Part 1

The robes are visually striking against the dull laboratory. Surrounded by machines and bouquets of cables, the monk serenely waits for the researcher’s prompt to begin meditation. It’s a long-awaited cooperation of different worlds; the merging of two universes into something greater than either could have achieved on their own.

The monk enters a mental state for which he has practiced for over 65,000 hours, called “unconditional compassion” meditation. The small electrodes covering his scalp are tethered to the researcher’s electroencephalogram (EEG) as he silently drifts into a reverie.

From this device, the scientist can interpret the electrical activity happening within the monk’s brain.

As soon as the meditation begins, the EEG registered sustained gamma oscillations, some of the highest frequency brainwaves (25+hz), throughout the entire brain. What this Tibetan Buddhist monk considered meditation, the scientist called gamma synchrony. “The gamma waves”, it was described, “from disparate brain regions were in near lockstep, like numerous jump ropes turning precisely together. The synchrony was sustained for remarkably long periods, too.” [1]

The research began in the early 2000s as a response to the Dalai Lama, who proposed that the neurology of trained meditators could reveal something important about the effects of meditation on the brain. He was right. It was demonstrated that the brains of trained meditators behave differently than non-meditators. It’s even been shown that a regular practice of meditation can physically increase the size of the hippocampus (often implicated in memory) and decrease the size of the amygdala (associated with the fight-or-flight response).

The strangeness of gamma synchrony in the monk can hardly be overstated. For us mortals, gamma oscillations often accompany brief periods of peak concentration, but are confined to specific regions of the brain.

For the monks, their brain had entered a “maximally sensitive” state – highly attentive, highly conscious, yet perfectly undisturbed. This elevated brain-state would soon become a valuable tool for theorists investigating the enigmatic link between gamma and consciousness itself.

The “hard problem of consciousness”, a term famously coined by philosopher David Chalmers, consists of this central issue: why is there any subjective experience at all? Even if everyone else I’ve ever known is just a figment of my imagination, and that I am the only conscious being in the universe, why must there be at least one? It’s perfectly reasonable to imagine a universe in which there is no sense of pain, sense of heat, even no feelings at all. A universe of robotic clones, perfectly imitating us down to the molecule but with no feeling of oneself, nothing going on behind the eyes.

The quest of neuroscience in the past few decades has been to discover the “neural correlates of consciousness”, the physical mechanism of neurons and synapses that produce subjective experience. Whatever that thing is, it has eluded us. And it it will continue to, claims Chalmers. We won’t ever find the physical mechanism in the brain that produces consciousness, he claims, because it is is more fundamental than matter, like gravity and space-time. It may be a constituent dimension of existence.

These deep mysteries seem to converge at the underlying fabric of the universe.

In this article, I will lay the foundations for a close alternative to Chalmers’ argument: consciousness is indeed a constituent part of the universe, but the brain has more to reveal about the physical mechanism responsible for it’s relationship to the brain than we currently appreciate.

The first part of this series of articles is intended to support the broader theory with scientific evidence. The conclusion to the article title’s question will be “yes”, but only because it doesn’t force us to drift too far from the very real physical data repeatedly emerging in support of this hypothesis. We will examine the mysteries of brainwaves, microtubules, and electromagnetic phenomena.

Then in the second part, we’ll look at the theoretical connection between consciousness and the quantum world.

Thirdly, we will look at philosophers and mystics whose descriptions of reality bare a striking resemblance to what the physical data now suggests: the brain is a receiver, not a generator, of consciousness.

The Electromagnetic Mind

The brain’s complexity baffles scientists of every generation; and one of the most important discoveries may be just around the corner.

Research has recently breathed life back into speculations of an electromagnetic sensitivity in the brain.

Take, for instance, magnetoreception.

The once-controversial, now firmly established, ability to sense magnetic fields has been well documented in many animal species. There’s magnetotactic bacteria, which orient themselves along the lines of Earth’s magnetic field. Then there’s frogs and salamanders, which will use this field to quickly navigate to the nearest shore if they sense danger. Migratory birds see the geomagnetic field, and use it to find their flight paths. That little spin your dog does before relieving himself on your neighbor’s lawn? Again, blame magnetoreception. He can even be trained to find buried magnets with greater accuracy than buried treats.

