Altered State of Mind and Near Death Experience

Altered State of Mind and Near Death Experience

I do not want to use the medical terms like, illusions, hallucinations and delusions in this discussion since readers are ordinary guys/girls.

Awareness (sanity), altered state of awareness and insanity are better terms.

In near death syndrome, an altered state of awareness is common but most is easily forgotten, if traumatic but remembered with colorful stories if the experience (altered state of awareness) is pleasant.

In between these two extremes of Domanassa and Somanassa feeling or states many different states can be induced by drugs, alcohol, anaesthesia and meditative experiences.

This piece is to highlight the Acid Base imbalance that can be induced in meditative practice involuntarily.

Alcohol and over 18 hour starvation (much less time in kids) can bring about ketosis or disruption of acid state balance of the body and mind.

But ketone is a metabolic substitute for glucose.

In the brain the coconut oil with medium chain fatty acids can supplement and augment ketone pathway better than alcohol. 

 

So do not fear eating Sambol and coconut milk curry if you have a long work schedule without food. 

By the way, even patient with Dementia (there cognitive function) are benefited by a diet rich in coconut oil.

So I advice the coconut treatment to the corrupt politicians in the parliament (all parties new and old are included).

This treatment is with a strong Kithul Polla when they come for the next round of elections, since their nuts are stronger than coconuts.

So in addition to promoting Ceylon Tea give a push to the Coconut Industry and ban Yappies who vandalize coconut states for property development.

Now simple withholding of breathing (this can happen in a wrongly guided meditation) for few minutes causes carbon dioxide narcosis or acidosis that can alter one’s cognition and awareness.

This is not Jhana induced.

Hyperventilation can produce, alkalosis the opposite of acidosis.

This also can happen in meditation due to excitement of reaching a Jhana state or simply due to agitation and anxiety.

The bottom line is validating the effect of meditation should not be left to checking the blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol.

They are poor indicators of wellbeing.

The best indicator is the Acid Base Status which anaesthetists test as a routine in developed countries, since the damage they do to the brain (post operative complications) is substantial.

In that sense the altered states in NDE are directly related to imbalance in acid base balance and not due to divine intervention and often due to medical mishaps (that causes the patient to be transferred to an Intensive Care Unit) which helps the doctors to hide behind.

Our brain is not adopted to high mountain climbing (causes mountain sickness due to hypoxia) or deep sea diving (causes decompression syndrome) so do not volunteer for space travel which the private companies are offering for stupid but rich people.

Read my article on (very old one) physiological effects in space in the wider web.

Postscript;

I do not advice meditation for diabetes patients and both low and high thyroxin levels can have mental symptoms.

Emancipation

Emancipation

Emancipation=the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation

I was on a self imposed hibernation for nearly one year and want to emerge out of it, to the real world of entanglement.

One reason of my hibernation was the US election and Faked News Saga.

The whole digital world paranoia (Snowdon saga) and the unwanted digital surveillance was my beta noire.

I knew of this covert American, Russian and the latest entry China’s digital surveillance, long before (I do computer forensics and the Kali Linux type infiltration) American (Washington Post) News exposed it.

I called it “Digitally Zeroing” which I tried from 2014 (but could never achieve it-it is a dangerous addiction but the real reason for the hibernation was truly personal and has no relationship to the Internet).

As a preparation, I gave up fish keeping but entered into new environmental study, the Water Lilies to pass the time.

I see no reason for offering flowers at the alter (weddings, garlanding politicians etc) and an antithesis to insect and animal kingdom (honey birds included), instead of uttering the Gata which states the fundamental importance of impermanence in Buddha’s words.

I did not read any books (TV, Media and daily Papers) or indulged in writing (stopped finishing of the three books, I started few years ago, mind you boring medical stuff, no loss to my limited clientele) and said no to everything (including alcohol-prices not the indulgence) except basic food which we loved (food quality has gone down drastically under the new regime but prices going up by the minute).

It was absolutely invigorating and slept well in spite of the mosquitoes (it is the mosquito net I worship now) and bit of Metta (how can one meditate with this mosquito music buzzing) Meditation.

I also discovered that the some of the feel good hormones do not work (if you have a tot after the meditation session), if one sip of spirits is taken in.

The only substitute for feel good hormone is chocolates (I eat them plenty) that over score meditation by 300% (the effect of meditation).

Now to the topic today.

If you are not a physicist do not read beyond this point.

I listened to two of the YouTube discussions on various topics like holographic world, world of information, the computer universe and the quantum physics.

Nothing about dark matter, black holes and expanding or contracting universe in their discussion.

It was a mess and a tangled entanglement to me (who was very good in mathematics and physics from young age).

