The Mystery

The main modern field theory of global consciousness is John Hagelin’s unified field theory of consciousness (Hagelin 1987). This theory is a direct descendent of the Vedic tradition, arising from its author’s practice of Transcendental Meditation, a method of teaching Advaita Vedantist meditation that was franchised in the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Hagelin was originally trained as a quantum mechanic, and the unified field theory of consciousness proposes that consciousness is identical with his own idiosyncratic mathematical version of the putative unified field. The main supporting evidence put forward for the unified field theory of consciousness is the reported existence of the Maharishi effect. The Maharishi effect is an increase in quality of life and decrease in violent offending that is reported to occur when approximately 1% of the population of any given geographical area repeatedly meditates in such a way that all the practitioners in the group achieve pure consciousne

There’s been much speculation pertaining to the Wim Hof Method (WHM) and dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an endogenous hallucinogen produced by the human body. This is due to the fact that many practitioners of WHM report having hallucinatory/visionary experiences especially when partaking in the breathing exercises for extended periods of time (over 30 consecutive minutes). It’s a reasonable hypothesis based on there being no other endogenous hallucinogens currently identified (other than DMT related compounds 5-MEO-DMT & Bufotenin).  In the past, much of the discussion surrounding endogenous DMT has been in regards to the pineal gland. This gland is a small endocrine organ located in the middle of the mammalian brain. It was found to secrete DMT in a 2013 rat study published in the journal Biomedical Chromatography. Being that the internal physiology of rats, humans, and many mammalian counterparts are extremely similar, it is believed that the pineal gland of humans also secretes DMT.

A major portion of the book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, is devoted to detailed descriptions of what the volunteers encountered during their sessions. These include the exploration and resolution of personal psychological issues; out-of-body states in which people experienced their own deaths; a variety of mystical states in which volunteers experienced a unifying presence of God within and without the self and a felt sense of love as the underlying fabric of the universe; and—surprising to Strassman—a large number of reports of contact with alien beings of various kinds doing intrusive experiments and/or healing work. Most volunteers had positive experiences, but there were some scares and some 'bad trips'. One volunteer nearly had a heart attack because DMT normally leads to a flight-or-fight physiological response. Another older volunteer almost went into shock. One young man had a traumatic vision of being raped by alligators. Despite some of the beautifully uplifting experie

In DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Rick Strassman provides insight into the U.S. Government-approved and funded clinical research he carried out at the University of New Mexico between 1990 and 1995. As part of this research, Strassman injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew, ayahuasca, is also manufactured by the human brain. In Strassman’s volunteers, DMT consistently produced near-death and mystical experiences. Many reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhuman presences, aliens, angels, and spirits. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives. This is a severely underrated book