My YouTube channel is no longer available, so please don't try to access it. However, I have recently created a Substack account where I publish my work now (as of 2024). The web address associated with the account is
[email protected], but please note that it is markzima without the letter 'd'. You don't have to join or pay anything to read what I write there. However, I would appreciate it if you would sign up for a free subscription. When you do, you'll receive a free email every couple of weeks with my brief writings posted there.
I am currently focused on ecstatic epilepsy, but I will also write about connections between that field and the bicameral mind theory as I become aware of more of those connections (and if there is still an interested readership that can be reached).
The understanding of ecstatic epilepsy's neuroscientific basis has significantly improved in the past two decades,
very significantly. And I think there will be a huge impact on Jaynes' bicameral mind model.
Ecstatic epilepsy is now recognized as a feature of the insula, specifically the anterior insular cortex (AIC), rather than the temporal lobe. The AIC is a region of much greater interest. For instance, the AIC has been called a neural correlate of consciousness. More than one patient with ecstatic epilepsy has described increased consciousness during seizures: this makes sense because focal seizures can increase the level of functioning of areas in the brain region in focus. (See my substack post dated March 19, 2024):
Astounding Experiences Of Deep Meditators: A Science-based Explanation, Part 2: Brahman in the Brain?.
https://markzima.substack.com/p/astound ... tators-7f7
Will this impact the viability of Jaynes's language-based model of consciousness?
One of my other themes to explore, as hinted at in the above substack post title, is the hypothesis that when deep meditation and hatha yoga techniques actually "work", it is via neurological mechanism very similar to that of epilepsy. I will, in the near future, support that hypothesis by multiple neurological and medical examples, including a discussion of ways by which ecstatic epilepsy patients self-induce their own seizures.
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