“The physical body is Real and beautiful beyond words to describe. It is wonderful beyond all the imaginings of mankind. In it are revealed the secret things of God. Through it work the Cosmic Forces of the Universe.”—Uranda
THE PINEAL BODY
The Spirit of Love
Between the two hemispheres of the brain, below the posterior portion of the corpus callosum — the thick tissue connecting the two lobes of the cerebrum which hover over this inner sanctum like two arched wings — is a hallow space called the “Cave of Brama.” In this cavity, enthroned atop the corpora quadrigemina — four small eminences on the back side of the brain stem serving as relay stations for auditory and visual impulses — is a small protuberance called the Pineal Body, or epiphysis cerebri. Its pinecone shaped head, from which it derives its name, points back toward the “arbor vitae” (tree of life) of the cerebellum in the occipital cavity of the cranium.
Situated in the exact position of the Divine Proportion of the Golden Mean (.618 the distance on a line drawn from the front of the brain to the rear, and from the top of the skull to the bottom), behind and slightly above the level of the Pituitary Gland, the Pineal is about the size of the first digit of your little finger. Its functions, however, are vast and relate primarily to the natural rhythms of the body. It produces hormonal crystals, such as melatonin and serotonin, which synchronize the body’s circadian rhythms regulating some physiological activities, such as the sleep cycle, with the rotational cycles of the earth, as well as regulating blood flow to the brain, thereby influencing behavioral patterns and mental activity.
–The Pineal Gland located at the Golden Mean of the Divine Proportion of the Brain —
The color frequency of the Pineal is Violet correlating with the seventh wavelength of the light spectrum. Violet is a passionate color and I wonder if perhaps, it isn’t here in the “seventh heaven” where our sense of deep passionate love for truth and for life itself is most deeply known. This color also represents the purple garments of royalty befitting a king, and is not Love, rightly, the benevolent King and ruler of our hearts and of this whole holy world? I perceive its musical pitch to correlate with F Natural. (This pitch shifted to a higher frequency of F# sometime during the dawning of the 21st century.)
As with all the endocrine glands, the Pineal is ductless and therefore secretes its hormones directly into the blood stream. Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 are nutrients which support the health and function of the pineal gland.
The “Third Eye”
In former times the Pineal has been called by various names. In the fourth century the Greek philosopher, Herophilus said it was the “sphincter of thought,” or the “origin of thought.” Indian mystics said it was the “third eye,” the “eye within” and the “contemplative eye.” Rene Descartes, the sixteenth century French philosopher, said the pineal was the “seat of the soul,” the seat of our consciousness. Science, on the other hand, called it the pineal body, when no one understood what its functions were or if indeed there were any. For a while it was called the pineal gland and in the last decade it has been called the pineal organ because of its direct connection with the brain in producing its primary hormone, melatonin.
Lawrence Blair, in his book Rhythms of Vision in Chapter 6 entitled “The Subtle Anatomy of Man,” says there is a debate as to whether the “third eye” can be attributed to the Pineal or to the Pituitary, or as he states it:
…to the Brow or to the Crown Chakra; it is perhaps a somewhat academic point but I personally favor the Crown as being its most likely location. The corresponding physical organ, the pineal, is known to contain vestigial retinal tissue, and its structure is likened by modern physiology to a third, albeit atrophied, photo-receptor.
A further interesting physiological fact is that the pituitary gland (or the Brow Chakra) is connected to the left eye and governs the lower half of the brain, whereas the pineal expressing the Crown Chakra, is connected to the right eye and governs the upper half of the brain.
Perhaps no one has written with as much detail and insight about this little gland as has Dr. Jacob Liberman, optometrist and pioneer in the therapeutic use of light and color, and the art of mind-body integration. Dr. Liberman’s work has centered around developing a way for treating the cause of human ailments—physical, mental and spiritual— with light and color. In his brilliant book, Light: Medicine of the Future, Dr. Liberman integrates the biochemical, psychological and spiritual properties of light. He says the awareness of how light and color affect our lives was expounded upon as far back as 1840 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose dying words suggested that the “second shutter” be opened in order to let “more light come in.” He was not referring to the window blinds, but rather to the “third eye” of the pineal gland. Three different eyes were thought to exist: the flesh eyes for visual perception of light, the “eye of reason,” or “mental eye” and the “contemplative eye,” which Goethe says, “appreciates God.” Dr. Liberman suggests that we must “integrate our vision to incorporate all the three eyes, as well as opening up the second shutter, but in doing so, we begin to open up our vision in a way that opens up our lives.” Further, he cites Jonathan Swift’s insightful words, who wrote, “‘Real vision is the ability to see the invisible.’” Liberman’s view is that by integrating these three eyes, we can experience what otherwise seems invisible.
Dr. Liberman explains how the average individual perceives only a small fraction of the stimuli coming at them from the environment. “My personal experience is that as the inner eye opens, as we begin to see what at one time we felt was invisible, we tune into a broader spectrum, not only of the electromagnetic spectrum, but of the subtle energies that are not even within this electromagnetic spectrum.” The word subtle relative to energies speaks to me of spiritual or ethereal light; that which is behind and before solar light and fills the spaces between the elements of the molecular world. We are speaking here of the substance of love which creates a bond between us and with the natural world around us.
