The Pineal Gland, Seat of Spiritual Connection

You may think of the spiritual world as being completely beyond and outside of the body, but in fact spirituality is a built-in feature of the human brain. Just as we have ears to help us hear sound waves and eyes to help us see shapes and colors, we have a bodily organ to help us attune to the spiritual world. It is called the pineal gland.

The pineal gland is a tiny organ, about the size of a grain of rice, buried deep in the center of the brain. Although it is small, humans have long attributed great significance to it, believing it possesses the secret to deep insights and spiritual enlightenment. The ancient Greek physician Galen saw it as the regulator of “psychic pneuma,” and philosopher Rene Descartes dubbed the pineal gland “the seat of the soul.” Eastern cultures also attributed great spiritual significance to it, associating it with the “third eye” or sixth chakra, which is the energy center of spiritual insight and inspiration.

The word pineal is from the French for “pinecone,” reflecting its conical shape. Because of this distinct shape, its powers are often represented in art as a pinecone, which can be seen in art from around the world and throughout the ages. For example, a huge pinecone statue stands outside the Vatican, and the Cambodian temples of Angkor Wat have pinecone-shaped spires jutting into the sky. An ancient Egyptian art, the pineal gland is even more directly represented on the forehead section of sarcophagi through a stylized eye that looks strikingly similar to the pineal gland seen in cross section.

What Are the Spiritual Consequences of a Calcified Pineal Gland?

But what does science have to say about the pineal gland? Not surprisingly, scientists cannot confirm or deny the role of the pineal gland in spiritual experience. But they have discovered some interesting facts about it. First, they now know that the pineal gland plays a key role in the production of a hormone that is essential to our health and happiness – melatonin. Melatonin regulates our circadian rhythms, telling our body when to sleep and turning other functions on and off in the body.

Also, the pineal gland has rods and cones, just like the human eyeball, suggesting that the pineal gland has a kind of ability to “see.”

Another thing that science knows is that the pineal gland appears more hardened as we age. As early as two years of age, the pineal gland is known to become calcified. This may be because the pineal gland is outside of the blood-brain barrier, leaving it vulnerable to environmental pollutants and poor diet. What are the spiritual consequences of the calcified pineal gland? It could block people from their natural ability to connect to the divine plane.

But what can we do to protect and better use our pineal gland? Failure to fully assess the potential of the pineal gland also leads to a kind of “calcification” of the mind and spirit, where our minds are trapped in small boxes of limited thinking, our attitudes are rigid, and our ability to connect to something larger than ourselves is lost. Rediscovering our natural pineal glands’ abilities can help us break out of the habits and patterns that hold us back, both as individuals and as a society, and it can help us find a sense of spiritual and personal completion.

Pineal Gland Meditation Is about Connecting to the Inner Light

I call full pineal gland awakening “Shinmyung,” which literally means “bright divinity” in my native Korean. This state is the objective of the pineal gland meditation I have developed. During the meditation, you focus your mind and direct your energy toward your pineal gland, awakening its natural powers. Since the pineal gland is the location of your spiritual connection with universal energy, this naturally leads you toward the Shinmyung state.

Of course, your spiritual connection is always there and has always been there, but habits of mind, such as your biases and egotism, make you “blind” to it. As explained above, the pineal gland is literally a third eye that allows you to perceive light. But it allows you to perceive light of a different type – the bright inner light that is your soul.

If you try pineal gland meditation, you might literally see light flashes before your eyes that can’t be explained by outside phenomenon. The more important kind of light that you will experience, however, is the light that everyone else will see as you project your inner light out onto the world. Within yourself you will feel oneness with the universe and will sense the expansiveness of your own being, and everyone around you will benefit from gratitude, joy, unlimited creativity, and unconditional love that you express in this state of Shinmyung.

I developed Pineal Gland Meditation because I want to help people discover the abilities this little organ offers, abilities that can help lift their lives up to a higher way of being. If we use our pineal gland well, then we can connect to the divine realm more effectively. As we are disconnected from the divine nature of our own and the universe it is no surprise that we feel lonely and unfulfilled in our lives, and that the world seems forever lost in its conflicts. Fortunately, as I have explained in my new book on the topic, Connect, How to Find Clarity and Expand Your Consciousness with Pineal Gland Meditation, it is not hard. It is just a matter of devoting ourselves to opening our hearts, minds, and spirits a little bit each day.