Return to the Brain of Eden: Restoring the Connection between Neurochemistry and Consciousness by Tony Wright (PDF)

Description

An exploration of our fall from the pinnacle of human evolution 200,000 years ago and how we can begin our return • Explores recent neurological and psychological research on the brain and the role of plant biochemistry in human brain expansion • Explains how humanity’s prehistoric diet change led to a neurodegenerative condition characterized by aggression and a fearful perception of the world • Outlines a strategy of raw foods, tantric sexuality, shamanic practices, and entheogens to reverse our mental degeneration and restore our advanced abilities Over a period of a million years the human brain expanded at an increasingly rapid rate, and then, 200,000 years ago, the expansion abruptly stopped. Modern science has overlooked this in order to maintain that we are at the pinnacle of our evolution. However, the halt in brain expansion explains not only recently uncovered anomalies within the human brain but also the global traditions of an earthly paradise lost and of humanity’s degeneration from our original state of perpetual wonder and joy. Drawing on more than 20 years of research, authors Tony Wright and Graham Gynn explore how our modern brains are performing far below their potential and how we can unlock our higher abilities and return to the euphoria of Eden. They explain how for millions of years early forest-dwelling humans were primarily consuming the hormone-rich sex organs of plants–fruit–each containing a highly complex biochemical cocktail evolved to influence DNA transcription, rapid brain development, and elevated neural and pineal gland activity. Citing recent neurological and psychological studies, the authors explain how the loss of our symbiotic fruit-based diet led to a progressive neurodegenerative condition characterized by aggressive behaviors, a fearful perception of the world, and the suppression of higher artistic, mathematical, and spiritual abilities. The authors show how many shamanic and spiritual traditions were developed to counteract our decline. They outline a strategy of raw foods, tantric sexuality, shamanic practices, and entheogen use to reverse our degeneration, restore our connection with the plant world, and regain the bliss and peace of the brain of Eden.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Return to the Brain of Eden presents a totally new way of looking at the evolution of the human brain. It is fresh and unexpected; it will make an impact and must be taken seriously in discussions of human origins.” ― COLIN GROVES, professor of biological anthropology at Australian National University and coauthor of“Graham Gynn and Tony Wright follow the implications of modern brain research to an astounding conclusion: that our culturally acquired left-brain dominance has cost us our sanity, but if we have alienated ourselves from nature and our original state of wholeness, there may be a way back. This is a startling book that makes us rethink the most fundamental issues of religion, psychology, and philosophy.” ― Richard Heinberg, author and lecturer at the New College of California“Return to the Brain of Eden is a bold experimental journey into the largely uncharted frontier of Integral Science. This alternative thought-experiment sheds light on the great challenges faced by humanity in the twenty-first century and opens possibilities for us to rise together in conscious evolution. This courageous book deserves careful, critical attention.” ― Ashok Gangadean, author of The Awakening of the Global Mind, professor and chair of philosophy at Ha About the Author Tony Wright is a consciousness researcher who studied horticulture and plant biochemistry at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Graham Gynn is an agricultural zoologist, educator, and researcher who has appeared on the BBC. Both authors live in Cornwall, England. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 Two Sides to Everything An investigation into the characteristics of the left and right sides of the human brain reveals certain anomalies. Facts about how our brains work coupled with oddities such as handedness, sleepwalking, and religious experience are all clues to a second system hidden within us that has a higher level of abilities than we realize. Renewed scientific interest in the phenomenon of autistic savants is also beginning to unlock the secrets of what were once considered to be supra normal abilities. All this new evidence has started to shift the orthodox scientific view. What is becoming clear is that the human mind has untapped powers. The new theories outlined in this book offer unique insights into these latent abilities, how they arose, and why we struggle to access them today. ACCESSING THE RIGHT BRAIN The capacity to access the right hemisphere mode is not limited to a few gifted artists. We have all been there. While day dreaming, we are in at least partial right-hemisphere mode. We access it when we are absorbed in activities like playing instruments and listening to music and become unaware of the passage of time, and when we find ourselves in circumstances where it seems that time stands still. Moments like these have been termed peak experiences. These special states are characterized by one thing–the absence of the seemingly ever-present chatter from the left brain. It is only when that constant verbal dialogue with oneself ceases that peak experiences are possible. That is why activities such as painting, music, and even fishing are so restoring and why meditation can be so effective. Why does reducing the influence of our left hemisphere in favor of our right have such a positive effect? If the left hemisphere is so much the complete and sophisticated side of our brain, what factors allow us to escape its mode of function and flee to the right side? SLEEP Scientific literature suggests that lack of sleep can be dangerous. Medical evidence indicates it can cause psychosis and even death, but this is by no means the whole story. Reducing sleep has been used as a positive tool in many spiritual contexts to alter states of consciousness. Many religious traditions advocate the use of short or extended periods without sleep to access spiritual insight. Sleep deprivation and spiritual practice come together in some form in most religions. Buddhists regularly engage in all-night periods of meditation, and the Buddha himself attained enlightenment after, according to one account, spending seven days and nights awake and in deep meditation under the Bodhi tree. In North America, the vision quests and sun dances of indigenous people entail days and nights of continual practice. Despite the general perception that plenty of regular sleep is necessary for normal function, a range of clues suggests that this may not be strictly true. From sleep walking–a state in which some part of the brain is asleep while another part is active and functional–and the deep insights that can emerge