Speaking of the primary function of the Pineal Body, Liberman attributes the very primal instinct of bonding between individual life forms, such as between parent and child, to the all encompassing role of the Pineal. “This bond,” he writes, “thought to develop out of the ‘heart-to-heart’ synchronization between mother and child, is a microcosm of humanity’s synchronized relationship with nature and the rest of the universe.”
Acting much as a light meter and physiological metronome attached to the physical eyes, the Pineal relays information received through the hypothalamus about the outside world of space and time, such as the length of the days and the seasons of the year, to the body and the mind by way of hormonal messengers, alerting the body to the need to generate changes. These hormones alter moods, circadian (twenty-four-hour) rhythms and seasonal reproductive cycles so as to synchronize with changes in the natural world with which we are connected.
Dr. Liberman continues:
The timing of physiological events is very critical to the health and propagation of a species. Since the pineal gland seems to adjust the entire physiology of organisms to their environment, the physical size of this gland seems to vary according to where animals live. Thus, the pineal is relatively small in animals living at or near the equator, whereas its size increases proportionately the further north or south of the equator animals live.
In certain species, such as the elephant seal, the pineal gland at birth occupies 50% of the brain. If the size of the human pineal gland is directly related to the degree to which living creatures are in touch with their environment, does the size of the human pineal (pea size) indicate something about the state of our consciousness? Would a change in our consciousness, and a closer connection between us and nature, increase the size of our pineals? Whatever the answer to these questions, respect for nature by all living creatures is not only a moral necessity but is definitely crucial to the longevity and quality of life. . . . In creatures such as birds, lizards, and fish, light stimulates the pineal by penetrating directly through the skull. In many reptiles, the pineal has all the photo-receptive elements characteristic of an eye. It is therefore referred to as a “third eye” because, in many creatures, it resembles an eye in both structure and activity. However, in humans, as well as in all hairy creatures, light stimulates the pineal exclusively by way of our eyes, therefore making it an integral part of the visual system. The technical name of the pineal is epiphysis cerebri, which literally means “top of the brain.” It is my belief that humans originally also received light stimulation through the top of the head, as is vividly described in many metaphysical and ancient spiritual writings. This indicates that at one point in human evolution, perhaps prior to the development of the brain hemispheres, the pineal may have actually been positioned at the top of the human brain. . . . Today, the pineal is recognized as playing a major role in every aspect of human function. It acts as the “regulator of regulators.” Aside from its documented effects on reproductive function, growth, body temperature, blood pressure, motor activity, sleep, tumor growth, mood, and the immune system, it also seems to be a factor in longevity. (pp. 31-33)
Whatever the evolutionary history of this tiny gland, its very existence appears to haunt us, as little was known of its purpose and function until recently. Although it has tended to be rejected as having any significant role to play in the body, it has been discovered that it plays an intimate and vital role with the eyes. I suspect at one time—perhaps before “the Fall” when Man lived in the Garden of Eden—it served as an internal eye, a vibrational “window of heaven,” through which we were able to “see” into the realms of light, into heaven, and communicate daily with the LORD God.
–The Pineal enthroned atop the Corpora Quadrigemina–
Considering its makeup of retinal tissue and its close association with the corpora quadrigemina with its relay stations for auditory and visual impulses, one can even imagine how the Pineal may have served as a transmitter of sorts by which we heard the heavenly sounds of angelic voices singing in the realms of light.
I like to think of the Pineal Body as the throne of deity on earth, the deity of divine being, a remarkably exact reflection of the “throne set in heaven” John describes in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, even down to the fine details of the “four beasts full of eyes before and behind,” the significance of which we shall explore shortly.
Of the seat of the soul Uranda says this:
Meditation upon the Cosmic Principles of Light, Love and Life, keeping the attention centered in the Seat of the Soul—that is, IN the Throne of thy Father within thee, in the center of thy head— seeking the while to detect the INFLOW of Cosmic Vibrations through thy hair, followed by the OUTFLOW through thy WHOLE body in a glorious Radiance of the Christ in which thy WHOLE, HOLY BEING is enfolded, will speed thy conscious comprehension of the ONE TRUTH that thou art ONE with the ALL that is ONE. (Steps To Mastership, Lesson 43)
An excellent pineal attunement technique is toning with one’s focus in the forehead where the “third eye” is sending out radiant beams of light. Toning a high pitch will resonate with the high frequency of this sacred energy center.
I welcome your thoughts and inspirations. I will continue in my next post with a consideration of the spiritual significance of the Pineal gland as the focus for the Spirit of Love. Until then,
Be love. Be loved.
Anthony
Credits: Graphic illustrations by David Stefaniak.
Contact the author to inquire about obtaining a copy of SACRED ANATOMY.
Healing Tones 