This geomagnetic sense permeates the animal kingdom, except for us. Any vestiges of this ability was thought to have disappeared deep in our evolutionary past.

But it turns out, yet again, we are not so unique. Earlier this year, geomagnetic reception was scientifically demonstrated to exist in humans.

Researchers hooked up participants to an EEG and rotated an invisible “earth-like magnetic force” to various positions in relation to the participant. The EEG signaled that the brain did respond to this magnetic force, and all the while participants were completely ignorant of the effect.

Dr. Joseph Kirschvink from Caltech, who led the study, said:

“Our results indicate that human brains are indeed collecting and selectively processing directional input from magnetic field receptors. These give rise to a brain response that is selective for field direction and rotation with a pattern of neural activity that is measurable at a group level and repeatable in strongly responding individuals.” [2]

We can make sense of magnetic perception in many animals, but what is it doing in humans? The surprise caused by this discovery is evidence that it hardly matters in the lives of modern homo sapiens. Yet there it is, persisting through our evolutionary history up until the emergence of the most complicated organ we know of, the human brain.

Maybe we simply had a built-in compass for hundreds of thousands of years, inherited from our distant ancestors? It’s been argued that ancient Polynesian explorers populated the scattered islands of the South Pacific because they carefully followed the flight paths of birds which would inevitably find land. Maybe they were, in fact, simply using the same internal sense as the birds they pursued?

Regardless if this or any current theory adequately explains how this ability was used by our ancestors, the evidence suggests that humans must have taken advantage of magnetoreception in some important way. Otherwise, we shouldn’t be observing it in university labs in 2019. But there is not yet a compelling account of the “full extent” of magnetoreception. [3]

Kirschvink speculates about the implications on our understanding of sensation,

“Aristotle described the five basic senses as including vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. However, he did not consider gravity, temperature, pain, balance, and several other internal stimuli that we now know are part of the human nervous system. Our animal ancestry argues that geomagnetic field sensors should also be there representing not the sixth sense but perhaps the 10th or 11th human sense to be discovered.” [4]

More than a Compass

But is this really a shocking discovery? Fairly simple mechanical compasses exist, after all. You can buy them almost anywhere. But the most simple compass you find will only be a compass. All of it’s parts exist for the sole purpose of finding true north, and none of these parts exist in the brain which can not only do this, but incalculably more.

Most importantly, Earth’s magnetic field is incredibly weak. Consider that the entire mass of Earth is just strong enough to make that little compass needle flicker. Hold a refrigerator magnet to your head, and nothing happens. Simulate the Earth’s magnetic field, which is hundreds of times weaker, and your brain responds.

This is why geomagnetic reception in humans was largely ignored until it became undeniable; that any biological organism can usefully respond to the Earth’s very weak magnetic field is almost unbelievable.

While it largely remains an enigma, a few theories claim to have the solution.

The organic molecule cryptochrome has been proposed by several scientists as the underlying cause of geomagnetic reception. Cryptochrome is a protein found in all kingdoms of life, and has been linked to organic reactions to blue light, and photosynthesis. It’s speculated that through the interaction of photons and cryptochrome molecules deep within the eyes of migratory birds, for example, quantum entanglement of electrons allows the animal to “see” the Earth’s magnetic field.

There was a fascinating experiment conducted earlier this year, in which magnetic North was associated with food. Starved men and women were placed in a closed room and sat in a rotating chair, and were asked to indicate which direction was North. Magnetic coils were used to simulate the geomagnetic field, and the subject was rotated at random.

Participants were told to indicate a change in the magnetic field with their eyes closed, wearing sunglasses, then with a blindfold. Surprisingly, only men (exclusively) with eyes closed showed the greatest accuracy in detecting magnetic North.

When blindfolded, interestingly, the ability was completely extinguished. [5]

A few evolutionary explanations come to mind. In primitive societies men would have often been tasked with finding food, and those who could orient themselves in the wilderness most accurately would likely return home victorious, piquing the interest of possible mates. And a reduction in glucose levels corresponds to a greater sensitivity to the field; the hungrier, the better.

