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Role of the Thyroid in Shifting Frequency

“If flesh came into being because of spirit, it is wonderful.  If spirit came into being because of the body, it is exceedingly wonderful.  I am amazed that this great wealth has appeared in this poverty.”                                                                                           —Jesus, from The Gospel of Thomas

Continuing in this series on The Spiritual Significance of the Thyroid Gland, this excerpt from SACRED ANATOMY is the final post of this series. These meditations on our sacred energy anatomy may appear couched in archaic thought-forms and words. They are, after all, words and currents of the heart. I would ask you to keep this in mind as you read and process them in your heart, where true understanding is known and available. 

Just as a recap, there are seven endocrine glands, seven colors in the rainbow spectrum of light, and seven “lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God,” as described by John in The Book of Revelation in the Bible. Each endocrine gland provides an energetic center for the activity of Spirit in the body temple, and through the body temple in the world we each create and steward.  The fifth differentiated spirit of God, the Spirit of Life, works in and through the sacred center of the Thyroid Gland. I will excerpt the entire passage from Revelation here for context and perspective, as well as inspiration. John describes his experience being “in the spirit on the Lord’s day.”

“And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.       

“And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edge sword; and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” (Rev. 1: 12-16)

Then later on John relates how a door was opened in heaven and he saw this vision:

“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.   And he that sat was to look upon like jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

“And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.”    (Rev 4:2-6)

Changing Vibratory Frequency 

As considered earlier, it is the Spirit of Life focused at this level of the Thyroid that creates the hormonal crystals which convey to the body cells their vibratory frequencies.  Any change in their rate of oscillation, then, would be the domain of the Spirit of Life. These first three centers of sacred energy obviously play key roles in the transformation and transmutation process, although all seven endocrine centers are involved.  

As there is attunement with the Spirit of Love in one’s heart — one has come to the point in one’s spiritual growth where one knows utter love for and abandon to the will of the One within, nothing wavering or withheld — the fire of the transmuting Love descends from out of heaven within and consumes the body temple in an ascending flame. The body is lifted up to a higher frequency of union with the Beloved, even the very Lord that I am and that each one of us is as incarnate God beings.  The angel thus fully incarnates and takes charge of his or her renewed body temple, now encapsulated in a seamless garment of radiance, down to the foot.  Through this garment nothing can enter that would do harm to or defile the temple. 

    Occasionally, after completing an attunement session with someone, I have placed my hands on either side of the recipient’s throat Chakra to feel the flow of life pouring out from this powerful gateway. The current is so strong that it often pushes my hands upward and outward.  I can actually feel the shape of what I would call “wings” opening out to encompass the body temple, and I remember words from the Book of Malachi (4:2):  “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings . . . .”    

In such moments as these I am ever so aware of the presence of the angel in the midst, even at the door, ready to emerge any moment from behind our wall and arise with healing in His wings.  These words, then, come immediately into my heart: “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”  And earlier on in the same chapter are found these words: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”(Habakkuk 2:14,20)

Radiance is the nature of Life.  Uranda offers a meditation on each of the seven spirits in a little booklet entitled Seven Steps to the Temple of Light.  Of Life he writes:

Radiance is the wellspring of Life, and it relates to the Temple of Light.  Radiance is the Shining of the Wonderful One, and Radiance always is; yet no man can know that Radiance until he has let the Wonderful One have His Way.

Radiance is the ever-expanding Essence of the Wonderful One made manifest in the body of man.  Radiance is the Presence made visible in the world of physical things, that I AM THAT I AM may be known of men.

Radiance is the Essence and Spirit of Selfless Service.  Such Service serves not for a reward, nor does it seek results, for it knows that fruition comes as a natural result of Radiation.  The Law is, and cannot be otherwise.  That which is, is without seeking, trying or striving, for it is.  That which abides in that which is, is that in which it abides so long as it abides therein.  To abide in constant Realization of the Presence, fully assured that the Presence of the Wonderful One is that which is, is to be the Radiance of the Presence. As the One is ever serving through the Radiance, giving the Life that brings full fruition, the Blessed One who has Realized the Presence of the Wonderful One is fused into the Radiance and thereby becomes a “servant of the Lord,” even a Channel for the Radiance of the Wonderful One within. . . .

