crucial
https://diaspora.psyco.fr/posts/2a985e80dcdb013e6ae67a163edde882
Tim Bayne, Olivia Carter, Dimensions of consciousness and the psychedelic state, Neuroscience of Consciousness, Volume 2018, Issue 1, 2018, niy008, https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niy008
In this chapter, three possible “containers” for states of consciousness are considered: (1) the soul, (2) the neuropsyche, and (3) a composite of both. The first corresponds to the classical metaphysical account, exemplified by Aristotle; the second reflects the physiological framework of Pavlovian reflex processes; and the third aligns with contemporary phenomenological psychology. The proper object of this third approach is better designated as the human mind, rather than the soul or the neuropsyche taken in isolation. On this account, non-human animals do not possess a mind in any sense, but only a neuropsyche operating through anticipative pre-reactions (not imagination) and reactive responses, without the actualization of qualia into meaning-bearing forms.
There is also evidence that the psychedelic state might be associated with an increase in the amount of sensory content that can enter consciousness at any given time.
PPI is defined in terms of a reduction in the natural startle reflex (measured as the magnitude of an eye-blink response in humans) that typically occurs if a startle tone stimulus is preceded by another tone (the pre-pulse). The relative reduction in this inhibitory response is widely regarded as a behavioural measure of ‘sensory gating’ (Graham 1975; Braff et al. 2001).
PPI = Prepulse Inhibition: It is a neurophysiological phenomenon
When a weak stimulus (prepulse) shortly precedes a strong startle stimulus (pulse), the magnitude of the startle response to the strong pulse is reduced. PPI reflects the brain’s ability to filter out irrelevant stimuli, that is, a form of sensory gating. Reduced PPI means more sensory information reaches consciousness — an increase in the amount of sensory information ‘making it through’ to conscious awareness.
Psilocybin has been found to cause reduced PPI, which is taken as evidence of lower levels of sensory gating. , there is compelling evidence for an increase in the intensity and volume of sensory information experienced at any given time. psychedelic drugs may increase the ‘bandwidth’ of perceptual experience.
More sensory signals reach neuropsychical areas (perhaps specialized ones), which nodes are distributed and processed, structuring patterns of relative loci and quantic links (similar to engrams). These patterns traverse the Epistemological Bridge (Silver Bridge) to become actualized in consciousness. Before decisions are made, there may be looping activity between consciousness and the neuropsyche. “The experience of simply watching and tasting a sequencing arises when Q-substances are actualized in consciousness in temporal order, while reflexive looping is minimal. The subject perceives the sequence directly, integrating sensory patterns without intervening, resulting in a passive yet vivid experiencing story.” Creativity emerges from fewer looping breaks, allowing larger sequences of Q-substances to unfold in consciousness, which can subsequently be examined and critiqued.
unimpaired on tests of declarative memory and measures of working memory
slower reaction times but no reduction in accuracy during spatial working memory tasks involving the recall of spatial locations
impairments in tasks involving mental control and the manipulation of new items
impair measures of sustained (Quednow et al. 2012), divided (Carter et al. 2005) and covert orienting of attention (Gouzoulis-Mayfrank et al. 2002). Deshon et al. (1952) also describe difficulties in concentration as one of the disturbances
marked impairments in speech production seen across all subjects, One participant experienced complete blocking of speech for around 3 h,
unable to generate spontaneous utterances or answer questions except by gestures, inability to put into words the thoughts he wished to express
decreased capacity to use contextual information for semantic processing
Comparing direct (e.g. ‘black-white’) and indirect (e.g. ‘lemon-sweet’) word pairs, psilocybin was found to significantly increase indirect but not direct semantic priming (Spitzer et al. 1996)
An impairment in the capacity to detect contradictions could hardly foster abstract thought given the importance that this capacity plays in the evaluation of evidence and argument.
In summary, psychedelics seem to impair many of the central elements of cognition: decision-making, memory, attention and abstract thought. Although psychedelics appear to enhance the capacity to generate novel ideas, they also seem to impair the capacity to evaluate these ideas and distinguish those that represent genuine cognitive advances from those that do not. Based on the evidence available, it seems plausible that the increase in salience and/or amount sensory information experience (real or imagery-based) may itself be sub-optimal for higher-level functions (Spitzer et al. (1996).
(time) One key feature of the psychedelic state is a distorted experience of time, with subjects typically reporting that time has stopped or slowed (Ludwig 1966). Using objective measures of time perception based on interval matching or reproduction, a number of studies have shown significant impairments in both humans (Wittmann et al. 2007; Wackermann et al. 2008) and mice (Halberstadt et al. 2016) in the psychedelic state >>> The structuring of time occurs in the neuropsyche
(space) subjects often experience a breakdown in the perceived boundary between themselves and their environment, a phenomenon that is often termed ‘ego-dissolution’ (Lebedev et al. 2015; Millière 2017).
psilocybin was not as clearly associated with a sense of disembodiment typical of dissociative anaesthetics such as ketamine. This distinction might reflect the fact that the experience of disembodiment requires a robust sense of the boundary between oneself and one’s environment.
https://academic.oup.com/view-large/figure/121561730/niy008f1.tif
The shape of things seemed to change by sounds and noises’ and ‘Noises seemed to influence what I saw’ (Studerus et al. 2010). >>> secondary to PPI? >> less filtering
We know a lot about the neurobiology of psychedelics (for a detailed review see Nichols DE. Psychedelics. Pharmacol Rev 2016;68:264–355., javascript:;). For example, we know that psychedelics act predominantly through 5-HT2A receptor activation, and we know where these receptors are typically located in the brain.
