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wrote several papers for classes that school year that began to lay out the broad framework for the theories I later developed.” 58 © THE BUILDING BLOCKS Stanford engineering students he supervised were in those studies!' Jim leaned forward, and the blinding glare from the sun worsened. He asked, "And what are you doing here?" I told him. My ideas were poorly formed. I was fascinated by psychedelics. I had just started practicing Transcendental Meditation. My coursework was leading me into some very interesting fields. There seemed to be a thread running through it all, but what was it? Where could I look for a unifying factor? Jim sat back and looked thoughtful, or so it seemed—his face was nearly invisible because of the sun's rays behind him. "You ought to look into the pineal gland," he said at last. "My wife Dorothy is making a film about the experience of inner light described by mystics. The pineal gland is drawing her in as the metaphysical source of this light, the crowning achievement of many traditions. Maybe it really does generate that light inside our heads." "How do you spell 'pineal'?" I asked, taking notes. We chatted a little more about my plans after graduation. Our brief meeting ended. Building upon Jim's advice, I began investigating what was known about the pineal gland, a tiny organ situated in the middle of the brain. I Western and Eastern mystical traditions are replete with descriptions of a blinding bright white light accompanying deep spiritual realization. This "enlightenment" usually is the result of a progression of consciousness through various levels of spiritual, psychological, and ethical develop- ment. All mystical traditions describe the process and its stages. In Judaism, for example, consciousness moves through the sefirot, or Kabbalistic centers of spiritual development, the highest being Keter, or Crown. In the Eastern Ayurvedic tradition, these centers are called chakras, and particular experiences likewise accompany the movement of energy through them. The highest chakra is also called the Crown, or the Thousand- Petaled Lotus. In both traditions, the location of this Crown sefira or chakra