 . . . Radiance shines forth from the Blessed One who lets the Wonderful One act through him in all that is done, for then it is that the outer self acts not of itself, but is an extension of the Perfect and Eternal Activity of the Wonderful One.   Responding thus to the Radiance, the Blessed One is blended into the Radiance, and is thereby uplifted into the final union with the Wonderful One — and this is Life Eternal.  Let Love Radiate.

All of this is accomplished by the Spirit of Love working in and through the hormonal chemistry produced in these endocrine glands, with primary roles played by the Pineal, Pituitary and Thyroid glands, with the added assistance of the Hypothalamus, as we have already considered, which serves as an interface at the floor of the brain for coordination between the endocrine glands and the central nervous system, providing us with vibrational information crucial to our creativity and balanced function on the physical plane of this material world. 

These special three endocrine glands, in coordination with the sense organs, the brain and central nervous system, comprise the core aspects of our sacred anatomy.   We shall now leave the upper part of the temple and proceed into the body of the temple to explore together the remaining four endocrine glands and their function in what I will call “service in the temple.”  The service these lower four seals provide facilitates the process by which substance may ascend into the temple and be prepared for transmutation. 

With the next post, I will begin a series of meditations on the Spiritual Significance of the Thymus Gland and the Spirit of Purification. I invite you to share any thoughts or inspirations that may have come to you during these meditations.  Until my next post, 

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

Email: tpal70@gmail.com (Sacred Anatomy is available upon request)

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The Spiritual Significance of the Pituitary Gland

“If you continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jesus)

I love it when someone says or writes something that moves me to re-think my beliefs — my belief about “the Truth” for instance, and how it makes us free. The word “truth” has acquired a rather dogmatic connotation.  I have adopted a more philosophical meaning that’s free of parochial baggage:

Truth is simply design and control.

Truth is what makes things and events what they are — shapes them and gives them purposeful function and freedom of movement. For example, the truth of a hand is its shape and flexibility, its main purpose being to hold things. “Hands are the servants of the body,” someone once said. If it were to lose its characteristics, we could say the hand has lost its truth — along with its freedom of movement. 

In the case of events, the truth is what’s behind the facts that shapes them and gives them their meaning and purpose.  Someone recently said that in order to find the truth you have to know the facts. Facts may lead to the truth, but facts are not truth. Facts are the surface play of events behind which lies their truth. Altering the facts with “fake news” does not change the truth. As the saying goes, the truth will out — and free us from deception. 

All things have their truth, and when their truth is compromised, things break down and fail to function. If one uses one’s hand as a hammer, for example, it will get damaged and eventually break down. Thankfully, we have pain to stop such abuse. When one goes to the doctor with a broken hand, the doctor will put it in a cast to stabilize it so that it can heal. Healing occurs as the truth of the hand returns to it — from within — freeing it from its limitations.

The truth of a human being is not the collection of concepts and beliefs acquired by the mind. The truth of a human being is the Spirit that informs our flesh, gives it design, control and freedom of movement; that enlightens our minds so we can see clearly what is true and what is false, freeing us from the limitations of preconceived concepts and beliefs. That spirit has been called “The Spirit of Truth.”  

This brings me to this new series of considerations on the spiritual significance of the Pituitary gland with excerpts from my book SACRED ANATOMY.  

THE PITUITARY GLAND & THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

   Underneath the brain is a saddle-shaped depression in the sphenoid bone called the Sella Tursica.  The sphenoid is a large bone appearing in shape like a bat in flight forming the floor of the skull and connecting all the bones of the cranium together.  Here the Pituitary gland (hypophysis) rests protected in her bony saddle, much as a queen upon her throne exercising loving but firm dominion over her queendom. In size and shape similar to that of a green pea, the Pituitary’s domain is the entire endocrine system and the overall production of hormones throughout the body.  It accomplishes all of this with the coordinating assistance of the Hypothalamus. For this reason it has earned the distinguished title of the “Master Gland” or “Mother Gland.”

