Activity and Stillness

 Anaesthetic mediated stilling of brain activity versus non-anaesthetic mediated stillnes

 

The Prior - Consciousness expresses itself in and via dynamically functioning neurons.

The floor of a neuronal cell, consists of microtubules and actin filaments. The microtubules intercalate to form a dynamically functioning network, that expands and contracts according to cell activity. This is analogous to sarcomere filaments in contracting and expanding muscle.

The expansion and contraction of the microtubule filaments, lead to a rhythmic oscillation pattern, that manifests itself in a dynamically functioning neuronal cell, transmitting information via secreted neurotransmitters. In other words microtubules act upstream of nerve impulse transmission.

When anaesthesia is administered to a living organism, the anaesthetic treatment locks the intercalation, inhibiting nerve impulse transmission, resulting in progressive diminishment  of the rhythmic oscillation pattern of neuronal firing.

This anaesthesia mediated diminshment of neuronal firing, is different from stillness acquired through meditation. The anaesthetic treatment physically affects the neuronal network architecture, which leads to involuntary collapse of the brain. Meditation is the voluntary stilling of neuronal activity by affecting neurotransmitter mediated nerve firing, without affecting neuronal architecture.

The former leads to collapse of the living organism if administered in excess. The latter in the case of a human being, leads to illumination of mind activity in a still background, which in other words is called liberation of the mind via enlightenment