Is the Hypothalamus the seat of the soul?

Is the Hypothalamus the seat of the soul?

The hypothalamus is a portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland (hypophysis).
The hypothalamus is located below the thalamus, just above the brain stem. In the terminology of neuroanatomy, it forms the ventral part of the diencephalon. All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus. In humans, it is roughly the size of an almond

The hypothalamus is a structure that has connections to motivated behaviors like combativeness, sexuality, thermal regulation, thirst and hunger. Since those activities are often tied to strong emotions, it is believed the structure deals with emotions like rage and pleasure. As a logical extension, it can trigger such feelings as displeasure, aversion, and the need for uncontrollable laughter. The hypothalamus deals more with the expression of emotion than the generation of emotions but it can generate a feeling of panic and anxiety in some situations.

The hypothalamus is responsive to:

Light: daylength and photoperiod for regulating circadian and seasonal rhythms
• Olfactory stimuli, including pheromones
• Steroids, including gonadal steroids and corticosteroids
• Neurally transmitted information arising in particular from the heart, the stomach, and the reproductive tract
• Autonomic inputs
• Blood-borne stimuli, including leptin, ghrelin, angiotensin, insulin, pituitary hormones, cytokines, plasma concentrations of glucose and osmolarity etc.
• Stress
• Invading microorganisms by increasing body temperature, resetting the body's thermostat upward.

It just seems like there is more to this part of the brain then is getting attention. It is wired to the pineal gland. Now I doubt that the pineal gland is the seat of the soul, for the purpose that it can be removed and people who have gotten it removed are fine. Now I am not certain of this but can the hypothalamus get removed without killing the person? This is open for discussion; hopefully I get information from skeptics, believers of the soul, atheists. Make sure the responses of this thread are intelligent, not immature and talking about esoteric density level stuff or atheists referring to flying spaghetti monsters. Just strictly intelligent discussion on the hypothalamus and brain regions around that region, and how it might relate to the soul. Let me start off, perhaps it is the effect of microtubules in the brain, proposed by Stuart Hameroff (this is of course if we consider that Hameroff’s decoherence time is correct and not what Tegmarks calculations said on how the neurons are to warm).

Enjoy and please contribute to the discussion


en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hameroff

[edit on 7-6-2010 by Maddogkull]

I've also read that '___' supposedly opens the pineal gland, or something along those lines. People who have taken '___' are supposedly transported into other realms of existence, and communicate with other astral beings.
I'd venture to say that before we start looking life on other planets, we must first look inside ourselves.

Interesting reads:
en.wikipedia.org...

'___'
en.wikipedia.org...

Actual '___' experiences
deoxy.org...
deoxy.org...
www.erowid.org...'___'.shtml

reply to post by Maddogkull

Great post there and some good questions.

No. The SEAT of the soul, if there is to be one, is the Base Chakra.. and energy centre within the body that is the receptacle of all of your Power.

Now we all know that when we get very angry we feel an incredible powerfulness... ten foot tall and bullet-proof kind of feeling. And most people are afraid of the amount of power they feel at such times.

And yet this is the only way most people ever get to feel their power.

There are ways around this of course. One is simply to close your eyes and breathe when feeling so angry.. this serves to make you in control of the energy rather than being pushed by it to do things you may not want to do.

That is the first step to learning how to use this inner power, the power of you the Soul.

The Pineal Gland on the other hand is where we are able to foresee ourselves doing things in an imagined time in the future. It is also therefore part of what we use for gaining Insight into the future, and in "Seeing" without the use of our physical eyes.

It is also therefore part of the process for self-direction and Determination. Hence why Flouride is being pushed in many country's in order to shut down that activity.

I'm sure it's possible. It is indeed a marvel of a creation. It is basically responsible for setting our body into all modes/moods whether we realize what is going on (consciously experiencing sight/touch/smell/feel/taste), or not (sub or unconsciously experiencing such as exposure to opposite sex phermones, eye in the back of the head or spidey sense, or chemical incidents inside the body that we'd never know about).

A couple other parts of the brain not to dismiss as possible seats of the soul are the amygdala and hippocampus. They are responsible for emotional learning, emotional memory, long-term memory, spatial memory... They can be responsible for setting the hypothalamus into motion, but it can also work the opposite way.

I'm not a doctor or biologist, but I did stay at a Wiki last night.

God's probably giggling at this topic saying "as if I'd put it somewhere where it could be found..hmmpf".