cheese
Prolific Member
I was researching sleep (I love microsleeping) and stumbled across Tony Wright. He's a consciousness researcher from Cornwall who's written Left In The Dark, which sets forth the theory that society and life as we know it is founded upon a neurological disorder. According to him, the left and dominant hemisphere (rational, conceptual thought) is a hormonally retarded version of the right, and has severely impaired our ability to reach our full potential. Activating the right brain produces effects of greatly enhanced mental ability, empathy, freedom from fear and anxiety and more. The basic idea is that the damaged left brain has suppressed the function of the right and produced today's crippled humanity.
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Wright_(sleep_deprivation)
Short excerpts from interview:
http://www.personaldevelopmentforum.com/tonywright-interview.html
Excerpts from the forum on his website:
http://www.leftinthedark.org.uk/node/19
Have a look at the links if you're interested.
What interests me most is the possibilities he's suggesting - vastly increased abilities, similar to savants, more accurate perception, and what seems to be the key to realising dreams of world peace. Universal love, religious/mystical experiences, etc. It sounds a little wild and I'm not sure of its legitimacy, but it's also interesting.
Any thoughts?
*edit
I'd greatly appreciate anyone with in-depth knowledge in any of these areas weighing in, because I haven't nearly enough of my own to sift the crap from the gold.
Wikipedia:
Wright first self published Left in the Dark in May 2007. It presents an outline of his theory that, due to the consequences of cerebral dominance, humans are unavoidably governed and constrained by the brain's left hemisphere.
Wright claims the current classification of autism is actually just a small part of a spectrum of dysfunction that should include us all. According to his theories, everybody has a neurologically damaged left hemisphere that is more dominant (and more damaged) than it was in our more functional evolutionary past.
In the case of some autistic savants, who sometimes display genius abilities in specific areas, Wright's theory states that, due to the extent of the damage to the left hemisphere, it is less able to suppress the amazing abilities of the right. Wright further questions the widespread assumption that we are indeed at the pinnacle of our evolution. Instead, Wright proposes that the shift away from our evolutionary diets, and the knock-on hormonal effects on the development of our brains, has resulted in species-wide neurological dysfunction with profound effects on the integrity of our perception.
Wright proposes that once we strayed from tropical fruit diets, the biochemistry was simply no longer present to support optimal neurological development. According to Wright's theories, this eventually led indirectly to increased left hemisphere dominance and damage, a compromised and deluded perception, and to us exhibiting a profoundly dysfunctional psychology. Critically, Wright proposes that the neurological degeneration took place mainly in the left hemisphere while the right hemisphere remained comparatively functional, although it was still hugely suppressed by the more dominant (and dysfunctional) left.
Wright claims the current classification of autism is actually just a small part of a spectrum of dysfunction that should include us all. According to his theories, everybody has a neurologically damaged left hemisphere that is more dominant (and more damaged) than it was in our more functional evolutionary past.
In the case of some autistic savants, who sometimes display genius abilities in specific areas, Wright's theory states that, due to the extent of the damage to the left hemisphere, it is less able to suppress the amazing abilities of the right. Wright further questions the widespread assumption that we are indeed at the pinnacle of our evolution. Instead, Wright proposes that the shift away from our evolutionary diets, and the knock-on hormonal effects on the development of our brains, has resulted in species-wide neurological dysfunction with profound effects on the integrity of our perception.
Wright proposes that once we strayed from tropical fruit diets, the biochemistry was simply no longer present to support optimal neurological development. According to Wright's theories, this eventually led indirectly to increased left hemisphere dominance and damage, a compromised and deluded perception, and to us exhibiting a profoundly dysfunctional psychology. Critically, Wright proposes that the neurological degeneration took place mainly in the left hemisphere while the right hemisphere remained comparatively functional, although it was still hugely suppressed by the more dominant (and dysfunctional) left.
Short excerpts from interview:
PDF: What are the main differences in function between the left and right brain hemispheres?
Tony Wright: The orthodox perspective suggests each hemisphere has its own specialisation and the characteristics of the dominant (left hemisphere) give us our unique and advanced abilities ... My proposal is that the development of the brain and in particular one side of the neo-cortex is now incomplete; paradoxically the most retarded side has assumed control. ... I have proposed that the abilities and perception facilitated by the left side of our brain are greatly reduced or distorted versions of what still remains locked away in the right.