through dreams, many anomalies remain unexplained. Could it be that an explanation may lie in a differential requirement for sleep between each half of the brain? If the right hemisphere needs less sleep than the left, then it follows that a normal level of sleep is necessary to maintain the left hemisphere’s function, including its dominance. Reducing sleep may therefore be a means of exploiting this weakness. By starving the left hemisphere of its recharge time for long enough to run its “batteries” down, its overall function may decrease along with its ability to suppress and maintain control. If perceptual experiences such as religious oneness, bliss, and abilities such as clairvoyance lie locked somewhere within the capacity of the right hemisphere, then accessing them by using sleep deprivation to reduce suppression makes eminent sense. For over a decade a researcher we’ll call “A.W.” personally experimented with up to eleven days and nights of sleep deprivation. In one trial during which he spent over eighty hours awake, he experienced an extraordinary change of perception that he described as “all-encompassing religious bliss.” He believes that for a period of about twenty minutes the left side of his brain went to sleep, leaving the right side awake and functioning freely. This conclusion was reached from other incidental affects such as an initial block that prevented him from talking. After some internal mental investigation that seemed far from rational or linear, a few grunts and broken syllables started to emerge. And when the speech mechanism was restored, there were interesting differences. The voice sounded more resonant than normal. There was expression without the precursor of thought, and there was some poetic element to its structure. This experience had other effects, as A.W. was temporarily able to simultaneously follow two conversations without switching between the two. Also, on one day, and for one day only, from the moment A.W. awoke, all of his thoughts were in rhyme; a most peculiar phenomenon. The process itself was completely automatic. Even when consciously trying not to, his thoughts stubbornly emerged in rhyme, and the structure and phrasing of his thoughts had a poetic quality. Unfortunately by the next day it had gone. The muse had left. There is historical evidence that rhyming ability is a right hemisphere function. Plato called it “divine madness.” In early Greece, the epic poets and muses appeared to have the ability to tap in to “unwearying flows” of songs. The words came directly from “the source” without artifice or rational invention. There are hints from the earliest of writings that accessing this mode of function may have been more common within past cultures. Perhaps the dominance of the left hemisphere was not so rigid in those days, allowing access to a different set of functions and abilities. It appears that by limiting the amount of our sleep we may, under certain circumstances, be able to reengage these lost abilities. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a very interesting book, as it provides an alternative theory about the man’s best diet and lifestyle. As a left-handed person, who was forced to write with the right hand, the book explains a lot of what happened to me (e.g. stuttering), why I sucked as a computer programmer, and why I excelled as an artist later in life.I think a lot of the ideas presented at the book are accurate, in regards to raw veganism and right brain functionality, although there are some stinky points, which is why I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5. My problem is what the book suggests we do (become fruitarian) is not realistic today:- “The forest” doesn’t exist anymore. Amazon is in decline, plus, we didn’t actually evolve in the Amazon, we evolved in Africa, where different kinds of trees existed before most of it turned into desert, or Savannah (very little of the jungle remains).- Trees themselves have evolved away (while we were away), while we have selected the fruits we actually eat today. The fruit of today, is not the same as the fruit of 2 million years ago (which was much more nutrient-dense, fibery, with much less sugar).- To live with non-native EMF (because we like it or not, no one is going to abandon their cellphones and wifi), and other modern stressors, we need DHA. DHA is protective of our lifestyle today in various ways (not just fueling the brain, but also our stressed mitochondria). I’d suggest you read the ideas of Dr Jack Kruse about DHA.- Other apes are not 100% vegan. They eat insects outright, they eat insects inside fruts (nearly ALL wild fruits have worms in them), and some apes eat eggs too. This explains why raw foodists and vegans still need to get pills with B12. It’s because they eat “civilized” fruit (selected for sugar, and without worms in it), while trying to emulate an “uncivilized” time. If we could synthesize B12 fully in our gut, we wouldn’t need the pills, but we do. That’s where seafood (or insects/eggs) must come into play again. Full vegan without modern medicine’s B12 pill boost doesn’t work.- Diet must be geographical and seasonal to be healthy. You can’t expect people in Alaska and Sweden to find tropical fruit at all times, or even be protected by it. There’s a reason why fatty fish is so protective in the cold climates. Equally, a near-vegan diet (with occasional insects/eggs) is more plausible and healthy near the equator. Each to its own.So after reading a lot about the subject of nutrition and lifestyle, from many different sources (from raw vegan advocates, all the way to ketogenic on the other side of the spectrum), I have found that (for me), the best way is “the middle way”. What this entails is a HIGH RAW, grain-free (particularly gluten-free), sugar-free, processed-free, land-animal-free, industrial-seed-oils free, Pesco-Vegetarian diet (dairy must be fermented, eggs must be pastured, fish must be wild). This usually means being raw vegan for breakfast and lunch, and having a grain-free, cooked dinner (e.g. pre-soaked legumes, or some shellfish or *wild* fish, or cooked veggies and yogurt or eggs).Basically, reverting to as possibly pre-agriculture diet, the diet we had “near the coast”, after we left “the forest”. Given the modern realities, that’s as far back we can go without depriving ourselves from B12 and other vitamins that we now need (either because our physiology needs them, or because they are protective in the stressed environment we live in). Unfortunately, I don’t find it realistic going back to the forest diet. That ship has sailed.But as the book correctly states, we need the right brain support to make our right brain dominant again. So, how do we do that, if the diet I suggest above is not a 100% fruitarian diet? I think the answer to that is meditation. As also mentioned in the book, that’s the missing link. After the diet has turned to at least not to be inflammatory, after it becomes “good-enough”, meditation can do the rest. That’s my view on the subject.

