Pineal gland

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
That little thing up there, that dot? Thats where your soul lives. (Also pictured here: boobies)

The pineal gland is a small pine cone shaped chunk of tissue tucked in the middle of the brain. It is part of the endocrine system and produces melatonin, which is responsible for regulating the sleep/wake cycle and circadian rhythms of animals. Originally thought to be vestigial, the pineal gland's function was discovered in the 1950s in experimentation on cows.[1]

[edit] Pineal woo

But what it's really known for is being the home for the ghost in the machine. Rene Descartes identified it as the place where the "mind" interacts with the "brain," or "the principle seat of the soul," in his treatise on dualism.[2] It may look cramped but just as an infinite number of angels can dance on the head of a pin so can many souls kick it in your pineal gland.

This brand of "Cartesian woo" has spawned various forms of pseudoscience in modern times. The pineal gland is a favorite of New Agers and dirty hippies. Many claim that it contains chakras or is the location of the "third eye." Regular consumers of psychedelic drugs may have an obsession with the pineal gland due to the hypothesis that it produces dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a drug (illegally) sold as a hallucinogen. This claim has no basis in evidence and is merely a hypothesis pushed by Dr. Rick Strassman who is (surprise!) selling a book and a documentary about his crackpot theory.[3]

Discordians claim they can communicate with Eris via their pineal glands. When that doesn't work, the appendix works almost as well. fnord


Other forms of pineal woo include the idea that the pineal gland can or has become "calcified," through various nefarious agents, most notably fluoride, mercury from vaccines, even chemtrails.[4] [5] It's claimed that clearing away your pineal calcification can do anything from enabling you to dream better, think more laterally, enable you to see "the truth" (read: believe in conspiracy theories), to activating psychic powers.[6] These beliefs are the basis for the Alt-Med crowd to push supplements and "detoxing" diets that supposedly will rid your pineal gland of the calcium that accumulates there.

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Aaron B. Lerner, James D. Case, and Yoshiyata Takahashi. Isolation of Melatonin and 5-Methoxyindole-3-acetic Acid from Bovine Pineal Glands. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 235, No. 7, July 1960
  2. Descartes and the Pineal Gland, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  3. JASON KORBUS DMT and Our Brain: What the Scientists Say
  4. Med Health on Pineal gland calcification
  5. Sample conspiracy forums discussing pineal calcification
  6. Sample of psychic woo
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support