Boly, Melanie, et al. "Consciousness in humans and non-human animals: recent advances and future directions." Frontiers in psychology 4 (2013): 625. >> https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00625/full
Actual loss of consciousness due to various causes is typically accompanied by breakdown of brains' capacity to integrate neuronal activity across distant areas, especially via top-down or reentrant connectivity supported by the integrity of fronto-parietal areas.
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https://chatgpt.com/s/t_697662eb37f48191807b31e79d775994
There is currently no verified EEG recording that simultaneously shows a flat EEG (true brain inactivity) and a concurrent NDE that can be confirmed as experienced at that moment.
Lack of EEG activity (a flatline) does not necessarily prove the absence of any subjective experience — nor does a burst of activity confirm it.
In some cases, brain electrical activity re‑emerges during CPR or after the arrest, and some survivors report awareness — but there isn’t direct evidence linking a specific moment of EEG activity to the content of an NDE.
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https://diaspora.psyco.fr/camo/d62a03e7df74be44f7937a2ddd883eb9fa2a1601/68747470733a2f2f64696173706f72612d707379636f2e73332e65752d776573742d332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f75706c6f6164732f696d616765732f7363616c65645f66756c6c5f30343061383266356663646463396632663231362e77656270
Splitting neurological and phenomenological consciousness. When does an abstract process should be called neurological, psychological, mental (both) or 'spiritual (soul)'? https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6976680dfc3c8191b3f2d3f62dee9fe7
Baars BA. A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. -> page 17 del ocdr local
In The Principles of
Psychology (1890/1983), James suggests a way of focusing on the issue of
consciousness by contrasting comparable conscious and unconscious
events. James himself was hindered in carrying out this program because
he believed that psychology should not deal with unconscious processes;
unconscious events, he thought, were physiological. In contrast, our
current cognitive metatheory suggests that we can indeed talk psychologi-
cally about both conscious and unconscious processes if we can infer the
properties of both on the basis of public evidence. In cognitive psycholo-
gy, conscious and unconscious events have the same status as any other
scientific constructs. A weaith of information has now accumulated based
on this reasoning.
It makes not a bit of
difference that Pavlov was a devout physicalist who felt that a scientific
treatment of conscious experience was impossible.
Exactly — in TACE, **spiritual/soul-level processes always involve intentionality**, but in a **stronger, metaphysical sense** than what occurs in the mental (mind) level. Let me clarify and revise the framework accordingly.
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## 1. **Neurological (Neuropsyche -> unconsciousness)**
## 2. **Psychological / Phenomenological (neuropsyche -> consciousness**
## 3. **Mental (Mind, both 1&2)**
## 4. **Spiritual / Soul**
### ✅ Key Distinction: Intentionality Across Levels
| Level | Intentionality Type | Neurophysiology Required? | Phenomenology Required? | Example |
| ---------------- | --------------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| Neurological | None | Yes | Sometimes (sensory input) | Reflex, pre-reaction |eg. subliminal stimuli'there is considerable evidence that
unattended speech is nevertheless processed up to a point ... Now we can ask, given
that these paired events are so similar, why is one member of each pair
conscious but not the other? -- perhaps: It has never reached the soul-consciousness
Unattended speech remains a Q-pseudomateriasignal
It never becomes an actualized meaningl (it never reaches the soul)
Therefore, no experience of meaning occurs (it doesn't reach consciousness)
All forms are immaterial. However, Q-form is immaterial in a different sense than purely structural forms or spiritual forms (such as angelic form). Q-form is an immaterial force-substrate ordered toward the actualization of mathematical vectors in space–time, whereas angelic or spiritual forms are immaterial substances not ordered toward space–time actualization.
In TACE, remote memory is not understood as a persistent material trace within the neuropsyche, but as an immaterial form preserved in the Matrix, capable of being re-actualized as meaning in consciousness. Consequently, the quantity of memory in principle is not intrinsically limited by neural storage capacity, even though its access and actualization remain constrained by the neuropsyche.
| Psychological | Weak / “aboutness” | Yes | Yes | Feeling, perception |
| Mental | Moderate / rational | Yes | Yes | Reasoning, planning |
| Spiritual / Soul | Strong / metaphysical | No (substrate optional) | Yes | Conscience, metaphysical insight |
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https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6976708d789c81918646fb4557799ee5
Self-contained meaning as the Self
In TACE, a self-contained meaning is the meaning that a subject knows immediately, without needing an external relation.
This is experienced as the Self: the fundamental anchor of all conscious experience.
