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.