This biological compass clearly involves light, since the ability disappears with a blindfold. Cryptochrome in the retina appears to be the best candidate for an explanation, as it is for birds.

But human magnetoreception is more than just a compass. The cryptochrome theory inherently depends on photons, eliminating as an explanation all other forms of magnetoreception, it falls short of related phenomena that have nothing to do with light.

For example, a process like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a burgeoning method of neurological treatment that also stimulates brain activity through the induction of magnetic waves.

Patients receiving TMS are placed under a helmet containing eight magnetic coils. When activated, the coils will generate finely-tuned magnetic waves at various angles depending on the nature of the neurological disorder. For example, sufferers of major depression have experienced an improvement of mental health when TMS is directed at the brain’s mid-frontal gyrus.

The same method has been effectively used to treat Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, tinnitus, and other neurological disorders; directing the magnetic oscillations at different regions of the brain. In recent years there has been a flurry of research into the many ways TMS can heal neurological disorders.

A similar device, affectionately dubbed the “God Helmet”, likewise utilizes magnetic stimulation in the brain. Originally a motorcycle helmet with holes drilled into it for magnetic coils, today it is a simple dome that is strapped to the patient’s head. While sitting under the dome, the coils generate alternating, weak magnetic waves (one million times weaker than TMS). People have described euphoria, fear, flashes of light and the sense of levitation. A shocking study revealed nearly 80% of patients describe having a sense of a “presence” in the room with them, “entities”, and classically the “presence of God”, from which TMS derives its nickname.

Magnetic stimulation is widely reported to alter the experience of consciousness itself, but there is yet to be a satisfying explanation of how and why it works.

What’s known for certain is that human magnetoreception is truly a separate sense within the brain itself, biologically receptive to different kinds of magnetic waves and responds to them each uniquely. The profound effect of magnetism on subjective awareness goes far beyond the advantage of mere navigation; it reveals something deeper about the brain-mind relationship.

Cryptochrome is simply no explanation for the effects of TMS, and doesn’t address this bigger question.

Kirschvink offers an alternative explanation, that the brain itself is a magnet.

He discovered in 1992 that the most magnetic, naturally occurring material known to science, magnetite, permeates both the brain and the nervous system in vast quantities.

Kirschvink and his lab studied hundreds of slices of human brain tissue. The results lead him to estimate that these nanoparticles number at least five million per gram of human brain tissue. The meninges, the membrane covering the brain and spinal cord, was found to have 20 times that number. This organic crystal produced within the human body is also found throughout the animal kingdom, and has been shown to be the mechanism by which magnetotactic bacteria orient themselves in relation to the geomagnetic field. [6]

All of this points to a significant, undiscovered, role of magnetism in the brain. The brain increasingly seems to act like an electromagnetic organ, somehow acting as a direct receiver for magnetic waves (and other wavelengths, as will be seen) through the role of magnetite. But beyond the positive effects that science is just recently accepting, magnetite may offer a key to another mystery: brainwaves.

The deeper mechanism behind these rhythms has been a mystery, but the work of Dr. Kirschvink now suggests a clue. In the above study that revealed the sensitivity of the human brain to the geomagnetic field, Kirschvink found that a change in this field stimulated a sharp drop in power of the alpha-band brain oscillations.

This type of oscillation corresponds to electrical current moving through the brain with a frequency of 8-13 hertz, often occurring during a state of wakeful rest, with eyes closed.

Why this occurs only within the alpha band remains a riddle. But, consider that alpha oscillations need not only correspond to being awake with eyes closed, but also with being awake in pitch black. Now imagine night-time traveling, deep-water diving, exploring dark caves and tunnels: all common to our ancestors for millennia. A biological compass would be most useful in these situations: where eyesight is not enough.

Regardless of whichever winding path led to geomagnetic reception in modern day humans, both TMS and Kirschvink’s research into biological magnetite reveals a strange correlation of magnetism with the behavior of brainwaves.

