Sidhere

Scotty,

It is a fascinating story...the question I find interesting,is it possible to experience this enlightenment without abnormal brain trauma or a near death experience ?...I have been interested in the power of surrender or letting go of our separate self or ego with some success but not as profound as the cases described.

There is no mention of the brain tumor location in Suzanne Segal...or any reference to the significance of brain hemisphere

Sid

It is ironic that a stroke causing trauma to the brain reveals the source of the spiritual experience.

The description and techniques of Taoism are processed through the left brain,but actual experiencing its meaning can only be known through the right brain...the teachings learned by the left brain needs to yield through a letting go process for the right brain to open up its unique awareness.

View Dr Jill Bolte Taylor's Nirvana experience following a stroke to her left brain:

Hi Stigward,

Your point is well taken!...in our culture our left brain is dominent and appears to be a source of continuous problems as it separates all our perceptions including the feeling we are separate selfs known as the ego...the rather inactive right brain fails to see the large picture of ourr interrelatedness to our environment in the particular and the universe in general...the left brain is an essential adaptive tool needed to survive in the physical world...we make the serious error of seeing our true identity as the left brain when our natural home is within the right brain...it would be highly desirable if the right brain is dominant instead of the fabricated left brain.

Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:

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Please refer to a book by Livia Kohn,an authority on Taoism:

"Early Chinese Mysticism" Livia Kohn. Excerpt: "The texts of mysticism...are an attempt to express the world, as seen from the right hemisphere of the brain, through language--the tool of the left."

Quote:

Early Chinese Mysticism: Philosophy and Soteriology in the Taoist ... - Google Books Resultby Livia Kohn - 1991 - Religion - 218 pages

Mystical experiences in this context may be interpreted as the strong emergence, for a time, of the right hemisphere of the brain. ...

books.google.com/books

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Religions are at the roots of civilization...but it is interesting that Eastern and Western cultures have founded their religions using completely opposite sides of their brains...this is described in an interesting article about Mysticism on the Internet.

http://reluctant-messenger.com/citsym/right-left.htm

Before we dive into Mysticism proper, lets explore how the human brain/mind works. This is important to know because some religions understand God in a logical way and other religions are more intuitive or inspired in their knowledge. This will especially help us to understand God from a Buddhist or Taoist perspective.

 

The left brain is a world of business, logic, reason and of practicality. The right brain is a world of art, emotion, intuition and of feelings.

 

The left brain requires logical, linear, factual data to be satisfied. The right brain is more comfortable with leaps of faith, inspiration and intuition.

 

To better understand God and how God is communicated it helps to understand that the brain/mind operates and functions on these two levels and through both we can achieve a more complete understanding of God.

 

The best example of a right brain religion is Tao. Tao is nonsense to the logical western mind. Yet Taoism is a great sourse of mystic knowledge.

 

Judaism is an example of a left brain religion. Ten commandments, Holy Days, clean and unclean meats, etc... The logical mind understands rules and regulations and Judaism is a very structured ordered and logical religion.

 

All of the other religions are somewhere in between with Islam being almost as logical as Judaism and Buddhism almost as right brained as Tao.

 

Hinduism and Christianity are balanced in the middle with Hinduism slightly more right brained and Christianity slightly more logical.

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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:33 am Post subject: Sidhere

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I am a retired clinical social worker,age 76,residing in Camarillo,California which is about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.

I became interested in issues of the right brain while early in my college years and majoring in psychology...because of emotional problems I was experiencing at that time,I also underwent several years of psychotherapy,but was generally disappointed in its effectiveness ...during my graduate studies I became interested in Oriental Philosophy,and this opened up a whole new way of my perceiving personalty and its problems...Taoism, perhaps the most deeply right brain orientation among the world religions, had a very significant influence on my thinking.

When in my mid twenties,during a period of deep despair over what I felt were failures in my life,I suddenly experienced a profound sensation of extraordinary freedom and lightness...all my negative feelings disappeared as if a tremendous weight had been taken off my back...it was an awareness that helped me see that all my learned expectations and goals were simply social beliefs unnecessary to find peace and contentment.

This experience which I now interpret as finding my right brain has influence every aspect of my life...when seeing Jill Bolte Taylor's video on her stroke insights,I became motivated to explore the new pioneering thoughts on the right brain via an Internet site...it is my feeling the Tao and the right brain are just 2 different metaphors for the same natural intelligence.