The [G]Land of Milk and Honey

Using the breath, the body locks, and the pineal gland to travel to heaven

By Lauren Buys

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”

Matthew 6:22

I always hated Sunday School. We didn’t attend church religiously; it was more of a thing we did when my mom felt guilty about how many times she’d called someone a “fucking puss” for cutting her off on the highway. When we did make it to church after a particularly cussy week, I abhorred the fact that I had to go sit with strange children who already had a clique of Sunday School friends and weren’t looking for another to join their pious child cult. It was here that I first heard about the promised land of Milk and Honey. It sounded delicious, far more so than the overly buttered white bread sandwiches that were handed out after we’d made it through an hour of awkward holy games – one of which consisted of pinning the bandaids on Jesus’ crucifix wounds. “Mom, what is the Land of Milk and Honey?” I’d ask on the drive home. “It’s heaven, my darling. Nostradamus said that South Africa would be the Land of Milk and Honey by the year 2029. Oh, for FUCK’S SAKE! Can you NOT slam on breaks like that- I have children in the car, you bastard!”

It was almost two decades later that I’d hear about the pineal gland. I’d come to learn that perched within a midline space towards the back of your skull lives the third ventricle. I’d come to learn that this cuboid structure with a roof and four walls is home to a gland closely resembling the shape of a pinecone, no bigger than that of a grain of rice. It was never mentioned in Sunday School, the pineal gland or the third ventricle, and once I’d finally graduated from that excruciatingly awkward phase of my life, it was never mentioned in regular church either. Interestingly, it was a devout Christian of the seventeenth century, Rene Descartes, that layered much physiological significance upon the pineal gland. He considered it to be the anatomical structure that housed the seat of the soul. His interest in it, though revolutionary at the time, was only a resurgence of the supernatural characteristics that it represented to ancient civilizations. In Hinduism, we often see Shiva, Shakti, and other Hindu deities depicted with a third eye on their foreheads- the third eye thought to have been representative of the pineal gland. It is in the iconography of the ancient Egyptians that we find the Eye of Horus or the Eye of Ra. These symbols, often drawn on the center of the foreheads of sarcophagi, possess a striking resemblance to a lateral view of the pineal gland along with the third ventricle of the brain. Osiris, God of the Underworld and God of Resurrection, carried with him a pinecone topped staff, spiraled by two snakes- similar to the caduceus we see used in medical iconography today. The Sumerian Pantheon, the collective Gods of Mesopotamia, were always portrayed- in artwork- with a pinecone extended in one hand. These Gods were believed to harbor the capacity to access consciousness-expanding abilities through their ingress to the pineal gland. There is even a giant pinecone statue that stands at the foot of the Vatican. What was all this fuss over such a tiny gland that lay hidden in the crevices of the brain?

I could get lost in the esotericism of the mind and body. There I’d stay, happily frolicking in the magical wonders of ancient mythology and mind-expanding histories. Modern day science, what many require in order to develop a faith in the supernatural qualities of our existence, allows us to view the esotericism of the Ancients from a more grounded standpoint. The pineal gland is known for being very sensitive to light. When our eyes are open, and the frequency of light is being picked up by the optic nerve, a signal is sent into an area of the brain known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This suprachiasmatic nucleus then signals the sympathetic nervous system which, in turn, signals the pineal gland to begin creating serotonin. Serotonin induces a beta brainwave frequency which allows us to become aware of our existence in time and space, of the outer world surrounding us. Contrarily, when there is a restraint of light, there is a diminishment of serotonin production in the brain in order to make way for the secretion of melatonin by the pineal gland. When there is a release of this nighttime neurotransmitter, we begin to slow our brainwaves down to alpha, then theta and finally delta. In my essay on The Esotericism of the Cerebrospinal Fluid, we learned that through the utilization of the body locks (the bandhas) and the breath, we begin to push a substance known as cerebrospinal fluid up our spinal column and into the third ventricle of the brain. To explain in more detail how this happens, when we inhale the sutures of our skull open and when we exhale, these sutures close. At the same time, upon inhalation, the sacrum flexes back and upon exhalation, the sacrum flexes forward. An inhalation instigates the opening of the sutures of the skull which, when utilized with the aid of the body locks and breath retention, allows for an increase of volume in the brain. The sacrum bone flexes back and causes the cerebrospinal fluid to drain down in gravity. Upon exhalation, the sutures of the skull close, the sacrum flexes forward and a wave begins to propagate a movement of the cerebrospinal fluid up into the four ventricles of the brain. When this happens, the cerebrospinal fluid and the manipulation of the breath begin to apply a mechanical stress to the rhombohedron shaped calcite crystals that live inside the pineal gland. These crystals, when compressed, begin to produce an external electromagnetic field. The alchemy of the pineal gland takes one form of energy- mechanical compression, and transduces it into another form of energy- an electrical charge. You’re delivering energy into the brain by electrically activating it. Why does any of this matter? Well, once you’ve electrically activated these crystals within the pineal, you begin to detect frequencies that are beyond the consistency of visible light and here we remember that the quantum field exists beyond the speed of light. Furthermore, when you’re in a meditative state, when you’re completely in the present moment, you begin to suppress the analytical thinking that takes place in the neocortex. Consciousness moves out of the neocortex and into the limbic brain- you begin to tune into frequencies that are beyond the analytical mind, beyond your senses and beyond this 3D dimensionality. You begin to tune into the quantum field.