The answer to this question will be a backdoor to one of the most controversial, and derided, theories of consciousness; the mind is a direct result of quantum level interactions within the brain.

The Entangled Brain

One reputation that’s weathered an onslaught of criticism from his peers is that of theoretical physicist Roger Penrose. His version of quantum mind has survived relatively unscathed for decades precisely because of his commitment, and help from his partner Stuart Hameroff, to scientific evidence. Their theory alone provides something testable and therefore falsifiable, a necessary aspect of any scientific hypothesis.

To give a very brief summary, the anesthesiologist Hameroff teamed up with Penrose in the 90’s to publish their Orch-OR (orchestrated objective reduction) theory of consciousness, which theorizes that the (now proven) quantum vibrations within microtubules, tiny structures within the neurons of every living organism, have some causal connection to the subjective experience of consciousness. These harmonic, or orchestrated (Orch-OR), vibrations are created by quantum entanglement at a sub-atomic scale within microtubules. These structures bear a lattice-like pattern of which Penrose once observed “reeks of something quantum”. [7]

They exist within every brain cell, and have been proven to play a significant role in cell-to-cell communication.

According to Hameroff, these microtubules are more thoroughly affected by anesthesia than any other structure. Since, while anesthetized, all brain function remains relatively the same except the experience of conscious awareness, Hameroff argues that microtubules must play some important role in the subjective experience of consciousness.

We’ll take a deep dive into the controversial theory of Orch-OR later in this series of articles, but here let’s just note the possible relationship of microtubules to magnetite.

Microtubules are major components of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotes cells, ubiquitous throughout all biological life forms. These are cylindrical polymers, 25 nanometers in diameter, composed of tubulin dimers, as shown above. In 1982, Hameroff suggested that tubulin dimers act as antennas representing classical bits of information. Early versions of this theory proposed a quantum version: tubulin dimers act as qubits (quantum bits).

But many consider Orch-OR to have since collapsed under the weight of scrutiny. Max Tegmark famously reduced it to a whisper with a thorough criticism. Penrose/Hameroff have made several testable predictions which would validate their theory, none have been proven to the satisfaction of the scientific majority.

The problem with Orch-OR, says its critics, is that it doesn’t provide a reliable mechanism for sustained quantum coherence within microtubules. Quantum coherence is the ability of many entangled particles to maintain their relationship over a period of time, but the brain is too “warm, wet, and noisy” to allow for a type of coherence that can only be replicated with super-cooled vacuum chambers designed for that very purpose.

Any quantum coherence in the brain should collapse into disorder almost instantly.

But new revelations in quantum biology have recently shown organisms to utilize quantum vibrations in relatively warm processes like photosynthesis. The speed with which photons reach the nuclei of protoplasmic cells is far too fast for classical physics, and is only possible if the most efficient path out of all possible states is “chosen”, or collapsed, a majority of times. But, like geomagnetic reception, it was speculated only to exist in simpler organisms and have no correlation to brain activity.

Critics were rebuked in 2014 when it was demonstrated that microtubules in the brain do show compelling signs of quantum coherence. A research group led by Dr. Anirban Bandyopadhyay at the National Institute of Material Sciences in Tsukuba, Japan, detected sustained quantum vibrations within brain microtubules. The results, they claim, suggest the capability of brain cells to communicate “wirelessly” with each other. Instead of utilizing synapses, information is communicated by a type of electromagnetic resonance. [8]

But Orch-OR will remain in the fringe until it can offer a rigorous explanation for the exact physical mechanisms behind this model. It’s one thing to speculate about quantum vibrations in neurons, it’s another to say this is responsible for consciousness itself.

Unfortunately, it seems Penrose and Hameroff have completely neglected magnetite, which could offer a much needed clue.

Brain magnetite is believed to interact with local magnetic fields generated in the brain and transduce them to another signal, and its been shown that they also have some relationship to long-term memory. Increased levels of magnetite have been found in Alzheimer’s patients, possibly caused by the electromagnetic fields generated around magnetite particles. Amazingly, in 2011 researchers placed magnetite next to tubulin structures within the brain and witnessed an increase of tubulin activity.