    The Pituitary encompasses both masculine and feminine functions. Comprised of two lobes, anterior and posterior, this gland is suspended by a stalk attached to the Hypothalamus at the base of the brain, from which it receives decision-making commands regarding its own hormonal secretions.  These commands are the positive creative emanations of the Spirit of Love. They are based in part on information about the surrounding circumstances received through the eyes by way of light, as well as through the other physical, mental and emotional senses. They bring the patterns of design and control for the manifestation of life in and through the body temple.

   Pituitary gland seated in the  Sella Tursica

    The anterior lobe of the Pituitary (adenohypophysis) secretes most of the Pituitary hormones which stimulate growth, egg and sperm development, milk secretion, as well as determining the hormonal secretions of the thyroid, adrenal and gonadal glands and affects the growth of long bones, muscles and internal organs, all functions of the achieving masculine. 

   The posterior lobe of the Pituitary (neurohypophysis) stores and releases hormones from the hypothalamus that control Pituitary function, uterine contraction and milk release and blood pressure.  It is concerned more with the mammary glands, stimulating the production of milk through the hormone prolactin, for example, and the kidneys by regulating the secretion of urine and body fluid levels in general, all functions of the nurturing feminine. 

   There are many functions in the body temple which this tiny but pivotal gland services. One of its most important ones is the production of growth hormones that regulate the cellular absorption of nutrients to control their development. Growth hormones also work with insulin in controlling blood sugar.  Another function influenced by the Pituitary gland is the metabolism, the building up and tearing down of tissues and the burning of food for energy. This is likely its most important of services to the body, one which it carries out in partnership with the thyroid and adrenal glands by stimulating them to release thyroxine and glucocorticoid hormones. In fact, most of the production of pituitary hormones is for the purpose of stimulating other hormonal glands. Such hormones are called precursors because they are literally forerunners to the hormones that are produced by their facilitation.  

   An interesting function of the Pituitary, relating to its motherly role, is the production of oxytocin, a hormone secreted by the pituitary glands of both mother and baby triggered by the pressure on the top of the infant’s head exerted by the hyper-extended surrounding tissues of the womb.  This somehow gives a signal to the child to initiate the series of contractions in the uterus that push it out at the time of birth.  At the same time it starts up the production of milk, the first food it will need after the umbilical cord is cut. One doesn’t commonly think of the baby initiating its own birthing process.  Nevertheless, here is a living example of the child of Love obeying the wise direction of its Mother, the Spirit of Truth working through the Pituitary gland, while exercising its freedom, based simply in how things work in the natural order and design, to set its own cycles in motion and therein assume full responsibility for all that follows this first step that initiates life in the conscious world. 

THE SEAT OF WISDOM    

   In partnership with the Pineal gland, the Pituitary gland provides a focus in the body temple for the nurturing Spirit of the Womb, another name for the Spirit of Truth. These names aptly describe the function of this gland in the growth and maturation processes in the body, much as a mother wisely oversees the care and nurturing of her offspring. Here is the seat of wisdom where the impeccable design and absolute control bring the firm dominion of spiritual and corporeal governance into the affairs of the temple and beyond.

   The essences of the Spirit of the Womb may begin to be perceived as we meditate more deeply upon the furnishings of the temple, represented in their metaphorical details in the story of the Ark of the Covenant.  In front of the ark an altar was placed and on the altar a golden candlestick.  This candlestick was unusual in that it held seven candles.  It was so fashioned that out from the one central candlestick branched six other candles so as to form a candelabrum which held seven candles. The description of this candelabrum is remarkably detailed in Exodus (25:31-40).   

    And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knobs, and his flowers, shall be of the same….Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knob and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knob and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick.  