PDF: If it is true that left hemisphere dominance is limiting our consciousness, what are we missing out on? How would our experience of the world change if we had greater access to the right hemisphere?
Tony Wright: Aside from a whole raft of prodigy or savant like abilities that are now considered extremely rare our psychology would be radically different; we would all feel a strength of connection and empathy to each other that is now only typical of how most parents regard their young children.
Tony Wright: The orthodox perspective suggests each hemisphere has its own specialisation and the characteristics of the dominant (left hemisphere) give us our unique and advanced abilities ... My proposal is that the development of the brain and in particular one side of the neo-cortex is now incomplete; paradoxically the most retarded side has assumed control. ... I have proposed that the abilities and perception facilitated by the left side of our brain are greatly reduced or distorted versions of what still remains locked away in the right.
PDF: If it is true that left hemisphere dominance is limiting our consciousness, what are we missing out on? How would our experience of the world change if we had greater access to the right hemisphere?
Tony Wright: Aside from a whole raft of prodigy or savant like abilities that are now considered extremely rare our psychology would be radically different; we would all feel a strength of connection and empathy to each other that is now only typical of how most parents regard their young children.
Excerpts from the forum on his website:
My personal experience of a very different state of consciousness occurred 14 years ago at around 10pm on 18th of September after a period of over 30 hours without sleep. I wasn’t trying to bring about this experience. I wasn’t even aware that it was possible to have an experience such as this. I have never had an experience like it since. Here’s an account of what happened…
I flew home to the UK after spending a month on holiday in the USA. It was an overnight flight and the journey was truly awful. We experienced very bad turbulence - the plane was bouncing up and down. It was like a roller coaster ride. I was terrified. However, we rode the storm and landed safely in the UK around 7 am. I travelled by coach to my home town on the South coast and went straight into work, where I spent the day. At 9pm I went to bed with a book I’d bought at the airport – ‘Further along the road less travelled’ by M Scott Peck.
About half way through the book Mr Peck relates an anecdote about how a dinner companion had challenged him to explain his latest book in a sentence. He couldn’t. But then went on to relate how Jesus had managed to encapsulate the Christian message in a couple of sentences – ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your might. And love your neighbour as yourself.’ Though not a Christian, or religious, I was familiar with the words. But reading them on this occasion, after 30+ hours without sleep it’s as though I suddenly experienced their meaning for the very first time. I felt unbounded, intense love for everything and everyone, just an immensity of love so that it was almost unbearable.
What happened next is difficult to describe because words become inadequate. I felt overwhelmed by some pure cool essence or energy pouring into me, overflowing – it was a physical experience as well as an emotional one. Somewhere in the midst of this, my awareness shifted from being in my bedroom to something inherently indescribable. But I’ll give it my best shot. All around was joy, ecstasy, love, I was immersed in and saturated with it. I was love, and I was everywhere. Then there was the knowledge – ‘I’ understood everything, the hows, the whys, the wherefores of the universe, the meaning of life – everything that had been or could be. I knew that we are all in but not aware of this ‘dimension’ all of the time. That we are all one light, but separate also. Although my partner was thousands of miles away, I knew there was no separation between us at this level. We were one in this ocean of love.
I don’t know how long I was in this mode of being – minutes at the most. Time there had no meaning – it was a dimension beyond time. During the experience I could not focus in, dissect, analyse or process in a linear way. I could only be/know in a universal/holistic way. I ‘left’ this state of my own accord. I thought I could re-access it in the future and I wanted to examine what had happened to me.
Unfortunately I could not retain the complete understanding that I experienced, so I was left to examine something beyond examination. I lost access to the whole when my normal way of being was restored. I didn’t have the concepts, never mind the language to describe what I’d witnessed. Even so, I will never forget how idiotic and unimportant our desire for material things seemed. Or the ridiculousness of the facades we create to protect ourselves and hide from each other. But most of all, I will never forget the love.