The mechanism for quantum resonance in microtubules is quite possibly mediated by brain magnetite.

And if microtubules indeed play a significant role in the origin of brainwaves, they could be that missing link between quantum vibrations and the higher level oscillations of the brain that would be necessary for the Orch-OR theory of consciousness to survive. [9]

We’ve already seen evidence that suggests this could realistically be the case.

The geomagnetic field is sensed by means of quantum coherence within the eyes of the migratory birds and humans, as mentioned above. While the exact physiological process behind geomagnetic “sight” has been experimentally linked to cryptochrome proteins within the retina, there is also evidence for a relationship between cryptochrome and magnetite.

With cryptochrome, the interaction with blue-light photons enables sensation of the geomagnetic field. But cryptochrome undergoes a complicated process of biochemical reactions when interacting with blue-light, and at one of these stages cryptochrome becomes magnetic.

While it’s uncertain how exactly quantum vibrations within cryptochrome proteins account for sensation, this magnetic stage could be the answer; the necessary connection to a particle which is far more abundant — magnetite. Magnetite could theoretically receive information from cryptochrome in the same way that is does for TMS, by oscillating in sync with externally received quantum vibrations, generating brainwaves.

If we can draw a straight line from brainwaves, which reliably reflect levels of attention, to quantum resonances, then quantum mind is right around the corner.

The cryptochrome-magnetite-microtubule trifecta may lie at the heart of another mystery, and directly brings us to the door of altered states of consciousness.

As you read this, there’s a flurry of research happening across the world into the full extent of controlled electromagnetic induction in the brain. The field is still in its infancy. But it has already shown promise in the fight against the leviathan of neuroscience, Alzheimer’s Disease, known for it’s relentless assault on the individual’s memory and sense of self (ego).

No single neuro-degeneritive disease attracts research-funding like Alzheimer’s, and little progress has been made.

Until, in 2018, an article was published in Nature describing some of the most significant results to date.

In the provocatively titled paper, “How flashing lights and pink noise might banish Alzheimer’s, improve memory and more” researchers documented the controlled reduction of a notorious plaque that is associated with Alzheimer’s, amyloid-β, by stimulating gamma oscillations in rodent brains (recall that an accumulation of magnetite is also associated with Alzheimer’s).

By tuning a strobe light to flash at 40Hz (within the gamma wave range), and directing it at the brain of a rodent with a higher quantity of amyloid-β, the plaque noticeably decreased. [10]

Incredibly, the rats also recovered memories which had formed before the accumulation of this brain-plaque. Stimuli that were once used to condition a fear-response in the rats had no effect after the accumulation of amyloid-β.

But after the strobe-light treatment, the conditioned fear-response returned.

The signature effect of Alzheimer’s, the corruption of memory, was apparently cured in these rodents. The implications are far-reaching, re-animating the age old debate of whether memories can ever be completely destroyed. But for now, it’s enough to know that stroboscopic light tuned to gamma oscillations has a strong effect in the exact conditions in which we would expect to find increased levels of magnetite.

While this is all very recent within accepted scientific literature, one scientist must be thoroughly amused as he watches us play catch-up. Stanislov Grof, a veteran of the psychedelic revolution and progenitor of holotrophic breath-work, had a mind-altering experience while subjected to flashing light, not unlike the experiment above.

It occurred when he agreed to be studied in an experiment that attempted to drive his brainwaves (!) by combining sustained strobe light exposure with Albert Hoffman’s famous LSD-25 (!).

He attempts a description of the ineffable:

But then when the strobe came, that just catapulted my consciousness out of my body. I lost the research assistant, the clinic, Prague, and then the planet, and I had the feeling that my consciousness now didn’t have any more boundaries. I sort of became the whole universe. I became kind of nothing and everything at the same time. And this research assistant, as this was happening, was following the protocol, taking it up to 60 hertz and then taking it down, leaving it in the middle of the alpha range, then the beta range, the alpha range, and beta range, and delta range, and then turning it off. And then my universe started sort of shrinking again, and I was able to find my body, but for a while I was disembodied consciousness kind of floating around my body, and I couldn’t get those two together. [11]

It’s tempting to wave this off as a psychedelic hallucination. But the experiment was in fact inspired by older tales whispered from beatniks to hippies; bizarre hallucinogenic experiences of the purest entheogen, sunlight.

