stuart -
Thanks for that. This is what I mean really. Someone else here has had a similar experience of isolation to integration and felt it lifted them.
Contrast is key for sure. I guess it is like initiating a near death experience without the threat of death itself. I am generally MUCH MUCH happier in my own company because that is just the way I am. So the isolation route is not really a big problem for me. Sleep deprivation is another route but could be dangerous in the wrong frame of mind. I think anything where you turn up or down the contrast too much is going to involve a degree of stress and when stressed things can snap.
I have a reasonable idea of the mechanism but may take me some time to perfect it. I have a few ideas to try that are a combination of what I have mentioned. As mentioned above by another shamanism is a good guide. I have a fair bit of research to do though and I am being very cautious what I read, or more importantly HOW I read it.
Shamanism, as far as I can tell, became religion due to overpopulation and/or cataclysm. Mnemonics play a key role in religious society and in our more modern society the media/advertising have taken up the baton. If this hypothesis is correct then our original connection with reality has been badly damaged by the social forces driving us on.
One thing for sure though shamanism will never go away because it is what we all are. We all have an innate human commonality that defines us as beings and this pattern has been repeated from continent to continent and culture to culture around the world and they ALL have similar or near identical rites, histories and passages regarding the shamanic experience and practice.
MDMA (ecstacy) is a prime example. The person whom made this thought it better to call is "empathy" because of its effect. Synthetic drug use is a lazy and brief glimpse IMO.
Also just remembered this :
There are LSD receptors on the pineal gland, and mescaline raises
serotonin levels in the pineal. Beta-carbolines accelerate melatonin formation,
in addition to their previously described property of magnifying
and prolonging DMT effects.
from DMT - The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman
This could be something like the chemical mechanism involved?
From Wiki :
β-Carboline alkaloids are widespread in plants and animals, and frequently act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI). As components of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi, the β-carbolines harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine play a pivotal role in the pharmacology of the indigenous hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca by preventing the breakdown of dimethyltryptamine in the gut by inhibiting monoamine oxidase, thus making it psychoactive upon oral administration. Some β-carbolines, notably tryptoline and pinoline, are formed naturally in the human body. The latter is implicated along with melatonin in the role of the pineal gland in regulating the sleep-wake cycle.[citation needed] The β-carboline can link to cerebral benzodiazepine receptors and induce inverse agonist effects to benzodiazepines, like convulsive, anxiogenic and memory enhancing effects.
I did forget to mention here that when I was eating and sleeping when I wanted I fell into a pattern where I was sleeping for 3-4 hrs a day in the late morning and this tended to shift around a bit depending on if I had enough rest in the evenings. Its 03:43 AM now where I am and I function MUCH better at night and always have ... it is certain this shift to a state of relaxation and "normal" (for me) sleeping pattern has a direct influence on brain chemistry.
Just found something ... later.
Thanks for the thoughts everyone VERY much appreciated.