The Menorah

First of all, the candlestick is made of pure gold, symbolizing the spirit and golden substance of love out of which the seven endocrine glands, along with the entire body temple, are made.  It was a “beaten work” which means it was all made out of one solid piece of gold.  As portrayed in this picture of the Menorah, the shaft, branches, bowls, knobs and flowers of this candlestick symbolize the endocrine system with its masculine and feminine hormonal glands, many of them almond-like in shape. They are blended together in this candelabrum just as both the man and the woman have masculine and feminine energies working within them.   

     A profound sense of awe comes over me each time I read this passage, arousing in my innermost core a sense of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine together in rapturous embrace — Father God received into the womb of Mother God.   It is clearly apparent to me that present within our own body temples is the reality which this prophetic candelabrum symbolizes — the seven endocrine glands powered by the Spirit of Love focused in the Pineal and carefully coordinated by the Spirit of the Womb via the Pituitary, to make the Spirit of Life manifest in the body temple with all its majesty and glory in a continual ceremony of ascension. Here, indeed, is where divine Man was created and placed by the LORD God on the sixth day of creation.  Not the mortal man we know today but divine Man, a state of Immortal Being which we have long forgotten but are beginning to re-member, not only in theory but in actual experience.

     The first divine man . . . was created on the sixth day; that is, on the sixth plane of world being, where union takes place and the change from negative to positive is consummated. Divine man was to have dominion over all the earth, and everything on the earth.  (Uranda, The Triune Ray)

   Here is the positive radiation of love coming to focus in the masculine energy which gives its release potency and penetration. This description of “his shaft, his branches, his bowls, his knobs and his flowers” portrays the Divine Masculine in his positive, vertical presence in harmonious partnership with the Divine Feminine, drawing forth the creativity inherent in her responsive juiciness and elegant, nurturing reception and embrace of his seminal expressions of love at the sixth level of being where they were placed together in the Garden planted Eastward in Eden to dress and to keep it.  She never tires in her role of preparing a fertile womb for their gestation, protection and maturation.

The Spirit of the Womb contains the very essences of the Creative Process at the sixth plane of being, a principle that is solely concerned with bringing forth the seeds of love through the cycles of conception, gestation, growth and development, and eventual harvest and birth.  It is the role of Mother God, played so majestically and meticulously, looking after every last detail with as much care as she will show for the baby itself once it is born through her womb. It is the role of Father God empowering her and supporting her in every large and small way needed for their labor of love. Man, Masculine and Feminine, is the Mother of God.

   This was not just an ordinary candelabrum for holding candles to illumine an otherwise dark temple.  It was a ceremonial candle depicting the profoundly sacred and erotogenic anatomy of Man which is designed to facilitate creation, which itself was designed to facilitate the ceremony of ascension of substance before the throne of God in heaven as well as on earth. —-(Excerpted from SACRED ANATOMY)

To be continued….

Credits: Graphic art by David Stefaniak

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Hypothalamic Dysfunction and Chronic Stress

Over the past 8 years, since 9/11 actually, I have noticed a marked increase in clients with hypothalamic dysfunction, indicating to me a global increase in chronic stress of epidemic proportion, especially in post 9/11 America where terrorism continues to threaten our lives, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness. Little wonder our immune systems, shut down by a fermenting culture of fear, are failing us. 

I will speak to the cause of this dysfunction, as I see it, and the conditions that occasion it before continuing sharing excerpts from my book, SACRED ANATOMY.

(Before proceeding, I would direct you to read, or review, my previous post for an understanding of the normal function of the hypothalamus.)

CHRONIC STRESS

Chronic Stress is simply prolonged and unresolved stress.  Let me explain this from a physiological as well as a practical perspective and understanding of the way things work in our bodies. 

I will start with a simple example of chronic stress. Let’s say, just for entertainment, that you have wandered into a pasture and, when you look up, you notice that a big, black bull is charging at you from a distance, which gives you plenty of time to run and get out of harm’s way.  Only you, for some strange reason, freeze on the spot and can’t seem to get your legs moving. This is a classic example of the residual effects of chronic stress. Your fight or flight stress response is in a state of incoherence and dysfunction.  

