Pineal Gland The pineal gland, also known as the pineal body, conarium or epiphysis cerebri, is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces melatonin, a serotonin derived hormone, which affects the modulation of sleep patterns in both seasonal and circadian rhythms.[1][2] Its shape resembles a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it is located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join. Nearly all vertebrate species possess a pineal gland. The gland has been compared to the photoreceptive, so-called third parietal eye present in the epithalamus of some animal species, which is also called the pineal eye. René Descartes believed the pineal gland to be the "principal seat of the soul" and viewed it as the third eye.[6] Structure[edit] Blood supply[edit] Innervation[edit] The pineal gland receives a sympathetic innervation from the superior cervical ganglion. Histology[edit] Development[edit]
The Pineal Gland - The "Seat of the Soul"? Wonderful article, that needs to be shared! Entirely by Gary Vey (viewzone.com), After writing se... Wonderful article, that needs to be shared! After writing several articles on reincarnation and enlightenment, many readers asked me why I never mentioned the significance of the pineal gland -- a small structure about the size of a pea, located in the middle of the brain. Descartes was obsessed with understanding who we are. He observed that the senses can be fooled, that most of what we think we know is really illusion and finally struggled with the possibility that our own identity as individuals was also not real. His famous statement endures: Cogno ergo sum -- I think, therefore I am. Although the soul is joined with the entire body, there is one part of the body [the pineal] in which it exercises its function more than elsewhere... Today, with an understanding of computers, we might take issue with Descartes. "All psychic systems have their physical aspects in the body . . .
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