On December 21, 1958, the painter Brion Grysin describes an incredible experience that transpired while riding on a train in the French countryside. He had fallen asleep, with his head resting against the window. Upon passing a row of trees, the sunlight began to quickly flicker between them, causing the sunlight to flash repeatedly on Grysin’s face. He described what he saw with closed-eyes:

An overwhelming flood of intensely bright patterns in supernatural colors exploded behind my eyelids: a multi-dimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space. The vision stopped abruptly when we left the trees. Was that a vision? [12]

Grysin was afterwards inspired to create a device meant to simulate this experience. He teamed up with partners, and invented the Dream Machine, a stroboscopic light device meant to be used as a regular household furnishing. Surprisingly, it actually worked for quite a few people. It reliably induced altered states of consciousness, but its downfall was the high chance of a slightly less blissful experience, a seizure. The seizure warning on most video games today comes from the same problem; the sensitivity of brain states to electromagnetic induction in the form of quickly flashing lights.

The Dream Machine: for a nice family trip!

From geomagnetic reception, to stroboscopic light, we have seen brain-states organically respond to different electromagnetic wavelengths and frequencies.

The brain is an organic radio, not because it literally receives radio waves, but because it actively interprets and responds to electromagnetic waves.

Now, here is where we see the blindingly obvious connection to consciousness itself.

Recall the above description of the monk’s brains in gamma synchrony while in “unconditional love” meditation, i.e. maximally sensitive. In some mysterious way, what the monks reached through discipline, Grof did through electromagnetic induction.

Gamma wave synchrony in the monk’s brain corresponded to a heightened state of awareness, an altered state of consciousness. Then we saw the curious effect of gamma oscillations in the rodents with Alzheimer’s. As I’ve examined in a previous article, gamma has been shown to dominate during near-death-experiences triggered by ketamine.

Similarly, there’s a been recent study of some lucky lab rats that were administered a serotonergic drug, which activates the 5HT2a receptor in the brain – famously implicated in the effects of LSD and ketamine. Monitoring the rat’s brainwaves, scientists observed a significant increase of power specifically within, you guessed it, the gamma-band oscillations.

There used to be a theory, which has lost some steam over the decades, that gamma-band oscillations solve the binding problem of consciousness. That is, gamma brain-waves serves as the neurological correlate of consciousness, unifying every operation of the brain into one harmonious experience of “I”.

Biologist Robert Pollack describes the mechanism of this theory:

The proposed answer (to the binding problem) lies in a wave that, originating in the thalamus, sweeps the brain from front to back, 40 times per second, drawing different neuronal circuits into synch with the precept, and thereby bringing the precept into the attentional foreground. If the thalamus is damaged even a little bit, this wave stops, conscious awarenesses do not form, and the patient slips into profound coma.

There may have been something prescient behind the attempt to drive Stanislov Grof’s brainwaves, because neural oscillations are linked to the foundations of the mind.

“A Case of Spontaneous Telepathy”

Hans Berger, being the first person to scientifically observe and record human brainwaves, would pave the thankless path for inquisitive minds in pursuit of the true nature of brainwaves. His life-long work in the field was inspired by a nearly fatal and bizarre event that would spark a fascination for the mystery of brainwaves.

While enlisted in the German military, Hans was riding horseback during a training exercise. Suddenly, he recalls, his horse was spooked, reared back on it’s hind legs and cast him off and directly into the path of an oncoming horse-drawn cannon. The other rider just barely stopped his horse before it could smash Hans underneath. Hans was deeply shaken by this close brush with death. Later that day, he received a telegram from his father inquiring about his well-being.

His sister, the father claimed, had a sudden moment of deep concern for Hans earlier in the day, and implored the father to send a telegram to see if he was safe. To Hans, his sister’s feeling of dread occurring near his time of intense distress, of which she could have no actual knowledge, was no coincidence. He was mystified by this apparently invisible form of communication with his sister.

