Transcendental Experiences and Galactic Cosmic Rays

Microtubules and Cosmic Ray Interactions: Spontaneous transcendental experiences - powerful mystical, spiritual, or insight-inducing events, seem to follow an altitude gradient.


Galactic Cosmic Rays: A Cosmic Influence

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are high-energy particles, primarily protons (89%) and alpha particles (10%), originating from outside our solar system, likely from supernovae or other cosmic events. When GCRs strike Earth’s atmosphere at around 15 km altitude, they collide with nitrogen and oxygen nuclei, producing secondary particles like pions, which decay into muons. Muons, with energies of approximately 4 GeV at sea level, dominate the cosmic ray flux reaching the surface (approx 80%) due to their ability to penetrate matter.

Muon flux varies with altitude: at sea level, it’s approximately 1 muon/cm²/60seconds; at high altitudes like the Himalayas (approx 3–5 km), it’s significantly higher due to less atmospheric shielding. In low Earth orbit, astronauts face very high exposures from GCRs and secondaries, with minimal atmospheric protection. This flux also alters with solar activity, as the solar wind from the sun modulates GCR intensity, and with atmospheric density, which affects muon production.

Transcendental Experiences and Altitude

Reports of spontaneous transcendental experiences, described as powerful mystical, spiritual, or insight-inducing events, seem to follow an altitude gradient. These experiences often involve feelings of unity, vastness, or a shift in self-perception, occurring without deliberate triggers like meditation or psychedelics.

Astronauts in Space

The “overview effect,” a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts, is a well-documented transcendental experience characterized by awe, interconnectedness, and a redefined sense of self. Frank White, who coined the term, notes that ~10–20% of astronauts report this effect.

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, described an overwhelming Experience of cosmic unity that led to him to completely abandon both his career with NASA, and as a US Naval pilot less than a year after his Experience, and founding the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Mitchell claimed other astronauts had privately confided in him that they too had experienced very powerful spontaneous transcendental experiences whilst in Space, but were concerned with the effect upon their careers of admitting such Experiences. Of the 600 odd astronauts who have travelled to space since 1961, Frank White's work suggests 60–120 have experienced some level of cognitive shift after being in Space. Notable examples include Astronaut Jim Irwin who claimed to have had a powerful religious Experience whilst walking on the surface of the moon. Astronauts John Glenn and Michael Hopkins. The higher GCR flux in space, with minimal atmospheric shielding, may increase the likelihood of these experiences.

High-Altitude Populations (Himalayas and Peru)

Communities in high-altitude regions like the Himalayas (3–5 km) and Peruvian Andes (3–4 km) report a higher incidence of spontaneous mystical experiences, often embedded in cultural or religious contexts. Ethnographic studies estimate around 5–10% of these populations experience such events, compared to around 1–5% at sea level (per surveys like Hood’s Mysticism Scale). With 1–2 million people living in Himalayan regions (e.g., Tibet, Nepal) and 1 million in high-altitude Peruvian towns (e.g., Cusco, Puno), this suggests 50,000–200,000 individuals may report such experiences.

Microtubules and Cosmic Ray Interactions

The brain’s microtubules - helix-like cylindrical protein structures within the brains networks - might amplify the effects of GCR muons. Research by Mikheenko (Professor of Condensed Matter group, Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway), shows hydrated microtubules exhibit a Meissner-like effect, expelling magnetic fields, suggestive of superconducting-like properties.

Research by Bandyopadhyay (A Principal Research Scientist at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science) has shown hydrated microtubules conduct electrical signals with a metal-like 1-ohm resistance at 8 MHz, which was insensitive to both changes in temperature and microtubule length - also suggestive of superconducting-like properties.

These properties could make microtubules capable of dealing with the unusually high energies of extremely rare high energy GCR muon-particle collisions. A rare muon-particle strike within the nervous system, might trigger a localized particle cascade, producing secondary particles or ionization that drives these microtubule structures at higher energies than would normally be possible in the human body. Exciting neural networks, and perhaps producing highly synchronized oscillations, similar to those seen in dying rats in Borjigin et al. (2013). Ordered water around and inside microtubules, might also play a role in these transcendental experiences.

