"Heroes" and possibilities

I'm watching a new NBC show called Heroes - I didn't think I was interested in this show, but some part of me made me tune in and I'm glad I did. We need to imagine these possibilities, because we really don't fathom what's possible for our species right now. There are a few things we know: that native intelligence in humans is increasing; that we are in an accelerated state of evolution; that we can now make machines that respond to thought; that more of us exposed new drugs; chemicals and fields of energy than at any time during the history of the human race; that the government has experimented with remote viewing; and psychic intervention in criminal investigations may not be common yet, but they've garnered enough attention to spawn shows like Medium and Psychic detectives; that time is non-linear and "space" is a much more fluid concept than we ever dreamed; that we interact with circuitry in unprecedented ways that will inevitably alter our brain functions. We are changing.

There are many factors in the changes that we're manifesting - better nutrition, more access to education, the form of our language which emphasizes left brain functions, more stimulation from our surroundings, and the aforementioned electromagnetic fields and chemicals. We may never know the specific etiology of these changes because there are too many variables to isolate the effect of any one influence, and science would have to acknowledge the changes in order to study them. I've also stated that I think that if they were to study psychics and practitioners of mystery traditions or Earth-based religions, they would find subtle but important differences in practitioners and average people. I think that brain function is extending in both forward and backward directions. In other words, some of us are retaining and developing ancient abilities that have long been suppressed, as well as developing new abilities we don't yet understand or even identify.

Dr. Timothy Leary, one of the most misunderstood men of our time, postulated that we are poised on the brink of manifesting such change. The following passage is from Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson. Take time to really "grok" it, because we may be farther along than he thought. In it, Wilson explores Leary's model of 8 stages of cognitive development, similar to other systems defined by Freud, Piaget, and others.

Wilson, pp. 40-41 -

Following Dr. Timothy Leary (with a few modifications) we shall divide this brain hardware into eight circuits for convenience. ("For convenience" means that this is the best map I know at present. I assume it will be replaced by a better map within 10 or 15 years; and in any case, the map is not the territory.)

Four of the circuits are "antique" and conservative¹, they exist in everybody (except feral children).

1. The Oral Bio-Survival Circuit. This is imprinted by the mother or the first mothering object and conditioned by subsequent nourishment or threat. It is primarily concerned with sucking, feeding, cuddling, and body security. It retreats mechanically from the noxious or predatory ?or from anything associated (by imprinting or conditioning) with the noxious or predatory.

2. The Anal Emotional-Territorial Circuit. This is imprinted in the "Toddling" stage when the infant rises up, walks about and begins to struggle for power within the family structure. This mostly mammalian circuit processes territorial rules, emotional games, or cons, pecking order and rituals of domination or submission.

3. The Time-Binding Semantic Circuit.² This is imprinted and conditioned by human artifacts and symbol systems. It "handles" and "packages" the environment, classifying everything according to the local reality tunnel. Invention, calculation, prediction and transmitting signals across generations are its functions.

4. The "Moral" Socio-Sexual Circuit. This is imprinted by the first orgasm-mating experiences at puberty and is conditioned by tribal taboos. It processes sexual pleasure, local definitions of "right" and "wrong," reproduction, adult-parental personality (sex role) and nurture of the young.

The development of these circuits as the brain evolved through evolution, and as each domesticated primate (human)
brain recapitulates evolution³ in growing from infancy to adulthood, makes possible gene-pool survival, mammalian sociobiology (pecking order, or politics) and transmission of culture.

The second group of four brain circuits is much newer, and each circuit exists at present only in minorities⁴. Where the antique circuits recapitulate evolution-to-the-present, these futuristic circuits precapitulate our future evolution.

5. The Holistic Neurosomatic Circuit. This is imprinted by ecstatic experience, via biological or chemical yogas. It processes neurosomatic ("mind-body") feedback loops, somatic-sensory bliss, feeling "high," "faith-healing," etc. Christian Science, NLP and holistic medicine consist of tricks or gimmicks to get this circuit into action at least temporarily; Tantra yoga is concerned with shifting consciousness entirely into this circuit.

6. The Collective Neurogenetic Circuit. This is imprinted by advanced yogas (bio-chemical - electrical stresses). It processes DNA-RNA-brain feedback systems and is "collective" in that it contains and has access to the whole evolutionary "script," past and future. Experience of this circuit is numinous, "mystical," mind-shattering; here dwell the archetypes of Jung's Collective UnconsciousÂ?Gods, Goddesses, Demons, Hairy Dwarfs and other personifications of the DNA programs (instincts) that govern us.

7. The Meta-programming Circuit. This is imprinted by very advanced yogas. It consists, in modern terms, of cybernetic consciousness, reprogramming and reimprinting all other circuits, even reprogramming itself, making possible conscious choice between alternative universes or reality tunnels.

8. The Non-Local Quantum Circuit. This is imprinted by Shock, by "near-death" or "clinical death" experience, by OOBEs (out-of-body-experiences), by trans-time perceptions ("precognition"), by trans-space visions (ESP), etc. It tunes the brain into the non-local quantum communication system suggested by physicists such as Bohm, Walker, Sarfatti, Bell, etc.

For sake of comparison, Kohlberg's levels of moral and ethical development correspond as follows:⁵

Leary's First and Second levels = What I call Level 1 in Kolberg's system.
Levels 3 and 4 correspond to Kohlberg's Level 2
Levels 5 and 6 correspond to Kohlberg's Level 3
Levels 7 and 8 move beyond Kohlbergs theory into Post-Adolescent cognitive theory that wasn't really recognized until the early 80's. Currently the work of Pim Van Lommel addresses the effect of the near death experience.