Ignorant of the trouble it would cause him later in life, Hans said of the event:

It was a case of spontaneous telepathy in which at a time of mortal danger, and as I contemplated certain death, I transmitted my thoughts, while my sister, who was particularly close to me, acted as the receiver.

From that moment forward, he dedicated his professional life to “the search for the correlation between objective activity in the brain and subjective psychic phenomena”.

He was treated like the resident crack-pot. Even after he invented his EEG and accumulated reams of documentation on the existence of human brainwaves, he waited 5 years to publish his findings, only to be roundly mocked and dismissed. It wasn’t until two British neurophysiologists replicated his findings that he enjoyed public attention and international fame.

His EEG revolutionized neuroscience and continues to be a common tool used today. But his wilder ideas about brainwaves, however, never managed to crawl out from under the quakery label.

That is, until recently.

For years, the traditional understanding of brain activity was that electrical impulses, confined to neuronal networks in the brain, would eventually explain everything related to cognition. Synapses fired, and thoughts and feelings were experienced. Brainwaves were simply specific patterns of synapses firing across the different regions of the brain.

However, between the ideas of Hans Berger, Penrose, and Hameroff, we should find some evidence that brainwaves are not confined to synapses alone. In fact, it’s absolutely imperative for this theory to have any credibility.

In 2015, scientists observed ultra-slow oscillations in the brain of a rat, far too slow to be transmitted by conventional means. Until this finding, we were only aware of three ways an electrical signal could communicate with neurons: via synaptic transmissions, gap junctions, and diffusion processes. But all of these presuppose that the electric signal is generated within the nervous system. This slow-wave pulse was far too slow to be explained through traditional means.

By process of elimination, the scientists concluded that the brain’s own electrical field transmitted this signal.

Despite being considered far too weak to have any meaningful effect on the brain, the scientists confirmed their theory when they applied a blocking field to the brain of a mouse, observing a decrease in wave speed.

Somehow, deeper structures of the brain must be propagating brainwaves. [13]

Then, just this year, another group of researchers witnessed an electrical signal “jump” from one side of an incision in the brain of a rodent to the other; a small zap across space. But there was no room for “leaping” in our traditional understanding of inter-brain communication. This zap was something completely different, and confirmed the neural-electrical field theory. [14]

Repeated experiments showed that, indeed, the brain’s own electrical field was exciting brain cells, carrying an electrical current across the brain in the form of a brainwave. The brainwaves were generating a self-propagating wave of activity. The researchers named this new mode of communication “ephaptic (electrical) coupling”.

Accurate EEG measurements didn’t emerge until the 1970’s. We now know that the EEG detects these surface level electrical signals emanating from electrical current within neurons and synapses. These signals are incredibly weak, so deeper level brainwaves are much harder to detect. They move in oscillations, like a repeating pulse of electrical activity throughout the brain.

An illustration of a brainwave; neurons and synapses creating a rhythmic oscillation in the brain. Source

Brainwaves are synonymous with brain states, because they never fail to correspond with distinct levels of attention.

From speeding down the free-way to aimlessly scrolling through Reddit at your desk, the ebb and flow of brainwaves happens all throughout the day. The more attentive the brain, the faster the oscillations. People debating or publicly speaking would have predominantly faster waves (beta), for example, while more relaxing states trigger slower waves (like theta). The slowest waves (delta) dominate when the mind is completely disengaged from the senses, in dreamless sleep.

Gamma waves have been associated with REM sleep (curiously, another altered-state marked by bizarre impressions). [15]

However, every type of oscillation is present at all times, despite whichever kind is most dominant at any one moment.

The underlying mechanism of brainwaves has stumped us so far. We can only explain what they do…but not why.

But this new evidence, paired with what we’ve seen in microtubules, suggests the brain can communicate with itself in a previously unknown language.

It is through this mysterious language, using the grammar of quantum mechanics and electromagnetism, that allows the individual to speak the universal declaration of consciousness: I am.

Brainwaves somehow represent the various accents with which this can be said.

But the backdrop of all these quantum interactions seems to be the incredibly weak endogenous electrical field of the brain. Behind each one of these revelations stands our own personal electrical field.