I flew home to the UK after spending a month on holiday in the USA. It was an overnight flight and the journey was truly awful. We experienced very bad turbulence - the plane was bouncing up and down. It was like a roller coaster ride. I was terrified. However, we rode the storm and landed safely in the UK around 7 am. I travelled by coach to my home town on the South coast and went straight into work, where I spent the day. At 9pm I went to bed with a book I’d bought at the airport – ‘Further along the road less travelled’ by M Scott Peck.
About half way through the book Mr Peck relates an anecdote about how a dinner companion had challenged him to explain his latest book in a sentence. He couldn’t. But then went on to relate how Jesus had managed to encapsulate the Christian message in a couple of sentences – ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your might. And love your neighbour as yourself.’ Though not a Christian, or religious, I was familiar with the words. But reading them on this occasion, after 30+ hours without sleep it’s as though I suddenly experienced their meaning for the very first time. I felt unbounded, intense love for everything and everyone, just an immensity of love so that it was almost unbearable.
What happened next is difficult to describe because words become inadequate. I felt overwhelmed by some pure cool essence or energy pouring into me, overflowing – it was a physical experience as well as an emotional one. Somewhere in the midst of this, my awareness shifted from being in my bedroom to something inherently indescribable. But I’ll give it my best shot. All around was joy, ecstasy, love, I was immersed in and saturated with it. I was love, and I was everywhere. Then there was the knowledge – ‘I’ understood everything, the hows, the whys, the wherefores of the universe, the meaning of life – everything that had been or could be. I knew that we are all in but not aware of this ‘dimension’ all of the time. That we are all one light, but separate also. Although my partner was thousands of miles away, I knew there was no separation between us at this level. We were one in this ocean of love.
I don’t know how long I was in this mode of being – minutes at the most. Time there had no meaning – it was a dimension beyond time. During the experience I could not focus in, dissect, analyse or process in a linear way. I could only be/know in a universal/holistic way. I ‘left’ this state of my own accord. I thought I could re-access it in the future and I wanted to examine what had happened to me.
Unfortunately I could not retain the complete understanding that I experienced, so I was left to examine something beyond examination. I lost access to the whole when my normal way of being was restored. I didn’t have the concepts, never mind the language to describe what I’d witnessed. Even so, I will never forget how idiotic and unimportant our desire for material things seemed. Or the ridiculousness of the facades we create to protect ourselves and hide from each other. But most of all, I will never forget the love.
This isn't exactly a personal experience, but I've recently heard about something that is totally relevant to all the material in Left In the Dark: darkroom technology.
Has anyone ever heard of, or had any experience with darkness retreats/cave-sitting? Mantak Chia, a Chi Kung master, hosts retreats in Thailand, for exactly this purpose; and there are some others, as well--Jasmuheen, a man called Ananda...
But the premise of the retreats is this: once the body stops absorbing light from all sources (skin, eyes, head, etc.), after three days (during which most people sleep, a LOT), the seratonin/melatonin cycle stops, and the brain produces PINOLINE, instead. Once the pinoline in the body reaches some critical threshold, MAO is inhibited, and the brain starts pumping 5-meo-DMT, and eventually, DMT. And supposedly, one can see in infrared and ultraviolet, plus tons of other mindblowing things.
Has anyone ever heard of, or had any experience with darkness retreats/cave-sitting? Mantak Chia, a Chi Kung master, hosts retreats in Thailand, for exactly this purpose; and there are some others, as well--Jasmuheen, a man called Ananda...
But the premise of the retreats is this: once the body stops absorbing light from all sources (skin, eyes, head, etc.), after three days (during which most people sleep, a LOT), the seratonin/melatonin cycle stops, and the brain produces PINOLINE, instead. Once the pinoline in the body reaches some critical threshold, MAO is inhibited, and the brain starts pumping 5-meo-DMT, and eventually, DMT. And supposedly, one can see in infrared and ultraviolet, plus tons of other mindblowing things.
Have a look at the links if you're interested.
What interests me most is the possibilities he's suggesting - vastly increased abilities, similar to savants, more accurate perception, and what seems to be the key to realising dreams of world peace. Universal love, religious/mystical experiences, etc. It sounds a little wild and I'm not sure of its legitimacy, but it's also interesting.
Any thoughts?
*edit
I'd greatly appreciate anyone with in-depth knowledge in any of these areas weighing in, because I haven't nearly enough of my own to sift the crap from the gold.
