There's a theory going around that dolmens were created for darkness meditation, which was used for thousands of years, to activate the sixth chakra (in the area of the pineal gland).

Activation of this center allows a person to be able to see their inner light. Whether it is the proverbial yogi, or shaman retreating deep into a cave, or taoist, or Mayan initiate, or a Tibetan monk, or perhaps even Muhammad, all traditions incorporate a period of time during which one goes into the darkness. The pineal gland is the gateway to being able to experience one's subtle energy directly.

The philosopher Nietzsche said, "If you stare into the abyss long enough, eventually you find the abyss stares back at you." Dolmens, or ancient portal tombs, are among the oldest remaining structures on Earth. Most date to the Neolithic period of 3000 to 4000 BC. And some in western Europe are 7000 years old.

The dolmen was used to enter into perpetual meditation, as a way for a human to bridge the inner and outer worlds. As one continues to meditate in total darkness, eventually one begins to observe their inner energy, or light, as the third eye becomes active. The circadian rhythms, which are governed by the sun and moon channels, no longer control the functions of the body -- and a new rhythm is established.

What are everyone's thoughts? Did the first endogenous (natural) breakthrough trip for Homo sapiens take place in or under a dolmen, perhaps by accident? Perhaps in the same way beer was invented by accident when a hunter-gatherer ancestor accidentally left a basket of raw barley out in the rain where it began to germinate?

Dolmens as the first darkrooms, cute

Yet they could have build darkrooms with twig structures and animal skins over it just like sweatlodges who are also pitch black, much less a hassle and evenly dark.

What I find most amazing is that the practice of both dolmens and standing stones covers such a vast area, from Scotland to Ireland, England, but also a vast territory of the European mainland. In Europe the sites are so far separated it's truly amazing. There were no youtube vids then on how and why to make them. The spine reasoning behind it all must have been very strong.

To build something high, the pyramid form is quite obvious actually as there is no alternative for it, a wide base and build up from there. But the standing stones have not such a natural constructive logic and therefore come across more mysterious IMHO.

I'be been merging dolmen with standing stones, hopefully not making a historical error of mystic magnitude

The info you have, dolmens as darkrooms, I recon is of 'channeled' nature? such things make me ahummmm a little

Dolmen would keep noise out better than your tent.

Also, check out the fogou - Cornish subterranean chamber believed to be of similar ritual significance.


Do dolmens tend to be built in areas without caves?

Some dolmens have been built as non-cavelike structures. That's why they're so mysterious. But without such darkness meditation, the Tao Te Ching probably would've never been written. The roots of religion probably would've never been engendered. Didn't Christianity stem from Paganism, anyways? The "documentary hypothesis" really makes you think.

They stole inspiration very likely, Jesus would not approve

Take the story of the child in the basket set out on the river:
* such story is identical as found on Egyptian walls in a temple, stood in front of it just had to believe the official guide telling;
* such story is identical as found in the Mabinogion, a main reference in paganism that is written in medieval times but originates inspiration out of oral much older tradition.

Synchronicity or plagiary?
Christians were not the first so chances point to plagiary.

Christians did weird things to keep the ball bouncing, like there are so many relic bones of Maria Magdalene kept to worshiped in pilgrimage sanctuaries from France to Turkey, enough to compile 5 persons It became so shamefaced they had to denounce some. I've visited some of those places (in France), it were nice travel locations though.

The Egyptians plagiarised from the Babylonians, who in turn plagiarised form the Assyrians - and so on. It's a bit of an ongoing theme. Some of these stories must be extremely ancient indeed. As must be the origins of many sacred sites which have had the new built upon the old from time immemorial.


If you're interested in the subject of megalithic structures, Julian Cope's books "The Modern Antiquarian" and "The Megalithic European" maybe of some interest. His Modern Antiquarian website.

SWIM always knew Christianity was plagiarized from Pagan, Gnostic, and Egyptian roots, but thanks for going deeper.

But what about the roots of religion when you start from the source? Could the first religious beliefs have stemmed from a naturally-selected religious gene that protects people from stress-related diseases, as Richard Dawkins proposes? Or could the first religious beliefs have stemmed from an "accidental" endogenous breakthrough trip during darkness meditation in a dolmen and/or cave?