Now let’s examine how this incoherence and dysfunction come about. As we saw in my previous post, every function in your body depends on the hypothalamus and its ability to receive information from your environment and convey that information to your body — as well as to YOU — and no, you are not your body but the One who lives in and through it.  Every cell also needs adrenal hormones (cortisone, adrenaline and noradrenalin) in order to perform its duties in a timely and effective manner. (See pictures below)

Now, our bodies obey our every command.  they respond to every thought entertained and imbued with spirit and feeling — feelings such as love, compassion and gratitude, as well as those of fear, resentment and worry — in other words, thoughts that WE give credence and energy to. Not the many and sundry thoughts that our net-like minds snare in the stream of thoughts passing through them from out of the mass consciousness we share with everyone else; only the ones that I pay attention to as being worthy of my time  and energy to entertain, and perhaps do something more overt with.

THE CAPTAIN OF YOUR SOUL 

The factual point I am making here is that YOU are responsible for your body’s every function —  yes, even its physiological functions, which cease the moment you vacate your body in death.  As the poet William Ernest Henley put it when he penned INVICTUS,

“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” 

(Note: The word “strait” means “exact” and not straight as the shortest distance between two points. We find this word used in the scriptural passage: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt 7:14).  In other words, exact, precise, with no deviation, no compromise. That’s the integrity inherent in Life’s way.  This saying of Jesus comes just after he articulates the ‘Golden Rule” to do unto others “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you.”)

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE STRESS REFLEX

Now back to my physiology lesson. As soon as you infuse a thought with fear, for example, your fight or flight reflex kicks in as the hypothalamus sends hormonal messages to your adrenal glands to produce and secrete adrenaline into the blood stream in order to empower your muscles to engage the environmental stress factor — real or imagined matters not.  If you act on the impulse to respond to the stress and DO something to resolve it, one way or another, then you will use up the adrenaline secreted for that event.  

On the other hand, if you do NOT actively respond to the urge to fight back and dispose of the stress factor, or take flight from it — the nemesis that stands in the way of your attainment of peace and security, or some more deeply threatened value in your life, such as the freedom to be yourself and respected in a dominated or abusive relationship — then the adrenaline stays circulating in your blood stream stimulating body cells into frantic and destructive activities, often to the point of exhaustion and chronic disease. Prolonged and mishandled stress is at the energetic root of all chronic diseases, most common of which is chronic fatigue. 

But more detrimental to health and homeostasis is the frustration and consequent shut-down of the hypothalamus due to the abundance of adrenaline in the body tissues, indicating that more is not needed to face the many other stresses that arises in life — along with continued failure to heed its messages and do something about the stress.  Eventually, the adrenal glands themselves shut down due to the lack of clear and coherent directives from the hypothalamus. You can’t even sleep at night for the amount of mental activity going on due to the abundance of cortisol in your brain just running thoughts and worries. You wake up in the morning as tired as or more tired than you were before you went to bed.  Chronic stress has literally taken away your health, as well as your life. 

You need a vacation! So you take one. But, you know, you take your fears and worries with you on vacation.  Without understanding why or how, you may find yourself frozen in place and unable to act quickly in an emergency, such as a vehicle crossing over the median of the highway and heading in your direction.  Or a child in distress in the swimming pool. The consequences of your inaction are potentially tragic and irreversible. You’ve got to “wake up and smell the roses,” as the saying goes. You’ve got to come fully into the present moment.

HELPFUL SOLUTIONS 

Physical exercise, especially walking, helps use up the adrenaline, as well as blood sugar, freeing up cellular receptor cites to receive more adrenaline and sugar-bearing insulin, which, if it remains too long in your circulatory system, will do damage to the arteries and trigger the production of cholesterol in the liver for damage control.  Walking also gives you a chance to process your thoughts and feelings and raise your perspective to see things as they actually are from a higher point of observation. We can only make changes in ourselves and in our worlds as we see and accept things exactly as they are.  It’s the only workable starting point.  