Trauma at any level can freeze the individual's development at that level. It's important to note that parenting is a function of The "Moral" Socio-Sexual Circuit (Leary 4) and that having children will freeze the parent's development at the stage it has attained at the time of the child's birth, and the parent's development will not proceed from that point until the children move beyond a stage of physical, and sometimes emotional or financial, dependence. I'm not saying that parenting is traumatic, but that the individual sacrifices the development of hes own personality in order to relive the levels with their own offspring. This is why many progressive people tend to become more conservative when they become parents, and why so many people stay stuck at Kohlberg's level 2 - the younger the individual at the time of the first pregnancy, the less likely they are to develop the capacity for abstract thought until they reach an advanced age, if ever. (This is why I believe it is vital for people to postpone marriage and childbirth until adulthood. Not sex, mind you, just parenting and nesting. )

Notice that Leary's Stage 5 can be reached through sex and drugs. Hence the more liberal attitudes of the hippie culture, and the reduced importance on tribal sexual mores. This is why more liberal adolescent sexuality can reduce the violence in a culture.⁶ It's also why sex and drugs are anathema to the patriarchal power structure - they trigger the ability to question authority. You just can't whip a person into a righteous, patriotic, homicidal frenzy if they're high or just had an orgasm. That takes severe repression and both feet planted at Stage 4 to do that, and good sex, or good pot and LSD, are the quickest ways out of level 4. It's also why you rarely see a person who has done drugs (without drug addiction) advocate against them. They're far more likely to recommend that others, especially those in power, try tripping now and then.

The Stage 6 Collective Neurogenetic Circuit is manifesting in a return to Earth-based spirituality. The current trend toward Evangelical religions in the more conservative political circles may be an attempt to rechannel awakening spiritual highs. Having no other "acceptable" outlet for spontaneously occurring religious ecstasy, individuals may be attributing their source to the wrong origin, resulting in an unsatisfying continuous loop, not unlike drug addiction. Energy needs healthy channels or it literally backs up on us. In this case, it may be about to get us all killed in persuit of the ultimate "Rapture" - it's no accident that that word has sexual connotations.

The Computer Age is dragging us kicking and screaming into the Stage 7 Meta-programming Circuit. The inherent danger of this phase is that we begin to think of ourselves, or the Universe, as computers. That's a useful model, but limiting. The complexity of humans is more fluid and more extensive than this model can adequately express. This is where it is crucial not to confuse the map with the territory - this map is way too simple to give a clear picture of where we are or what we are. We, and the World, are living beings. Don't fall into the Mr. Spock trap of using only part of the brain. The model does have one very useful aspect, though, and that is to let us know that bad programs can be erased, retrained, reprogrammed. It addresses the vast influence we can have on ourselves and each other. The fields of Advertising and Counter-Intelligence are already manipulating this realm. It is vital we learn to recognize this manipulation and use it for our own ends, rather than be used by it. Be in charge of your own Software and see where that can take you.

Leary ended with the Stage 8 Non-Local Quantum Circuit. Scientists are only now beginning to find their way into the quantum field that envelops us. Notice that in addition to shock and near death experiences, primitive experiences inform this stage. A healthy mind with a fully functioning Right Frontal Lobe will experience OOBE's (most primarily during sleep) Precognitive Dreams as well as waking Precognition, and other "Out of Time" experiences that will reinforce the ideas of Quantum Reality - that life doesn't exist in a linear form. Notice that these experiences frequently occur in sleep - the brain works to extend its own abilities when left to its own devices.

I think it is important to point out that we don't want to get into the trap of picturing Dr. Leary's Stages as a linear progression. I believe that the key to levels 5 through 8 is that they are four aspects of an exponential increase in congnitive ability. They co-exist, and co-develop. As I said, we are moving backwards and forwards at the same time. We are each of us Schrodinger's cat - alive and dead at the same time, conscious and unconscious, moving in every direction at once yet not moving at all and all of it is happening right now, right here, because Here and Now are all that exist, ALL THAT EXISTS, in spite of our limited perception.

We can go anywhere and everywhere if we let go of our limits.

"They're here, among us, in the shadows, in the light. Do they even know yet?"⁷


1. By "antique and conservative" Wilson means primitive. My guess is that he felt that the word primitive carried negative connotations. Within the context of my work "primitive" is a good thing, because it predates the patriarchal filter.
2. The "time-binding" function resulted as the result of written language. It was developed at the price of our right brain functions, and was intensified by the use of alphabets rather than pictograms to relay language and information.
3. Wilson is alluding to the concept that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," which I've discussed at length on this blog. You therefore want to picture these levels as they reflect the evolution of human cultures as well as the cognitive development of the individual.
4. The "minorities" probably including high numbers of people who practice Earth-based religions.
5. Remember that I reduce thoriginalal 6 in Kohlberg to 3 for the sake of simplicity. Leary's and Kolberg's theories are nearly identical in original stages 1-6 in their original form. I have no information on whether one theory influenced the other, or they are both based on some third unknown system. The origins aren't really relevant to this discussion - we're just using them as a map of territory most people never consciously observe or define.
6. "Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence" by Dr. James W. Prescott, Bulletin for Atomic Scientists, Nov. 1975, online here.
7. A line from "HEROES" which premiered today.