I think emphasis put on the pineal gland in relation to dimethyltryptamine may be a mistake, there was some interesting conjecture/speculation put forward by Dr. Rick strassman involving DMT and the pineal body, this is often taken as fact when even strassman clearly states that he was speculating.

The pathway for pinoline, 6-methoxy-tetrahydro-beta-carboline has even been disputed, however, it is said that tryptophan enters the body and is enzymatically converted to 5-hydroxy-tryptophan, which is then decarboxalated to 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (serotonin), then the 5-hydroxy-tryptamine enters the pineal body and is converted to N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine (meletonin), which is then further cyclized to 6-methoxy-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (pinoline)

( *alternatively, tryptophan enters the system and is decarboxalated (amino acid decarboxylase; AADC) to tryptamine, which is methylated (indole amine methyl transerase;INMT) by S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM), which becomes S-Adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH) as it donates its methyl group, giving N-methyl-tryptamine, which is again methylated (SAM giving SAH as it donates its methyl group) giving N,N-dimethyltryptamine. )

Any way, referring to the pinoline pathway, because serotonin was being converted to N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine in the pineal gland, and then was further cyclized to 6-methoxy-tetrahydro-beta-carboline in the pineal gland, srrassman assumed that this hotbed of endogenous tryptamine chemistry was where the endogenous DMT was being produced. The pineal body being cited as "mystical" through out history, and some connections to Buddhism (it's said you remain in the Chikhai Bardo for 49 days before reincarnation, it takes the penal body 49 days to form on a fetus in the womb) also led strassman to his theories regarding DMT and it's connection to the pineal gland.

There is no evidence that DMT is produced in the pineal body, though it has been found in the pineal gland of the rat http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23881860
https://www.cottonwoodre...rch.org/dmt-pineal-2013/

I can understand the mystical status of the pineal body, and DMT May indeed have some connection to it, however I feel the new age community as well as parts of the DMT community may have prematurely accepted the connection between DMT and the pineal body.

-eg

Seen dolmen too small (Weris)


and too large (West Kenneth long barrow) to be a persons retreat

Populating a darkroom floor sounds a factor self contradicting to me.

Down to earth provision facility?
For whatever precious, seeds, armor, tools, ...
A cache?

West Kennett long barrow is well worth a visit, as is the nearby Silbury Hill - another megalithic conundrum - and of course Avebury stone circle which is a few miles up the road.

But N-Ac-5-MeO-T (melatonin) would cyclize to 6-methoxy-1-methyltetrahydro-beta-carboline (6-methoxytetrahydroharman)! 5-MeO-NMT, on the other hand, would be a suitable candidate for the job, although this would require an oxidative cyclisation such as in the formation of 2-methyltetrahydro-beta-carboline from DMT.

Chemistry asides, there's a thread round here somewhere (from about 2 or 3 years ago) with a link for downloading a pdf of Mantak Chia's book, "Darkness Technology" concerning the use of caves and similar dark spaces as isolation chambers for the development of mystical consciousness. These matters are surely co-relevant.

There is a long barrow/chamber tomb near me. Kids and dogs go crazy when they go on it, running around and enjoying themselves. Maybe they'd do that on any funny little hill, though. For me it certainly has an abidingly calm and positive vibration. It's like a little slice of ancient sanity.
Years ago I tried to visit another, this time monolithic monument; "The Devils Chair". Apparently on certain nights a fiddle can be seen being played by unseen hands, while cats dance around the chair, which is a large chair shaped block of red stone.
Well, we pulled up near a cottage at the end of the road to walk the rest of the way through the woods, when three enormous black mastiff type dogs appeared as if from nowhere and silently circled our little car.
A little old woman appeared from the cottage, some 30 yards away, and stood looking at us for a few moments. She then said something to the dogs and went back inside.
The dogs stayed by the car, peering at us through the windows, while we decided to call a rain check and slowly reversed down the track.
Probably an utter coincidence, not even much of a story really, but DMT or not these old places can be pretty spooky.

Pfffft, ghost stories are just ghost stories. Have you seen this fiddle and these cats yourself?

Can't find the facepalm emoji...