As for the hypothalamus, it needs to be reset to present-time awareness. That requires specific nutrients to support the physiology, along with restful sleep. It also requires spiritual practice of some kind, such as yoga and meditation, along with deep breathing and mindfulness. Energy work, such as Reiki to balance the Chakras, and Attunement to balance the endocrine system with the Chakra centers, especially when facilitated by intentional sound healing, offers potent and immediate return to inner peace and harmony, as well as disengagement of the fight or flight reflex, allowing time and space for the hypothalamus to reset to present-time awareness. We learned how the pleasure-induced neurohormone oxytocin disengages the fight or flight reflex in the previous post.  A little playtime, even a tasty treat, can do a lot for down-regulating stress. All things in moderation, of course. Just be kind to yourself.  

There is a nutritional protocol available to help in resetting the hypothalamus and endocrine system, which I’ve used in my service for many years with favorable, although limited, results. Limited in that honest internal work is needed as well in order to start facing the stresses in life with acceptance and resolve, even opening to embrace them as opportunities to grow spiritually. Developing a sense of right expectancy helps us to be patient with Life’s creative process so as not to spoil the perfect outcome. Remember, it is God’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth.   

The instruction “In all things give thanks” is a wise and worthy guide to success in this area of handling stress creatively by redirecting aroused reactive energy.  One simply needs to remember it in the heat of the moment when overbearing circumstances tend to trigger the fight or flight reflex in your hypothalamus. Giving thanks may even interrupt the urge to react and take the negative charge out of your feelings. Love does have a way of dispelling fear and anxiety, as does patience and forgiveness, the gifts of Spirit.    

With so much release of wisdom and council, the coming week will surely hold many opportunities and challenges for walking my talk. And I say: “Bring it on!” These past few weeks have been very stressful. With the grace and mercy of Divine Providence, we have emerged victorious and blessed.  After all, life without stress is impossible.  Pressure is essential to growth in all phases of our development.  In the squeeze of circumstance, look up and you’ll go up. Looking down will only bring you down further.  So, look up!

Your comments are always welcome. If you would like to address any questions or concerns with me by email, please feel free to do so. I will return to the theme of this blog series, Sacred Anatomy, in my  next post.  Until then,

Be love. Be loved. 

Anthony 

Email: tpal70@gmail.com

Noradrenalin

Insulin (top) & Cortisone

 

Crystals of Adrenaline

 

 

 

 

 

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Sacred Anatomy: The Hypothalamus, Our Stress Response Center

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HOMEOSTASIS AT ALL COSTS

As spiritual beings, our incarnation is not accomplished without a great deal of stress being placed upon these flesh bodies. They embody, after all, the Spirit of the Living God.  Angels, such as we are, incarnate to live and create at the lowest level of being, the physical plane, where we are met by challenging and often stressful conditions and events that require a clear and accurate line of communication with and feedback from our environment. 

The first means of communicating with the physical plane is the brain and central nervous system, the first organized system to develop in the embryo. Among its many roles, this system provides feedback information about the external terrain in the world around us—the earth.  The endocrine system provides a means for conveying creative commands and directives from the inner realm of spirit in the internal terrain—the heaven. The hypothalamus, together with the thalamus and the amygdala, play roles of mediation between these two communication systems and thereby between these two conjoined worlds, the inner world of spirit and the outer world of form.  It connects the endocrine system with the nervous system, mediating the ongoing management of stress, the process of maintaining homeostasis in the material world, a state of equilibrium between boundless creative power and extremely limiting physical boundaries.  The body is built, nonetheless, in a state of homeostasis.

(Note how the brain stem in this diagram is funnel-shaped as it inserts itself into the hypothalamus, where it downloads information gathered by way of the outer senses and sent up the spinal chord via nerve fibers and spinal fluid.)

Few medical writers have captured both the spirit and function of the endocrine system as a sacred vessel for the administration of life’s fierce and volatile creativity as has Dr. Robert Becker. In fascinating research published in his book, The Body Electric, Dr. Becker speaks of this area of the floor of the brain with high regard, reflecting Dr. Hans Selye’s research into the stress response mechanism in the physical body:

The hypothalamus, a nexus of fibers linking the emotional centers, the pituitary gland, the pleasure center, and the autonomic nervous system, is the single most important part of the brain for homeostasis and is a crucial link in the stress response.

Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, Clinical Professor of Surgery at Yale University, where he also teaches medical history and “bioethics,” writes about the relationship between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. His books—the acclaimed best-selling How We Die and, more recently, The Wisdom of the Body—are an inspiring search within the interior life of our bodies for the biologically elusive quality of life that defines us and a journey through the body’s magical “tumultuous” terrain of chemistry-driven physiology that constantly seeks homeostasis at all costs.  Ironically, such dynamic balance is achieved by means of the “turbulence of chemistry, the seeming chaos of tissue, the volatile responsiveness of cells” upon which tempests the stability of health rides. 

Almost poetically and certainly with profound depth of understanding, Dr. Nuland elaborates on how our bodies care for themselves and “how we have transcended mere survival . . . and . . . made use of our unique biology to travel the long road from the creature Homo to the human being.” He speaks here about the action of “signaling molecules” in the brain, ordinary neurons (neurosecretory cells) that function like endocrine cells and produce “neurohormones” called “neuropeptides.” Some sixty of them are to be found in the human brain, including endorphins that work like morphine for pain and calm us even to a state of euphoria.  He writes:

Not uncommonly, a neurohormone’s action is to make an endocrine gland secrete. Accordingly, the neurosecretory cell allows direct communication between the endocrine and nervous systems.  A stimulus reaching a neuron can thus be converted into an action caused by a hormone.

The relationship between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland is particularly important in this regard, especially because the hypothalamus is involved with autonomic regulation and the states of the emotions, and it does contain certain neurons that secrete neurohormones.   The interaction of the two structures is facilitated by their anatomic one-on-top-of-the-other juxtaposition at the base of the brain.  So closely integrated is their functioning that they have together been called the neuroendocrine control center….

The relationship among the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal has been formalized in the writings of medical researchers by calling it the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA. Reciprocal relationships among these three structures have been shown to influence the body’s response to stress and the secretion of certain neurohormones that affect the immune system. This is one of the fields of research under the general heading of psychoneuro-immunology, and it has shed considerable light on possible ways in which the brain and even conscious thought may play a role in immune response . . . .

The back, or posterior, part of the pituitary is actually composed not of endocrine cells, but largely of glial tissue and nerve fibers coming down from neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamus.  The axons of these cells extend down into the posterior pituitary, carrying the neurohormones oxytocin [a lactation and uterus-contraction hormone produced in the hypothalamus and stored in the posterior pituitary gland, as well as a disengaging hormone for the fight or flight reflex returning the body to a state of calm and coordination] and vasopresin [the hormone that sets off the fight or flight reflex and acts as an antidiuretic]…. A great deal of the behavior and response of the body’s 75 trillion cells is determined by signaling molecules, whether carried afar by the bloodstream or active locally.  In complex and complementary ways, such chemical substances work in coordination with the wondrous array of responses within the nervous system, all with the aim of maintaining that dynamism of constancy, that exuberance of seeking, which is the substance of human life…. The result of the interactions of electrical and chemical messages is that every part of the body is able to know what every other part needs and is doing.” (p. 347)  

A vibrant community is to be found within these temples on the microcosmic level of cellular activity, a community that is reflected in the macrocosm of the natural world we inhabit where all things are connected by vibrational cords.  Dr. Jacob Liberman, in his book  Light Medicine of the Future, summarizes the essential nature and function of the Pineal Body as a powerful and focal hormonal gland along with the coordinating function of the hypothalamus:

In Oriental medicine, the daily patterns of individuals are associated with the level of health they maintain.  Imbalanced responses to specific rhythms, seasons, and their associated cycles are related to specific kinds of physical and emotional problems.  Harmony within our life processes is related to the level of communion between our bodies and the environment. Can we experience fluid integration of our own minds/bodies/emotions without creating that same level of harmony in our relationships with nature, or vice versa?  Isn’t our internal integration a mirror of our integration with all life (people, animals, nature, work, etc.)?  Perhaps, literally and symbolically, our longevity may be related to our ability to integrate and synchronize ourselves with the planetary and solar-stellar energies that surround us.  The pineal gland and its interdependence with the rest of the body hold the key to the mysteries of our aging as well as our agelessness.