I thank myself for not taking up those fields and indulging in mediocre medicine (not psychology, the biggest entanglement of the modern world, including modern interpretation of Buddha’s words).

I went to sleep confused but woke up fully invigorated with a dream.

The moment I woke up, I momentarily remembered and meditated on late Prof. A.D.P.Kalansuriya.

He was the one who introduced me to the basics of philosophy.

He used to say these guys do not come out of the box and entanglements.

The dream illustrates his core theme "out of the box thinking".

The dream goes like this.

It was in an American Institute of repute or ill repute (which way you look at them).

The professor standing had four students.

He boxed them in a square not in the Cat Box of uncertainty.

Each one of them is one of the four sides of the square.

Each one has to go high up in his field of thinking to expand the probability aspect of his or her core value (unfortunately all were males and not a single female).

What it does is to make the square bigger but if any one of them goes faster than his fellow beings the square becomes distorted by laws of physics and not of mathematics (which is the bottom line of Western physics).

Ultimately it became a sphere, not a circle and busted out of our universe and entered another universe.

Unfortunately, the dream ended there and I woke up to explore the other universe but I wasn’t there in reality.

This is what we call the Western reductionist point of view but in reality it expanded out of control in the discussion quoted above.

This dream amused me a lot and took the book “The all embracing Net of Views (Brahmajala Sutta)” out to read.

But in this type of situation what one should really do is to drop all the views (that is what Ana Pana Sati Meditation teaches you) one by one and enter into the void (Sunnatta) which frees one from the tangled entanglement.

If one can goes to the furthest end (very difficult scenario) that is what is called emancipation (liberation may not be the correct term) in Buddhism.

It sets one free to the bondage of attachment and is not a void at all.

Healing and Healing Power

Healing and Healing Power

Yes, healing power is a myth.

You are born with it and it is more often than not interfered intentionally or unintentionally.

Often doctors and their attendants are to be blamed.

Let me state a few facts.

Healing power is inborn and fast in the faetus.

Placenta more so than in the faetus.

Any derangement in the faetus, it leads to fibrosis before immune cells are formed or associated with minor congenital abnormalities.

I have done some research work on the placenta and yet to figure out the exact mechanism.

There is a very large nano-molecule called fibronectin and I have coined the name molecular glue for its eternal virtue.

It is both a healer and a protector molecule.

I call it a protector since it can attenuate immune reactions orchestrated by the placental mechanisms.

Do not confuse this with fibrin which can be seen without a microscope.

Healing is faster in kids and slower in the elderly.

In the elderly, it is compounded by metabolic syndromes, poor blood and nerve supply.

Healing is faster in the head and it gradually slows down as one reaches the foot.

The bottom line is any injury heals by itself within 6 weeks the most, unless it is interfered with by an external agency (doctors, their attendants, more so in this country by the well wishers).

Now how one can apply this knowledge.

I will give you few stories.
 

First and foremost one has to give a psychological booster.

I undertake to heal by a fixed time scale.

I add two weeks one upfront and one afterward (usually 10 days in the beginning and 4 days at the tail end of the healing process).

I add 2 weeks and it is a farce by the nature.

But I have my reasons.

Often, they have gone to quack healers.

I need to assess the damage done.

I clean it myself (never delegate) with liberal quantity of saline and never with soap and water.

Water is hypotonic and causes intense pain and hypertonic saline deforms young and dividing cells.

The detergent in soap is antithesis to healing.

It dissolves the cell membranes and the cells bust in no time.

Of course, the soap can be used to clean the normal parts.

The nurse if attending has to count the swabs used and disposed and I estimate the volume of saline used.

That is to make the viable cost in private practice.

Never use antiseptics but rarely Betadine (an iodine solution, good antiseptic and very expensive and never in thyroid patients).

Cover with absorbent material (not available in this country) and a swab on top and ask them to come back after 10 days.

If things warrant 10 day supply of standard antibiotics in full course (they only buy 3 day supply and that is what is intended by me).

Case one

This was a poor farmer from Maiyanganaya.

Bitten by a snake while harvesting (cutting) paddy.

The tip of the ring finger gone and bone exposed but healthy.

He was covering his finger with his handkerchief.

I took the handkerchief and put it in the dustbin and said no handkerchief until I tell you. 

Bit of authority (psychological in part) and get the compliance well attended, on the first day.

I told him in eighty weeks (8) it will be all back to normal minus the tip.

Did the cleaning and and put the sterile absorbent stuff and anchored it safely.

Gave a sling and he has to wear it with hand upwards (prevent oedema an inherent anti-healer).

Antibiotics yes with the bone exposed.

Strict instruction “No handling of the wound” and a postprandial blood sugar on the day of the next arrival in 10 days.

He was not pleased and wanted to come back in three days.

Said No and “No Charges” for the first visit. 

