Can Near Death Experiences Be Explained by the Pineal Gland and DMT?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the potential connection between the pineal gland, DMT (dimethyltryptamine), and near-death experiences (NDEs). Participants explore whether DMT could be a catalyst for NDEs, the implications of such experiences, and the scientific basis for claims regarding the pineal gland's role in producing DMT. The conversation includes theoretical, experiential, and speculative elements.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that the pineal gland releases DMT before death, potentially leading to near-death experiences, while others question the validity of this claim.
  • There is speculation about the nature of NDEs, with some suggesting they may not be purely hallucinatory but could involve accessing external information.
  • Concerns are raised regarding the survival value of DMT experiences during death, with some participants expressing skepticism about how such a phenomenon could be evolutionarily advantageous.
  • Participants discuss the amount of DMT that could be produced by the pineal gland, with one noting its small size and questioning the feasibility of significant quantities being synthesized.
  • There are references to personal experiences with psychedelics, including LSD and ketamine, and their effects on perception of time, which some relate to the experiences reported during NDEs.
  • Some participants express interest in the scientific research surrounding DMT and its effects, while others call for more peer-reviewed evidence to support claims about its production in the brain.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the relationship between the pineal gland, DMT, and near-death experiences. Multiple competing views remain, with some supporting the connection and others expressing skepticism or seeking more evidence.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include a lack of peer-reviewed evidence cited for the production of DMT in the brain and unresolved questions about the evolutionary implications of such experiences. The discussion also reflects a range of personal beliefs and anecdotal experiences related to psychedelics and consciousness.

Nuklear
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The human Pineal Gland holds DMT. I want to know how much it holds and how long of a trip it will cause. DMT is supposedly the catalyst to near death experiences. The Pineal releases lots of DMT before we die. WHile it might be a hallucination it might not be internally generated. Information can be passed psychicly. I'm thinking this is the science behind Near Deaths. Shaman and tribes have taken psychdellcs for millenia to go to the spirit workd and do supernatural things. They often describe goin throug a tunnel and seeing light as well. The premenitions they see and spells they cast are real and happen later in life.

SO if you're not really taken to the spirit world but instead accessing infrmation from it which become interpreted by our brains, can people with brain damage of Near Death Experiences? FOr instance can a mentally damaged or crazy person have a normal sane experience. IF not this may prove that it is a phenomena occurring with our brains.
 
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guess no one's ever had a near death experience.
 
I think most of us prefer to remain in touch with the real world, rather than with illusions caused by dementia. Dreams are no substitute for the real thing.
 
Information can be passed psychicly.

Well then go earn $1 million dollars right now.
 
where on Earth did you hear Pineal gland makes or holds DMT?
 
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do you have any links to peer reviewed journal articles re evidence that DMT is produced in the brain? Its an intriguing notion, but cannot see survival value as I can with endorphin release. I have not personally done DMT but extrapolating from experiences with LSD, etc I have a hard time understanding how such a state of mind might help you survive the ordeal of death, and so from the perspective of evolution, am hard pressed to see how such a mutation would gain currency in the population.

Thanks for the link, I interviewed down there for a residency about the time he came aboard at UNM and was completely unaware of his work.
 
It wouldn't take much. You do the calculations for say, LSD which has a MW of about 250 iirc, so 250 micrograms of the stuff is a micromole, of which only 2 percent gets across the BBB. Whether you buy the hypothesis or not, I say it took major cajones to do psychedelics research at a large state University these days.
 
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WHat's an MW? And people whom have Near Death Experiences say the have them for hours. Either the pineal can supply enough to go for hours or your time fram gets shrunk.
 
  • #11
molecular weight, and my point was a pea is a large mass if it in fact was synthesizing and storing DMT. I think your point is well made, and may who knows if there is any truth to this, explain why such time dilation occurs during dreaming. I had a somewhat bad trip during my partly mispent/partly well spent youth, when I took a very large dose of LSD. I would not go so far as to say time stood still, but it was slowed dramatically as you suggest. Ketamine users talk about even greater distortions of time and space.

This is a drug I would be afraid to even try. In many ways it is a shame our govt has become so close minded about such research-before XTC was banned during the Reagan years, it showed considerable promise in accelerating the results of psychotherapy, esp among couples as you might imagine.
Now even more curiously in a recent paper, ketamine was shown to relieve depression in a remarkable way, thru its effect on NMDA receptors. Not in 3 weeks but in minutes, and an effect that persisted. Ibogaine as you probably realize has been used for the treatment of herion addiction, and LSD for alcoholism. Yet these psychoactive compounds for research purposes is hugely restricted, to the detriment of all IMO.
 

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