We’ll dive into the nature of this mysterious field in subsequent articles. But for now let’s take note that scientists have recently suggested that it may also be essential to all biological life.

Scientists have observed the role of the endogenous electrical field in the reparation of damaged cells and in the formation of embryos. In wounded cells in the cornea of a rodent, for example, the electric field around the damaged cells was shown to increase in activity (interestingly, this is precisely when the body produces bio-photons, biological light).

In other words, it maintains homeostasis within the body, the harmony and balance of all the small structures of which we are composed. But if it is also crucial to the propagation of brainwaves, then it also maintains homeostasis of the mind. Consciousness, the individual’s “I am”, is the fundamental balance and harmony of all sense impressions and memories.

It does for the psyche the same thing it does for the body, by maintaining a fundamental unity…

At this point, let’s take a step back and get a macroscopic view of what it all means.

The Convergent Mind

Hundreds of millions of years ago, our distant ancestor half-slithered, half-crawled out of the ocean.

This simple act would forever send reverberations through the history of life on this planet. The poet might wonder if the sight of countless stars in the night sky, or the sunset against the ocean, kept our ancestor from sinking back to the depths, unwittingly creating entire kingdoms of life simply through an aesthetic pleasure. The biologist wonders if it was the food, the climate, the safe haven from predators that drove our ancestor out of the seas.

Whatever caused that brave creature journey into the unknown, to risk the peril of a completely alien universe made of solid land, it triumphantly survived.

Some of the most drastic evolutionary diversions occur at this moment, after weening ourselves off the sea. For example, we were equipped with an advanced technology: sight. Despite having eyes, marine animals have no need for the pinpoint visual accuracy that emerged on land. The mutation responsible for complex eyesight dominates our biological history.

Starting here, this step into the unknown, we were forced to perceive what had previously been hidden. Life would have to rely on its ill-suited tools to engage with things literally invisible; to, in some profound way, make something from nothing.

Philosophers mark this as a key moment in the evolution of human consciousness. It enabled creatures to literally see further down the chain of cause and effect, eventually forcing that dreadful thought, “I will one day die, as well.”

Nevertheless, against all odds, this path would have incredible biological payoff. It would lead to an explosion of branches from the tangled tree of life.

Thinkers have been proposing a theory of consciousness that emerged here, and only grew stronger with each passing generation. Consciousness, the theory goes, is the harmony of many different perceptions into one unified experience. The harmony of memory and physical sensations combine to form a solid perception of a “me” (our mental homeostasis).

You don’t need to be a philosopher to see that it’s fairly obvious that this must be the case.

For example, consider how you know who you are at any given moment. I know I am not this computer, because I have no sense of what it’s like to be this computer. I can’t see from it’s perspective, I can’t feel what it’s like to have a motherboard and a hard-drive, I have no ability to experience the world from my computer’s frame-of-reference. However, at any given moment I can rattle off hundreds of different sensations that are occurring to me simultaneously. I’m feeling warm, my heart is beating fast due to a little too much coffee, I see a complicated picture of cars, buildings, and people out of the window in front of me. I could list hundreds of distinct perceptions adding up to a coherent experience of what it’s like to be me right now.

Moreover, I have a vast memory of my life and absolutely no memory of what it’s like to be this computer. I have no memory of being anyone or anything else other than myself, for that matter. My unique combination of sensations and memories add up to my experience of “I”.

What could be responsible for this massive harmonization of incalculable sense impressions? What physical system could account for the simultaneous unification of many distinct physical things?

In other words, the question is “how can we physically explain a phenomena that seems to transcend the material world? That cannot be accounted for by any physical mechanism.”

Penrose has shown that quantum mechanics offers the best explanation, and all the research above only gives him more ammunition.

If we are to believe that consciousness exists at all, and not some simple trick of neuro-biology, we should find some physical quality that explains what has so frustratingly eluded us: a neural correlate of consciousness.

In the next part, we will examine theories of consciousness ranging from purely electromagnetic explanations to purely quantum, and hopefully land somewhere in between.

Buckle up.

























