this is your brain on drugs

the human brain is simply incomprehensible in its complexity. everything is connected and each bio-electric pulse is just a small part of a larger set or segment whose meaning we have yet to decipher with helpful resolution.

having stated that, we have learned how to use simulated neural networks in order to perform desired pattern matching tasks. through our efforts we have observed neural net modification and evolution - and begun to understand the implications for our biological network masterpieces.

i choose to see each connection that a neuron shares with its neighbours as an open gate. when a child is born, all the gates are open and all information received travels freely and wildly - just like it does in a simulated neural network.
slowly but surely the child's gates begin to close and lock in response to the input received from the external organs, and the brain develops into a noise-filtering recognition machine. i propose that a person's first memory is fixed at the very first moment in which he / she managed to take all of the input and produce a coherent world-view. that first "experience" and concept of self will remain with us all of our days¹.

from the ages 2-7, we are told, we learn the most aggressively. in other words, we rapidly close down those gates in order to channel the electric information correctly and produce order out of the chaotic noise around us.

"a mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions"
-oliver wendell holmes

opening up a closed gate is a particularly difficult endeavour, and usually when we discover that we have been thinking "incorrectly" our corrections are additive, meaning that the previous way of thinking is preserved and used as a platform for the new concept. this is very possibly the cause of mimetic behaviour: if you have undergone a positive transformation, why would you keep it to yourself?
we are social creatures, after all.

here i need to focus the reader's attention on a critical detail: all of this gate-closing is no less than mind-closing. when we learn, we learn to ignore stimuli - both internal² and external, in order to match it to our world-view and create our perception.

even factual data that doesn't fit in is dropped.

...

the effects of lsd are relatively well researched - although that path of inquiry was closed to us with the acceptance of the war on drugs - but very little of that research could show causes of the described phenomena. we are limited by both technology and methodology.

we aren't limited by our imaginations, though.
drawing on a combination of personal experience, the direct observation of others' experiences and the published material that i've been fortunate to come across, i'm fairly confident that i have a handle on what happens to the brain when it is exposed to lsd.

imagine that, for a brief moment³, the closed gates are unlocked. while initially the neural network's maze of channels remains unchanged (and therefore the subject's experience), bouncing signals will begin to "bump" open the unlocked gates allowing information to travel through unexpected circuits with unpredictable results: synesthesia, confusion and extreme lateral thinking are direct and expected results while the subject attempts to match the new, more cluttered world-view with that of his comparatively clinically engineered⁴ memories.

the brain is now in an "altered state": the same collections of feedback loops have become more flexible and their resulting functionality will be extended and transformed... with varying results.

it is impossible for me to state that such a change has no drawbacks: it is exactly due to the unpredictability of the results that it is such a useful or enjoyable state, but under the wrong conditions the irresponsible user or guide can bring about some pretty harrowing⁵ experiences.
in most cases, however, lsd provides the user with a unique opportunity for introspection, whether for purposes of understanding or re-imprinting; its effects can be incredibly entertaining and most people are fascinated by the extra layers of reality to which they're exposed.

what i find more interesting than the breaking down of internal walls⁶ is the loosening of external filters. what this implies is that the person who is "turned on" really is, as the expression denotes, "tuned in" to more of the universal reality than someone under the influence of his learned parameters.

this means that users of lsd are more likely to be able to communicate non-verbally while under the influence, and are capable of interpreting what is usually regarded as "junk" phenomena and incorporating that into their perceived world-views. in other words, the user can visualize signals that are usually ignored and see, hear, smell, taste and feel them as if they were part of the usual stimuli package.

learning to maintain this state outside of a drug experience is theoretically possible (spiritual types have claimed to be able to do this throughout our history), and i daresay desirable for a lot of us, but requires a fair amount of re-imprinting.

you see, it's all very well for someone to point out that "we can achieve it without drugs, so there's no need to take the risk", but we are imprisoned by modernity.
we're raised to believe that the world is as we see it and that there is no such thing as magic. until one can shake himself free of these bonds, he's going to have a very hard time of trying to see through himself; besides - who nowadays hasn't been trained to take the shortcut?

...

late addition (31.1.2011): on neurology and psychology. it puts some of my previous claims in perspective, apparently there is some scientific support for my claims.

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¹ i'm convinced that memories are inviolate. we recall (usually fact-based) stimuli perfectly (smells, tastes, sounds and sights) but our interpretations of them are subject to change. this explains why we are able to glean new insight from previous experiences.

² the brain is comprised of an expansive collection of feedback loops; it makes no difference to us if the source of the concept or sensation is real or imagined.

³ a few hours is normal

⁴ what i mean by "clinically engineered" is that our usual world-view is the one in which all the filters are operating at 100%; this reduces the "clutter" that all the extra information would produce. if that's still not clear, think of it like this:
your senses are like a radar that sweeps on the horizontal plane only, and there is a bunch of stuff that manages to fly under it. if you were to begin to sweep up and down in addition to left and right, your screen would be filled with more blips.

⁵ i'm about to throw out something that's very difficult to verify: i strongly suspect that there is no way for someone to "develop" a mental illness through lsd - it might very well be merely "activated" by the subject's inability to face his own truth.
i personally would be very uncomfortable with giving lsd to a trauma victim without proper guidance or in an uncontrolled environment.

as i've stated before: drugs won't change who you are.

⁶ i must point out here that when this expression is used for a drug such as alcohol or ecstasy it has a different meaning altogether - with lsd we're not talking about inhibitions, we're talking about ways of thinking.

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bonus material - food for thought: top ten lsd quotes.