Every self-conscious being necessarily experiences this Self, because it is the first actualized meaning that grounds all intentionality.
Key Insight
1. The Self is the first actualized meaning.
2. Reflection (“how have I become what I am?”) requires the Self as an anchor.
3. Rational wonder is the mind’s way of exploring relations emanating from the Self, seeking causal or structural explanations for its own existence and development.
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https://chatgpt.com/s/t_69767bb61adc8191962567dbd8d03e6e
Mass is only an idea or concept — a relational structural form defined by Newton’s formula: m=F/a (it is not measured but inferred; it is abstract instead a physical substance). One cannot act on the mass of an object directly, but only by altering the object’s ‘rest state’, as understood within Einstein’s theory of relativity.
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pp 33-34:46-48
Today, the new cognitive metatheory has overcome this
reluctance. The cognitive metatheory encourages psychologists to go
beyond raw observations, to infer explanatory entities if the evidence for
pp 36:37-38
evidence for ‘blind sight’, where patients with occipital damage can
name objects they claim not to experience
TACE
Blindsight shows that signals may guide behavior (Pavlovian' responsing) without becoming meanings, hylighting the distinction between neuropsyche and consciousness.
In blindsight, the subject can correctly name objects (e.g., “its color is red”) despite reporting no visual experience. This indicates that stimuli can be processed by the neuropsyche through non-conscious mechanisms; that is, Pavlovian causal neurodynamic engrams can generate reflexive outputs without consciousness playing a relevant role.
This may occur with the concurrence of cortically processed Q-neuropsychic signal outputs, which, upon crossing the Epistemic Bridge, are actualized as abstract signifieds. Consequently, consciousness experiences the superposition of (1) a layered pattern of graphical features with the teleological role of imagery representation (“I see a spot”), and (2) data directed toward object recognition, memorization, categorization, and higher-level processing (“its color is red”).
As a result, the visual layer produces a minimal conscious experience — “I see a spot” — rather than a copy or cloned image, in contrast to the analytical layer, which informs consciousness through mathematical relations. The analytical layer thus produces actualized significative and identificative, measure-like meanings, enabling the subject to respond correctly in a questionnaire. This provides a conceptual, TACE-based hypothesis for explaining the blindsight phenomenon.
Ideas, forms, and spiritual feelings, which are non-substances, can cross the Epistemic Bridge directly from the Matrix, as well as those originating from God or angels. These forms are already structured and ready for actualization in consciousness and are therefore experienced without mediation by the neuropsyche. In this sense, consciousness can experience non-material realities directly as meanings, feelings, or intentional contents.
Feelings arising from the neuropsyche, by contrast, are Q-pseudomaterial signals. They represent bodily or neural states and can be evaluated, modulated, repressed, or otherwise acted upon by higher processes—whether due to neuropsychical causes, influences from consciousness, or external factors such as pharmacological agents (e.g., paracetamol, DMT) and other environmental causes.
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Substances such as DMT do not generate pure oneness experiences but may facilitate them by modulating neuropsychical constraints, thereby allowing direct actualization of form-only experiences originating from the Matrix or spiritual sources.
Mystical oneness is a direct form-only actualization from the Matrix or spiritual sources, inherently stable and unmediated by neuropsychical structures. DMT-oneness, by contrast, is an occasional, pharmacologically facilitated access to these forms: the neuropsyche is altered to allow EB crossing, but the experience is dependent on the altered pseudomaterial substrate, highly variable, and often accompanied by sensory and emotional artifacts.
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Propofol → Epistemic Bridge (TACE-consistent synthesis)
Propofol induces unconsciousness via two convergent mechanisms:
1. Via PPI (gating mechanism)
Propofol increases PPI, strengthening inhibitory gating.
This results in a reduction of the in-flow of consciousness-relevant contents (meaning, imagery, awakeness potentials).
2. Via GABAergic inhibition (generation mechanism)
Propofol potentiates GABA_A–mediated inhibition, leading to:
reduced neural excitability
reduced responsiveness to inputs
This causes a reduction in the generation and propagation of Q-pseudomaterial neurosignals.
3. Convergent effect (necessary and sufficient)
Together, increased gating (PPI) and reduced signal generation prevent a sufficient quantity and coherence of Q-pseudomaterial input from reaching the Epistemic Bridge, such that the probability of Q-substance actualization falls below threshold, resulting in unconsciousness.
in summary
Propofol increases inhibitory gating (PPI) and reduces signal generation (via GABAergic inhibition); together, these effects deprive the Epistemic Bridge of sufficiently structured and coherent Q-pseudomaterial input (meaning layer, imagery layer, awakeness layer), driving the system below the threshold for conscious actualization.
Conscious experience arises when meaning, imagery, and awakeness vectors jointly exceed the Epistemic Bridge threshold in magnitude, coherence, and alignment; anesthesia reduces these vectors below actualization capacity.
The Epistemic Bridge (EB) is not a locus.
It is a relational boundary structure at the interface (edge) between Soul and Matrix,
and it is the limiting condition that gives the soul its identity as a knower.
herbs: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_69764d52c4608191be188c79bc95ad37