due to the sheer complexity involved and the impossibility
of accurate measurement. Whilst we can make certain generalisations and
even see certain global events in the brain via magnetic resonance imaging
techniques administered to subjects previously given an entheogen like psilocybin,
all we really acquire is general knowledge. We can say general things whereas
with regard to the precise and detailed action of psilocybin upon individual
neurons and the subsequent chain of effects upon neuronal firing patterns,
we can say very little. In fact, we can reason that the difficulty of complete
knowledge and the degree of uncertainty facing us rise exponentially with
time. From absolute certainty over psilocybin's molecular structure, uncertainty
escalates once the drug has crossed the blood/brain barrier, more and more
so as time proceeds and cascades of neurological modifications are wrought.
Steroid - art by Mowendi
The Other Side of the Bridge is Clear
Certainty begins to rise again when we consider the concurrent
psychological events taking place within the psilocybin user's mind. Users
will often describe in vivid and exacting detail the experiences they are
having. Visions can be avidly described as can the perceptual changes being
experienced. Indeed, experiences from many users can be collated and this
can lead to general statements about the effects of such entheogens. Again,
we witness a fair degree of certainty in stark contrast to the vast chasm
of uncertainty involved in psilocybin's neurological effects.
This is the nature of the bridge then which separates mind and
matter. We can see clearly and with certainty at each end. Somewhere in
the centre however, details become obscured and we can only make out hazy
features. Right in the centre we are clueless, save only an appreciation
that there are webs of neurological complexity involved.
In thinking of this image, of certainty connected to certainty
via a complex cascading web of uncertainty, one might be reminded of a fractal
boundary - where a seemingly solidly outlined boundary is revealed, upon
close inspection, to be made up of an interconnecting pattern. One can also
imagine the two realms of certainty as the top and bottom parts of a thick
line, starkly black, the ends of this line representing the clearly describable
worlds of physical psilocybin and its concurrent psychological effects -
both areas essentially definable and documentable by science. Somewhere
along the middle section of this stark black line however, at the point
where we perceive a web of neurological complexity involved in the pharmacology
of psilocybin, there is a kind of fractal breakdown of certainty. One can
imagine the stark black line veering off and then adopting some fractal
shape as it meanders back in on itself in a fractal manner. However, it
should be noted that despite this fractal meandering, there is no actual
breakage of the line. And this is rub. For in realising that the line is
essentially continuous, albeit fractally so, we are thus intuiting that
the worlds of mind and matter are joined, not two separate and mutually
exclusive domains at all but a single domain whose boundary is fuzzy and
full of complexity. In other words, the two worlds join, matter and mind
resolving themselves as part of some as-yet ill-defined continuum just as
all the patterns within a fractal are part of one interconnected whole.
If this is so, if the aforementioned analogy with the fractal
line be in any way accurate, then we shall have to admit into our conceptual
paradigms about the world the notion that mind and matter are not really
so distinct, rather that they are the two ends of a single continuum, a
continuum which is so complex in some places that we see only a boundary,
or at least find it easier to invoke some sort of boundary. However, considering
the real fact of psilocybin's effects upon consciousness and the chain of
reasoning which sees a continuous series of processes linking the substance
to an altered state of consciousness, we really must concede that Cartesian
dualism is redundant. In its place we might instead see the world, or Nature,
as consisting of one single stuff in which all parts are related to one
another and potentially able to influence one another. Perhaps the best
way of describing this single system is in terms of information or energy.
Which is to say that both mind and matter are made of the same sort of essential
stuff, the caveat being that this stuff can be in radically different forms.
What we call consciousness could then be defined as an informational or
energetic 'stuff' as could material things.
Whatever the virtue of these speculations, it is clear that the
mysterious boundary between mind and matter is not a boundary at all - or
at the very least that it is a fractal boundary wherein mind and matter
do in actuality converge at some indefinable point. Since this is so, since
mind and matter are manifestations of a single continuum, then it implies
that we, us, our selves, are intimately woven into the rest of Nature. Cartesian
dualism is not longer tenable. Everything, even our consciousness, is part
of everything else. The Universe thus resolves itself as a single 'solid'
system, forever forming itself into novel patterns of exquisite complexity,
souls included.