Now let’s come back to the production of melatonin that I briefly spoke of earlier. Once the analyzing of the neocortex has been suppressed through the act of bringing oneself into a state of complete presence, once the crystals within the pineal gland are activated, once the pineal gland begins to signal the pituitary gland through this electrical activation, melatonin begins to upgrade itself. We know that melatonin in its natural state already causes us to relax. When melatonin transmutes itself- it begins to create one of the most potent antioxidants that we know of. Firstly, it starts to produce a chemical known as benzodiazepine. These chemicals of benzodiazepine fit into the same receptors as melatonin and serotonin but have a very different effect. Once released, they sedate further the neocortex and suppress completely the survival centers of the brain. There is a total ceasing of analytical thought, there is no past or future, the body is completely in the present moment. Now, if you take that molecule and alter it again- you have the most powerful hallucinogenic known to man- dimethyltryptamine. Cue profound, lucid visions. The frequency created is transduced into powerful imagery- the same way that a TV antenna will pick up a frequency and transduce it into a picture on your television screen. We begin to have a profound inner vision that is more real than the world that we live in- we are having a full-on sensory experience without the use of our senses. And all of this is taking place without the use of exogenous substances.

One thing that did interest me each time I had to sit alone in Sunday School were the stories. Oh, how I loved a good old biblical verse or two. The imagery, the fantastic pictures that swirled around in my mind- I was rapt, transported to another world. One of these stories was that time when Jacob came to see God face to face after wrestling with an angel. It sounded as if it would be soft and feathery- something like a pillow fight. It turns out, as you’ll soon see, that the dude dislocated Jacob’s hip! So, it starts off with Jacob traveling back to Canaan with his wives (yes, plural) and kids when night falls and he tells them to stay put while he crosses the stream of Jabbok (Jabbok is a Hebrew word meaning to empty the self). He crosses the stream leaving behind his earthly possessions and attachments- esoterically, we could think of this as him emptying himself of his worldly clinging and grasping, closing off to the world of the senses, wading through the waters of the second chakra. As he crosses the stream, he meets a man that turns out to be an angel. I’m not sure if Jacob realized he was an angel- I assume not because at this point, he begins to wrestle with him which isn’t typically what one would do if they were to bump into an angel but hey, to each their own. The angel apparently touches Jacob on the hip causing it to dislocate. The hip is representative of our lower nature, our denser chakras, our sexual lust, our animal instincts. He was dislocated from this part of himself, separated from his earthly nature. We can view the angel as the space where the higher and lower chakras meet- at the space of the heart. We can view him too as the higher realms of consciousness coming into contact with the lower realms. The kerfuffle between the two of them continues until Jacob informs the angel that he will not stop until he is blessed. It seems that this is all the angel needed to hear because he goes on to tell Jacob that from this day forth his name will not be Jacob but will instead be Israel because he has striven (made great efforts) with God and with men and he has prevailed. Is-Ra-El. Let’s take a look at Egyptian mythology for a moment. Isis is the Divine Feminine and mother to Horus of whose eye represents the pineal gland. Ra is the Divine Masculine, the father of all Creation. El means life-force or God. This blessed new name can be seen as the complete knowing of the self. The union of his masculine, feminine and neutral minds. He has integrated his shadow and has been yoked with the Divine. We see this when Jacob comes back saying that he has seen God face to face and has called the name of the meeting place Penial. “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Genesis 32:20. Was Jacob describing his journey from the lower energy centers into the higher ones, ultimately ending up in the pineal gland where he meets God? It was Jacob too that dreamed of a ladder (the spine) which rested on earth with its top (the cranial skull) reaching to heaven, and the angels of God (the cerebrospinal fluid) ascending and descending on it. We know that serotonin and melatonin are both milky in color. We also know dimethyltryptamine happens to be amber in color. Do these bible verses point towards the union of the Self and the Divine through the activation of the pineal gland? “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey” Exodus 33:3

The pineal gland, a small spark of magic sitting in the center of our heads, has been spoken of for eons. It has been worshipped in its symbolisms, erected in the form of statues, it has graced the coffins of ancient rulers, and blessed the verses of the bible. It is a gland that has the ability to transport us to realms more real than the one we currently reside in. Though it may take practice, conditioning, mental focus and a strongest of desires to get there, the prize upon arrival sounds well worth the effort.

“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,

And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” Psalm 51:6