Trepanation, Spirituality and Loneliness :: Biology Essays Research Papers

The search for a "higher level of consciousness" is one that seems to be as old as consciousness itself. Practices such as the ritualistic or religious consumption of peyote, ayahuasca, psilocybe mushrooms or other such naturally-occuring hallucinogenic drugs, self-deprivation and transcendental meditation are just a few of the countless ways in which mankind has sought to expand the limits of human experience; these practices are still a mainstay in many modern countercultures. They are also very well-known and documented practices. There exists, however, a radical surgical procedure, as old as the aforementioned practices but far less notorious in the general public, which purports to result in the same sort of enlightenment: trepanation, also known as trephination. (Be prepared: likely, the primary reason that trepanation has not received so much attention from popular culture is that it is far more extreme than the other methods mentioned above.) What is trepanation? Strictly speaking, it is the practice of drilling, scraping or in any other way creating a small hole in the skull down to, but not through, the dura mater, or the thick, tough membrane that contains the brain. Archeological evidence tells us that it was performed by ancient cultures on every continent; the oldest trepanned skulls that have currently been found date as far back as 3000 B.C (approximately). In almost all cases, the evidence points to the trepanation having been performed with skill and a great deal of precision - it was clearly a procedure that had ritualistic import. (1) What purpose could this operation possibly serve? In early documented incarnations, trepanation existed as a cure for mental illness - it was believed that mental illnesses were the result of demons living within the skull, and thus a hole was made in the skull through which these demons could escape. The more modern perspective on trepanation as a means of expanding consciousness was started in by Bart Hughes when his text "The Mechanism of Brainbloodvolume ('BBV')" was published in 1962. (1) Bart Hughes' theory can be summed up as follows: "...as we mature and age our skulls harden, restricting blood flow to the capillaries of the brain....children, especially babies with their "soft spot", had a clearer outlook on the world because their brains were free to receive more cerebral blood volume than...our adult brains with hermetically-sealed skulls." (1) There are many ways to increase brainbloodvolume (the self-explanatory term coined by Hughes, hereafter referred to as BBV) tempor arily, such as standing on one's head, quickly moving from a hot to a cold bath, or the consumption of psychedelic drugs; however, according to Hughes trepanation is the only way to increase BBV permanently.