⭐I rated “Return to the Brain of Eden: Restoring the Connection between Neurochemistry and Consciousness,” with 5-stars because I was unfamiliar with this subject matter. However, I did enjoy reading about human consciousness. I was able to follow along with the material contained within the book because the authors wrote in layman’s terms.It was repeatedly stated throughout the book that there was something amiss with mankind. “Today we live surrounded by mental, emotional, physical torture (Gyn, Wright, 2007) There is cruelty to others and to the animals we live with, and we are rapidly destroying the planet that sustains us.” Really? What would one expect? The Western World has developed into a materialistic and competitive place. From a young age peoples minds are exposed to images centered on consumption. People have been groomed and conditioned to become consumers at an early age. The media rarely would show images of kindness or cooperation amongst human beings. No one came to this planet to be a consumer. I am a deeply spiritual woman and I perform tons of research on ancient spiritualism. From my understanding, ancient people knew how to live on this planet. They understood there must be balance and harmony with man, nature, spirit. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”When one contemplates the streak of insanity running through human history, it appears that Homo sapiens, is a biological freak, the result of some remarkable mistake in the revolutionary process” (Gyn, Wright, 2007). God did not make mistakes. Man was making mistakes because man thought that he was God. A Natural and Hidden Order controls everything in the universe. The sun rises and sets, the seasons change, everything has an order. Man thinks he is bigger than God and Life, itself. As long as man goes against the Laws of Nature and Universal Laws he will continue to pay a price. I understand the need to create a man-made system to give order to society, but you cannot life for a man-made system. Not reality.I enjoyed reading “Return to the Brain of Eden: Restoring the Connection between Neurochemistry and Consciousness,” it was an interesting read and it made me think on a deeper level about life. I would recommend others make this purchase because it was a worthwhile read.

⭐My personal view is that a book that’s proposing a new theory should include as many references as possible to updated science corroborating such theory. Equally important is mentioning all possible contradicting perspectives to avoid a feeling of biased thinking.

⭐This book is amazing. It touches on so many topics and once I started seeing the connections it’s really astonishing. The gist of this book is this theory that we evolved in the tropical rainforest eating hormone rich fruit that modified how our DNA is read and kickstarted the rapid expansion of our brains (current theory doesn’t explain how our brains grew so fast in such a short period of time). Ever since we left the perfect conditions of the rainforest (probably due to environmental catastrophe) our brain has been degenerating (the left faster than the right) and the left brain (logical, self deceptive, linear) has become dominant. This book touches on so much like handedness (why do we have a left hand that is relatively useless?), sleep deprivation (allows for more right brain control), psychological disorders, brain surgery and their effects, DMT, meditation, spirituality and so much more. So much research supports this theory, but can your left hemisphere accept it?

⭐The idea that some disaster might have led man out of the Garden of Eden, is not proved. That a fruit diet was abandoned and may have been more beneficial to our general well being, does seem to have backing.Science is coming round to the fact that our experiences alters our genes (epigenetics). The authors propose a feedback loop based on diet and conditions, rather than trauma but it is in fact basically the same thing.The reason for low fertility, is high survival rates through better tolerance to disease. We don’t need to breed when we do not have loses needing replacement (Third world countries have big families because of high infant mortality rates for instance).I was more interested in the sections dealing with brain development as that was my main reason for buying the book but the rest still made interesting reading.

⭐This is a delightful and thought-provoking book. It has inspired me to read more about how our brains work and to take an interest in the “left brain-right brain” theories. Tony Wright’s experiements in sleep deprivation and “awakening” his right brain were utterly fascinating and I would love to find out more about this. But having said that I was not convinced by their central argument about fruit and the development of the brain. They just seemed to be making big leaps from one idea to another. Still a great read though.

⭐Making great sense of the way the world looks and appears to us now, and why, this is an exciting and challenging book: well-researched, well put together and thought-provoking even if the ‘chemistry’ sections were perhaps a bit hard to follow for a non-chemist. That said, the conclusions are well argued and make great sense – the authors well deserve the further research assistance and funding they seek at the end..

⭐Loved it. Some of the messages were very profound to me and got me delving into my inner consciousness.

⭐Read over half of the book now. The most interesting read of my life. What made me read this book was Kerry McCarthy’s Ted Talk (which you can view on Youtube).

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