In summary, light enters the eyes not only to serve vision, but to go directly to the body’s biological clock within the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls the nervous and endocrine systems whose combined effects regulate all biological functions in humans.  In addition, the hypothalamus controls most of the body’s regulatory functions by monitoring light-related information and sending it to the pineal, which then uses this information to cue other organs about light conditions in the environment.  In other words, the hypothalamus acts as a puppet master who, quietly and out of sight, controls most of the functions that keep the body in balance.

All the body’s systems relate to each other in a constant state of flux, with the hypothalamus at the center.  The hypothalamus interfaces between mind and body, coordinating our constant state affecting our consciousness, and thereby controlling our constant state of preparedness. This critical maintenance of body harmony is effected by synchronizing the body’s vital functions with the environmental conditions, or, as some people say, “becoming one with the universe.” (p. 34)

Thus is life in the body maintained by internal combustion of powerful hormonal and chemical interactions, fiercely but accurately conveying spirit through flesh. Our house of being is a burning bush, much like the one Moses experienced when he rose in his spirit to meet his destiny, stressful as it no doubt was. This is the only way to meet the stress of life, even in the face of certain death.  He did not just see a burning bush. He was himself the burning bush that was not consumed.  

 I am reminded of that powerful scene from Philadelphia where Andrew Becket (Tom Hanks) and Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) are listening to an exhilarating aria sung by Maria Callas as Madelena in Umberto Giardano’s opera, Andrea Chanier, as she watches the family home burning after her mother had died saving her.  It’s a climatic piece in the film where the two are preparing for their final day in court when Andy will testify on his own behalf against his former employer who he contends terminated his association with the firm when it was learned he was an active homosexual with AIDS. Andy pours his heart out, filled as it is with deep love for life amid bitter sorrow for what is transpiring in his defenseless body,  translating with tearful anguish as Maria Callas sings with the fullness of her enormous voice from the depth of her passionate soul: “Look!” he utters through his tears, “The place that cradled me is burning!  . . . I bring sorrow to those who love me . . . It is during this sorrow that love came to me as a voice filled with ardor . . . It said: ‘Live still!  I am life! ….I am divine!  I am oblivion!  I am the God that comes down from the heavens to the earth and makes of the earth a heaven.  I am love!  I am love!’”  

This scene always splits my heart open to its core longing to fully and freely reveal my Self to my world, to let love manifest in all of its beauty and unconditional generosity, all of its non-judgmental acceptance, without consuming this flesh.  As things are now, it will be consumed in the end, even though all that is in me says it could be otherwise — and one day shall be.       

Hormonal chemistry brings the fire of love into the body-temple. Thus is it cleansed, made new and lifted to its true vibratory level as the Cathedral of our Milky Way Galaxy is reordered by cosmic forces.  These forces are at work within Gaia, with whom we share an inseparable bond.  What happens within Gaia happens within us, and what happens within us happens within Gaia.  We are one with our Earth Mother, and through her with the Cosmos.  We breathe the same breath of life. We are one with our Father, the Great Spirit Creator Gaia embodies, along with the entire solar entity. We may well honor this Father and this Mother that our days may be long upon the land which the LORD our God has given us, recalling the promise of Moses’s seventh commandment. 🔯

(Excerpted from SACRED ANATOMY— where Spirit and flesh dance in the fires of creation, and adapted for this blog post.)

I will continue sharing excerpts from SACRED ANATOMY in this blog series.  Until then,

Be Love. Be Loved

Anthony

For information about my books, see my website. 

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Body Temple, Books on spirituality, Dr. Palombo's blog, Educational, Endocrine system, Energy anatomy, Healing Tones, Healing Tones Blog, Holistic Healing, Homeostasis, Hypothalamus, Incarnation, Pineal Gland, Sacred Anatomy, Stress Response

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