He could pay for the second visit in 10 days. 

I wanted him to come back to me; not go to another guy.

He has to buy only the antibiotics from the nearest pharmacy.

Sure enough he came back, the bone that was exposed was almost covered with skin.

I was pleased.

Skin cover is essential for healing.

(If you want to know about in depth healing go to a burn unit and see for yourself. It is a different kettle of fish).

Come back in another 10 days.

In three visits it was all but healed.

Healed in 40 odd days and he did not have to come back for the last visit.

I had two bonus weeks as intended.

 

Case Two

It was simple matter, a carpenter had got his thumb trapped in a machine.

He came with the wound exposed with part of the skin of the tip of the thumb missing.

Where is the skin?

My opening question.

Put it in a bin.

Go back and bring it and no treatment without it.

He came back with the skin, curled up and dry.

I put it in a saline dish and told him to sit there until I am ready to put it back.

With difficulty, I figured out the orientation (finger prints were not useful).

10 days antibiotics, a sling and come back in 10 days.

Thumb is important and any infection whole hand is gone.

Well this was the fastest healing, in two weeks he was OK.

I was a miracle healer for him.

Case Three

The case three was bizarre.

Wound in his leg diagnosed as a non-healing squamous cancer.

I looked at the pathologist report and tore it to pieces.

I told him, I can even heal cancers but I need three months.

His problem was he was a mild diabetic (on oral diadetic treatment) with a wound.

He has to come daily for insulin and post insulin blood sugar which I changed to once in three days when the correct estimate of Semilente was made.

Yes, it took three months to heal and he always came back to me.

I was a cancer healer in his mind.

 

 Fourth Case

 

The fourth case illustrated the most bizarre episode.

One should not live near to a hospital or far away places like Maiyanggana.

Both have adverse effects on healing.

She was an old lady.

The words got round I was a healer.

I told her I cannot treat her.

She asked why?

No answer from me.

My reason was if I took over this case, the attendant doing the wound dressing in the nearby General Hospital would be very cross with me.

Besides she was related to him.

I get all this information from the nurses.

I never ask probing questions.

Then with one of the nurses insistence, I took over her treatment.

First the post-prandial blood sugar was normal and that was a bonus.

The tendons of the back of her leg muscles were exposed and it was deep and skin cover was all but nothing.

The attendant had done all the damage to the granulation tissue.

Stuffed it with absorbent material which I got as a gift from the pharmacy when I left New Zealand.

She has to have strict bed rest and out only for toilet.

No antibiotics.

See me in 10 days or if the absorbent material is smelly.

She came back in 5 days, it was in good shape early signs of skin growing but redressed the wound all the same with new absorbent material.

Come back in 10 days.

This went on till the skin cover was complete and my absorbent material was over. It was very tender skin cover and I told her it will take another six months for the skin to be rough and do not come back to me if she injures it again. 

She never came back and it was my last healing session.

Episiotomy
Word of caution about the incision that is made at the time of normal delivery to prevent perineal injury.
Please do not get a raw intern to stitch it up (they can learn it elsewhere) since most of them have no idea.
Demand a senior guy in attendance, if your GP is not available, to finish the job.
 

Sensory System and Psychology of Pain

Sensory System and Psychology of Pain

This is the medical stuff for a layman to understand pain and pleasure principle.

The reason for me focusing on this is that two guys on the YouTube try to impose their own interpretation in a convoluted manner (confusing even for a medical guy in retirement) of the brain and its function.

The bottom line is, even if one studies the brain and its nervous system, the entire life, he/she would not understand them fully.

Equally, in one hour verbal presentation one won’t do the justice to the enormous amount of work and research done including meditation (mind you not the transcendental meditation of the New Age guys).

I hated neurology and the study of anatomy of the brain.

My professor of anatomy tried to teach us over three hundred cross sections of the brain “by heart” without its application to clinical work in the first year. 

We had to study it overnight and answer his question.

I got my worse Viva Vose rating of E (out of 5 A to E) on a Friday afternoon.

After this I went to my advisor and told her that I am going to leave the medical faculty for good and pursue a better career.

She was flabbergasted and ask me why?

I told her what the heck of learning all this stuff if I am going to a be a simple general practitioner and not a neurologist.

She took me to the professor who is no more and presented my concern and the stern action of mine that would follow.

He asked me are your serious (not the same outburst as of Tennis Star John McEnroe's)?

Yes was my answer.

I do not remember the next part of the dialogue (with the heat on) but I remember him saying you need to know only 10% of it at the examination.

I ask him why don’t you do that?

He had no answer and asked me to read the Clinical Anatomy by Ellis.

He also advised me not to divulge the conversation to my fellow beings, which I never did till we left the anatomy block.