A Cosmic Connection?

The increased muon flux at higher altitudes, from sea level to the Himalayas, and then to space, may raise the probability of rare, high energy particle collisions in neural tissue, potentially explaining the higher frequency of transcendental experiences. Astronauts, facing intense GCR exposure, report the highest rates, followed by high-altitude communities. While cultural and psychological factors will also play a role, the positive correlation of these Strongly felt Experiences with muon flux suggests a possible mechanism, with semi-superconducting microtubules as a candidate for amplifying these cosmic interactions.

[Laird]

There are lots of repeated sections and paragraphs in that that make it a difficult read, @Max_B. It might be worth editing them out.

As for the theory, I hadn't heard of it before. Is it novel to you or did you encounter it elsewhere?

There are lots of repeated sections and paragraphs in that that make it a difficult read, @Max_B. It might be worth editing them out.

As for the theory, I hadn't heard of it before. Is it novel to you or did you encounter it elsewhere?

I've not seen the idea anywhere else. A higher-self, or some thing else, are two different ideas I've been thinking about in connection my spontaneous wakeful Kundalini-type Experience in my kitchen in 2021. Particularly that raging ecstasy going up and down my spine and out of the top of my head - immediately following the 'vision'.

I've had all the pieces of the idea involving GCR's for a few years, and I've been moving more and more towards putting something down in writing over the last couple of weeks. Tonight apparently was the night... hence it's a little rushed... but I'm sure the idea will get more focused, now that I've finally got it out of my head.

The other thing that still want's to get out in connection with the GCR idea, is the idea of a higher-self... a visual analogy being the old analogue radio tuning scale, and the tuning position... 'me' being the tuning position (the red line), slowly moving along the tuning scale (moving through my life), yet the totality of the tuning scale could also be thought about as a whole - as my higher self in a timeless/spaceless way - which goes with the idea that there are occasional moments in my life when 'me' (the red line) can connect to and glimpse a larger part of my higher self - and gain knowledge and greater connection to it... anyway, it's an idea that keeps growing in me, and one I find I'm coming back to more regularly...

Microtubules and Cosmic Ray Interactions: Spontaneous transcendental experiences - powerful mystical, spiritual, or insight-inducing events, seem to follow an altitude gradient.

The energies of the primary cosmic rays range from around 1 GeV – the energy of a relatively small particle accelerator – to as much as 108 TeV, far higher than the beam energy of the Large Hadron Collider. The rate at which these particles arrive at the top of the atmosphere falls off with increasing energy, from about 10 000 per square metre per second at 1 GeV to less than one per square kilometre per century for the highest energy particles. The very high-energy cosmic rays generate huge showers of up to 10 billion secondary particles or more, which can be picked up by particle detectors when they are spread over areas as large as 20 square kilometres on the surface of the Earth.

These high-energy particles arriving from outer space are mainly (89%) protons – nuclei of hydrogen, the lightest and most common element in the universe – but they also include nuclei of helium (10%) and heavier nuclei (1%), all the way up to uranium. When they arrive at Earth, they collide with the nuclei of atoms in the upper atmosphere, creating more particles, mainly pions. The charged pions can swiftly decay, emitting particles called muons. Unlike pions, these do not interact strongly with matter, and can travel through the atmosphere to penetrate below ground. The rate of muons arriving at the surface of the Earth is such that about one per second passes through a volume the size of a person’s head.

In this video, you can watch proton interactions, electromagnetic showers, and cosmic ray spallation in a Phywe PJ45 cloud chamber at 2877 meters above sea level.

The sequences come from 8 hours of recording with an HD camera. The dimensions of the machine's surface are 45x45 cm. There is no magnetic field in the chamber. The cloud chamber was temporarily placed at Pic du Midi (French Observatory in the Pyrenees) in 2012 for the 100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic rays.

At this altitude, there are about 10 times more neutrons and protons than at sea level. These particles can interact with matter and break some nuclei, which release other protons, neutrons, alpha particles, or deuterons.

There are also highly energetic gamma rays (or energetic incoming electrons), which can produce electromagnetic showers (electrons and positrons) in the matter (walls of the room or the machine, which is made of 1 cm of glass).