Now I will dispense 1% of that 10% to you but before getting to the boring stuff let me tell you a real life story.

We had a small gang of Ceylonese doctors in our locality and we used to have frequent dinner parties and wine. 

Yet, I could not meet one of the very senior guys who worked alone in the remotest location as a G.P.

One day, I got a call and he invited me for lunch and closing the conversation he asked me for a favor.

He said his wife is mortally fearful of pain and I should remove the big toe nail, of one of her legs (cannot remember which) causing problems for her for some time (caused by bad footwear).

I said no problem and make it a day on a Sunday, I was not on call.

He wanted to come and pick me up and I said I did not want him to leave her at home by the time he goes back the local anaesthetic effect would wear off.

We had a book on local anaesthesia and peripheral nerves in the casualty and I photocopied the detailed innervation (mind you our undergraduate training was not at its best) of the particular side, (one photocopy was enough, the other side is a near enough mirror image) of the big toe.

When, I went there lunch was laid out and I said let me have cup of tea and finish the job first.

I looked at her face and told her I could take it out in a flash without local and she almost “flashed out” that very moment.

That was my preparation of the brain analgesics and how ever much, I inject local anaesthetics, she would panic, all the same.

I started with injecting all the big nerves first with the tiniest needle I took with me and closed on with (mind you big toe has complex innervation) near enough tiny peripheral nerves.

I told her it takes few minutes for the local to act and had some beer with, now my friend, in the meantime.

Finally, as a precaution I injected local around the toe and in a whisk, I took the nail out in one go, when she was not, focusing on it.

Is that it?

She asked me.

I told her I could now take the other toe nail out without a local (as a post surgery booster of her anti pain chemicals).

We had a quiet evening that day and all they wanted me was to stay in New Zealand.

By then, I have decided to come back home and that was the biggest mistake I have made in my life.

Mind you pain is 5% physical and 95% psychological.

These guys on YouTube are fear (psychological, too) mongers and do not listen to them.

They confuse your inner feeling and your self.

Mind, Body and Spirits

Mind, Body and Spirits

This brief won’t do justice to enormous volume of conceptions and misconceptions that are floating around globally both verbally and digitally.

The intention is to highlight the trends.

The onus is for one to avoid falling into the pit or avoid pitfalls.

1. Reality

2. Perception

3. The Gap

4. Do not fill the Void or the Gap with spirits.

The bottom line is there is a gap between reality and perception and this gap is widening very fast and the scientific inquiry cannot fill the void.

Religious dogmatism and fundamentalism is on the wane.

Science (Has fallen into the pit by its own faith and belief in its methodology) is lagging behind.

A new syndrome of New Age Mafia has come into existence and gobbling innocent and gullible minds, especially the young.

This holistic and spirits domain are worse than the religion.

They are not formulating a fall back position or scenario but leave behind a wide open gap.

At least standard religions stood the test of time.

The New Age Phenomenon came into existence after end of the psychedelic saga of LSD.

The world wide use of mind enhancing drugs are on the increase.

These can be used by these new gurus with scandals.

Lot of self acclaimed Gurus, Spiritualists,Charlatans and Psychotherapists have taken center stage of confusion and more confusion.

Existential crisis is emerging slowly but surely.

How to be one or two steps ahead.

1. Know that there is a gap (may be big or small) between reality and perception.

2. Perception is subjective and that is where one’s individuality counts.

That is the human nature.

3. Do not try to explain the gap with your own (or others) subjective reality unless you can validate your own stance.

It is not easy.

4. Be your own master and do not be a stooge or servant of a superior being human or otherwise.

5. Stick with the mind and body duality (no soul or spirit in between).

6. Treat you mind as supreme (many methods) and body would fall in line.

7. Once you secure your own individuality be mindful and do not impose it on others.

In other word be loving and compassionate to all living beings (start with the cat and the dog).

A Philosophical Question

A Philosophical Question

Philosophy is the first order discipline, in that it asks an appropriate (in time, place, person and context) question, never wanting a simple answer.

Even one tries to answer, the true philosopher would never believe, it upfront.

That actually leads to the second order disciplines like religion which became redundant over time due to dogmatism.

That lead to the scientific inquiry (Kalama Sutta, brandishing 13 qualifications for inquiry,  was a fore runner) which got muddled in the material physics (5% of total) leaving behind 95% of the virtual (dark matter and dark energy) matter, in the universe unexplained.

We are yet to comprehend the total and somewhere down the line mankind coined the irrational words, conventional truth and absolute (ultimate), masking the simple truth.

I think mankind wants to be in the dark and never want to come out of the Deep Mind Pit, they already are in.

I call it, the virulent brain virus that retard our escape from the tight entanglement without a logical treatment in sight!

Are we free to exercise our free will?